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WoW Forever Rogue Guide: Assassination, Combat, & Sub Changes

Forever gives Rogue three distinct ways to turn contact time into damage: Assassination builds around poisons, Combat earns cooldown recovery through finishers, and Subtlety uses Rupture to fuel its next attacks. Energy, combo points and control still define the class, but familiar talent names no longer guarantee familiar effects.

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What changes for Rogue?

Rogue is a strong fit if you enjoy planning a few actions ahead and changing your finishers to suit the target. Assassination adds Venom for poison-buff maintenance and Mutilate for two-weapon combo-point generation; neither ability existed in original Classic. Combat keeps its burst tools while Restless Blades rewards continued damaging finishers between them. Subtlety gains sustained bleed-driven play and Ambush opportunities outside stealth, but Hemorrhage no longer supplies its Classic physical-damage debuff for everyone. Shared hit and crit make gearing less awkward across weapon and poison damage. Movement, interrupt assignments and breakable control determine when you can use those sustained-damage tools.

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The biggest changes from Classic

Venom maintains poison pressure

Venom spends combo points on a timed poison damage and application buff rather than an immediate hit. Assassination plans sustained poison-buff uptime, balancing that buff against Slice and Dice, direct finishers and the target's remaining life.

Finishers recover Combat cooldowns

Restless Blades reduces five major cooldowns through damaging finishers, with recovery based on combo points spent. Combat's next burst and escape tools therefore depend partly on what you do between cooldown windows, not only on waiting for their original timers.

Rupture makes builders cheaper

Thousand Cuts turns Rupture ticks into a stacking discount for the next Hemorrhage or Backstab. Subtlety gains a sustained resource interaction, while Hemorrhage increases your own Rupture damage instead of adding Classic's shared physical-damage bonus to the target.

Assassination Rogue

Melee DPS and poison pressure

Assassination combines two-weapon builder damage with poison uptime and finisher management. Stay on a poisoned target when possible and leave energy for the next builder or finisher.

Build your talents

Mutilate rewards a poisoned target

Mutilate attacks with both weapons for 75% weapon damage plus 13 from each weapon, gains 20% damage against poisoned targets and awards two combo points for 60 energy. Maintain a poison effect on the target to receive the damage bonus. Applying a weapon coating and having a poison debuff on the enemy are different things: Instant Poison deals immediate damage, so it does not by itself provide a lasting debuff.

Both weapons contribute direct damage, so the second hand is not merely somewhere to put a poison. Compare weapon damage alongside application opportunities and your other attacks. Mutilate's listed effect does not consume poison stacks or require attacking from behind. Lethality explicitly includes Mutilate, and Seal Fate rewards critical strikes from combo-point builders. Watch your actual points before pressing the next expensive builder; blindly repeating it near full points wastes the benefit of a good crit.

Venom and Slice and Dice uptime

Venom increases poison damage by 30% and application chance by 10%. Combo points extend its duration from nine seconds at one point to 21 seconds at five, with a 25-energy cost. It is not a direct-damage poison finisher, and its tooltip does not consume poison stacks. Use it to improve the attacks that follow, which means target longevity and time in melee determine how much you get from it.

Improved Slice and Dice extends your attack-speed finisher, so Assassination has competing maintenance needs rather than a single finisher to press forever. Longer buffs leave more room to rebuild, but spending five points on a duration you cannot use is still wasteful. Before movement or a phase change, compare the useful buff time left with an immediate finisher. A target dying does not necessarily end a self-buff's value if you can switch straight to another enemy. On a durable target, avoid letting both maintenance effects expire together and forcing yourself into an energy-starved rebuild.

Poison talents and finisher resources

Malice explicitly increases crit for attacks and poisons. Vile Poisons improves poison damage and resistance to dispels, while Improved Poisons increases application chance and adds a chance not to consume a charge. Charge conservation extends your coatings, but check their remaining duration and charges between pulls.

