rogue subtlety guide
TRANSCRIPT
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My name is Scylla, Ive been playing rogue now for around 5
years Ive played retail and private servers achieving high
ratings in both. This guide will cover the Subtlety spec of the
Rogue class.
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Contents1. Races
1.1. Alliance
1.2. Horde2. Talents and Glyphs
3. Gear Choices
4. Gemming
5. Enchants
6. Weapons
7. Macros
8. Rotation/Advice8.1. Hemmo
8.2. Eviscerate
8.3. Shadow Dance
8.4. Shadow Step
8.5. Energy Pooling
8.6. Prekicking
8.7. Vanish8.8. Defensive CDs
8.9. Saps
8.10. CD Management
8.11. Cloak of Shadows
9. Comps
10. Diminishing Returns
11. Strats
11.1. 2vs2
11.2. 3vs3
12. Credits
13. Final Words
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RACES
Alliance
Human-Every Man for Himself- Removes all movement impairing effects and
all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect
shares a cool down with other similar effects, 2 minute cool down.
-Mace Specialization- Increases expertise with maces and two-handed
maces by 3.
-Sword Specialization- Increases expertise with swords and two-handed
swords by 3.
Gnome
-Escape Artist- Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement
speed reduction effect. Instant cast. 1.45 min cool down.
-Engineering Specialist- 15 point skill bonus to Engineering
-Arcane Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Arcane spells by
2%
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Night Elf
-Shadowmeld- Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance
for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon
moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon
cancellation of this effect, 2 minute cool down.
-Quickness-Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will
hit you by 2%.
-Elusiveness- Less chance to be detected in Stealth/Shadowmeld
-Nature Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Nature spells by
2%
Dwarf
-Stone form- Activate to remove poison, disease, and bleed effects;
+10% Armor; Lasts 8 seconds. 2 minute cool down.
-Mace Specialization- Increases expertise with maces and two-handed
maces by 3.
-Frost Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%
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Horde
Undead
-Will of the Forsaken- Removes any Charm, Fear and Sleep effect. 2 -
minute cool down.
-Cannibalize- When activated, regenerates 7% of total health every 2
seconds for 10 seconds. Only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses
within 5 yards. Any movement, action, or damage taken while
Cannibalizing will cancel the effect.
-Shadow Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by Shadow spells
by 2%
Blood Elf
-Arcane Torrent- Activate to silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2
seconds. In addition, you gain 15 Energy, 15 Runic Power or 6% Mana. 2
min. cool down.
-Arcane Affinity- 10 point skill bonus to Enchanting
-Magic Resistance- Reduces chance you will be hit by spells by 2%
Troll
-Berserking- Activate to increase attack and casting speed by 20% for
10 seconds. 3 minute cool down.
-Regeneration- Increase health regeneration bonus by 10%. Also allows
10% of normal health regeneration during combat.
-Throwing Specialization- Increases chance to critically hit with
Throwing Weapon by 1%.-Da Voodoo Shuffle- Reduces the duration of all movement impairing
effects by 15%.
Orc
-Blood Fury- Activate to increase attack power and spell damage by an
amount based on level/class for 15 seconds. 2 minute cool down.
-Hardiness- Reduces duration of stun effects by 15%.
-Axe Specialization- Expertise with Fist Weapons, One- and Two-handed Axes increased by 5.
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TALENTS AND GLYPHS
My build for sub is pretty standard; I dont use Heightened Senses,
purely because Im hardly ever in a position where I need to find
another stealthed class.
Glyphs (for any races other than Blood Elf)
MAJOR: Shadow dance, Vigor, Preparation
MINOR: Vanish, Blurred Speed, Distract
For Blood Elf I take the sprint glyph, instead of vigor reason for this is
the racial of Blood Elf gives me extra burst.
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GEAR
These are my current gear choices. There is a lot of opinions to what is
better to gear as sub, mainly between Attack Power and Armor
Penetration. Personally Ive found playing with around 20% armor
penetration and then stacking attack power to be the best way to go. I
play with about 1050~ resilience in arena, rogues are pretty squishy so
no real point in higher resilience than that. The only stat you need to
get a specific % of is hit, aim for 180~ hit rating
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GEMMING
Firstly, Gem your pants blue gem slot with a +10 stats gem, this will
instantly activate your meta gem and it has the best socket bonus. As a
meta gem, take the agi + crit one. Now my gemming is basically like
this
Red: +40 AP
Blue: +40 AP
Yellow: AP+Resi
ENCHANTS
These are pretty standard, you can change some out for +stats
enchants but I find these best.
