Subtlety Rogue DPS Mythic+ Tips — The War Within (Season 1)

This is the Trickster build for Subtlety, that offers strong single-target and priority target damage, while helping with Subtlety's desperately bad low target cleave.

There isn't a whole lot of flexibility in your talent choices, but these are the choices you can make:

• You can opt out of any of the talents that are not required to path through in order to pick up Stillshroud for any keys where Shroud is used. Wiping and not being able to return to the boss or trash pack you wiped on is usually a depleted key, but with a reduced cooldown Shroud might be back up again to keep going.
• You can swap Airborne Irritant for Gouge if there is a desperate need for additional stops on a low cooldown, but it's usually not worth it because an AoE stop will almost always be better outside of niche situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This is the Deathstalker build for Subtlety, that offers strong single-target and priority target damage, while also boosting the damage of your AoE abilities. It is noticeably worse than Trickster for Subtlety.

Make sure to keep track of your Darkest Night buff so you do not have to cast Shadow Strike on every pack to benefit from your Deathstalker's Mark.

There isn't a whole lot of flexibility in your talent choices, but these are the choices you can make:

• You can opt out of any of the talents that are not required to path through in order to pick up Stillshroud for any keys where Shroud is used. Wiping and not being able to return to the boss or trash pack you wiped on is usually a depleted key, but with a reduced cooldown Shroud might be back up again to keep going.
• You can swap Airborne Irritant for Gouge if there is a desperate need for additional stops on a low cooldown, but it's usually not worth it because an AoE stop will almost always be better outside of niche situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Kick is your, well, "kick". You will interrupt your targeted enemy, or, when using a Focus-Macro, the target you set up as your focus.

• /stopcasting
• /stopcasting
• /cast [@focus,exists,nodead] [] Kick

This macro will kick your focus target if you have one, and your target if you have no focus target. We recommend keeping both the macro and a regular kick cast on your bars, as you may have multiple targets to interrupt, and the macro always prioritizes the focus target.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro, or setting the "Focus Target" hotkey in the game's keybinding settings.

• /focus [@mouseover]

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly, so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown, or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Sap and Blind can be useful to hard-crowd control multiple mobs in a single trash pack. You can also use it right before the tank is pulling, as Blackjack applies a damage reduction debuff to the target when Sap breaks.

Vanish can be used to Garrote enemies, silencing them thanks to Iron Wire. This is also a DPS increase, due to Improved Garrote, so clever planning of your CDs will be rewarded with higher DPS. If you are unsure about your usage of Vanish, err on the side of caution and use it for the silence first and foremost, not for DPS.

With Airborne Irritant talented, Blind turns into a powerful AoE disrupt that also drastically reduces tank damage taken.

Gouge (if talented) can be used to disrupt enemies from casting otherwise uninterruptible spells. This requires you to stand in front of the enemy, but can be used in many situations to keep enemies from using some of their most lethal abilities. Many of these abilities go on cooldown once used, so disrupting them with Gouge, Kidney Shot, or Blind will keep these mobs from re-casting these abilities for a while.

Vanish can be also used to Cheap Shot an enemy that can only be stopped, not interrupted, but this is an absolute last resort play.

Shroud of Concealment projects AoE Stealth around you. It is important to note, however, that in the current expansion, there is a much greater number of enemies who can detect through Stealth or Invisibility, whom you will need to be on the lookout for. Subtlety also has the talent

Subtlety Rogues also have the talent Shrouded in Darkness, this allows you to use shroud as a massive speed boost to your team even when you are not trying to sneak past mobs. This is especially powerful in indoor dungeons with long sections of running where you cannot mount.

Distract helps set up Shroud-skips and keeps patrolling trash packs in place for 10 seconds. Make sure to force enemies to look away from you, to allow you to stealth past them.

Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Evasion, Crimson Vial and Cheat Death form a very powerful set of defensive cooldowns and are one of the biggest reasons for Rogue's strength in Mythic+.

Tricks of the Trade is not exceptionally great normally. However, any kind of support that helps your tank keep aggro on all enemies is encouraged. Sadly it is a choice-node with Blackjack.

Shiv can be used to dispel Enrage effects. Keep in mind that this means you will not be able to use Shiv for DPS.

Numbing Poison and Atrophic Poison are both useful in Mythic+, but with the heavier emphasis on trash mobs, Numbing Poison is likely to win out on Fortified, with Atrophic gaining more value on Tyrannical weeks. Communicate with your tank and healer which ones are preferable.

• Be prepared to Feint Alerting Shrill.
• Gossamer Onslaught on the other hand ignores Feint unless you've talented into Elusiveness.

• Using Cloak of Shadows will completely remove Infestation and will not leave the lingering dot on the ground.
• If your Cloak of Shadows is on cooldown, be prepared to Feint Infestation if its cast on you, it works even without Elusiveness.
• When Bloodstained Webmage spawns, be sure to focus it down quickly and kick it if necessary.

