How to MaceHARP (Kinda)
Posted: 24 Sep 2011, 18:12
ntroduction:
MaceHARP
means taking Maces into use, which means that you're obviously going to
take Mace Stun into account when playing HARP. Without the Maces it's
hardly any effective at all. HARP is an acronym that is based on the
abilities: Hemorrhage (your main source of damage), Adrenaline Rush
( Blade Flurry) and Preparation (a cooldown resetter). Now you're
finally able to use the expression HARP and actually know what the
expression means! Oh...You already knew? Well then, moving along.
About:
MaceHARP
was a spec that was developed for creating total chaos and had it's
Glory days during arena season 2 and 3. It's a spec that was developed
in order to take down especially healer, but any target for that matter.
It has it's roots in Sublety which combined a double set of cooldowns
using preparation, the AP bonus from Deadliness, Hemorrhage for main
damage source and viable talents for Stealth. So, why go HARP if you
already have these great abiltities by hand? Well, HARP uses
preparation, but is a spec that doesn't rely on Stealth as much as
Sublety. HARP is a spec that is great to use with another partner
because of the Mace Stun effect that you get further down the combat
tree. Combat? - Yes, Combat. Combat isn't only for PvE you know.
Combined with talent trees like Sublety and even Assasination in certain
settings can be more deadly than either Muti or Shadowstep. HARP takes
on the two most powerful Rogue damage amplifiers; Blade Flurry (which
when activated increases weapon swing speed and allow you to hit a
second target in swing-range) and Adrenaline Rush (which when used
Increases your Energy regeneration by 100%, meaning you'll have an
almost «infinate» pool of Energy to dispose). Now what? Rather than
blabbering about what the abilties actually does, let's talk about
talents and their functions!
Talents and functions:
http://wow243.gamestool.net/roguet.php?0000000000000000000003021052022055100200010005002530002311210500000
This
is the build that I've chosen to explain for MaceHARP. Don't like it?
Fine, change some things around, but I suggest you to read what I'm
saying so that you'll get an idea of why I selected the talents I did.
Starting off with the central talent tree: Combat
In combat you'll see a whole lot of abilities that improve your defensive features rather than offensive at start.
3/3 Imp Gouge
Gouge
can be a valuable spell both in the form of CC or just a setup for an
extra combo point and some regeneration time for your Energy. It's
important to use this ability wisely, hence it shares Diminishing Return
(DR) with Sap (Rogue's most powerful CC). Gouge is not to be wasted.
Make sure that your target does not have any DoTs ticking, beacause it
will break the effect. You'll want to use gouge to get some time
regenerating, let HoTs or short term buffs run out (but please, don't
fkin ever use it to abuse the 5 second combat timer, which is actually
supposed to be 6 seconds. You'll get the upper hand, but you'll be
flamed for as long as you're on TBH by any knowledged gamer). You can
also use Gouge as a cast-breaker or short term CC of your possible Focus
Target. Can't get the more powerfull Sap because you don't have Vanish?
Well, get gouging!
2/5 Lightning Reflexes
This
talent is mainly a filler for what to come below. It's a passive
talent, meaning you'll substain the effect all the time, permanently; up
untill removal of the talent. It increases your dodge by a full 2%!
Just two percentage? Let me answer that with another question. Would you
say no thank you to 2% crit, even though you probably have 35% ? Even
1% could be useful, so don't make a scene of it. Those 2% can save your
life when a warrior swings his Stunherald towards you.
1/3 Slice'n'Dice
This
talent is also a filler, but at the same time it's viable! It increases
the time of your Slice and Dice, which stacks with Blade Flurry which I
mentioned earlier; making the Mace Stun (further down) to have more
swings to proc on. SnD is not to be underestimated. Slice'n'Dice can be
used with both many or few combat points. It's a way to spend a few
combat points when both Kidney is on cooldown and Expose Armor is up.
Don't use EA? Well, you better start rethinking how you're going to kill
them Shells.
5/5 Precision
Precision
increases your chance to hit, which is important. One thing is getting
resisted (which is annoying) but a dodge won't accumilate your combo
points, but a miss does. Therefore a miss could be devastating. Better
get that Hit chance up!
