Rogue Advice (Basics and Addons)

So I’ve noticed that we seem to have more and more rogues reaching 80 and I wanted to try and ensure that my loot competition stays at a minimum so here is advice on how to play a rogue badly…no wait that’s not right is it?

*sigh*

Okay here are some helpful tips on how to level and be effective as a rogue.

Stealth – the defining rogue ability and you really need to understand where you can and can’t go with this. Not only will it allow you to use several of the abilities discussed below more effectively, but it will make an awful lot of quests easier as you can avoid trash and go straight to your target.

Pick Pockets – use this as much as possible. Not only is it an easy way to make a little cash, but with Blizzard adding some rare drops to loot boxes and healing potions to the pp loot list you should find stuff that is useful. Note that it is often worth stealthing round mobs to pp before attacking. Added to this I have simple macros built that make sure I use pp before attacking with my openers:

/cast Pick Pocket
/stopcasting
/cast Backstab

Sap – great for taking one of your enemies out of the fight particularly in instances. I also use this when I can’t quite sneak past a group I don’t want to fight, taking one of them out so I can get through.

Pick Locks – level this up on lock boxes and doors whenever you can. There are regularly people looking for LP in trade and they often tip quite well. It also makes you valuable in a group for opening chests and doors WoW Professions has a good guide to help you progress towards higher levels.

Kick – great for interrupting spellcasters, use this as much as possible.

Feint – helps reduce threat when you’re in a party.

Vanish – Life saving ability when you’ve taken on too much or pulled by accident don’t be afraid to use it as it saves a fortune in repair bills.

Slice and Dice – Always put this up, how many combo points you put into it depends on how many mobs you’re fighting and how long it will take you to kill them.

Kidney Shot/Cheap Shot/Gouge – Damage, combo points and an immobile enemy - what more could you ask for? The bread and butter of achieving a stunlock. Generally if the mob you’re facing hits too hard or has particularly nasty abilities these can make a fight significantly easier.

Blind – unbelievably useful for breaking up a fight for a significant period. One of our major weaknesses is our hit points and while vanish is great for getting away it re-sets the mob too. Blind lets you take a longer break than the abilities mentioned above, regain energy and take some other actions without ending the fight. It’s less useful against multiple mobs though it will remove one of them from the fight for a bit as long as you change targets. I tend to use it in a macro with bandages, just replace the XXX below with your bandage type:

/cast Blind
/stopcasting
/use [target=player] XXX Bandage

Poisons – no questions get this as soon as it becomes available at level 20. WoWhead has a good guide. Poisons can achieve a number of things that you will find useful:

• Instant – adds damage to your weapons
  
• Deadly – adds a dot which stacks up to 5 times
  
• Anesthetic – adds damage with no extra threat and removes enrage abilities
  
• Wounding – adds damage and reduces enemy healing
  
• Crippling – reduces enemy movement
  
• Mind Numbing – reduces enemy casting speed

Addons – there are a number of these you should consider regardless of class, but I am only listing the ones I use specifically as assistance with my rogue:

• Omen Threat Meter – Given our hit points and armour choices if we’re in a group we should not be getting hit. Omen gives you a simple and easy way to judge how close you are to getting squished
  
• Poisoner – nice simple addon to keep track of your poisons and make it easier to apply them
  
• IceHUD – combines all the information from both yours and your targets portraits (combo points/health/rage/energy/mana) in a display in the centre of the screen along with a casting timer to help you judge your interrupts
  
• RoguePowerBars – tracks rogue buffs and debuffs

If you have problems with addons I do recommend Curse's addon installer.

More to follow but I have to get ready for work now