This FAQ should cover all things that are going to change in patch 3.02 from a PVE point of view. I'm writing this so I can link it into every second thread, that's gonna save me alot of time in the long run. So expect many 1-line posts written by me in the future. If you have suggestions, spot any mistakes or just wanna say "nerf shamans!" then I'm glad about your feedback. The discussion with you guys as well as exchanging experiences and opinions is what kept me stepping by these forums in the past months, so heres my little gift :)

These things are by no means final, they just represent the current PTR build. Things are likely to get changed and I'll try to adapt and edit my posts if necessary. You're encouraged to point me to obvious mistakes, or outdated facts.

A short note for German speaking rogues:
*DE* Seit kurzem gibt es auch eine Übersetzung ins Deutsche. Danke an Gekautes <unleash> für die Arbeit!
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=6178090771



Part I - Talents and gear



*) What are the best talent builds?
There are 2 viable PVE raid builds for level 70:

Combat/SS (5/51/5): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xZMgVb0bxqru0xRtx
The 4 filler points in endurance and imp sprint can be spent wherever you prefer.

Mutilate (51/5/5): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ef0exoi0oIuVo0xZhb
2 things are optional:
- Murder is quite useless in T6, SWP, naxx instances and can be skipped for QR, FF or any other filler you may wish to take.
- Master poisoner -> TtT if you get the group buff from a paladin or shaman.

Combat/SS is roughly 4% in front of mutilate with brutal weapons on non-murderable mobs, but this gonna change in favor of mutilate at level 80 in Naxx25 gear. Trispecc or deep Subtlety builds lack behind in terms of damage.

Levelling (aka solo-PVE) builds may differ from the mentioned raid builds and there isn't a "clearly best levelling spec". It's completely up to you what talents to choose, but remorseless (as pacing mechanism), riposte and unfair advantage can be considered as good levelling talents, while for example imp snd and blood spatter can be safely skipped in a levelling build.

Best level 80 builds are:
Combat/SS (7/51/13): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xbZMgVb0bxqru0xRtx0f0h
Mutilate (51/13/7): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ef0exoi0oIuVo0xV0hZxb


*) Tell me more about combat/SS!
Since picking up CQC only costs 0 DPS filler talent points, fist/sword weapon combos may even beat dual swords of similar quality. Please consult the spreadsheet for exact numbers. Sword/fist MH and 1.4 dagger OH are a viable (if not better) alternative at level 80 due to the lack of fast 1.4 speed swords.

Since WF gives a flat haste bonus now, you should put wound on MH and deadly poison on OH. You still want a slow MH and a fast OH, 1.4 speed ones like BoS and glaive are the top weapons. You can find IP vs. WP maths a bit further down this page.

Talent DPS per point breakdown for combat/SS:
Malice 25
Ruthlessness 10
Blood Spatter 20
Lethality 22
Vile Poisons 27
Imp Poisons 16
Imp SS 77
DW Spec 50
Imp SnD -
Precision 18
Aggression 18
Blade Flurry 52
Blade Twisting 30
Sword Spec 32
Weapon Expertise 28
Vitality 59
AR 25
Combat Potency 51
Surprise Attacks 61
Savage Combat 44
Prey on the Week 73
Killing Spree 86
Relentless Strikes 30
Serrated Blades 43


*) Gief mutilate info!
Mutilate and especially the assassination tree received massive changes. We got rid of the positional requirement, poisons are much stronger and make up to ~17% of our total damage and with FA we got an energy generating talent like CP that scales with crit and weapon speed.

The latter is really important for mutilate rogues. You were used to choose weapons regarding stats and weaponDPS first, but that's no longer the case.

