Encrypted Text: Three's a crowd

Every Wednesday,

Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we talk about how to play a Rogue in 3v3.

As part of the new design for the upcoming Arena Season 7, Blizzard is planning to remove the ability for a player's 2v2 rating to count towards their eligibility for the current season's rewards. This means that unless you're playing in the 3v3 or 5v5 arena brackets, you won't qualify for any of the newest gear. As a class who's dominance has always been most prominent in the 2's bracket, I believe this change hurts the Rogue the most.

We're one of the worst classes in 5v5, and that's a trend that has continued since Season 1. Luckily, we do have viability in 3v3. When combined with a caster and a healer, Rogues provide the leverage it takes to give their teammates an opening to unload powerful spells into the target while stunned and their healer is Blinded. While our problems with low survivability are more evident when there are 2-3 DPS pounding on us, with intelligent cooldown usage and an aggressive playstyle, Rogues can conquer the 3's bracket.

Offensive tools:

In my opinion, the easiest way to break down a class' strength is analyze each "style" of ability it brings to the table. For offensive classes, there are certain abilities that define our play style. Rogues are considered to be a "Mortal Strike" class, because we bring Wound Poison's healing debuff to the table. This is one of our most powerful tools, as it allows us to kill targets even when there is a healer present. In addition, we are also bring what I call "incapacitate CC" via Sap, Blind, and Gouge: each having different durations and usage situations. By possessing abilities like Dismantle and Expose Armor, we can increase the vulnerability of our enemies, making them prime kill targets. Finally, our most potent weapon: the "stun CC".

This is an important distinction to make between say a Mage and a Rogue. Mages have a very potent CC with Polymorph, but you can't beat up a target who's turned into a sheep or turtle. A target in a Kidney Shot, however, is fair game to be destroyed. In fact, most of your 3v3 kills will revolve around getting a Kidney Shot on an enemy, CC'ing their partners, and killing them in the stun's duration. Mages, Warlocks, and most other classes have powerful spells they can line up during a Kidney Shot, and so working to set up these opportunities is key.

Rogues should not typically be trying to outlast their opponents, or working to run them out of mana. We're assassins, and playing any other way will result in inferior performance. You've got the best seat in the house in terms of visibility into the enemy's HP and cooldown usage: if you see an opportunity to strike, let your teammates know immediately. Having one person call for the "kill target" will greatly increase your efficiency and will strengthen your kill attempts.

Full Court Press:

The key to playing the Rogue successfully in WotLK is to be incredibly aggressive, nearly to the point of recklessness. We don't have the survivability to take focus fire, and unless the enemy is constantly retreating, they'll have a chance to drop you. Push ahead on every map, get a sap and immediately engage your first target. Use all of your cooldowns as soon as possible. There's no point in saving your CDs when you could be dead in 4 seconds flat. The more offensive pressure you apply, the more defensively your opponents will have to play. Rogues' number one enemy is a DPS class on offense. A Ret Paladin or Death Knight will easily wreck us in just a few GCDs if left unchecked. By CC'ing them , or forcing them to run, we set the tempo.

Your teammates should be focusing on keeping up this same level of pressure on the entire enemy team. This is one of the reasons that the ubiquitous Rogue-Mage-Priest team is so powerful. Your Mage can keep one of your opponents Sheeped and provide heavy slowing effects to assist you, and your Priest can Dispel and Mana Burn to keep the enemy healer in check. You can use Fan of Knives to spread your Wound and other poisons quickly to all nearby targets, forcing the enemy to spend precious time dispelling or healing through the debuff.

If you're keeping the enemy moving backwards, your constant offensive pressure will force them to make a mistake or leave one of their own vulnerable. Call out for assistance when you see this happen, and make the kill. A key mistake to watch for: if they use their PvP trinket too early, they allow themselves to be Blinded or eat a full duration Polymorph. Monitoring the diminishing returns of various CCs on your opponents and knowing when you have an opportunity to catch them in a CC will allow you to capitalize on every kill attempt.

We're squishy:

Because of our melee range requirement, Rogues are often forced to choose between following their opponents around a pillar, or staying back in LOS of their teammates. If you fall for an attempt to kite you away from your healer, you'll end up dead on the dusty arena floor with your partners yelling at you on Vent. Take every opportunity you have to restealth (especially with the Overkill change) and regroup with your team. Getting caught with 3 enemies surrounding you and no friends nearby is a universally bad decision to make, as you leave yourself open to a killing blow.

My team works hard to keep at least one member of the enemy team in our LOS at all times. If they're trying to regroup around a pillar, we will do everything in our power to isolate the last opponent before they can break LOS. We'll use Vanish->Cheap Shot, a Mage's Frost Nova, etc, in order to force the other team to give up their positioning to save their partner. If nearly any enemy is left in the open for you to attack, you should quickly work with your partners to set up a kill attempt. In today's Arena, everyone can die in just a few seconds, and so every opening is an opportunity.

Conclusion:

If you're making the transition from 2's to 3's, as many Rogues will be, remember this: you can die twice as fast if left in the open. Chances are that you'll have Preparation, so use each and every one of your cooldowns twice and to their full extent. Without them, you won't have a chance of surviving even a modest burst from the opposing team. Play defensively by keeping the enemy on their toes, and know when to regroup and when to push for a kill.

Are you a Rogue looking to up your game? Check back every Wednesday for the latest strategies in Encrypted Text! And for the raiding Rogue, get ready for Ulduar with Ready Check and our Ulduar guide for Rogues, parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.