Head: +50AP +20Resi (WG)
Shoulders: +40AP +15Resi (WG)
Back: Shadow Armour
Chest: +20 Resi
Bracers: +50 AP
Gloves: +44 AP
Belt: Eternal belt buckle
Pants: +75 AP +22 Crit
Boots: Tuskar's Vitality
MH Weapon: Berserking
OH Weapon: Titanium Weapon Chain
Weapon Switching Weapons - Berserking
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WEAPONS
Standard is MH 1.8, OH 1.4/1.5(sword/axe/fist are all 1.5)
MH - Wound
OH - Crippling
For weapon switching I use my 1.5 speed tier 1 weapons.
T2 Sword (1.5) Mind Numbing
T1 Dagger (1.4) Aesthetic
T1 Sword (1.5) Wound
Mind numbing basically if I want to step kick a caster I willswitch weapons after so I can shiv up mind numbing to slow his
casts. Or even to just switch while I pool energy for a dance, Illswitch to my mind numbing weapon and shiv on a mind numbing
so its easier to interrupt the cast.
Aesthetic shiv off enrage effects so I can get a fear sapcombo.
Wound if I need to shiv on wound to another person for a swapor so on.
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MACROS
Use /macro to access your macros.
No modifier Ill use slice, else if I press shift Ill use rupture
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift] Rupture;Slice and Dice;
Uses prep before I ambush
#showtooltip Ambush
/cast Premeditation
/cast Ambush
Starts my auto attack as I backstab
#showtooltip/startattack
/cast Backstab
Stops my current ability and uses blind on my target, else if I press
shift it will blind my focus
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Blind;Blind
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This will cast premeditation on my target always, if I dont use shift it
will cheap shot my target, if I press shift it will cheap shot my focus
target.
#showtooltip Cheap Shot
/cast [nomodifier] Premeditation
/cast [nomodifier] Cheap Shot
/cast [modifier:ctrl,target=focus] Cheap Shot
Dismantles my target, if I hold shift it dismantles my focus target
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Dismantle;Dismantle
Spammable distract macro
#showtooltip
/cast !Distract
This will cast premeditation on my target always, if I dont use shift it
will Garrote my target, if I press shift it will Garrote my focus target.
#showtooltip Garrote
/cast [nomodifier] Premeditation
/cast [nomodifier] Garrote
/cast [modifier:ctrl,target=focus] Garrote
Gouge Target, Shift will Gouge Focus
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Gouge; Gouge
Starts my Auto Attacks when I use Hemmo
#showtooltip
/startattack
/cast Hemorrhage
Mouseover Shadowstep (mainly to quickly shadowstep to totems/pets):#showtooltip shadowstep/cast [target=mouseover] shadowstep
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Stops my current ability to cast Kick on my target, if shift is held it will
cast kick on my focus target
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Kick;Kick
No mod will use evasion, shift will use rocket gloves, alt will use boots
and ctrl will use belt.