Optimal would be 2 fast daggers, the additional FA and IP procs outweight the loss of mutilate dmg. Since 2x 1.4 daggers are a pain to get, what to do with 1 fast and 1 slow dagger? Then it's best to put the 1.8 speed weapon in OH (!) and the 1.5 in MH. Yes, that wasn't a typo :)

In a Mutilate build both hands are being used at equal frequency, until you account for Eviscerate, Envenom, and Rupture. These finishers all have a chance to proc poisons, and Eviscerate and Envenom can both proc Focused Attacks by virtue of being able to crit. Using the slower weapon in your off hand (assuming both weapons are equal DPS, therefore slower implies higher damage range) does cause a hit to your Mutilate damage. However, the 181 bonus damage to each hand actually accounts for a significant portion of your total Mutilate damage, such that the slight hit to weapon damage used in the Mutilate calculation is actually overwhelmed by poison damage and Focused Attacks procs. You want to use Instant Poison on your fast weapon instead of your slow one. So getting more proc chances for Instant Poison by putting that fast weapon in the MH is better than more proc chances for Deadly Poison. 2)

Talent DPS per point breakdown for mutilate:
Malice = CQC = MP 25
Ruthlessness -
Blood Spatter 27
Puncturing Wounds 29
Lethality 17
Vile Poisons 46
Imp Poisons 28
Seal Fate 10
Find Weakness 19
Focused Attacks 116
Turn the Tables 11
Cut to the Chase 114
Hunger for Blood 179
DW Spec 66
Imp SnD 1
Precision 17
Relentless Strikes 53
Opportunity 58
Serrated Blades 41

Ruthlessness *does* have a DPS value, however, not in the spreadsheet. With ruthlessness you'll be able to sometimes perform finisher (ruth proc) -> mutilate crit -> 4 CP envenom -> mutilate etc.., which is a DPS increase. I'm not sure how the sheet exactly models CttC cycles, fact is that ruthlessness is worth its 3 points, it's also included in the suggested build.

*) So, can you suggest daggers for mutilate?

I've put various daggers into the sheet to get a rough ranking for mutilate builds at level 70, as with the upcoming changes to the assassination tree it's hard to formulate a rule of thumb what's best to use. The rule we've been used to "low speed and high DPS for main hand, dps > stats > speed for offhand" will be a thing of the past in 3.02.

All we know is that Focused Attacks and Instant Poison favor fast weapons even in the main hand, but is it worth the tradeoff for lower mutilates? Is the 1.3 speed, 87 DPS dagger from hMgT our best choice now? You'll see :)

- Calc is Vulajin's Rogue BC 0.41
- Gear and buffs unchanged (full SWP gear)
- 51/5/5 spec, CttC 4+r/4+en cycle, snd glyph, IP main, DP off

Our contestants:

Crux of the Apocalypse, 114 DPS, 1.8 speed, one-hand
Fang of Kalecgos, 108 DPS, 1.5 speed, one-hand
Shiv of Exsanguination, 108 DPS, 1.8 speed, one-hand
Shard of Azzinoth, 108 DPS, 1.9 speed, unique, one-hand
Vengeful Gladiator's Shanker, 103 DPS, 1.8 speed, main hand
Vengeful Gladiator's Shiv, 103 DPS, 1.4 speed, off hand
Blade of Serration, 103 DPS, 1.8 speed, one hand
Swift Blade of Uncertainty, 103 DPS, 1.5 speed, unique, off hand
Messenger of Fate, 100 DPS, 1.4 speed, one-hand
Tracker's Blade, 100 DPS, 1.5 speed, unique, one-hand
Merciless Gladiator's Shanker, 97 DPS, 1.8 speed, off hand
Merciless Gladiator's Shiv, 97 DPS, 1.4 speed, off hand
Edge of Oppression, 87 DPS, 1.3 speed, one-hand


Best main hands:
1) Fang of Kalecgos
2) Messenger of Fate
3) Tracker's Blade
4) Crux of the Apocalypse
5) Edge of Oppression
6) Shiv of Exsanguination
7) Vengeful Gladiator's Shanker
8) Blade of Serration
9) Shard of Azzinoth
10) Merciless Gladiator's Shanker

Best off hands:
1) Fang of Kalecgos
2) Crux of the Apocalypse
3) Shiv of Exsanguination
4) Vengeful Gladiator's Shiv
5) Tracker's Blade
6) Messenger of Fate
7) Swift Blade of Uncertainty
8) Merciless Gladiator's Shiv
9) Blade of Serration
10) Edge of Oppression
11) Shard of Azzinoth

Best combos sorted by drop location:
Badge/5mans/honor: Edge of Oppression / Swift Blade of Uncertainty, 3236 DPS
T6: Messenger of Fate / Tracker's Blade, 3277 DPS
Sunwell: Fang of Kalecgos / Fang of Kalecgos, 3346 DPS

As you can see, the difference between SWP and "casual" daggers is not as big as you may expect.
The TLDR version: Speed matters, DPS not so.


