Images courtesy of Peter Dorsi

In the World of Warcraft, the Rogue class is the premiere melee fighting unit, able to inflict significant damage in a flurry of offensive strikes. The Rogue is a master assassin, utilizing stealth to its fullest potential and making the shadows his ally to gain the upper hand in every encounter. The Rogue can appear out of nowhere and disappear with ease, waiting for the opportune time to strike deadly blows.

In addition to using stealth, the Rogue is also an able poison maker. He can make concoctions that can cripple or damage his enemies, making them more vulnerable to his subsequent attacks. But what makes the Rogue a valuable asset in a party, aside from the tons of damage the unit can deal, is his ability to open locked chests and doors, as well as neutralize traps.

The Rogue relies heavily on his agility and this attribute is always preferred over strength. The Rogue class has almost no use for spirit and intelligence, as the class’ abilities are not dependent on mana. While spirit can help in regenerating hit points, the Rogue can use food, bandages, potions, or team up with a healer, which makes having a lot of spirit unnecessary.

While the Hunter and the Rogue are experts in damage dealing, the Hunter can inflict damage from a distance, while the Rogue needs to be up close for the kill. But what the Rogue lacks in range attacks, he makes up with his sudden bursts of critical offensives. Coupled with the Rogue’s ability to stay invisible before attacking and quickly retreating into the shadows, this is what makes the Rogue a force to be reckoned with in any party.

Rogues are best suited for players who like to crawl up on enemies and unleash large amounts of burst damage.

Background
The Rogues in Azeroth are masters of cunning and wily tactics and their mastery is shown in the way they fight — always blending with the shadows until their prey has relatively no chance of escape. When paired with an excellent ally, the Rogue can perform flanking and trapping maneuvers against the opposition. With the Rogue’s trickery well applied in combat and spying, any group would want such a unit in their fold.

The Rogue is, in the simple sense of the phrase, a Jack-of-all-trades as he can be a merchant, an entertainer, a politician, or even a scoundrel.

With knowledge gained from various professions, the Rogue has an adept understanding about toxicology, lockpicking, rudimentary alchemy and brawling. When hired, a Rogue is only bound by the contract that he agreed to; within this rules that make up his world, he is free do as he chooses. While majority of Rogues in Azeroth opt to fly solo, a good number of Rogues also align themselves with guilds for safety and ease of securing an assignment. Ravenholdt and the Syndicate are among the said guilds. Other acknowledged rogue groups include the Shattered Hand, the Deathstalkers and SI:7.

When engaged in combat, the Rogue prefers to include the element of surprise in their arsenal and their weaponry is almost always laced with poison. To gain an advantageous position during an engagement, the Rogue stocks along with his gear sufficient supplies of blinding power. Their strikes are mostly concentrated on the enemy’s weak points in an attempt to disable or kill the enemy within a minimal time frame.

Quick, deadly, and efficient, the Rogue is someone not to be trifled with.

The Races
In the game, only the following races are allowed to play as Rogues:

All races, with the exception of the Draenei and the Tauren, are capable of playing as a Rogue unit. But with each race comes a unique attribute that requires a deep look as to how the racial traits can affect the gaming experience of the player.

Weapons

The Rogue can use the following weapons:

Melee

• Daggers
• Fist weapons
• Maces (one-hand)
• Swords (one-hand)

Ranged

• Bows
• Crossbows
• Guns
• Throwing weapons

Although the Rogue is the game’s foremost unit in terms of melee damage, their melee weaponry is limited to four classes only. However, with improvement and further specialization, any type of weapon limited for the Rogue unit can still be deadly when complemented with the Rogue’s special skills and abilities. Also, the Rogue can learn dual wield, which can prove to be a crucial skill for any Rogue player.

Several Special Abilities of the Rogue

Stealth
Stealth is the main attribute of the Rogue. With the ability to become invisible even at lower levels, the Rogue can dish up combos and deadly attacks in a flash and retreat in the same manner. Stealth creates opportunity for the Rogue. When not attacking or waiting in ambush, the cloaked Rogue can scout a path or a camp.

While classes of higher levels can easily detect a low-level Rogue, a player can improve the stealth of unit with talents, items, and enchantments, both to decrease the chance of being detected, and to increase movement speed.

Lockpicking
With the ability to open chests, locked doors, and disarming traps, the Rogue is a very useful party member as the unit would eliminate the need to go to a blacksmith and order keys. However, the chances of successfully picking locks rely on a Rogue’s lockpicking level.

Flee
When faced with an overwhelming force, the Rogue can easily disengage from the combat by simply running away.

The Talent Trees
Like all other classes in the game, the Rogue has three Talent Trees, each with its own area of specialization that helps define a Rogue’s main role in the later phase of the game.

Assassination
This tree gives the Rogue the ability to inflict burst damage, more effective poisons, and increase the unit’s chances to deal finishing blows to the enemy. The assassination tree makes the Rogue an effective end game player and a critical damage dealer in PvP situations.

Some of the important skills in this tree include:

• Fleet Footed – increases the Rogue’s movement speed by 8/15%.
• Cold Blood – grants the Rogue with an increased chance of inflicting critical strikes with the next attack by 100%
• Vigor – increases the Rogue’s maximum energy by 10.

Combat
This tree turns the Rogue into a defensive unit with the ability to sustain attacks on the enemy and grants the Rogue more powerful DPS attacks. The combat tree is great for leveling and much preferred by players who do not want to be dependent on a Rogue’s opening attack but instead mount a continuous offensive with defensive skills to match.

Vital skills in this tree include:

• Lightning Reflexes – increases the Rogue’s chances to dodge incoming attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.
• Riposte – when a Rogue successfully parries an attack, the enemy will then be inflicted with a 150% damage attack and will be disarmed for 6 seconds.
• Deflection – increases the Rogue’s chances to parry incoming attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.

Subtlety
This tree is designed for Rogues who prefer to blend with the shadow and use its cover when attacking or retreating. The Subtlety tree allows the Rogue to rack up as many combo points in the opening attack.

Some of the significant talents in this tree comprise of:

• Relentless Strikes – the Rogue’s finishing moves have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy points.
• Master of Deception – increases the Rogue’s chances to go undetected when in stealth mode.
• Camouflage – grants the Rogue with an increased speed while stealthed by 5/10/15% and reduces the cooldown of your Stealth ability by 2/4/6 seconds.

Limitations of the Rogue
While an excellent damage dealer both on melee and DPS, the Rogue has some flaws to consider. First, the Rogue weaponry is limited (as mentioned above) and cannot be equipped with a shield. Second, armor is also limited to cloth and leather.