Welcome to the Ultimate Outlaw Rogue Guide for Dragonflight Season 4. This comprehensive guide is designed to elevate your Outlaw Rogue gameplay in both Awakened Raids and Mythic+ dungeons. You will find detailed strategies on maximizing your DPS, along with the most effective Talent Tree builds tailored for each raid boss and dungeon encounter. Whether you're new to the spec or looking to refine your skills, this guide has you covered. Please also check our recent Cataclysm Classic world boss Guide!
Outlaw Rogue Overview
Are you looking to play a Rogue who fears no one and boldly leaps into the fray? A combatant who expertly wields one-handed weapons, standing their ground in open combat, and unleashing a whirlwind of attacks against one or multiple enemies? A master of arms who can also rely on a concealed pistol to surprise and support them in combat? If so, Outlaw Rogue might be the perfect spec for you!
As with any Rogue specialization, Outlaw uses Energy to fuel its attacks. These attacks are typically classified into two categories: Builders, which generate Combo Points, and Finishers, which consume these Combo Points to deliver powerful strikes.
Outlaw is known for its fast-paced gameplay, allowing you to hit many buttons for direct damage. It features the iconic Blade Flurry mechanic, enabling you to deal AoE damage by continuing with your standard rotation, rather than relying on AoE-specific abilities and rotations.
A unique aspect of the spec is Roll the Bones, which can be somewhat daunting for newcomers due to its lack of transparency. However, this mechanic adds an element of variance to your performance, and shouldn't detract from your enjoyment of this dynamic specialization.
Outlaw Rogue Strengths and Weaknesses in Dragonflight 10.2.7
Strengths:
- Strong AoE Damage: Excellent AoE damage against up to 5 targets while maintaining the regular single target rotation, thanks to Blade Flurry.
- Fun and Fast-Paced: A dynamic and engaging spec with many abilities to press, built around continuous cooldown reduction via Restless Blades.
- Mobility and Utility: Offers a good kit of mobility and utility, making it versatile in various combat scenarios.
Weaknesses:
- Downtime Sensitivity: Reliance on cooldown reduction means Outlaw suffers significantly from downtimes and inability to hit the boss consistently.
- DPS Tuning Vulnerability: Often subject to DPS tuning issues since many other classes can perform utility tasks more effectively.
- Target Cap Limitations: Blade Flurry is target capped, allowing Outlaw to hit only 5 targets at a time, though this can be increased to 8 with talents.
- Randomness of Roll the Bones: Not everyone appreciates the random element introduced by Roll the Bones.
Some interesting facts about Outlaw Rogue:
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Fantasy: Outlaw rogues are the unscrupulous scoundrels of Azeroth. Operating outside the law, they bend the rules and distort the truth to get what they need. While they share plenty in common with other rogues, these outlaws have little use for tact or discretion, happy to engage in a tavern brawl or spontaneous duel, rarely patient enough to wait in stealth for the opportune time to engage. To survive in such a world, outlaws must become master swordsmen in toe-to-toe combat—and they can’t shy away from fighting dirty. If the blade fails to cut too deeply, the outlaw takes advantage of a concealed pistol, catching the enemy by surprise with a quick blast.
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Resources: Outlaw Rogues consume Energy to build Combo Points in order to use their finishers on their foes.
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Defensive Cooldowns: Rogues can use Feint to reduce area damage taken, Evasion and Cloak of Shadows to dodge physical and prevent magical damage and heal themselves with Crimson Vial.
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Stealth: Rogues can blend into the shadows, leaving them mostly undetectable to friends and foes, allowing them to sneak past enemies and easily start surprise attacks. Some abilities, like Ambush, Cheap Shot, and Sap and only usable while in Stealth.
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Mobility: Sprint, which is baseline for all rogues.
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Damage Cooldowns: Adrenaline Rush increases your energy regeneration and attack speed for a moderate amount of time. Blade Flurry enables you to deal a good amount of AoE damage.
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Armor: Agility Leather
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Obtained via Pickpocketing:
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Dingy Iron Coins - Added in Warlords, used to buy cool items like Barrel of Bandanas and Sinister Rouge Mask.
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Marin Noggenfogger's Lucky Coin - Allows access to his Vault, which allow you to get items like Poisoned Throwing Knives and Uncrowned Shadowcraft Cap.
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Dice
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Decahedral Dwarven Dice from Wrath of the Lich King Human, Gnome and Dwarven humanoids.
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Worn Troll Dice from Wrath of the Lich King Troll and Vrykul humanoids.
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Loaded Gnomish Dice from Cataclysm humanoids.
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Rogues also have access to Pick Lock, which used to be a profession, but now just scales with your level.