*) Trinkets
Best trinkets for combat/SS are (in this order): BNS > ATL > DST > SoC > MotB > TT > WSC
Note that ATL pulls ~30 DPS ahead of DST. Reason is that with full SWP gear and the new WF totem, giving another 20% haste instead of an extra attack, haste effects don't scale as much as other stats. WSC lost some ground because -armor raid (de)buffs aren't stacking anymore, only a major and a minor -armor effect, leading to more boss armor in total.

Trinket ranking for mutilate: BNS > ATL > SoC > DST > MotB > TT > WSC

*) Cycles
For combat/SS: 5s/5r with ATL, 4s/5r for other trinket combinations. 3-finisher cycles like Xs/Yr/Ze are sustainable with SS and snd glyphs and full sunwell gear (alot of haste needed). If you're unsure, consult the spreadsheet, or test ingame in a raid setting (WF!).

For mutilate: 4+n/4+r CttC. Means once snd is running you refresh it by performing 4 or 5 CP envenoms while keeping rupture up. HfB every 30 secs, it's a huge DPS boost.
Priorities:
1) Keep HfB and SnD up 100%
2) maximize rupture uptime
3) envenom as much as possible without violating rules 1 and 2

*) Stat weightings (lvl 70, full sunwell gear/buffs) *updated*
Combat/SS (Brutal Swords):
1 agi: +1.48 DPS
1 hit rating: +1.24
1 crit rating: +1.21
2 attack power: +1.37
1 expertise rating: +1.40
1 haste rating: +1.26
7 ArP: +1.25
Ranking: 1 agi > 1 expertise > 2 AP > 1 haste > 7 ArP > 1 hit > 1 crit

Mutilate (dual Fang of Kalecs and >176 hit raidbuffed):
1 agi: +1.43 DPS
1 hit rating: +1.12
1 crit rating: +1.27
2 attack power: +1.30
1 expertise rating: +1.48
1 haste rating: +1.18
7 ArP: +0.99
Ranking: 1 expertise > 1 agi > 2 AP > 1 crit > 1 haste > 1 hit > 7 ArP

Note for mutilate builds: 1 hit is worth 1.48 DPS when you're below 214 hit (176 with misery/impFF) for poisons, so you should reach that number. Let's call it the "poison hit cap". Combat builds shouldn't bother about that, since precision lowers it to 151 hit (113 with misery/impFF)


*) Why did the value of +hit drop?
Firstly, the WF totem change decreased the benefit of hit rating. Additionally, white damage is only ~53% of our total damage, decreasing its value further.

Poisons are a large slice of our DPS now and scale with AP. The spell hit cap, so our poisons don't miss anymore, is 17%. Accounting 5% from precision and 3% from either imp FF or misery you'll only need 9% hit or 113 hit rating on gear to always hit with poisons. Above that, the value of hit drops significantly, that's an explanation for the maybe surprising new stat weightings.

Overview of the different hit caps: http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hitcaps2pk2.jpg


*) Why is crit better than hit?
Crit directly affects energy gained from FA and also results in more CPs (SF, SS glyph), more damage due to PotW, more damage from IP, which can crit too.


*) Why did you suggest Wound Poison for combat builds?

---

Q u o t e:
The average damage of Instant Poison is 350 + 0.10 * AP. Untalented, this is 70 + 0.02 * AP damage per attack.

Wound Poison VII is still a fixed 231 + 0.04 * AP per proc. Untalented, this is 115.5 + 0.02 * AP damage per attack.

With 1/5 Improved Poisons, Instant Poison becomes 77 + 0.022 * AP per attack. This means you would need 19250 AP for Instant Poison to reach the damage of Wound Poison.

With 2/5 Improved Poisons, Instant Poison becomes 84 + 0.024 * AP per attack. You would need 7875 AP for Instant Poison to reach the damage of Wound Poison.