Relentless Strikes retains its Classic 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy, and Ruthlessness can still add a point after a finisher. Together they make the next cycle vary, so look at your energy and points after spending rather than queuing an assumed sequence. Vigor increases maximum energy, not regeneration. The extra room helps you pool before a stun or burst window, but sitting at maximum while able to attack still wastes incoming energy. Cold Blood adds 100% crit chance to your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, Eviscerate or Mutilate. Venom is not eligible.

PvP pressure and armor support

Improved Kidney Shot increases damage from your poisons and attacks against enemies stunned by your Kidney Shot. Classic Improved Kidney Shot increased damage from all sources; Forever narrows that bonus to your own attacks and poisons. Pool enough energy before the stun to exploit its limited window, and leave enough energy for attacks during the stun. Vile Poisons' dispel resistance supports sustained pressure against teams trying to remove your coatings' effects.

Improved Expose Armor changes from Classic's stronger armor reduction to reduced energy cost and a combo-point refund when used at five points. That makes the support job less expensive rather than inherently making the debuff stronger. Coordinate armor reduction with your group before taking responsibility for it. Every maintenance finisher has an opportunity cost, and Expose Armor competes with your poison buff and direct damage for the same combo points.

Combat Rogue

Melee DPS and cleave

Combat rewards staying active between burst windows. Its weapon options are consolidated, damaging finishers bring major cooldowns back sooner, and familiar movement and control talents help you keep attacking when a fight stops being stationary.

Build your talents

Restless Blades changes the cycle

Restless Blades reduces remaining cooldowns on Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry, Evasion, Sprint and Vanish by two seconds per combo point spent on damaging finishing moves. Slice and Dice, Expose Armor, Kidney Shot and Venom are not damaging finishers. That distinction gives damage finishers a second payoff, but it does not mean abandoning attack-speed uptime or an assigned debuff is suddenly efficient.

Use your maintenance effects to support continued attacks, then convert spare points into damaging finishers while the relevant cooldowns are actually recovering. Spend before the target becomes unavailable. A damaging finisher can still recover cooldown time on a dying enemy; a self-buff may instead carry into the next target. The defensive side matters too: the same ongoing play brings movement, avoidance and escape tools closer. Plan around the time remaining after your finishers, rather than assuming Sprint or Vanish will always return on their printed base schedule.

Burst with room to spend energy

Adrenaline Rush doubles energy regeneration for 15 seconds. Start it with enough room to receive that energy and a target you can keep hitting. Activating at full energy immediately before running away throws away the resource advantage. Blade Flurry adds 20% melee attack speed and makes melee attacks strike one additional nearby opponent for 15 seconds. These are the familiar Classic cooldown effects. Blade Flurry's attack speed remains useful on one target; use its cleave when the second target is safe to damage.

Stacking the two can concentrate pressure into a good window, while separating them can fit successive pulls or a later add. Restless Blades gives you a reason to think beyond the first use: a cooldown activated early enough to receive meaningful recovery can be available again sooner in the run. Check threat and expected melee uptime before committing both cooldowns.

Weapons, builders and attack reliability

Hack and Slash consolidates weapon specialization. Axes and swords can trigger extra attacks, daggers and fists gain crit, and maces ignore a percentage of armor. Weapon Expertise now reduces dodge and parry chance rather than granting Classic's sword, fist and dagger skill. That broadens the talent's weapon coverage, but it is not the same mechanic as weapon skill and does not replace skill's remaining benefits.

Improved Sinister Strike reduces the energy cost of the straightforward builder. Puncturing Wounds supports Backstab crit and extra combo-point generation while also adding Mutilate crit, giving dagger-focused choices a different route through the tree. Aggression includes Backstab alongside Sinister Strike and Eviscerate. Choose the weapon and builder together: a weapon-family bonus alone does not make an awkward positional playstyle fit an encounter. Dual Wield Specialization retains its Classic off-hand damage bonus; Precision supplies hit for both weapons and poisons.

Control that keeps you attacking

Endurance reduces Sprint and Evasion cooldowns, and Improved Sprint removes movement impairments at full rank. Restless Blades can bring Sprint back sooner after you use it to cross a gap or clear a snare. Balance that uptime gain against the next mechanic that needs an escape.

