Subtlety Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (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 present the viable talent choices for Subtlety Rogues in World of Warcraft Legion 7.2. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

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. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Master of Subtlety	✔ Weaponmaster	✘ Gloomblade
30	✘ Nightstalker	✔ Subterfuge	✘ Shadow Focus
45	✔ Deeper Stratagem	✔ Anticipation	✘ Vigor
60	? Soothing Darkness	✔ Elusiveness	✔ Cheat Death
75	✔ Strike from the Shadows	✔ Prey on the Weak	✘ Tangled Shadow
90	✔ Premeditation	✔ Alacrity	✘ Enveloping Shadows
100	✔ Master of Shadows	? Marked for Death	? Death from Above

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheets

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

2.1. Raid Encounters

This build is an excellent starting point as a standard raid setup.

• Level 15: Master of Subtlety
• Level 30: Subterfuge
• Level 45: Deeper Stratagem
• Level 60: Cheat Death
• Level 75: Prey on the Weak
• Level 90: Premeditation
• Level 100: Master of Shadows

2.1.1. Heavy Cleave & AoE

• Level 15: Weaponmaster
• Level 30: Subterfuge
• Level 45: Deeper Stratagem
• Level 60: Cheat Death
• Level 75: Strike from the Shadows
• Level 90: Alacrity
• Level 100: Marked for Death

2.2. For General Use

This build is an excellent starting point for questing and general purpose usage.

• Level 15: Master of Subtlety
• Level 30: Subterfuge
• Level 45: Deeper Stratagem
• Level 60: Soothing Darkness
• Level 75: Strike from the Shadows
• Level 90: Premeditation
• Level 100: Marked for Death

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

✔ Master of Subtlety

✔ Weaponmaster

✘ Gloomblade

Tier 1 talents augment existing abilities with minor damage increases.

• Master of Subtlety causes attacks made from Stealth and for 5 seconds after it breaks to deal 10% increased damage.
• Weaponmaster grants your abilities a 6% chance to strike twice per target hit.
• Gloomblade replaces your Backstab, deals shadow damage and is unaffected by facing.

Master of Subtlety has rough parity with Weaponmaster on pure single target. It may pull very slightly ahead in such situations, and is therefore advised for single-target encounters.

Weaponmaster has rough parity with Master of Subtlety on a single target, and pulls definitively into the lead once 2 targets are present (once you are using Shuriken Storm). This is our go-to talent on this tier in multiple-target scenarios, as it excels here and offers great flexibility.

Gloomblade currently falls behind the other options if you can reliably Backstab from behind.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

✘ Nightstalker

✔ Subterfuge

✘ Shadow Focus

Tier 2 talents augment your Stealth ability to provide a damage increase.

• Nightstalker increases movement speed by 20% and damage by 12% while Stealth and Shadow Dance are active.
• Subterfuge allows abilities requiring Stealth to be used for an additional 3 seconds after Stealth breaks. Shadow Dance also lasts for an additional 2 seconds.
• Shadow Focus reduces the Energy cost of abilities by 25% when used from Stealth or while Shadow Dance is active.

Subterfuge is currently the only competitive option on this tier.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

✔ Deeper Stratagem

✔ Anticipation

✘ Vigor

Tier 3 talents augment your resource systems.

• Deeper Stratagem increases maximum Combo Points to 6, allows finishing moves to consume 6 combo points, and increases the damage of finishing moves by 5%.
• Anticipation increases maximum Combo Points to 10, but finishing moves still consume 5 combo points.
• Vigor increases your maximum Energy by 50 and increases Energy regeneration by 10%.

Deeper Stratagem is currently the best choice in all situations (even while using Denial of the Half-Giants). If you are a less seasoned player and struggle with Combo Point management, you should instead use Anticipation.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

? Soothing Darkness

✔ Elusiveness

✔ Cheat Death

Tier 4 talents improve your personal survivability.

• Soothing Darkness allows you to regenerate 3% of your maximum life per second while Stealth is active.
• Elusiveness causes Feint to also grant 30% reduced damage taken from all sources.
• Cheat Death causes fatal damage to instead reduce you to 7% of your maximum health and grant 85% reduced damage taken for 3 seconds. Cheat Death cannot save you from damage great that double your maximum health. It has a 6-minute cooldown.

