Outlaw Rogue PvP Talents and Builds — The War Within (11.0.5)

There is one viable talent build as Outlaw. It is very similar to the best competitive build in The War Within Season 1. It focuses on CC and single-target damage.

This build focuses on high, consistent damage with short burst windows. It features multiple ways to use Ambush, which deals more damage than Sinister Strike, as well as several talents that aim at increasing the damage of finishing moves.

Audacity and Hidden Opportunity are the talents that make Ambush the Combo Point builder to use over Sinister Strike whenever possible. Alongside Improved Ambush it is a great way to deal decent damage while generating many Combo Points. Fan the Hammer works great with Audacity for additional Ambush procs. The talent Subterfuge and provides 6s during which you can use your stealth abilities, including Ambush, when you leave Stealth. This activates at the start of the game, but also everytime you use Vanish (which you have two charges of thanks to Without a Trace).

Deeper Stratagem and Devious Stratagem increase the damage of all finishing moves. The new talent, Crackshot, allows Between the Eyes to also cast Dispatch and have no cooldown when used from Stealth or from Subterfuge. Improved Between the Eyes increases the critical strike damage done by Between the Eyes. The combination of all these talents make Between the Eyes is a powerful finishing move.

Fatebound has amazing synergy with Outlaw. The main effect of the tree, Hand of Fate, is triggered whenever a finisher is used with 5 or more Combo Points. Outlaw currenty has very high Combo Point generation, and uses a lot of finishers quickly so Hand of Fate has a lot of value. Beyond that Destiny Defined and Deal Fate both increase the chance for Sinister Strike (and Ambush) to strike an additional time, and allow them to generate extra combo points when they do so. The remaining talents are simply empowering the effects of Hand of Fate even further.

You can choose three of the following PvP talents; each has uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful but can be replaced with other PvP talents depending on your team's goal.

Enduring Brawler is a mighty talent. It gives you a lot more damage by increasing the chance for Sinister Strike to hit an additional time by up to 15%. That means you will have a 50% chance for Sinister Strike to hit an additional time, dealing twice the damage, giving you two Combo Points instead of one, and giving you an Opportunity proc. This, in turn, will allow your next Pistol Shot to deal double damage at half cost.

Dismantle is a strong PvP talent that allows you to disarm an enemy for 6 seconds every 45 seconds. Disarming an enemy can delay their next kill attempt or stop it entirely if they have pulled the trigger. It is a great pick against Warrior, Rogue, and Marksmanship Hunter. It is also helpful against other Hunter specs. However, they can still use many threatening abilities while disarmed, and the same goes for Retribution Paladin and Death Knight. One thing to note is that you can use Dismantle offensively against Death Knight and Warrior, as being disarmed prevents the use of Death Strike and Die by the Sword.

Smoke Bomb creates a smoke cloud around you. Enemy players who are outside the cloud will not be able to target anyone inside it. This talent is strong for multiple reasons. Firstly, it can help you land a kill by stunning a target when they have no trinket. By using Smoke Bomb right after a stun, you will prevent the healer from saving their teammate. Secondly, you can use it defensively to save yourself or an ally from a lethal cast about to go off, such as Greater Pyroblast. And lastly, you can use it to prevent incoming crowd control on you or your team if such crowd control would result in you losing a game, such as a Polymorph or Repentance on your healer when they have no trinket, and you are low on health.

Veil of Midnight has become a decent defensive option in some specific scenarios since it was recently nerfed. It allows Cloak of Shadows to cleanse physical debuffs on top of magic ones. It is very useful against Feral Druid, Assassination Rogue, or even Arms Warrior.

Control is King is a talent that will make your opener, and your goes with Kidney Shot a bit more bursty. This would be a decent option when playing double DPS comps, but that is not the strong point of Outlaw at the moment.

Take Your Cut can be a good pick if your DPS teammate gains a lot of damage with Haste. It is a good pick if you play with a Fire Mage for instance.

You will always pick Enduring Brawler. The second and third slots will be Dismantle if you are against melee DPS that relies on a weapon and Smoke Bomb if your comp has enough burst damage to justify the use of this ability. In other scenarios, you may pick any other optional talent as long as it fits your needs.