WoW Patch 5.4 Rogue Changes, Summarized ‘n’ Analyzed

First up, the super-brief super-summary:

• Killing Spree (Combat) is getting a major quality-of-life improvement. We’ll have the option of focusing it on a single target.
• Recuperate is getting buffed. The ability itself gets a bump, and possibly the glyph as well.
• Nightstalker (level-15 talent) is getting buffed. Its damage bonus to abilities used while stealth will double.
• Tier 16 raid gear bonuses look… interesting. They look decent for Assassination, crappy for Combat, and downright amazing for Subtlety.
• Anything I haven’t listed above is either unconfirmed or a likely tooltip change (not an actual change to the way an ability/item works).

I know you, though: That little taste of what’s to come isn’t enough. Oh no, you want more. MORE I SAY.

Alright, alright, calm down! Some people.

Click away for much more detail, as well as analyses, theorycrafting and other bits that’ll help you get a better sense for what these changes mean and what folks are saying about them.

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Patch 5.4 Datamining: Our First Glimpse of *Unofficial* Rogue Changes Hits the PTR

[UPDATE 6/12: This is not the page you are looking for. You'd rather be here if you're seeking the most current, comprehensive rundown of Patch 5.4 rogue changes I've got on this site.]

Brace yourselves, fellow rogues. It is time.

The first Patch 5.4 build appears to have hit the PTR, and Wowhead/MMO-Champion are datamining the absolute crap out of it.

As always, please keep in mind that we’ve had absolutely no official word yet from Blizzard on what the Patch 5.4 changes are (expect the first batch of patch preview notes later tonight or Wednesday), so don’t put too-too much stock in these changes until we see the official notes. Remember that when Patch 5.2 was first datamined on the PTR, it showed us getting a completely different tier-60 talent than the one Blizzard actually planned to implement.

That said, here’s a summary of MMO-Champion and Wowhead have datamined so far, along with some analysis here and there when I think of things to say:

• It looks like many Combat rogues’ dreams about Killing Spree are about to come true: As Holinka hinted last week, it appears that KS will hit only your current target — unless you have Blade Flurry active, at which point it’ll act the way it does now.
• Recuperate appears to be getting two buffs: one to the ability itself, the other to the glyph.
  • The Recuperate ability looks like it’s being buffed from 3% of max health per “tick” to 4% per tick. (Recup ticks once every three seconds.)
  • The Glyph of Recuperate looks like it’ll increase the effect of the spell by 1% of our max health, up from .5%.
  • Note that we haven’t yet seen what the new PvP tier bonuses will look like. PvP gloves currently provide a 1% buff to Recuperate; if that bonus changes, it may dramatically alter the way we view these datamined buffs.
• Nightstalker appears to be getting a slight buff: It’ll increase the damage of abilities we use while stealthed by 50%, up from 25%.
• Our new Tier 16 raid set bonuses have had their tooltips datamined.
  • The two-piece bonus tooltip reads: “When you generate a combo point from Revealing Strike, Honor Amongst Thieves, or Seal Fate, your next combo point generating ability has its energy cost reduced by 5. Stacks up to 5 times.” At first blush, this appears to be decent for Assassination, very weak for Combat, and pretty amazing for Subtlety.
  • The four-piece bonus tooltip reads: “Killing Spree deals 10% more damage every time it strikes a target. Abilities against a target with Vendetta on it increase your mastery by 250 for 5 sec, stacking up to 20 times. Every 4 Backstabs, your Backstab is replaced with Ambush that can be used regardless of Stealth.” Depending on how the final numbers shake out, this bonus could potentially be strong for every spec.
  • Ghostcrawler took to the tweetwaves shortly after the datamining info appeared to remind us that although the tier bonuses are in place, the “numbers are very place holder” and we should “focus on mechanics not tuning.” In other words, in offering feedback about the bonuses, we should talk about the idea behind them (or *how* they work), not on the exact amount of DPS it looks like they’ll give us.

At the moment, I’m distinctly uncertain about two other datamined rogue changes:

• There’s a datamined tooltip change to Cloak and Dagger that shows the range increasing from 20 to 30 yards. The range is *already* 30 yards in the live game; this datamine is almost certainly just a tooltip fix.
• There’s a datamined tooltip change to Find Weakness (Subtlety) in which the sentence “Bypasses less armor on players,” has been added to the end of the tooltip. This may just be a clarification of the way the ability already works in the game.

I’ll add clarifications to this post as I get them, and will post anew once we start getting some official Blizzard confirmations and patch preview notes.