With 3/5 Improved Poisons, Instant Poison becomes 91 + 0.026 * AP per attack. You would need 4083.33 AP for Instant Poison to reach the damage of Wound Poison.

With 4/5 Improved Poisons, Instant Poison becomes 98 + 0.028 * AP per attack. You would need 2187.5 AP for Instant Poison to reach the damage of Wound Poison.

With 5/5 Improved Poisons, Instant Poison becomes 105 + 0.03 * AP per attack. You would need 105 AP for Instant Poison to reach the damage of Wound Poison.

So yeah. About 4/5 Improved Poisons is where it becomes "guaranteed" better than Wound Poison. 3/5 is probably enough for raid-buffed situations, though.

---

Credits to Vulajin, source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10043279429&postId=100420568929&sid=2000#3


*) What about Serrated Blades for Combat or mutilate builds?
No, not until lvl 80 for combat builds.


*) 15/41/5, 41/13/7?
No.


*) Combat Daggers?
If you have to ask, the answer is no.


*) My special bastard build?
No.


*) Gemming *updated*
Derived from the stat weighting list, here's the optimal gemming:
Combat/SS:
Red [Delicate Crimson Spinel], yellow [Glinting Pyrestone], blue [Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst], meta: [Relentless Earthstorm Diamond]
Mutilate:
Red [Delicate Crimson Spinel], yellow [Wicked Pyrestone], blue [Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst], meta: [Relentless Earthstorm Diamond]

Note that these mutilate gemming recommendations assume that you're hit capped for poisons, which is 214 hit, or 176 hit with misery/impFF. Below these numbers hit is better than agi!

[Delicate Crimson Spinel] = 10agi = http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32194
[Wicked Pyrestone] = 5crit/10AP = http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32222
[Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst] = 5agi/7stam = http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32212
[Relentless Earthstorm Diamond] = 12agi/3% crit dmg = http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32409

*) I don't have the gold/badges for regemming. How much DPS am I going to lose? *updated*
Combat/SS:
Each 10 hit gem instead of a 10agi costs you 2.4 DPS
Mutilate:
Each 5hit/5agi gem instead of a 10agi costs you 1.55 DPS
Each 5hit/5agi gem instead of a 10AP/5crit costs you 0.10 DPS


*) Is it worth regemming?
I can't answer this. Like for some people 2 additional bag slots are worth 1200 gold, the priorities differ from player to player.


*) How important is being hit capped?
Even less important than in 2.x. You should treat hit like any other stat.

*) You always miss 1% with your poisons, since spellhit can't cover the last 1%.
No, that was removed. You can (and will) cap out spellhit, so your IP will never miss, that's 158 hit (118 with misery/imp FF) rating with 5/5 precision at level 70.


*) Enchants
Basically the same as in 2.x and I'm sure Anachronism will write something up for WotLK :)
Surefooted got changed to 10 hit and 10 crit and is the best boot enchant for stationary fights. http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=27954
Best all-round boot enchant is still Cat's Swiftness.


*) Glyphs
All rogue glyphs: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?items=16.4
Note that you'll be able to only use 2 major glyphs at level 70. The 3rd slot will be activated at level 80. Some glyphs require Northrend mats, so effectively you should get those 2 for PVE DPS when 3.02 goes live (best will be to prepare mats, if you don't want to buy them overpriced off AH):

Glyph of Slice and Dice: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=42973 "Increases the duration of Slice and Dice by 3 sec."
Glyph of Sinister Strike: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=42972 "Your Sinister Strike critical strikes have a 50% chance to add an additional combo point."
for Mutilate rogues (instead of SS glyph):
Glyph of Garrote: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42964 "Reduces the duration of your Garrote ability by 3 sec and increases the total damage it deals by 20%."


Sadly, there is no mutilate glyph :( Rupture and shiv glyphs won't be accessible until WotLK hits.
Best combo at level 80 will be SS (garrote), rupture, snd glyphs.



Part II - The new Buff System




*) Am I going to see a DPS increase come patch 3.02?
Yes, definitely. While the raid buff contribution generally went down, our talent trees got huge DPS buffs, which outweight the loss of raid synergies.

