World of Warcraft - Rogue FAQ
World of Warcraft - Rogue FAQby Rellegetrelle@yahoo.comTable of Contents1. Introduction2. Updates3. Why a Rogue?4. Which Race?5. What about Weapons? 5a. Damage vs. DPS6. Skills 6a. Finish Them in Style!7. The Art of Combat8. Sample Talent Builds9. Where to Quest 9a. Alliance 9b. Horde10. Professions11. Lockpicking12. Poison13. Frequently Asked Questions14. Acknowledgements15. Copyright Info=============================================================================== 1. Introduction===============================================================================Eh...while waiting for auctions to run out and various other inactive activitiesin Ironforge, I have thus created this FAQ to help along aspiring rogues intheir journey to make something of themselves. Let me start off by saying thatI'm far too addicted to World of Warcraft right now, so even though this FAQ isabout said evil MMORPG, updates will likely be sporadic at best. With thatsaid, read on, and enjoy.Two notes: One, a lot of what's written in this guide is my opinion aboutrogues. Bear in mind not all rogues should be the same, and since it's an RPG,you're certainly free to play yours however you like. That said, don't bug meif you disagree with anything that's an opinion. And secondly...If there is any information that is fraudulent, incorrect or slightly off, orif I've forgotten to credit anyone for their work, please send me an e-mail andI'll make the proper corrections where applicable.=============================================================================== 2. Updates===============================================================================1.00 - Just started. This guide is complete in terms of the content I wantedto put out when I started, but odds are I'll be adding to it over time. I'mhoping to find some ASCII art I can use.1.02 - Added a section on poisons, fixed up some stuff. What I'd like to dois put in PVP strategies to use against each particular class, but I'll needto get in more duels for that.1.03 - Some quick updates. Still working on PVP data.1.04 - More quick updates. Added a proper FAQ. I want to go through thetalents and write up some data on them, but that's for later.1.06 - Corrections, changes, all manner of things. Still want to do thetalents, but later.1.07 - More manner of changes and corrections.1.08 - Slight correction. I'm working on Baten Kaitos, so this FAQ will haveto wait for the talent data.1.10 - Updated some stuff in light of the recent 1.4 patch.1.12 - Wrote up a Seal Fate build and modified my assassination/subtlety build.1.15 - Redid the 'where to level' section.=============================================================================== 3. Why a Rogue?===============================================================================Many reasons. I chose my rogue because I don't like straight-up melee fighters(warriors and paladins), hunters remind me too much of the D&D-style rangers,whom I hate, and spellcaster classes have always been more complicated than Icare to deal with. Besides, I'm a sneaky guy by nature. Ask anyone. They'llsay they never saw me. ;)Let me just say up front that if your typical playing style is to rush up andbeat on the enemy until he/she/it is dead, a rogue is not for you. Sorry, butit'll be more trouble than it's worth. You want a warrior or paladin, but nota stealthy rogue. A rogue is more subtle, more diverse. A rogue can sneak upto an enemy, stun him/her/it for several seconds, deal lots of damage, thenfade into the shadows as if he/she/it were never there.A rogue is the shadows. Keep that in mind.Anyway, there are many different types of rogues, but they all have similartraits. Advantages¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯* Can sneak into areas others can't.* Has the highest DPS of any melee class, rivaling only the mage class.* High dodge and critical strike chances.* Can handle melee much better than spellcasting classes.* Exemplory 1v1 capabilities.* Uses Energy instead of Mana, which powers combo points.* Open your own lockboxes!* Mage killers. You show a rogue a mage in PVP, that mage is an example of impending death.* They are l33t ninja. 'nuff said. Disadvantages¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯* Fragile. Rogues wear leather armor throughout the game. Hunters get mail armor at level 40, warriors and paladins receive plate, but you're stuck with leather.* Somewhat limited weapon selection. Two-handed weapons are out of your range.* Can't handle groups very well. A rogue is meant for 1v1 combat, not tanking a bunch of monsters. Leave that to the warrior or paladin.* You'll deal less damage per strike than other classes. However, a high DPS makes up for this.* Too many rogues. Hard to get in end-game instance groups because of this.=============================================================================== 4. Which Race?===============================================================================This is something of a silly question. It really doesn't matter which race youchoose for any class (unless you want to be a paladin or shaman...) The onlyrace that cannot be a rogue are the Taurens, and if you've heard what they saywhen you try looting a corpse that isn't yours ("That would be stealing!")you'll understand why. Lousy do-gooders.While it doesn't matter which race in particular, there are two with someadvantages. Night Elves get a 1% dodge bonus (greater than you think) alongwith the Shadowmeld racial trait. Undead have a racial trait that makeswarlocks crap their robes: Will of the Forsaken. More on that later.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Human¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Perception (Active) - Activate to increase stealth detection radius by 10 yards. Lasts 20 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. The Human Spirit (Passive) - Increase Spirit by 5%. Diplomacy (Passive) - 10% bonus to faction point gain. Sword Specialization (Passive - Humans get +5 to Sword skill. Mace Specialization (Passive) - Humans get +5 to Mace skill. Night Elf¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Shadowmeld (Active) - Activate while immobile and out of combat to enter stealth mode. Lasts until canceled. No cooldown. Quickness (Passive) - Dodge chance increased by 1% Wisp Spirit (Passive) - Become a wisp when dead with movement speed increase of 50% (25% faster than a normal ghost). Nature Resistance (Passive) - All Night Elves get +10 Nature Resistance Dwarf¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Stoneform (Active) - Activate to gain immunity to poison, disease, and bleed plus 5% AC bonus. Lasts 20 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. Gun Specialization (Passive) - Dwarves get +5 to Gun Skill Frost Resistance (Passive) - All Dwarves get +10 Cold Resistance Treasure Finding (Passive) - Activate to see treasure chests on mini map. Lasts until canceled. No cooldown. Gnome¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Escape Artist (Active) - Activate to break out of a Root or Snare effect. 1.5 second cast. 1 minute cooldown. Expansive Mind (Passive) - Increase Intelligence by 5%. Arcane Resistance (Passive) - All Gnomes get +10 Arcane Resistance. Technologist (Passive) - 15 skill bonus to Engineering. Orc¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Blood Fury (Active) - Activate to increase Strength by 25% but take 5% health loss every 3 seconds. Lasts 20 seconds. 2 min cooldown. Hardiness (Passive) - 25% resistance to stun and knockout effects. Command (Passive) - Pet melee damage increased by 5%. Axe Specialization (Passive) - Orcs get +5 to Axe skill. Undead¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Will of the Forsaken (Active) - Activate to become immune to fear, sleep, and charm effects. Lasts 20 sec. 3 min cooldown. Cannibalize (Active) - Increase health regeneration by 200% while consuming a corpse. Lasts 15 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. Underwater Breathing (Passive) - Underwater breath increased by 4x. Shadow Resistance (Passive) - All Undead get +10 Shadow Resistance. Troll¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Berserking (Active) - Activate when "Wounded" to increase melee and spellcasting speed by 25%. Lasts 20 seconds. 