Rogue Subtlety Guide

7/29/2019 Rogue Subtlety Guide

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My name is Scylla, Ive been playing rogue now for around 5

years Ive played retail and private servers achieving high

ratings in both. This guide will cover the Subtlety spec of the

Rogue class.


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Contents1. Races

1.1. Alliance

1.2. Horde2. Talents and Glyphs

3. Gear Choices

4. Gemming

5. Enchants

6. Weapons

7. Macros

8. Rotation/Advice8.1. Hemmo

8.2. Eviscerate

8.3. Shadow Dance

8.4. Shadow Step

8.5. Energy Pooling

8.6. Prekicking

8.7. Vanish8.8. Defensive CDs

8.9. Saps

8.10. CD Management

8.11. Cloak of Shadows

9. Comps

10. Diminishing Returns

11. Strats

11.1. 2vs2

11.2. 3vs3

12. Credits

13. Final Words


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RACES

Alliance

Human-Every Man for Himself- Removes all movement impairing effects and

all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect

shares a cool down with other similar effects, 2 minute cool down.

-Mace Specialization- Increases expertise with maces and two-handed

maces by 3.

-Sword Specialization- Increases expertise with swords and two-handed

swords by 3.

Gnome

-Escape Artist- Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement

speed reduction effect. Instant cast. 1.45 min cool down.

-Engineering Specialist- 15 point skill bonus to Engineering

-Arcane Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Arcane spells by

2%


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Night Elf

-Shadowmeld- Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance

for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon

moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon

cancellation of this effect, 2 minute cool down.

-Quickness-Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will

hit you by 2%.

-Elusiveness- Less chance to be detected in Stealth/Shadowmeld

-Nature Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Nature spells by

2%

Dwarf

-Stone form- Activate to remove poison, disease, and bleed effects;

+10% Armor; Lasts 8 seconds. 2 minute cool down.

-Mace Specialization- Increases expertise with maces and two-handed

maces by 3.

-Frost Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%


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Horde

Undead

-Will of the Forsaken- Removes any Charm, Fear and Sleep effect. 2 -

minute cool down.

-Cannibalize- When activated, regenerates 7% of total health every 2

seconds for 10 seconds. Only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses

within 5 yards. Any movement, action, or damage taken while

Cannibalizing will cancel the effect.

-Shadow Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Shadow spells

by 2%

Blood Elf

-Arcane Torrent- Activate to silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2

seconds. In addition, you gain 15 Energy, 15 Runic Power or 6% Mana. 2

min. cool down.

-Arcane Affinity- 10 point skill bonus to Enchanting

-Magic Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by spells by 2%

Troll

-Berserking- Activate to increase attack and casting speed by 20% for

10 seconds. 3 minute cool down.

-Regeneration- Increase health regeneration bonus by 10%. Also allows

10% of normal health regeneration during combat.

-Throwing Specialization- Increases chance to critically hit with

Throwing Weapon by 1%.-Da Voodoo Shuffle- Reduces the duration of all movement impairing

effects by 15%.

Orc

-Blood Fury- Activate to increase attack power and spell damage by an

amount based on level/class for 15 seconds. 2 minute cool down.

-Hardiness- Reduces duration of stun effects by 15%.

-Axe Specialization- Expertise with Fist Weapons, One- and Two-handed Axes increased by 5.


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TALENTS AND GLYPHS

My build for sub is pretty standard; I dont use Heightened Senses,

purely because Im hardly ever in a position where I need to find

another stealthed class.

Glyphs (for any races other than Blood Elf)

MAJOR: Shadow dance, Vigor, Preparation

MINOR: Vanish, Blurred Speed, Distract

For Blood Elf I take the sprint glyph, instead of vigor reason for this is

the racial of Blood Elf gives me extra burst.


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GEAR

These are my current gear choices. There is a lot of opinions to what is

better to gear as sub, mainly between Attack Power and Armor

Penetration. Personally Ive found playing with around 20% armor

penetration and then stacking attack power to be the best way to go. I

play with about 1050~ resilience in arena, rogues are pretty squishy so

no real point in higher resilience than that. The only stat you need to

get a specific % of is hit, aim for 180~ hit rating


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GEMMING

Firstly, Gem your pants blue gem slot with a +10 stats gem, this will

instantly activate your meta gem and it has the best socket bonus. As a

meta gem, take the agi + crit one. Now my gemming is basically like

this

Red: +40 AP

Blue: +40 AP

Yellow: AP+Resi

ENCHANTS

These are pretty standard, you can change some out for +stats

enchants but I find these best.