According to DPS calcs and many wws, fully SWP geared dual glaive combat rogues pull ~3200 DPS with full buffs, bloodlust/heroism and drum rotations. In 3.02 this will go up to 3700 DPS for 5/51/5 combat/SS under the same circumstances. With lower quality gear you'll see a smaller increase obviously, it will certainly be something around 300-400 DPS at least though.

*) What about our new raid buffs?
Rogues have 3 raid buffs:

- Expose armor: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=26866 "Finishing move that exposes the target for 30 sec, reducing armor per combo point: 2600 armor at 5 CPs" Counts as major armor penetration and does not stack with Sunder Armor. The talent improved Expose Armor lowers the energy cost of EA by 10 energy. One important note: We still should not apply EA when theres a warrior around. Tanks don't like their SA stack being removed and DPS warriors lose less DPS keeping SA up than we would by doing EA. Considering 4 viable tanking classes, it might be common for rogues to use it in 10 mans.

- Master Poisoner: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=58410 "Increases the critical hit chance of all attacks made against any target you have poisoned by 3% and reduces the duration of all Poison effects applied to you by 50%." Requiring 40 points in assassination tree, this is only accessible for mutilate rogues. MP is classified as critical strike chance debuff and does not stack with Heart of the Crusader (Paladin) and Totem of Wrath (Shaman). Since paladins only need to put 8 points into retribution tree in order to get the buff, you'll most likely be able to put those 3 points somewhere else. My choices would be Turn the Table, or Murder, depending on instance mob types. It's also worth mentioning that the shaman Totem of Wrath can be glyphed to also provide 1% spellhaste, which would make it the superior debuff of those 3.

- Savage Combat: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=58413 "Increases your total attack power by 4% and all physical damage caused to enemies you have poisoned is increased by 2%." Counts as physical damage debuff and does not stack with Blood Frenzy (Warrior). Requires 40 points in combat tree. Since there's no other DPS talent to get with those 2 points, it's best to let the rogue spec for SC, while the arms warrior can use the points somewhere else if he wants to.

*) Raid buffs rogues need, or: Moar DPS plx!
Note that (de)buffs of the same category DO NOT STACK!!!
Category: Name; effect; DPS gain for combat/SS

- Target debuffs:
Armor Penetration (Major): Sunder Armor, Expose Armor; -2600 armor; 362 DPS
Armor Penetration (Minor): Faerie Fire, Sting, Curse of Recklessness; -610 armor; 95 DPS
Bleed Damage: Mangle, Trauma; +30%; 30 DPS
Critical Strike Chance: Heart of the Crusader, Master Poisoner, Totem of Wrath; +3% crit; 81 DPS
Physical Damage: Savage Combat, Blood Frenzy; +2% dmg; 59 DPS
Spell Critical Strike Chance: Improved Scorch, Winter's Chill; +10% spellcrit; 7 DPS
Spell Damage: Earth and Moon, Curse of the Elements, +10% (13% for E&M); 37 DPS
Spell Hit Chance: Improved Faerie Fire, Misery, +3% spellhit; -

- Raid/player buffs:
Agility and Strength: Strength of Earth Totem; +86 agi/str (+99 talented); 219 DPS
Attack Power (Flat): Blessing of Might, Battle Shout; +305 AP (+381 talented); 263 DPS
Attack Power (Multiplier): Trueshot Aura, Unleashed Rage; +10% AP; 210 DPS
Damage: Sanctified Retribution, Ferocious Inspiration; +3% dmg; 99 DPS
Haste: Improved Moonkin Form, Swift Retribution; +3% haste; 70 DPS
Melee Critical Strike Chance: Leader of the Pack, Rampage; +5%; 130 DPS
Melee Haste: Windfury Totem; +16% haste (+20% talented); 392 DPS
Spell Critical Strike Chance: Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath; +5%; 4 DPS
Stats (Flat): Mark of the Wild; +14 (+20 if talented); 43 DPS
Stats (Multiplier): Blessing of Kings; +10% (2% AP bonus if glyphed); 139 DPS

