Rogue Arena Guide
Rogues are the sneaky bastards of the arena, usually they are the ones that initate combat with a sap or an opening on an enemy teams healer. Rogues have many different options when it comes to arena, all 3 of their talent builds give them a different play style. If you choose Assassination you will be able to pump out heavy burst damage. If you choose combat you will be able to put out a lot of sustained damage. If you choose Subtlety you will have a ton of survivability and a lot of methods of crowd control.
As a Rogue you will be able to mold to your team based on the situation. If you're in a 5v5 with enough DPS, then spec Subtlety and focus on pissing off the healers and keeping them locked down. Or if your 3v3 needs an insane amount of burst damage spec Assassination.
Rogues have a slew of different abilities to help them escape from immediate danger, such as Vanish, Cloak of Shadows, Evasion, Sprint, Gouge, Kidney Shot, Dismantle, PvP Trinket and the list goes on.
On top of being able to fill many different rolls with their different specs, Rogues can also change their purpose with poison's on their weapons. If you don't have someone who can Mortal Strike, have a rogue throw on some Wound Poison. Annoying caster? Throw on some Mind Numbing Poison. Normally a Rogue will switch Poisons on his main hand depending on the team he is fighting. But will almost always keep a Crippling Poison on his offhand so he can Shiv it on.
Tips
- Always bring Bandages
- Don't forgot to put poisons on at the begining of the match!
- If its the begining of the match, after you sap the Warrior wait and see if he wastes his Berserk Rage on your sap. If he does Re-sap him and then start the match.
- Keep in mind you can "Reset" the match as many times as you want if you're 1v1 against someone. Also I advise waiting until the player grabs the Stealth Detection debuff so he takes more damage. To avoid him seeing you when you get to close, sprint at him and spam Cheap Shot
Specs
Assassination: This is the burst DPS build of choice. With Mutilate and Cold Blood you will be able to pump out a lot of damage instantly. Rogues that use this build also normally stack crit to further increase the burst damage they do. This build should be used when paired with another burst DPS such as a Ret Pally or Warrior.
Combat: This build focuses mainly on sustained damage, making it a great for teams that aren't focused on bursting, but more out lasting. This spec is mainly great because of the Deadly Throw interrupt along with Blade Flurry, Killing Spree and Adrenaline Rush to give you the extra burst when you need it.
Subtlety: This talent tree is more focused around surviving more then dealing damage. Making it the perfect spec if your job is to specifically piss off a healer or to survive as long as possible. (Sometimes sustained DPS) Usually Rogues go into this tree for the Shadowstep ability, which allows you to port to your target. When going Shadowstep you will have to decide wether or not you want to add more burst to your build or more sustained DPS. If you want more sustained dps put the extra points into combat. If you want more burst you will want to put your extra points into Assassination.
Tactics
As a Rogue in arena your team makeup and spec will determine what what you should focus on doing. Rogues have great crowd control and survivability which can be made better with their Subtley spec. They can also improve their burst damage with Assassination or sustained with Combat.
Rogues can also improve their burst or sustained damage with their weapon specilization's in their combat tree. Sword specilization will give you a chance to attack twice on an auto attack. Dagger specilization will give you 1% chance to crit per talent point and Mace specilization will give you a chance to stun your target when you hit them.
The most common specs used are Mace and Sword. Usually Dagger spec won't need the extra crit, or there are better abilities in another tree that you can grab. Find a spec that you enjoy and build an arena team around it. Or vice versa.
If you would like to learn more about the Rogue class click here to see my Rogue class guide.