Subtlety Rogue PvP Talents and Builds (The War Within Pre-Patch) (2024)

Last updated on Jul 23, 2024 at 18:21by Shadenox32 comments

There is one viable talent build as Subtlety. It features all thetalents that empower finishing moves in order to have powerful burst damageduring Shadow Dance, especially with Shadow Blades active.

As a reminder Heroic Talents are not included because they are not available on thePrepatch. Rest assured, what to choose and how it impacts the gameplay will be added tothe guide as soon as the expansion launches!

This build emphasizes the damage of your finishing moves - Eviscerate, Secret Technique and also Rupture. Multiple talents are picked tospecifically make those spells more powerful. The goal is to have decent sustaineddamage with Rupture and swiftly dispatch your targets every kill attempt with hugehits from Secret Technique and Eviscerate.

Rupture is empowered by Dark Brew, which makes the damage becomeShadow and increase it by 10%. Veiltouched increases it by another 5%, asShadow damage is magic damage. Finality allows every second Rupture to be buffedby another 15% (Finality is halved in PvP combat). Deeper Daggers further empowersRupture by 8% during your kill attempts, as it now deals Shadow damage. Add to that themodifiers that empower finishing moves, such as Deeper Stratagem and Secret Stratagem,as well as the modifiers that increase damage on your goes, such as the talent Dark Shadowand the spell Symbols of Death, and you have a very powerful Rupture.

Eviscerate is empowered by Shadowed Finishers, increasing its damageby 30% as Shadow. Because Shadow damage is magic, this part ignores armor. Dark Brewincreases that part of the damage by 10%. Veiltouched increases it by another 5%. Finality allows every second Eviscerate to be buffed by another 15% (Finality ishalved in PvP combat). And finally, Deeper Daggers further empowers the Shadow damagepart by 8%. Add to that the modifiers that empower finishing moves, such as Deeper Stratagemand Secret Stratagem, as well as the modifiers that increase damage on your goes, suchas the talents Dark Shadow and Danse Macabre and the spell Symbols of Deathand you have a very powerful Eviscerate.

Last but not least Secret Technique is empowered the same way as Eviscerate, Shadowed Finishers and Finality aside. While the initial hit fromSecret Technique deals Physical damage the two following hits from your shadow clones dealShadow damage. This is why every modifier mentioned above works with Secret Technique. Assuch, it is essential to use Eviscerate shortly before Secret Technique in order to activate Deeper Daggers for a substantial damage increase.

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 PvPtalents depending on your team's goal.

Smoke Bomb creates a smoke cloud around you. Enemy players who areoutside the cloud will not be able to target anyone inside it. This talentis mandatory for multiple reasons. Firstly, it can help you land a kill bystunning a target when they have no trinket. By using Smoke Bomb right afterthe stun, you will prevent the healer from saving their teammate. Secondly, youcan use it defensively to save yourself or an ally from a lethal castabout to go off, such as Greater Pyroblast. And lastly, you can use itto prevent incoming crowd control on you or your team if such crowd controlwould result in you losing a game, such as a Polymorph or Repentance on your healer when they have no trinket, and you are low onhealth. As you can see, this talent is helpful in many different situations,which is why it is so powerful. Note that, as Subtlety, the cooldown is only2 minutes.

Shadowy Duel places you and the enemy you cast this on in a duel.You can only interact with each other and no one else for 5 seconds.This talent is mighty. You can use it on an enemy at low health toprevent the enemy healer from saving them while you finish them off. If youdo not have the damage to do so, you can use it on the enemy healer togive time to your teammates to finish off your kill target. You can also use iton an enemy killing one of your teammates. Since they will be locked inthe Duel with you, they can no longer attack your allies. You can also use it onan enemy casting a significant spell on one of your allies. Since youwill phase them in the Duel with you, they will never throw the spell. One thingworth knowing is that inside a Shadowy Duel, everyone has Truesight, whichmeans that both you and your enemy will see through Stealth or otherinvisibility spells. The consequence is that if you try to Duel an enemy tosave an ally and then Vanish to be safe, the enemy will still be ableto see you and kill you. In the same way, if you Duel a Rogue and he usesVanish, you will be able to see him, Sap him, or kill him.

Thief's Bargain is a PvP talent with a lot of potential. Having Vanishmore often means you can survive more or set up more for your team. Alongside the talent Without a Trace that gives you a second Vanish you have it very, very often ! Italso allows you to make greater value out of the talent Invigorating Shadowdust.

Dismantle is a strong PvP talent that allows you to disarm an enemy for 6severy 45s. It is a great pick against Warriors, Hunters, and Rogues. Disarmingan enemy can delay their next kill attempt or stop it entirely if they have pulledthe trigger.

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

Thick as Thieves is a strong PvP talent when playing a setup compwith an ally with very high burst. With this, you can further amplify theirburst damage by 15% for 6s, which can be the reason why the target dies. Thedownside of this talent is that you have to spend a point in Tricks of the Trade,something you don't necessarily want to do.