For a more detailed rogue leveling guide, see our preferred guide HERE.
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Leveling a rogue all the way to 80 can be a daunting task. Getting any class to level 80 can take, what feels like, an eternity. But if you follow some helpful guidelines you can hit the top level in an impressively short period of time. What follows is just a small glimpse at some of the very helpful guidelines for leveling quickly. But if you are serious about leveling as fast as possible, then we highly recommend you try out Zygor’s leveling guide FOR FREE (see banner to the right).
One of the most deadly and ruthless classes in all of Azeroth, rogues have many special attributes that help them out in ways that other classes’ abilities do not. For instance, the ability to poison their weapons to ‘debuff’ their opponent. Or the ability to go nearly invisible at will and sneak up on a target.
Rogues also have a bit of an easier time making money because they can open lock boxes for a fee, or pickpocket MOBs for some extra loot and money.
Playing A Rogue
Rogues have an inherently high DPS (damage per second), so it is not surprising that, as a rogue, you can drop enemies in record time with relative ease. Even better, good rogues can keep an enemy stun locked and defenceless for long periods of time. Stuns make an already easy fight almost trivial.
Rogues also can use blind, sprint, and vanish to help escape bad situations. Not every class has escape mechanisms, so this also makes rogues very powerful for leveling.
Don’t get too excited, every class has limits and Rogues are no different.
Rogues do not ever wear any armor class above leather. So they physical damage absorbtion has an upward boundary that is rather low. Yet, the escape abilities tend to balance out the rather low armor rating of rogues.
Even worse, rogues have no way to heal themselves (outside of bandages), and no way to actually give themselves buffs without potions. In general, rogues are ‘take em as you seem em’.
Race Preference For Rogues
Not all playable races were created equal, and you should not take the following list lightly since it was comprised with a lot of consideration given to PVP and PVE both. Depending on horde or alliance, you will want to consider the following ranking list for selecting what race to make your rogue:
Horde
- Undead
- Blood Elf
- Orc
- Troll
Alliance
- Human
- Gnome, Dwarf
- Night Elf
Weapons For Leveling
Rogues are very deeply dependant on the weapons they wield. And that means that you need to keep upgrading your weapons as you progress to help maximise your leveling potential. Take a look at the following list of weapons and quests that deliver them, making sure to include them in your journey to the level cap (note that having a lot of gold can help you bypass the necessity of some of these weapons)!
Level 10 – (Horde only) Leaders of the Fang in Wailing Caverns will give the Wingblade.
Level 21 – (Horde only) Baron Aquanis in Ashenvale will give Outlaw Sabre.
Level 34 – (Alliance only) In the name of the Light in the Scarlet Monastery will deliver Sword of Serenity.
Level 34 – (Horde only) Into the Scarlet Monastery in the Scarlet Monastery will give Sword of Omen.
Level 37 – (Alliance only) Bring the Light or (Horde only) Bring the End inside Razer Fen Down, will grant Vanquisher’s Sword.
Level 45 – (Alliance and Horde) Corruption of Earth and Seed inside Maraudon will give Thrash Blade
Level 58 – (Alliance only) The Path of Anguish or (Horde only) Felspark Ravine in Hellfire Peninsula will get you Foe Reaver
Level 58 – (Horde only) the quest Honor the Fallen inside Hellfire Peninsul will give Blade of the Unyielding
Level 62 – (Alliance only) Lines of Communication and (Horde only) The Sharpest Blades in Zangarmarsh will give Keen Marshfang Slicer
Builds For Fast Leveling
Now that we understand the weaknesses of rogues, we can now work on building it to level all the way up to 80 as quickly as possible.
Assassination is one the most popular builds for leveling. This tree will give you access to improvements to crit, reductions/gains in energy, and damage increases. These are the attributes you will want most when building a powerful rogue. Try putting 51 points in this tree while avoiding the following abilities as much as possible:
- Malice
- Lethality
- Improved Poisons
- Improved Kidney Shot
- Murder
- Deadened Nerves
- Find Weakness
- Master Poisoner
You will end up with an extra 20 points to spend in the Subtlety and Combat trees. Try adding a few points to Improved Gouge under the Combat tree before moving on to the Subtlety tree.
Under the Subtlety tree, try putting 3 points into Master of Deception, 2 into Opportunity and Dirty Tricks, another 3 points into Camouflage, 1 point in Elusiveness and Ghostly Strike, 3 points into Serrated Blades, 1 point into Initiative, and finally 2 points into Improved Ambush.
Final Words
In closing, note that this is only the tip of the ice berg. But leveling quickly doesn’t have to be hard, or tedious. There are a lot of guides out there that claim to help, and some actually do. In my opinion, the one that does the best job for your money is Zygor. You can try it for FREE. That’s right, if you don’t like it, don’t pay for it. Check them out to the right (top banner) for further comprehensive leveling details.
