Rayu
OG
UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
Table of Contents
i - Revision history
» 05/05/2009 - Guide created
1.0 - Introduction
Early February 2009 I made my first twink, Rayu; up until today still my only twink. Hours and hours I've spent getting my gear together and it took more than one or two guides to actually get it all maxed out. The reason I'm writing this guide is to have it all in one place for 19 rogue twinks. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran, I hope you can all learn from it's content.
2.0 - What stats do for a rogue
A twink is nothing without it's gear. For that reason it is of the greatest importance to know what gear can do for your twink so that you can calculate what chest, legs, boots, etc. suits you best. In this section I will discuss all the stats and what they do for a 19 rogue.
Strength
Regardless of the rogue's level 1 strength adds 1 melee attack power, the first 10 points DON'T add any attack power, e.g. 57 strength gives 47 attack power. Attack power is explained further down in this guide. Strength is useful to a rogue, but agility and stamina are more important.
Agility
Agility is the rogue's main stat, it grants 1 ranged AND 1 melee attack power per point and also adds to crit, dodge and armor values. Again, the first 10 points don't add attack power but the DO add to dodge, crit and armor.
Stamina
Staying alive, that's the most important thing in a BG or arena! Stamina is therefor the second-most important (arguably the MOST important) stat for a rogue. It's pretty straight-forward; the first 20 points add 1 health each, every point after that adds 10.
*=this is NOT your outputted health; this is also influenced by racial/level-related base health.
Intellect
"Rogue, the class that requires no intellect to play, just a keyboard to spam Sinister Strike on" ~Rayu
Spirit
The only function spirit has is out-of-combat health regeneration. Except for trolls, who keep 10% of their normal health regeneration during combat, there's no way to benefit from spirit for a rogue during a fight. I don't have the exact formula for health regeneration, but with my 34 spirit I gain 11 health per second while NOT in combat; in other words it will take over two minutes to get back to full health, which makes it pointless to stack on if you can do +250 bandage ticks, ask for a heal, eat, drink potions and use lifeblood. Switching to spirit-oriented weapons when leaving combat could be fun to try, but I'd have to know the formula to confirm whether this is effective or not.
Armor
Armor reduces physical damage taken; calculations are complicated so I will just give you the formula. Armor is nothing you should stack on, it's simply there or it isn't, and it doesn't make a significant difference to put 70 armor on your cloak, 3 agility will actually do more to your defense.
Hit rating
Probably the most under appreciated stat a rogue has; hit rating increases your chance to hit, or - in other words - decreases your chance to miss. Just 11 hit rating is enough at level 19 to hit the soft cap, meaning you NEVER hit a 'miss' with your main hand, including your sinister strike, sap, gouge, etc. Without hit rating you miss 5% of these attacks, resulting in 5% less damage output with your main hand weapon and a chance your surprise attacks fail because sap misses.
Attack Power
The damage you deal with almost every ability including normal white damage depends on your attack power. Your weapon damage increases by 1 for every 14 attack power you have. For a rogue, agility and strength both increase attack power by 1 for every stat point.
Expertise
Decreasing the chance your attacks will be dodged, parried or blocked, expertise is an extremely useful stat. The calculations at level 19 are extremely generous; 1 rating translates to 1,75 expertise! 1 expertise translates to 0,25% reduced chance to be dodged, parried or blocked, meaning 1 expertise rating translates to 0,4375% reduced chance. Especially useful against rogues and mail-wearing classes with high dodge and block chances.
Critical strike chance
Over appreciated by many, but still a rogue's friend; the critical strike. An average 19 rogue twink has between 20-30% critical strike chance, depending on how much agility and crit rating it has on it's gear. Maths is simple; 1 agility gives 0,1% crit chance and 1 crit rating gives 0,388% crit chance. Since the 450 professions were nerfed and 31 crit rating from skinning has been removed, the only way to significantly increase your critical strike chance is by stacking agility. The down-side on crit chance is that it's based on luck, so 20%+ is required if you really want burst damage.
Dodge chance
Absolutely the most over appreciated stat EVER in the history of rogues, dodge chance determines how often you will dodge your opponent's melee attacks. It's often believed that 40% dodge will effectively reduce your damage taken by 40%, but that is not at all true. Dodge will not help at all against casters (priests, mages, warlocks, shamans and druids), has reduced effect against hunters (only wing clip is important to be able to dodge), paladins (who cast a lot of spells) and is only useful against warriors and other rogues. On top of that, you can't dodge attacks from behind, meaning a skilled rogue or warrior can still hit you even if you have over 100% dodge chance. The only thing I want to say about dodge is that you should NEVER stack on dodge rating as it simply won't do much to your defense. Just enjoy the dodge you get from your agility; it's 0,2% per point. What's also important is that at a certain point diminishing returns for dodge become extremely influential, click here for further explanation. (this is quite complicated stuff, but in short it means the more dodge you have the less effect even more dodge will have)
Haste
These days haste makes barely any difference. Because it only affects the amount of white (normal) hits you do, there is only a slight increase of DPS and there is currently no gear/enchant that has enough haste to make it an option.
