Subtlety Rogue DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.0.5

Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Subtlety Rogue. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft will technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.

FAQCan I use a Non-Dagger as my Off-Hand Weapon?

No, Always use a dagger in off-hand. The reason for this is that Shadow Techniques activates more often with a dagger due to the faster attack speed of daggers. Because of this, using a non-dagger loses out on roughly 10% of all of your energy and combo points.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

For Midnight Season 1 as a Subtlety Rogue, you will want to try and prioritize getting the Helmet, Shoulder, Chest, and Gloves set pieces. However, getting the Pants to complete one of the bonuses is still better than any other gearing choice. Long-term you will want to play off-set legs with good secondary stats instead.

Subtlety Rogue

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Masquerade of the Grim Jest Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard Empowered Hex of Leeching

Sleight of Hand of the Grim Jest Hands

Catalyst or Vorasius

Eternal Voidsong Chain Neck

Crown of the Cosmos

Snapvine Cinch Waist

Windrunner Spire

Venom Casks of the Grim Jest Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Amirdrassil's Grace

Power Stance Breeches Legs

BoE from The Voidspire or March on Quel'Danas Forest Hunter's

Rigid Scale Greatcloak Cloak

Skyreach

Balancing Boots of the Grim Jest Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Fantastic Finery of the Grim Jest Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Occlusion of Void Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Omission of Light Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Light Company Guidon Trinket

Imperator Averzian

Silvermoon Agent's Deflectors Bracers

Crafted by Leatherworking

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Belo'ren's Swift Talon Main Hand

Belo'ren Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Farstrider's Mercy Off Hand

Crafted by Blacksmithing Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

This list contains the highest DPS setup with farmable gear from Season 1 Mythic+ Dungeons.

. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Skyreach: Multiple valuable items like Weapons as well as Solarflare Prism.
• Nexus-Point Xenas: Both of the ring set as well as a Weapon.
• Algeth'ar Academy: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box is a decent alternative as your on-use trinket.

Subtlety Rogue

1.2.

Best Mythic+ Gear

Masquerade of the Grim Jest Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard Empowered Hex of Leeching

Sleight of Hand of the Grim Jest Hands

Catalyst or Vorasius

Barbed Ymirheim Choker Neck

Pit of Saron

Snapvine Cinch Waist

Windrunner Spire

Venom Casks of the Grim Jest Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Amirdrassil's Grace

Shaggy Wyrmleather Leggings Legs

Pit of Saron Forest Hunter's

Rigid Scale Greatcloak Cloak

Skyreach

Balancing Boots of the Grim Jest Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Fantastic Finery of the Grim Jest Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Occlusion of Void Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Omission of Light Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box Trinket

Algeth'ar Academy

Frenzyroot Cuffs Bracers

Algeth'ar Academy

Solarflare Prism Trinket

Skyreach

Edge of the Burning Sun Main Hand

Skyreach Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Edge of the Burning Sun Off Hand

Skyreach Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Dreamrift, Voidspire, and March on Quel'Danas Raid.

TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?

If you need to submit a list of highly-important items to your raidleader, or simply want to focus on the most important bosses and items, we got you covered!

• Light Company Guidon: Our best active trinket. Drops from the first boss Imperator Averzian, so it is fairly accessible.
• Gaze of the Alnseer: Our best passive trinket. Drops from Chimaerus, which also drops our Tier-Set chest and our BiS Boots.
• Hungering Victory: Even though it might not have the perfect stats, a high item level mainhand dagger is crucial. It drops from Vorasius.

Subtlety Rogue

1.3.

Best Raid Gear

Masquerade of the Grim Jest Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard Empowered Hex of Leeching

Sleight of Hand of the Grim Jest Hands

Catalyst or Vorasius

Eternal Voidsong Chain Neck

Crown of the Cosmos

Scorn-Scarred Shul'ka's Belt Waist

Chimaerus

Venom Casks of the Grim Jest Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Amirdrassil's Grace

Power Stance Breeches Legs

BoE from The Voidspire or March on Quel'Danas Forest Hunter's

Draconic Nullcape Cloak

Vaelgor and Ezzorak

Balancing Boots of the Grim Jest Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Fantastic Finery of the Grim Jest Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Sin'dorei Band of Hope Ring

Belo'ren Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Eye of Midnight Ring

Midnight Falls Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Light Company Guidon Trinket

Imperator Averzian

Void-Skinned Bracers Bracers

Vorasius

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Belo'ren's Swift Talon Main Hand

Belo'ren Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Belo'ren's Swift Talon Off Hand

Belo'ren Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

There are a great number of Trinkets available for Subtlety, and we will always want to play a combination of a powerful on-use trinket to align with our Shadow Blades, and there’s unfortunately only one of those this season with Light Company Guidon. If you do not have that then you will have to settle for a 2 minute cooldown one and use it every other Shadow Blades. Alongside that on-use we want a passive trinket providing potent secondary stat buffs or raw damage procs.

Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:

Subtlety Rogue Trinkets

On-Use - Light Company Guidon or, alternatively, Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
Passive - Gaze of the Alnseer or, alternatively, Radiant Plume

There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.

