Introduction to the Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety Rogues provide competitive single-target damage, but it now brings respectable AoE to the table as well. Furthermore, they can use multi-target situations to deal more damage to their current main target and, thus, are good to have for priority damage.
Compared to Assassination, Subtlety has it a bit harder to reach full potential and is hit more by downtimes. Compared to Outlaw, it does not match the AoE damage output. This is why the other specs often see more playtime, currently.
Below you will find a beginners guide to the Subtlety Rogue, you can click on highlighted abilities, for a more in depth description of them.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Subtlety Rogue
Stengths
- Cleave fuels additional single-target damage
- Versatile, can specialize into single-target or AoE by changing talents
- Phenomenal defensive capabilities
Weaknesses
- Mistakes in rotation punish Subtlety quite a bit
- Subtlety does low damage compared to other Rogue specs
Talents
Rotation of the Subtlety Rogue
The basic rotation of the Subtlety Rogue:
- Cast
Shadow Blades on cooldown
- Maintain
Nightblade on your primary target
- Cast
Symbols of Death
- If talented into
Enveloping Shadows cast Shadow Dance twice every time Symbols of Death buff is up
- Cast
Vanish and
Shadowstrike to extend the duration of your
Find Weakness
- Cast
Eviscerate to spend Combo Points with 4+
- Use
Shadowstrike to generate Combo Points if
Shadow Dance is active
- Use
Backstab (from behind the target if possible to gain 20% extra damage on it)
Cooldowns
Shadow Dance is your main DPS cooldown. It allows you to shift into a state of
Stealth, accessing unique abilities
Symbols of Death generates 40 Energy and increases damage done by 15% for 10 seconds
Shadow Blades is a powerful cooldown that causes your Combo Point-generating abilities to generate 1 additional Combo Point and deal 50 % additional damage as Shadow
Stat Priority
The stat priority for Subtlety Rogue is:
- Critical Strike
- Versatility
- Mastery
- Haste

Pro Healer (If I’m tabbed in), otherwise a total Moob