2 minute cooldown. Regeneration (Passive) - 10% health regen bonus, 10% active in combat. Beast Slaying (Passive) - 5% damage bonus to Beasts. Throwing Weapon Specialization (Passive) - +5 to Throwing Weapon skill.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now then, this is why you should ignore racial traits and just pick the race youlike best. I know I spent a lot of time sorting out those traits just to tellyou that, but it's true. Most of the racial traits in general don't complimenta rogue. About the only truly useful traits are the undead's Will of theForsaken, which will make you immune to Fear (a warlock's best defense againsta rogue) and their increased underwater breathing, especially for some quests.Gnomes are more suited to being mages, but they do have one advantage: theirsize. Their small stature makes them difficult for other players to targetmanually, giving you an advantage in PVP. Of course, if you just plan on doingPVE (player versus enemy, or in other words, just killing normal monsters) thenthis won't matter one bit.In short, pick the race you like the most, and don't let anyone tell you it wasa bad choice.=============================================================================== 5. What About Weapons?===============================================================================For a rogue, your dagger is your friend. There are other options, but for thefirst ten (or twenty) levels, daggers will help you along more than you know.Throwing knives give you an edge over paladins, who have to rush in to attackan enemy, and spellcasters, who have to exhaust mana to pull enemies. You canlater train in bows, but don't bother till level 36, when bows start givingoff stat bonuses. Before then, throwing knives are cheaper to maintain andproduce the same effect.However, once you hit 36 you should start shopping for a bow. Throwing knivesare cheap, yes, but your ranged attack with a bow is increased depending onyour agility. Since any good rogue will have lots of agility by level 36, yourranged attack will likely be somewhere in the neighborhood of 125+ dependingon your bow and agility. Much better than throwing knives, which tend to topout at around 30-40 damage per shot.At level 10, rogues can buy a skill called Dual Wield. This lets them equip amelee weapon in each hand, increasing the damage they deal. There are certainand significant disadvantages to this. For one, the damage you deal with youroff-hand weapon will be reduced by 50%. For another, you will take a knock toyour to-hit percentage for your weapons, meaning you'll miss more often.However, these are greatly outweighed by the long-term advantages. No matterwhat kind of rogue you plan on becoming, you will want and need Dual Wield.Simple as that.As for melee weapons, you can later train in one-handed swords and maces which,depending on your preference, can open up certain possibilities. Some peoplelike to use dual swords or maces (or a mix of the two) but they're only hurtingthemselves. As I said before, the point of the rogue is not to rush up andbeat on people, but to be a little more subtle, have a little more style.Having anything but a dagger equipped in your main hand disables a number ofrogue skills that would otherwise be useful.Now, there are macros out there that let you keep a dagger equipped in the mainhand while in stealth, then switch to a sword/mace after using ambush, but I'ma fan of dual daggers myself. Personal preference. Matter of opinion. Stopbugging me about this.There is a significant advantage to dual-wielding daggers, and that is poisons.Instant Poison, for example, has a 20% base chance of being inflicted on anenemy, and when it's inflicted, it deals a certain amount of damage in additionto your weapon damage. Now imagine a rogue with twin daggers, both coated withInstant Poison, swinging away at you with the speed of a dervish. Now imagineyou're the rogue. Fun, huh?If you're wondering on what to equip yourself with, the real answer is to justuse what you like. If you're looking for the best setup, a dagger and swordearly in the game will help. Later on, you'll be able to find rare (blue)daggers that deal nearly as much (or in some cases, more) damage than swordsof the same level, and that's when you should focus on either finding or buyingthose daggers so you can more effectively deal out poisons.If you're intent on doing both PVP and PVE, simply keep a pair of daggers inyour inventory along with whatever other weapon(s) you use. Equip the daggersfor PVP and equip whatever else for normal monsters. Simple, effective.A quick word on poisons. There are many different types, for certainsituations. Crippling poison reduces an enemy's movement speed and is killerin duels. Stop that ugly shaman or hunter from running and pelting you witharrows/spells from afar, and let your blades do the talking. Fighting aspellcaster? Use Mind-numbing poison and wait just before his spell activates,then use Kick and watch him cry. Remember, you're a rogue, and that meansnever having to say you're sorry.Now then, you can train in bows in Darnassus, and swords, maces and crossbows inStormwind City if you're on the side of the Alliance. If you're of the Horde,you'll want to hit Orgrimmar or the Undercity for your training needs. Thequest for poisons first begins at level 20, but I would recommend not doing itfor a few levels due to what's involved with it.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5a. Damage vs. DPS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Decided to stick this section in after receiving an e-mail with a ratherdetailed (and long) bit on weapon choices.Quite often throughout the game you'll be presented with weapon choices. Someare strong, some are fast, and some are just plain weird. One question I'masked with some frequency is whether base damage or DPS (damage per second) isa better route to take, and which type of weapon should go in which hand. Well,here's the answer.Before going into specifics, if you're trying to determine which weapon goes inyour main hand and which goes in the off-hand, the weapon with the highest basedamage always goes in the main hand. This weapon is the one that will be usedfor Sinister Strike, Ambush, and all your other damage-dealing moves. Theweapon in your off-hand should have either high damage to make up for the 50%hit, or high speed and DPS.High-damage weapons are often slower. If you're using daggers, they can havespeeds up to and greater than 2.00, and if you're using swords, expect the speedto be much higher. Why would you use such a cumbersome weapon, you may ask?Higher damage on Sinister Strike, Ambush and other moves. If you're not goingto be using poisons, sacrificing a little speed for damage will help.For ranged weapons like bows, the higher the damage, the better. Forget DPS,ranged weapons are pulling tools, not your main armament. You want to bringthe enemy out of the pack and give him a reason to not like you rather thanpelt him with arrows and/or bullets.Other than that, just make sure your main hand is equipped with a high damage-dealer and the off-hand has something nice as well.