Subtlety Rogue PvE Guide - Cataclysm Classic

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Rotation

Subtlety Rogues have a rather complicated rotation that involes maintaining many important buffs and debuffs, as well as a handful of cooldowns that require proper usage to maximize your DPS. Just like the other Rogue specializations, Subtlety Rogues need to manage their Energy and Combo Points effectively to prevent wasting any resources. One of the things that makes this tricky is the talent
Honor Among Thieves
, which will roughly give you 1 Combo Point every 2 seconds. This is something you really need to keep an eye out for because even during times when you are pooling Energy, you will still be generating Combo Points passively. During fights, you will often be sitting at 3 or 4 Combo Points and letting
Honor Among Thieves
fill in the remaining 2 while you pool Energy. Another huge thing Subtlety Rogues needs to manage is
Find Weakness
, which only gets applied when you use
Ambush
. Spacing out your
Shadow Dance
and
Vanish
casts to maximize the uptime of this debuff will be critical.

Opener

1. Use
   Tricks of the Trade
   pre-pull.
2. Pre-cast
   Slice and Dice
   at 5 Combo Points. You can generate Combo Points from healer crits thanks to
   Honor Among Thieves
   .
3. Pre-pot
   Potion of the Tol'vir
   .
4. Go into
   Stealth
   .
5. Use
   Premeditation
   .
6. Use
   Shadowstep
   and
   Ambush
   .
7. Use
   Rupture
   at 5 Combo Points.
8. Use
   Hemorrhage
   .
9. Use
   Backstab
   until 3 or 4 Combo Points, then pool Energy and let
   Honor Among Thieves
   fill up your Combo Points.
10. If you didn't pre-cast
    Slice and Dice
    , use it at 5 Combo Points, otherwise use
    Recuperate
    at 5 Combo Points.
11. Proceed to single target rotation.

Single Target

1. Use
   Instant Poison
   on Main-hand,
   Deadly Poison
   on Off-hand, and
   Wound Poison
   on Thrown weapon.
2. Maintain
   Rupture
   at 5 Combo Points and make sure to apply it when you have the
   Master of Subtlety
   buff. A 5 Combo Point
   Eviscerate
   will refresh it thanks to
   Serrated Blades
   .
3. Maintain
   Slice and Dice
   .
4. Maintain
   Recuperate
   because of
   Energetic Recovery
   .
5. Use
   Preparation
   .
6. Use
   Tricks of the Trade
   .
7. Use
   Shadow Dance
   at high levels of Energy.
8. Use
   Shadowstep
   before you use
   Ambush
   . During
   Shadow Dance
   , use it after your first
   Ambush
   so your next one benefits from the
   Shadowstep
   buff and
   Find Weakness
   buff.
9. Use
   Premeditation
   . Always aim to have this available when you
   Vanish
   or
   Shadow Dance
   .
10. Apply
    Find Weakness
    with
    Ambush
    during
    Vanish
    and
    Shadow Dance
    .
11. Maintain
    Hemorrhage
    bleed from
    Glyph of Hemorrhage
    .
12. Use
    Eviscerate
    at 5 Combo Points.
13. Use
    Backstab
    to generate Combo Points.
14. Use
    Hemorrhage
    to generate Combo Points if you can't
    Backstab
    the target.

AoE

1. For very large pulls use at
   Fan of Knives
   , otherwise proceed with single target rotation.

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Talents

Standard Build

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Glyphs

Prime:
Backstab
,
Hemorrhage
,
Slice and Dice
Optional: If you can't
Backstab
, replace
Backstab
with
Eviscerate
Major:
Tricks of the Trade
,
Sprint
,
Feint
Minor:
Safe Fall
,
Blurred Speed
,
Poisons

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Best Consumables

Flasks and Elixirs

Best:
• Flask of the Winds

Food

Best:
• Seafood Magnifique Feast
  ,
• Skewered Eel
  ,
• Fortune Cookie

Alternatives:
• Broiled Dragon Feast
  ,
• Tender Baked Turtle

Potions

Best:
• Potion of the Tol'vir

Weapon Buffs

Best:
• Instant Poison
  on Main-hand
• Deadly Poison
  on Off-hand

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Best Races

Alliance

1. Night Elf:
   Shadowmeld
2. Worgen:
   Viciousness
   and
   Darkflight
3. Gnome:
   Shortblade Specialization

Horde

1. Troll:
   Berserking
2. Goblin:
   Time is Money
   ,
   Rocket Barrage
   , and
   Rocket Jump
3. Orc:
   Blood Fury
4. Blood Elf:
   Arcane Torrent

Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Best Professions

1. Engineering:
   Synapse Springs
   .
2. The rest of the professions are very close in power, with Blacksmithing becoming better with epic gems in T13.