• 

  World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic

  Platform:

  PC

  Developer:

  Blizzard

  Publisher:

  Activision

  Genre:

  MMORPG

  Multiplayer:

  Online Multiplayer

  ESRB:

  Teen

  Released:

  2022-09-26

  Franchise:

  Warcraft

All Rogue Guides

Rogue Basics in Wrath of the Lich King

Rogues are widely regarded as one of the top DPS classes in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Combat rogues utilize many weapons, mainly swords or axes, and sometimes maces. This differentiates them from their exclusively dagger-wielding brothers of the Assassination and Subtlety specializations.

Rogues will also find many changes and new features available in WOTLK, including Tricks of the Trade and Fan of Knives. Fan of Knives finally gives rogues a much needed AOE tool to finally be useful in big pack pulls. This allows them to be a top tier AOE class for the first time, as well as their traditional top tier single target DPS as well. Wrath of the Lich King allows more rogues in a raid composition than The Burning Crusade, thanks to their high damage output in almost all scenarios.

Best Race Options

For Horde players, Orcs and Trolls are considered the best two options. While Blood Elves and Undead can also be rogues, their racial abilities do not offer much in terms of PvE raid capability and are not suggested if you are interested in min-maxing. Some players like Undead for Will of the Forsaken, but it is a very situational cooldown to use and much more useful in PvP.

Orcs are generally chosen for Combat Rogues in Wrath due to the high abundance of axes in the expansion, and Trolls are arguably even stronger for Assassination and Subtlety specializations:

1. Orcs utilize their Axe Specialization racial passive to increase expertise with axes by 5. Since some of the highest DPS weapons in WOTLK are one-handed axes, it is a no-brainer that the Orc race is considered top-tier for combat rogues. They have a racial active skill called Blood Fury which also is incredibly useful for rogues. This will grant you 322 attack power for 15 seconds when used, with a 2-minute cooldown. The setback on this is that it is a raw attack power boost and will not scale with the power of your character, compared to Trolls' Berserking. Using this active attack power boost at the right time with your burst window will maximize its effectiveness. Hardiness will provide some resistance to stuns, though they are few and far between in PvE so its usefulness is minimal.
2. Trolls remain a strong choice mainly because of their Berserking racial active skill. Utilizing this racial at the proper time in your rotation will maximize your potential and grant you 20% increased attack speed for 10 seconds. This is also used during burst windows to maximize its effectiveness. The other racials do not offer much help in PvE, other than Beast Slaying adding 5% damage if you are killing beasts. Since there are typically not many beasts in raids, it does not offer much help.

For Alliance players, there really is only one racial option if you want to maximize PvE DPS: Human. No surprise here, it has been the same in Vanilla and TBC, humans are the best rogue class in WOTLK.

1. Humans utilize their racial passives Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization. These increase expertise by 3 when using their respective weapons. This means that you will be able to stack up significantly less hit rating before cap, as you will find in the Stat Priority section of this guide. In Wrath you will likely be forces to use either Swords or Axes due to the availability of such, and as a human you will therefore prefer to stick with swords. Other racials are available to humans but do not provide much in terms of PvE DPS. Will to Survive and Perception are very much PvP talents, and Diplomacy helps with reputation grinds, though will not affect your damage output.
2. Dwarfs, Night Elves, and Gnomes all offer essentially no upside in PvE for the rogue class. If you chose these races it would be for PvP purposes or because you simply enjoy playing that race instead.

Best Professions for PvE in WOTLK

1. Engineering remains king as it always has when it comes to PvE usefulness. As a rogue, you have several useful gadgets to help in PvE scenarios including:
   1. Sappers and Bombs: These explosives remain useful in Wrath Classic for fast AOE damage on packs in the raiding scene.
   2. Nitro Boosts Enchant: You can apply this enchant to your boots to give you an additional 24 Crit Rating. It also comes with a 5 second ultra speed boost that you can activate if you need to get out of danger quickly with a 3-minute cooldown.
   3. Hyperspeed Accelerators Enchant: You can apply this enchant to your gloves to give you an additional 340 Haste Rating for 12 seconds. This effect has a 1-minute cooldown.

2. Blacksmithing or Jewelcrafting both are viable second options for a profession that can help you in PvE.
   1. Blacksmithing allows you to add an extra gem slot on your bracers and your gloves. You can utilize this to get some additional stats through the 2 extra gems you will be able to use.
   2. Jewelcrafting allows you to create your own gems that are only usable by players who have the jewelcrafting profession. The gems you may utilize with this as a rogue are:
      1. Fractured Dragon's Eye: +34 Armor Penetration Rating
      2. Rigid Dragon's Eye: +34 Hit Rating
      3. Bright Dragon's Eye: +68 Attack Power

3. Other professions can be useful for gold making but offer less in terms of extra stats and PvE usefulness. Some professions do offer stat increases but miss out of the flexibility of Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting to be able to choose specific stats you want to focus on.

Stat Priority - Main Skill Rotation - Talents - and BIS Gear for Rogues

Stat Priority, main skill rotations, talent choices, and BIS gear will differ between each specialization of rogue. To remain simplified, please visit the specific Rogue Class Specialization Guides below for this information.

• Combat Rogue Guide
• Assassination Rogue Guide

Best Gems and Enchants for Rogues in WOTLK

Gems

Enchants

Enchant Exceptions by Profession

If you chose any of the following professions, you will want to use the profession-specific enchant as it will be more powerful than the list above:

• Inscription - Shoulders: Master's Inscription of the Axe (+120 Attack Power + 15 Crit Rating)
• Tailoring - Back: Swordguard Embroidery (Proc of +400 Attack Power for 15 seconds)
• Leatherworking - Bracers: Fur Lining - Attack Power (+130 Attack Power)
• Engineer - Gloves: Hyperspeed Accelerators (+340 Haste Rating for 12 seconds, 1-minute cooldown)
• Engineer - Boots: Nitro Boots (+24 Crit Rating, and 5-second speed boost activation, 3-minute cooldown)

Consumables to Bring to Raid

• Poisons: Instant Poison Main Hand, Deadly Poison Off Hand
• Flask: Flask of the Endless Rage
• Food Buff: Fish Feast (Hearty Rhino for Combat Rogue if not Armor Penetration capped)
• Potions: Potion of Speed
• Scrolls: Scroll of Agility & Scroll of Strength

Conclusion

You've come to the end of the Rogue Class Overview, but there is still much to explore! Don't forget to dive into each recommended PvE specialization: Combat and Assassination to master your class, and get ready for raiding with our Rogue Pre-Bis Raid Gear Guide