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Encrypted Text: Should all rogues use daggers?
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. When the art team at Blizzard developed the class icons for World of Warcraft, it based them on that class' weapon of choice. Mages cast spells through their crystal-laden staves, druids fight with their paws and sharp teeth, and paladins wield a mighty, righteous hammer. The rogue class has been represented by the swift, poisoned dagger for years. While our dark leather armor and our brittle yellow class text are easily recognizable symbols of the rogue, the dagger is our one true sigil. While only two of our abilities can't be used with swords or other weapons, both assassination and subtlety rogues are still forced to bend the knee to the dagger god. Even the most stalwart combat rogues carry a dagger in one hand. Why not go all the way?
Phat Loot Phriday: Mystifying Charm
Here's a spooky looking offhand for current endgame casters. If you have an item you'd like to see here next week, shout it out in the comments below, please. Name: Mystifying Charm (Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory) Type: Epic Offhand Damage/Speed: N/A Attributes: +65 Stamina, +65 Intellect, +57 Spirit Improves crit strike rating by 57 and spell power by 100. %Gallery-33600%
Phat Loot Phriday: Cosmos
I don't remember doing an off-hand for a while, and this is pretty much the offhand to have. Who wouldn't want to carry the universe around in the palm of your hand?Name: Cosmos (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic Off-handDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: +52 Stamina, +55 Intellect. Which points at Warlocks (they tend to value Stamina, as they can convert HP to mana), but really any caster who uses offhands would love this one. Because it improves hit rating by 51 (!), crit strike rating by 41, and spell power by 84. %Gallery-33600%
Main hands and one-hands after 2.4.2
I only slightly mentioned this back on the podcast, I think, but there was a fairly interesting change that snuck in the patch notes on 2.4.2: lots of formerly main hand weapons have become one-hand weapons. There are a couple of theories poking around about why this could be -- dual wield is first and foremost, of course, as this change allows classes who dual wield, including Rogues and Enhancement Shammies, to have a little more choice as to what weapons they can use. Death Knights will also be able to dual wield in the expansion, and this will open things up for them a bit as well. And Blacksmithing weapons were apparently changed as well (in addition to losing their "unique" status), so Blacksmithers have a little more leeway, too.But there is one thing that, according to Blizzard, will always keep weapons in one-hand status. Caster stats, according to both Drysc and Hortus, will mean that weapons will always stay one-hand. So feel free to do as much switching around as you want in terms of speed and melee damage, but there'll be no stacking of healing or spell damage bonuses (with Shamans or Death Knights).Which isn't really a big loss -- it means that Blizzard has much more leeway in creating healing and spell damage weapons than they do while making melee weapons. But it does mean that if you want to play around with weapon combos, you have to go melee -- healers and casters get to choose one and stick with it.
Phat Loot Phriday: Messenger of Fate
This week it's off to the Black Temple for a little stabby stab stabby.Name: Messenger of FateType: Epic One-hand DaggerDamage/Speed: 112-169 / 1.40 (100.4 DPS)Abilities: +22 Agility, +31 Stamina On equip: increases attack power by 44. Handmade for Rogues to use as an offhand. The speed makes up for all those offhand misses, and while Warriors who know what they're doing might like this one, too (since most of their abilities are all based on "next attack" procs), Rogues should get first pick on this one. This weapon was made for them. Also, while we're told the pic above is what this dagger looks like in 2.3, it used to look different. We're not sure why Blizzard changed it-- the old look is a little cooler. But then again, this new look is much closer to the icon. How to Get It: Drops from Gurtogg Bloodboil, a raging fel orc boss in Black Temple. The stats have it dropping at about 14 or 15%, but my guess is that it's a little lower than that. At any rate, if you can make it up to him in the Black Temple, and drop him about five or six times, it should pop up. Win the roll (or spend the DKP) and it's yours.Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Void Crystal, or vendors for 14g 22s 63c.
Breakfast topic: Offhand madness
WoW's designers can't get too creative with most of their armor. Helmets can be buckets, crowns, hoods, etc., but they still have to be able to fit on the heads of twenty different models. Same with shoulderpieces and clothing, which are mostly distinguished by color and a little extra ornamentation. There's a little more latitude with weapons, but still, they've got to look something like a hammer/sword/dagger/staff. Indeed, the only items that are allowed to look completely insane are offhands. Looking at Wowhead's Off-hand Frills page, you can see that the designers had a field day. There are dragon eyes and digested hands. There are sticks of dynamite and dandelions. I think the coolest offhand that's worth anything is the Talisman of Nightbane, which is a nice offhand for mages and destruction locks and also breathes fire every few seconds. But for pure entertainment, I'm fond of the various offhand fish you can find in the game. Dueling as a rogue with an offhand fish is pretty fun. What do you think is the best offhand? What about the best-looking one?
Phat Loot Phriday: Retainer's Blade
Last week on PLP, we took a look at a great Aldor item, and this week it's Scyer time. By now, you've probably learned (if you've visited Shattrath City) that players get to choose one of two factions to follow, and each has its own items, recipes and rewards to try for. From the Scryer side comes this very fast, very excellent offhand dagger.Name: Retainer's BladeType: Epic One-Hand DaggerDamage / Speed: 94-142, 1.50 (78.7 DPS)Abilities: +21 Agility, +21 Stamina This is a terrific dagger for anyone who needs a fast offhand for procs-- dual wielding Shaman will benefit from it, but Rogues will probably get the most out of it, with the extra Agi and Stamina, not to mention the 1.50 speed that applies poisons almost faster than you can keep them on. And it can't hurt for Fury warriors either, especially if you've already grinded the rep necessary. How to Get It: Just like Aldor last week, you've got to do Scryer quests and bring them the turnins they ask for all the way to Exalted. You can find what you need to do by poking around the Scryer area in Shattrath, but mostly it'll involve getting Firewing and Sunfury Signets (and, eventually, Arcane Tomes) from killing various Blood Elves around Terrokar Forest. Once you've made your way to Exalted, head towards the Scryer Quartermaster in Shattrath, but here's the kicker: bring some cash with you. A lot of it, actually. This baby will set you back 198 gold and change.Getting Rid of It: When you find an upgrade (which might be tough if you're not looking in the right places-- this baby is one of the highest DPS offhand daggers in the game), a vendor will take it off your hands for 39g 74s 25c.
