Introduction
Hey, my name is Stealthi. I raid and play rogue in the guild This is Fine on Tarren Mill EU. We are a 2 day guild that tries to make the most out of our 2 days of raiding to hover around world rank 30-40.
I've been in the top end of public logged Subtlety rogues for the last few years, and I strive to continuously improve my gameplay while finding new and better ways to play the spec.
One of my favorite things to do is to help out other people become better at Subtlety. Which is why you will most likely be able to find me chatting a lot in the Subtlety channel in the rogue class discord Ravenholdt.
If you have any questions about this guide or want me to elaborate on some parts, do not be afraid to DM me on discord or ping me in the Subtlety channel.
I hope you will find this guide helpful and something to lean into when learning the spec or taking that next step in your understanding of how to play Subtlety.
About the specialization
Subtlety is a spec that offers a lot of flexibility in how you deal damage. It can tackle almost any kind of damage scenario. Subtlety has been known as one of the “harder” specs to get into but going into the Midnight expansion prepatch is becomes quite a lot simpler to play so that should make it more approachable for the majority of the people looking to try out the spec.
Overall I think subtlety is in an interesting spot going into The Midnight prepatch.
Strengths
- Varied damage profile.
- Cooldown flexibility.
- Mobility through Sprint, Shadowstep, and Vanish + Shadowstrike teleports.
- Durable with Feint, Cloak of Shadows, and Cheat Death.
- Many control options in M+ and on raid bosses with adds.
Weaknesses
- Mediocre two and three target cleave.
What has changed
Changes to Subtlety Rogue in the Midnight Prepatch
There is quite a lot of stuff happening to Subtlety rogue going into the prepatch, same as with the actual expansion too much to go over here. I suggest reading the actual patch notes to catch up on it all but I will quickly go over the really important stuff. Most important is that our passive Deepening Shadows is getting reworked to no longer give us cooldown reduction on Shadow Dance per combo point spent but will now instead increase the duration of Shadow Dance based on our Haste, same goes for our cooldown finisher Secret Technique and Shadow Blades now only doubles our combo point generation instead of instantly filling our combo points. Other than that the most notable changes are the removal of Rupture, Flagellation and Symbols of Death from the spec.