To Cheap Shot or not to Cheap Shot?...Follow

I use CS all the time until Garrote gets it's silence effect in the 60s for solo and PvP.

Garrote on bosses, or just SS to get your rotation going; doesn't matter which you choose in PvE.

Thanks for the very prompt response, Theo!

My issue has been starting my rotation after Cheap Shot. With Garrote's lower energy cost, I can launch right into my SS rotation, but with CS I find myself waiting almost the whole 4 seconds for my energy to regen before starting my rotation. It seems wasteful. I think what I'm looking for is advice on how to take best advantage of those two combo points and 4 second stun. Advice? Should I just work on timing CS with my energy-regen ticks?

Edit: TherionSaysWhat, you gave me exactly what I was looking for, but you responded while I was typing my response. Thanks!

Edited, Aug 20th 2008 7:00pm by Rykhorne

You can always download rogue focus classic. It shows you when your energy is going to tick and also displays your combo points that you have. I use it on my rogue and put it right where my character is so I can track my energy at all times. CS is my favorite opener while grinding/questing. Like Therion said it gives you more uptime. Good luck on the rogue. If you have anymore questions Theo is here 24/7 :P

This is my first post so I'm gonna make it mediocre at best.

Where does ambush fit in this? I've found it gives the most damage, with the combo point I use slice and dice then just spam sinister strike and eviscerate. Am I looking at this the wrong way?

Also, is first aid essential to rogues? I guess that should be a new thread but..

I'm Subtlety spec. What I do when I grind is open with Cheap Shot, Hemo once, wait for Cheap Shots stun to wear off, Kidney Shot, use hemo once, Slice&Dice, spam hemo until mob dies.

Or, if danger is low: Cheap Shot, Eviscerate, Hemo, Slice&Dice, spam hemo. 9 seconds of Slice&Dice is all you really need while grinding.

I find hemo a lot better then eviscerate because you lose energy if you miss a finishing move, you don't lose out on anything if you miss a hemo. While grinding, that is. I'm only 39, but I grinded 38-39 in Desolace and made about 25k-30k~ exp in about an hour. I think that's fairly decent.

Cheap Shot is awesome for Subtlety, cuz it only costs 40 energy and you usually get 3 Combo Points from it.

When I was leveling a rogue, I always used a CS > S&D > SS > SS > SS > Kidney Shot > SS until it is almost dead then Evis (that's if I was able to get enough combo points in, i.e. more than two).
I was decently geared while leveling, but not one of those rogues who had a main to support him.
By the time I got to Kidney Shot, mob is usually 50%-30% health left, and by the time they usually die my S&D runs out a couple seconds after.

Ultimately - CS is the opener of choice, especially while levelling, and you should be levelling swords, so it'll be CS > SnD (very important) > SS till dead, maybe an evis when you can judge that you have enough CPs to wipe out the remaining Health.

Once you get Kidney Shot ... it becomes even more amazing ... cos then you can follow your CS with a KS when CS wears off, extending the time the mob is stunned, and mimising your damage intake.

Daggers do less damage than swords with anything other than Ambush, Backstab and Mutilate (which, coincidently REQUIRE daggers). Ambush is only used once a fight, and scales down in % damage done to the mob as you level (My Ambush crits were only doing 40% damage when I got to Outlands - and that was with an Outlands Dagger). SO yeah, go swords, go combat.

Here's Cheap Shot from another perspective ... I spec'd ShS (I'm 70) to do some battlegrounds ... however, I still do dailies and leather farming. Hemo becomes a bit more viable than SS with a good amount of AP and a nice weapon. It provides excellent burst damage, which allows you to finish a fight pretty quickly. Combat is a lot more reliable ito the damage you do, hence it being the spec of choice to level.

Currently my rotation is CS > Hemo > Hemo > KS > Hemo > Hemo > Hemo ... move onto next mob with 100% health, rinse and repeat for as long as you like. The beauty of this, is that with certain Sub talents (I forget which), your opening Cheap shot rewards you with 3 CPs 75% of the time, which means that by the time you're ready for your KS ... it'll be a 5 pointer ... which means (I believe) 6 seconds of stun ... follow the one with the other, and that's a mob standing dead still for you for 10 seconds. Quite enough for you to bury it before it can even react.

Sometimes, for a bit of variation, I'll do CS > SnD > Hemo > Hemo > Hemo > KS > Hemo till dead. you take a touch more damage, but the mob drops faster ...You might even land up taking little enough damage for you to regen totally before the next mob.



Edited, Aug 22nd 2008 11:41am by robertlofthouse

?? You had a Cruel Barb and weren't using it ?? .. norty boy - as punishment, you must DE the next blue drop you get ;-)

eh, stupid people don't come here and learn. If you read the faqs that've been made you'll end up being a good rogue.