Resilience
At higher levels resilience is an important PvP stat for every rogue, but at 19 there's no resilience gear that makes a significant difference. It affects the duration of damage over time effects on you and the chance you are critically hit.
Stats like parry chance, armor penetration and defense rating are not represented in any gear you can use at level 19 and I therefore see no point in discussing them. Rogues start with 5% parry chance.
Ranged is left out of the picture because a rogue only really uses it to keep opponents in combat, to interrupt bandaging or to quickly finish an opponent who's running away with low health.
3.0 - Getting the gear
In this section I will explain what gear I recommend, where you can get it and what it does for you. Note that this is all very subjective, opinions vary a lot when it comes to gear. For now I will only discus balanced gear, alternatives for cheaper, easier-to-get, stamina and AP gear will be listed too.
Head
A rogue has only one option here; the famous [ITEM]Lucky Fishing Hat[/ITEM]. The only alternatives are engineering items of which [ITEM]Green Tinted Goggles[/ITEM] are the best you can get.
[ITEM]Lucky Fishing Hat[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
During the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza each Sunday from 2-4pm there's a 0,25% chance on every catch you make that you get [ITEM]Keefer's Angelfish[/ITEM]. Hand it in by completing Rare Fish - Keefer's Angelfish in Booty Bay to receive your hat. The quest gives no XP. You need 225 fishing to catch one of the rare fish (there are two other ones but those are not relevant for twinks) and you can use lures and other buffs such as the fishing bonus on your fishing pole to get it higher. I recommend fishing on Yojamba Isle in the north-west of Stranglethorn Vale, the Zandalar trolls there are neutral and will not attack you so it's safe for twinks to fish there. All other locations are crowded with level 30-45 mobs.
[ITEM]Green Tinted Goggles[/ITEM] as easier-to-get alternative:
The goggles can be bought from other engineers, but you still need 150 yourself in order to equip them (AND to use them, the stats on them are ignored if you unlearn engineering). There is no schematic for them, you learn to make them at your engineering trainer. Mats are relatively cheap; [ITEM]Medium Leather[/ITEM]x4, [ITEM]Moss Agate[/ITEM]x2 and [ITEM]Flying Tiger Goggles[/ITEM].
If you are looking for place-holding head gear, there are a few options. They have no stats apart from a few armor points; [ITEM]Battered Jungle Hat[/ITEM], [ITEM]Violet Hat[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Purple Turban[/ITEM] are most popular. Seasonal head items such as [ITEM]Red Winter Hat[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Green Winter Hat[/ITEM] are nice too. Note these items are only to keep until you get your fishing hat or goggles.
Neck
PvP offers an amazing rogue item (these are the 58 versions, the level 18 versions give 6 agility and 2 stamina); [ITEM]Sentinel's Medallion[/ITEM] (for Alliance) or [ITEM]Scout's Medallion[/ITEM] (for Horde). It is by far the best at level 19. Stamina gear alternative is [ITEM]Thick Bronze Necklace[/ITEM], though the 10 health is in no case worth losing 6 agility.
[ITEM]Sentinel's Medallion[/ITEM]/[ITEM]Scout's Medallion[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
Obtained through PvP, costing 65 honor and 20 Warsong Gulch marks. Alliance players can buy their medallion at Illiyana Moonblaze in Ashenvale and horde players can but theirs at Kelm Hargunth in The Barrens.
[ITEM]Thick Bronze Necklace[/ITEM] as alternative for stamina gear:
Made by jewelcrafters, but it does not require you to be jewelcrafter yourself. Mats are [ITEM]Bronze Bar[/ITEM]x2, [ITEM]Shadowgem[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Delicate Copper Wire[/ITEM], cheap to make.