Outlaw Rogue Rework in Patch in Dragonflight 10.2.7
In Patch 10.2, Outlaw Rogues have received significant changes focused on two main aspects. First, the class tree has been made less restrictive, making utility nodes feel less detrimental and increasing the baseline level of utility available to the spec. Second, the playstyle of the spec has been refined for better coherence and enjoyment.
For those who enjoy the Hidden Opportunity playstyle, it remains the go-to approach. Additionally, with the introduction of the new talent Crackshot, there is a shift in focus from using Vanish and Shadow Dance primarily as abilities to refill procs. Instead, these abilities are now leveraged to allow more frequent Between the Eyes casts, enhancing the overall combat rhythm and effectiveness.
How to Play Outlaw Rogue
Outlaw Rogue primarily focuses on managing buffs and cooldowns to maximize damage output. One of the central mechanics is Roll the Bones, where you need to decide whether to reroll each time the cooldown expires or to stick with your current effect based on the situation and the specific buff received. With practice, managing Roll the Bones will become second nature, ensuring you don't waste resources or let cooldowns sit idle for too long.
Most of your abilities benefit from Restless Blades, which continuously reduces their cooldown as you spend Combo Points. Therefore, efficiently utilizing this cooldown reduction is crucial for optimal performance.
Outlaw Rogue Skills
These are your primary abilities, forming the core of your DPS rotation. Remember that your rotation may vary slightly depending on the talents you choose.
Main Abilities
Stealth | Turns you invisible until canceled or upon attack. |
Sinister Strike | Your main attacking ability and Combo Point Generator. |
Ambush | Generator that can only be used from Stealth. Generates 2 Combo Points. |
Pistol Shot | A ranged Generator that generates 1 Combo Point. |
Blade Flurry | Buff that allows you to deal 50% of all damage you deal to your target to 5 additional nearby enemies. |
Cheap Shot | A Combo Point Generator that can only be used from Stealth and against stunnable targets. Generates 1 Combo Point. |
Dispatch | Finishing move that consumes your Combo Points to deal physical damageoutput. |
Between the Eyes | A ranged Finisher that consumed Combo Points to deal damage and apply a debuff that increases your chance to critically strike. Damage and duration increase with CP spent. |
Roll the Bones | Cooldown that grants you one or multiple spec-specific buffs. You should maintain a Roll the Bones buff at all times. |
Restless Blades | Allows you to significantly reduce the cooldown of most major cooldowns, as every time you use a Finisher, you reduce the remaining CD of any of the listed abilities. |
Slice and Dice | Finishing move that spends Combo Points and increases your attack speed by 50%. Lasts longer per Combo Point spent. |
Kidney Shot | Finishing move that consumes your Combo Points and stuns the target for a duration based on how many Combo Points were spent, up to a maximum of 6 seconds. 20-second cooldown. |
Sap | A crowd control ability that incapacitates an enemy for a long duration. You can run past a sapped enemy without getting into combat. If the enemy takes damage, it breaks free. |
Sprint | 2-minute cooldown that increases your movement speed by 70% for 8 seconds. Usable while Stealthed. |
Grappling Hook | A mobility skill that allows you to grapple to a target location. This is not a teleport, and you are still affected by spells you travel through. |
Crimson Vial | Heals you for 20% of your maximum health in over 4 seconds. 30-second cooldown. |
Kick | Interrupts targets spellcasting and prevents any spells from that school for 5 seconds. 15-second cooldown. |
Shroud of Concealment | Provides Stealth for you and your party and raid members for 15 seconds. 6-minute cooldown. |
Vanish | Vanishes you from sight and enters you into Stealth. Breaks all movement impairing effects and is usable while in combat. 2-minute cooldown. |
Feint | A defensive skill that reduces damage taken from area-of-effect skills. |
Outlaw Rogue Rotation in Dragonflight 10.2.7
Outlaw Rogue offers a unique and engaging playstyle. Your goal is to use key abilities as they become available while efficiently generating and spending Combo Points. To maximize your DPS, follow this prioritized rotation. Keep in mind that missing a priority ability can result in a significant DPS loss.
- Use Blade Flurry before the pull. Refresh it if it drops off.
- Use Adrenaline Rush and Slice and Dice before the pull.
- Use Sinister Strike as your main builder.
- Use Ambush when it is available to cast and Pistol Shot when you have an Opportunity proc, at either 0-1 CP or when you are in Shadow Dance.
- Use Dispatch as your main Finisher.
- Use Between the Eyes on cooldown if it is available. During Shadow Dance, Vanish, or Subterfuge, only use Between the Eyes.