• Cloak of Shadows prevents any damage from Cosmic Singularity.
• If your Cloak of Shadows is on cooldown you can use Shadowstep on an ally once the cast of Cosmic Singularity has less than a second left to avoid the oneshot.
• Be sure to remain spread out in melee for when Cultivated Poisons gets cast. Feint will reduce the damage you take from the spell even without Elusiveness.

• The application of the Venomous Spit dot from the spiders at the start can be dodged with Evasion if you use it before its applied to you.

• Be sure to coordinate with the tank on which direction and where he will be moving the boss throughout the encounter so you can pre-plan your movement.
• The damage from Shadows of Doubt is not reduced by Feint unless you've specced into Elusiveness.
• Be prepared to Feint whenever he casts Vociferous Indoctrination.

• Be prepared to use Feint on casts of Duskbringer.
• Using Evasion will prevent you from taking any damage and the dot from Knife Throw. However once you have the dot on you you need Elusiveness if you want to reduce the damage it does.

• You can use Cloak of Shadows to immune to healing debuff you get from soaking orbs, its recommended to do this on the set of orbs before Dark Pulse.
• Be prepared to use feint on Dark Pulse.

• Feint does not reduce the damage of Splice without Elusiveness, but you can use Cloak of Shadows to remove the dot completely.
• Be prepared to use Feint for Tremor Slam.
• Generally you want to time you Shadow Dance + Symbols of Death so that you have one up for the roots spawned by Umbral Weave.

• As a rogue you can interact with the projectors at the start of the dungeon to give your team a big damage buff in Stolen Power.
• After Nx and Vx its recommended to make sure you have Crippling Poison on your weapons so your tank can kite if needed as the mobs there have very hard hitting melee abilities. (Remember to swap back to Atrophic Poison or Numbing Poison after this section!)
• The Ravenous Swarm dots are both fully reduced by Feint.

• The boss goes immune once she reaches 50% health, so do not use your big cooldowns right before this.

• Always be conscious of positioning on this boss as if you were about to get targeted by Dark Orb. If you know the orb will impact a wall too soon, be sure to use a defensive.
• Be prepared to use a Feint or Cloak of Shadows during Shadowy Decay.
• If you are targeted by Animated Shadows you can Vanish during the cast and there will be no add spawned.
• If the boss is tanked somewhere close to the webbed cocoons you can use Shuriken Storm to generate some extra combo points from them.

• Be prepared to use Feint for casts of Erosive Spray or use Cloak of Shadows to immune it.
• The boss will start to fly away after you've successfully tossed 6 barrels onto him, make sure you do not use your big cooldowns right as he is gonna fly away.
• You can use Cloak of Shadows to negate the stun from Rolling Acid if you are in the middle of your cooldowns.

• Abyssal Blast cannot be mitigated using regular Feint, you need Elusiveness for that.

• Be prepared to use Feint for Commanding Roar.
• If you have the circle on you to indicate that you are targeted for a Rock Spike then you can use Vanish and it will be completely negated.

• Be prepared to use a Feint for Forge Axe, Forge Swords, or Forge Mace.
• Do not stand in front of the tank during Fiery Cleave.
• You can remove the dot and prevent the spawn of lava if you use Cloak of Shadows on the Molten Spark debuff.

• Be careful of using Shadowstep after the knockback so you don't land in any tornadoes or on top of an add that's fixated on you.

• You can use Cloak of Shadows to completely remove the Abyssal Corruption debuff.
• Be prepared to use Feint for Void Surge, as well as during Abyssal Corruption if your Cloak of Shadows is not ready.

• You can use Cloak of Shadows to prevent the knockback and damage from the Umbral Wind cast the dragons across the dungeon does.
• The movement speed from Shrouded in Darkness can save a lot of time running in this dungeon, especially after you've killed the first or the second boss.

• Coordinate with your group to not waste kicks on Spirit Bolt.
• Be aware of Droman's health getting to 20% to phase into Droman's Wrath. You want to balance the group's damage so that you get to that phase at a good pace and have good damage during that phase. For Subtlety that means you ideally want 2 charges of Symbols of Death, at least 1½ charge of Shadow Dance and both Flagellation and Shadow Blades ready to do as much damage as possible. You still need to use your small cooldowns in-between the big bursts though otherwise the fight will drag on for too long. Key level and group item level play a huge role in this, and if you can master timings, you can save a lot of time.
• You can use Cloak of Shadows to immune the fear from Repulsive Visage, but it only works if you use it when the boss cast has less than 1 second left of his cast.

• Use Shuriken Storm generate extra combo points of the Illusionary Vulpin spawn, its also a good idea to use Crippling Poison here if your group does not already have slows or CCs for it.
• You can use Cloak of Shadows to soak the Illusionary Vulpin, but beware that other nearby melees will still be frozen if they're too close so do it outside of melee.
• Be prepared to use a defensive during Guessing Game as the damage ramps up the longer you are in that phase.
• Line up Dodge Ball during the intermission as these can damage the Illusionary Clone adds.