Shoulders
This is where having a high level main comes in handy. Heirloom (or BoA) shoulders are the best option by far. You will need a character of at least level 70 - though higher is prefered - to farm Stone Keeper's Shards in order to get these. If you don't feel like leveling your main then there's always [ITEM]Serpent's Shoulders[/ITEM]. There are two BoA options for a rogue; the [ITEM]Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders[/ITEM] and the [ITEM]Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders[/ITEM]. I prefer the Shadowcrafts as they have more AP and 4 hit rating on them. If you're not planning on capping your hit rating or already have 11 from other gear/enchants/potion (discussed later), choose the Stormshrouds. In my opinion this is one of the most efficient slots to have hit rating on.
[ITEM]Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
[ITEM]Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders[/ITEM] as alternative for stamina gear with no hit rating:
[ITEM]Serpent's Shoulders[/ITEM] as alternative for twinks with no high level character or as dodge gear:
9.0 - Credits
Zybez.net: Awesome premade lay-out.
Doffe: Help with calculations for dodge chance and avoidance diminishing returns.
Rayu's 19 Rogue Guide
By: Rayu of Bronzebeard EU
By: Rayu of Bronzebeard EU
Table of Contents
- i :: Revision history
- 1.0 - Introduction
- 2.0 - What stats do for a rogue
- 3.0 - Getting the gear
- 4.0 - Professions
- 5.0 - Talents and glyphs
- 6.0 - Abilities and when to use them
- 7.0 - PvP tactics
- 8.0 - Frequently Asked Questions
- 9.0 - Credits
_________________________________________________________________
i - Revision history
» 05/05/2009 - Guide created
_________________________________________________________________
1.0 - Introduction
Early February 2009 I made my first twink, Rayu; up until today still my only twink. Hours and hours I've spent getting my gear together and it took more than one or two guides to actually get it all maxed out. The reason I'm writing this guide is to have it all in one place for 19 rogue twinks. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran, I hope you can all learn from it's content.
_________________________________________________________________
2.0 - What stats do for a rogue
A twink is nothing without it's gear. For that reason it is of the greatest importance to know what gear can do for your twink so that you can calculate what chest, legs, boots, etc. suits you best. In this section I will discuss all the stats and what they do for a 19 rogue.
Strength
Regardless of the rogue's level 1 strength adds 1 melee attack power, the first 10 points DON'T add any attack power, e.g. 57 strength gives 47 attack power. Attack power is explained further down in this guide. Strength is useful to a rogue, but agility and stamina are more important.
- strength - 10 = added attack power
Agility
Agility is the rogue's main stat, it grants 1 ranged AND 1 melee attack power per point and also adds to crit, dodge and armor values. Again, the first 10 points don't add attack power but the DO add to dodge, crit and armor.
- agility - 10 = added attack power
- 1 agility = 0,1% critical strike chance
- 1 agility = 0,2% dodge chance
- 1 agility = 2 armor
Stamina
Staying alive, that's the most important thing in a BG or arena! Stamina is therefor the second-most important (arguably the MOST important) stat for a rogue. It's pretty straight-forward; the first 20 points add 1 health each, every point after that adds 10.
- stamina - 20 * 10 + 20 = added health*
*=this is NOT your outputted health; this is also influenced by racial/level-related base health.
Intellect
"Rogue, the class that requires no intellect to play, just a keyboard to spam Sinister Strike on" ~Rayu
- pointless, rogues have zero benefit from intellect
Spirit
The only function spirit has is out-of-combat health regeneration. Except for trolls, who keep 10% of their normal health regeneration during combat, there's no way to benefit from spirit for a rogue during a fight. I don't have the exact formula for health regeneration, but with my 34 spirit I gain 11 health per second while NOT in combat; in other words it will take over two minutes to get back to full health, which makes it pointless to stack on if you can do +250 bandage ticks, ask for a heal, eat, drink potions and use lifeblood. Switching to spirit-oriented weapons when leaving combat could be fun to try, but I'd have to know the formula to confirm whether this is effective or not.
- increases health regeneration when out of combat, formula unknown
Armor
Armor reduces physical damage taken; calculations are complicated so I will just give you the formula. Armor is nothing you should stack on, it's simply there or it isn't, and it doesn't make a significant difference to put 70 armor on your cloak, 3 agility will actually do more to your defense.
- damage reduction against a level 19 attacker = armor / (armor + 2015)
Hit rating
Probably the most under appreciated stat a rogue has; hit rating increases your chance to hit, or - in other words - decreases your chance to miss. Just 11 hit rating is enough at level 19 to hit the soft cap, meaning you NEVER hit a 'miss' with your main hand, including your sinister strike, sap, gouge, etc. Without hit rating you miss 5% of these attacks, resulting in 5% less damage output with your main hand weapon and a chance your surprise attacks fail because sap misses.
