Starting a rogue

So, you're thinking of starting as a rogue? This page is intended to give a short overview of what to do over the first 10 levels or so, just to get you started on the right path. If you're looking for more of an overview of the class's abilities, see the rogue article. For more advanced topics, see the rogue tactics.

For a more general overview on starting out playing WoW, see the Newbie guide.

Introduction
Rogues are the premier melee damage-dealing class in World of Warcraft. In PvE, rogues specialize in delivering sustained DPS at close range, often topping the damage meters in raids. PvP rogues use stealth and their armory of stuns, interrupts and disengages to take out an enemy before they get a chance to react, or get away clean if they do.

The downside of being a rogue is a lack of flexibility. They have no useful way to attack from a distance, their leather armor and lack of healing skills make them vulnerable to counter-attack. If you want to get up close and personal with your enemies and hit them fast and hard, it's difficult to look past the rogue. If you are looking for a class with a mixture of roles and playing styles, a rogue may not be for you.

Attributes
Agility, Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery and Versatility. Agility, Haste, and Critical Strike are the only stats a rogue needs to worry about at lower levels, once you reach level 78, Mastery and Versatility will come into play. Mastery is an attribute that will give you a buff to something related to your chosen specialization. You can read about what each specialization is given on the Mastery page. Versatility provides increased damage and healing, while also reducing damage taken for a lesser amount. As for the other three main attributes, Agility increases your overall melee or ranged damage, Haste increases your auto-attack speed as well as reducing your time between spell-casting, and Critical Strike gives you a chance to deal twice as much damage on any given ability or auto-attack.

Race selection
You may want to consider the various racial traits when choosing your race. You might also consider the racial stats, but after the first 20 levels or so these become largely irrelevant, as the items you've gained will far outstrip any racial bonuses. For more information on these, see here.


 * Alliance
 * Dwarf - Stoneform removes bleed, poison, and disease effects, which would normally make vanishing ineffective. Mace Specialization is helpful should you choose maces as your weapons.
 * Gnome - Escape Artist removes snare and root effects, which is great for PvP. Engineering Specialization helps in learning Engineering, which offers many useful items to rogues. Also, a gnome's small size can make him or her difficult to target in PvP.
 * Human - Diplomacy is useful to all classes. Sword and Mace Specialization will help if you chose either of those weapons. Every Man for Himself is an excellent ability in PvP.
 * Night elf - Shadowmeld allows you to disappear a second time if Vanish is on cooldown. Shadowmeld has a passive ability that makes you harder to detect while in stealth. 1% dodge is good for survival both in PvE and PvP
 * Worgen - Darkflight gives you an extra speed boost, in addition to Sprint, a useful tool for PvP to escape or close in on an opponent. Viciousness gives a small improvement to critical strike rating, good in all combat situations. Aberration is especially good for rogues, due to the poor defensive nature of the class. As rogues only wear leather, Flayer can make collecting skins for Leatherworking a bit easier.
 * Horde
 * Blood elf - Arcane Torrent and Magic Resistance are both great abilities to use against enemy casters, as well as getting a boost of energy for potential burst damage.
 * Orc - Blood Fury helps to increase your damage output. Hardiness can give you an edge against other rogues and paladins. Axe Specialization will make more of your attacks land while wielding axes or fist weapons.
 * Troll - Berserk can increase your damage, Da Voodoo Shuffle reduces the duration of movement-hindering effects, and Regeneration allows you to recover health in combat. Beast Slaying increases your damage against beasts and is at its best if you make your own armor.
 * Undead - Will of the Forsaken is great in PvP and will make warlocks and priests much less scary. Cannibalize helps to reduce downtime while soloing.
 * Goblin - Rocket Barrage gives the rogue a decent ranged attack, while Rocket Jump is an excellent movement ability. Time is Money improves attack speed, something every rogue needs. Better Living Through Chemistry is excellent for a rogue who chooses Alchemy, which gives access to hand crafted poison, as well as health potions. Pack Hobgoblin and Best Deals Anywhere give rogues a boost financially. As with gnomes, goblins are small targets in PvP.