- Elixirs:
Flask of Relentless Assault; +120 AP; 82 DPS
Elixir of Demonslaying; +265 AP; 183 DPS (vs. demons only)
Elixir of Major Agility; +35agi/+20crit; 76 DPS

- Food:
Agi; +20agi; 30 DPS
AP; +40AP; 28 DPS
Hit; +20hit; 25 DPS

- Other Buffs:
Bloodlust; 144 DPS (2 lusts)
Haste Potion; 27 DPS
Drums of Battle; 25 DPS

- Top 10 Raid Buffs:
1) Melee Haste: Windfury Totem; +16% haste (+20% talented); 392 DPS
2) Armor Penetration (Major): Sunder Armor, Expose Armor; -2600 armor; 362 DPS
3) Attack Power (Flat): Blessing of Might, Battle Shout; +305 AP (+381 talented); 263 DPS
4) Agility and Strength: Strength of Earth Totem; +86 agi/str (+99 talented); 219 DPS
5) Attack Power (Multiplier): Trueshot Aura, Unleashed Rage; +10% AP; 210 DPS
6) Stats (Multiplier): Blessing of Kings; +10% (2% AP bonus if glyphed); 139 DPS
7) Melee Critical Strike Chance: Leader of the Pack, Rampage; +5%; 130 DPS
8) Damage: Sanctified Retribution, Ferocious Inspiration; +3% dmg; 99 DPS
9) Armor Penetration (Minor): Faerie Fire, Sting, Curse of Recklessness; -610 armor; 95 DPS
10) Critical Strike Chance: Heart of the Crusader, Master Poisoner, Totem of Wrath; +3% crit; 81 DPS


*) Remarkable new skills/talents:
- TotT: A detailed analysis on TotT can be found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10043319863&sid=2000
- FoK: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=51723 Lackluster talent. 30sec CD. Gives some pathetic AoE, not even enough to kill stuff in The Stockades.
- KS: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=51690 Worth about 1/3 of HfB. Attacks are yellow, you still autoattack during KS, but you can't perform specials like SS. Can also proc poisons/trinkets. The annoying thing is that you may end up on the wrong target after KS and it can break CC too.


*) Is there an updated Spreadsheet for 3.02?
Yes, Vulajin is the author: http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t27244-rogue_roguecraft_spreadsheet/
There won't be a new version of the well known and quite popular sheet from DMM (rogue.raidcal.com).




Part III - Misc Stuff




*) Where is the hairdresser?
Stormwind for Alliance, ask a guard. A haircut costs ~12 gold.


*) Where is the Lexicon of Power?
Near Inscription trainer, ask a guard.

*) Best build for levelling to 80?
This mostly comes down to personal preferance. Both combat and mutilate are considered to be the best choices for levelling. Subtlety/hemo builds are a bit behind due to lower killspeed.

*) OMG My guild is uber!! We killed Brutallus in 3 mins!!!
No you're not. Mob HP in all raid instances from Kara to Sunwell Plateau was reduced by 30% and most classes do a truckload more DPS in 3.02.


*) Will feral druids steal our raid spots?
No. Not even if they'd get our very same DPS and on top of that Cloak of furry Shadows, kitty vanish, catevasion and paw kick. Even then 2 rogues and 2 ferals > 4 ferals. Why?
- It's easier to find 2 competent rogues (most likely you'll have those 2 from TBC) than a 3rd and 4th competent feral.
- Loot distribution. It's statistically faster to get 2 [Staff of Feral Uberness] and 2 [Dagger of the Stabbing Rogue] than 4 [Staff of Feral Uberness].
- Diminishing returns on hybrid stacking. The second rogue brings as much to the table as the first one. But the second feral brings way less than the first.
- Instead of feral druid you may insert any other hybrid class.


*) Is the sky going to fall on our heads on November, 13th?
No.


*) Best professions in WotLK?
Since this FAQ is not supposed to be a complete list for WotLK, but only covers the patch 3.02, I won't go deep into the professions subject. Fellow rogues are encouraged to work out the benefits of each prof, maybe someone with access to the LK beta. So here's just a short summary.