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On Twitter/Patch 5.3 PTR: Cloak and Dagger Nerf Clarified (It’s All About the Stealthjamins)

Amidst the hue and cry over our latest rogue PvP nerf revelation (in Patch 5.3, Cloak and Dagger likely won’t work when Subtlety rogues try to use it during Shadow Dance), WoW PvP honcho Brian Holinka dropped this little nugget:

@JRoosy CnD's range is back to 30 yards, but no longer usable unless stealthed—
Holinka (@holinka) May 03, 2013

Holinka and Ghostcrawler have been tweeting like CRAZY over the rogue changes since word of this CnD adjustment got out; read my previous post for a (mostly) complete listing.

Between Twitter, datamining and official patch note updates, the Patch 5.3 rogue change revelations have been pretty rapid-fire lately, so just to recap where we think we’re at right now:

• Cloak and Dagger will still be usable at 30 yards; the nerf to 20 yards will be reverted. However, rogues will only be able to use CnD while stealthed — this is why it can’t be used during Shadow Dance, because you’re technically not stealthed when ShD is active. (I’m assuming we will also be able to use CnD during Vanish or, for those of us who play a night elf, while Shadowmelded, but I haven’t seen any solid info on this yet.)
• All the Shuriken Toss changes are still happening. (Energy cost doubles, damage doubles, damage bonus at range removed.)
• The crowd control glyph nerfs (to Cheap Shot’s stun and Garrote’s silence) are probably still happening. (Aeriwen notes in the class forum that the Glyph of Cheap Shot tooltip hasn’t been updated with the nerf, but it’s still in the official patch notes.)
• The Find Weakness PvP nerf/PvE buff is still happening.
• We still haven’t heard a thing from anyone official about the datamined Revealing Strike buff.
• The Recuperate PvP buff is still happening (though that’s not a rogue-only change; it’s part of the broader PvP Power adjustments the devs are implementing for 5.3).

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Patch 5.3 Datamining: Rogue DPS Tuning Begins

MMO-Champion and Wowhead have picked up a new Patch 5.3 PTR build, which includes two rogue changes:

• The Subtlety-only Find Weakness PvP nerf/PvE buff that Brian Holinka tweeted about earlier today is in place, though it’s not yet in the official patch notes. (Instead of 70% armor reduction, it’s now 50% reduction against players and 100% reduction against PvE targets.)
• Unexpectedly, Combat rogues appear to be getting a fresh DPS bump (and possibly a PvP boost?) in the form of a buff to the duration of Revealing Strike. Everything else about RvS stays the same, but when you use it the buff will last for 24 seconds instead of 18 (a 33% increase). This change hasn’t been confirmed (or even mentioned) by anyone at Blizzard yet, so we may not be seeing the full story yet.

While we won’t fully see the PvP implications of these changes until the new season begins, the PvE implications can be calculated to within an inch of their lives, as the Rogue Code dictates must be so. A couple of players have tinkered with our best simulation tools to see what sort of impact these changes will have on our DPS.

For Subtlety, Dansu posted on the WoW rogue forum that, in SimCraft, the Find Weakness PvE buff amounts to a little more than a 5% DPS increase for the spec — which, in theory at least, puts it basically on the same level as Assassination at very high gear levels (i.e., heroic raid gear with both set bonuses). Fierydemise, one of the brains behind our beloved ShadowCraft rogue-optimizing tool, came to a similar conclusion after modeling the change in that engine.

For Combat, as Fierydemise also noted in the post I just linked, we’re looking at a super-tiny DPS impact if it’s truly going to be implemented solely as it was datamined. The change basically would mean that, in the course of a six-minute raid fight in which you’re on the boss the whole time, you’ll be using RvS instead of Sinister Strike five fewer times than you otherwise would. That’s… barely any effect. RvS deals slightly less damage than SS and has no chance to proc an extra combo point when used, so being able to use SS a few more times is cool, but certainly not a major spec-balance fix — provided you’re already very good at juggling Slice and Dice, Rupture and RvS. If you’re not, then this change potentially becomes a much bigger deal, because it makes that juggling act a little bit easier.

Part of me wonders if, assuming this RvS change really is entirely what was datamined, it isn’t intended mainly to be some sort of PvP buff. Considering Combat is widely panned for competitive PvP at the moment and I haven’t tried it in ages, I have no concept of what impact this change would have in that area. Maybe make kiting have less of an impact?

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Patch 5.3 Datamine/Patch Note: Cloak and Dagger Range Reduced by 33% — Updated 4/29

[UPDATE 5/3: This change appears to have been reverted -- or will soon be reverted -- on the PTR, and replaced with a different CnD nerf.]

[UPDATE 4/29: Since first posting this, I've added two tweets to the bottom of the post -- one affirming there are no changes in the works for Shadowstep, the other warning that they may not be done quite yet with the Cloak and Dagger nerfs. I also tweaked the second paragraph to note that the change made it into the official patch notes; it was just a datamine from 4/25 until 4/29.]

