Subtlety Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

On this page, we will go over talent builds available to Subtlety Rogues. To see how the choice of build affects how you play as a Subtlety, take a look at the Rotation section of our guide.

1.

The War Within Subtlety Rogue Talent Builds

Use the boxes below to navigate builds

Deathstalker Trickster
Raid / Single-Target Trickster
Mythic+ / AoE Deathstalker
Mythic+ / AoE

2.

Deathstalker Single-Target

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Raid / Single Target - Deathstalker Show Copy

CUQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgx2MAAAAAwsMGbTMbbjxMDDmZmZGjZbMzw2YGzMzYwYmtBAAAgBjhZZgBAYYCMLYGmZAmB

3.

Trickster Mythic+ / AoE

Note

Disorienting Strikes and Devious Distractions in the Trickster tree will appear red due to a visual bug. The talents still function.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Raid / Mythic+ / AoE - Trickster Show Copy

CUQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgx2MAAAAAwsMGbTMbbjxMYmxDMzMzYMbzYG2GzYmZGDGzsNAAAAMYMgxwwADYhFiNMDYmBzA

4.

Deathstalker Mythic+ / AoE

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Raid / Mythic+ / AoE Deathstalker Show Copy

CUQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgx2MAAAAAwsMGbTMbbjxMYmxDMzMzYMbzYG2GzYmZGDGzsNAAAAMYMMLDMAglBBmFMDzMAzA

There are not many differences in how the different trees impact your gameplay, they both do the same thing with different flare. Both trees have a similar empowered version of Eviscerate ( Coup de Grace and Darkest Night respectively) that occurs when you have gone through their respective gameplay loops. These buffs generally also make the Eviscerate worth casting even in AoE scenarios due to the power they provide.

While there might not be much gameplay difference between the two trees the damage profile they provide does differ slightly. Trickster doubles down on burst while Deathstalker provides a slightly more balanced profile in terms of when the damage happens, it is still Subtlety though so its not anywhere near a flat profile. Deathstalker also provides higher "funnel"/"prio damage" in Multi-Target scenarios such as Mythic+ due to talents like Singular Focus while Tricksters AoE benefits are more tied to killing all enemies rather than one specific mob.

However there are certain bosses or scenarios in which many players despise playing Deathstalker. Because the hero talent is centered around a debuff that is fairly cumbersome to move around to other targets there will be times where the debuff is "stuck" on a boss or mob that runs away and/or despawns, leading to the debuff being completely lost. With good play this can be avoided most of the time but regardless it feels terrible when it happens.

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.

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.

1. Death from Above is just a stronger Eviscerate.
2. 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, Shadowy Duel, Silhouette, Smoke Bomb, Thick as Thieves, Distracting Mirage, Control is King, Dismantle and Maneuverability have limited use in PvE content in terms of increasing your damage in the open-world.