=============================================================================== 6. Skills===============================================================================A word on skills. Certain skills are essential. Some can be replaced forothers. Some are just plain worthless. For example, Sinister Strike isessential for any and every rogue. It will be your main damage-dealer allthroughout your rogue career. Backstab is later replaced by Ambush in PVE,then replaces Ambush for PVP purposes. Expose Armor is worthless. Don'tbother with it. I'll try to give an accurate assessment of each skill'susefulness, though I've since developed certain feelings for particular skillsand I'm loathe to change my mind on them. Skill Type Requirement(s) Usefulness¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Sinister Strike Combat N/A Essential!Eviscerate Assassination N/A Essential!Backstab Combat Level 4 VariesPick Pocket Subtlety Level 4 LimitedGouge Combat Level 6 VariesEvasion Combat Level 8 Essential!Sap Subtlety Level 10 LimitedDual Wield Dual Wield Level 10 Essential!Sprint Combat Level 10 Escape methodSlice and Dice Assassination Level 10 LimitedKick Combat Level 12 Piss off mages!Expose Armor Assassination Level 14 UselessGarrote Assassination Level 14 LimitedPick Lock Lockpicking Level 16 Essential!Feint Combat Level 16 LimitedAmbush Assassination Level 18 Stealthy damageParry Defense Level 18 Just take it.Poisons Poison Level 20 VariesRupture Assassination Level 20 LimitedDistract Subtlety Level 22 LimitedVanish Subtlety Level 22 Essential!Detect Traps Subtlety Level 24 VariesCheap Shot Assassination Level 26 Essential!Kidney Shot Assassination Level 30 LimitedDisarm Trap Subtlety Level 30 VariesBlind Subtlety Level 34 PVPSafe Fall Subtlety Level 40 Very usefulAnd now, into the details of the abilities. Not all, but most.Backstab - As I said, this is replaced by Ambush later as an opening move, andusable in PVP in higher levels. You have to be behind your opponent, so itdoesn't work on regular monsters unless you gouge first. In PVP, you canactually circle-strafe another person and be presented with their backsideseveral times if you're good. If you're using swords, Sinister Strike is yourbread and butter, but if you've got daggers, Backstab will provide the mostdamage.Blind - This is a funny ability. Try it in PVP and watch your opponent stumblearound trying to find you in the dark. Also a good escape move, it will makethe enemy wander and give you time to get away. Can also help with crowdcontrol in both PVP and PVE, but against monsters, they tend to wander intoanother group and pull even more aggro, so don't get used to it.Cheap Shot - The replacement for Ambush and Backstab. It does no damage, butit stuns the target for four seconds, giving you time to beat on them freely.Not only that, but it gives you two combo points instead of the usual one,which can be increased to three points with talents. A very useful ability.However, if you're in a group with another rogue, keep in mind that the effectsof Cheap Shot DO NOT STACK! Meaning, if your buddy rogue has used Cheap Shotand you're moving in, you'll have to use Ambush. Even if you wait till hisCheap Shot wears off, yours will only momentarily stun the enemy rather thanfor the full four seconds. If you're in a group with another rogue, determineearly on who will use Cheap Shot and who uses Ambush.Detect/Disarm Traps - Very, very situational, but the group will thank you forit later on. This is primarily applicable later in the game when some chestsare trapped and you'll have to remove them in order to get the treasure withoutbeing killed. Also useful for disarming traps set by Hunters.Distract - This is a very situational move, but it can help. This will turn anenemy's attention elsewhere, thereby presenting to you their welcoming backsfor pickpocketing, ambushing, or whatever else you'd like to do to them. Itfreezes them in place momentarily as well, giving you an opportunity to rob orattack any wandering enemies.Evasion - This thing adds 50% to your dodge rating. Even a low-level rogue cansuddenly have a 60-70% dodge rating with this. Higher-level rogues can hit80%. That's an 80% chance of dodging hits for fifteen seconds, which shouldbe plenty of time to lay in some hits of your own.Feint - Only useful in groups. No real point if you're fighting by yourlonesome, and has zero use in PVP. It's mostly only effective at higher levels,and it can still be ineffective depending on how much damage the rest of yourgroup is laying down. Still, it's the best way to take yourself out of theenemy's sights.Garrote - This is an alternative to Backstab or Ambush, but not always the bestoption. It deals greater damage than either of the two, but it does so overtime. In mid- to end-game instances you'll come across bosses that can't bestunned by Cheap Shot and other moves, in which case Garrote will do its jobnicely.Gouge - Used for a variety of purposes, both as an escape move and to allow youto get in a quick backstab after you've engaged the enemy. In the end-game,its primary use is in duels. In group PVP, very few people actually stop andcheck to see whether or not someone is stunned (those who do get creamed anyway)so it's pointless to gouge someone when there's half a dozen mages runningaround nuking the crap out of everything. In group PVE, there are betterstunning methods than this, and better ways to get away from aggro.Kick - Against any and all spellcasters, this is a godsend. This nifty abilitylets you disrupt any spell being cast for several seconds, and it deals a littlebit of damage to boot. You don't really need to buy higher levels of this skillright away, since the damage it does is negligible.Parry - The only thing this does is give you a better chance at blocking anenemy's attacks. However, it's a one-time cost, so it's worth the relativelysmall amount of money.Pick Lock - Essential. Not only can you pick the locks on doors in the ScarletMonestary (thereby negating the need to find the proper key) you'll always bein demand to open other people's lockboxes. A rogue with 300 lockpicking canalso open the doors to Stratholme, Scholomance, Dire Maul and the doors inBlackrock Depths (however, some parts in that instance require the key), notto mention being able to open any given chest.Pickpocket - You can't pick the pockets of other players, but this skill isneeded for some rogue quests, and you can make a lot of money by picking thepockets of humanoid NPCs, not to mention pick up lockboxes of various sizes.Plus if you're in a group, the money and items you snatch from pickpocketing isyours to keep. It isn't shared with the rest of the group.Poisons - You have to buy ranks in the various poisons as your skill increases,but I'm lumping the whole thing together here. Poisons can be a great help inPVE and PVP, but the chance of them activating is low, so keep that in mind.The cost of ingredients is actually very low, though you have to buy a ton ofthem early on to get your skill up to respectable levels. You can survivewithout poisons, but for the rogue who likes to take chances, they're quitehandy.Safe Fall - As the description says, this reduces the damage taken by falling.Useful, yes, but don't expect to survive a skydive off Teldrassil.Sap - This move's usefulness is limited, yes, but very effective in the rightsituation. This is a stealth version of Gouge and works for a lot longer.It can only be used on humanoids, limiting its effectiveness, but it's veryhelpful in places where said humanoids like to walk around in gangs. Rememberthat a rogue is a 1v1 fighter, not a class that can tank groups. Sap one, thenpull the other away. By the time the sap (ha) regains consciousness, his buddyis already dead, and you've put a knife in his back.Sprint - This is a rogue's primary method of escaping a bad situation. Alsonice for catching up to fleeing enemies, or reducing chilling or slowingeffects.Vanish - This is another essential skill, and it's multi-talented as well. Itworks as an escape skill, letting you go straight into stealth mode while incombat. Once the Vanish runs down, you remain in regular stealth, so you canjust sneak away safely. Not only that, but this skill breaks movement-impairingeffects like Frost Nova, which means those mages in PVP need to think of anotherway of dealing with you.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6a. Finish Them in Style!