Subtlety (WoW Talent Tree)  

See Rogue Talent Builds

Subtlety is the rogue talent tree that focus on the use of stealth and dirty tricks. Over time, it has also come to be known as the best option for pvp focused rogue. Subtlety is often referred to as 'Shadowstep spec'.

Primary uses

Subtlety at first focus on increase the Rogue's stealth but as you go down the path for it, it start to increase the rogue's ability to survive as well as his mobility. The corner stone of this tree are Preparation (which resets other cooldowns), Hemorrhage (which becomes the new spammable attack), Shadow Step (a great mobility increase) as well as Cheat Death (a huge survivability increase). This make Subtlety Rogue hard to control, hard to get away from and capable of building combo points and finisher at an alarming rate.

Before the Burning Crusade, Subtlety was often considered a 'dagger' tree, but things have changed and now rogues going down this tree will usually favor slower and bigger 1 handed weapon, following the same creed for weapon selection as their Combat brethren.

Despite many attempt by Blizzard, Subtlety remain a poor man's choice for PVE damage output. Despite this, the increased mobility and the many ways to get out of sticky situation that this build provides has made it the king of pvp.

Tier 1

• Relentless Strikes (5 points) - Your finishing moves have 4/8/12/16/20% per combo points to return 25 energy.
• Master of Deception (3 points) - Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while in Stealth mode.
• Opportunity (2 points) - Increases the damage dealt when striking from behind with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote and Ambush abilities by 10%/20%.

Tier 2

(5 points required)

• Sleight of Hand (2) - Reduces the chance you are critically hit by melee and ranged attacks by 1%/2% and increases the threat reduction of your Feint ability by 10%/20%.
• Dirty Tricks (2) - Increases the range of your Blind and Sap abilities by 2/5 yards and reduces the energy cost of your Blind and Sap abilities by 25%/50%.
• Camouflage (3) - Increases your speed while stealthed by 5%/10%/15% and reduces the cooldown of your Stealth ability by 2/4/6 sec.

Tier 3

(10 points required)

• Elusiveness (2) - Reduces the cooldown of your Vanish and Blind abilities by 30/60 sec and your cloak of shadow by 15/30 sec.
• Ghostly Strike (1) - A strike that deals 125% weapon damage and increases your chance to dodge by 15% for 7 seconds. Awards 1 combo point.
• Serrated Blades (3) - Causes your attacks to ignore 2.67/5.34/8* of your target's Armor and increases the damage dealt by your Rupture ability by 10%/20%/30%. The amount of Armor reduced increases with your level. (*Note: These are the values given by talent calculators, this is representative level 1. For reference, at level 28 this talent gives roughly 74/149/222 and at level 70 this talent gives roughly 186/372/558 armor ignore.)

Tier 4

(15 points required)

• Setup (3) - Gives you a 33%/66%/100% chance to add a combo point to your target after dodging their attack or fully resisting one of their spells. This cannot happen more than once per second.
• Initiative (3) - Gives you a 33%/66%/100% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
• Improved Ambush (3) - Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 25%/50%.

Tier 5

(20 points required)

• Heightened Senses (2) - Increases your Stealth detection and reduces the chance you are hit by spells and ranged attacks by 2%/4%.
• Preparation (1) - When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, Cold Blood, Shadowstep and Premeditation abilities.
• Dirty Deeds (2) - Reduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot and Garrote abilities by 10/20. Additionally, your special abilities cause 10%/20% more damage against targets below 35% health.
• Hemorrhage (1) (Requires 3 points in Serrated Blades) - An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage and causes the target to hemorrhage, increasing any Physical damage dealt to the target by up to 13. Lasts 10 charges or 15 seconds. Awards 1 combo point.

Tier 6

(25 points required)

• Master of Subtlety (3) - Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 4%/7%/10% damage.
• Deadliness (5) - Increases your attack power by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%.

Tier 7

(30 points required)

• Enveloping Shadows (3) - Reduces the damage taken by area of effect attacks by 10%/20%30%.
• Premeditation (1) (Requires 1 point in Preparation) - When used, adds 2 combo points to your target. You must add to or use those combo points within 10 seconds or the combo points are lost.
• Cheat Death (3) - You have a 33%/66%/100% chance that an attack which would otherwise kill you will instead reduce you to 10% of your maximum health. In addition, all damage taken will be reduced by up to 90% for 3 seconds (modified by resilience). This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.

Tier 8

(35 points required)

• Sinister Calling (5) (Requires 1 point in Premeditation) - Increases your total Agility by 3%/6%/9%/12%/15% and increases the percentage damage bonus of Backstab and Hemorrhage by an additional 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%.

Tier 9

(40 points required)

• Honor Among Thieves (3) - When a member of your party critically hit, you have 33/66/100% change to gain a combo point on your current target. This effect cannot occur more then once every second.
• Shadowstep (1) - Attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy and increases movement speed by 70% for 3 seconds. The damage of your next ability is increased by 20% and the threat caused is reduced by 50%. Lasts 10 seconds.
• Filthy Tricks (2) - Reduce the cooldown of your Trick of the trade and Distract abilities by 2.5/5 sec and preparation by 2.5/5 minutes.

Tier 10

(45 points required)

• Slaughter from the Shadows (5) - Reduce the energy cost of your ambush and backstab by 3/6/9/12/15 and your Hemorrhage by 1/2/3/4/5.

Tier 11

(50 points required)

• Shadow Dance (1) - Enter the shadow dance, allowing the use of Sap, Cheap Shot, Garotte, Ambush, Pickpocket and Disarm Trap regardless of being Stealthed. Those abilities all gain a cooldown of 2 second. Last 10 seconds.

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