Click for Subtlety Rogue Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Subtlety
S Tier	Light Company Guidon Gaze of the Alnseer Radiant Plume Umbral Plume
A Tier	Algeth'ar Puzzle Box - Click for Details An alternative to Light Company Guidon if you haven't gotten one yet. Beware that this trinket has a 2 second channel time before you get your stats. So start puzzling right before you Shadow Blades! Crucible of Erratic Energies Ranger-Captain's Iridescent Insignia Withered Saptor's Paw Fiber of Living Agony
B Tier	Kroluk's Warbanner Solarflare Prism Drum of Renewed Bonds - Click for Details By going to the different shrines in Zul'Aman you can adjust what stats the proc gives you. Ideally you want Critical Strike, but Mastery is really good for AoE situations. Vessel of Tortured Souls - Click for Details This trinket spawns some small souls you need to pick up to gain the agility, which are quite easy to miss. Emberwing Feather - Click for Details An alternative to Light Company Guidon if you haven't gotten one yet.
C Tier	Undreamt God's Oozing Vestige Latch's Crooked Hook Heart of Wind Magister's Alchemist Stone
D Tier	Eye of the Drowning Void Void Stalker's Contract Void-Reaper's Libram Lost Idol of the Hash'ey

Midnight's patch 12.0.5 introduces two new yet familiar systems:

• Nebulous Voidcore can be used to acquire specific items from specific bosses or dungeons, by letting you gain a guaranteed piece of loot from a specific drop-location. Which item you will receive is random, but once an item has been acquired in this way, your next use of a Voidcore will grant one of the remaining items you haven't yet acquired.
• Ascendant Voidcore can be used to further increase the itemlevel of Hero or Myth track items if they have reached the highest possible itemlevel already, as well as Radiance-Crafted items at max quality. This will further boost their power, similar to the additional upgrade from previous Turbo Boost events.

• Nebulous Voidcore is an item you are able to get 2 of each week. They are similar to the old "bonus roll" system from way back in the day, effectively allowing you to target items from a specific boss or dungeon. Which item you receive when you use them is random, however once the Voidcore has granted you an item you will not be able to aquire it again. This means that the next time you use one you will get one of the other items available from that loot pool. Using these in a +10 dungeon will grant 1/6 Myth track items, not Hero track ones.
• Ascendant Voidcore can be used to amplify the itemlevel of Weapons and Trinkets. It is only usable on Hero track, Myth track or crafted items that have reached their highest itemlevel already. This will boost their power by a significant amount and is similar to the additional upgrades from Turbo Boost event last season.

Seasonal Mechanics

Voidforge and Voidcores

Check our our guide on the Voidforge to learn how to acquire this powerful upgrades!

Go to Guide

Which item you want to chase after depends heavily on the items you already have and whether you are expecting to kill certain bosses on Mythic difficulty, as you do not want to waste your Voidcores on items you may be able to get on a higher difficulty track in a few weeks. The priority is as follows:

Voidcore (Bonus Roll) Priority

1. Myth Track Mainhand
2. Light Company Guidon
3. Mythic Gaze of the Alnseer OR Mythic Umbral Plume
4. Remaining BiS List items

Using your Ascendant Voidcores follows a similar priority list as using your Crests:

1. Mainhand weapon
2. Passive trinket
3. On-use trinket (ideally Light Company Guidon)
4. Offhand Weapon

You will want to prioritize Myth track items over Hero track ones, unless you do not expect to get a Myth track variant of said item. For example it is fine to upgrade a Hero track Light Company Guidon, Umbral Plume, or Gaze of the Alnseer if you do not expect to kill Mythic Imperator Averzian, Belo'ren, or Chimaerus anytime soon.

When it comes to using the Ascendant Voidcore in dungeons i would recommend to use them on either Skyreach or Nexus-Point Xenas as those have plenty of solid upgrades.

Professions are a great way to gear up with your optimal secondary stats, as adding special items to the crafting process lets you pick and choose the exact secondary stats you want.

During the early stages of the season your ability to craft items will be severely time-gated. Because of this we highly recommend crafting a Mainhand Weapon as soon as possible, unless you know for sure you can get one elsewhere. When you have acquired a good weapon, start working on your other Embellished Items, and after that focus on crafting whatever piece you currently have at the lowest item-level.

Subtlety Crafted Gear Priority

• Farstrider's Mercy with Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt
• Silvermoon Agent's Utility Belt with Arcanoweave Lining
• Any item you do not have on Myth track yet.

For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.

Up to two of your crafted items can be Embellished. This is a similar concept as Unique-Equipped, as you can only wear two items that have the Embellished status. Some crafted items, many of which have powerful procs or beneficial effects by default, are considered Embellished. You can also add Embellishments from a variety of professions to any crafted item, adding the effect to this item either when creating it or at a later stage.

As there is a lot of competition for Embellishments, you will have to pick and choose the two strongest ones for your overall DPS output. Most of them provide very similar DPS benefits, even if the effects are entirely different. The two best choices for this are:

• For Raid: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a weapon and Arcanoweave Lining on another crafted item like Belt or Wrists.
• For Mythic+: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a weapon and Arcanoweave Lining on another crafted item like Belt or Wrists.

It is recommended to sim yourself to find out what works best, and if you also play the other two Rogue specs, you might want to pick Embellishments that work well for all of them.

You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with the Radiant Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you up to 6 tokens, six of which can be traded in for the Radiant Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece of gear, if you acquired them in Season 1.

Early into the season, or if you have just started playing an alt, you will have limited access to upgrading-crests such as Myth Dawncrest. These can be used to upgrade gear to higher itemlevels. Since gaining new crests are capped each week and upgrading different items costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, and/or those that offer the biggest benefits.

Subtlety Rogue Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon (Mainhand) ➜ Trinkets ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

These are not the only items worth upgrading, of course. They simply offer the highest DPS gain early into the tier when your upgrade currency is limited. Note that exceptions are possible, such as special items that have additional procs attached to them.

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Eleem

Guide Author

Follow Eleem

This guide has been written by Eleem, who has been a rogue player, enjoyer and theorycrafter since Legion. He is currently raiding in a top 100 guild and has been known to dabble in Mythic+ from time to time. You can find him in the Ravenholdt Discord as Eleem.