Rogue in WoW Forever

Damage

Rogues strike from the shadows. They sneak past guards in stealth, open a fight with a surprise attack, coat their blades with poison and are gone before anyone knows what happened. They also pick pockets and open locked chests that no one else can.

Good first class? Yes, if you like close combat. Stealth lets you choose your fights, though you learn to back off when one goes wrong.

Make your Rogue character Plan your talents

Assassination

Melee damage

Assassination is about daggers and poisons. Its new Mutilate strikes with both daggers at once, and Venom makes your poisons hit harder each time you Shank, so the longer a fight runs, the worse it gets for the enemy.

Combat

Melee damage

Combat fights in the open with swords, maces, fist weapons and now axes, trading stealth for steady, reliable damage. It works with Sinister Strike or Backstab, and it is the most common way to level a Rogue.

Subtlety

Melee damage

Subtlety lives in the shadows, with stronger openers, bleeds and tricks from stealth. In Forever Ghostly Strike can even let you Ambush or Garrote in the middle of a fight.

Plan your talents

Try out talents before you spend them in game. You get one point per level from 10 to 60, 51 in all.

Tap a talent to see what it does and add points.

Points left 51 of 51Level needed —

Assassination

0 points

Combat

0 points

Subtlety

0 points

The Legacy perk Talented starts your points up to five levels earlier. Plan your Legacy perks

Leveling and groups

Rogues use energy, which comes back quickly, so they rarely stop to drink. Stealth lets you slip past fights you don’t want and reach your quest target, but you need to bandage or eat between fights.

In a group the Rogue deals melee damage, interrupts spells, takes enemies out of the fight with Sap and opens the lockboxes everyone finds along the way.

What you bring to a group

As in Classic unless Blizzard’s development notes changed them.

On the enemy

KickStops an enemy’s spell before it lands on the group.
SapTakes one enemy out of a pull before the fight starts.
Expose ArmorStrips the target’s armor, so every physical attacker hits harder.

New in WoW Forever

From Blizzard’s own announcements.

Sap keeps you hidden
Using Sap no longer breaks stealth, so you can take one enemy out of a pull and stay unseen. Distract now also makes enemies worse at spotting stealth for a few seconds.
Shank and Poised
At level 24 every Rogue learns Shank, a quick off-hand strike that can’t miss and gives back energy, ready every 10 seconds. Poised, from level 18, makes your opening attack cheaper when you start a fight at full energy.
Longer-lasting poisons
Poisons have more charges, and they work alongside sharpening stones and weightstones on the same weapon.
One-handed axes
Rogues can learn to use one-handed axes. A single Combat talent, Hack and Slash, replaces the separate dagger, sword, mace and fist weapon talents and covers axes too.
Expose Armor and Sunder Armor
Expose Armor now takes off as much armor as a full stack of Sunder Armor, and it no longer stops a Warrior from using Sunder Armor on the same target.
Talents and Dual Specialization
A new milestone at 16 points, such as Cold Blood or Ghostly Strike, joins the ones at 11, 21 and 31. You change talents at a trainer in a major city, and Dual Specialization comes at level 40.

Races that can play Rogue

Your faction decides who you can play with, so if your friends are on one side, pick a race from that side. New in WoW Forever: Windshaper and High Order Rogues.