- 1 hit rating = 0,47% increased chance to hit
- 11 hit rating is required to hit the soft cap (5%, 11 hit rating is 5,20%)
- hitting the soft cap means your main hand weapon will never miss, nor will your weapon abilities
- your off-hand is capped at 24%, you cannot have this much hit rating at level 19, nor would it be worth getting it as your off-hand damage is just a small part of your overall damage output
Attack Power
The damage you deal with almost every ability including normal white damage depends on your attack power. Your weapon damage increases by 1 for every 14 attack power you have. For a rogue, agility and strength both increase attack power by 1 for every stat point.
- strength + agility + 18 = attack power
- 1 attack power = 0,07 weapon damage
- affects every damage dealing rogue ability
Expertise
Decreasing the chance your attacks will be dodged, parried or blocked, expertise is an extremely useful stat. The calculations at level 19 are extremely generous; 1 rating translates to 1,75 expertise! 1 expertise translates to 0,25% reduced chance to be dodged, parried or blocked, meaning 1 expertise rating translates to 0,4375% reduced chance. Especially useful against rogues and mail-wearing classes with high dodge and block chances.
- 1 expertise rating = 1,75 expertise
- 1 expertise = 0,25% reduced chance to be dodged, parried or blocked
- 1 expertise rating = 0,4375% reduced chance to be dodged, parried or blocked
- some racial passive abilities grant expertise to certain weapon proficiencies
Critical strike chance
Over appreciated by many, but still a rogue's friend; the critical strike. An average 19 rogue twink has between 20-30% critical strike chance, depending on how much agility and crit rating it has on it's gear. Maths is simple; 1 agility gives 0,1% crit chance and 1 crit rating gives 0,388% crit chance. Since the 450 professions were nerfed and 31 crit rating from skinning has been removed, the only way to significantly increase your critical strike chance is by stacking agility. The down-side on crit chance is that it's based on luck, so 20%+ is required if you really want burst damage.
- 1 agility = 0,1 crit chance
- 1 agility = 0,388% crit chance
Dodge chance
Absolutely the most over appreciated stat EVER in the history of rogues, dodge chance determines how often you will dodge your opponent's melee attacks. It's often believed that 40% dodge will effectively reduce your damage taken by 40%, but that is not at all true. Dodge will not help at all against casters (priests, mages, warlocks, shamans and druids), has reduced effect against hunters (only wing clip is important to be able to dodge), paladins (who cast a lot of spells) and is only useful against warriors and other rogues. On top of that, you can't dodge attacks from behind, meaning a skilled rogue or warrior can still hit you even if you have over 100% dodge chance. The only thing I want to say about dodge is that you should NEVER stack on dodge rating as it simply won't do much to your defense. Just enjoy the dodge you get from your agility; it's 0,2% per point. What's also important is that at a certain point diminishing returns for dodge become extremely influential, click here for further explanation. (this is quite complicated stuff, but in short it means the more dodge you have the less effect even more dodge will have)
- 1 agility = 0,2% dodge chance
- 6 dodge rating = 1% dodge chance
- diminishing returns get more and more in the way the higher your dodge chance gets
Haste
These days haste makes barely any difference. Because it only affects the amount of white (normal) hits you do, there is only a slight increase of DPS and there is currently no gear/enchant that has enough haste to make it an option.
- 5 hit rating = 1% weapon speed increase
- does not affect abilities or energy regeneration
Resilience
At higher levels resilience is an important PvP stat for every rogue, but at 19 there's no resilience gear that makes a significant difference. It affects the duration of damage over time effects on you and the chance you are critically hit.
- 12,5 resilience rating = 1% reduced chance to be critically hit and 1% reduced duration of damage over time effects on you
Stats like parry chance, armor penetration and defense rating are not represented in any gear you can use at level 19 and I therefore see no point in discussing them. Rogues start with 5% parry chance.
Ranged is left out of the picture because a rogue only really uses it to keep opponents in combat, to interrupt bandaging or to quickly finish an opponent who's running away with low health.
_________________________________________________________________
3.0 - Getting the gear
In this section I will explain what gear I recommend, where you can get it and what it does for you. Note that this is all very subjective, opinions vary a lot when it comes to gear. For now I will only discus balanced gear, alternatives for cheaper, easier-to-get, stamina and AP gear will be listed too.
Head
A rogue has only one option here; the famous [ITEM]Lucky Fishing Hat[/ITEM]. The only alternatives are engineering items of which [ITEM]Green Tinted Goggles[/ITEM] are the best you can get.