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------I decided to put this section in after playing around with a few of thefinishing moves and imagining a few situations in PVP where they might beuseful. So, here's a rundown of why Blizzard put anything besides Evisceratein the game.Expose Armor - Not worth it. If you're fighting a warrior or other high-armoropponent, Rupture will simply deal damage rather than lowering their 5000+armor rating by what they would consider a paltry amount. Not useful in groupseither, warriors should be the ones reducing armor so they hold the aggro, notyou. In other words, NEVER use Expose Armor in groups, you will hurt thewarrior's ability to hold aggro and get your damn self killed.Kidney Punch - Quite simply, a stun move. There are certain advantages to thismove, the first and foremost being that it lets you beat on monsters while theyhave to sit there and take it for 5-6 seconds. It has a rather high cooldownrate compared to other finishing moves, but that can be reduced with talents.More effective in groups than Gouge, since the stun from Kidney Punch isn'tbroken by damage. Also exceedingly useful against spellcasters. Takes themagic right out of them.Rupture - This particular move can't compare to a Cold Blood/Eviscerate comboin terms of damage, but it's rather handy outside of PVP against instance bossesand other tough elites. It tends to hold its own in damage with Eviscerate, butonce you get Cold Blood, it's not as useful. In PVP, it can be used againstwarriors or anyone else to disrupt the use of bandages if they get away from youfor a moment. For end-game raids, most bosses will take more damage over timefrom a full combo-ed Rupture than Eviscerate due to their armor value. If theydon't bleed, then use something else.Slice and Dice - Put simply, this finishing move is meant for the rogue whouses poisons. If you don't use poisons, an increase in your attack speedmeans nothing compared to the damage you could do with other moves. However,in PVP, more attacks means more chances to apply poison to your victims, andthus Slice and Dice helps quite a bit in that aspect. Otherwise, it's a wasteof your combo points.=============================================================================== 7. The Art of Combat===============================================================================This section is here to give you a general idea of how combat should work as arogue. Bear in mind this is not a section for PVP strategies, but rather PVE.In other words, it's here for the beginner rogue who's wondering why he keepsdying. This bit's for you, little buddy.First of all, throwing daggers will help you a lot early in the game. As Isaid earlier, bows aren't worth the training price (and subsequent costs) untillevel 36, when they start giving agility bonuses simply by being equipped.Early on, your low level will draw aggro (make monsters aggressive) more easily,thereby forcing you into combat in unintended situations. Throwing daggersbrings the monster to you, with the distinct exception of any and allspellcasters. These are the ones you should watch out for early on, becauseBlizzard gave them seemingly infinite range, and their spells hurt. The bluemana bar that appears under their health when you click on them (or lackthereof) will tell you who's a spellcaster and who's a plodhopper.Before you go all gung-ho on a monster, take a moment and look around. Checkand see if there are any wandering critters nearby who might join in on yourlittle rumble before drawing the initial aggro. Because of stealth, you havemore time and opportunity than other classes to assess the situation anddetermine whether or not you're about to be ambushed.Early on stealth will likely be your only method of getting through somesituations and quests without a group, but don't get overconfident. Whether ornot you're found out is determined by several factors: first and foremost, yourlevel versus the level of the monster. Secondly, how close you are to them.Third, whether or not you're behind them. Regardless of your level, you won'tbe found out if you sneak up behind an enemy, but circle around to the frontand you take your life in your hands.Be very aware of what drops you out of stealth. Searching a corpse, examiningan item, opening a chest and more will all drop you out of stealth and give anynearby monsters an opportunity to attack you. Knowing when you are and are notvulnerable will keep you alive.Remember that you are a rogue. Keep that first and foremost in your mind. Tothat effect, never charge into a group of enemies, or have some grandiose notionthat you can win should two or three other monsters suddenly decide to join yourcurrent battle. The warrior or paladin can do such things, but you have stealthand Sprint for a reason. He who fights and runs away lives to fight anotherday, and whatnot.Good luck.=============================================================================== 8. Sample Talent Builds===============================================================================First and foremost, you should go here:http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Talents.ViewThis is IGN's talent builder. There are others out there, but I like this one.It will let you customize your rogue talents and basically plan for the future.Believe me when I say you want to be sure what you want early on, because it'svery, very expensive to reset your talents. If you make a mistake or decideyou don't like your current build, it costs 1g to reset everything the firsttime, 5g the next, then an additional 5g (10g, 15g, 20g, etc.) up to 50g, wherethe price sits...stealing your money.Anyway, I have a couple sample talent builds you can try, and they're mostlybased off of other people's builds. This first one, the standard 23/2/26, wasoriginally constructed by someone else, but I don't remember his/her name (soif anyone knows, tell me so I can give credit!)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Assassination Talents (23 points)Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 pointsIncreases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.Malice - 5/5 pointsIncreases your critical strike chance by 5%.Ruthlessness - 3/3 pointsGives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.Murder - 1/2 pointIncreases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or CheapShot abilities by 3%.Relentless Strikes - 1/1 pointYour finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.Lethality - 5/5 pointsIncreases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,Backstab, Ambush, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage ability by 30%.Improved Instant Poison - 4/5 pointsIncreases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 8%.Cold Blood - 1/1 pointWhen activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next SinisterStrike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.Combat Talents (2 points)Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 pointsReduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.Subtlety Talents (26 points)Camouflage - 5/5 pointsIncreases your speed while stealthed by 15%.Master of Deception - 4/5 pointsReduces the chance enemies have to detect you while in Stealth mode. Moreeffective than Master of Deception (Rank 3)Elusiveness - 5/5 pointsReduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1.3minutes.Ghostly Strike - 1/1 pointA strike that deals 125% weapon damage and increases your chance to dodge by15% for 7 seconds. Awards 1 combo point.Initiative - 5/5 pointsGives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target whenusing your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.Improved Sap - 3/3 pointsAdds a 90% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 pointsReduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot ability by 20.Preparation - 1/1 pointWhen activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your otherRogue abilities.