Subtlety Rogue DPS Mythic+ Tips — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+

The playstyle of Subtlety in Mythic+ stays almost the same in Battle for Azeroth. It revolves around burst windows with Secret Technique and damage multipliers, such as Symbols of Death and Dark Shadow. In Battle for Azeroth, Subtlety does more AoE damage than before because of Secret Technique, but less priority damage than in Legion.

2. Subtlety Rogue Mythic+ Rotation

For the most part, Subtlety Rogue's rotation is the same as referred in the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page, but the opener sequence changes a little bit in different scenarios.

Note that the openers assume you have 4+ targets; fewer than that and you will have to cast extra Shuriken Storms to generate enough Combo Points for your finishers. Do not cast finishers with less than 4 (preferably 5-6) Combo Points apart from your initial Nightblade in the opener.

2.1. Opener Sequence on 4+ Targets

1. Cast Shuriken Storm.
2. Cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
3. Cast Secret Technique.
4. Cast Shuriken Storm.
5. Cast Eviscerate.
6. Cast Shuriken Storm.
7. Cast Eviscerate.
8. Cast Shuriken Storm and Nightblade and apply the Nightblade debuff to all targets that will live for the whole duration of the debuff.

If the targets are not stacked enough for Secret Technique to hit everything, you can apply some Nightblades while waiting until all targets are in range.

2.2. Opener Sequence on Packs with a Priority Target

1. Cast Shadowstrike.
2. Cast Nightblade.
3. Cast Shuriken Storm.
4. Cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
5. Cast Secret Technique.
6. Cast Shuriken Storm.
7. Cast Eviscerate.
8. Cast Shuriken Storm.
9. Cast Eviscerate.
10. Cast Shuriken Storm and Eviscerate on the priority target until it is killed.

Reapplying Find Weakness during Shadow Dance is not recommended unless you have fewer than 3 targets. Also remember to not cap on Shadow Dance charges.

2.3. Subtlety Rogue Utility

• Shroud of Concealment provides Stealth to every nearby party member. This spell is often used to skip difficult or inefficient packs that you would otherwise have to deal with.
• Cloak of Shadows, Feint, and Cheat Death are a big part of what makes Rogue's good in Mythic+; their defensive abilities are the strongest in the game.
• Kidney Shot has gained more value in Battle for Azeroth with the reduced duration on all AoE stuns. It is one of the longest stuns in the game thus making it exceptionally useful when dealing with difficult mobs.

3. Mythic+ Talents for Subtlety Rogues

Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+. These talents are recommended for all groups and keys at the current time.

Level	Choices
15	✗ Weaponmaster	✓ Find Weakness	✗ Gloomblade
30	✗ Nightstalker	✗ Subterfuge	✓ Shadow Focus
45	✗ Vigor	✓ Deeper Stratagem	✗ Marked for Death
60	✗ Soothing Darkness	✓ Cheat Death	✗ Elusiveness
75	✗ Shot in the Dark	✓ Night Terrors	✓ Prey on the Weak
90	✓ Dark Shadow	✗ Alacrity	✗ Enveloping Shadows
100	✗ Master of Shadows	✓ Secret Technique	✗ Shuriken Tornado

4. Mythic+ Affixes

The way Mythic+ affixes are tiered in Battle for Azeroth has changed quite a bit since their launch in Legion.

There are now three weekly affixes and one seasonal affix. The first affix is available instantly at level two and three, the second affix starts at level four, the third affix is enabled at level seven, and finally the seasonal affix is at level ten.

4.1. Tier One Affixes

• Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
• Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.

Fortified and Tyrannical are the two affixes every player will see. These affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss to trash depending on the week. Subtlety Rogues will excel during both Tyrannical and Fortified weeks due to having strong single-target and competitive AoE with Secret Technique.

4.2. Tier Two Affixes

• Raging increases the damage dealt by enemies below 30% HP by 100% until they die.
• Teeming adds additional trash mobs to certain packs throughout each dungeon.
• Bolstering buffs remaining enemies Health pools and damage dealt by 20% when an enemy dies nearby. To counter this affix, DPS all mobs down evenly and focus your casts into high Health mobs if there are any. As a Subtlety Rogue, managing Bolstering will often be your main task, due to how strong Subtlety is at equalizing Health pools of mobs, mainly due to high priority damage.
• Sanguine places a pool of blood on the ground when a mob is slain. This pool will heal remaining enemies who stay inside the zone and also damage players.
• Bursting forces enemy mobs to detonate when slain, afflicting the group with a stacking debuff that causes players to suffer 10% of their max Health in damage every four seconds. Cloak of Shadows removes and prevents any Bursting stacks, so remember to use it when your group is about to reach high stacks. When handling the Bursting affix, ask how many stacks your healer can handle and try to not mindlessly DPS and exceed your healers stack limit.

4.3. Tier Three Affixes

• Volcanic spawns volcanic plumes underneath and around players when in combat with any enemy. When damaged by Volcanic, players suffer 50% of their maximum Health pool in damage. The more enemies you are in combat with, the more Volcanic that will spawn.
• Grievous afflicts players with a stacking DoT when they fall below 90%. Use Crimson Vial to help out your healer when outside of combat.
• Quaking will periodically attempt to interrupt casters by creating a damaging zone around each player. About 3 seconds after the zone forms, it will deal 20% maximum Health in damage to each player caught in the zone. Feint works on this damage, so do not hesitate to use it.
• Explosive will occasionally spawn Explosive Orbs that need to be targeted and burned down within a short period of time or they will deal significant damage to the party. Explosive Orbs are not cleaveable and the amount of orbs that spawn scales with the amount of enemies pulled. Subtlety is effective at dealing with the orbs, however it causes you to lose quite a bit of damage due to Eviscerate overkilling the orbs by a fair amount.
• Necrotic debuffs the target of enemy melee swings with stacking healing reduction and minor DoT.
• Skittish reduces the amount of threat generated by tanks throughout the dungeon. Use Tricks of the Trade on your tank everytime you are engaging a new mob pack or boss to help them with threat.

4.4. Seasonal Affix

Reaping is the seasonal affix for Season 2 of Battle for Azeroth. Reaping causes Souls to rise from the dead and attack the party at intervals of 20% completion on the Enemy Forces count. There are three different enemy types to be aware of.

• Risen Soul — They will apply Reap Soul to their current target, dealing 2% maximum health in damage every 3 seconds, per stack. This can be dispelled.
• Tormented Soul — They will cast Grave Bolt, which deals 25% maximum health in damage to the cast target. This cast can be interrupted.
• Lost Soul — They will cast Shadow Smash at their current target, a frontal cone ability that can be sidestepped. If you are hit by this, your maximum health will be reduced by 20% for 1 minute. Additionally, when Lost Souls die they will cast Expel Soul, spawning swirls on the ground that must be dodged. If you are hit by this, your damage and healing done will be reduced by 10% for 30 seconds.

5. Mythic+ Azerite Traits

To learn how different Azerite traits perform on single-target and multi-target situations, refer to the Simulations page.

6. Changelog