In the end, your race is your own choice. If you're the person that will end up wanting the best race ("best" being in the eye of the beholder), make sure you look into this class's end-game expectations, what is expected of you as a rogue in a large raid or PvP, and which racials can make you shine on the Recount report.

Leveling
The easiest way to progress through the early levels is to simply do any and all of the quests you can find. Not only will you breeze through the first 5 to 10 levels, but you'll get useful gear and precious money. Money is particularly important so you can purchase your rogue abilities.

You will spend levels 1 to 5 in your starting town. Make sure you get all the rogue abilities you can from your trainer. Between level 5 and 6 you'll find yourself heading off to your second town and a new trainer who can teach you various things. At the second town, repeat the process - do each and every quest you can find. It's important to keep up with your abilities and your gear. Now is also an appropriate time to start training in your chosen professions.

Levels 1-3
Rogues start with Sinister Strike as their main energy-using ability. At level 3, you will learn Eviscerate. Eviscerate is your introduction to the combo points system: rogues attack using certain abilities (Sinister Strike in this case) to build up combo points. Finishing moves like Eviscerate consume all of the accumulated combo points, doing higher damage for each point used.

Levels 4-5
At level 5, you earn Stealth. As the name implies, this allows you to move without being seen. You are not completely invisible, however; higher-level characters and mobs can still see you, and you are revealed as soon as you attack an enemy. This is a staple Rogue talent, and will become much more useful when combined with other skills. From now on, you'll usually open fights by Stealthing and sneaking up behind the target.

Most of your quests at this point will involve killing baddies or retrieving items. Take this time to set up your toolbar and get into the habit of building combo points and then using a finishing move to dispatch your opponents. Between levels 3 and 6, you'll get quests taking you further away from the settlement, eventually leading you to your second town.

Levels 6-10
When you arrive at the second town, look around for profession trainers. Characters can take up to two primary professions and any or all of three secondary professions. The rogue professions page provides rogue-specific advice, but the short version is that first-time players should take two of the gathering professions (Mining, Herbalism, and Skinning), because these professions provide income at the early levels. You'll progress faster if you have enough money for training, consumables, bigger bags, and eventually a mount. If you don't find a trainer for the profession you want, just wait until you reach a capital city; they have trainers for every profession. The second town usually offers a quest to take something to the capital.

At level 8, you will learn Cheap Shot. Cheap Shot requires for you to be stealthed, and when used on a target it will stun them for 4 seconds. This ability also generates 2 combo points, making it a good opening move. Follow up with Sinister Strike to generate combo points, then finish with Eviscerate.

Level 10 brings three new abilities:
 * is a crowd control ability. Like any crowd control, its purpose is to temporarily incapacitate an enemy and keep them out of combat.  Potential uses include breaking up a pack of enemies, or Sapping a sentry so you can take the thing they're guarding without a fight.  As with any crowd control, any damage done to the target will break the control.  To Sap an enemy, you must first apply Stealth.
 * Poisons can now be applied to your weapons. This is a Passive ability, so it does not need to be trained, but the poisons themselves can be bought from any Rogue trainer.  These are consumable one-hour enhancements that either increase the damage your weapon does or gives a chance to apply a debuff to your enemy (debuffs are negative status ailments, like slowed movement or reduced healing.)

Talent Trees
Level 10 is also where you'll receive your first talent point, and be prompted to specialize in one of three talent trees. Talents are how you can personalize your character and differentiate yourself from other rogues. There's really no bad place to spend your talent points, but some talents are more useful in certain environments. The rogue talents page offers advice about each tree and the play style each is meant to complement. From here on, you'll get one talent point at each odd-numbered level until level 81, while even-numbered levels will introduce new trainable spells.

