WoW SoD, Phase 7.

Rogue DPS Compendium

The Rogue DPS Compendium is the collective work of the community, based on simulations, log analysis, and many smart folks. The primary goal of this tool is to help educate Rogues of all skill levels and elevate their performance in a raid environment for Season of Discovery.

The "💦" icon emphasizes a sweaty tip that most players won't bother with, but may improve your performance if it meshes with your raid environment.

Quick Links

Talents & Gear

For more detailed comparison data, refer to the P7 Rogue DPS Sims spreadsheet.

Leveling

Leveling options as you progress your Rogue from 1-60.

Pre - Best In Slot

Simulations for rank 2 Seal of Dawn, wearing only gear attainable prior to entering Naxxramas, at 90 seconds.

BEst In Slot

Simulations for rank 7 Seal of Dawn, wearing full best in slot gear from Naxxramas, at 60 seconds.

Improved Expose Armor

Simulations for rank 7 Seal of Dawn, wearing full best in slot gear from Naxxramas, with an emphasis on IEA uptime at 60 seconds.

Consumables

Buffs

World Buffs

Raid Buffs

Raid Debuffs

Rogue Tips

Learn How To Sim

With the fresh Classic experience, we are evolving away from a world of spreadsheets into a brave, new world and the ability to leverage the Classic WoWSims tool for a far more accessible way to help Rogues determine which gear is an upgrade for them and how to optimize their performance.

Learning how to sim yourself is something that might seem intimidating, but it’s genuinely not that complicated. Do yourself a favor and learn how to sim. You’re more than welcome to ask questions on the Rogue Classic Discord.

Comfy Rogue UI

A full Rogue WeakAura suite crafted for Season of Discovery, emphasizing only showing the information you need to perfect your rotation. Every spec is supported and displayed icons are conditional based on talents and equipped runes. Please reach out with any requests - Enjoy!

Comfy's Rogue UI

Expose Armor

A single Rogue per raid being assigned to IEA duty is very common and benefits the raid greatly. As such, it’s important you understand how it works. While running IEA is a personal DPS loss for you, the damage gained from the raid will outweigh your lost damage in a vast majority of situations. Listed are the major points you should understand when on IEA duty to perform your role well.

Expose Armor vs Sunder Armor is a contentious topic, but it really shouldn’t be. Rogues’ Improved Expose Armor is objectively a better raid utility than Warriors’ Sunder Armor and should always be a priority, especially given the Warrior meta of Classic WoW.

  • When talented 2/2 into Improved Expose Armor, the armor reduction is raised from 1,700 to 2,550. For comparison, Warrior’s Sunder Armor only reduces armor by 2,250.

  • If manually casting Expose Armor (Mutilate & Saber Slash), you must only cast at 5 CP for its full effectiveness.

  • Priority order for the IEA Rogue should be:

    • Apply Sebacious Poison as first cast on pull via Poisoned Knife (If Muti/SSL, you’ll weapon swap on pull - use this macro).

    • If Backstab, just watch the debuff and PK if it’s about to fall off.

    • If Muti/SSL, apply a 5CP Expose Armor before the Sebacious falls off and maintain for the rest of the fight.

Macros

You can view all Comfy’s archived Macros on Wago.

WeakAuras

You can view all Comfy’s archived WeakAuras on Wago.

FAQs

What is the optimal rotation for my spec?

There are a couple different ways to better understand your optimal rotation; both of which you can view in the spec links above. First, you can review the “Rotation” tab. This shows your APL (Action Priority List), which executes top to bottom for priority. If an action meets the conditions, it executes and returns to to the top of the list again. If it fails, it checks the next action. The second way is to press “Simulate” and review the “Results” -> “Timeline” tab. This view shows the entire fight timeline and where each ability was cast.

Which professions are BiS?

Phase 6 brought some changes which made most of the useful raid consumables no longer require having their profession, so you could send them from an alt or buy on the Auction House. That said, the only profession which adds proprietary damage output is Engineering, as you can still use the [Goblin Sapper Charge] (after a 1 minute cooldown from [The Fumigator]), which still requires Engineering to use.

Does spell power affect poisons?

No, spell power ONLY affects the damage done by [Dragonbreath Chili] and is only generally focused on increasing by Rogues who are attempting to be sweaty at the high end of competitive parsing.

Raid Leader tells me I need to run Improved Expose Armor??

Yes, one Rogue in the raid should run IEA, as the armor reduction is higher than any other class in the game. Warrior’s Sunder Armor and Priest’s Homunculi reduce armor by 2250 whereas a Rogue’s Improved Expose Armor reduces armor by 2550. This may not seem like much, but can have a substantial impact on overall raid DPS.