Riposte becomes available after a parry and deals weapon damage while disarming the target. It is useful when enemies are attacking you in solo play or PvP, not a reason to stand in front of a raid boss and seek parries. Improved Kick adds a two-second silence, guaranteed at rank 2 against susceptible targets. Keep enough energy for your assigned interrupt, even during Adrenaline Rush.

Subtlety Rogue

Melee DPS, stealth and PvP control

Subtlety connects openers and control to a sustained Rupture cycle. You gain cheaper follow-up builders and occasional Ambush access outside stealth, but preserving bleeds and choosing resets can pull your play in different directions.

Build your talents

Hemorrhage supports your own Rupture

Hemorrhage deals weapon damage, with a higher listed coefficient for a dagger, and makes the target take 15% more Rupture damage from you for 15 seconds. Classic Hemorrhage added damage to physical attacks against the target through a charged debuff. Forever's version supports your bleed rather than the raid's physical attacks.

Serrated Blades adds armor penetration for your attacks and increases Rupture damage. Those are separate benefits: penetration helps armor-affected attacks, while the explicit Rupture modifier supports the bleed. Maintain Hemorrhage's effect when your Rupture will keep ticking, but judge the target's remaining life before investing in a fresh bleed. A short-lived add favors immediate damage; a durable enemy lets you collect the full sustained benefit.

Thousand Cuts and Ambush opportunities

Each Rupture tick gives a three-energy discount to your next Hemorrhage or Backstab within ten seconds, stacking up to five times. Thousand Cuts does not directly add energy to your bar. Spend the discount on an eligible builder while maintaining enough Rupture uptime to keep it arriving. Pooling briefly can collect stacks, but waiting at full energy just to maximize a discount sacrifices regeneration.

Cutthroat gives Backstab a chance to let your next Ambush within ten seconds ignore the stealth requirement. Classic Ambush required stealth, a main-hand dagger and a position behind the target. Cutthroat removes the stealth requirement for that proc; it does not say that it removes the weapon or positional requirements. Improved Ambush raises its crit chance, while Opportunity supports its damage and several other attacks. Watch the proc window and your energy together; getting the proc is not useful if you spend everything on another builder before you can use it.

Openers and control have different goals

Premeditation adds two combo points that must be used or added to within 20 seconds. Initiative can add another point through Ambush, Garrote or Cheap Shot, and Dirty Deeds reduces Cheap Shot and Garrote costs while removing Garrote's behind-target requirement. Pick the opener for the fight: immediate damage, a bleed that will last, or control that lets your team act.

Ghostly Strike adds a short dodge buff and has a higher damage coefficient with a main-hand dagger. Setup can turn dodges or fully resisted spells into combo points. These support fighting an opponent who is pressuring you, but do not make every defensive point equally useful against a boss attacking the tank. Quietus improves only Sinister Strike, Ghostly Strike and Hemorrhage against targets below 35% health; it is not a blanket execute bonus to Ambush, Backstab or all of your bleeds.

Stealth investment versus sustained damage

Camouflage improves stealth movement and cooldown, Master of Deception reduces detection, and Improved Distract further lowers distracted enemies' detection while increasing Distract's radius. These are practical tools for getting into position, bypassing danger and choosing the first exchange. Heightened Senses helps you find opposing stealth players and reduces your chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks. They are most useful when scouting, bypassing enemies or contesting stealth openers.

Preparation resets your other Rogue ability cooldowns, while Elusiveness shortens Vanish and Blind cooldowns and Dirty Tricks reduces the energy cost of Sap and Blind. Plan a reset before you are nearly dead. Bleeds and damage over time favor sustained pressure, while a clean control sequence often needs damage to stop. Leave Rupture off a target you plan to Gouge or Blind; its next tick will break the control.

Rogue talent trees

Hover, focus or tap a talent to read its effects. Each badge shows the talent's maximum rank; this is the full tree, not a suggested build.

