Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5

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. Subtlety Rogue Strengths

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

4. Subtlety Rogue Weaknesses

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

5. 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.

6. Changelog