TBC Classic Combat Rogue Guide (Phase 3)

Combat Rogue is a melee dual-wielding fighter in leather armor. It deals very high single-target damage and brings noticeable value to the raid. The Combat tree is the best PvE choice: it has two powerful offensive cooldowns, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush, and its talents are entirely focused on damage.

• Sinister Strike ×2 — the first two global cooldowns for 2 combo points
• Slice and Dice — right away at 2 combo points, then keep it up without a single gap
• Blade Flurry, Adrenaline Rush, Haste Potion and trinkets — right after the first Slice and Dice
• Rupture — at 5 combo points
• Slice and Dice — refresh at 1–2 combo points if you have 2 pieces of the T4 set, otherwise at 2–3
• Shiv — instead of one Sinister Strike if the stacks of Deadly Poison VII are about to fall off
• Eviscerate — on spare combo points; overall weaker than Rupture
• Envenom — only on a target that is about to die: it consumes all poison stacks

Priority with Improved Expose Armor

• Sinister Strike ×2, then Slice and Dice at 2 combo points
• Cooldowns and potion right after Slice and Dice
• Expose Armor — at 5 combo points, as soon as they are gathered
• Expose Armor — refresh at 5 combo points before the debuff falls off: if it drops, the whole raid loses 3075 armor penetration
• Slice and Dice — at 2–5 combo points, prioritizing uptime
• Rupture — at 2–3 combo points in free windows

Building 5 combo points from scratch takes about 16 seconds — keep that in mind. The better your gear, the more energy Combat Potency returns and the more short Rupture casts you can squeeze in.

• Blade Flurry — pair it with Haste Potion and 2-minute trinkets like Bloodlust Brooch; on fights under 2 minutes wait for Bloodlust and procs, on long ones press it at the start — an extra use is better than a perfect one
• Adrenaline Rush — +100% energy regeneration for 15 seconds, that is 150 extra energy
• Cloak of Shadows — removes magic effects and cuts incoming magic damage
• Evasion — lets you tank packs through dodge
• Kick — interrupt
• Vanish — threat drop

The main resource is energy: 100 maximum, 20 every 2 seconds. Bank it rather than spending immediately: in the Combat tree you must not go above 65 energy before a tick and above 85 right after a tick, or the regeneration is wasted. Keep in mind that Ruthlessness returns up to 25 energy from a finishing move. The most convenient time to bank energy is before refreshing Slice and Dice: wait until the last second and enter the next cycle with a reserve.

Human

• Sword Specialization increases your expertise rating with one-handed and two-handed swords by 5.
• Mace Specialization increases your expertise rating with one-handed and two-handed maces by 5.
• The Human Spirit increases spirit by 10%.
• Perception sharply increases stealth detection for 20 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
• Diplomacy increases reputation gains by 10%.

Dwarf

• Stoneform removes and prevents bleed, poison and disease effects for 8 seconds and increases armor by 10%. 3-minute cooldown.
• Gun Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% when wielding a gun.
• Frost Resistance increases frost resistance by 10.
• Find Treasure marks nearby chests on the minimap.

Night Elf

• Quickness increases dodge chance by 1%.
• Shadowmeld hides you in the shadows while you stand still and take no damage.
• Nature Resistance increases nature resistance by 10.
• Wisp Spirit turns you into a wisp after death and speeds up ghost movement by 50%.

Gnome

• Escape Artist instantly removes slowing and immobilizing effects.
• Expansive Mind increases intellect by 5%.
• Arcane Resistance increases arcane resistance by 10.
• Engineering Specialization increases engineering skill by 15.

Orc

• Blood Fury increases attack power for 15 seconds, but healing received is reduced by 50% for that duration.
• Hardiness increases the chance to resist stun effects by 15%.
• Axe Specialization increases expertise rating by 5 when wielding an axe.

Troll

• Berserking increases attack and casting speed by 10–30% depending on how wounded you are, for 10 seconds.
• Bow Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% when wielding a bow.
• Throwing Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% when wielding a thrown weapon.
• Beast Slaying increases damage against beasts by 5%.
• Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and allows it to work in combat.

Undead

• Will of the Forsaken removes fear, charm and sleep effects and grants immunity to them for 5 seconds.
• Cannibalize restores 7% of health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds by eating a nearby corpse.
• Shadow Resistance increases shadow resistance by 10.
• Touch of the Grave triples the time you can spend underwater.

Blood Elf

• Mana Tap drains mana from the target and applies an effect that stacks up to 3 times.
• Arcane Torrent silences enemies within 8 meters and returns 10 energy per stack of Mana Tap — up to 30 energy.
• Arcane Resistance increases all resistances by 5.
• Arcane Affinity increases enchanting skill by 10.

Engineering

One of the best options for all of TBC. Rocket Boots Xtreme are only available from T5, but on top of them there are bombs and the Gnomish Battle Chicken — a trinket that gives the whole group a chance to gain 5% melee haste.

Enchanting

Ring enchants give +4 to all stats each — a simple and steady damage increase.

Jewelcrafting

A good choice: your own epic gems at the start, and by Sunwell Plateau — the Hard Khorium Choker.

Leatherworking

A classic mandatory TBC profession. Because of the Ear Ringing debuff, drums can no longer be rotated around the raid, so a leatherworker is needed in every group. Besides drums, the profession provides the Primalstrike set — one of the strongest pre-raid gear pieces for a rogue.

Blacksmithing

A strong option at the start. The crafted mace takes a long time to farm, but it farms reliably and stays in the main hand throughout the early stage. By T5, the Talon of Azshara surpasses Dragonstrike.