How do you get Pre-Pull combo Points?

By leveraging the Honor Among Thieves head rune, you can target the boss before engaging and either build CP on the trash pack before or you can move a healer into your party and ask them to spam rank 1 heals until you have 5CP. If you don’t run HAT in your spec, swap the rune back to your desired rune. Do not change/drop your boss target, as you’ll lose your CP.

Naxxramas

In Season of Discovery, Naxxramas has various difficulty levels you can attempt to conquer. There are two aspects of difficulty to understand. First, each quarter may be empowered, which will enable a unique mechanic in that wing, adding to the difficulty. Second, depending on how many empowered quarters are active, the scaling of HP and damage will increase in the entire raid. Choose wisely, as if you empower too greedily, you may find yourself unable to take down bosses!

Difficulty increases for each wing you have actively empowered, raising the stack of Authority of the Frozen Wastes (difficulty) by one for each. The limitations of difficulty to Seal of the Dawn rank is as follows:

  • 0 Empowered up to Rank 2 active.

  • 1 Empowered up to Rank 4 active.

  • 2 Empowered up to Rank 6 active.

  • 3 Empowered up to Rank 8 active.

  • 4 Empowered up to Rank 10 active.

The empowered mechanics for each quarter are as follows:

  • Arachnid (Abhorrent Infestation) = spawns an egg sac, which explodes, then creates friendly spiders critters.

  • Plague (Fungal Contagion) = spawns mushrooms with a stacking aura which adds haste but increases nature damage taken. Mushroom will knock back if you get too close.

  • Construct (Overcharged) = few players receive a debuff which pulses damage but increases attack and cast speed.

  • Military (Marching Orders) = few players receive a raid warning to do a specific emote. If successful, they gain a buff (This was broken on PTR, may differ).

  • Frostwyrm = TBD, we didn’t test on PTR.

Noth the Plaguebringer

Single Phase

Noth the Plaguebringer

Heigan the Unclean

Burn Phase

Dance Phase

  • Run back to starting safe zone and move to each safe zone with the raid.

  • Use another [Greater Nature Protection Potion] if pre-pull one is consumed.

  • Use Poisoned Knife to build CP while you’re running to refresh a Slice and Dice and start Burn Phase again with a 5CP opener.

  • Once the dance is complete, repeat the two phases until boss dies.

Heigan the Unclean

Loatheb

Single Phase

⚠️ Saber Slash DoT may fall off during spore transitions. Recommend Muti or BS unless perfect play.

Loatheb

Anub’Rekhan

Burn Phase

Locust Swarm Phase

⚠️ Saber Slash DoT will fall off during Locust Swarm. Recommend Muti or BS if you can’t kill before.

Anub'Rekhan

Grand Widow Faerlina

Single Phase

Grand Widow Faerlina

Maexxna

Single Phase

⚠️ Saber Slash DoT must be refreshed before Web Spray and immediately after. It will also likely fall off if targeted with Web Wrap, subject to RNG. Recommend Muti or BS.

Maexxna

Patchwerk

Single Phase

  • Keep threat below third tank, or you will die.

    • If only using two tanks, click off all buffs increasing HP.

  • Use all cooldowns on pull, once Tanks establish threat.

  • Use Vanish after Master of Subtlety ends to help manage initial threat.

Patchwerk

Grobbulus

Single Phase

⚠️ Minimal risk to drop Saber Slash DoT. Simply reapply it before running out to drop Mutating Injection.

Grobbulus

Gluth

Single Phase

  • [Greater Nature Protection Potion] before entering the tunnel.

  • Use all cooldowns on pull.

  • Follow boss to opposite side door and stay behind.

  • Use Vanish or LoS behind door frame to avoid Terrifying Roar every 20s.

  • After Decimate, help kill adds if they get close to boss.

    • Potential to optimize a [The Fumigator] during this for big AOE.

⚠️ If you peel to help with adds, refresh Saber Slash stack and watch the duration.

Gluth

Thaddius

Feugen & Stalagg Phase

Thaddius Phase

  • To start, stack with raid.

  • Use any AP cooldowns on pull for snapshots, but save other CDs until first shift is stacked.

  • Upon Polarity Shift, move to the appropriate side (positive or negative).

    • Stay max melee range.

    • Once all gathered, use all remaining cooldowns (damage increase with more polarity charges).

    • On each following Polarity Shift, move ASAP to the opposite charge if your charge changes. Else, stay put.

Thaddius

Instructor Razuvious

Single Phase

  • Use all cooldowns on pull.

  • Single target burn the boss. No mechanics for Rogues.

  • Save Evasion if things go sideways.