Assassination

 17 talents
3 2 5 3 2 3 1 2 5 5 1 5 2 1 2 5 1

Combat

 17 talents
3 2 5 3 3 3 2 1 2 2 1 5 1 5 2 3 1

Subtlety

 19 talents
5 3 2 3 2 2 3 3 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 5 5 1

Spend your 51 points, try different paths and share your build in the talent calculator.

Build your talents
Read all talent descriptions

Assassination

Improved Gouge Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the duration of your Gouge ability by 0.5 sec.

Passive

Remorseless Attacks Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
After killing a non-trivial enemy, gives you a 20% increased critical strike chance on your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, Mutilate, or Ghostly Strike. Lasts 20 sec.

Passive

Malice Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases your critical strike chance with all attacks and Poisons by 1%.

Passive

Ruthlessness Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Gives your finishing moves a 20% chance to add a combo point to your target.

Rank 2
Gives your finishing moves a 40% chance to add a combo point to your target.

Rank 3
Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.

Passive

Murder Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Increases all damage dealt by 2% against Humanoid and Giant targets.

Passive

Improved Slice and Dice Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the duration of your Slice and Dice ability by 15%.

Rank 2
Increases the duration of your Slice and Dice ability by 30%.

Rank 3
Increases the duration of your Slice and Dice ability by 45%.

Passive

Relentless Strikes Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.

Passive

Improved Expose Armor Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the Energy cost of your Expose Armor ability by 5, and refunds 1 Combo Point when cast with 5 Combo Points.

Rank 2
Reduces the Energy cost of your Expose Armor ability by 10, and refunds 2 Combo Points when cast with 5 Combo Points.

Passive

Lethality Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge, Backstab, Mutilate, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage abilities by 6%.

Passive

Vile Poisons Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 4% and gives your poisons an additional 8% chance to resist dispel effects.

Rank 2
Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 8% and gives your poisons an additional 16% chance to resist dispel effects.

Rank 3
Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 12% and gives your poisons an additional 24% chance to resist dispel effects.

Rank 4
Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 16% and gives your poisons an additional 32% chance to resist dispel effects.

Rank 5
Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 20% and gives your poisons an additional 40% chance to resist dispel effects.

Passive

Cold Blood Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, Eviscerate, or Mutilate by 100%.

Instant; 3 min cooldown

Improved Poisons Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases the chance to apply Poisons to your target by 2%, and gives Poison applications a 10% chance to not consume a charge.

Passive

Vigor Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Increases your maximum Energy by 5.

Passive

Mutilate Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Instantly attacks with both weapons for 75% weapon damage plus an additional 13 with each weapon. Damage increased by 20% against Poisoned targets. Awards 2 Combo Points.

60 Energy; Melee Range; Instant

Improved Kidney Shot Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Enemies Stunned by your Kidney Shot ability take 5% increased damage from your poisons and attacks.

Passive

Seal Fate Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 20% chance to add an additional combo point.

Rank 2
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 40% chance to add an additional combo point.

Rank 3
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 60% chance to add an additional combo point.

Rank 4
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 80% chance to add an additional combo point.

Rank 5
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 100% chance to add an additional combo point.

Passive

Venom Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Finishing move that increases the damage of your Poisons by 30% and your chance to apply Poisons by 10%. Lasts longer per combo point: 1 point: 9 seconds 2 points: 12 seconds 3 points: 15 seconds 4 points: 18 seconds 5 points: 21 seconds

25 Energy; 1 to 5 Combo Points; Instant

Combat

Improved Eviscerate Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 7%.

Passive

Improved Sinister Strike Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 3.

Rank 2
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 5.

Passive

Lightning Reflexes Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases your Dodge chance by 1%.

Rank 2
Increases your Dodge chance by 2%.

Rank 3
Increases your Dodge chance by 3%.

Rank 4
Increases your Dodge chance by 4%.

Rank 5
Increases your Dodge chance by 5%.

Passive

Puncturing Wounds Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the critical strike chance of your Backstab by 10% and your Mutilate by 5%, and gives Backstab a 15% chance to add an additional Combo Point.

Passive

Deflection Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases your Parry chance by 2%.