#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Evasion;
/use [mod:shift] 10;
/use [mod:alt]8;
/use [mod:ctrl]6;
Macro for finding stealth targets
#showtooltip Sap
/clear target
/targetenemyplayer
/cast Sap
Steps my target, shift will step my focus target
#showtooltip
/stopattack
/cast [mod:shift,target=focus,] Shadowstep;Shadowstep;
Shivs my target, shift will shiv my focus target
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift,target=focus] Shiv;Shiv
Uses Deadly Throw, if shift is held uses normal Throw
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [mod:shift] Throw;Deadly Throw(Rank 3);
Mouseover Throw (To kill totems):#showtooltip Throw/cast [target=mouseover] Throw
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Clean vanish macro#showtooltip Vanish
/stopattack
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast Vanish
Saps target, shift saps focus
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,target=focus] Sap;Sap;
So I can do Kidney Sap combos
#showtooltip
/cast Kidney Shot(Rank 2)
/stopattack
Blinds arena 1 from your arena frames, can be changed to arena2 and
arena3
#showtooltip
/cast [target=arena1] Blind
First will use ambush as I use Dance
#showtooltip
/cast Shadow Dance
/cast Ambush(Rank 10)
Will use Cheap shot as I use dance
#showtooltip
/cast Shadow Dance
/cast Cheap Shot
Cleaner Vanish macro
#showtooltip
/stopattack
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast Cloak of Shadows
/cast Vanish(Rank 3)
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TotT Macro
#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast [target=TEAM MATE NAME HERE] Tricks of the Trade
Starts Auto Attacks when I use FoK
#showtooltip
/startattack
/cast Fan of Knives
Steps and kicks arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and arena3
#showtooltip Kick
/cast [target=arena1] Shadowstep
/cast [target=arena1] Kick
Saps arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and arena3
#showtooltip
/cast [target=arena1] Sap(Rank 4)
Shadow steps and Cheap shots arena target 1, can be changed to
arena2 and arena3
/cast [target=arena1] Shadowstep
/cast [target=arena1] Cheap Shot
Shadowstep and Saps arena target 1, can be changed to arena2 and
arena3
/cast [target=arena1] Shadowstep
/cast [target=arena1] Sap
Makes sure you use all abilities before using prep,NOT spammable
#Showtooltip preparation/cast [nostealth] evasion/cast sprint/cast vanish/cast preparation
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This will Step to my target and kick it, if shift is held it will step and
kick my focus target, requires 1 push for the step and 1 for the kick, if
the button isnt pushed a second time within 1 second the macro will
rest.
#showtooltip
/stopattack
/castsequence [mod:shift,target=focus,] reset=1 Shadowstep, Kick;
reset=1 Shadowstep, Kick;
Set a focus target
/focus
Boots
#showtooltip
/use 8
Belt
#showtooltip
/use Cobalt Frag Bomb
/use 6
Gloves
#showtooltip
/use 10
Cancel Everything
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cancelaura Evasion(Rank 2)
Sets focus to Arena target 1, can be changed to arena 2 or 3
Focus Arena 1:/focus arena1
Targets Arena target 1, can be changed to arena 2 or 3
Target Arena1:/target arena1
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ROTATION
Basically you want to keep Slice n Dice up as much as possible. Thereason for this is because outside of Shadow Dance you want to be
pooling as much energy, so once you either get a good CC chain off, or
your Dance is back up, you have near max energy to burst your target
down. So youll realise most of your damage outside of kill attempts
comes from just white damage, which Slice n Dice will help.
Hemmo is used either against a melee player who is attacking you and
you cant get behind them to attack, OR as a damage boost for yourBackstabs/Dance.
Eviscerate is an awesome finisher, but its simply that, a finisher. Use
it during kill attempts.
Shadow Dance can be used in three ways
1.Kill attempts meaning when you want to kill someone or even apet
2.Making the enemy team use Cool downs so you can later score akill
3.Defensively peeling the enemy off either yourself or your teammate(s)
Shadow Step can be used to get kicks, peel and even get away from
the enemy team.
Energy pooling this is something you need to master to be able to
play Sub properly. Basically as I stated before, you dont want to be
trying to score kill attempts outside of a good CC chain or a dance,
youll spend majority of the fight outside of CC chains and dance,
LoSing opponents, peeling opponents, setting up kill attempts, making
enemies waste CDs. Pillars are your friends as rogues, you want to be
at about 90% of your energy most of the time outside of kill attempts
so when the time comes you have the energy to do insane burst.
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Prekicking this is something you need to practice a lot. You need to
understand each casters rotation, etc to be able to try predict what
they will cast and when.
EXAMPLE OF PREKICKING
If Im playing mage/rogue vs healer/lock, assuming these are decent
opponents, we will kill the locks pet(fel hunter), with a sap on the
lock and poly on the healer, 99% of locks will instantly port and use fel
dom + summon to get soul link back up so I will just spam step+kick
and get his fel dom cast.
You can also Vanish casts/CCs, for example Death Coil from a Warlock,
if you see it coming, you can vanish it mid-air.
Defensive CDs Managing your defensive CDs is vital to playing rogue.
