This is a debate you see ongoing everyday in the WoW forums and other sites across the Internet. Most combat speced Rogues will state that they have the best build for PVP and then you hear the others tout how good their spec is. The truth of the matter each has its own advantage and disadvantage.
I have a friend who has his rogue combat/mace speced and simply loves it. It allows him to raid and participate in arenas on a competitive level. Now I have my rogue dagger speced and setup for more PVP and I love my spec. Is it to say that my spec is inferior to his or vice versa or that a sword spec rogue is better then both? The answer is No. Quite frankly each spec is only as good as the person playing it.
Take daggers for example. One of the biggest points that almost every person makes about this spec is that you cannot fight multiple mobs in PVE. This is simply not true. I have been dagger spec on my rogue all the way to 70 and can honestly tell you that it is possible to engage in battle with 2 or 3 mobs at once and survive with no problem. Sure if you want to look at the combat spec Rogue who can simply run from mob to mob without worrying about stealth then yes their spec is far surperior to a Subtetly/Assassination speced rogue in this case, but honestly I prefer to choose my targets wisely and look before I leap.
Another argument is that in PVP the sword and mace spec’ed Rogues do more damage and rule in the arenas. I will totally disagree with that as well. Daggers have a huge dps output and if you use your abilities correctly with ambush, backstab, etc you will easily win in a fight.
Sure I may sound biased towards daggers because of my own Rogue, but honestly each spec is great in its own way. Take combat/mace Rogues for example. I have seen Rogues who are spec’ed like this go one on one with everyone and come out on the winning side of the fight because of the abilities that they receive from the combat tree. Mace speced rogues will simply stun you to death. For a dagger spec’ed Rogue it is extremely important that you get that huge ambush off against a combat spec’ed Rogue and take them down quickly because they will stun you almost to death.
Now this is not to say they are better because I can say that anyone can lose and I quite frequently destroy the combat spec’ed Rogues, but I must use all my abilities to do so. Simply put Combat Rogues are the best in PVE overall, but the others hold their ground quite nicely in this environment.
Now lets look at those Rogues who decide to go Subtetly/Assasination spec setup, but use swords instead of Daggers. This is where I differ in opinion. This spec is designed to take advantage of daggers to realize its full potential. Many players spec their Rogue down these trees to gain shadow step and other high damage dealing abilities, but fail to realize that most of the damage that is put out in this tree is from the behind the back abilities such as ambush and backstab.
I have read the arguements that state these players love not having to see those annoying messages about being a target to use an ability, but honestly if you are spec’ed down this tree that is half your damage gone when you cannot use what the tree was designed for. Another key factor is that swords are slower in attack speed sure you will see higher white dps strikes on a whole, but over the course of a fight when skills are equal the dagger rogue will normally win. The reason I say this is that even though your white dps hits are not registering as high of numbers on a single hit, over the course of a fight your dps from your weapons is similar. In addition dagger Rogues apply poisons at almost twice the rate as their sword spec’ed counterparts. This can be a huge advantage especially if you are using instant poisons. If a dagger Rogue can apply twice as many poisons as the sword rogue then the damage factor is tipping in favor of the dagger Rogue versus the sword Rogue.
All these arguements aside the best spec for your Rogue would be the one that you are comfortable with and that allows you to use your play style to your advantage. It is important to remember that with each advantage comes a disadvantage. Knowing these will help you to better understand the best way to use your characters abilities and to ultimately come out on top in a fair fight.
I was “talking” with a highly experienced PvPer the other day and his opinion was that daggers are dead and resilience is what killed them. You seem to have some experience yourself, though.
I have a Rogue that was combat, but I changed to a shadowstep build when I started with the battlegrounds. I love the shadowstep, but it feels weaker in PvE and I haven’t tried the combat in PvP. I do miss that Bladefurry talent, though.
I think I’m just going to have to get a pair of purple daggers and switch back and forth between daggers and mace/sword and combat/shadowstep and see what works best for me.
Nice post, thanks.
I actually use dagger spec on my 70 rogue in arenas. The most important thing though in arenas is to know your spec well and to have a good partner who knows how you play as well. I know others who use the mace spec and do very well to, but again they know that spec well, but when it comes down to it the main thing seems to be the skill of the player and their teammate which decides the ultimate outcome.
res > dagger rogues
Nothing like that communication and teamwork. Like you said in your BG post. Ya know, there are plenty of people who will take a spec or path just because it’s more challenging.
I think I’ll try your route and play with the daggers some more. I certainly like seeing those big ambush numbers and anything that forces me to work on my skills is a good thing.
Thanks