Subtlety Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Shadowlands Pre-Patch 9.0.1

If you are new to the spec and the information below seems too overwhelming, you can check out the Easy Mode page which simplifies the rotation with minimal DPS loss.

This page only discusses Rogue rotation in PvE situations. If you are looking for information regarding PvP, we recommend you to check out the Rogue PvP page instead.

1. Cast Shadow Blades on cooldown.
2. Maintain Slice and Dice.
3. Maintain Rupture on your primary target.
4. Cast Symbols of Death and Secret Technique (if talented) in combination with Shadow Dance.
   • Aim to be between 50 to 60 Energy when activating Shadow Dance if Symbols of Death is available to make sure you are entering Shadow Dance with as much Energy as possible without wasting any.
5. Cast Eviscerate to spend Combo Points with 4+ (5+ if talented into Deeper Stratagem).
6. Cast Shadowstrike to generate Combo Points if Shadow Dance is active. Otherwise, use Backstab (from behind the target if possible to gain 20% extra damage on it).

Cast Vanish and Shadowstrike for more uptime on the Find Weakness debuff when it is about to fall off.

As mentioned above, always combine Secret Technique (if talented) with Symbols of Death and Shadow Dance to ensure maximum burst possible. In single-target situations, only cast Shadow Dance without Symbols of Death if you are about to cap on charges.

1. Maintain Slice and Dice. Stop casting on 6+ targets.
2. Maintaining Rupture does provide slightly more DPS to that target but less overall. Stop using Rupture on 6+ targets.
3. Cast Symbols of Death and Secret Technique (if talented) in combination with Shadow Dance.
   • In AoE situations you should cast Secret Technique on cooldown with a Shadow Dance charge. Do not hold Secret Technique for Symbols of Death for more than 2-4 seconds.
   • Try to be between 50 to 60 Energy when activating Shadow Dance if Symbols of Death is available to make sure you are entering Shadow Dance with as much Energy as possible without wasting any.
4. Use Shuriken Storm during Shadow Dance instead of Shadowstrike, if there are 3+ targets present.
5. Cast Eviscerate to spend Combo Points with 4+ (5+ if talented into Deeper Stratagem).
6. Cast Shuriken Storm to generate Combo Points.

While Shadow Blades still does decent damage on multi-target, due to the accelerated Combo Point gain on multi-target situations, the value of the extra Combo Point generated from Shadow Blades is diminished. Use Shadow Blades at your own discretion on multi-target or save it for a single-target situation.

Vanish has fairly low value on multi-target and is best used to extend the duration of Find Weakness.

Opener sequence specifically can be different in Mythic+ with multiple targets, so check out the dedicated page below to find optimal openers for every situation.

Always open while in Stealth.

If you are playing with The First Dance, your opener alters slightly due to the extra Combo Points you get. Follow the general guideline of using finishers at 4+ (or 5+ with Deeper Stratagem).

1. Use your Potion of Unbridled Fury 1 second before the pull.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Cast Slice and Dice.
4. Cast Condensed Life-Force/ Worldvein Resonance.
5. Cast Shadow Blades.
6. Cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
7. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
8. Cast Rupture.
9. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
10. Cast Eviscerate.
11. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
12. Cast Eviscerate.

1. Use your Potion of Unbridled Fury 1 second before the pull.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Cast Rupture.
4. Cast Condensed Life-Force/ Worldvein Resonance.
5. Cast Shadow Blades.
6. Cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
7. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
8. Cast Eviscerate.
9. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
10. Cast Eviscerate.
11. Cast Shadowstrike twice.
12. Cast Eviscerate.

You should activate any on-use trinkets you may have alongside Symbols of Death.

As a Rogue, most of your abilities need Energy to be used. Your Energy bar has a capacity of 100 Energy and refills at a rate of 10 Energy per second. With Vigor we have 150 Energy. Your Energy regeneration is increased by:

• melee haste (Haste + Haste-enhancing buffs);
• the Relentless Strikes passive, which guarantees your finishers restore 6 Energy per Combo Point;
• Shadow Techniques, which awards 8 Energy every time it procs;
• Vigor, if chosen as your Tier 3 talent.

The faster you regenerate Energy, the smoother the rotation will begin to feel, as you will need to "pool" less. Faster Energy regeneration and proper management allow for more finishers, more damage contribution from your Shadow Dance, and more burst damage.

Never let your Energy reach its maximum, as resource overflow is wasteful and results in lost damage.

You should also avoid capping Combo Points (i.e., reach 5 Combo Points) for more than 1 global cooldown so you do not waste a potential Shadow Techniques proc.

You will often have to wait for resources in order to ensure optimal delivery of your burst. The time you spend waiting (simply auto attacking the target) is known as "pooling". This allows your Energy to regenerate in anticipation of a burst window.

During a fight, the DPS value of Energy and Combo Points fluctuates. For example, during Shadow Dance, the DPS value of Energy is extraordinarily high. This is due to the short duration and limited availability of Shadow Dance (5 seconds, and 6 with Subterfuge). If you do not have enough Energy, then you cannot get all your Shadowstrikes off in that time. For this reason, it is incredibly important that you enter Shadow Dance with as close to maximum resources as possible. Playing with Shadow Focus does ease this by quite a bit.