Remember how last night I wrote that the Blizzard class design folks were thinking about a possible Cloak and Dagger change? Welp, looks like they’re done thinking, and are actually implementing one: According to the newest datamined info from the Patch 5.3 PTR (as found by Wowhead and MMO-Champion), the level-60 talent option has had its range reduced from 30 yards to 20 yards.

This has yet to be confirmed in the official patch notes, but was confirmed in an April 29 update to the official Patch 5.3 PTR notes. Even before they became officially official (in an official way), though, PvP honcho Brian Holinka had tipped us off when he tweeted earlier they were considering a tweak to CnD so that other options in that tier might become a little more attractive to competitive PvPers.

If this is indeed the tweak Blizzard has decided on, it suggests that the designers’ main issue with CnD is not merely its burst potential when coupled with Shadow Dance, but specifically the synergy of that burst with the teleport. A decrease in the ability’s range equals a decrease in rogue mobility, and makes it likely that a rogue will have to do more than just pop CnD to resume unloading on a mage who just used Blink (which, as it happens, teleports the mage 20 yards away).

Of course, the range on Shadowstep thus far remains unchanged, which is part of the point: to make the level-60 talent tier a more interesting choice for PvPers.

It remains to be seen, of course, whether a nerf (in addition to the other three nerfs we know are already planned for rogue PvP in 5.3 — to Shuriken Toss, Glyph of Cheap Shot and Glyph of Garrote) to a wildly popular new talent is the best way to go about this, and what impact it has on rogue viability in high-end PvP in the next patch. Reaction in the official WoW rogue forum has been mixed thus far.

[UPDATE 4/25:] To those who might wish Shadowstep (or Burst of Speed) were getting a buff instead of CnD getting a nerf, Holinka has this to say:

@Homedawgggg No plans to buff shadow step. Cloak and Dagger is too good.—
Holinka (@holinka) April 25, 2013

[UPDATE 4/26:] And for those of you hoping this is the end of the road for nerfs, keep that breath held in tight:

@christofalee @ChritznL We are considering more changes. Mostly toning it down.—
Holinka (@holinka) April 26, 2013

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Patch 5.3 Datamining: Shuriken Toss Hits Twice as Hard, Half as Often

We’ve gotten our first taste of a (possible) rogue-specific class change coming into the Patch 5.3 PTR. The latest PTR build datamined by MMO-Champion and Wowhead suggests that Shuriken Toss’s base damage is being doubled (that’s good!) — as is its energy cost, which will go from 20 to 40 (that’s bad).

I am CRAZY proud of myself right now for almost predicting this perfectly. (It’s meant largely to address concerns about ST’s strength in PvP, particularly as a rapid combo point generator.) Though as with any datamining not yet mirrored in official patch notes, it’s important to remember none of this is final until it’s final. And maybe not even then.

[UPDATE 4/9] Oh, no, wait, it’s pretty official now:

@teh_copperbolt We didn’t like it as a cheap CP generator. We wanted it to be for times when you couldn’t be in melee.

— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 9, 2013

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Patch 5.2 Datamining Update: A Special Gift for Combat? — Updated 2/27 (The Answer Is No)

(Update 2/26: The datamined Vitality extra-buff will be reverted to the original buff before it goes live. Check out the addition at the bottom of this post.)

MMO-Champion and Wowhead caught wind of a new PTR build that features a whole mess of datamined (read: *not official* unless confirmed by Blizzard) damage and healing balance tweaks, including three rogue-related buffs — one of which is a big surprise.

• The surprise: Vitality — the Combat-only passive ability that boosts energy regen and attack power — appears to have been buffed again. Early in the Patch 5.2 PTR, the attack power bonus was increased from 25% to 30%. According to the datamine, it’s now up to 35%, which would be an additional nice DPS boost for the spec.
• Non-surprise #1: Envenom damage (Assassination) appears to have been increased by 20%, just as Ghostcrawler said it would be.
• Non-surprise #2: Dispatch damage (Assassination) appears to have been increased by a smidge over 15%, also as Ghostcrawler said.

I’ll update this post once someone official either confirms or anti-confirms the doubling of the Vitality buff. A major update to the official 5.2 patch notes is in process tonight.

————–

UPDATE 2/25: The latest update to the official patch notes (which posted today) still has Vitality’s AP boost as rising to 30%, not 25%. Blizz CM Rygarius, the brain ‘n’ fingers behind the patch notes, sez:

@sveltekumquat @MMOChampion @Wowhead Last I was informed, that change was reverted. May change again if I get a new email about it.