- Use Roll the Bones on cooldown if you only have 1 buff or only 2 buffs AND Loaded Dice is active.
- Use Adrenaline Rush, Blade Rush, Ghostly Strike, and Shadow Dance on cooldown.
- Use Shadow Dance and Vanish at maximum Combo Points, and with Between the Eyes ready.
- Maintain Slice and Dice at all times.
How to Gear Up Outlaw Rogue in Dragonflight 10.2.7
To effectively gear your Outlaw Rogue, focus on the following priorities:
Overall Outlaw Rogue Best in Slot
Slot | Item | Source |
Head | Visage of the Devouring Flame | BoE from Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope |
Neck | Ouroboreal Necklet | Volcoross |
Shoulders | Lurking Specter's Shoulderblades | Catalyst / |
Cloak | Voice of the Silent Star | Scalecommander Sarkareth |
Chest | Lurking Specter's Brigandine | Catalyst / |
Wrist | Ferocious Hyena Hidebinders | Brackenhide Hollow |
Gloves | Lurking Specter's Handgrips | Catalyst / |
Belt | Life-Bound Belt | Crafted Gear |
Legs | Lurking Specter's Tights | Catalyst / |
Boots | Toxic Thorn Footwraps | Crafted Gear |
Ring | Seal of Diurna's Chosen | Eranog |
Ring | Signet of the Last Elder | Igira the Cruel |
Trinket | Manic Grieftorch | Broodkeeper Diurna |
Trinket | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon |
Main Hand | Thorncaller Claw | Urctos |
Off Hand | Forgestorm | Neltharus |
Best Embellishments for Outlaw Rogue in Dragonflight 10.2.7
Crafting items with Embellishments gives them special properties and effects in addition to regular stats. However, you may only wear 2 pieces of gear with Embellishments at a time. With that in mind, the best Embellishments are:
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Toxic Thorn Footwraps This is the best single target embellishment that Outlaw rogue has access to. The stats aren't great but the Output when combined with Toxified Armor Patch is huge.
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Toxified Armor Patch is the other half that makes Toxic Thorn Footwraps so powerful. Make sure to craft this 2nd!
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Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch for M+ this is just better than Toxic Thorn Footwraps due to the fact that you can pick a better stat distribution than these boots have.
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Alchemical Flavor Pocket This embellishment does not count towards your usual embellishment cap of 2 and is therefor effectively free if you are willing to sacrifice 3 potential item level compared to a 4/
4 myth track item in the same slot. For some this will be enough of a quality of life improvement though I still recommend you craft an item with this last.
Best Outlaw Rogue Trinkets in in Dragonflight 10.2.7
Outlaw Rogues are mainly looking for powerful on use/
For many of the trinkets this season, there isn't a lot to say about them. A majority of the trinkets are just passive trinkets, and the few on use trinkets that are good you can just use them on cooldown for maximum effect.
Grade | Trinket | Drop Location | Notes |
S+ | Manic Grieftorch | Broodkeeper Diurna | This trinket is the strongest damage on use trinket we have access to. It also has the added upside of when people die to do massive amounts of damage. Just an overall great option |
S+ | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon | The 2nd best trinket we have, and thankfully it's a passive one so we don't have to deal with double on use this tier. |
S+ | Storm-Eater's Boon | Dathea, Ascended | The best AoE trinket for dungeons by far. Be careful of root it applies to you during its channel. |
A+ | Dragonfire Bomb Dispenser | Zskarn | This trinket at a baseline is worse than torch, and is also obnoxious to play with. It's output is strong but theres really no reason to use this over Grieftorch |
A+ | Coiled Serpent Idol | Volcoross | The next best passive trinket we have access to. Worth considering over Signet Brand on shorter encounters. |
A+ | Globe of Jagged Ice | Halls of Infusion | The best dungeon trinket we can grab before heading into raid. It's solid but the other options are just better |
A+ | Controlled Current Technique | Kurog Grimtotem | A solid passive dungeon trinket. |
A | Bandolier of Twisted Blades | Igira the Cruel | A good trinket for AoE. More balanced in its output compared to Boon. |
A | Ruby Whelp Shell | Ruby Life Pools | A solid trinket but you do have to train it for it to be better than baseline. |
B+ | Mutated Magmammoth Scale | Neltharus | |
B | Frenzying Signoll Flare | Brackenhide Hollow | |
B | Irideus Fragment | Halls of Infusion | |
B- | Bottle of Spiraling Winds | The Nokhud Offensive | |
C | Algeth'ar Puzzle Box | Algeth'ar Academy | |
C | Homeland Raid Horn | Uldaman |
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