Subtlety Rogue PvP Guide (Dragonflight 10.0.7)
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Rogue PvP guide.
Subtlety Rogues in the Current Meta
Subtlety Rogues have one of the best control toolkits in the game with
Blind and
Kidney Shot but most importantly with
Shadow Dance, enabling them to access
Sap and
Cheap Shot at will. They also have the well-knwown
Smoke Bomb,
recently buffed, as well as the unique ability
Shadowy Duel, making them
true crowd control lords amongst the melee specializations.
They also have strong on-demand burst damage, allowing them to score kills
when the entire enemy team is in CC.
Noteworthy changes throughout Dragonflight
Patch 10.0.7
Dark Shadow effectiveness reduced by 20% in PvP combat.
Danse Macabre effectiveness reduced by 33% in PvP combat.
Perforated Veins effectiveness reduced by 25% in PvP combat.
Backstab and
Gloomblade damage increased by 20% in PvP combat.
Patch 10.0.2
Secret Technique damage reduced by 30% in PvP combat.
Strengths of Subtlety Rogues
- Powerful burst
- Great mobility
- Great control
- Excellent utility
Weaknesses of Subtlety Rogues
- Very prone to dying in stuns
- Significant cooldown on defensive abilities
- Often reliant on teammates to stay alive
- Non-existant sustained damage
Content of the Guide
This guide ended up being very long, so we decided to split it in different pages.
- On the Subtlety Rogue PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of each PvE talent row to help you decide which talent to pick on each row, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, which advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
- On the Subtlety Rogue PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (dealing damage, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
- On the Subtlety Rogue PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, particularly trinkets.
- On the Subtlety Rogue PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Subtlety Rogues in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
- On the Subtlety Rogue PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful macros for PvP for Subtlety Rogues.
- On the Subtlety Rogue Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Subtlety Rogues, in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
Changelog
- 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7.
- 25 Jan. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 28 Jul. 2022: Reviewed for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 01 Jul. 2022: Updated page structure.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 21 Feb. 2022: Updated for Patch 9.2.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Already up to date with Patch 9.1.5.
- 04 Jul. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
- 28 Mar. 2021: Rewritten by Shadenox and further updated for Patch 9.0.5.
- 18 Mar. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.0.5.
- 29 Nov. 2020: Removed old Azerite mentions and updated gear page.
- 27 Nov. 2020: Added Covenant page.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Shadenox, an experienced Gladiator player who has achieved over 3,000 rating on Rogue. You can find him on his YouTube channel, where he creates guides and other informational content regarding Arenas.
- New Potential Evoker Spells Added in Patch 10.1 Build 48661
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Hotfixes: March 23rd
- Primordial Stone Hotfix Changes: March 23rd
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 DPS Log Rankings for Vault of the Incarnates: Day 1
- Mythic+ Tier List in Dragonflight Season 1 (Week 15)
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Hotfixes: March 22nd
- Class Set Updates and Clarifications in Patch 10.1: March 22nd
- Dragonflight Patch 10.1 PTR Dev Notes: March 22nd