PVE Combat Rogue DPS Guide (WotLK 3.3.5a)

Welcome to the Combat Rogue DPS guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a. In this guide, you will learn about playing a Combat Rogue in a raid. The guide includes Talents, Glyphs, Gems, Enchantments, Add-ons, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips.

Talent Tree

The first one is more effective when you don’t have your Armor Penetration capped because Rupture ignores armor. Second is for fights where you constantly change your target. The damage is more or less the same. Don’t forget that you can spend 1 point from Ruthlessness or Poisons [Tier 4] into Vigor to have an extra 10 energy.

Rupture build

Eviscerate build

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Killing Spree
• Glyph of Sinister Strike
• Glyph of Rupture or Glyph of Eviscerate

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Distract
• Glyph of Vanish
• Glyph of Safe Fall

Gems

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
• Red: Stark Ametrine, Fractured Cardinal Ruby, Precise Cardinal Ruby
• Yellow: Quick King’s Amber, Rigid King’s Amber, Stark Ametrine
• Blue: Nightmare Tear x1

Enchants

• Head – Arcanum of Torment
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of the Axe
• Cloak – Greater Speed
• Chest – Powerful Stats
• Bracers – Greater Assault
• Gloves – Crusher
• Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs – Icescale Leg Armor
• Boots – Icewalker
• Weapon – Berserking for both weapons
  

Rotation

Use a slow main-hand (2.5 to 2.8) and a swift offhand weapon (1.4 to 1.5). Use Instant Poison IX on your main-hand weapon and Deadly Poison IX on your offhand.

Opening up with a Sinister Strike, which can proc a glyph. Doing another one or two Sinister Strike to drain all the energy. Finishing move: Slice and Dice followed up with a Killing Spree. This start will give us a burst of damage.

Afterwards, we are gaining Combo Points with our Sinister Strike while using our Finisher move depending on the priorities below:

• Slice and Dice is always up. Use at any amount of CP if it’s going to wear off in 2 secs
• Rupture is always on the target. Use Rupture only if you have 1st build and at 5 Combo Points
• Use Eviscerate on cooldown.

Stat Priority

Combat Rogues require 17% of spell Hit for the poisons to be effective (spell damage). To obtain 17%, we need 315 Hit Rating + 5/5 Precision. [26.23 hit rating = 1% spell hit]

Dual-wielding requires a significant amount of hit rating to never miss a melee attack. It is unobtainable without sacrificing other crucial stats. The 315 Hit rating + Precision mentioned above will provide 9.6% + 5% of melee Hit [32.79 hit rating = 1% melee hit].
That being said, having an increased amount of Hit in late-game isn’t the worst idea since it gives an increase in DPS.

A standard 26 Expertise is required to remove the possibility of dodged attacks.

Hit rating -> Expertise -> Attack Power & Haste -> Critical Strike Rating -> Armor penetration

In the beginning, you will want to focus on stats such as Attack Power, Haste, and Critical Strike Rating because you won’t have enough Armor Penetration to make it work effectively. Attack Power and Haste will provide steady DPS, while Crit rating synergizes with Glyph of Sinister Strike. At this stage, aim for approximately 35% of Crit chance.

Hit rating -> Expertise -> Armor Penetration & Critical Strike Rating -> Haste -> Attack Power

When you progress into 25-man raids, you can switch to Armor Penetration as it becomes to the superior stat, and you now have access to better gear. The hard cap for Armor Penetration is 1400 (including trinket procs).
Crit chance remains a vital stat, and you can now improve it up to 55% while being buffed.