You need to communicate with your partner to what CDs youre using
and as well as the timers on them. These include Evasion, Cloak of
Shadows, Shadow Step, Dismantle, Sprint, Shadow Dance, Gouge, Kick,
Preparation, Blind and Kidney Shot. These can of cause be used
offensively as well.
Sap Resaps are you friend, you can resap off basically any sort of CC,
even silences. If you kick a caster and he tries to cast a +1.5sec cast,
you can actually sap him off that.
CD Management Call out your CD usage, time your Defensive CDs
with your partners. Its a complete waste using Cloak of Shadows and
you healer trinketing at the same time to save you.
Cloak of Shadows Use it early, rather prevent damage than take a
ton and just before dying using it.
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ROGUE COMPS
2v2
Rogue/Mage (Arcane/ Frost/Fire)
Pros Strong Burst, Blind/Poly dont share DR, Can heal by eating,
Strong switches.
Cons Sap/Poly/Gouge Share DR, Kidney/Deepfreeze share DR, No
direct healing, Not forgiving with regards to mistakes.
Rogue/Discipline Priest
Pros Strong Healing, Can double burst, Healing(allows for mistakes),
Sap/Fear dont share DR, Strong CC, Dispels.
Cons Blind/Fear share DR, can only burst during CC.
Rogue/Shadow Priest
Pros - Strong Burst, Fear/Sap dont share DR, Can heal, Strong
switches, can Dispel.
Cons Blind/Fear Share DR.
Rogue/Warlock (Destruction/Affliction)
Pros - Strong Burst, Sap/Fear dont share DR, Instant heal from Health
Stone, Pet CC/Silence/Dispel.
Cons Blind/Fear share DR, No real healing, Not forgiving with regards
to mistakes.
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Rogue/Restoration Shaman
Pros Strong Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont
share DR, various Totems, Purges.
Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, No Burst, CCs on long CD.
Rogue/Elemental Shaman
Pros Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont share
DR, various Totems, Strong Burst, Switches, Purges.
Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, CCs on long CD.
Rogue/Enhancement Shaman
Pros Healing, Double Interrupt on Short CDs, Blind/Hex dont share
DR, various Totems, Strong Burst, Switches, Purges.
Cons Hex/Sap Share DR, CCs on long CD.
Rogue/Paladin (Retribution)
Pros Strong burst, Quick Switches, BoP and Bubble, Healing
Cons Rep/Sap Share DR, HoJ/Kidney share DR, Little room for error.
Rogue/Feral Druid
Pros Cyclone doesnt DR with Rogue CCs, Heals, Huge burst,
Switches, Double Stealth.
Cons Pounce/Cheap share DR, Maim/Kidney share DR, no room for
error.
Rogue/Restoration Druid
Pros - Cyclone doesnt DR with Rogue CCs, Heals, Support DPS
Cons No Burst, No dispels, no shields.
Rogue/Hunter (Marksman/Survival/Beast Mastery)
Pros Huge burst
Cons No healing, No room for errors, Sap/Trap share DR.
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3v3
RMP (Rogue Arcane/Frost Mage Discipline Priest)
Pros Strong CC, Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Dispels.
Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy.
RLS (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Restoration Shaman)
Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Interrupts, Heroism,
Totems, Purges, Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Hex/Sap Share DR, Requires a lot of
communication
RLD (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Restoration Druid)
Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Cyclone doesnt share DR,
Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication, no
Dispels.
Heroic RLS (Rogue Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman)
Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Interrupts, Heroism,
Totems, Purges/Dispels, off heals.
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Hex/Sap Share DR, Requires a lot of
communication
RPS (Rogue Elemental/Enhancement Shaman Discipline Priest)
Pros Blind/Hex dont Share DR, Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches,
Dispels/Purges.
Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy.
RsPD (Rogue Shadow Priest Restoration Druid)
Pros - Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, Cyclone doesnt share DR
with any CCs, Dispels, off heals.
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication.
RPP (Rogue Retribution Paladin Discipline Priest)
Pros Huge Burst, Resets, Strong Switches, double Dispels,
BoP/Bubble.
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Cons Requires a lot of communication and synergy, no room for
errors.
RLP (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Holy Paladin)
Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, party Dispels,
BoP/Bubble, Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication.
RsPP (Rogue Shadow Priest Holy Paladin)
Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, party
Dispels(double), Offensive dispels, BoP/Bubble.
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication.