As things stand, LW seems to be the runaway favorite for a top rogue profession. That we know of, it grants an extra 82 AP to bracers due to Fur Linings; an extra 30 AP and 18 crit from Wyrmscale Leg Armor, plus drums, plus any BoP items made from patterns down the road. The first two by themselves puts it ahead of everything else; the fact that you get the second two makes it, at the moment, the obvious favorite.

Inscription gives you 64 AP from the shoulder enchant, plus an extra Inscription slot. Although the DPS benefit from the extra Inscription will not be particularly large.

Enchanting gives a straight-up 80 AP or 40 haste from ring enchants. This puts it clearly behind LW, but probably about the same as Inscription - maybe a bit behind, again, depending on the viability of the 4th Inscription.

All I've seen from JC so far is the slightly-improved gems, which I suspect will not be enough to pull ahead of Inscription/Enchanting. So as things stand, I think LW/Enchanting or LW/Inscription will be the way to go. 3)


*) What's the best levelling style from 70 to 80?
Take your time, enjoy the new areas, discover everything, read the quest texts and dive into the lore. Remember these few days you spend levelling are special, since most of the game time until the next expansion you'll spend farming stuff, wiping in a raid dungeon and jumping around arena pillars. There won't be a race to level 80 and theres no need for haste. That does not mean you shouldn't be prepared for questing. Empty your bank/bags and make room for quest items and profession stuff. Use your old flasks/pots/food to improve killspeed, they'll be useless at lvl 80 anway.

*) How to avoid the mess with addons on patch day?
Visit WoWinterface.com, they have a list with addons updated and ready for 3.02/WotLK: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/index.php?cid=110
The slogan "Never play on patch day!" is outdated :) Get your favourite addons before the patch goes live and save yourself alot of hassle!

*) I'm bored, what to do until WotLK?
Start earning achievements. You can browse through a full list of achievements on wowhead: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?achievements=92

Part IV - Addendum




*) Links and resources
Rogue WotLK discussion: http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t26242-rogue_pve_dps_wotlk_discussion/
Rogue: PVE DPS: http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t24301-rogue_pve_dps/
Roguecraft spreadsheet: http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t27244-rogue_roguecraft_spreadsheet/
Rogue beta LK forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=2000&forumId=7573197
BLue post tracker: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/
WotLK talent trees: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/

*) Abbreviations
CQC = Closed Quarters Combat
FA = Focused Attacks
DB = Deadly Brew
IP = Instant Poison
HfB = Hunger for Blood
CttC = Cut to the chase
TTT = Turn The Tables
MP = Master Poisoner
FW = Find Weakness
SF = Seal Fate
CB = Cold BLood
FF = Fleet Footed
QR = Quick Recovery
EA = Expose Armor
SA = Sunder Armor
CoR = Curse of Recklessness
SnD = Slice and Dice
BF = Blade Furry
AR = Adrenaline Rush
CP = Combat Potency
UA = Unfair Advantage
SA = Surprise Attacks
SC = Savage Combat
PotW = Prey on the Weak
KS = Killing Spree = Omnislash
RS = Relentless Strikes
SB = Serrated Blades
SS = Sinister Strike
TotT = Tricks of the trade
FoK = Fan of Knifes
WF = Windfury (totem)
MH = main hand
OH = off hand
BNS = Blackened Naruu Silver
ATL = Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality
SoC = Shard of Contempt
WSC = Warpspring Coil
MotB = Madness of the Betrayer
Xs/Yr= X combo points snd / Y combo points rupture cycle
Xs/Yr/Ze = X combo points snd / Y combo points rupture / T combo points eviscerate cycle
4+n/4+r = at least 4 CP envenom / at least 4 CP rupture cycle


*) Citations
1) http://elitistjerks.com/916977-post2817.html
2) http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10697503084&sid=2000
3) http://elitistjerks.com/900022-post2182.html


*) Acknowledgements
Aldriana, Vulajin and the EJ community. All rogues here who tolerate a shaman trolling their forums, especially thanks to Assassinette for the baron mount farming run on the PTR and all the competent mechanic testing like:

Assass: "Weird, the number of white hits is different but it was the same fight duration and I didn't wear any haste gear!"
Me: "Mongoose ^_^"
Assass: "LOL /facepalm"

-------

Assass: "I'm doing ~100-150 DPS more as 51/5/5 with 2 Poniards ... than i'm doing as 5/51/5 with Blade of Infamy/Talonblade"

-------

Me about PTR build 9014: "Muti 3270 DPS, combat/SS 3408 DPS and combat/shiv literally destroys everything. In numbers: combat/shiv 3668. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NERF SHIV!!!"