Cheat Death is a good choice for players in a raid environment, as it is entirely passive and great for soaking raid mechanics when needed. Elusiveness is technically the best talent in most situations, but requires you to be extremely proficient with Feint usage and very aware of incoming damage. Generally, Cheat Death is best for learning encounters and soaking high damage mechanics, whereas Elusiveness is great for sustained incoming damage, or soaking frequently occurring mechanics (such as Blood Ritual on Iron Maidens). Soothing Darkness is a useful talent for questing and world content, but has no use in a practical environment.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

✔ Strike from the Shadows

✔ Prey on the Weak

✘ Tangled Shadow

Tier 5 talents improve your crowd control utility.

• Strike from the Shadows causes your Shadowstrike to also stun the target for 2 seconds (5-second daze against players).
• Prey on the Weak causes enemies disabled from your Kidney Shot, Sap, and Cheap Shot to take 10% increased damage from all sources.
• Tangled Shadow causes Nightblade to decrease the targets movement speed by an additional 20%.

Either Prey on the Weak or Strike from the Shadows is fine here. As a rule of thumb, Prey on the Weak is the superior choice when the entire group is focusing one target, as everyone in the group benefits from the damage bonus. Strike from the Shadows is a better choice when the damage is a little more split, or the focused damage is less important, as it combines damage output with crowd control. This allows to you instantly burst on important targets, such as Inconceivable Horrors on Xavius, without wasting a global cooldown.

Tangled Shadow could be useful for dealing with an add that the tank needs to kite, as it would result in a permanent 70% slow as long as you are attacking the target and Nightblade is active. There are no situations currently where this can be put into practice, however, and therefore this talent is to be avoided.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

✔ Premeditation

✔ Alacrity

✘ Enveloping Shadows

Tier 6 talents involve potent passives and a new finisher.

• Premeditation causes Cheap Shot and Shadowstrike to generate 1 extra Combo Point.
• Alacrity causes finishing moves to have a 20% chance per Combo Point to grant 2% haste for 20 seconds, stacking 10 times.
• Enveloping Shadows is a finishing move that generates Combo Points periodically.

Premeditation is a strong choice right now for most boss encounters as you will be casting a lot of Shadowstrikes. This is the go-to talent for encounters with 1-2 primary targets.

Alacrity is the best option for any sustained 3+ target cleave. A good choice for heavy cleave and/or Mythic+ dungeons.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

✔ Master of Shadows

? Marked for Death

? Death from Above

Tier 7 talents focus on resource utility and a powerful finishing move.

• Master of Shadows causes you to immediately gain 25 Energy when entering Stealth or Shadow Dance.
• Marked for Death marks a target and instantly generates 5 Combo Points. The cooldown is reset if the marked target dies.
• Death from Above is a two-part finishing move with a short cooldown that ends with an automatic cast of a 50% stronger Eviscerate.

Master of Shadows is currently the best option for 1-4 target situations. It's important to ensure you avoid casting Shadow Dance or Vanish with more than 70 Energy while playing with this talent, as this results in resource munching. Even with 5+ targets present this is the best option for focusing on the primary target while still dealing solid cleave damage.

Death from Above is the best option on sustained 5+ target cleave. It's important to note that this talent is a single target loss, so if the targets are not of equal priority it may be best to stick with Master of Shadows to focus the damage where it counts.

Marked for Death pulls ahead of the other options when there are several targets and opportunities to consistently exploit the reset mechanic. A good example of this is the Skorpyron encounter in Nighthold. This is also a good choice in Mythic+ dungeons.

10. ChangeLog

• 03 Apr. 2017: Slight update to the discussion between Master of Subtlety and Weaponmaster.
• 23 Jan. 2017: Added a section explaining the Finality bug for Anticipation.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Updated for Patch 7.1.5.
• 06 Dec. 2016: Updated T1 talents (Weaponmaster>=MoS) and added a note about situational uses of Alacrity and Death From Above.
• 11 Oct. 2016: Updated talent build and descriptions.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Updated Level 45, 75, 90, and 100 talent recommendations.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Tweaked Level 30 talent recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.