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------This next build is my own modification of the above, and it trims away certaintalents such as Murder and Ghostly Strike, though Ghostly Strike may make acomeback depending on how many people e-mail me telling me I'm missing out onsomething spectacular. Or it might not.Anyway, this build is meant as a sort of hybrid. It's quite good in PVE, andworks very well in PVP, even without the points in Seal Fate everyone seems tolove. To be frank, I can see the appeal, but I don't like losing so many pointsfrom the Subtlety tree. Too many rogues underestimate the talents in that tree.My opinion entirely.For PVP purposes this can be used in group PVP, but it excels mostly in duelsthanks to Preparation. It helps immensely to be able to vanish twice in quicksuccession, especially against mages and other casters.Assassination Talents (23 points)Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 pointsIncreases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.Malice - 5/5 pointsIncreases your critical strike chance by 5%.Ruthlessness - 3/3 pointsGives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.Murder - 1/2 pointIncreases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or CheapShot abilities by 3%.Relentless Strikes - 1/1 pointYour finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.Lethality - 5/5 pointsIncreases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,Backstab, Ambush, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage ability by 30%.Improved Instant Poison - 2/5 pointsIncreases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 4%.Cold Blood - 1/1 pointWhen activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next SinisterStrike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.Combat Talents (5 points)Improved Gouge - 3/3 pointsIncreases the effect duration of your Gouge ability by 1.5 seconds.Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 pointsReduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.Subtlety Talents (25 points)Camouflage - 5/5 pointsIncreases your speed while stealthed by 15%.Elusiveness - 4/5 pointsReduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1 minute.Opportunity - 5/5 pointsIncreases the damage dealt when striking from behind with your Backstab,Garrote, or Ambush abilities by 20%.Initiative - 5/5 pointsGives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target whenusing your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.Improved Sap - 3/3 pointsAdds a 90% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 pointsReduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot ability by 20.Preparation - 1/1 pointWhen activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your otherRogue abilities.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a Seal Fate build with my preferred Subtlety talents. Adjust as neededfor what you like in the Assassination tree. It's more of a PVP build due tothe lack of Improved Sap for the end-game instances, but also useable in PVE,just less crowd control. The lack of Preparation is offset somewhat by theextra point in Elusiveness. Not as good in duels since Preparation issacrificed, but useful in group PVP thanks to the extra combo points providedby Seal Fate. Requires a high critical chance to be fully effective.To be frank, I don't like this build. I'm of the opinion that Seal Fate is anoverrated talent that isn't worth the points it takes to get it, and was madepopular initially by the fact that it was bugged in earlier versions of thegame, causing it to give two extra combo points instead of one. But, that'sjust my opinion.Assassination Talents (31 points)Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 pointsIncreases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.Malice - 5/5 pointsIncreases your critical strike chance by 5%.Ruthlessness - 3/3 pointsGives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.Murder - 2/2 pointsIncreases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or CheapShot abilities by 5%.Relentless Strikes - 1/1 pointYour finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.Lethality - 5/5 pointsIncreases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,Backstab, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage abilities by 30%.Improved Instant Poison - 2/5 pointsIncreases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 4%.Cold Blood - 1/1 pointWhen activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next SinisterStrike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.Improved Kidney Shot - 3/3 pointsReduces the cooldown of your Kidney Shot ability by 5 seconds.Seal Fate - 5/5 pointsYour critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 100% chanceto add an additional combo point.Vigor - 1/1 pointIncreases your maximum Energy by 10.Combat Talents (5 points)Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 pointsReduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.Improved Gouge - 3/3 pointsIncreases the effect duration of your Gouge ability by 1.5 seconds.Subtlety Talents (15 points)Camouflage - 5/5 pointsIncreases your speed while stealthed by 15%.Elusiveness - 5/5 pointsReduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1.3minutes.Initiative - 5/5 pointsGives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target whenusing your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now, there are builds for the combat rogue. Some people prefer a rogue that'smore 'in-your-face,' even though it basically flies in the face of what a rogueis. But if that's your preferred method of playing, more power to you. It'snot that the combat tree is filled with bad talents, it's just that there aremuch more useful ones in the other two trees. My opinion entirely, naturally.I can't really list any combat builds, since they're dependent on your preferredweapon. A rogue specializing in daggers will have a different build than onewho likes swords or maces. However, all builds should include Dual WieldSpecialization, which improves the damage output of your offhand weapon. BladeFlurry is another talent you'll want to have, as it'll actually make you usefulwhen fighting groups. As for Assassination and Subtlety talents, you'll wantto have Camouflage maxed out, even if all you do is rush in and attack theenemy, along with Improved Eviscerate and Malice. The more criticals, thebetter.=============================================================================== 9. Where to Quest===============================================================================This is asked a lot. Too damn much, actually. Blizzard should make signpostsor something. Anyway, this is primarily drawn from my own experience at gettingvarious characters up to 60. It's divided into level range, then by which sideyou're on, and later simply by zone. I'll give warnings for zones that areganking hotbeds on PVP servers, but if you're not, just ignore them. Let meknow if I missed a zone (unless I did it intentionally).Levels 1-20 - This is the same for all races. Go through the starting area,quest till you're ready for the zone next door, quest there for a while, etc.The Alliance has a few choices, namely Westfall, Loch Modan and Darkshore.Hands down, the best place to level from 11-20 is Darkshore. It has the bestdifficulty scale with its quests and they all involve quite a bit of killing.You should definitely quest in Westfall until you've finished the VanCleef line,though. The Horde's only two areas are the Barrens and Silverpine Forest.The Barrens has more quests, but Silverpine has a nice selection if you'reundead.In terms of instances, for Alliance, do Deadmines starting when you're level 18.If you can get a group sooner, more power to you, but you'll have troublehitting enemies in the latter half of the instance. For Horde, go to RagefireChasm starting at 14-16, then Wailing Caverns at 18-22.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levels 21-30-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Alliance - A combination of Redridge Mountains and Wetlands provides some goodquests that'll keep you busy for a while. Wait till level 25 to go to Duskwood.At that point you can handle the earlier quests with ease, and be ready to takeon the later ones immediately after. Duskwood and the latter few Wetlandsquests should hold you till 30. Stockades is a good instance to run through at25 or so. There's no great loot to be had, just a lot of quests, XP and cloth.Horde - Hillsbrad. If you're on a PVP server, I sincerely apologize, butHillsbrad does indeed have some of the better quests available. Other areasinclude Ashenvale, which isn't a bad place to go, but you do run the risk ofbeing ganked by a whole lot of 60's waiting for their turn in Warsong Gulch.At 25 you can start questing in Thousand Needles, and on the servers I've beento it's mostly populated by Horde, except in the Shimmering Flats area, whichisn't till later. Probably the best place is the Stonetalon Mountains. Itusually isn't populated by the Alliance, and has some good quests to get up to30.For both sides, Blackfathom Deeps can be done around 25 (that is, you willbe effective against most of the enemies there at that level or higher) andprovides some good loot and XP, plus quests.