Boom
10-18-2005, 08:29 PM
I think you would enjoy being a combat rogue, like Aasimon and Grundy. I think it would be less fun for you to be an ambush rogue like me. But its your decision and I will help you either way. I will list the pros and cons of each type here so you can decide. Once you make your decision, let me know and I'll tell you what order to get the talents so you can have the Aasimon/Grundy spec, or my spec.
Damage - Both specs do great damage. Ambush rogues have more burst damage, combat rogues have better sustained damage. I start my fights with Ambush, which crits over 60% of the time for me, and gives me HUGE yellow numbers. Combat rogues start the fight with Cheap Shot (a stun) instead of Ambush and then Sin Strike with big fat swords or maces for great damage.
Buttons - If you go combat spec, you can take Ambush and Backstab buttons off your quickybar (yay) but you have to add buttons for Riposte, Blade Furry, and Adrenaline Rush (oh noes). But its not as bad as it sounds. I can give you a Riposte/Sinstrike macro. It's just one button and it spams Sin Strike, but does Riposte when its up. Riposte is a talent, when you parry a mob you can hit Riposte and it does extra damage and disarms the mob for a few seconds. When a mob is disarmed, its slapping you with its bare hands for joke damage. Riposte is pretty awesome. With the macro, if you just parried, it will Riposte, otherwise it will Sin Strike, so you don't even have to have a separate Riposte button. Blade Flurry and Adrenaline have longer timers, (2 min for Blade Flurry and 6 min for Adrenaline). So you don't have to use them every single fight. Just whenever the timer ends, and the buttons light up, hit them and you do more damage for 15 seconds. Blade Flurry makes you attack faster and hits extra targets, so don't use around sheep. Adrenaline makes your energy regen really fast for 15 seconds, so instead of sin strike, wait for energy, sin strike, wait for energy... you can spam crazy sin strikes one right after the other. If you forget to use blade flurry and adrenaline you are really gimping your damage, but its not that hard to remember. Just when those buttons are lit up, hit em.
Positioning - This is a huge reason to go combat. Every skill you will use can be done from any position. You have to be stealthed to cheap shot, but you don't have to sneak behind the mob. For ambush you have to be stealthed AND behind the mob. It's not that bad, but it does take an extra few seconds and its another thing to worry about. Backstab is really hard to use when you solo because once you start the fight the mob is always facing you. You can gouge and run behind him, but its a pain. It's easier in a group, when Harmtank has agroo I can just run behind the mob and backstab away, but its still easier to just run up to the mob from any angle and spam SinStrike.
Mainhand Weapons - Another reason to go combat. Any slow, hard hitting sword or mace will do fine for combat spec. If you go Ambush spec you need a slow hard hitting dagger, and most daggers are fast and don't hit very hard. If you want to backstab, you pretty much you need to get a Toxic Revenger now, then upgrade to a Widowmaker at 42, then get a Barman Shanker at 50ish, otherwise you just won't be ambush/backstabbing all that hard. For combat spec there are tons of good weapons at all levels and some are pretty easy to get. Phantom Blade is craftable, Looming Gavel is cheap on the AH, Thrash Blade is from a quest, Bonesnapper is pretty cheap on the AH....
Weapon switching - If you are combat spec, you don't have to worry about weapon switching. You have your heavy hitting mace/sword in your mainhand and a fast, high dps, weapon (probably a dagger) in your offhand. If you are Ambush spec like me you need to use a weapon switching macro. Sometimes I have to use sin strike (if I'm soloing, once I ambush the mob is facing me so I can't backstab, so I have to sin strike). Sin striking with a dagger is usually crappy damage. Even the slowest, hardest hitting dagger is wimpy compared to a good sword or mace. So I Ambush with my Widowmaker, then my addon thingy switches out my Widowmaker dagger for my Thrash Blade sword (in my inventory) so I can Sin strike with it. If I gouge the mob and want to backstab him, my addon thingy switches the weapons back. So I always have to have 3 weapons poisoned, my mainhand backstabby dagger, my mainhand sin strikey sword (in my inventory for switching), and my offhand weapon. Combat rogues don't have to worry about any of that.
