Subtlety Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2.5

Last updated on Jan 15, 2024 at 15:00 by Oxi 63 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Subtlety Rogue in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Subtlety Rogue talents.

Within this page, we will go over every single talent available to Subtlety Rogues. Many of them are only passive effects, but they all can have an impact on how the spec is played, whether active or passive. To see how these choices fit into how you play as a Subtlety, take a look at the Rotation section of our guide.

1.

Talent Cheat Sheets for Subtlety Rogue

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.

1.1.

Single-Target (Invigorating Shadowdust) (Raiding)

The go-to build for all Single Target Encounters in Raid.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.

1.2.

Single-Target (Non-Invigorating Shadowdust) (Raiding)

The Dark Brew build for raiding for most encounters.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.

The suggested builds might differ based on the current tier's bosses, so make sure to read the dedicated raiding page below.

1.3.

AoE/Cleave Invigorating Shadowdust (Mythic+)

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.

Due to the dynamic nature of Mythic+, different affixes and dungeons can change our choice of talents. Check out the Mythic+ page below.

1.4.

AoE/Cleave Non-Invigorating Shadowdust (Mythic+)

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.

Due to the dynamic nature of Mythic+, different affixes and dungeons can change our choice of talents. Check out the Mythic+ page below.

2.

Subtlety Rogue Class Tree Talents

The Class Tree for Subtlety Rogues is fairly straightforward, and the few choices you will have are mainly utility options, which we will talk about in this section.

2.1.

Rows 1-4

With the redesigned talent trees, your talent options can change quite a bit. The biggest change you can make in these rows is swapping Improved Sprint Icon Improved Sprint or Master Poisoner Icon Master Poisoner for Gouge Icon Gouge/Airborne Irritant Icon Airborne Irritant for some more CC options. However, untalenting Master Poisoner Icon Master Poisoner is not recommended.

While Master Poisoner Icon Master Poisoner does not increase our output, it makes our Atrophic Poison Icon Atrophic Poison reduce the target's damage dealt by 3.6% instead of 3% which means that you should always pick this talent for progression raiding.

2.2.

Rows 5-7

The options in these rows are quite limited. However, with the redesign, we are now afforded more utility options than we were before. The only must-have DPS options in these rows are Subterfuge Icon Subterfuge and Improved Ambush Icon Improved Ambush. There is a new talent (Stillshroud Icon Stillshroud) that reduces the cooldown of Shroud of Concealment Icon Shroud of Concealment that can prove useful in mythic+ and for raid trash skips.

2.3.

Rows 8-10

These rows give us the meat of our DPS options in the class tree. The redesigned opened up two charges of Shadow Dance Icon Shadow Dance for Subtlety Rogue with the move of Nightstalker Icon Nightstalker instead of Find Weakness Icon Find Weakness (which has been relocated to the Subtlety Spec Tree). There's a lot of contention around Acrobatic Strikes Icon Acrobatic Strikes at the moment, but it was made clear that Blizzard views it as a DPS talent and intend to keep it where it is at

3.

Subtlety Rogue Spec Tree Talents

With 10.2, Black Powder Icon Black Powder becomes baseline for Subtlety rogue, so the difference between the ST build and the M+ builds comes down to you either take Shuriken Tornado Icon Shuriken Tornado, or you don't.

3.1.

Rows 1-4

If you played Subtlety Rogue prior to 10.2, you'll notice a completely new Specialization Tree. With that, you'll see Find Weakness Icon Find Weakness as the starting talent, and you'll see now that we get access to the beloved Shadowlands Conduit Quick Decisions Icon Quick Decisions. You'll also see the choice node of Cloaked in Shadows Icon Cloaked in Shadows/Fade to Nothing Icon Fade to Nothing has been moved into this part of the tree. Overall, you'll take the same 8 points in every build for PvE purposes.

3.2.

Rows 5-7

With the new tree comes new gateways, which means this part of the tree opens up a bit more. You'll notice we no longer take Gloomblade Icon Gloomblade (although that is always still an option if you want to drop Replicating Shadows Icon Replicating Shadows, but you lose out on the 20% damage bonus to rupture doing so). For Mythic+/AoE/Cleave situations, you drop Weaponmaster Icon Weaponmaster and pick up Shuriken Tornado Icon Shuriken Tornado.

3.3.

Rows 8-10

Much like in our class tree, these rows are packed with output options. Including the new Shadowcraft Icon Shadowcraft and Goremaw's Bite Icon Goremaw's Bite. If your only care is output DPS, the points you place in these rows are pretty much automatically decided. We always take Flagellation Icon Flagellation and Deeper Daggers Icon Deeper Daggers and round it off with Finality Icon Finality, Dark Shadow Icon Dark Shadow, Danse Macabre Icon Danse Macabre, Dark Brew Icon Dark Brew. The best simming single target build also always plays Inevitability Icon Inevitability and Shadowcraft Icon Shadowcraft.

4.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

If you choose to, you can enable "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

  • PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
  • 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
  • 15% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

4.1.

Subtlety Rogue War Mode Talents

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Subtlety Rogue-specific PvP talents.

4.1.1.
  1. Death from Above Icon Death from Above is just a stronger Eviscerate Icon Eviscerate./li>
  2. Dagger in the Dark Icon Dagger in the Dark — Whenever Stealth is active, you apply a debuff to nearby enemies that causes them to take an additional 5% damage from your next Shadowstrike. Stacks up to 8 times. This is nothing special, but still a slight damage boost.
  3. Only two of the Honor Talents increase our DPS while outdoors, so the last choice is up to you on which one you think suits you the best.

Veil of Midnight Icon Veil of Midnight, Shadowy Duel Icon Shadowy Duel, Silhouette Icon Silhouette, Smoke Bomb Icon Smoke Bomb, Thick as Thieves Icon Thick as Thieves, Distracting Mirage Icon Distracting Mirage, Control is King Icon Control is King, Dismantle Icon Dismantle and Maneuverability Icon Maneuverability have limited use in PvE content in terms of increasing your damage in the open-world.

5.

Changelog

  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 24 Nov. 2023: Updated to add Shadowdust Talent Builds.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed and Updated for patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reformated talent tables and descriptions.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Small recommended talent updates.
  • 11 May 2023: Changed recommended talent to Flagellation over Dark Brew.
  • 09 May 2023: Added the new talent build with Aberrus tier set.
  • 01 May 2023: Page reviewed and updated for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 14 Feb. 2023: Updated recommended single-target talent build.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Page updated and reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 17 Dec. 2022: Fixed import string for single-target spec.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated recommended talents.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 31 Oct. 2022: Changed recommended Raiding talent build and added comments on possible talent choices on certain rows.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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