Instructor Razuvious

Gothik the Harvester

Add Phase

Boss Phase

  • Boss teleports down to Live side first.

  • Teleports to other side every 20 seconds.

    • Use all cooldowns on first teleport to your side.

    • Squeeze as much damage as you can into this 20s window, staying behind the boss.

  • Gates open at 30% HP.

    • At this point, use Sprint if Boss is on other side.

    • Burn the boss until dead.

⚠️ If doing normal split side strat Saber Slash DoT will fall off boss. Recommend playing Muti or BS. If doing single side sweaty strat, no impact outside of add damage.

Gothik the Harvester

The Four Horsemen

Single Phase

  • [Greater Shadow Protection Potion], [Greater Fire Protection Potion], and [Juju Ember] before pull.

  • Strategies vary widely based on raid comp, but you will rotate to next boss at 3 stacks.

    • You’ll wait to return to that boss until your stacks fall off, following your raid’s strategy.

  • Use all cooldowns on pull.

  • Generally, Rogues will start on Thane.

  • When attacking Lady Blaumeux, move out of Void Zones.

  • Highlord Mograine has no mechanics for Rogue.

  • Rogues will usually avoid rotating to Sir Zeliek, as he casts Holy Wrath, which increases damage each chain.

  • If you have nowhere to go, stand at the safe zone

    • This is on the floor at the bottom center of the steps, facing the entrance.

⚠️ Having to reapply Saber Slash stack every 45s is detrimental. Recommend Muti or BS.

The Four Horsemen

Sapphiron

Ground Phase

  • [Greater Frost Protection Potion], and [Juju Chill] before pull.

  • Depending on the difficulty, you may be required to run Frost Resistance gear.

  • Boss Cleaves and Tail Swipes, avoid front and back.

  • Use a [Purification Potion] to remove the Life Drain curse ASAP.

  • ❗HARD MODE - On +4 difficulty, boss also casts Glacial Crash, which must be soaked by the raid. This leaves behind ice patches, which you must slowly rotation around the boss to avoid. Kill before things get out of hand.

Air Phase

  • Keep attacking the boss as it goes up, but watch for where ice blocks are going to be.

  • If you are targeted by Icebolt, move a bit back from melee, so you’re not under the boss and move away from other players.

    • This is what will create the ice block. If near another player, you’ll freeze them as well. If too close to the boss, others won’t be able to hide behind it to LoS.

  • Before the Frost Breath is cast (after the 5th Icebolt), hide behind an ice block,

    • If still within melee, be sure to cancel attacking, as you will still eat the breath if you’re auto attacking.

    • Once this happens, boss will transition back to ground phase.

⚠️ Saber Slash stacks likely to fall off during every ice block. Recommend Muti or BS.

Sapphiron

Kel’Thuzad

Adds Phase

Boss Engage Phase

  • Melee spread out around back and sides of KT (3 groups, 10y)

  • Interrupt every Frostbolt.

  • Chains of Kel’Thuzad will mind control MT and others.

    • Be mindful of threat, as boss cannot be taunted.

    • Prioritize CC’ing high burst damage players when mind controlled.

  • Shadow Fissures are red circles on the floor. Move out of them or you will die.

Boss Kill Phase (40%)

  • Adds will spawn, you should ignore them and burn boss.

  • Continue to follow same mechanics while you finish off the boss.

❗HARD MODE (0%)

  • If on +4 difficulty, once you kill the boss, he will resurrect and slowly deteriorate during this now final phase.

  • Blue circle will become smaller, so stay inside.

  • Stay on top of adds (ghouls and skeletons) and survive until KT dies.

  • ⚠️ Due to the chaos at the end and the absolute need to CC mind controlled players, it’s best to avoid casting AOE. If running Muti, you should probably just run Cut to the Chase for this encounter.

Kel'Thuzad

Changelog

3/15/2025

  • Refined boss strats and Rogue-specific optimizations/tips.

3/4/2025

  • Added a few boss strategy improvements.

2/17/2025

  • Updated Hard Modes for each wing as well as Sapphiron and Kel’Thuzad. Also added additional optimization tips to a few bosses.

2/12/2025

  • Updated Pre-BiS and BiS sim values to reflect a change made to Sims to apply Sebacious at 0s, which is more reflective of actual in-game performance.

2/10/2025

  • Updated Backstab sim values based on a buff to T3 set bonus.

2/9/2025

  • Updates to simulations. Standardized all simulations to Human. Values adjusted to reflect simulator update to how spell modifiers are calculated, along with changes to Tier 3 set bonuses.

2/5/2025

  • P7 Compendium initial launch! Please ping me in the Classic Rogue Discord if you find any improvements, errors, or have recommendations - hope it helps!