Bright Lights, Big City
Around level 12, you'll run out of quests at your second town, and you'll usually be given a quest guiding you to the nearest capital city. Once you get there, the possibilities really open up. You can move on to the next zone and continue leveling through quests or killing mobs, you can participate in battlegrounds (organized Player vs. Player combat) as early as level 10, and group dungeons (instances) start around level 15. There's also a transporatation network linking the capitals (boats and a tram for the Alliance, zeppelins and a teleporter for the Horde), allowing you to travel to the other side of the world within minutes.

Rogue quests
These quests are available only to rogues, and offer unique rewards.

Level 20

 * The Shattered Hand (quest) & Blade of the Shattered Hand (quest)
 * Make Contact with SI:7 & A Royal Reward

Level 50

 * Meet with Thega Graveblade & The Dark Iron Army (Horde)
 * Meet with Veruca Darkstream & The Dark Iron Army (Alliance)

Soloing
For the first 10 levels, the rogue shouldn't have much trouble soloing up to two mobs at a time around your level. Open with Ambush, then focus on Sinister Strike and Eviscerate, Mutilating as energy permits. Try to find a weapon with high end damage for hitting those big Sinister Strikes, as this will help more than a weapon with high DPS. After level 16, you can start using Gouge to stun your opponent briefly so you can attack from behind. Combining this with the level 18 skill Backstab is one of the staple early strategies.

If you're interested in solo grinding your way to level 85, then stick to the Combat Tree and focus on low-HP mobs that you can form a route around. This will allow the rogue to excel at what they do best: consistent damage.

Grouping
Grouping isn't all that different from soloing. At these levels any class can pretty much look after itself, but be ready to help out a weaker caster class if you see them under attack - always protect your healer!

Remember to "assist" the warrior or paladin if you have one in your group, to ensure you focus your party's firepower on one mob. You can do this by selecting the tank (use the F1-F5 keys to target group members) and then pressing "F". This way, mobs will die faster. If you don't have a tank in the group, agree amongst yourselves whom to assist. Although it's not all that important now, it's an important habit to get used to for later levels.

Roguecraft
Your rogue is your character. With talent points, you have to decide how you want to build your rogue. Assassination, Combat, and Subtlety are the specializations that are available. Many, many rogues decide to invest their points in Subtlety at lower levels. In the beginning, Subtlety is a build that flows well with PvP and PvE Combat. But, if you pick Combat, and get good at it in any situation, you will be a force to be reckoned within any encounter at any time. Subtlety rogues won't present a huge threat when they can't get behind the enemy for Backstab (assuming they use daggers), or are out of their cooldowns that allow them to escape, and engage again or flee. But a Combat rogue, with Combat-based cooldowns is not dependent on an escape to gain an edge on their opponent.

Useful professions
The rogue can benefit directly and indirectly from many of the professions available.

Gathering
If you are beginning your first character, consider taking two gathering professions. Crafting professions rarely provide any useful items before the end-game, while taking gathering professions (and selling the proceeds on the Auction House) will provide you with a much-needed income as you level. Once you reach the level cap you will find gold much easier to come by, and can quickly power-level a crafting profession.


 * Skinning: Master of Anatomy is a good bonus for a rogue. Skinning fuels Leatherworking.


 * Herbalism: Lifeblood (herbalism ability) gives you a handy self heal. Herbalism fuels Alchemy and Inscription.


 * Mining: Toughness (mining) slightly boosts your max health, though emphasis on slightly.  Mining fuels Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Jewelcrafting, and allows enchanters to gather the mats to have a rod made.

Crafting

 * Alchemy: A useful profession for all classes, Alchemy lets you make all kinds of potions, elixirs, and flasks; many of which will fetch a fair price. You also get the passive ability Mixology, which causes you to receive a greater and longer-lasting benefit from elixirs.