[ITEM]Lucky Fishing Hat[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
- 150 health
- 43 armor
During the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza each Sunday from 2-4pm there's a 0,25% chance on every catch you make that you get [ITEM]Keefer's Angelfish[/ITEM]. Hand it in by completing Rare Fish - Keefer's Angelfish in Booty Bay to receive your hat. The quest gives no XP. You need 225 fishing to catch one of the rare fish (there are two other ones but those are not relevant for twinks) and you can use lures and other buffs such as the fishing bonus on your fishing pole to get it higher. I recommend fishing on Yojamba Isle in the north-west of Stranglethorn Vale, the Zandalar trolls there are neutral and will not attack you so it's safe for twinks to fish there. All other locations are crowded with level 30-45 mobs.
[ITEM]Green Tinted Goggles[/ITEM] as easier-to-get alternative:
- -70 health
- -8 armor
- engineering will have to be one of your two professions
- increased health regeneration when out of combat, though this is so little it makes no significant difference
The goggles can be bought from other engineers, but you still need 150 yourself in order to equip them (AND to use them, the stats on them are ignored if you unlearn engineering). There is no schematic for them, you learn to make them at your engineering trainer. Mats are relatively cheap; [ITEM]Medium Leather[/ITEM]x4, [ITEM]Moss Agate[/ITEM]x2 and [ITEM]Flying Tiger Goggles[/ITEM].
If you are looking for place-holding head gear, there are a few options. They have no stats apart from a few armor points; [ITEM]Battered Jungle Hat[/ITEM], [ITEM]Violet Hat[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Purple Turban[/ITEM] are most popular. Seasonal head items such as [ITEM]Red Winter Hat[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Green Winter Hat[/ITEM] are nice too. Note these items are only to keep until you get your fishing hat or goggles.
Neck
PvP offers an amazing rogue item (these are the 58 versions, the level 18 versions give 6 agility and 2 stamina); [ITEM]Sentinel's Medallion[/ITEM] (for Alliance) or [ITEM]Scout's Medallion[/ITEM] (for Horde). It is by far the best at level 19. Stamina gear alternative is [ITEM]Thick Bronze Necklace[/ITEM], though the 10 health is in no case worth losing 6 agility.
[ITEM]Sentinel's Medallion[/ITEM]/[ITEM]Scout's Medallion[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
- 6 attack power
- 0,6% critical strike chance
- 1,2% dodge chance
- 12 armor
- 20 health
Obtained through PvP, costing 65 honor and 20 Warsong Gulch marks. Alliance players can buy their medallion at Illiyana Moonblaze in Ashenvale and horde players can but theirs at Kelm Hargunth in The Barrens.
[ITEM]Thick Bronze Necklace[/ITEM] as alternative for stamina gear:
- -6 attack power
- -0,6% critical strike chance
- -1,2% dodge chance
- -12 armor
- +10 health
Made by jewelcrafters, but it does not require you to be jewelcrafter yourself. Mats are [ITEM]Bronze Bar[/ITEM]x2, [ITEM]Shadowgem[/ITEM] and [ITEM]Delicate Copper Wire[/ITEM], cheap to make.
Shoulders
This is where having a high level main comes in handy. Heirloom (or BoA) shoulders are the best option by far. You will need a character of at least level 70 - though higher is prefered - to farm Stone Keeper's Shards in order to get these. If you don't feel like leveling your main then there's always [ITEM]Serpent's Shoulders[/ITEM]. There are two BoA options for a rogue; the [ITEM]Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders[/ITEM] and the [ITEM]Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders[/ITEM]. I prefer the Shadowcrafts as they have more AP and 4 hit rating on them. If you're not planning on capping your hit rating or already have 11 from other gear/enchants/potion (discussed later), choose the Stormshrouds. In my opinion this is one of the most efficient slots to have hit rating on.
[ITEM]Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders[/ITEM] as best all-round option:
- 40 health
- 14 attack power
- 1,89% increased chance to hit
[ITEM]Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders[/ITEM] as alternative for stamina gear with no hit rating:
- -3 attack power
- -1,89% increased chance to hit
- +20 health
- +0,3% critical strike chance
- +0,6% dodge chance
- +0,32 reduced chance to be critically hit and reduced duration of damage over time effects on you
[ITEM]Serpent's Shoulders[/ITEM] as alternative for twinks with no high level character or as dodge gear:
- -5 attack power
- -40 health
- -1,89% increased chance to hit
- +0,9% critical strike chance
- +1,8% dodge chance
_________________________________________________________________
9.0 - Credits
Zybez.net: Awesome premade lay-out.
Doffe: Help with calculations for dodge chance and avoidance diminishing returns.
