Combat Rogue Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Combat Rogue Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Combat Rogue.

Table of Content:

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Combat Rogues in Mists of Pandaria Classic

Mists of Pandaria brings a lot of changes to the game, and a lot of classes are getting changed. Rogues are one of the classes that are getting the most attention from Cataclysm to Mists of Pandaria. Poisons are getting changed, they get a lot more group utility, a lot of new spells… here are the most important changes:

• No more ranged weapons. Throw becomes a base ability, and you can’t equip a ranged weapon.
• Poisons are reworked, and you no longer need to craft them or to carry them in your bags. You can now put any combination of 1 lethal poison and 1 non-lethal poison on your weapons.
• Shroud of Concealment has been added.
• Shadow Blade has been added.
• Shadowstep has been added.
• Master poisoner has been added.
• Fan of Knives now gives a combo point.
• Crimson Tempest has been added.
• Evasion has been buffed, with a lower cooldown and more dodge.
• Expose Armor is now a combo point builder.
• Smoke Bomb is reducing damage to everyone in it.
• Cold blood, Overkill, Ruthlessness, Vile poison are deleted.

Is Combat Rogue Good?

In Mists of Pandaria, Rogues are getting a lot more utility, so it’s easier to find groups regardless of your Specialization. But as a melee in raids, you have a lot of competition, so is your utility enough to get picked? You will have to pump. How are Combat rogues doing damage wise? They are fine, they aren't the greatest but not the worst either. If you play well enough you can still do well. This was Rogue state back in the day and on private servers, but with changes we saw on PTR, Combat might perform better.

Best Talents & Glyphs for Combat Rogue in MoP Classic

As for a lot of classes with the new revamped talent system, you can pretty easily set up 2 talent builds: one for Single Target, usually more for Raids, and AoE, more for Dungeons and Challenge mode. But with more ways to reset talents and change assignments, you can adapt your build to each situation.

Combat Rogue Raiding Talent Build

Rogue’s Talent Tree doesn’t offer a lot of flexibility with your DPS options. Anticipation and Shadow Focus are the best options in every situation. You could argue that Marked for Death is better in a fight where you need to frequently burst an important add, but that’s it.

In the other rows, the one you can change are Elusiveness for Cheat Death in fights where you don’t need the extra damage reduction and switch Shadowstep for Burst of Speed if you need to move a lot in a fight.

Best Combat Rogue Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you don’t really have any major choice you want to keep all the time. The best should be Glyph of Feint and Glyph of Redirect, but outside of that Glyphs are situational: Glyph of Smoke Bomb to help your raid, Glyph of Cloak of Shadows to be even tankier, Glyph of Hemorrhaging Veins and Glyph of Sharp Knives for AoE, Glyph of Sprint for movement, Glyph of Expose Armor if you’re assigned to it…

Glyph of Safe Fall and Glyph of Blurred Speed are the only minor glyphs you should consider.

Combat Rogue Dungeons & Challenge Mode Talent Build

In Dungeon, the options are pretty much the same. Cheat Death finds a bit more of its place in dungeons, but that’s it. If you need to control one specific add, you can also trade Prey on the Weak for Dirty Tricks. The other rows are pretty much set in stone.

Best Combat Rogue Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you don’t really have any major choice you want to keep all the time. The best should be Glyph of Feint and Glyph of Redirect, but outside of that Glyphs are situational: Glyph of Smoke Bomb to help your raid, Glyph of Cloak of Shadows to get even tankier, Glyph of Hemorrhaging Veins and Glyph of Sharp Knives for AoE, Glyph of Sprint for movement, Glyph of Expose Armor if you’re assigned to it…

Glyph of Safe Fall and Glyph of Blurred Speed are the only minor glyphs you should consider.

Rotation for Combat Rogue in MoP Classic

Single Target Rotation & Priority

Combat Rogues use Energy to generate Combo points, and spend Combo points to cast strong and unique abilities. The following is a list of priority, not a straight rotation.

1. Apply Deadly Poison and Leeching Poison.
2. Maintain Slice and Dice.
3. Maintain Rupture. Maintain both at 5 Combo points.
4. Maintain Revealing Strike.
5. Use Shadow Blades on Cooldown.
6. Use Adrenaline Rush on Cooldown, when low on Energy.
7. Use Killing Spree outside big buffs & cooldowns.
8. Use Vanish on Cooldown. When exiting stealth, always start with Ambush.
9. Use Preparation when Vanish is on Cooldown.
10. Cast Eviscerate at 5 combo points.
11. Cast Sinister strike.

Regarding openers, always start in Stealth. Get in melee, use Ambush, Slice and Dice, Revealing Strike, Killing Spree, Adrenaline Rush, Shadow Blades and the single target rotation.

AoE Rotation & Priority

• Maintain Blade Flurry.
• Maintain Rupture on 2 targets.
• Use your single target rotation. If there are more than 3 targets, use Fan of Knives If there is more than 6 target, just spam Crimson Tempest with 5 combo points and generate them with Fan of Knives.

Best Gear & Stats for Combat Rogue in MoP Classic

Best in Slot (BiS Gear) aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

The gear you should aim for are: trinkets, sets and weapons.

The best weapons you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Krol Scimitar, World Drop
• Ka'eng, Breath of the Shadow, Taran Zhu, Shado-Pan Monastery
• Ner'onok's Razor Katar, Wing Leader Ner'onok, Siege of Niuzao Temple

The best pre-raid trinkets are:

• Relic of Xuen if you have Inscription.
• Searing Words, Darkmaster Gandling, Scholomance.
• Quilen Statuette, from Archeology.
• Windswept Pages, from Temple of the Jade Serpent.

MoP Classic Combat Rogue Stat Priority

Reach your Hit and Expertise cap, so around 7.5% for both. Then, Agility is your best stat. As soon as a gear piece gives you more Agility, it’s a good idea to equip it.

After that, it goes: Haste before anything else, then Mastery and finally Critical strike, in that order. You can then try and reach a Hit Rating of 26.5% to be 100% sure that your off-hand will hit 100% of the time, but it’s often less valuable than more secondary stats.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Combat Rogue in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Combat Rogue in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Combat Rogue Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.