Definitely a Day of the Dead

Was up a little bit late last night making use of the final few moments of Call to Arms: Arathi Basin on the Horde Rogue. I haven't laughed and ganked that hard in ages.

It began on the Exodar server when Pro finally hit level 36. Decided to try some Warsong Gulch. Her gear is quite horrible yet I hoped the level might be enough to not get insta-gibbed. Boy was I wrong. Rogues were eating my cookies left and right.

I had heard in Aenara's guild that Rogues were the scourge of the lower brackets and that's sure not an understatement. They mentioned mutilate so I spec'd that on Unpleasant yet it didn't seem that OP. Dragonsblitz and Gorestep showed me the error of my ways... it was Subtlety that was insanity. I thought the problem was not having Flare yet it would be useless against Shadowstep. While they could see my traps at 32 they couldn't disarm them. Yet it didn't help me much.

There is incredible synergy at very low levels in the Subtley tree:

• Shadowstep (25 yd range, Instant) Causes you to step through the shadows and appear behind an enemy target. Your next Ambush or Garrote delivered within 10 sec will deal 30% additional damage, and your movement speed is increased by 70% for 3 sec.
• Master of Subtlety (Passive) Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 10% damage.
• Sinister Calling (Passive) Increases your total Agility by 25% and increases the percentage damage bonus of Backstab and Hemorrhage by an additional 25%.
• Improved Ambush (Rank 3) Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 60% and its damage by 15%.
• Waylay (Rank 2) Your Ambush and Backstab hits have a 100% chance to unbalance a target, increasing the time between their melee and ranged attacks by 20%, and reducing movement speed by 50% for 8 sec.
• Opportunity (Rank 3) Increases the damage dealt with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote and Ambush abilities by 30%.
• Hemorrhage (35 Energy, Melee Range, Instant, Requires Melee Weapon) An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage (159.5% if a dagger is equipped) and causes the target to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 1 min. Awards 1 combo point.
• Ambush (60 Energy, Melee Range, Instant, Requires Melee Weapon, Requires Stealth) Ambush the target, causing 190% weapon damage plus (330 * 1.9) to the target (274.93% plus (330 * 2.75) if a dagger is equipped). Must be stealthed and behind the target. Awards 2 combo points.

It's a lot to take in yet it plays incredibly well. And it's all available to a Rogue at 29. In fact most of it is available through the 20s, with Hemorrhage and Waylay or Opportunity coming at the end. In the 30s it's ridiculous.

Core talents and abilities aside, one Prime, one Major, and one Minor glyph slot become available at level 25. And there are some really sweet ones available to compliment the devastation:

• Glyph of Hemorrhage (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 29) Your Hemorrhage ability also causes the target to bleed, dealing 40% of the direct strike's damage over 24 sec.
• Glyph of Backstab (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 25) Your Backstab critical strikes grant you 5 energy.
• Glyph of Eviscerate (Prime Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the critical strike chance of Eviscerate by 10%.
• Glyph of Ambush (Major Glyph, Item Level 25) Increases the range on Ambush by 5 yards.
• Glyph of Gouge (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Your Gouge ability no longer requires that the target be facing you.
• Glyph of Vanish (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the duration of your Vanish effect by 2 sec.
• Glyph of Sprint (Major Glyph, Requires Level 25) Increases the movement speed of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%.
• Glyph of Blurred Speed (Minor Glyph, Requires Level 25) Enables you to walk on water while your Sprint ability is active.

So many great choices! Hemorrhage would be useful against other rogues and druids, keeping them out of stealth. Ambush and Backstab are expensive moves so Backstab, when landing, would get you a little extra for another. Eviscerate would help ensure a big finisher (if needed, heh). Ambush would make Ambushing a mounted target is even easier. Since Blind isn't available until 34, Gouge could fill the gap. Vanish would give you more breathing room to escape with. Sprint would help you escape while Blurred Speed would make escape in Arathi Basin easier. Wow! Naturally I logged out and went back to Azjol-Nerub. After respecing for 53s, I threw Unpleasant out there to see what was what.

It went as well as all the whining indicated. It was astonishing the damage that was unleashed. Unfortunately I was half-way through 29, so after a win and a loss, I leveled into the 30 bracket. It is always rough to be at the bottom of the bracket plus other players often jeer at the flotsam dragging the team down, but I was on a rush and had to see what could be done. I managed to deal out more death than I expected. Unfortunately it's easy for the higher-level enemies to see through stealth so I had to be at the top of my game. The kills I got were a real testament to skill and timing. The best one I got was at level 31 where I one shot a 39 Warlock that was mounting up. She had over 1600 health which didn't seem to even be there. For a kill like that to be possible with an eight level disparity definitely says there something out of wack. Yet I understand it must be rough on Blizzard to balance a class through their level progression. Glad I got all this down for posterity as I'm sure something will get hot fixed.

While the rogue is fierce, it's not all a cake walk. All the usual requirements are there… catch someone unaware with as few friends around as possible while your cooldowns are all ready and theirs are down. And as at all the lower brackets the BoA gear can make an incredible difference. Currently the worst targets are the DoT casters and the mail-wearers. If you don't one-shot them things get dicey. While Shadow Priests are painful, 4.x Warlocks are devastating. Bane of Doom can now be cast on players. It lasts FOREVER (one minute, heh) and does a TON of damage. A quick reacting paladin that survives will usually Lay on Hands then try to slam a Hammer of Justice on you. Those two have been the most troublesome survivors of a failed one-shot for me.

As realization has dawned on everyone the play-style has suffered. Rogues summarily ignore flag groups and swim out mid-field looking for targets. So there were a few games that ended 0-0 because no one could survive the onslaught since no one would support the flag carrier. Lot of people leaving games in a huff but whatever. I am there to gank not help the team. *snicker* I am just one of the sharks looking for chum.

Went out to Hammerfall to grab Defiler's Leather Boots. Since the Inherited Insignia of the Alliance doesn't translate from Alliance to Horde I had to grab an Insignia of the Horde for 55 honor points. Still need to decide on glyphs then it's time to see what the fields of battle are like today.