Subtlety Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (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

On this page, we list your Subtlety Rogue core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.2. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Subtlety Rogue.

The other pages of our Subtlety Rogue guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

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. Ability Priority List

1.1. Single Target

1. Maintain the Symbols of Death buff.
2. Maintain Nightblade.
3. Activate Shadow Blades if available.
4. Enter Shadow Dance if you have 3 charges, or there is less than 30 seconds remaining before you get your third charge.
   • Shadow Dance should be activated as close to Energy cap as possible (70 with Master of Shadows).
   • If talented into Premeditation you should aim to enter Shadow Dance with 1 Combo Point (3 Combo Points without Premeditation, and 6-7 Combo Points with Anticipation).
   • Use Shadowstrike as long you are Stealthed and have less than 5 combo points (7 with Anticipation).
5. Activate Vanish when available (see Shadow Blades rules directly above).
6. Cast Goremaw's Bite on cooldown.
7. Use Eviscerate to spend Combo Points.
8. Cast Backstab to generate Combo Points.

1.2. Multiple Targets (2+)

1. Maintain the Symbols of Death buff.
2. Maintain Nightblade on every available target.
3. Activate Shadow Blades if available.
4. Enter Shadow Dance if you have 3 charges, or there is less than 20 seconds remaining before you get your third charge.
   • Use Shadowstrike to generate Combo Points if you are talented into Premeditation and there are only 2 targets.
   • Use Shuriken Storm during Shadow Dance instead if there are 3+ targets present.
5. Activate Vanish when available (see Shadow Dance rules directly above).
6. Use Goremaw's Bite when available.
7. Cast Eviscerate to dump any excess Combo Points.
8. Use Shuriken Storm to generate Combo Points.

For more information about the optimal opening sequence, refer to our dedicated section.

2. Important Notes

2.1. Combo Points and Energy

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 grants your finishers a 20% chance per Combo Point to restore 40 Energy;
• Vigor, if chosen as your Tier 7 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.

You should never let your Energy reach its maximum. This a DPS loss, as you are wasting every Energy point generated during this time.

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.

2.1.1. Pooling

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, because it sports a large damage buff and only lasts for 3 seconds (5 with Subterfuge). If you do not have enough Energy, then you cannot get all your Shadowstrikes off in that time (or refresh Symbols of Death and spam Shadowstrike). For this reason, it is incredibly important that you enter Shadow Dance with more than 100 Energy. Remember that you will get 30 Energy back immediately if you are playing with Master of Shadows, so do not go much higher. The time you spend waiting (simply auto attacking the boss) while your Energy regenerates in anticipate of a burst window is known as "pooling."

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 as you will be doing it extremely often as Subtlety.

2.2. Shadow Dance

Shadow Dance is your most frequently used cooldown, and contributes to your damage more than any other source. Shadow Dance has 3 charges, each with a 1-minute recharge, however, the Deepening Shadows passive ensures that they will be available much more often than that. Each 5 Combo Point finisher will reduce the cooldown of Shadow Dance by 15 seconds.

You should still Eviscerate if you cap Combo Points in Shadow Dance for the energy return from Relentless Strikes and avoid Combo Point overflow. You should always enter Shadow Dance with 3 Combo Points (1 Combo Point when talented into Premeditation!!). This is because we want our third global inside of dance to be a finisher for the Energy return, so we can continue to cast Shadowstrike. Entering with the correct amount of Combo Points allows for a full power finisher, which is optimal for maximum damage output and Energy return. A typical Shadow Dance with Subterfuge will look like:

1. Refresh Symbols of Death if necessary, and cast Shadowstrike.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Dump CP with Eviscerate.
4. Cast Shadowstrike.
5. Cast Shadowstrike.

A perfectly viable alternative to this is to go into Shadow Dance high on Combo Points and perform a dance with 2 finishers and 3 Shadowstrikes.

You will be forced to Shadow Dance or Vanish once every 35 seconds to refresh Symbols of Death. For every Shadow Dance it is very important that you budget a minimum of 100 Energy, as you only have very limited time inside this cooldown. As Symbols of Death is off the global cooldown, you need to press it simultaneously with your first Shadowstrike, which have a combined Energy cost of 75 Energy.

Shuriken Storm deals 200% increased damage during Shadow Dance, but in most situations it is better to focus on single-target damage. If you need to quickly burst down a large pack of mobs, such as the imps on Mannoroth, try to go into Shadow Dance with 0 Combo Points so that the generation from Shuriken Storm is not entirely wasted.

2.2.1. Building Combo Points during Shadow Dance

When using Shadow Dance, Shadowstrike takes the place of Backstab as your Combo Point generator. This is very beneficial as Shadowstrike deals significantly more damage than Backstab, and generates twice as many Combo Points when using Premeditation.

2.3. Shadow Blades

Remember that you have increased Combo Point generation during Shadow Blades, so take care not to accidentally overcap. You should dump your Combo Points and pool at least 100 Energy before activating Shadow Blades to take maximum advantage of this cooldown. It is preferable not to overlap Shadow Blades and Shadow Dance together due to the constant overflow of Combo Points.