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levels 31-40-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Alliance - Stranglethorn Vale. Bar none, it has the absolute best quests forthis level range, and even up to level 45. It's a great place to level up, buton a PVP server, be prepared to spend the majority of your time running back toyour corpse and praying some level 60 isn't camping it. Alternate places include a combination of Arathi and Hillsbrad quests, though both those zonescombined don't give the XP of Stranglethorn. Desolace is a nice, if dreary,place to level. The centaur quests give you a lot to do, especially when you'retrying to build up your reputation with one side or the other. Go throughGnomeregan as soon as possible and get those quests out of the way. Gnomeregansucks. At level 34, you can start going to Scarlet Monestary, but only to thelibrary. At 36, head to the armory. At 38, the cathedral. All three aregreat for loot and XP.Horde - Stranglethorn Vale. See above. Depending on your server population,there may be gankage. What am I saying, there WILL be gankage. Anyway, Arathicontains some good quests, though you can't do the big ones (Stromgarde) tillyou're about 37 or so. The best place to level in your early 30's is ShimmeringFlats. It has a bunch of general 'kill this, collect that' quests for you todo. Desolace is also nice, but I didn't find it as plentiful in XP as onAlliance. Like Alliance, do Scarlet Monestary for loot and XP starting at themid-30's.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levels 41-50-------------------------------------------------------------------------------At this point, the quests for both sides will be largely the same. Therefore,I'll be separating this level range by zone rather than side. Bear in mind that levels 41-45 are the biggest pain in the ass, since there are relativelyfew quests available for you then. It gets much easier in the latter 40's.Azshara - Don't bother going here until level 45 at a minimum. Immediatelyupon entering the zone and to your right you'll pick up a couple quests togrind the ghosts and satyrs. These are fun to kill, they provide good XP andcloth. Besides those, though, there's not much to do till after 50.Badlands - This is one of those zones I hate on principle. The wildlife isdensely packed and have fairly wild pathing, so you can often end up fightingseveral wolves and vultures in a row by standing in one place. However, thereare good quests for both sides, and Uldaman is the only instance to bridge thegap between Scarlet Monestary and Zul'farrak. I still don't like the place.Feralas - My personal favorite area, this place has some decent quests forAlliance, but better ones for the Horde. If you're into grinding, you can havefun with the gnolls, then the ogres when you're a little higher. Otherwise,kill naga for the Alliance and everything else for the Horde. Once you're inyour high 40's, go to the northwest end for more quests.Hinterlands - For the Alliance, a lot of quests will take place, if notoriginate here. For the Horde, there are loads of quests in the new trollvillage. The downside? You'll need to be 45-46 in order to do most of them,plus the troll village is on the opposite side of the zone as Aerie Peak.However, these quests are to the Horde what the new Searing Gorge quests areto both sides. Lots of killing, lots to do. Much fun and loot to be had,including a great trinket, a fantastic necklace, and an awesome fishing pole.Searing Gorge - Don't go here before level 46. There are maybe two or threequests you can do before then, but the majority (meaning those given at ThoriumPoint) will require a range of 46-47 do to effectively. This place is similarto Badlands in terms of wildlife, but the difference is the critters here aremore spaced out and it's easier to go through them. There is an issue with thepatrol paths of the dwarves in the Cauldron. It can take a while to get used tothem, and you'll be killed quite a bit until you do. There are an absolute TONof quests, though, and this place will more than likely carry you from 46 to 50.Swamp of Sorrows - Technically you can start going here in your high 30's, butquite frankly, you'll need a level edge on the local wildlife so you don't spendthe majority of your time trying not to be eaten. This is a good place for theHorde to level on a PVP server, since the Stonard scouts can help you out ifneeded. There aren't a lot of quests here, but if you're an alchemist, youwon't find a better source of blindweed.Tanaris - If you're into PVP, this is the place. Like Booty Bay, you won't beable to go two steps in Gadgetzan on a PVP server without picking a fight.Otherwise, the wastewander bandits are quite possibly the single best thing togrind. They drop more cloth than the Bloodsail pirates (based on personalexperience, I may just be unlucky in Stranglethorn Vale) and provide a nice XPbonus with their water pouches.Instances - Beginning at 40, you can go to Uldaman and generally do well untilyou hit the latter half and the level 45 troggs. You can start going toZul'farrak (and be effective) at 45, although there isn't a whole lot of lootto be had there for a rogue. Well, aside from Mason's Fraternity Ring, areward for the Divin-o Rod quest. You can technically go to Maraudon at 45,but only the orange side. At 47, start going to the purple side and killVyletongue for a Satyr's lash, and Celebras for the Rod of Celebras. At 48,you can start going on Princess runs and still hit most of the monsters. Makesure to kill Rotgrip after Princess. The big croc drops a pair of boots thatare perfect for the rogue on the go.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levels 51-55-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Azshara - With new levels opens new opportunities in this zone. You're giventhe opportunity to kill a few snooty high elves, along with naga and maybe afew giants along the way. You'll be coming back here later, so don't get toosick of it.Blasted Lands - To be honest, this place sucks for quests. There are a bunchyou can take on for either side, but they consist of collection quests with adrop rate somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.0001% or less. Still, if you wantto grind wildlife (or sneak a peek at the Dark Portal) there's no place better.Burning Steppes - Good for both sides. Morgan's Vigil holds the start of theOnyxia key quest for the Alliance, and you can still kill stuff on the Hordeside. This is where PVP really gets fun, since you're closing the level gap onthe 60's.Felwood - This place is so depressing. The first thing you should do, whetheryou're Alliance or Horde, is start killing the enemies of the Timbermaw toraise your reputation to Unfriendly. Once it's up that high, you can safelypass through their stronghold to Moonglade and Winterspring. Afterwards, thereare quests to be done at the Emerald Sanctuary, which mostly involve killingsatyrs. Fun stuff.Un'goro Crater - Like Badlands and the rest, this place is dominated by itsrather primitive and lethal wildlife. However, Marshal's Refuge also containsprobably the best collection of quests this side of Searing Gorge. The sheeramount of reward XP you'll get will net you half a level, not including allthe XP from the staggering number of critters you'll slaughter.Western Plaguelands - For the Alliance, kill stuff in the Writhing Haunt. Theskellies there drop runecloth and scourgestones. Fun. There are quests forthe Horde, but you won't be able to get them from Chillwind. Head to theBulwark for their version of the good ol' Scourge-stomping quests. Andorhalremains an undead stronghold, but good luck doing anything in there till yourmid 50's. Otherwise, do the cauldron quests for relatively easy XP, thoughyou may need a group for them. You can't sap the undead and the cauldron lordswill often have a couple lackeys with him.Instances - Sunken Temple can be done in the low 50's, but good luck getting agroup for it. It may just be the servers I play on, though. From the dragons,you can get a ring and dagger (both have random enchantments, hope for a'ring/dagger of the monkey') Also in the low 50's, you can start doing BRDquests, although going down to the emperor's lair will require you to be 56-57or so. Still, you can have fun in the upper reaches of BRD till then.