2/2 Endurance
Reduces
the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion by 1.5 minutes. Sounds good to
me. Does it need further explanation? Well then, please continue to the
next talent then.
2/2 Improved Sprint
Sprint
increases your movement speed by 70% and is the most powerfull speed
enhancer that any class can use (not like Dash which disappears when you
have to change form. Problem, druids?). This all sounds really really
good, but why is it neccesary to enhance that effect even further? Well,
turns out that Improved sprint removes all movement imparing effects as
you activate Sprint. That means Hamstring, Concussive Shot, Entangling
Roots, Entrapment, Mage Novas etc...Will be broken by the click of your
everyday Sprint! Why is this so important? Well, turns out that after
TBH became a reality, Rogue Glove Bonus is not on anybody's mind, except
for the Bloody Rogues that experience the lack. Now, there is a way to
counter mages who are a little hard on you, making Shadowstep almost
useless (although, Shadowstep makes resapping easier, but that shouldn't
be a problem if you think 1 second about your placement contra your CC
target).
2/2 Improved Kick
Kick
is a baws ninja looking fancy ability that allows you to use your feet
for something other than running. Yeah, it kicks the target, shakes them
up a bit so they'll stop casting. Good aye? Well, for kick to be
effective you have to hit a spell cast. (Damn you fake casters) However,
with Improved Kick you'll be able to Silence your target for a whole 2
seconds in addition to the primary effect, regardless of wether you hit a
cast or not.
5/5 Dual Wield Specialization
Increases
the damage done by your Off-Hand by 50%. Offhand?! I only use Main Hand
for damage! Son, I am disappoint. Immagine if all your Shivs did 50%
more damage. Oh wait! That can be a reality with this talent! Long story
short: Enhances your average dps even further.
5/5 Mace Specialization
Mace
Specialization increases your Mace Skill which will further increase
your chance to hit. It's not a loss to get a few extra hits on the
target, but that is not why we've capped it. We've chosen Mace
Specialization because of the 6% chance to stun the target. This is what
HARP is all about. A Mace Stun at the right time can be just as
devastating as a Kidney Shot or a Cheap shot, without even doing
anything other than auto-hitting. It even procs on most of your
abilities! Immagine that you'll lock a druid down out of form for 8
seconds or more. A kidney shot and some mace stuns. Scary thought.
1/1 Blade Flurry
As
I said earlier; «increases weapon swing speed and allow you to hit a
second target in swing-range». Well, that is exactly what it does, and
it will live up to the expectation of a deep talent. If you use this
correctly; all the damage (and mace stun effect) will and can be applied
to the second target you're making hits on. Ergo; you can dps two
targets by just targeting one. I don't know about you, but that sounds
like one of them «pay for two take one»-deal! Or...Was it the other way
around? Anyway! Blade Flurry is a good complimentary ability to a
trinket like Berserker's Call. They share the exact same cooldown-timer.
It's important however that it's used correctly together with
Adrenaline Rush.
2/2 Blade Twisting
Blade
Twisting will apply a simmilar effect to the one Crippling Poisons
does. Wouldn't it be great having that little extra slow that can't be
cleansed or abolished by those bloody classes you're pounding on all the
time? Blade Twisting does just that, and is the reason for why it's
picked out for this build. It will help you stay on your enemy's heels.
1/1 Adrenaline Rush
Adranaline
Rush is the second most important talent in this build, right after
Mace Stun. Also an ability that has been mentioned before. «Increases
your Energy regeneration by 100%, meaning you'll have an almost
«infinate» pool of Energy to dispose.» It's important that you use
Adrenaline Rush at the right moment, as with Blade Flurry and a possible
amplifying trinket. It's important to notice that neither Adrenaline
Rush nor Blade Flurry will be effected by Preparation. Hence it's
important to spend these abilities correctly, for when you're in for a
definate kill.
Quite amazing, isn't it? -The combat tree I mean,
not my handfull of typos nor wall of text. Moving right along to the
Sublety tree. For this I will use some of the same explanations I used
for my Mutilate Guide!
Sublety
5/5 Master of Deception
Master
of Deception is there because you need to be able to compete against
other rogues in sap battles. Especially in 2v2. In 3v3 this isn't the
biggest issue. You don't want to get sapped first and be stuck in a
chain of CC for 20 sec because you can't break the first CCs since the
other rogue will Blind you if you do. What a Paradox.