Passive

Precision Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases your chance to hit with all attacks and Poisons by 1%.

Passive

Endurance Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion abilities by 30%.

Passive

Riposte Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent's attack. This attack deals 150% weapon damage and disarms the target for 6 sec.

10 Energy; Melee Range; Instant; 6 sec cooldown

Improved Sprint Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Gives a 50% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when you activate your Sprint ability.

Rank 2
Gives a 100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects when you activate your Sprint ability.

Passive

Improved Kick Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Gives your Kick ability a 50% chance to silence the target for 2 sec.

Rank 2
Gives your Kick ability a 100% chance to silence the target for 2 sec.

Passive

Restless Blades Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Your damaging finishing moves reduce the remaining cooldown of your Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry, Evasion, Sprint, and Vanish abilities by 2 sec per combo point.

Passive

Dual Wield Specialization Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Increases the damage done by your off-hand weapon by 5%.

Rank 5
Increases the damage done by your off-hand weapon by 25%.

Passive

Blade Flurry Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Increases your melee attack speed by 20% and your melee attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15 sec.

25 Energy; Instant; 2 min cooldown

Hack and Slash Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Gives your melee weapon attacks a benefit depending on the weapon: Axe/Sword: Your successful melee attacks have a 1% chance to trigger an extra attack on the target. Dagger/Fist: Increases your critical strike chance by 1%. Mace: Your attacks ignore 3% of your target's armor.

Rank 5
Gives your melee weapon attacks a benefit depending on the weapon. Axe/Sword: Your successful melee attacks have a 5% chance to trigger an extra attack on the target. Dagger/Fist: Increases your critical strike chance by 5%. Mace: Your attacks ignore 15% of your target's armor.

Passive

Weapon Expertise Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the chance for your attacks to be Dodged or Parried by 1%.

Passive

Aggression Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the damage of your Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate abilities by 2%.

Passive

Adrenaline Rush Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 sec.

Instant; 5 min cooldown

Subtlety

Camouflage Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Reduces your speed penalty from your Stealth ability by 3% and reduces its cooldown by 2 sec.

Passive

Master of Deception Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while in Stealth mode as if you were 1 level higher.

Passive

Opportunity Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Increases the damage dealt by your Backstab, Garrote, Ambush, and Mutilate abilities by 5%.

Passive

Setup Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Gives you a 33% chance to add a Combo Point to your target after Dodging an attack or fully resisting a spell.

Passive

Elusiveness Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the cooldown of your Vanish and Blind abilities by 45 sec.

Rank 2
Reduces the cooldown of your Vanish and Blind abilities by 1.5 min.

Passive

Dirty Tricks Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the Energy cost of your Sap and Blind abilities by 25%.

Passive

Improved Ambush Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 15%.

Rank 2
Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 30%.

Rank 3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 45%.

Passive

Initiative Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Gives you a 33% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.

Passive

Ghostly Strike Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
A strike that deals 125% (180% if a Dagger is equipped in your Main Hand) weapon damage and increases your chance to dodge by 15% for 7 sec. Awards 1 combo point.

40 Energy; Melee Range; Instant; 20 sec cooldown

Improved Distract Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Increases the radius of your Distract ability by 3 yds, and further reduces the Stealth detection of distracted enemies as though they were an additional 1 level lower.

Passive

Heightened Senses Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Increases your Stealth detection as if you were 1 level higher and reduces your chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 2%.

Rank 2
Increases your Stealth detection as if you were 3 levels higher and reduces your chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 4%.

Passive

Premeditation Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
Adds 2 Combo Points to your target. You must add to or use those combo points within 20 sec or the combo points are lost.

20 yd range; Instant; 2 min cooldown

Serrated Blades Maximum rank 3

Rank 1
Causes your attacks to ignore 3% of your target's Armor and increases the damage dealt by your Rupture ability by 10%.

Rank 3
Causes your attacks to ignore 9% of your target's Armor and increases the damage dealt by your Rupture ability by 30%.

Passive

Dirty Deeds Maximum rank 2

Rank 1
Reduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot and Garrote abilities by 10, and your Garrote ability no longer requires you to be behind your target.