------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Levels 56-60-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now the fun stuff. Most of the areas mentioned previously make a return, butthere are some new ones worth a look.Azshara - As far as I know there's no new quests here, however, this zone willfeature prominently in a quest line that starts from an NPC along the borderof the Swamp of Sorrows and Blasted Lands.Blasted Lands - There's just one quest here worth your time. Talk to the ghostNPC sitting at the border of the Swamp of Sorrows and Blasted Lands. He'llstart you on a long, involved quest line that'll take you through the BlastedLands and introduce you to several areas of Azshara. The whole quest line canbe done in a few hours, somewhat shorter if you don't fight everything in yourway and have help for the elites you'll have to kill. The final part of theline WILL require a party, and a good one that knows what they're doing, butthe final rewards are a ton of XP, a 16-slot bag and a nice trinket (and I thinksomething else, I forget).Burning Steppes - Once again return for more ogres, dragons and nutty orcstrying to ruin Azeroth's good times. More quests await when you're in thisparticular level range, so have at it.Deadwind Pass - There are zero, I repeat, zero quests here as of the 1.7 patch.However, you can grind the ogres here right up to 60, and very, very fewpeople go there if you're concerned about PVP (or competition).Eastern Plaguelands - If you're Horde, get your quests from the Blightcaller.If you're Alliance, get them from the guy along the east end of the ThondorilRiver. They're good grinding quests, and give lots of XP. After finishingall three you'll be sent on a long quest line that'll let you tour a lot ofEPL, and will require a five-man Scarlet Stratholme run. However, I highlyrecommend going through it, since there's a lot of XP to be had, and the verylast part of the quest line is very, very fun.Silithus - A new area, this place is populated by a wide variety of victims.Ghosts, bugs and elementals. But mostly bugs. There are some quests, butnot very many. There'll be more as of the 1.8 patch, according to Blizzard.Hopefully they'll have good item rewards, since most people who come here areeither level 60 or close to it.Western Plaguelands - Most of Andorhal's quests can be done earlier than this,but you'll kick more undead ass with greater levels. Either way, you likelywon't finish the cauldrons till 56, unless you get a higher-level group totake you through.Winterspring - Probably has the best set of quests among the zones. Fromkilling furbolgs and yetis to assaulting a furbolg courier, you'll stain thesnow red with the blood of your enemies. Once again, beware of Freelook andits open-arms attitude toward PVP on like-minded servers.Instances - Dire Maul's east side is open starting at 56 (though you might haveto convince the group you're trying to get into). Starting at 57, start tryingto get into Stratholme and Lower Blackrock Spire raids (or groups). Also finishup any remaining BRD quests and especially the quest to kill the emperor, as itnets a nice ring. At 58, all the raiding instances are more or less open, butbe prepared to be rejected in favor of a 60 rogue. Bear in mind raids are theabsolute worst way to gain XP, but they do pay off over time with great loot.=============================================================================== 10. Professions===============================================================================Many professions are open to you, but you can only take on two at a time. Whichones to take is a very important decision, and can shape the entire game foryou. However, you can always take on the three secondary professions: Cooking,Fishing and First Aid and still be able to accept your two primary professionswith no penalty. With that said, let's run through them real quick.Alchemy - Sister profession to Herbalism. Never take this without it, unlessyou like paying exorbitant rates for reagents at the auction house. Useful ifyou want to transmute your own arcanite, or charge others for the privilege.Blacksmithing - Unless you're planning on crafting armor and weapons and thenselling them to people, you'd be better off with another profession.Enchanting - Only take this if you enjoy slowly building up a skill, thenspending hours (or tons of gold) to get the necessary reagents, then screamingat people in capital cities and hoping someone buys something. I'm not a bigfan of this profession, as you can probably tell. You can take enchanting andsimply sell the reagents you get from disenchanting greens, which is easier andstill makes money.Engineering - This is an interesting profession, but don't expect to make anymoney off of it until much later in the game. Lots of engineering equipmentcan't be used by anyone but other engineers, but you can create stuff that youcan then install on other people's equipment (and charge them for it!)Herbalism - This is a decent profession, but doesn't bring in quite as muchmoney as leatherworking and mining until later in the game. Best when pairedwith Alchemy, obviously.Leatherworking - Best when paired with Skinning so you have materials to workwith. It's much less expensive than other crafting professions, although laterin the game you'll run across recipes that call for some fairly rare items.Mining - Only take this if you intend on using it for money, or if you reallywant to be a Blacksmith. Mining is rather competitive, so be prepared to fightfor an ore deposit on higher-populated servers.Skinning - Best when paired with Leatherworking, obviously. You can take it upand just sell all the leather you get for money, but as a rogue I prefer tocraft my own armor.Tailoring - Obviously you won't be wearing anything you make, seeing as it'sall cloth and has very few agility bonuses. However, when paired withenchanting, it gives you a good source of green and blue items to disenchant.Plus, later on you'll be able to purify mooncloth, which is a terrific sourceof money.Now then, which is the best? Well, Alchemy/Herbalism lets you create your ownpotions, a very handy ability since you have no other methods of healingyourself. Skinning/Leatherworking lets you create your own armor, and whileit may seem bad at first, at about level 35 you can create and equip Nightshadeequipment, which gives amazing agility and stamina bonuses. Engineering andEnchanting shouldn't be taken unless you have a gathering skill to support theamount of money you'll have to invest. Mining and Blacksmithing just seempointless to me, since with the time you spend making equipment for otherpeople, you could be making items for yourself.That's my two cents, anyway. You're certainly free to choose whateverprofession combination you wish.