Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide (Legion 7.2)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.1.5 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
    • 3.1. Standard Abilities
    • 3.2. Stealth Exclusive Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Heavy Cleave & AoE
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Third Golden Trait
      • 1.3.1. Single Target/Raid Oriented Build
      • 1.3.2. AoE/Dungeon Oriented Build
    • 1.4. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
    • 1.1. Single Target
    • 1.2. Multiple Targets (2+)
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Combo Points and Energy
      • 2.1.1. Pooling
    • 2.2. Shadow Dance
      • 2.2.1. Building Combo Points during Shadow Dance
    • 2.3. Shadow Blades
    • 2.4. Vanish
    • 2.5. Defensive Utility
    • 2.6. Pandemic
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Resource Management
    • 3.2. Cooldown Usage
      • 3.2.1. Personal Initiative
  • 4. Opening Sequence
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Stat Weights
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. AddOns
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Startattack Macros
    • 2.2. Tricks of the Trade
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
  • 2. Best in Slot List
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
    • 5.1. Mantle of the Master Assassin
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Subtlety Rogue DPS guide for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing a Subtlety Rogue in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Myst. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Aethys, a rising Rogue theorycrafter and the founder of SimCMinMax, a community of theorycrafters and developers who make tools around simulationcraft. He is also the author of the AethysRotation addon, a rotation helper optimized for Rogues.

1. Class Overview

Subtlety has received an array of changes in Legion, altering both their core identity and their strengths and weaknesses. 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 7.2 Changes

• Subterfuge will now instantly break Vanish buff, making Master of Subtlety and Mantle of the Master Assassin less powerful.
• Will of Valeera gives an additional 658 Mastery. Also small portion of Haste has been swapped with Critical Strike.
• New Artifact traits added.
  • Etched in Shadow is a trait that increases Symbols of Death damage.
  • Shadow's Whisper adds energy to Shadow Techniques procs.
  • Feeding Frenzy makes Goremaw's Bite grants three finishing moves at no Energy cost.

3. Patch 7.1.5 Changes

• Alacrity now only stacks 10 times, but grants 2% Haste per stack instead.
• Anticipation now allows max Combo Points to be 10 (up from 8).
• Deeper Stratagem has been nerfed from 10% damage to finishers down to 5% damage to finishers.
• Shroud of Concealment has be re-added to the game.
• Death From Above has been buffed.
• Cheat Death's cooldown is now 6 minutes, up from 2 minutes.
• Feint now costs 35 Energy, up from 20.
• Gloomblade, Shadow Focus, and Subterfuge have been buffed.
• Master of Shadows and Master of Subtlety have been nerfed.
• Akaari's Soul now triggers faster.
• The damage of Goremaw's Bite has been doubled.
• Shadow Nova has been slightly altered so that it only works with Shadow Dance now, and has a 5-second ICD.

4. Strengths

• Strong single target damage
• Good 2-3 target cleave
• Good burst damage
• Good sustained AoE
• Scales exceptionally well
• Strong defensive utility and crowd control
• Great mobility

5. Weaknesses

• Cooldown dependent
• Demands cerebral management of Combo Points to be effective
• Shadowstrike can be risky as it can occasionally teleport you unpredictably
• Sprint should be used in the interest of DPS due to Flickering Shadows

6. Viability in the Current Patch

Subtlety is currently slightly behind Assassination for raiding, but is overall a perfectly viable specialization for Normal or Heroic raiding. It should be noted, however, that this specialization is more well rounded than its counterparts, having the ability to deal strong damage in any situation. You must also pay more attention to your positioning, as Sprint should be used for a DPS increase and Shadowstrike can occasionally put you in dangerous locations.

7. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 9 pages:

• Easy Mode: TL;DR to own without reading much;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear.

8. ChangeLog

• 03 Apr. 2017 (rotation page): Slight adjustments in the Shadow Dance advice for the single-target rotation.
• 03 Apr. 2017 (easy mode page): Changed the recommended default talent tree.
• 03 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Slight update to the discussion between Master of Subtlety and Weaponmaster.
• 03 Apr. 2017 (artifact page): Swapped Soul Shadows and Fortune's Bite in the priority order for 7.2.
• 01 Apr. 2017 (this page): Broke down the patch additions in greater detail, added/change strengths/weaknesses/viability.
• 29 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Added Lavish Suramar Feast.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (this page): Added Patch 7.2 changes.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (stats page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (gear page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Added a path for the new 7.2 traits.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (rotation page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 24 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Fully updated Best-in-Slot for Nighthold.
• 23 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Added a separate section dedicated to Mantle of the Master Assassin further explaining its use.
• 23 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Updated APL for Anticipation bug.
• 23 Jan. 2017 (this page): Small update to viability section.
• 23 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Added a section explaining the Finality bug for Anticipation.
• 14 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Added new legendary items.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (artifact page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (this page): Added Patch 7.1.5 changes list and updated strengths/weaknesses and viability sections.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (easy mode page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Updated for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (enchants page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 22 Dec. 2016 (easy mode page): Added easy mode for Subtlety Rogues.
• 08 Dec. 2016 (enchants page): Update enchants, gems, and consumables to reflect the slight adjustment to the stat priority.
• 08 Dec. 2016 (artifact page): Updated paths to include a split for single target vs. dungeon oriented & updated Relic priority.
• 08 Dec. 2016 (this page): A few updates to viability and strengths/weaknesses following Kiwifruit's review.
• 08 Dec. 2016 (stats page): Updated stat weights and added a short Versatility vs Mastery discussion.
• 06 Dec. 2016 (rotation page): Big update; Action Priority List split into single/multi target, resource management updates, many tweaks to "Important Notes" sections.
• 06 Dec. 2016 (talents page): Updated T1 talents (Weaponmaster>=MoS) and added a note about situational uses of Alacrity and Death From Above.
• 11 Oct. 2016 (talents page): Updated talent build and descriptions.
• 11 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Updated trinket list.
• 08 Oct. 2016 (this page): Updated strengths, weaknesses, and viability.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (gear page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (spells page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (this page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (stats page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (artifact page): Added.
• 29 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Updated Weapon Enchants with a note on Shadowmoon ICD.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Made enchants match new stat priority.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (stats page): New stat priority to account for Bleeding Hollow Toxin Vessel.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Many small improvements (more notes on Pandemic, Subterfuge, and many tweaks).
• 19 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Tweaked Level 30 talent recommendations.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Removed the trinket sims and added BiS recommendations.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Updated Level 45, 75, 90, and 100 talent recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (spells page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (addons page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (this page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (stats page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.