—
  (@Rygarius) February 25, 2013

————–

UPDATIER 2/26: Ghostcrawler just posted this in the official forums:

Undid the buff to Vitality for Combat. It’s back to 30% AP.

And that’s the end of that chapter. (Updatiest 2/27: A datamine of the PTR build on 2/27 showed that the change was indeed reverted.)

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Patch 5.2 Datamining + Patch Notes Update: Tooling the Tips

A new Patch 5.2 build hit the PTR today, resulting in some confusion thanks to a couple of unexpected rogue-related changes datamined by MMO-Champion and Wowhead.

Thing is: The unexpected changes all appear to just be tooltip corrections.

First up, I’ll summarize those naughty datamined rogue findings that stirred up drama:

• The tooltips for Crimson Tempest appear to have been changed so they correctly explain how much damage is dealt by the DoT bleed. On live, the tooltip says that CT causes targets to “suffer an additional 30% of the initial damage over 12 sec.” This is incorrect, though; as others have explained (and I’m pretty, but not absolutely, sure is accurate), CT actually deals an additional 40% of the initial damage *per tick* over 12 seconds, with one tick coming every two seconds. That’s six ticks times 40% each for a total of 240% — and that’s what the datamined tooltip now reads: “suffer an additional 240% of the initial damage over 12 sec.”
• The tooltip for Vanish appears to have been changed to correctly show the cooldown length. In Patch 5.1, the cooldown was reduced from 3 minutes to 2 minutes. Sometimes, though, the tooltip on live says our CD is still 3 minutes (even though it ain’t). It looks like Blizz may have fixed that problem in the new 5.2 PTR build.

The other datamined rogue changes *do* reflect actual changes — and they match up with the official Patch 5.2 PTR notes updated by Blizzard CM Rygarius later in the day. They are:

• The cooldown on Blind was increased from 90 seconds to 2 minutes.
• The cooldown on Cloak of Shadows was cut from 2 minutes to 1 minute, and it was taken off the list of abilities that are reset when we use Preparation.

All of *those* changes were no surprise, since Ghostcrawler gave us a heads-up last week that they were coming.

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Patch 5.2 Datamining Update: Some Cosmetic Changes

A new Patch 5.2 build appears to be on its way to the PTR server. MMO-Champion and Wowhead have both done that drilly stuff they do to tease out what’s new and different in this build from the previous one. Here’s what they appear to have spotted that’s new for rogues.

(Please remember, this is datamining, not official patch notes, so it may be incomplete, inaccurate or reflect unintended changes.)

• The Nerve Strike tooltip has been updated to reflect the scaling back of its buff. Early in the PTR, the level-30 talent option was given the added benefit of reducing the healing dealt by a target we had Cheap Shotted or Kidney Shotted by 25% for 6 seconds after the stun expires. Later on, a PTR build (as well as updated patch notes) cut that healing reduction to 10%. *This* PTR build appears to have updated the tooltip accordingly. Again, Nerve Strike is still being buffed to reduce your target’s healing. Just not by as much as originally planned.
• The removal of Shuriken Toss’s ability to proc non-lethal poisons appears to have been carried out. Blizzard CM Daxxarri had already confirmed, in a series of official forum posts last week, that this change was incoming. Now the tooltip for Shuriken Toss on the PTR has been updated to state that “shurikens are coated in your Lethal Poison.” (Blizzard’s official Patch 5.2 notes were also updated today to note that Shuriken Toss only procs lethal poisons.)
• We can haz new PvP gear set to look at. Here’s MMO-Champ’s video preview and image-only preview (using a human male as the model) of our Season 13 PVP rogue set. You can also visit Wowhead’s page on the new rogue PvP gear to use their 3D simulator majiggie and see how it looks on every race.
• I’m going to include this just as a “the more you know”  side mention, because it’s not an actual change to the ability: Wowhead’s datamining notes currently include an addition to Shadow Blades’ tooltip that says the cooldown also reduces the energy cost of all our abilities by 40%. This is without a doubt just how Wowhead picked up the fact that the four-piece bonus of our new raid tier set does exactly that. (It looks like, when we actually have four pieces of tier gear equipped, the Shadow Blades tooltip will update to show us the new additional effect.)

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Patch 5.2 Datamining Update: Kick Now Costs No Energy

Looks like the only rogue-relevant change datamined by MMO-Champion in the newest PTR build:

Kick no longer has an energy cost.

Although not included in the official patch notes, this change has already been acknowledged by Ghostcrawler. It’s tied to the changes upcoming to PvP gear bonuses — namely that the PvP gloves in Patch 5.2 will no longer make Kick free as they long have, but will instead buff Recuperate by 1% of a rogue’s max health per tick.

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