Subtlety Rogue Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Priority: Agility > Haste > Mastery > Critical Strike > Versatility. Agility is your primary stat — take item-level upgrades. Among secondaries, Haste leads: it boosts Energy regen, attack speed, Shadow Dance duration, and shortens Secret Technique, all of which let you fit more into a burst window.

• Haste breakpoints - Trickster ~700 Haste (fits 2 Secret Techniques into Shadow Blades thanks to Disorienting Strikes); Deathstalker ~1100 Haste (fits a 3rd global into Shadow Dance). Reach your tree's target, then value falls off.
• Mastery - increases finisher damage; overtakes Crit in multi-target, so it climbs in M+ and cleave fights.
• Crit - flat damage; strong on pure single-target.
• Versatility - smallest gain, but adds a little survivability.
• Tertiaries - Leech > Avoidance > Speed.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set: 2pc — finishing moves deal 1.5% more damage per combo point spent (a clean ~9% finisher buff at 6 CP). 4pc — Shadow Blades gains +4s duration and your attacks deal an extra 6% damage as Shadow during it, fattening every burst window. Strong set; prioritize the 4pc.

Top trinkets (raid): Gaze of the Alnseer and Light Company Guidon (S-tier), with Algeth'ar Puzzle Box and Radiant Plume close behind. Favor on-use trinkets that line up with the ~90s Shadow Blades window.

• Flask - Flask of the Magisters
• Combat potion - Light's Potential
• Food - Hearty Silvermoon Parade
• Augment rune - Void-Touched Augment Rune
• Weapon oil - Thalassian Phoenix Oil (both weapons)
• Gems - Flawless Quick Amethyst (Haste) + Flawless Masterful gems (Mastery)
• Enchants - Radiant Jewelbinder (helm/wrist/waist), Mark of the Worldsoul (chest), Arcane Mastery (weapons)
• Embellishments - Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt, Arcanoweave Lining

🚀 Opener

Open from Stealth, dump your pre-pull combo points, then chain Shadow Blades into a double Shadow Dance with Secret Technique inside each. Pop your on-use trinket and potion with Shadow Blades so everything overlaps the burst.

1. Stealth before the pull
2. Shadowstrike (Stealth-only opener, applies Find Weakness)
3. Eviscerate to spend the opening combo points
4. On-use stat trinket + combat potion
5. Shadow Blades
6. Shadow Dance → Secret Technique (at 6+ combo points)
7. Shadow Dance → Shadowstrike → Shuriken Storm/Backstab to rebuild
8. Secret Technique again inside the window
9. Fall into the single-target or AoE priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

Keep Slice and Dice up, spend finishers at 6+ combo points, and bank Shadow Dance charges for Secret Technique. Shadowstrike is your Stealth/Dance builder; Backstab is the out-of-Dance builder (get behind the target).

1. Keep Slice and Dice active (refresh from low duration)
2. Shadow Dance when you have 6+ combo points and Secret Technique is ready (to spend it in Dance)
3. Shadow Dance when you have 2 or fewer combo points (to use Shadowstrike as a builder)
4. Shadow Blades during a Shadow Dance window
5. Secret Technique during Shadow Dance at 6+ combo points
6. Coup de Grace at 6+ combo points (when available)
7. Eviscerate at 6+ combo points (Find Weakness up)
8. Goremaw's Bite when off cooldown for combo points + the buff
9. Shadowstrike as the builder inside Shadow Dance / Stealth
10. Backstab as the builder outside Shadow Dance (behind the target)

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Same burst skeleton, but finishers become Black Powder and your builder becomes Shuriken Storm. Black Powder spreads Find Weakness and your DoTs across the pack — land it at 6+ combo points. Mastery scales harder here than Crit.

1. Shadow Dance on the same conditions as single-target (6+ CP w/ Secret Technique, or ≤2 CP)
2. Shadow Blades during Shadow Dance
3. Secret Technique during Shadow Dance at 6+ combo points
4. Eviscerate at 6+ CP with Darkest Night active (Deathstalker priority window)
5. Coup de Grace at 6+ combo points
6. Black Powder at 6+ combo points (the AoE finisher — spreads Find Weakness)
7. Goremaw's Bite outside Shadow Dance
8. Shuriken Storm as the AoE builder

⏱️ Cooldowns

Subtlety is a stacked-burst spec — your job is to line everything up inside Shadow Dance. Shadow Blades pairs with two Shadow Dances; weave Secret Technique into each. Pop trinket + potion on this window.