Passive

Preparation Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your other Rogue abilities.

Instant; 10 min cooldown

Hemorrhage Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
An instant strike that deals 100% weapon damage (145% if a Dagger is equipped) and causes the target to take 15% increased Rupture damage from the Rogue. Lasts 15 sec. Awards 1 Combo Point.

35 Energy; Melee Range; Instant

Quietus Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Your Sinister Strike, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage abilities cause 2% more damage against targets below 35% health.

Passive

Cutthroat Maximum rank 5

Rank 1
Your Backstab has a 3% chance to cause your next Ambush within 10 sec to not require Stealth.

Passive

Thousand Cuts Maximum rank 1

Rank 1
When your Rupture ability deals periodic damage, the Energy cost of your next Hemorrhage or Backstab ability within 10 sec is reduced by 3, stacking up to 5 times.

Passive

Gear for weapon damage and poisons

Combined hit and crit let the same gear support weapon attacks and poisons, rather than requiring separate melee and spell bonuses. Precision explicitly covers attacks and poisons, and Malice explicitly covers both for crit. A reliable weapon sequence with poor poison support is less attractive to Assassination than simply counting the white hits suggests. Shared stats still do not mean every attack has an identical hit requirement.

DoTs can crit, giving poison DoTs, Rupture and Garrote more reason to care about crit. For Assassination, that broadens the damage supported by a crit item during Venom uptime. For Subtlety, crit improves the Rupture you already maintain for Hemorrhage and Thousand Cuts. It does not remove the need for a target that will live through the bleed; a direct finisher can still be the useful spend on a dying add. That does not make a poison crit trigger Seal Fate: the talent requires a critical strike from an ability that adds combo points. Likewise, Thousand Cuts triggers on Rupture periodic damage, not only on a critical tick. More crit is not a faster Thousand Cuts stacking schedule. Armor penetration and mace armor ignore help armor-affected strikes, not poison damage or bleeds. How much of your damage comes from each source matters when comparing those bonuses with shared hit and crit.

Weapon skill remains, but smaller amounts on individual items make the full item comparison more important. Combat's new Weapon Expertise reduces avoidance rather than supplying skill; check both weapons and any skill item's supported families after a swap. Mutilate uses both weapons directly, while Combat's Hack and Slash changes the benefit attached to each family. New caster weapons and healing gear with bonus damage are not automatic poison gear: shared hit and crit do not establish that poisons scale with SP. Keep weapon damage, useful offensive stats and the exact effect text ahead of a weapon's novelty.

Racial burst, control and escape choices

Human gets a stun removal and Perception for finding stealth opponents, with ability and spell crit while wielding a sword. Orc combines Blood Fury's AP increase with shorter stuns, Shatter Curse and an axe-based crit bonus. Neither weapon racial is the old weapon-skill shortcut. Weapon quality and your builder choice still come first. Dwarf offers Stoneform against bleeds, poison and disease plus physical damage reduction, useful when those effects prevent a safe disengage.

Night Elf's Elune's Light supplies a timed crit window, which supports burst and eligible builder-crit interactions, while Quickness adds dodge and movement. Gnome gains brief root/snare immunity, a next-three-abilities boost through Eureka!, and increased energy capacity. More capacity helps pooling but is not more regeneration. Troll's Berserking increases attack speed, with Rapid Regeneration providing recovery between dangerous exchanges.

Undead can remove fear, charm and sleep but does not remain immune afterward; time the break to interrupt, move or counter-control before another effect lands. Cannibalize restores health, while its mana component does nothing for your energy bar. Skyborne offers passive haste and 5% increased damage against Elemental creatures, with Windshaper movement or High Order recovery utility. Elemental Insight depends on the enemy's creature type, not your attack's damage school. For PvP, pick the escape or counter-control you value most; for PvE, match burst windows and weapon bonuses to how you actually play.