2/2 Dirty Tricks
Dirty
Tricks is important because of the range-increase on the abilities Sap
and Blind. You don't want to be limited to a short range, regardless of
your class. The longer, the better. You don't want to use Sap, but find
out that half your Energy Pool is gone because you had to sap a target.
Furthermore you don't want to have to wait for energy when things get
hot. If you're already on little Energy; you Vanish in order to Resap
the CC target, but you find yourself with insufficient Energy, the
target breaks free and you're unable to CC, smashing all your plans into
little bits along with most of your hope. Even with this talent this
problem tend to occur if you're not paying attention.
3/3 Initiative
Initiative
is only a viable talent for specs that use preparation in my opinion.
It's not often you'll get the time to restealth, but having that chance
to gain some extra points on the target for starters now that you'll
have multiple Vanishes can be a good thing. Makes it easier to pump out
lots of Dps early on.
2/2 Elusiveness
Elusiveness
will lower the Cooldown on your Vanish and Blind. If you're unlucky as
HARP; you'll find yourself in situations you're just waiting for the
cooldowns to come back to you. It's awesome if your cooldown-timers
became shortened. Well, this talent does just that with the two
abilities you base your most powerful CCs on: Vanish and Blind. Speaks
for itself.
3/3 Serrated Blades
This
has been put to the test. A client side bug shows you 0 Armor Increase.
kGo; inspect a different rogue and it will give you a different result.
It works. I've conducted a test to prove that it's working with great
results. This will increase your Armor Penetration. Armor Penetration
ignored the an amount of the target's armor. Wouldn't it be sweet if all
targets had little armor? Of course it would. That means your damage
would be vastly superior. Since you don't have Improved Expose armor
this is an important talent. It also increases damage on Rupture! This
will help you versus shells. Another great feature about this is that
it unlocks your main source of damage as HARP, Hemorrhage.
1/1 Hemorrhage
Hemo
is by far the best damage dealing ability for swinging weapons (not
puncturing like daggers). Therefore we're using it. The high damage it
presents, but also the bonus increase it applies to the target. The
debuff will increase physical damage from all sources, meaning your
bleeds and your hits along with other player's physical damage. Would be
a shame to waste it.
2/2 Dirty Tricks
Dirty
Tricks comes in handy with a spec that utilizes preparation, just like
Initiative does. It's important to save up Energy, and with many
restealthers, it's important to make sure that the opener doesn't cost
much. Ergo; a decrease on the Energy cost of your two main openers is a
huge gain.
1/1 Preparation
Preparation
is the final core-ability for this spec. It's a cooldown resetter for
most of your cooldowns, except for the ones gained in the combat tree.
It's important to use Preparation with case and with logic. It's only
logical to use preparation when you're in need of cooldowns. Hence;
don't just burn all your CDs wildly and use preparation to get them back
in order for a full spend once again. Preparation is mainly used to
reset Sprint and Vanish. Vanish is crucial for CC and sprint is your
best chance of getting around and out of trouble. Therefore, don't burn
it because you need another evasion. You can't resap twice with only one
vanish. It's also important to note that Preparation has a 10 min
Cooldown if you didn't catch that. Meaning it's a long wait before you
can create a good CC chain as a rogue.
1/2 Hightened Senses
This
will increase your stealth detection and reduces the hit chance on you
by spells and raged attacks. Personally I don't choose this talent to
help me versus other rogues while stealthed, but as both a filler and a
usefull boost to your avoidance from ranged attacks.
5/5 Deadliness
Deadliness
is your primary stat-booster in HARP. Since you don't have much crit
chance from Malice, we go for massive Attack Power. Think this also
speaks for itself.
Now, to some general selection of items and gear.
It's
important to notice that HARP is a spec that can create a lot of chaos
for your opponents, meaning that your survivability is increased being
this spec. Therefore; it opens a lot of doors to bring in items and
improvements on your offensive side, instead of defensive. Personally I
prefer going got huge stacks of AP since I have Deadliness which
increases my total attack power by 10%. Some crit chance is important,
but as your gear grows, your crit does too. Therefore; hit chance is
also quite valuable, although, due to precision; you can prolly stack up
some extra crit chance anyhow. You're choice!