Shadow Dance2 charges, ~20s recharge

Your burst window — lets you cast Stealth abilities (Shadowstrike) out of stealth and powers up finishers. Duration scales with Haste in Midnight. The whole rotation revolves around banking and spending these charges; don't sit capped.

Shadow Blades~90s (→ longer w/ 4pc)

Major DPS cooldown. In Midnight it doubles combo-point generation instead of instantly filling them, so keep building during it. Accompanied by 2 Shadow Dance casts. Line up with on-use trinket + potion.

Secret Technique~45-60s (reduced by Haste / Trickster)

Hardest-hitting finisher; spend at 6+ combo points inside Shadow Dance. Trickster's Disorienting Strikes cuts its cooldown so you fit 2 per window. The single biggest burst button to weave correctly.

Goremaw's Biteon CD

Generates a big chunk of combo points plus a damage/empower buff; use it to feed finishers and refill before a window. Strong filler value outside Shadow Dance.

Thistle Tea3 charges

Instantly restores Energy and grants a Mastery buff. Use it to keep burst windows flowing — don't let Energy starvation stall a Shadow Blades window.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Rogue defensives are best-in-class for a DPS — a full magic immunity, a strong dodge wall, and self-healing. Mobility doubles as survival: you dodge most mechanics rather than eat them.

Cloak of Shadows~2 min

Removes most harmful magic effects and grants a brief magic immunity. Use it to soak/ignore a targeted magic mechanic or to self-dispel a deadly debuff. Your top defensive in magic-heavy content.

Evasion~2 min

Large dodge chance vs melee and (talented) ranged attacks. Big wall against physical/auto-attack damage — pop it for tank-buster overlaps or melee-swing packs.

Crimson Vial~30s

Cheap instant self-heal over a few seconds. Spam it on cooldown during sustained damage; enhanced by Sanguine Vial.

Feint~15s

Reduces AoE damage taken (and all damage with Elusiveness). The button you press before every raid-wide hit — cheap and frequent.

Cheat Deathpassive

Talented passive — a lethal hit instead leaves you alive at low health with heavy DR for a few seconds. Your safety net; don't rely on it but know it's there.

Vanish~2 min

Drops combat threat and re-stealths — also a defensive reset (drops targeting on you) and resets your Stealth opener for extra burst.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Trickster is the M+ pick — its on-demand burst kills priority targets and dangerous casters fast.
• AoE finisher is Black Powder at 6+ combo points — it spreads Find Weakness across the pack, so land it before dumping builders.
• Mastery overtakes Crit in multi-target, so your M+ profile values Mastery more than your raid profile.
• Use Shroud of Concealment to skip trash for the whole group, and Sap/Distract for pull control.
• Kidney Shot + Kick give you two stops; Blind (Airborne Irritant for AoE) handles a runaway add.
• Don't blow Shadow Dance charges on filler — bank them so Secret Technique always lands inside a window.
• Feint before every AoE pulse and Crimson Vial on cooldown — your survival is mostly dodging mechanics and cheap heals.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io) to track Shadow Dance charges, Slice and Dice, Find Weakness and Secret Technique. Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, Plater (kick/stop tracking), Details.

#showtooltip Kick
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead] Kick

#showtooltip Shadow Blades
/use 13
/use Light's Potential
/cast Shadow Blades

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cast [@focus,help,exists][] Tricks of the Trade

#showtooltip Cloak of Shadows
/cast Cloak of Shadows

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Spending Secret Technique outside a Shadow Dance window — it loses the Find Weakness/Dance amplification and is a big DPS loss.
• Sitting on capped Shadow Dance charges — you waste recharge and can't bank for the next Secret Technique.
• Letting Slice and Dice fall off — its attack-speed buff feeds your whole rotation; refresh it.
• Using Backstab without being behind the target — it's the out-of-Dance builder and needs the rear position for full damage.
• Building past 6 combo points before a finisher — overcapping combo points is wasted generation.
• Forgetting the AoE finisher swap — pressing Eviscerate instead of Black Powder on packs leaves huge cleave on the table.
• Hunting for Symbols of Death or Flagellation — both were removed in Midnight; the burst now lives on Shadow Dance + Shadow Blades + Secret Technique.