Recently I received a couple of advice requests from guildies working with their Rogue alts. You have to recognize that I'm not an expert but I want to share with the guild the research I have done about my class.
Talent Spec - Base your spec in your best pair of weapons. If you have a pair of swords that are better from your actual pair of daggers do not hesitate to respec from combat to mutilate or a combat sword specialization, this way you will improve your DPS. The most common specs are: Combat 20/51/0 Mutilate 51/18/2. These builds are optimal for maximum DPS, but I actually adapt these builds for my raid duties. Normally I am assigned to interrupt some mobs in certain encounters, so I use a point in Improved Kick for example. Weapons, Rotation and Poison in order to start DPSing early in an encounter, and to help the tank get aggro, try to cast Tricks of The Trade (ToT for short) on your tank before you start to dps your target. In raids, some times our leader asks us to wait to dps the target until the tank has correctly positioned the target, so even if ToT helps you to transfer aggro to your tank I think is better to focus on following instructions in order to not confuse the rest of the raid members. Also remember that a Rogue is a melee class so you must be at melee range in order to start trasfering aggro to the tank via ToT, and even if you have already cast it you can aggro the target before your tank and confuse him/her.
Mutilate and have the Highest DPS dagger mainhand, have at least one fast dagger in either hand. Fastest dagger - Deadly Poison, Other dagger - Instant Poison. Priority: **Ensure that there is a bleed (ie. Rupture, Deep Wounds, Rend) on the target.** Start up Hunger for Blood. (Start up with Slice and Dice or however you please, really). Use vanish whenever possible for Overkill buff.
1. Keep HFB up.
2. Keep SnD up (mainly via Envenom).
3. 4+ combo point Envenom.
4. ToT when off cooldown, especially with 2pc T10.
Combat: Mainhand a sword/axe, fist or mace weapon of generally slow speed. Offhand a sword/axe, dagger or fist weapon of generally fast speed. Mainhand Instant Poison, Offhand Deadly Poison. Use cooldowns whenever possible. Killing spree + blade flurry, blade flurry + adrenaline rush can be used. Adrenaline rush + killing spree is not recommended due to energy capping.
1. Keep SnD up, no matter what the number of combo points are.
2. 5 point Eviscerate.
3. ToT when off cooldown, especially with 2pc T10.
The previous rotation was a copy paste from a post in the Elitist Jerks rogue forums and is the happy rogue kind of fight that you wish to find every encounter a Tank and Spank that will maximise your DPS, but sadly not all the fights are rogue friendly and you have to keep in mind to use Kick and Kidney Shot when you have an interrupt duty like Assembly of Iron in Ulduar. Use Feint when the mob casts AoE damage to help your healers (it reduces 50% of AoE damage). When you have to fight with a lot of targets like whelps with Onyxia, never cast Fan of Knives without casting before a ToT on your tank, unless you want to be a dead rogue. When the tank dies we normally gain instant aggro cause we are in melee range, try to use Evasion maybe it gives enough time to a druid to battle res your tank or to your parters to finish up the mob. If not possible, Vanish or Sprint out of combat when a wipe is inminent, this will help you with the repair bill. As a pure DPS class we normally want to be at the top of DPS meters, but by experience, while trying to keep dpsing at max we do not pay attention in our health and in almost all cases we finish death. A healer must focus on keeping the tank alive who has priority over you, so keep an eye on your health. A live Rogue makes more DPS than a dead one, so try to follow the raid leader instructions, many bosses can kill you with 1 hit.
Gear and Gems wow-heroes.com is a good resource to see your gear, find updates and compare yours with the top rogues out there. Consumables - I used to eat Blackened Dragonfin, but now I notice that a Fish Feast gives you a better DPS performance. Try to use a Flask of Endless Rage in raids.
AddOns Deadly Boss Mod is a very useful tool for the warnings and timers, it helps you to run away in certain fights with bosses that can kill you with one hit. Also warns you when you are standing up over fire or poison. PowerAuras helps me to see when to refresh SnD and HFB buffs and also could be used to see bleeding debuffs on targets.
Macros I still have to work more in this topic but the one I found useful for ToT on Tank is:
------- start ----- /target /cast Tricks of the Trade /assist ------- end ----
References: Elitist Jerks Rogue forum for FAQ's, SpreedSheets, Guides (most of the things I just wrote are based on the stuff found there) http://elitistjerks.com/f78/ Macro guide (kind obsolete): http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_rogues Kind of blog-guide for raiding http://www.wow.com/category/rogue/
~Lisha