Head: +50AP +20Resi (WG)

Shoulders: +40AP +15Resi (WG)

Back: Shadow Armour

Chest: +20 Resi

Bracers: +50 AP

Gloves: +44 AP

Belt: Eternal belt buckle

Pants: +75 AP +22 Crit

Boots: Tuskar's Vitality

MH Weapon: Berserking

OH Weapon: Titanium Weapon Chain

Weapon Switching Weapons - Berserking


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WEAPONS

Standard is MH 1.8, OH 1.4/1.5(sword/axe/fist are all 1.5)

MH - Wound

OH - Crippling

For weapon switching I use my 1.5 speed tier 1 weapons.

T2 Sword (1.5) Mind Numbing

T1 Dagger (1.4) Aesthetic

T1 Sword (1.5) Wound

Mind numbing basically if I want to step kick a caster I willswitch weapons after so I can shiv up mind numbing to slow his

casts. Or even to just switch while I pool energy for a dance, Illswitch to my mind numbing weapon and shiv on a mind numbing

so its easier to interrupt the cast.

Aesthetic shiv off enrage effects so I can get a fear sapcombo.

Wound if I need to shiv on wound to another person for a swapor so on.


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MACROS

Use /macro to access your macros.

No modifier Ill use slice, else if I press shift Ill use rupture

#showtooltip

/cast [modifier:shift] Rupture;Slice and Dice;

Uses prep before I ambush

#showtooltip Ambush

/cast Premeditation

/cast Ambush

Starts my auto attack as I backstab

#showtooltip/startattack

/cast Backstab

Stops my current ability and uses blind on my target, else if I press

shift it will blind my focus

#showtooltip

/stopcasting

/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Blind;Blind


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This will cast premeditation on my target always, if I dont use shift it

will cheap shot my target, if I press shift it will cheap shot my focus

target.

#showtooltip Cheap Shot

/cast [nomodifier] Premeditation

/cast [nomodifier] Cheap Shot

/cast [modifier:ctrl,target=focus] Cheap Shot

Dismantles my target, if I hold shift it dismantles my focus target

#showtooltip

/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Dismantle;Dismantle

Spammable distract macro

#showtooltip

/cast !Distract

This will cast premeditation on my target always, if I dont use shift it

will Garrote my target, if I press shift it will Garrote my focus target.

#showtooltip Garrote

/cast [nomodifier] Premeditation

/cast [nomodifier] Garrote

/cast [modifier:ctrl,target=focus] Garrote

Gouge Target, Shift will Gouge Focus

#showtooltip

/stopcasting

/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Gouge; Gouge

Starts my Auto Attacks when I use Hemmo

#showtooltip

/startattack

/cast Hemorrhage

Mouseover Shadowstep (mainly to quickly shadowstep to totems/pets):#showtooltip shadowstep/cast [target=mouseover] shadowstep


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Stops my current ability to cast Kick on my target, if shift is held it will

cast kick on my focus target

#showtooltip

/stopcasting

/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Kick;Kick

No mod will use evasion, shift will use rocket gloves, alt will use boots

and ctrl will use belt.

#showtooltip

/cast [nomod] Evasion;

/use [mod:shift] 10;

/use [mod:alt]8;

/use [mod:ctrl]6;

Macro for finding stealth targets

#showtooltip Sap

/clear target

/targetenemyplayer

/cast Sap

Steps my target, shift will step my focus target

#showtooltip

/stopattack

/cast [mod:shift,target=focus,] Shadowstep;Shadowstep;

Shivs my target, shift will shiv my focus target

#showtooltip

/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Shiv;Shiv

Uses Deadly Throw, if shift is held uses normal Throw

#showtooltip

/stopcasting

/cast [mod:shift] Throw;Deadly Throw(Rank 3);

Mouseover Throw (To kill totems):#showtooltip Throw/cast [target=mouseover] Throw


