Why You Should Level a Rogue
By: Jonas Collier
Rogues can be a really entertaining class to level while playing WoW. The ability to stealth will speed up those quests where most characters would have to kill through while poisons and stuns will help you kill more efficiently while limiting the damage you take. When combined with a solid leveling spec you will be a solid killing machine that can get out of any bad situation.
Stealth and You
The main capability a rogue has is Stealth. It lets you wonder around almost invisibly allowing you to choose nearly all your fights. If you use this skill properly it will make leveling a lot easier.
While stealth is not true invisibility you will be safe as long as you aren't around mobs that are a higher level than you or have stealth detection. You have to avoid walking in front of the creature, however, as everything has the ability to detect stealth directly in front of them. As long as you can avoid these things you will avoid any unnecessary fights.
Importance of Poisons
The other thing that makes a rogue unique is the ability to use poisons on his weapons. There are a few different types of poisons available to a rogue, though you will likely choose between two for leveling.
With instant poison a set amount of damage is added with every strike. Even though it may not proc for each swing, it does kick in adequately to cause significantly increased damage.
Deadly poison applies a DoT to the creature instead of the instant damage. For the majority of mobs you will level on deadly poison is a bad choice, however this poison definitely shines when battling elite mobs in a dungeon.
No matter what poison you use, you need to have Slice and Dice always active. This will make your attacks occur faster but will cost you combo points that allow your poisons to hit repeatedly. Depending on the talent spec you choose, you may be able to refresh SnD with Eviscerate which allows you to do more damage as well.
Contradictory to the majority of other classes, which talent tree you pick relates more to the weaponry you want to use. Daggers lend themselves well to the assassination tree where you can kill quickly with skills like Mutilate, where as all the one handed weapons such as swords tend to work well with the combat tree. The subtlety tree is suited for extended stealth work and lends itself well to group based PvP.
Once you are at level 40 you will be capable of purchasing the dual spec ability which lets you easily change into other talent specs. This allows a player to switch how they play dependant on what their needs are. This is valuable because you might end up getting a few excellent swords or axes that would be dumb to pass up. This will increase your flexibility and likely make the leveling process even more enjoyable.
Rogues can be a really entertaining class to level while playing WoW. The ability to stealth will speed up those quests where most characters would have to kill through while poisons and stuns will help you kill more efficiently while limiting the damage you take. When combined with a solid leveling spec you will be a solid killing machine that can get out of any bad situation.
Stealth and You
The main capability a rogue has is Stealth. It lets you wonder around almost invisibly allowing you to choose nearly all your fights. If you use this skill properly it will make leveling a lot easier.
While stealth is not true invisibility you will be safe as long as you aren't around mobs that are a higher level than you or have stealth detection. You have to avoid walking in front of the creature, however, as everything has the ability to detect stealth directly in front of them. As long as you can avoid these things you will avoid any unnecessary fights.
Importance of Poisons
The other thing that makes a rogue unique is the ability to use poisons on his weapons. There are a few different types of poisons available to a rogue, though you will likely choose between two for leveling.
With instant poison a set amount of damage is added with every strike. Even though it may not proc for each swing, it does kick in adequately to cause significantly increased damage.
Deadly poison applies a DoT to the creature instead of the instant damage. For the majority of mobs you will level on deadly poison is a bad choice, however this poison definitely shines when battling elite mobs in a dungeon.
No matter what poison you use, you need to have Slice and Dice always active. This will make your attacks occur faster but will cost you combo points that allow your poisons to hit repeatedly. Depending on the talent spec you choose, you may be able to refresh SnD with Eviscerate which allows you to do more damage as well.
Contradictory to the majority of other classes, which talent tree you pick relates more to the weaponry you want to use. Daggers lend themselves well to the assassination tree where you can kill quickly with skills like Mutilate, where as all the one handed weapons such as swords tend to work well with the combat tree. The subtlety tree is suited for extended stealth work and lends itself well to group based PvP.
Once you are at level 40 you will be capable of purchasing the dual spec ability which lets you easily change into other talent specs. This allows a player to switch how they play dependant on what their needs are. This is valuable because you might end up getting a few excellent swords or axes that would be dumb to pass up. This will increase your flexibility and likely make the leveling process even more enjoyable.