=============================================================================== 11. Lockpicking===============================================================================Lockpicking can be a difficult skill to maintain. Rather than professions,which have periodic boosts in the maximum skill number that you can buy fromtrainers, the maximum skill value for lockpicking increases by 5 for everylevel. So, when you first buy the skill at level 16, the max skill you'll beable to attain will be 80. At level 35, it'll be 175. At 60, it'll top outat 300.Lockpicking can also be a difficult skill to improve. Both the Alliance andHorde side have a quest that sends you to several practice locks you can pickwhich will raise your skill up to 100, at which point the boxes become gray andyou no longer gain skill. At this point you can pick up to iron lockboxes,which people will undoubtedly have and will ask for a rogue (like you) to openfor them.Currently rogues can gain lockpicking skill from picking boxes in the do nottrade window (finally) and Blizzard has added footlockers to the various areasin the game to practice skill. Basically, these footlockers coorespond to thelevel of the region in terms of the lockpicking skill needed to open them. Sofootlockers in a level 20 area would take around 100 or so lockpicking skillto open.With that said, the first place you can go as Alliance is the lumber millwhere the lockpicking quest takes place. You can use the above-mentioned andall-in-caps technique to open the strongbox over and over again for skillpoints. You can also open the chest in the tower where the poison quest takesplace, but unless you're of a very high level, you'll end up aggro-ing theelite that wanders around there. Also, bear in mind the chest in Redridge isset on a timer. You cannot (I repeat, CANNOT) just pick it over and over andgain skill points. You have to wait a few minutes after picking it at first,then try again to get another skill point.To raise your skill to 175, your options are limited primarily to footlockers.You'll find the appropriate ones in the waters of Hillsbrad, Arathi, Desolace,Stranglethorn Vale, all the level 25-35+ areas.After this, you'll want to go to the Scarlet Monestary. There are two doorsoutside the instance you can pick, and two doors inside (in the Armory andCathedral). Don't bother going inside the instance if you're not in a group.The doors outside will reset eventually, allowing you to gain skill pointsover and over again. You can use these up until level 45 when your skill maxesout at 225. From there, you can open literally anything. Congrats, you're nowa well-sought-after rogue.But first, a word on lockpicking for profit. On many servers, you'll seerogues offering their lockbox picking services for money. There will also benon-rogues offering to pay rogues to open their lockboxes. However, there willalso be the nuts, like me, who open other people's lockboxes for free, simplybecause we can.In short, don't expect to make money from opening other people's lockboxes.Work for free. Work for tips if you want, but never insist on being paid,and always be courteous to the nice little non-rogues. While you may beoffering a service unavailable to others, there will always be those like mewho will do it for nothing. Do it because you can, not because you want money.There are instances for that sort of thing.=============================================================================== 12. Poisons===============================================================================I decided to slap in this section since I've recently started playing aroundwith poisons and determined their proper value to a rogue on the go. For themost part what you'll want to use is Instant Poison. It's fast, simple,effective. Deals damage instantly, as opposed to damage over time, and the20% application rate is higher than you may think. In a 30-minute period ofgrinding, I've run out of charges far sooner than the time limit would haveended.For PVP, Instant Poison is also a help, but Crippling Poison is your bread andbutter. Crippling Poison has the rather helpful effect of cutting youropponent's movement speed when it's activated. At rank 2, it will slice yourpoor victim's speed by a full 70%. This ensures an opponent who likes to keephis/her distance will fight on your level and on your terms. This is the powerof a rogue.Against any and all spellcasters, you'll want to toss out Mind-Numbing Poison.This will increase their casting time and give you more time to stop them witha well-placed Kick or Gouge. Have Mind-Numbing Poison on one dagger andCrippling Poison on the other and you'll make sport of those magic-tossers.Wounding and Deadly Poisons aren't that useful except against high-armorenemies, though if you're dueling a paladin, don't bother, they can cure thepoison if they're at all intelligent. Wounding Poison isn't worth the trouble.In the time you took lowering their healing ability, you could be using Mind-Numbing Poison and Kick to simply eliminate that healing spell entirely.Poisons can first be acquired at level 20, and it takes quite a bit of poison-brewing to get your skill up enough to be able to use the good stuff. I wouldrecommend holding off on mixing poisons till perhaps level 30-40, since thesheer volume of materials can cost you a gold or two that would be otherwisebetter spent. Plus you don't have access to the good poisons till your late30's anyway.One thing to bear in mind: poisons are not like your other rogue skills. Newrecipes aren't dependent on previous ones. Put simply, if you get your poisonskill high enough to buy Instant Poison III and you have yet to buy InstantPoison II, you can buy rank 3 without ever having purchased rank 2. Veryuseful, since you won't generally have need of Mind-Numbing Poison till laterin the game when you're in PVP against spellcasters.=============================================================================== 13. Frequently Asked Questions===============================================================================While I ordinarily put this section near the top of the guide, that wouldinvolve me renumbering the entire thing a third time, and I simply don't wantto do that.Q. Monsters keep detecting me while stealthed! Why?A. Remember that monsters have a better chance of detecting you based onyour level and whether or not you're behind them, as well as your proximity tothem. If you can't stay behind them, keep your distance. If you're stillbeing detected, either invest in the Master of Deception talent or level up.Q. What talents should I invest in?A. It's really up to you. If you don't particularly care about PVP and justwant to enjoy yourself fighting monsters, literally any build will suffice.However, if you're going into PVP, I recommend either of the two builds I'velisted here. They're mostly the same except for a few points here and there.Q. Why should I use poisons? I've done fine without them so far!A. I once thought this way, primarily because I never did the poison questuntil level 30 (kept putting it off) and never started using poisons tilllevel 38 (also procrastinated, go me!) However, poisons give you that specialedge no one else has. It lets you deal extra damage, gives you an ability toslow people's movements and spellcasting. Plus it's fairly cheap to do. Onceyou start seeing how fast enemies die with just a few applications of InstantPoison, you won't want to fight without it.Q. Is there a permanent poison? I don't like running out of time/charges!A. No. Just invest in a bigger bag and keep a few stacks of your favoritepoison on hand.Q. Where do I get reagents for poisons/Vanish/Blind?A. A particular vendor called the Shady Dealer has all that you need. You canusually find one in capital cities near the rogue trainer, and there are a fewin other cities like Booty Bay.Q. How do I beat [insert class here] in PVP?A. Sorry, but I haven't written up PVP strategies yet, and I might not be ableto get to them for a while since I have a Tauren shaman I need to level up. =============================================================================== 14. Acknowledgements===============================================================================Thanks to you, the reader and gamer, for taking the time to read my faq.Thanks to HoodedMonk07 for the Gouge/Backstab thing. Totally forgot about it.Also thanks to Ayndin for...well, a lot of information I have yet to sort out.And some thanks to Turbo 164 for pointing out a few errors and such. Thanksto Syrick for telling me I missed tailoring in the professions list.Thanks to Blizzard for letting me swipe the racial traits from their site,and not getting uppity about it.Thanks to Blizzard and the development team responsible for creating thismasterpiece.Thanks to CJayC and Gamefaqs for hosting it.