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Clean vanish macro#showtooltip Vanish

/stopattack

/cancelaura Hand of Protection

/cast Vanish

Saps target, shift saps focus

#showtooltip

/cast [mod:shift,target=focus] Sap;Sap;

So I can do Kidney Sap combos

#showtooltip

/cast Kidney Shot(Rank 2)

/stopattack

Blinds arena 1 from your arena frames, can be changed to arena2 and

arena3

#showtooltip

/cast [target=arena1] Blind

First will use ambush as I use Dance

#showtooltip

/cast Shadow Dance

/cast Ambush(Rank 10)

Will use Cheap shot as I use dance

#showtooltip

/cast Shadow Dance

/cast Cheap Shot

Cleaner Vanish macro

#showtooltip

/stopattack


/cast Cloak of Shadows

/cast Vanish(Rank 3)


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TotT Macro

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade


/cast [target=TEAM MATE NAME HERE] Tricks of the Trade

Starts Auto Attacks when I use FoK

#showtooltip

/startattack

/cast Fan of Knives

Steps and kicks arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and arena3

#showtooltip Kick

/cast [target=arena1] Shadowstep

/cast [target=arena1] Kick

Saps arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and arena3

#showtooltip

/cast [target=arena1] Sap(Rank 4)

Shadow steps and Cheap shots arena target 1, can be changed to

arena2 and arena3


/cast [target=arena1] Cheap Shot

Shadowstep and Saps arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and

arena3


/cast [target=arena1] Sap

Makes sure you use all abilities before using prep,NOT spammable

#Showtooltip preparation/cast [nostealth] evasion/cast sprint/cast vanish/cast preparation


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This will Step to my target and kick it, if shift is held it will step and

kick my focus target, requires 1 push for the step and 1 for the kick, if

the button isnt pushed a second time within 1 second the macro will

rest.

#showtooltip

/stopattack

/castsequence [mod:shift,target=focus,] reset=1 Shadowstep, Kick;

reset=1 Shadowstep, Kick;

Set a focus target

/focus

Boots

#showtooltip

/use 8

Belt

#showtooltip

/use Cobalt Frag Bomb

/use 6

Gloves

#showtooltip

/use 10

Cancel Everything


/cancelaura Evasion(Rank 2)

Sets focus to Arena target 1, can be changed to arena 2 or 3

Focus Arena 1:/focus arena1

Targets Arena target 1, can be changed to arena 2 or 3

Target Arena1:/target arena1


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ROTATION

Basically you want to keep Slice n Dice up as much as possible. Thereason for this is because outside of Shadow Dance you want to be

pooling as much energy, so once you either get a good CC chain off, or

your Dance is back up, you have near max energy to burst your target

down. So youll realise most of your damage outside of kill attempts

comes from just white damage, which Slice n Dice will help.

Hemmo is used either against a melee player who is attacking you and

you cant get behind them to attack, OR as a damage boost for yourBackstabs/Dance.

Eviscerate is an awesome finisher, but its simply that, a finisher. Use

it during kill attempts.

Shadow Dance can be used in three ways

1.Kill attempts meaning when you want to kill someone or even apet

2.Making the enemy team use Cool downs so you can later score akill

3.Defensively peeling the enemy off either yourself or your teammate(s)

Shadow Step can be used to get kicks, peel and even get away from

the enemy team.

Energy pooling this is something you need to master to be able to

play Sub properly. Basically as I stated before, you dont want to be

trying to score kill attempts outside of a good CC chain or a dance,

youll spend majority of the fight outside of CC chains and dance,

LoSing opponents, peeling opponents, setting up kill attempts, making

enemies waste CDs. Pillars are your friends as rogues, you want to be

at about 90% of your energy most of the time outside of kill attempts

so when the time comes you have the energy to do insane burst.


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Prekicking this is something you need to practice a lot. You need to

understand each casters rotation, etc to be able to try predict what

they will cast and when.

EXAMPLE OF PREKICKING

If Im playing mage/rogue vs healer/lock, assuming these are decent

opponents, we will kill the locks pet(fel hunter), with a sap on the

lock and poly on the healer, 99% of locks will instantly port and use fel

dom + summon to get soul link back up so I will just spam step+kick

and get his fel dom cast.