Other StuffsThere must be other stuffs huh? If I think of other stuffs I will post em. I guess that covers the basics though.
Damage - Both specs do great damage. Ambush rogues have more burst damage, combat rogues have better sustained damage. I start my fights with Ambush, which crits over 60% of the time for me, and gives me HUGE yellow numbers. Combat rogues start the fight with Cheap Shot (a stun) instead of Ambush and then Sin Strike with big fat swords or maces for great damage.
Buttons - If you go combat spec, you can take Ambush and Backstab buttons off your quickybar (yay) but you have to add buttons for Riposte, Blade Furry, and Adrenaline Rush (oh noes). But its not as bad as it sounds. I can give you a Riposte/Sinstrike macro. It's just one button and it spams Sin Strike, but does Riposte when its up. Riposte is a talent, when you parry a mob you can hit Riposte and it does extra damage and disarms the mob for a few seconds. When a mob is disarmed, its slapping you with its bare hands for joke damage. Riposte is pretty awesome. With the macro, if you just parried, it will Riposte, otherwise it will Sin Strike, so you don't even have to have a separate Riposte button. Blade Flurry and Adrenaline have longer timers, (2 min for Blade Flurry and 6 min for Adrenaline). So you don't have to use them every single fight. Just whenever the timer ends, and the buttons light up, hit them and you do more damage for 15 seconds. Blade Flurry makes you attack faster and hits extra targets, so don't use around sheep. Adrenaline makes your energy regen really fast for 15 seconds, so instead of sin strike, wait for energy, sin strike, wait for energy... you can spam crazy sin strikes one right after the other. If you forget to use blade flurry and adrenaline you are really gimping your damage, but its not that hard to remember. Just when those buttons are lit up, hit em.
Positioning - This is a huge reason to go combat. Every skill you will use can be done from any position. You have to be stealthed to cheap shot, but you don't have to sneak behind the mob. For ambush you have to be stealthed AND behind the mob. It's not that bad, but it does take an extra few seconds and its another thing to worry about. Backstab is really hard to use when you solo because once you start the fight the mob is always facing you. You can gouge and run behind him, but its a pain. It's easier in a group, when Harmtank has agroo I can just run behind the mob and backstab away, but its still easier to just run up to the mob from any angle and spam SinStrike.
Mainhand Weapons - Another reason to go combat. Any slow, hard hitting sword or mace will do fine for combat spec. If you go Ambush spec you need a slow hard hitting dagger, and most daggers are fast and don't hit very hard. If you want to backstab, you pretty much you need to get a Toxic Revenger now, then upgrade to a Widowmaker at 42, then get a Barman Shanker at 50ish, otherwise you just won't be ambush/backstabbing all that hard. For combat spec there are tons of good weapons at all levels and some are pretty easy to get. Phantom Blade is craftable, Looming Gavel is cheap on the AH, Thrash Blade is from a quest, Bonesnapper is pretty cheap on the AH....
Weapon switching - If you are combat spec, you don't have to worry about weapon switching. You have your heavy hitting mace/sword in your mainhand and a fast, high dps, weapon (probably a dagger) in your offhand. If you are Ambush spec like me you need to use a weapon switching macro. Sometimes I have to use sin strike (if I'm soloing, once I ambush the mob is facing me so I can't backstab, so I have to sin strike). Sin striking with a dagger is usually crappy damage. Even the slowest, hardest hitting dagger is wimpy compared to a good sword or mace. So I Ambush with my Widowmaker, then my addon thingy switches out my Widowmaker dagger for my Thrash Blade sword (in my inventory) so I can Sin strike with it. If I gouge the mob and want to backstab him, my addon thingy switches the weapons back. So I always have to have 3 weapons poisoned, my mainhand backstabby dagger, my mainhand sin strikey sword (in my inventory for switching), and my offhand weapon. Combat rogues don't have to worry about any of that.
Other StuffsThere must be other stuffs huh? If I think of other stuffs I will post em. I guess that covers the basics though.