PvP as a Rogue

Jillathee is my new love and main. I really like playing a Rogue, it's a hoot. She's got lots of options, can pour out the DPS, and can solo around pretty well too. Plus, PvP is fun again. Who would have thought?

Mainly, I've been hitting the Battlegrounds, since I need a lot of PvP gear before I'm ready to face people in the arenas. I managed to snag a Black Knight's Rondel in H-ToC, and picked up the Dagger of the Rising Moon (for 25 tourney marks) as my offhand.

Here's my spec. (43/5/23) It's a variation on a pretty common PvP and arena build. I had tried running as shadowdance subtlety for a while, and it was really hard to pull off. I think it's a possible thing to do (shadowdance, spambush), but just that it's a pretty big adjustment for me. Too much to keep track of. This mutilate build is a bit easier. Most people put preparation in that build, which I think is key for arena. In the battlegrounds, it's just one more cooldown to watch and I had a hard time figuring the best time to use it, given the long (10 minute) cooldown on prep.

Basically, the build lets me destroy cloth- and leather-wearing characters, especially ones that aren't in PvP gear. The subtlety talents all speak directly towards getting around stealthily and swiftly in the BG and setting up the big opener. Then you bust out with something like Cheap Shot - Mutilate - Mutilate - Kidney Shot - Mutilate - Eviscerate (or Envenom if your enemy is plate or mail armor). It's a sad fact for eviscerate that with one or two stacks of deadly poison on the target, envenom hits as hard or harder, even on some leather-wearers. Then again, the points in improved eviscerate have to go somewhere.

There are definitely strategies to playing in PvP. It's not just nuke and blast. For example: against warlocks and priests, it's a good idea to pop cloak of shadows right before kidney shot wears off, since the odds are likely that you'll get an instant-cast fear (death coil, psychic scream) to the face right away. I'll post more of what I'm figuring out later.