You can also Vanish casts/CCs, for example Death Coil from a Warlock,

if you see it coming, you can vanish it mid-air.

Defensive CDs Managing your defensive CDs is vital to playing rogue.

You need to communicate with your partner to what CDs youre using

and as well as the timers on them. These include Evasion, Cloak of

Shadows, Shadow Step, Dismantle, Sprint, Shadow Dance, Gouge, Kick,

Preparation, Blind and Kidney Shot. These can of cause be used

offensively as well.

Sap Resaps are you friend, you can resap off basically any sort of CC,

even silences. If you kick a caster and he tries to cast a +1.5sec cast,

you can actually sap him off that.

CD Management Call out your CD usage, time your Defensive CDs

with your partners. Its a complete waste using Cloak of Shadows and

you healer trinketing at the same time to save you.

Cloak of Shadows Use it early, rather prevent damage than take a

ton and just before dying using it.


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ROGUE COMPS

2v2

Rogue/Mage (Arcane/ Frost/Fire)

Pros Strong Burst, Blind/Poly dont share DR, Can heal by eating,

Strong switches.

Cons Sap/Poly/Gouge Share DR, Kidney/Deepfreeze share DR, No

direct healing, Not forgiving with regards to mistakes.

Rogue/Discipline Priest

Pros Strong Healing, Can double burst, Healing(allows for mistakes),

Sap/Fear dont share DR, Strong CC, Dispels.

Cons Blind/Fear share DR, can only burst during CC.

Rogue/Shadow Priest

Pros - Strong Burst, Fear/Sap dont share DR, Can heal, Strong

switches, can Dispel.

Cons Blind/Fear Share DR.

Rogue/Warlock (Destruction/Affliction)

Pros - Strong Burst, Sap/Fear dont share DR, Instant heal from Health

Stone, Pet CC/Silence/Dispel.

Cons Blind/Fear share DR, No real healing, Not forgiving with regards

to mistakes.


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Rogue/Restoration Shaman

Pros Strong Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont

share DR, various Totems, Purges.

Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, No Burst, CCs on long CD.

Rogue/Elemental Shaman

Pros Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont share

DR, various Totems, Strong Burst, Switches, Purges.

Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, CCs on long CD.

Rogue/Enhancement Shaman

Pros Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont share

DR, various Totems, Strong Burst, Switches, Purges.

Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, CCs on long CD.

Rogue/Paladin (Retribution)

Pros Strong burst, Quick Switches, BoP and Bubble, Healing

Cons Rep/Sap Share DR, HoJ/Kidney share DR, Little room for error.

Rogue/Feral Druid

Pros Cyclone doesnt DR with Rogue CCs, Heals, Huge burst,

Switches, Double Stealth.

Cons Pounce/Cheap share DR, Maim/Kidney share DR, no room for

error.

Rogue/Restoration Druid

Pros - Cyclone doesnt DR with Rogue CCs, Heals, Support DPS

Cons No Burst, No dispels, no shields.

Rogue/Hunter (Marksman/Survival/Beast Mastery)

Pros Huge burst

Cons No healing, No room for errors, Sap/Trap share DR.


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3v3

RMP (Rogue Arcane/Frost Mage Discipline Priest)

Pros Strong CC, Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Dispels.

Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy.

RLS (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Restoration Shaman)

Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Interrupts, Heroism,

Totems, Purges, Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).

Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Hex/Sap Share DR, Requires a lot of

communication

RLD (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Restoration Druid)

Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Cyclone doesnt share DR,

Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).

Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication, no

Dispels.

Heroic RLS (Rogue Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman)

Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Interrupts, Heroism,

Totems, Purges/Dispels, off heals.

Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Hex/Sap Share DR, Requires a lot of

communication

RPS (Rogue Elemental/Enhancement Shaman Discipline Priest)

Pros Blind/Hex dont Share DR, Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches,

Dispels/Purges.

Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy.

RsPD (Rogue Shadow Priest Restoration Druid)

Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Cyclone doesnt share DR

with any CCs, Dispels, off heals.

Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication.

RPP (Rogue Retribution Paladin Discipline Priest)

Pros Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, double Dispels,

BoP/Bubble.


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Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy, no room for

errors.