Interrupts, armor reduction and control

A smaller raid has fewer spare players to cover an interrupt, recover a bad pull or maintain an armor debuff. Agree on your Kick assignment and armor-reduction duties before the fight. Improved Expose Armor makes that finisher cheaper rather than advertising a larger armor reduction, and Hemorrhage now supports your own Rupture instead of everyone's physical attacks. Agree which armor debuff the group will use rather than competing to overwrite it.

In dungeons, Combat's controlled cleave, Assassination's focused poison pressure and Subtlety's opener and reset tools solve different pulls. Keep damage away from controlled enemies, identify the caster that needs stopping, and let the tank establish threat before committing burst. Restless Blades can return Vanish sooner; track its remaining cooldown before relying on another threat reset.

For solo play, Remorseless Attacks rewards moving from a meaningful kill into the next opener, while defensive talents and racials help reduce recovery time. Against players, decide whether the next exchange is about a kill, forcing a cooldown or escaping. A damage-over-time setup is excellent for continued pressure and poor preparation for leaving that same target under breakable control. Use a shorter finisher when it secures the kill or control window before the target gets away.

Removed Classic Rogue talents

These Classic talents are no longer selectable in the Forever trees. Descriptions show their original Rank 1 effects; some abilities or effects survive as baseline skills or in other talents.

Combat

Dagger Specialization Rank 1 / Maximum rank 5

Increases your chance to get a critical strike with Daggers by 1%.

The separate specialization is removed; Hack and Slash now supplies the dagger critical-strike benefit.

Mace Specialization Rank 1 / Maximum rank 5

Increases your skill with Maces by 1, and gives you a 1% chance to stun your target for 3 sec with a mace.

Weapon specializations are consolidated into Hack and Slash, whose mace effect is armor penetration rather than Classic mace skill and stuns.

Sword Specialization Rank 1 / Maximum rank 5

Gives you a 1% chance to get an extra attack on the same target after dealing damage with your Sword.

The separate specialization is removed; Hack and Slash now supplies the sword extra-attack benefit and also covers axes.

Fist Weapon Specialization Rank 1 / Maximum rank 5

Increases your chance to get a critical strike with Fist Weapons by 1%.

The separate specialization is removed; Hack and Slash now supplies the fist-weapon critical-strike benefit.

Subtlety

Sleight of Hand Rank 1 / Maximum rank 2

Reduces the chance you are critically hit by melee and ranged attacks by 1% and increases the threat reduction of your Feint ability by 10%.

Improved Sap Rank 1 / Maximum rank 3

Gives you a 30% chance to return to stealth mode after using your Sap ability.

Sap no longer breaks Stealth in Forever, so this stealth-preservation talent is no longer needed.

Deadliness Rank 1 / Maximum rank 5

Increases your Attack Power by 2%.

Rogue questions

Is Venom the same as Envenom in WoW Forever?

No. Venom is a timed buff to poison damage and application chance, with duration based on combo points. It is not a direct-damage strike and does not list poison-stack consumption. Plan it as maintenance for sustained contact, balancing its duration against Slice and Dice, direct finishers and the target's remaining life.

Does Slice and Dice trigger Restless Blades?

No. Restless Blades requires damaging finishing moves, while Slice and Dice is an attack-speed buff. You still want useful maintenance uptime, then damaging finishers to recover Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry, Evasion, Sprint and Vanish. Ignoring the buff just to shorten cooldowns sacrifices the attacks that help your overall cycle work.

Does Hemorrhage still buff the raid's physical damage?

Forever Hemorrhage increases your own Rupture damage rather than applying Classic's charged bonus to physical damage against the target. Its group value therefore changes. Subtlety gains a sustained personal bleed interaction through Hemorrhage and Thousand Cuts, while interrupts, control and coordinated armor reduction remain important ways to support the group.

Should a poison Rogue equip spell-power weapons?

Not just because poisons benefit from shared hit and crit. Those changes do not establish SP scaling for poisons. Compare the actual weapon damage, offensive stats and effects relevant to your attacks. Mutilate uses both weapons directly, so replacing one with a weak melee weapon can sacrifice meaningful damage even if it has attractive casting stats.