On many WoW: Burning Crusade Classic servers, it is currently possible to observe the self-confidence of the classes. While the strong hunters and warlocks often clearly communicate in group search requests that they are not just some damage dealer, but belong to the crème de la crème ("here, hunter!"), rogues report with remarkable regularity with a timid "inv".

The hope of the dagger-wielders: the group creator doesn't check the class of the writer and only realizes after the invitation that he's got himself a rogue on board. Without such a trick, it is said to be almost impossible to get into a group for a heroic dungeon outside of the guild on some realms.

Rogues in Phase 1: A difficult birth

Thanks to experiences in the original TBC and from the various private servers, many players naturally knew ahead of time that the once-strong rogues and warriors on Outland would be slow to get going. The reasons:

  • Important stats like Critical Hit Value, Weapon Lore, Speed, and Armor Strike are in the basement and difficult or impossible to increase due to the equipment available at the beginning. Many other classes are less dependent on these stats and more easily achieve higher DpS values.
  • The group and raid support of rogues and offensive warriors is too low compared to other classes to compensate for the loss of DpS.
  • Many Phase 1 and Phase 2 fights are melee-unfriendly. More hunters, warlocks and co. not only cause more damage, their presence also makes many fights easier.

And indeed, if you look at the stats on Warcraftlogs, the Battle Rogue in Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Chamber consistently lands in the lower midrange in terms of average damage. Speedrun guilds often have only one or no rogue in the raid squad. And even in heroic dungeons, many players are reluctant to take a rogue with them.
WoW: TBC Classic - Rogues currently deal mediocre damage at best. Source: Warcraftlogs

How bad are rogues in phase 1?

I'm currently playing a rogue myself (and a priest) in the Burning Crusade Classic endgame, and I think a lot of players underestimate what advantages a well-played rogue can already offer in dungeons and raid instances.

Lots of control and some DpS support

Rogues have plenty of tools to control enemies or stop dangerous spells.

  • Headbutt: Not as flexible as, say, Mage Sheep, but still a reliable tool for taking a humanoid out of combat for 45 seconds.
  • Nasty Trick and Kidney Chop: Combined, these two abilities can take the focus target of just about any dungeon party out of combat for up to ten seconds. In many cases, this is enough to send the targeted enemy to the ground without the tank having to pay too much attention to them. Kidney Chop can also be used in combat to take pressure off the tank or pin down enemies that are running at the healer or a DD with too much aggro.
  • Kick: One of the most reliable spell interrupts in the game, you can sprinkle it in every ten seconds to stop dangerous spells. On some bosses like Magtheridon, having reliable interrupts at the start is hugely helpful.
  • Treacherous Blade plus Mind-Fogging Poison: Speaking of spell interrupts, this Poison on the secondary hand and Treacherous Blade can be used to slow down the victim's spell speed at the touch of a button, making interrupts a breeze. Again, I refer to Magtheridon's adds as a useful use.
  • Distract: Whether you want to separate two groups, stop a patrol, or "set up" a target for the following headbutt, Distract takes care of it.
  • Deadly Throw: If you pick up the blue or epic gloves from the PvP set (such as Gladiator's Leather Gloves), Deadly Throw will give you another interrupt, enabling you to complete certain kick tasks on your own.
  • Dazzle: Used situationally, Blenden can be especially useful in the dungeon area at the moment. Use it to control briefly taken over players or after the effect expires your headshot target, giving the tank a few more moments to intercept it.

With all of these tools, rogues provide a level of control that is worth its weight in gold in any heroic dungeon, as well as in some raid situations. In addition, with Escape enabled, the rogue can briefly act as an off-tank at times, such as getting an enemy off the healer or replacing the tank who died and rocking the fight home (all of which have been experienced live). Or the rogue will use Cloak of Shadows to leverage entire mechanics or get rid of a hard ticking DoT, which takes a huge amount of pressure off the healer.

05:44
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In the meantime, I've also been able to test Improved Armor Weakening extensively in practice. Not only is the ability stronger than Warrior Armor Tear (providing better DpS support), it doesn't get in the way of the aggro build of Protection Warriors. On top of that, there are currently a lot of ferocity druids (who of course don't use armor r

ip when tanking) and hunters in Outland that benefit tremendously from the buff.

Don't forget about another advantage rogues have: In Shattered Halls, rogues grant you a shortcut, plus they can open locked chests in all dungeons.

My conclusion: take rogues with you.

In my guild, most players are surprised that rogues have such a bad reputation. On the contrary, when playing dungeons together in Discord, I've often heard the phrase "cool that we have a rogue". I probably saved the butt of another damage specialist or a healer without anti-aggro talents. ;)

Yes, we don't currently do the highest damage possible

.

But we kick, stun and weaken armor for all it's worth, and headbutt is better than its reputation. And when we have all the cooldowns going, we can get really good DpS numbers over a period of time, especially when a second target is hit by Blade Vortex

.

With all that said, don't forget that rogues get really strong in tier 6. Good for any squad that has their assassins well equipped in the previous stages.

What is your experience with roguelikes in the PvE section of Burning Crusade Classic? Do you also prefer to go into heroic dungeons or Karazhan and the like without the melee fighters? Or do you like to have a headbutt on two legs at the start? Tell us in the comments!

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