Classic Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (2024)

Last updated on Dec 02, 2020 at 01:28by Sellin43 comments

Rogues have a different build depending on whether they are using daggers orswords.

If you were looking for leveling builds, please refer to our leveling guide for Rogues.

This build is one of the best PvE Raiding build that you can use as a Rogue. Thisbuild will utilize the cooldowns Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry forgood burst as a combat heavy build.

This build uses Sinister Strike as the main combo point generator. You alsowant to maintain your Slice and Dice buff at all times.

A major benefit of being a dagger Rogue is that the best PvP build also uses daggers,making it easier to gear for PvP if you are playing daggers in PvE. Just like swords, thisbuild makes sure to get Blade Flurry, Adrenaline Rush, and Weapon Expertise, as they are just incredibly strong talents.

The main difference in the rotation of daggers is that you will be using Backstab as your main combo point generator and Ambush as your outof stealth opener. See the opener section in our rotation page.

If you are playing Horde, then you will not be using Instant Poison IVon your main hand in order to fully take advantage of the Shaman ability Windfury Totem. Because you will not be using Instant Poison IV on yourmain hand, then you will not need all 5 points in Improved Poisons, so asHorde, you can put 3 of those points into Improved Eviscerate.

With the release of Phase 6 Seal Fate Daggers becomes a much more viable and strongbuild. You want to have at least 30% crit change as well as the given 9% Hit Rating sincethe build revolves around critical strikes with your generators in order to gain extracombo points from the talent Seal Fate. See our stat page for more informationon that.

Both main PvE builds for Rogue will go about half way into this talent tree, as itholds some very strong talents for Rogue in general.

Improved Eviscerate is sometimes run instead of Murder, dependingon what type of targets you will be encountering.

Ruthlessness is run in the sword build for Rogue. This talent is very strongand, when it has all 3 points put into it, will net you a fair amount of combo points gained.

Improved Slice and Dice is a staple in both Rogue builds, since it helps youspend less combo points on maintaining the buff, which can be spent on other finisherssuch as Eviscerate.

Relentless Strikes is a strong choice that the swords build uses. Thesword build does end up using more finishers in a fight than the dagger version does,thanks to the lower Energy cost of Sinister Strike as opposed to Backstab, and thetalent Ruthlessness allows them to take advantage of this talent moreeffectively than dagger Rogue.

Cold Blood is run in the PvP build for Rogues and is best used toguarantee a critical hit on your Eviscerate. This talent is very powerfulfor PvE as well in the Seal Fate Dagger build.

Improved Sinister Strike nets you a total Energy cost reduction of 5, allowingyou to cast more Sinister Strikes in a fight. This is a staple when it comes to the swordbuild for Rogues.

Sword Specialization can be run instead of using both Improved Gougeand Improved Sprint, if you would rather have the extra DPS instead of theutility. The chance on this talent proccing may be low, however in a long fight whereyou are attacking a lot, this does proc a decent amount.

Blade Flurry is one of the main reasons that both Rogue specs go so deepinto the Combat talent tree. This is both a single-target and AoE cooldown providingyou with a great amount of attack speed (which is very strong for Rogues) and isthe only way, besides Engineering, that Rogues can AoE.

Weapon Expertise is a staple in both dagger and sword builds, since it offersyou with a significant increase in your Weapon Skill, which is incrediblyimportant for Rogues in PvE since Raid bosses are Level 63.

Adrenaline Rush is a super strong cooldown that increases your Energyticks from 20 Energy per 2 seconds to 40 Energy for 2 seconds. This allows youto effectively Sinister Strike every 2 seconds.

Master of Deception is incredibly useful in gold farming and PvP, makingit a staple in the PvP build.

Camouflage is super strong in the PvP and gold making builds. Theincreased speed while stealthed nets a 15% increase, which is a significant movementspeed increase.

Hemorrhage is your main combo point generator in PvP if you are runningthe easier PvP build. When you are better geared, then you may end up making the changeto the dagger build which does not run this talent and is a bit smoother on itsdamage.

Preparation is a cooldown that is very strong in PvP, since it allows youto perform your burst all over again, as you will also reset the cooldown on Cold Blood.