*) Updates
- fixed stat weightings, gems
- made assass removing his spam post above ;p
- combat cycles revamp
- combat talent DPS breakdown fixed for lvl70
- added hit cap table
- fixed hit cap table
- added dagger comparison and poison maths on front page
- more detailed explanation on builds
- added garrote glyph, fixed SS glyph to 50%

I think you need to make a clear distinction between "Best builds for doing dps at lvl 70" and "Best builds for levelling", as I am quite certain that they are not the same thing. The sustained dps benefits of HFB, CTTC etc are simply irrelevant in a soloing/questing scenario, I don't see any point going past 41ish points in assassination in a levelling build.

---

Q u o t e:
I think you need to make a clear distinction between "Best builds for doing dps at lvl 70" and "Best builds for levelling", as I am quite certain that they are not the same thing. The sustained dps benefits of HFB, CTTC etc are simply irrelevant in a soloing/questing scenario, I don't see any point going past 41ish points in assassination in a levelling build.

---

You're right, I forgot the little word "raid" :P

Is all of this info made on your own experience/calculations or did you miss some credits or links to source?

second \o/

Edit: 11th :<

---

Q u o t e:
Optimal would be 2 fast daggers, the additional FA and IP procs outweight the loss of mutilate dmg. Since 2x 1.4 daggers are a pain to get, what to do with 1 fast and 1 slow dagger? Then it's best to put the 1.8 speed weapon in OH (!) and the 1.5 in MH. Yes, that wasn't a typo :)

---

If we want two fast daggers for Muti, wouldnt 2x
Edge of Oppression
One-Hand Dagger
79 - 148 Damage Speed 1.30
(87.3 damage per second)
+25 Stamina
Equip: Improves haste rating by 17 (1.6%).
Equip: Increases attack power by 36.

be the right choice?

http://thottbot.com/i34606

---

Q u o t e:


If we want two fast daggers for Muti, wouldnt 2x
Edge of Oppression
One-Hand Dagger
79 - 148 Damage Speed 1.30
(87.3 damage per second)
+25 Stamina
Equip: Improves haste rating by 17 (1.6%).
Equip: Increases attack power by 36.

be the right choice?

http://thottbot.com/i34606

---

DPS still matters :P

---

Q u o t e:
Is all of this info made on your own experience/calculations or did you miss some credits or links to source?

---

As you can see I'm not done yet posting. Struggling with that damned forum that doesn't let me post my stuff ><

---

Q u o t e:

Might need a 6th page, the character limit for posts is pathetic ><

---

Just tell me if you need the spot, i'll delete :)

(or copy-paste stuff into it, if you need 7 :)

On PTR I've tested common combat and mutilate spec. In any way I couldn't get to the number 4% combat ahead of mutilate. Mutilate always won by ~100dps (murder wasn't applied because of mechanical target). Combat ~1300dps, cycle 2s/5r, SnD only glyph. Mutilate ~1400dps. cycle 4n+/4r+. I've used my current live gear. Weapons Blade of Infamy, S2 offhand sword, 1.8MH, 1.5OH badge daggers. The cycles were chosen to keep SnD up 100% of the time with the ease. The tests lasted for 1.5M dmg done each. I doubt Prey on the Weak, which was not applied makes that difference.

I'm screwed, not enough space ><

---

Q u o t e:


Part I - Talents and gear

*) What are the best talent builds?
There are 2 viable PVE raid builds for level 70:
Combat/SS (5/51/5): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xZMgVb0bxqru0xRtx
Mutilate (51/5/5): http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ef0exoi0oIuVo0xZG

---

Just a minor typo you may want to correct, in the Mutilate build you've put points in MoD instead of Opportunity :)

(yay i helped too \o/)