Rogue PvP Spec Guide
TBC arena strengths, tradeoffs and practical decisions
Subtlety — Shadowstep control
Arena optionComplete level-70 talent trees
Every build totals 61 points. Pick a build, then open it in the interactive calculator to copy it talent by talent.
Assassination
20 pts- Malice 5/5
- Ruthlessness 3/3
- Murder 2/2
- Relentless Strikes 1/1
- Lethality 5/5
- Vile Poisons 4/5
Combat
0 ptsNo points in this tree.
Subtlety
41 pts- Master of Deception 5/5
- Dirty Tricks 2/2
- Camouflage 4/5
- Initiative 3/3
- Ghostly Strike 1/1
- Elusiveness 2/2
- Serrated Blades 3/3
- Heightened Senses 2/2
- Preparation 1/1
- Dirty Deeds 2/2
- Hemorrhage 1/1
- Deadliness 5/5
- Premeditation 1/1
- Cheat Death 3/3
- Sinister Calling 5/5
- Shadowstep 1/1
Shadowstep builds combine mobility, controlled burst and resets. Choose an opener around the opposing trinkets, your partner's control and your escape route. A clean second setup is often more valuable than spending every cooldown in the first.
Strengths
- Stealth, stuns and Blind help create a coordinated setup.
- Shadowstep improves access to a target or a route away from pressure.
Weaknesses
- Damage-over-time effects and enemy detection can deny resets.
- Being caught without defensives or energy makes another setup difficult.
Key Talents Explained
Repositions behind the target and helps reconnect or set up control.
Resets specified Rogue cooldowns. It does not reset Blind in TBC.
Adds combo points while stealthed for the opener you have planned.
Improves the reach and energy efficiency of Sap and Blind.
How to read the matchup
Opportunities
- Commit a stun setup when your partner can follow and the healer is controlled.
- An opponent without a trinket is an opportunity only if the next control is ready and will not break to damage.
Threats to plan around
- Damage-over-time effects and enemy detection can deny resets.
- Being caught without defensives or energy makes another setup difficult.
What changes the outcome
- Your reset depends on damage effects, enemy detection, partner position and the cooldowns you have kept.
Alternative Specs
Combat offers sustained pressure and energy throughput but gives up deep-Subtlety mobility and survival options. Treat it as a deliberate alternative, not an equivalent default for arena.
When to use: Use this variant after agreeing how your team covers the tools you give up.
Decisions to practice
Before the setup
Pool energy before a stun window so you can act while the target is controlled.
During pressure
Keep damage and poisons off a planned Sap, Gouge or Blind target when they would break your follow-up.
When the plan changes
Trade Vanish, Cloak of Shadows and Evasion for specific threats. Use Preparation after valuable resettable cooldowns have been spent.
Review one game
Track one reset: did your own damage break control, or did you leave without a safe route?
Master This Spec
Compare Rogue build priorities, gearing principles and the decisions to practice with your team.
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