WoW Forever Rogue Leveling Guide (1-60)

In short

• Combat is the usual solo pick; it works with any one-handed weapon type.
• Poised at 18 cuts the cost of your first ability at full Energy.
• Shank at 24 hits with your off-hand, cannot miss and returns Energy.
• Blade Flurry at 30 and Adrenaline Rush at 40 are your pull tools.
• Rogues can use one-handed axes; Hack and Slash treats them like swords.
• Mutilate and Venom changed on 2 Nov; older guides describe them wrong.

Level 1 to 60 at a glance

Why this spec

Combat does not depend on standing behind the target, which matters when you quest alone and mobs face you all the time. Sinister Strike works with any one-hander, and Hack and Slash gives a bonus for every weapon type: extra attacks for swords and axes, crit for daggers and fists, armor ignore for maces. The Forever additions suit Combat. Shank uses your off-hand and gives Energy back, and Flash of Steel adds more Energy and a shorter cooldown. Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush rescue the pulls that go wrong. Assassination is the dagger and poison route: Mutilate needs daggers, and Venom boosts poisons after each Shank. Subtlety gets the new Death Mark, but it is a slower start for solo play.

Level by level

1-10Sinister Strike and Eviscerate

You start with Sinister Strike, Eviscerate and Stealth. Energy now comes back at 10 per second with no tick to wait for, so pressing on cooldown feels smoother than in Classic. Backstab and Pick Pocket come at 4, but Backstab needs a dagger and you behind the target. Gouge at 6 stops one enemy for 4 sec. Evasion at 8 is your first panic button. At 10 you learn Slice and Dice, Sprint and Sap, and you get your first talent point. Spells you learn are no longer placed on your bars for you, so check the spellbook after every visit.

• Sinister Strike
• Eviscerate
• Stealth
• Gouge
• Evasion
• Slice and Dice

10-20First Combat talents and Poised

Put your first points into Combat. Efficient Strikes makes Sinister Strike cheaper and Coup de Grace adds Eviscerate damage. Then fill Deflection to 3/3, because Riposte needs it, and start Precision for hit. Kick comes at 12, Garrote and Expose Armor at 14, Feint at 16. At 18 you learn Poised, a new passive: at full Energy and out of combat, your next ability costs 10 less. Ambush also comes at 18 but needs a dagger. The usual zones are Westfall, Loch Modan and Redridge Mountains for Alliance, The Barrens and Silverpine Forest for Horde. Hall of Thanes (13-18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (15-20) are the new dungeons in range.

• Kick
• Garrote
• Feint
• Poised
• Ambush
• Sap

20-30Riposte, poisons and Shank

Your 11th point buys Riposte, a strike that opens after you parry and disarms the target for 6 sec; it only unlocks once Deflection is at 3/3. Rupture, Instant Poison and Crippling Poison come at 20. Vanish comes at 22. Shank arrives at 24: it strikes with your off-hand, cannot miss, has a 10 sec cooldown and returns Energy. Composure makes Poised save even more. At 25 take Flawless Execution for a cheaper Eviscerate. Cheap Shot comes at 26 and gives two combo points from Stealth.

• Riposte
• Rupture
• Instant Poison
• Vanish
• Shank
• Cheap Shot

30-40Blade Flurry and Hack and Slash

With 21 Combat points you can take Blade Flurry at 30: 20% more attack speed and a second target for 15 sec, on a 2 min cooldown. Kidney Shot and Deadly Poison also come at 30, Wound Poison at 32 and Blind at 34. Hack and Slash pays off whatever one-hander you carry, so you do not have to chase one weapon type. Flash of Steel opens at 35 and makes Shank give more Energy on a shorter cooldown. Past 30, follow the quests near your level.

• Blade Flurry
• Kidney Shot
• Deadly Poison
• Blind
• Hack and Slash
• Flash of Steel

40-50Adrenaline Rush and dual spec

At 40 the 31st point buys Adrenaline Rush: double Energy regeneration for 15 sec, on a 5 min cooldown. Use it with Blade Flurry when two or three enemies hit you at once. Dual spec opens at 40, and talents are changed at a class trainer in a major city, so you can keep an Assassination or Subtlety spec for daggers if you pick some up in dungeons. Safe Fall comes at 40 too. Riding also opens at 40, and Shank rank 2 at 44 returns more Energy. Krol'dok Stronghold in Riverglades is a 40-45 dungeon.

• Adrenaline Rush
• Safe Fall
• Shank
• Blade Flurry

50-60Assassination extras and the last zones

With Combat close to full, spend the last points on Endurance for shorter Sprint and Evasion cooldowns, then move into Assassination for Malice crit and Ruthlessness, which can give a combo point back after a finisher. Burning Steppes and Western Plaguelands open from 50, Winterspring and Eastern Plaguelands from 53, and Silithus from 55. The new dungeons here are Alcaz Island Prison (48-53), Blackmaw Hold (55-60) and Shaper's Terrace (58-60). Mount Hyjal opens at 60.

• Endurance
• Malice
• Ruthlessness
• Eviscerate

Class quests

Talent plan

How to fight

Stats · Gear

Tips

• Sit at a campfire for a while to get rested state; a Camp Tent gives 5% more rested XP.
• Most crafted food adds 5% XP from kills.
• Legacy has 16 points at launch. Well Rested, then Talented, starts talent points as early as level 5.
• Legacy Thrill of Adventure restores health and mana after kills outside dungeons, which cuts downtime.
• Training 1-60 costs about 206-207 gold in total; keep some for riding at 40.
• Dungeon kill XP rose 50% on 9 Nov, so group runs pay better than the beta numbers said.
• A 6 Nov hotfix fixed the Shank tooltip and the Boot Knife combo point display.

Common mistakes

• Opening at low Energy and wasting Poised; wait for the bar to fill out of combat.
• Forgetting Shank on cooldown; it is free Energy and cannot miss.
• Taking Backstab talents while carrying a sword or axe in the main hand.
• Following Mutilate or Venom advice written before the 2 Nov changes.
• Using Vanish and Evasion on easy pulls and having nothing left for a bad one.

Questions