2.4. Vanish

Vanish can be used more or less on cooldown at the player's discretion. It can be beneficial to use as a free window to refresh Symbols of Death and get a single Shadowstrike (remember, you need 75 Energy to do both) without expending a charge of Shadow Dance. This allows you to save your Shadow Dance charges for procs or bursting down high priority targets. There is a small bug with Vanish in that it will not always immediately activate Subterfuge if you use your first ability instantly, so take care.

2.5. Defensive Utility

All Rogues come ready made with a dizzying phalanx of defensive cooldowns, which make them the best candidate for soaking required mechanics and dealing with heavy incoming damage.

• Feint reduces AoE damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds for only 20 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. Do not forget about this button!
• Cloak of Shadows provides magic immunity for a second, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. This spell is mostly used for clearing debuffs that might otherwise force you out of melee range, like Fel Surge on Xhul'horac. Cloak is also a fantastic tool for soaking abilities that don't pierce immunities.
• 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's 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. Use this often in boss encounters.

2.6. Pandemic

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. For example, if you refreshed a 5 Combo Point Nightblade when it had 4 seconds left, it would result in a new Nightblade debuff that lasts 22 seconds. These are the safe refresh times for your buffs and debuffs:

• Symbols of Death: 10.5s
• Nightblade: 4.8s

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

3. Core Concepts

Subtlety Rogue has been entirely redesigned, and though there are some familiar concepts returning, this specialization is its own beast. Subtlety has plenty of complexity and a ton of room for personal creativity and interpretation, due to the charge based nature of Shadow Dance. Given that abilities like Symbols of Death incur no global cooldown, this specialization rewards the fleet fingered as there are a considerable number of buttons to press in very small windows of time. 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 master 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.

3.1. Resource Management

As discussed in depth earlier in this section, pooling is one of the most important aspects of this specialization. Particularly when playing with Deeper Stratagem, the preferred Tier 3 talent, you will spend a lot of time pooling for Shadow Dance with little margin for error. When using Vigor, Premeditation, Subterfuge, and Master of Shadows the specialization becomes much faster and slightly more forgiving. 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.

3.2. Cooldown Usage

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 not going to cap Combo Points before entering Shadow Dance, as you will be spamming Shadowstrike (a Combo Point generator) while dance is active. Symbols of Death must be maintained at all times for maximum damage output. Vanish can be used for a similar purpose without burning a Shadow Dance charge.

When playing with Premeditation and Bleeding Hollow Toxin Vessel it is okay to cap Combo Points inside of Shadow Dance, as the goal is to get as many buffed Shadowstrike.

3.2.1. Personal Initiative

Your personal experience and instincts will play a large role in your ability to fully maximize output. Getting a feel for when it is worth it to use your Shadow Dance to deal burst AoE with Shuriken Storm versus going full single target with Shadowstrike is something that can only be learned, not explained. 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, Nightblade only lasts for 18 seconds, so if Death from Above is coming off cooldown at the same time Nightblade is going to expire, you will want to refresh Nightblade a little early and build up Combo Points for use on Death from Above immediately. Understand these spell interactions is of critical importance when lining up a burst window for Shadow Dance.

4. Opening Sequence

Always open while in Stealth.

1. 13.5 seconds before the pull, cast Symbols of Death.
2. 3.5 seconds before the pull, cast Symbols of Death.
3. Use your Potion of the Old War right before the pull.
4. Cast Shadowstrike 3 times.
5. Apply Nightblade to the target.
6. Enter Shadow Dance and activate any on-use trinkets or racials.
7. Cast Shadowstrike.
8. Cast Shadowstrike.
9. Finisher ( Eviscerate on a single target, Nightblade on secondary targets if available).
10. Activate Shadow Blades.
11. Cast Shadowstrike.
12. Cast Shadowstrike.
13. Finisher.
14. Activate Vanish.
15. Cast Shadowstrike.
16. Cast Shadowstrike.
17. Finisher.
18. Cast Shadowstrike.
19. Enter Shadow Dance.
20. Cast Shadowstrike.
21. Cast Shadowstrike.
22. Finisher.
23. Cast Shadowstrike.
24. Normal rotation.

Goremaw's Bite is best used sometime into the pull after the initial high Energy phase (usually 20-30 seconds into the fight). The main reason for this is to fully utilize the Energy return and Combo Points from Goremaw's Bite rather than getting it on cooldown as soon as possible.

5. ChangeLog

• 03 Apr. 2017: Slight adjustments in the Shadow Dance advice for the single-target rotation.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 23 Jan. 2017: Updated APL for Anticipation bug.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 06 Dec. 2016: Big update; Action Priority List split into single/multi target, resource management updates, many tweaks to "Important Notes" sections.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Many small improvements (more notes on Pandemic, Subterfuge, and many tweaks).
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.