Consider your "maximum" Energy as roughly 50 to 60 if your Symbols of Death) is ready. This is due to the fact that you always want to cast Symbols of Death (which gives 40 Energy) instantly when entering Shadow Dance to get the damage increase for your first global in Shadow Dance, which should be Shadowstrike).

Combo Points, on the other hand, have a higher value when the boss enters a period of increased damage taken, as pumping out as many finishers as possible during this time results in the highest overall damage yield. These examples should highlight the importance of pooling, and you will be doing it extremely often as Subtlety.

Shadow Dance is your "bread and butter" cooldown, and your damage output relies heavily on proper usage. Shadow Dance has 2 charges (or 3 when playing with Enveloping Shadows, each with a 1-minute recharge. The Deepening Shadows passive, however, ensures that they will be available much more often than that. Each Combo Point spent will reduce the cooldown of Shadow dance by 1.5 seconds (or 2.5 when playing with Enveloping Shadows).

You should aim to cast Symbols of Death in combination with Shadow Dance. However, you should never cap on Shadow Dance charges. If you are about to cap on them, cast Shadow Dance without Symbols of Deaths. The optimal Shadow Dance rotation on multi-target will look as follows:

1. Shuriken Storm.
2. Black Powder or Secret Technique if talented.
3. Shuriken Storm.
4. Black Powder.
5. Shuriken Storm.

Vanish can be used more or less on cooldown at the player's discretion. You should use Vanish to extend the duration of Find Weakness.

Rogues have the best defensive capabilities in the game, which makes them the best candidate for soaking required mechanics and dealing with heavy incoming damage.

• Feint reduces AoE damage taken by 40% for 5 seconds for only 35 Energy. When talented into Elusiveness it also reduces all other damage by 30%. This is one of the most overpowered abilities in the game and a huge asset on fights with heavy raid damage.
• Cloak of Shadows removes all non-physical debuffs, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. Cloak can be used for intercepting in boss fight mechanics or be used for damage gains, such as staying in and hitting the boss during an AoE that you would otherwise have to avoid.
• Cheat Death is a talent that allows you to escape lethal damage once every 6 minutes. The damage cannot exceed more than twice your maximum health. Cheat Death is great for soaking mechanics that pierce immunities and damage reductions as it guarantees your survival. It is also great for encounters with bursty damage that might take you by surprise, as you get a free get out of jail free card once every 6 minutes.
• Crimson Vial provides a respectable amount of healing on a very short cooldown. Useful for an extra bit of healing if you are low on Health, or you are out of range of a healer.

Some of your personal buffs benefit from Pandemic, a mechanic that allows you to refresh early without penalty as long as the buff has less than 30% of its maximum duration remaining. The current timer will be added to the newly refreshed full duration buff, allowing for a new buff longer than the maximum duration. Rupture can be safely refreshed at 8.4 seconds, and Slice and Dice at 12.6 seconds.

The Pandemic timing from Rupture is based off of your current Combo Point value, rather than the duration of the original Rupture. So if you had a 2 Combo Point Rupture on the target, and refresh with a 5 Combo Point Rupture, the Pandemic value would be treated as a 5 Combo Point Rupture instead.

Ultimately, this is a specialization that rewards the initiated and informed, but can be incredibly punishing to the neophytes. Learning to focus on what is important and mastering the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performances on the damage charts. Subtlety features 3 major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:

1. resource management;
2. cooldown usage;
3. personal initiative.

As discussed in depth earlier in this section, pooling is one of the most important aspects of this specialization. When playing optimally, you will spend a lot of time doing nothing and just waiting for your Energy bar to fill. Pay very close attention to your boss timers, as you will want to ensure you have enough Energy ready to apply pressure to high priority adds, phases of increased damage output, or a fortuitous trinket proc.

The 3 resources of Subtlety are Energy, Combo Points, and Shadow Dance charges. The main goal of resource management is to minimize overflow and wastage of these resources. Oftentimes these resources will be at odds with each other; aiming for perfect Combo Point management may result in Energy cap, immaculate Energy management may result in Shadow Dance charge overflow, and so on. Perfect resource management is impossible, and therefore the crux of becoming a seasoned Subtlety veteran is learning which compromises to make. Listed below is the priority of resources to help you minimize wastage:

1. Shadow Dance charges;
2. Combo Points;
3. Energy.

It is very important that you never waste Shadow Dance charges.

Shadow Dance is one of the least rigid cooldowns in the game currently, as it allows for a variety of different usages depending on player interpretation of the current situation. As mentioned earlier in the guide, it is imperative to pool Energy and ensure you are getting the maximum value out of your Shadow Dances.

Your personal experience and instincts will play a large role in your ability to fully maximize output. Try to keep track of all your cooldowns as a whole, rather than as individual abilities, as they interact together in ways that alter the rotation significantly. For example, Rupture only lasts for 18 seconds, so if Secret Technique is coming off cooldown at the same time Rupture is going to expire, you will want to refresh Rupture a little early and build up Combo Points so you are able to use Secret Technique immediately. Understanding how these spells interact with each other is critical when lining up a burst window for Shadow Dance.