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8. Sample Talent Builds
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First and foremost, you should go here:
http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Talents.View
This is IGN's talent builder. There are others out there, but I like this one.
It will let you customize your rogue talents and basically plan for the future.
Believe me when I say you want to be sure what you want early on, because it's
very, very expensive to reset your talents. If you make a mistake or decide
you don't like your current build, it costs 1g to reset everything the first
time, 5g the next, then an additional 5g (10g, 15g, 20g, etc.) up to 50g, where
the price sits...stealing your money.
Anyway, I have a couple sample talent builds you can try, and they're mostly
based off of other people's builds. This first one, the standard 23/2/26, was
originally constructed by someone else, but I don't remember his/her name (so
if anyone knows, tell me so I can give credit!)
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Assassination Talents (23 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points
Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.
Malice - 5/5 points
Increases your critical strike chance by 5%.
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points
Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.
Murder - 1/2 point
Increases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap
Shot abilities by 3%.
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point
Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
Lethality - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,
Backstab, Ambush, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage ability by 30%.
Improved Instant Poison - 4/5 points
Increases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 8%.
Cold Blood - 1/1 point
When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister
Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.
Combat Talents (2 points)
Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.
Subtlety Talents (26 points)
Camouflage - 5/5 points
Increases your speed while stealthed by 15%.
Master of Deception - 4/5 points
Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while in Stealth mode. More
effective than Master of Deception (Rank 3)
Elusiveness - 5/5 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1.3
minutes.
Ghostly Strike - 1/1 point
A strike that deals 125% weapon damage and increases your chance to dodge by
15% for 7 seconds. Awards 1 combo point.
Initiative - 5/5 points
Gives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when
using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
Improved Sap - 3/3 points
Adds a 90% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.
Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 points
Reduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot ability by 20.
Preparation - 1/1 point
When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your other
Rogue abilities.
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This next build is my own modification of the above, and it trims away certain
talents such as Murder and Ghostly Strike, though Ghostly Strike may make a
comeback depending on how many people e-mail me telling me I'm missing out on
something spectacular. Or it might not.
Anyway, this build is meant as a sort of hybrid. It's quite good in PVE, and
works very well in PVP, even without the points in Seal Fate everyone seems to
love. To be frank, I can see the appeal, but I don't like losing so many points
from the Subtlety tree. Too many rogues underestimate the talents in that tree.
My opinion entirely.
For PVP purposes this can be used in group PVP, but it excels mostly in duels
thanks to Preparation. It helps immensely to be able to vanish twice in quick
succession, especially against mages and other casters.
Assassination Talents (23 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points
Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.
Malice - 5/5 points
Increases your critical strike chance by 5%.
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points
Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.
Murder - 1/2 point
Increases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap
Shot abilities by 3%.
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point
Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
Lethality - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,
Backstab, Ambush, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage ability by 30%.
Improved Instant Poison - 2/5 points
Increases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 4%.
Cold Blood - 1/1 point
When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister
Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.
Combat Talents (5 points)
Improved Gouge - 3/3 points
Increases the effect duration of your Gouge ability by 1.5 seconds.
Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.
Subtlety Talents (25 points)
Camouflage - 5/5 points
Increases your speed while stealthed by 15%.
Elusiveness - 4/5 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1 minute.
Opportunity - 5/5 points
Increases the damage dealt when striking from behind with your Backstab,
Garrote, or Ambush abilities by 20%.
Initiative - 5/5 points
Gives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when
using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
Improved Sap - 3/3 points
Adds a 90% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.
Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 points
Reduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot ability by 20.
Preparation - 1/1 point
When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your other
Rogue abilities.
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This is a Seal Fate build with my preferred Subtlety talents. Adjust as needed
for what you like in the Assassination tree. It's more of a PVP build due to
the lack of Improved Sap for the end-game instances, but also useable in PVE,
just less crowd control. The lack of Preparation is offset somewhat by the
extra point in Elusiveness. Not as good in duels since Preparation is
sacrificed, but useful in group PVP thanks to the extra combo points provided
by Seal Fate. Requires a high critical chance to be fully effective.
To be frank, I don't like this build. I'm of the opinion that Seal Fate is an
overrated talent that isn't worth the points it takes to get it, and was made
popular initially by the fact that it was bugged in earlier versions of the
game, causing it to give two extra combo points instead of one. But, that's
just my opinion.
Assassination Talents (31 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points
Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.
Malice - 5/5 points
Increases your critical strike chance by 5%.
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points
Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.
Murder - 2/2 points
Increases your chance to hit while using your Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap
Shot abilities by 5%.
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point
Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
Lethality - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge,
Backstab, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage abilities by 30%.
Improved Instant Poison - 2/5 points
Increases the chance to apply Instant Poison to your target by 4%.
Cold Blood - 1/1 point
When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister
Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.
Improved Kidney Shot - 3/3 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Kidney Shot ability by 5 seconds.
Seal Fate - 5/5 points
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 100% chance
to add an additional combo point.
Vigor - 1/1 point
Increases your maximum Energy by 10.
Combat Talents (5 points)
Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5 Energy.
Improved Gouge - 3/3 points
Increases the effect duration of your Gouge ability by 1.5 seconds.
Subtlety Talents (15 points)
Camouflage - 5/5 points
Increases your speed while stealthed by 15%.
Elusiveness - 5/5 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Evasion, Vanish, and Blind abilities by 1.3
minutes.
Initiative - 5/5 points
Gives you a 75% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when
using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
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Now, there are builds for the combat rogue. Some people prefer a rogue that's
more 'in-your-face,' even though it basically flies in the face of what a rogue
is. But if that's your preferred method of playing, more power to you. It's
not that the combat tree is filled with bad talents, it's just that there are
much more useful ones in the other two trees. My opinion entirely, naturally.
I can't really list any combat builds, since they're dependent on your preferred
weapon. A rogue specializing in daggers will have a different build than one
who likes swords or maces. However, all builds should include Dual Wield
Specialization, which improves the damage output of your offhand weapon. Blade
Flurry is another talent you'll want to have, as it'll actually make you useful
when fighting groups. As for Assassination and Subtlety talents, you'll want
to have Camouflage maxed out, even if all you do is rush in and attack the
enemy, along with Improved Eviscerate and Malice. The more criticals, the
better.
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