RLP (Rogue Affliction/Destruction Warlock Discipline Priest)
Pros - Resets, Strong Switches, Sap/Fear dont Share DR, Dispels,
Dispel/CC/Silence (pet).
Cons Blind/Fear Share DRs, Requires a lot of communication.
RHS (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Restoration
Shaman)
Pros Double Interupt, Huge Burst, Purge, Totems, Blind doesnt share
DR with Hex/Trap.
Cons No dispels, Hex/Sap/Trap all Share DR, Requires a lot of
communication.
RHP (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Discipline Priest)
Pros Huge Burst, Dispels, Blind doesnt share DR with Trap.
Cons Sap/Trap Share DR, Fear/Blind Share DR, Requires a lot of
communication.
RHD (Rogue Beast Mastery/Marksman/Survival Hunter Restoration
Druid)
Pros Huge Burst, Blind doesnt share DR with Trap, Cyclone doesnt
share DR with anything.
Cons No dispels, Sap/Trap all Share DR, Requires a lot of
communication.
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Diminishing Returns
Something you must take into consideration when choosing your
comp...
Sap/Gouge, share DR with Sheep, Repentance, Trap and Hex
Blind, Shares DR with Fear
Kidney Shot, Shares DR with Deepfreeze, HoJ and Maim
STRATS
First thing I want to say is these are very general and dont account for
unusual situations. Whenever you go out of stealth, you want to have
some sort of goal in mind; it could be forcing a healers trinket,
forcing a block, etc. Once you accomplish your goal, try get away and
restealth the main aim is to force their CDs/Defensive skills while
maintain yours. Also Dance is a 1min CD, its not that long so use it.
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2vs2
Rogue/Healer vs DPS/Healer
General Strat here is to try force as many CDs in the opener as
possible, biggest being the enemy healers trinket. Usually youll open
up with a sap on the healer and then straight into a dance on the DPS.
Reset and repeat basically until you can line up a kill attempt. Also
remember to peel their DPS off your healer if they are on your healer,
you dont want your healing needing to use too many CDs, as that
could hinder your kill attempt later.
Rogue/Healer vs Double DPS
Try get a sap off, this is really important. Basically you need to blow
your CDs fast in this kind of fight to make sure you land a kill as early
as possible on one of them.
Double DPS vs DPS/Healer
Sap one of them and open up as hard on 1 of the other players as
possible your goal is to force as many of their CDs in that opener as
possible. After that you need to reset and wait for your Dance again,
unless you land some sort of CC chain that isnt on DR. Switching also
works as you can protect CCs from being dispelled and also to keep
your CCs off DR.
Double DPS vs Double DPS
Its a DPS race to kill one of the opponents before they can kill either
you or your partner. Switching is also viable because you can force a
trinket on both and then switch so your CC is off DR completely.
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3vs3
For 3vs3, you need to remember that as a rogue you have 5 things to
concentrate on
1.DPS youre a huge Burst in your team, you need to time it andcommunicate your CDs with your partners.
2.CC you have Gouge, Sap and Blind, you must let your teamknow what youre planning on using and on whom.
3. Interrupting your kick is vital, you can stop deep+poly comboson your healer with a simple step+kick combo.
4.Peeling if your mates are taking damage, you need to peel theenemy team off them, you have blind, gouge, kick, cheap shot,
garrotte, sap, kidney shot, use them.
5.Stun lock This is something you HAVE to communicate with yourteam, especially if your Stun lock shares a DR with one of their
abilities, keep them informed of its CD, etc.
Im not going to go into comp vs comp as a rogue, itll take way too
much time and energy, but if you have questions, feel free to PM me.
These strats are VERY general; I did not feel like writing a guide for
every comp vs every comp as itll take me WAY too long. If you have
any Questions for any certain comp vs w/e PM me and I will gladly give
you advice.
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CREDITS
Fexer my first real arena partner
Hunkatunka my current arena partner
Holydance RMP RMP RMP
Luuna First rogue I ever met
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FINAL WORDS
Sub is not as easy as people might think; it requires a lot of
communication and awareness to be played properly. Remember to
manage your CDs effectively and to keep your energy pooled out of
bursting/kill attempts. Hope this guide helps some of you, good luck
and see you in arena
Cheers
Scylla