 * Blacksmithing: Being able to make your own weapons and sharpening stones might be nice, though it's probably not worth the materials cost. Still, it's an option to consider.


 * Jewelcrafting: A convenient source of gems is desirable at higher levels and there are some equippable items suited to rogues.


 * Engineering: Offers some new abilities and some of the best headgear a rogue can have in the form of goggles. Also includes some AoE with grenades. With, vanishing and shocking the healer back to life can be a shining moment. You can also make Practice Locks, which will help you get your Lockpicking skill up early on.


 * Leatherworking: Allows you to make leather armor and armor modifications. Very good for a rogue.


 * Enchanting: Allows you a more convenient source of enchantments. The profession-unique benefits are the ability to put enchantments on rings.


 * Inscription: Gives you a convenient source of glyphs and a reliable source of scrolls, as well as some nice shoulder enhancements at high levels.


 * Tailoring: Lets you make your own bags, as well as fashionable clothes if you like to roleplay. For rogues, this is mostly useful paired with Enchanting, as an easy way to make things to disenchant without needing to use the Auction House.

Start your professions early! It's usually not too expensive, and you want to ensure that the gear you create with your skills is applicable to your rogue's level.

All of the crafting professions offer several items only they can use that are good for almost any class and spec, if you wish to maximize your personal gains with your profession you should look through the endgame recipes to see which of these items appeal to you the most.

Secondary professions

 * First Aid: Rogues can't heal, so keep your First Aid on track for a smoother and safer mission.


 * Fishing: The ability to drag up a chest and catch oily fish may or may not be useful depending on your other professions. Fishing is almost mandatory for cooks and tailors and good to have for alchemists, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, and engineers.  This will also help your Pick Lock since many chests or boxes that are fished up must be unlocked.


 * Cooking: Many types of food made with cooking grant Well-Fed buffs that provide small bonuses to various stats. At high levels there are plenty of high quality dishes to be made, so keep your cooking skills sharp.


 * Archaeology (requires Cataclysm expansion): Treasure hunting for EXP. Accelerates leveling, and provides insight into Azerothian lore; helpful for any class.

Lockpicking
You can learn Pick Lock at level 16 from any Rogue Trainer. Since patch 4.0.1, lockpicking skill has been based on character level, and automatically increases as you level. This means that once you have trained the ability, you won't have to worry about further training or having to practice lockpicking in order to increase your skill.

You may find lockboxes while levelling, from either pickpocketing or looting mobs. Uncommon lockboxes contain more valuable items, which are seldom of any use other than to be sold to a vendor for some extra money. Uncommon lockboxes are found more often in dungeons. Players in your party may ask if you can unlock boxes they loot, and doing so will normally be much appreciated.

Long-term goals
In raids, rogues generally are not considered crowd control due to the risk of sapping. Many mobs have True Sight as well. There are situations where saps are needed, however. As the primary melee DPS and more often than not, the main assist, you have a pretty tough job to make sure the raid can safely assist off you to the next target. Since you are right there with the tanks and the enemies, you have to be on your toes 110%, making sure Blade Flurry won't hit poorly placed Polymorphs or Seductions and you are attacking the main tank's target, or the target your raid master has designated aside from the tank's. Keeping Slice and Dice and Rupture up 100% of the time is the most essential skill of a Combat rogue. Remember, hunters want to be just like us, so they will not hesitate to take the trinket you have been farming for the past three months. So when you lose that roll to a hunter (oh, yes, it will happen) be prepared to count to ten. Don't stress about not topping DPS; look at Damage Done.

When the warlock is using Seed of Corruption and the mage is using all of his nifty AoE Spells, don't freak out about them leaving your single-target DPS in the dust.

Heals: You are not a tank, you are not a major form of crowd control, and you are squishy. You are not a priority. Accept this fact and move on.

When looking at a new piece that just dropped off the huge boss your guild downed, remember that balancing your stats is key. Ask a fellow rogue, or someone you know won't lead you astray.