I apologize again for the long downtime. As things settle down for me, I’ll have more time to write articles. I also have a large inventory of good Arena matches which I want to add in commentary as soon as I can.

To pick up where we left off in part 1 of this, we stumbled across the fact that Rogues are quite versatile in their Spec choices. I want to touch up again on why Mutilate was cut out as a 2v2 Arena choice. First off, the Positional requirement is very painful against Warriors and other Rogues. Considering how hard it is to kill a Shaman, Paladin or Druid when a Warrior is on you. Being a Spec without Preparation, your only choice would be to turn on the Warrior once the kiting begins.

Mutilate is very good at Combo Points generation and sustained damage, however when you’re stuck facing another Melee class, you’ll be sitting on full energy many times especially if the person you’re hitting has the ability to gain temporary immunity to your snares. Secondly, the harsh Poison requirement only makes your hard match ups even harder. It’s hard enough as it is when your opponent’s Druid has removed your poisons, or that Dwarf Priest / Paladin just Stoneformed out of all your Wound Poison stacks and became immune to all your Poisons for 8 seconds, now you want to give them the advantage of taking 50% less yellow damage while doing so? Not to mention the difficulty of even landing Mutilate in the first place when your target isn’t slowed. Then there’s the argument of Mutilate being able to dish out more damage once caught up with someone. Unfortunately once you’re getting kited after you blow your Sprint, you will not catch up with anyone at all. Even if you do manage to catch up, one would think Adrenaline Rush will be much stronger to cash in on the only chance you have before you’re kited again and forced to switch target. The bottom line is, you should use your Spec choice to cover up your weaknesses, not hinder them farther.

Now with that out of the way, let me break down the reasoning behind the 3 spec choices from last article. First off we have Preparation Hemo with Cold Blood. This is the ultimate burst+lockdown spec for current state of Rogues. It has some very strong usage in certain match ups and also incredible with another DPS. The reason behind this Spec is fast Combo Points generation just behind Mutilate and all the cooldowns at your disposal. It’s very easy to drop someone in just a few short seconds when using all your cooldowns correctly. Due to the fact that this spec leaves the Combat tree completely in the dark, this spec is lacking in white damage which translates to low sustained damage. One must be very good with their burst management when playing with a Holy Priest with this spec, because often times you will only have 1 chance per match.

Then we look at the Deep 41+ Combat specs. With this spec, you have the best sustained damage with increased damage from Combat Talents such as Dual Wield Specialization, Combat Potency and Surprise Attack. When used correctly, Adrenaline Rush right after a 5 CP Improved Expose Armor can put a dent in just about anything without Shield or thick bearskins. As the Arena fights drag longer, the extra sustained damage from Deep Combat shines.

Finally we go over 31+ Combat with Preparation. One of the advantages of this spec is the amazing amount of root breakers it offers and some variations of it offer the best survivability. With 2 Improved Sprint, 2 Vanish, Clock of Shadows, 2 Evasion, and 2 Adrenaline Rush, this spec requires the least attention from your healer. Other things like Improved Kick, 30 seconds of double energy and the decent sustained damage is just icing on the cake. This really spec frees up your Priest to Fear and Mana Burn harass the opponent’s support. However with all that luxury a hidden weakness is inevitable. Without 11 or more points for the Assassination Tree, one of the most important Rogue Talents is left out in the dark. Most people are so used to playing with this Talent that they wouldn’t even notice it. It’s not at all the lack of 5% Crit or Lethality, but in fact the missing of Relentless Strike that hinders this Spec. Without Relentless Strike, you’re basically paying 5 more energy per Sinister Strike! This talent is the reason behind Mutilate being the highest raid DPS. When using your finishers actively, on average each Mutilate costs 50 energy and 45 when Crit.

In the end, after playing with each of these 3 specs intensively, I have personally decided on a spec variation of my own. Although this spec might be gaining popularity the last couple weeks, it didn’t hold much ground when I first used it. However for the purpose of this series of articles, I will explain each match up with strategy from using different spec variations. Before I conclude this part I would like to list the Talent variations of the 3 key specs I have explained. Note that Vile Poisons and Improved Poisons are interchangeable in every Spec.

Hemo with Assassination variations:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhg0oy0obZZxrfoMGRsxoh
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhe0oxhoZZxMjoMGRsxox (2 DPS Spec)

41+ Combat variations: (Based on Mace)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fbe0RxZG0EzrVt00hRt
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fbe0RiZGcV0rVt0bbRt (My current Spec)

Combat with Preparation:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xZ0xEzrVt000RZxrfoMhoo (100%+ Frontal avoidance during Evasion & Ghostly Strike)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=wZGcV0rVt0bbRxxrfoMho

Well, that’s it for this article, next time we will start the exciting break down of all the match ups! I’m off to commentate and render some of my stored videos and I’ll make sure the next update come much sooner.

Tags: Rogue · 2v2 · Articles

6 Responses to “2v2 Arena: Rogue & Holy Priest Explained, Part 2”

1. Cular Says:
   August 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

   Great article, although I’d rate 41/20 higher than you did it here
   I’m looking forward to your next articles, hope the site will grow and more users will visit it

   sry4thebadenglish ^^

2. Cadel Says:
   August 24th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

   nice article- what’s your priest’s name btw? I wanted to look up his spec because I play priest/rogue and the priest is having trouble figuring out a good spec. I play combat swords

3. Wydower Says:
   August 29th, 2007 at 2:36 am

   I tried to watch the rogue/priest vs. warrior/pally video, but it cuts off about 30 seconds into the fight. Any idea what is going wrong?

   I like these articles, but get to the game breakdowns already!

4. Zill Says:
   September 19th, 2007 at 9:40 pm

   Just my opinion that you don’t give mutilate quite as much credit as it deserves. It may not be quite as good as a heavy combat build, but i believe that it is more viable than a hemo build. I also find that mutilate is a lot more versatile and able to adapt to different situations due to the intense combo point generation. Also, while combat maces do edge out over mutilate, i find the spec really boring.

5. Spookygrampa Says:
   October 5th, 2007 at 11:30 am

   Are you kidding? This strat was stupid as hell. CC the warrior and burn the paladin when he bubbles your priest mass dispells his bubble and game over. You turned a 2 minute fight into a 10 minute one.

6. Soulrage Says:
   October 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pm

   @Spookygramp,
   You’re the stupid one. Just how the hell do you expect to CC a warrior with a priest / rogue? Blind? Easily cleansed by the pally or trinket. Fear? hmm, deathwish, beserker rage, and trinket. Fearing a warrior is almost impossible. Easier said than done.

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