Don’t turn your backs on them! No, really! They’ll do more damage.
The Subtlety Rogue uses nasty tricks to get his opponents around the corner. You can also dominate the damage meters as an Assassination or Outlaw Rogue.
The most important changes
Just like their outlaw counterparts, Subtlety Rogues have gotten their poisons back with Shadowlands. Probably the most important change is that your Find Weakness passive ability now applies to targets you attack from stealth, instead of being triggered by Shadow Strike or Nasty Trick.
In addition, your assassination now also causes Find Weakness for six seconds if you are standing behind the target. If you use Symbols of Death, your next combo point generator is guaranteed to hit critically.
Other than that, there aren’t really any major changes to the abilities. Shadow Dance now only has one charge, but lasts longer and increases your damage. Eviscerate no longer generally benefits from a damage bonus, but only when Weakness Find is on target.
Night Blade has been removed entirely, and Shuriken Storm hits a maximum of eight targets. Your talents have also been changed very little. Concentration is a new talent that grants you Chop for ten seconds when using Shadow Strike after switching to Stealth. Otherwise, no features have been changed, with only a few minor nerfs.
How to play the Subtlety Rogue
Your attribute priority works like this as a Subtlety Rogue:
- Agility
- Critical hit chance
- Versatility
- Mastery
- Speed
| Stage | Talent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Weaponmaster | Shadow Strike and Assassination have a 15% chance to hit the target a second time when dealing damage. |
| 25 | Nightstalker | When Stealth Mode or Shadow Dance is active, your movement speed is increased by 20% and the damage dealt by your abilities is increased by 50%. |
| 30 | Deeper Stratagem | You can have a maximum of six combo points, your finishing moves drain up to six combo points, and your finishing moves deal 5% more damage. |
| 35 | Cheat Death | Deadly attacks set your health to 7% of your maximum health instead of killing you. After that, your damage taken is reduced by 85% for three seconds. This effect can only occur once every six minutes. |
| 40 | Prey on the Weak | Enemies that you incapacitate with Nasty Trick or Kidney Chop take 10% more damage from all sources for six seconds. |
| 45 | Enveloping Shadows | Growing Shadows reduces the remaining cooldown of Shadow Dance by an additional 0.5 seconds per combo point spent. Shadow Dance gains an additional charge. |
| 50 | Master of Shadows | When you activate stealth mode or shadow dance, you gain 25 energy over the course of three seconds |
The most important thing to remember is: always stand behind the target. While this generally applies to any melee fighter, Subtlety Rogues only benefit from certain bonuses behind the target, such as increased damage from Assassinations and applying Weakness Find. Otherwise, build up combo points with Energy and use them for finishing moves.
Make sure to keep Chop and Bleed active at all times. In combat, try to always use Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death together. Make sure you start Shadow Dance with at least 50-60 Energy to take full advantage of it.
Your strongest cooldown, Shadow Blades, should also be used with a Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death together when your next attack builds up combo points. When fighting multiple targets, Shuriken Storm becomes your attack that mainly builds up combo points. Use black powder regularly to keep Weakness Find active on all enemies.