• Try to time your smaller Shadow Dance windows with either the add spawn or on the shield the boss gets at 70 and 40%.
• Ideally you want all of your group (or at least all melee + the tank) to be stacked and to be moving in the same direction everytime the boss casts Acid Expulsion as this will make it a lot less messy and way easier to handle the boss.

• You can use either of Cloak of Shadows or Vanish to negate the Overgrowth stun from the trees at the start of the dungeon once they've started channelling on you.
• Be sure to grab your Savory Statshroom before the first boss!
• Typically, you can use your cooldowns on the pull before the first boss and they should be back up for the bosses first damage amp.
• During the maze there's typically no good uses for Cloak of Shadows so its fine to use it during your Flagellation to keep hitting the mobs when they're stuck in a blue Mist Ward pool or during the frogs Poisonous Secretions.

• Heaving Retch is considered a melee attack and thus can be dodge with Evasion. It also does nature damage so you'd expect Cloak of Shadows to immune it, which it does, but only if you use it when the cast has less than a second left. If you use your cloak earlier it will not work.
• Applying crippling poison for this boss could be a good idea to slow the Carrion Worm that spawn from Heaving Retch if your group does not have any other slows.

• Coordinate interrupts of Necrotic Bolt from the boss and especially Frostbolt Volley from the Reanimated Mage.
• Try to line up your non Flagellation Shadow Dances with the add spawns so they die a bit easier.

• Try to have all of your cooldowns up for this boss so you can burst him down as fast as possible. Remember to have somebody in your group use one of the spears found across the dungeon for an extra damage boost.
• Keep your positioning in mind throughout the fight so that if you get targeted with Meat Hook, you always place it in a good spot to hook the boss.

• Outside of the opener, try not to use any of your cooldowns unless you have been sent downstairs by Dark Exile or you are left upstairs and the boss has the Icebound Aegis shield active.

• Be very mindful of the Gruesome Cleave from Skeletal Marauders as it is a quickly casted frontal attack that can easily one-shot you if you're standing in it.
• The Zolramus Gatekeepers at the start of the dungeon casts Wrath of Zolramus which you can either Feint or Cloak of Shadows to keep yourself safe.
• Corpse Harvesters across the dungeon will frequently use Throw Flesh, this is not reduced by Feint unless you have Elusiveness specced but it can be dodged by using Evasion.

• When the boss runs into the bombs, he will gain Heavy Ordnance. Try to align your cooldowns with this.

• Pay attention to the health of Dread Captain Lockwood. Once the boss reaches 66% or 33% health, she will start phase two. So do not use your cooldowns right before this.
• During the intermission, be sure to prioritize-target the Ashvane Cannoneer.
• You can use Cloak of Shadows to immune the Fiery Ricochet dot, but only if you use it when the cast has less than a second left. If you use your cloak earlier it will not work. Feint does not reduce the damage of this dot without Elusiveness specced.
• If your group does not have a passive slow its good to apply Crippling Poison before this boss as this will prevent her from moving through her Evasive spell.

• Be prepared to use Feint or any other defensive whenever Break Water happens.
• Keep track of the boss's energy. Once he reaches 100%, you want to ideally be closer to the middle of the room so that you can easily dodge Tidal Surge.

• Focus damage onto Demolishing Terror tentacles before moving onto Gripping Terror tentacles.
• Try to remain as spread out as possible in melee so you nobody gets knocked back by dispelling Putrid Waters.
• The dot from Putrid Waters is not reduced by Feint unless you have Elusiveness specced.

• You can NOT use Cloak of Shadows to immune the Terrifying Roar from the Bilge Rat Demolishers after the second boss.
• The Fire Bomb casts from the Blacktar Bombers at the start of the dungeon can be dodged with Evasion.

• Consider using a defensive for casts of Refracting Beam as each Volatile Spike that is broken leaves a stacking DoT on the party.
• When Earth Shatterer goes out, you might need a larger defensive depending on how many Volatile Spike are left up.

• This fight will spawn several Crystal Shard adds that will eventually need to be killed. Each time one dies, the party gains a stacking debuff of Crystalline Eruption.
• You can pick up Unstable Fragments to gain a damage increase to the boss during Fortified Shell. This is a large increase but also leaves a nasty DoT on yourself.
• Its wise to hold your Flagellation for the Void Discharge to break it out quickly, even if it means holding for 30 seconds as it happens every minute.

• Be sure to kill these bosses evenly; you want them to die as close together as possible. Since Speaker Brokk jumps away throughout the fight its advised to focus this one a bit more whenever it is in melee range.
• Consider using a defensive for Exhaust Vents or Blazing Crescendo.

• Throughout the fight, you will need to clear off Void Corruption by dropping them into the portals. You should position yourself so that you do not need to run across the room to do this. You can completely remove the mechanic by using Cloak of Shadows.
• Use a Feint for casts of Entropic Reckoning.

• In the area before Speaker Brokk there are some dwarfs that hit very hard on the tank so it might be a good idea to apply Crippling Poison to allow the tank to kite them.