Subtlety Rogue PvP Talents and Builds (Dragonflight / 10.0.7)

Last updated Yesterday at 19:43 by Shadenox 28 comments

Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as a Subtlety Rogue and gives you the best combinations you can take.

This page is part of our Subtlety Rogue PvP Guide.

1.

Regular Talents for Subtlety Rogues

1.1.

Rogue Tree

1.1.1.

Mandatory Talents

Blind Icon Blind, Sap Icon Sap, Cloak of Shadows Icon Cloak of Shadows, Evasion Icon Evasion, and Shadowstep Icon Shadowstep are core abilities that you need to pick to play the class. These abilities are your CC, defensive cooldowns, and mobility.

Elusiveness Icon Elusiveness is a good option against comps with predictable damage that you can preemptively Feint. Still, in the current meta (very fast-paced, highly bursty), Cheat Death Icon Cheat Death is often a better option.

Shadow Dance Icon Shadow Dance gives you a second charge of Shadow Dance. This is a must-have.

Echoing Reprimand Icon Echoing Reprimand and its follow-up node synergize very well with the spec since it allows you to either dramatically increase the damage of Eviscerate Icon Eviscerate by hitting the animacharged Combo Points while giving a lot of cooldown reduction on Shadow Dance, thanks to Deepening Shadows Icon Deepening Shadows.

1.1.2.

Important Talents

Gouge Icon Gouge is a handy ability to have. While it breaks on damage taken, you can still use it to set up CC on a target that has no DoTs when you don't have Shadow Dance or don't want to put a stun DR on the enemy. It can even be used as a way to interrupt casts when you don't have your Kick Icon Kick.

Cold Blood Icon Cold Blood allows you to make sure an important ability is going to critically strike for added damage. In this build, it is picked to go alongside Secret Technique Icon Secret Technique.

1.2.

Subtelty Tree

1.2.1.

Mandatory Talents

Relentless Strikes Icon Relentless Strikes and Improved Shadow Techniques Icon Improved Shadow Techniques are what allow Subtlety to regenerate energy. They are a must-have.

Secret Technique Icon Secret Technique is currently the most powerful ability available to Subtlety Rogues regarding damage output. Paired with Cold Blood, it will greatly damage your target on your kill attempts.

Improved Shadow Dance Icon Improved Shadow Dance extends the duration of your Shadow Dance, allowing you to deal more damage and land more CC. This is a must-have.

Deepening Shadows Icon Deepening Shadows allows you to reset your Shadow Dance, a must-have.

Dark Shadow Icon Dark Shadow and Danse Macabre Icon Danse Macabre greatly empowers your burst damage. This is a must-have.

Shadow Blades Icon Shadow Blades is your burst cooldown. While not overly powerful, it increases your Combo Point generation, allowing you to land more Eviscerate Icon Eviscerate on a go. An excellent ability to have.

Without a Trace Icon Without a Trace is a mighty talent as it gives you an additional charge on Vanish. This makes you more elusive and lets you initiate kill attempts more.

Dark Brew Icon Dark Brew increases most of your damage by 10%. A powerful buff.

1.2.2.

Important Talents

Shadowed Finishers Icon Shadowed Finishers, Deeper Daggers Icon Deeper Daggers, and Finality Icon Finality all synergize together to empower your finisher damage massively. These talents are the key to your damage.

2.

PvP Talents for Subtlety Rogues

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents; each has uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful but can be replaced with other PvP talents depending on your team's goal.

2.1.

Mandatory PvP Talents

Smoke Bomb Icon Smoke Bomb creates a smoke cloud around you. Enemy players who are outside the cloud will not be able to target anyone inside it. This talent is mandatory for multiple reasons. Firstly, it can help you land a kill by stunning a target when they have no trinket. By using Smoke Bomb right after the stun, you will prevent the healer from saving their teammate. Secondly, you can use it defensively to save yourself or an ally from a lethal cast about to go off, such as Greater Pyroblast Icon Greater Pyroblast. And lastly, you can use it to prevent incoming crowd control on you or your team if such crowd control would result in you losing a game, such as a Polymorph Icon Polymorph or Repentance Icon Repentance on your healer when they have no trinket, and you are low on health. As you can see, this talent is helpful in many different situations, which is why it is so powerful. Note that, as Subtlety, the cooldown is only 2 minutes.

Shadowy Duel Icon Shadowy Duel places you and the enemy you cast this on in a duel. You can only interact with each other and no one else for 5 seconds. This talent is mighty. You can use it on an enemy at low health to prevent the enemy healer from saving them while you finish them off. If you do not have the damage to do so, you can use it on the enemy healer to give time to your teammates to finish off your kill target. You can also use it on an enemy killing one of your teammates. Since they will be locked in the Duel with you, they can no longer attack your allies. You can also use it on an enemy casting a significant spell on one of your allies. Since you will phase them in the Duel with you, they will never throw the spell. One thing worth knowing is that inside a Shadowy Duel, everyone has Truesight, which means that both you and your enemy will see through Stealth or other invisibility spells. The consequence is that if you try to Duel an enemy to save an ally and then Vanish to be safe, the enemy will still be able to see you and kill you. In the same way, if you Duel a Rogue and he uses Vanish, you will be able to see him, Sap him, or kill him.

2.2.

Situational PvP Talents

Thief's Bargain Icon Thief's Bargain is a PvP talent with a lot of potential. Having Vanish Icon Vanish more often means you can survive more or set up more for your team. Alongside the talent Without a Trace Icon Without a Trace that gives you a second Vanish; you have it very, very often !

Dismantle Icon Dismantle is a strong PvP talent that allows you to disarm an enemy for 6s every 45s. It is a great pick against Warriors, Hunters, and Rogues. Disarming an enemy can delay their next kill attempt or stop it entirely if they have pulled the trigger.

Maneuverability Icon Maneuverability is a powerful PvP talent versus teams with multiple slows. You can take this so you can maximize your uptime on your target. It also removes any root on you when you use it so that you may escape a Frost Nova or a Steel Trap with it as well.

Thick as Thieves Icon Thick as Thieves is a strong PvP talent when playing a setup comp with an ally with very high burst. With this, you can further amplify their burst damage by 15% for 6s, which can be the reason why the target dies. The downside of this talent is that you have to spend a point in Tricks of the Trade Icon Tricks of the Trade, something you don't necessarily want to do.

3.

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.
  • 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
  • 23 Feb. 2022: Updated for Patch 9.2.
  • 10 Nov. 2021: Updated Tier 2 Talent.
  • 06 Oct. 2021: Updated Tier 3 Talent.
  • 21 Jul. 2021: Updated Tier 3 Talent.
  • 04 Jul. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
  • 28 Mar. 2021: Rewritten by Shadenox and updated for Patch 9.0.5.
  • 18 Mar. 2021: No Updates Made for Patch 9.0.5
  • 05 Dec. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
    • Updated Tier 6 Regular Talent.
  • 27 Oct. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
    • Updated Tier 2 Regular Talent.
  • 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
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