Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Subtlety Rogue Overview

Subtlety has not received significant changes in Battle for Azeroth. Subtlety Rogues continue to provide strong single-target pressure, but it now brings respectable AoE to the table as well. Much of the rotation involves actively shifting between two stances, in and out of Stealth. Some abilities can be used at anytime, however, certain abilities can only be used while you are in Stealth. There are only a limited number of ways to activate Stealth during combat, and therefore the core component of this specialization revolves around managing your abilities to correctly time windows of burst.

2. Patch 8.1 Changes for Subtlety Rogue

• Shuriken Combo has been removed.
• Sharpened Blades has been removed and replaced by Replicating Shadows.
• The First Dance has been reworked. The trait now gives you two Combo Points and moderate amount of Haste whenever you activate Shadow Dance.
• Blade In The Shadows damage has been reduced slightly, but now also reduces the Energy cost of Shadowstrike by 2.
• Perforate now also reduces the cooldown of Shadow Blades by 0.5 seconds for each Backstab cast.
• Shuriken Storm damage has been increased by 35%.

3. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Subtlety Rogue

• With the pre-patch, Artifact traits and the Artifact ability Goremaw's Bite have been removed.
• Backstab and Shadowstrike now slow your target by 30%.
• Nightblade no longer slows your target. Instead, it reduces the effectiveness of healing on the target by 15%.
• Feint now has a 15-second cooldown and reduces damage taken from area-of-effect attacks by 40% (was 50%).
• Cloak of Shadows now has 2-minute cooldown (was 1.5 minutes).
• Shadow Blades is partially redesigned. Now causes your Combo Point generating abilities to deal 50% additional damage as Shadow instead of causing auto attacks to deal Shadow damage. In addition to this, Shadow Blades is now on global cooldown in Battle for Azeroth.
• Shuriken Storm deals 50% increased damage when Shadow Dance is active (was 100%).
• Shadow Dance has 5 second base duration (was 4 seconds).
• Shuriken Combo increases damage of your next Eviscerate by 8% per stack, stacking up to 5 times (was 10% per stack).
• Weaponmaster causes your Shadowstrike and Backstab to have a 15% chance to hit the target twice each time they deal damage. In Legion it gave a 6% chance to every ability to deal damage twice.
• Master of Subtlety has been removed and is replaced by Find Weakness in the Level 15 Talent row.
• Anticipation has been removed and is replaced by Marked for Death in the Level 45 Talent row.
• Shot in the Dark is a new Level 75 Talent.
• Night Terrors is a new Level 75 Talent.
• Dark Shadow increases your damage done while Shadow Dance is active by 25% (was 30%).
• Alacrity gives your finishing moves a 20% chance per Combo Point spent to grant 2% Haste for 20 seconds stacking up to 5 times (was 2% per stack and stacked up to 10 times).
• Death from Above is now a PvP only talent and was replaced by Secret Technique in the Level 100 Talent row.
• Shuriken Tornado is a new Level 100 Talent.

4. Subtlety Rogue Strengths

• Cleave fuels additional single-target damage
• Versatile, can specialize into multiple things by changing talents
• Phenomenal defensive capabilities

5. Subtlety Rogue Weaknesses

• Mistakes in rotation punish Subtlety more than most other specs
• Low AoE damage

6. Subtlety Rogue Viability in the Current Patch

Due to how versatile Subtlety Rogue is in Battle for Azeroth, Subtlety is looking to be one of the strongest specializations for raiding and dungeons. Subtlety is able to provide immense single-target in raids while having an option to spec into more AoE damage for dungeons with Secret Technique.

7. Changelog