Outlaw Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — 12.0.5

Outlaw Rogue has to balance the choice between higher DPS and ease-of-play when choosing their Hero Talents and talent builds. It is also a spec with no major cooldowns that let you surge ahead on the damage meters, instead providing high sustained DPS with few ups and downs.

Both Hero talent trees support this niche and deepen its strength even further. Fatebound is significantly easier to play, and offers additional talent build options that make for more forgiving rotational gameplay, while still sporting a high sustained DPS. Trickster saw some major buffs since Midnight's launch, and has become the go-to spec for most encounters due to its higher DPS potential, especially in AoE environments. On pure single-target, the difference is less noticeable, which is why Fatebound can be a viable alternative.

• Single Target - Trickster is the better choice here, especially on encounters where you occasionally get good value out of your Blade Flurry cleave. For pure single-target encounters, Fatebound is only 1-3% behind Trickster, but the moment adds spawn into the fight, Trickster gains a bigger and bigger edge. That being said, Fatebound is close enough behind that you can play it for comfort's sake, or if you're new to the spec, and you may end up seeing better results with it.
• AoE - For AoE and Mythic+, Trickster has a bigger advantage thanks to the additional AoE damage scaling of Nimble Flurry. This lets it pull ahead considerably in large-scale AoE packs or sustained cleave scenarios, which applies to quite a few bosses this raid-tier, as well as all Mythic+ or Delve Content. Fatebound is a lot easier and more forgiving to play though, so if you notice yourself struggling with the recommended Trickster builds due to its highly reactive and fast-paced gameplay, Fatebound can end up performing better for you while still not being completely outclassed by Trickster.

With this information in hand, Trickster is the recommended build for virtually all content. As mentioned previously, Fatebound is a viable option if you end up disliking the gameplay flow of Trickster. Fatebound also offers a smoother DPS curve, while Trickster is a bit more bursty - yet still nowhere close to any spec with actual DPS cooldowns.

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The builds listed above are popular recommendations, covering various different loadouts suited to each style of endgame content. Each Talent Build will have it's own rotation, and can also be manipulated further for specific types of content and to better benefit your group.

Combat Information

Rotations and Mythic+

Want to dive deeper? These guides will teach you how to utilize our Talent Builds in endgame content!

RotationMythic+

The new main feature for Midnight are Apex Talents, with Outlaw's Gravedigger focusing on additional free-of-charge Between the Eyes casts, as well as more damage bonuses for all your damage from BtE. Up to 4 points can be spent here. Currently, these are arranged in a 1 ➜ 2 ➜ 1 point investment.

1. Gravedigger: Grants each of your Between the Eyes casts a chance to apply an additional stack of its buff.
2. Gravedigger: 2-point talent tax node that essentially just adds more damage whenever you cast Dispatch.
3. Gravedigger: Causes you to slowly build up to a free Between the Eyes cast that does not incur a cooldown or cost any resources.

These Apex talents help smooth out the lows of the rotation by granting a consistent way to get a free BtE every once in a while, while also granting some more bonus damage. While not the most inspired or impactful of Apex Talents, this does help out with the weakness of the spec in some ways.

Outlaw gets to pick between two distinct Hero Talent choices: Fatebound and Trickster.

Fatebound is the less complex option in all environments, due to having fewer rotational buttons and sporting a higher consistency in its procs. This alone makes it a very solid choice for a spec that already boasts incredible high sustained DPS, and due to it being a little easier to play, many Outlaw players consider Fatebound as their first choice when starting out.

It does significantly lower damage than Trickster though, and is therefore not recommended once you try your hands at harder content, higher-level Mythic+ keys, or cutting-edge progression.

Historically, Trickster needed to outperform Fatebound on raw numbers by a bit to be worth recommending, due to the additional rotational fluidity that Fatebound provides, while Trickster has more buttons to press and more rotational priorities to keep track off.

As for Patch 12.0.5, it definitely hits that goal, performing over 10% better than Fatebound in both single-target and AoE, making it the go-to choice for any content, from raids to Mythic+.

Trickster does have another upside, which is that it scales very well into AoE thanks to Nimble Flurry. Its capstone also provides additional damage and automatically spends Combo Points by casting Dispatch as if it had consumed 5 additional Combo Points.

This adds a lot of extra cooldown reduction, which can help smooth out the rotation a bit, while adding an extra layer of complexity and skill expression to the rotation, which is rewarded with a much higher DPS performance.

In any major capitol, there will be the option to go into "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended enabling the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Outlaw Rogue-specific PvE talents.

1. Death from Above is the only proper damaging talent here, boosting the damage of Dispatch a little, at the cost of an extended animation. It does look really cool though!
2. Boarding Party makes Between the Eyes increase the movement speed of all friendly players within 10 yards by 30% for 5 seconds. Movement speed is always nice while leveling, so this is highly recommended. Maneuverability can work if you don't ever party up with others, but is only worth if you feel like you're getting to your next target fast enough already.
3. Drink Up Me Hearties adds a bit of extra healing to Crimson Vial.

Seliathan

Guide Author

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This guide has been written and reviewed by Seliathan, who has been playing Rogue for over two decades since the very first day of Vanilla WoW. After decades of raiding within the Top 100 and numerous Rank 1 Mythic+ runs in previous expansions, he has now set his sights on sharing his experience through guides and other content.