RLP (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Holy Paladin)

Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, party Dispels,

BoP/Bubble, Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).


RsPP (Rogue Shadow Priest Holy Paladin)

Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, party

Dispels(double), Offensive dispels, BoP/Bubble.


RLP (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Discipline Priest)

Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, Dispels,

Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).


RHS (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Restoration

Shaman)

Pros Double Interupt, Huge Burst, Purge, Totems, Blind doesnt share

DR with Hex/Trap.

Cons No dispels, Hex/Sap/Trap all Share DR, Requires a lot of

communication.

RHP (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Discipline Priest)

Pros Huge Burst, Dispels, Blind doesnt share DR with Trap.

Cons Sap/Trap Share DR, Fear/Blind Share DR, Requires a lot of

communication.

RHD (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Restoration

Druid)

Pros Huge Burst, Blind doesnt share DR with Trap, Cyclone doesnt

share DR with anything.

Cons No dispels, Sap/Trap all Share DR, Requires a lot of

communication.


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Diminishing Returns

Something you must take into consideration when choosing your

comp...

Sap/Gouge, share DR with Sheep, Repentance, Trap and Hex

Blind, Shares DR with Fear

Kidney Shot, Shares DR with Deepfreeze, HoJ and Maim

STRATS

First thing I want to say is these are very general and dont account for

unusual situations. Whenever you go out of stealth, you want to have

some sort of goal in mind; it could be forcing a healers trinket,

forcing a block, etc. Once you accomplish your goal, try get away and

restealth the main aim is to force their CDs/Defensive skills while

maintain yours. Also Dance is a 1min CD, its not that long so use it.


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2vs2

Rogue/Healer vs DPS/Healer

General Strat here is to try force as many CDs in the opener as

possible, biggest being the enemy healers trinket. Usually youll open

up with a sap on the healer and then straight into a dance on the DPS.

Reset and repeat basically until you can line up a kill attempt. Also

remember to peel their DPS off your healer if they are on your healer,

you dont want your healing needing to use too many CDs, as that

could hinder your kill attempt later.

Rogue/Healer vs Double DPS

Try get a sap off, this is really important. Basically you need to blow

your CDs fast in this kind of fight to make sure you land a kill as early

as possible on one of them.

Double DPS vs DPS/Healer

Sap one of them and open up as hard on 1 of the other players as

possible your goal is to force as many of their CDs in that opener as

possible. After that you need to reset and wait for your Dance again,

unless you land some sort of CC chain that isnt on DR. Switching also

works as you can protect CCs from being dispelled and also to keep

your CCs off DR.

Double DPS vs Double DPS

Its a DPS race to kill one of the opponents before they can kill either

you or your partner. Switching is also viable because you can force a

trinket on both and then switch so your CC is off DR completely.


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3vs3

For 3vs3, you need to remember that as a rogue you have 5 things to

concentrate on

1.DPS youre a huge Burst in your team, you need to time it andcommunicate your CDs with your partners.

2.CC you have Gouge, Sap and Blind, you must let your teamknow what youre planning on using and on whom.

3. Interrupting your kick is vital, you can stop deep+poly comboson your healer with a simple step+kick combo.

4.Peeling if your mates are taking damage, you need to peel theenemy team off them, you have blind, gouge, kick, cheap shot,

garrotte, sap, kidney shot, use them.

5.Stun lock This is something you HAVE to communicate with yourteam, especially if your Stun lock shares a DR with one of their

abilities, keep them informed of its CD, etc.

Im not going to go into comp vs comp as a rogue, itll take way too

much time and energy, but if you have questions, feel free to PM me.

These strats are VERY general; I did not feel like writing a guide for

every comp vs every comp as itll take me WAY too long. If you have

any Questions for any certain comp vs w/e PM me and I will gladly give

you advice.


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CREDITS

Fexer my first real arena partner

Hunkatunka my current arena partner

Holydance RMP RMP RMP

Luuna First rogue I ever met


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FINAL WORDS

Sub is not as easy as people might think; it requires a lot of

communication and awareness to be played properly. Remember to

manage your CDs effectively and to keep your energy pooled out of

bursting/kill attempts. Hope this guide helps some of you, good luck

and see you in arena

Cheers

Scylla

Documents

Rogue Subtlety Guide