As HARP it's
important that you find a rotation that deals great damage. We've
understood that HARP has a lot of CC built into other abilities and
functions, therefore we can try to find some rotations that will
compliment our damage. Personally I've decided to go for a simple
rotation that is mainly based on 4-5 CPs for each accumilator. Kidney
shot -> Expose Armor -> Kidney Shot -> Rupture/Silce'n'Dice (if
Rupture, you can follow up with a low CP Slice'n'Dice. That will
probably not affect your rotation of accumilators. What you put in
between there is quite obvious, but if you're new to rogue; then it
should be something like Cheap shot -> Hemo -> Shiv -> Kidney
Shot -> Hemo -> Hemo -> Shiv -> Gouge [Wait] -> Expose
Armor. It's important to notice that you're not supposed to spam Hemo
frequently, because you'll probably need the extra energy for Kicks or
other abilities; hence the shivving.
So, how do we take down
certain classes? I'll try to answer that with a few examples. I advice
you to try to put this information into use while fighting other
classes, not just the few I mention.
The Rogue's biggest enemies
are shells. I prefer taking the shells down using a handfull of bandages
and time at my disposal. Most of these healing shells have a weakness;
their damage. It's not great and it's easily avoided with your CoS. So
don't just waste cloak of shadows. I'd like to copy an old reply of mine
to a guy who wondered how he should kill resto druids.
1.What are druids capable of doing?
-Restodruids
are capable of stacking multiple sources of Healing over Time (HoT).
Restodruids are capable of doing few offensive spelldamage casts, and an
simmilar amount of casted Damage over Time (DoT). However; druids have
forms. Usually we're talking Dire Bear Form in this case. Without going
into details; a druid will use Dire bear form to mainly tank you because
of the increased HP and Armor. Dire Bear Form, along with Bear Form;
features another set of dots that will stack up to five times: Lacerate.
Although on this server, Lacerate f*ckin' fails and can't hit
rogues...Maybe twice in 10 swings. So; we can conclude that VS rogues
(due to avoidence) we can say that it's about 20-30% chance for Lacerate
to hit. Druids can also reduce AP and regenerate Hp via an exclusive
regeneration ability to Dire- and Bear Form, based on rage.
Keep in mind that they also have the ability to remove poisons.
2.
How the f*ck do I counter all that? -Even though it doesn't seem like
it. Druids have their flaws, along with every other class. You just have
to find these and make the best of it. So; think rationally and
logically. Continue reading:
-Druids main healing tools are
Lifebloom (can stack three times), Swiftmend (Requires either an active
Rejuvation or Regrowth HoT) and Nature Swiftness X-Heal (This is an
ability that will make any casted spell instant. X represents "Any"
cast).
-Druids can Pre-HoT (They don't have to have lost HP to HoT themselves up).
-Druids will try to outlast you, not to burst you. (Really, what burst except for Starfire do they have?)
-Druids will try to DoT you as much as possible.
-Druids will try to remove poisons.
-Druids will try to save mana. (Why? Well, Idk. They have innervate.)
Now
that we know these things (there are more, but these are the most
interesting to us as a rogue) let's focus on the question once again.How the f*ck do I counter all that?
At
this point Druids seem pretty much immortal since they sound like the
perfect counter to rogue. High HP, High Armor, High Heals,
Poison-Removal (QQ, no healing reduc). However, there are some flaws.
Druids can not heal in Bear Form (or any other form than Tree of like
which is total bullshit) than their Humanoid
form. A lot of rogues wait for druids to come out of their Bear Form in
order to Dps. This is a good tactic, beause this is where the druid is
most vaulnerable, but this shouldn't stop you from setting up your
amplifiers while he is in bear form. Like, Expose Armor, Slice'n'Dice.
However, don't just blow all your cooldowns because he is out. Make sure
that you can hit him, else he will just tease you for a second and drop
back into bear leaving you with a feeling of being trolled.
Question 2b:So Cooly, WTF do I do then?
-There are no clear tactic, but I can tell you what to look for, what you should do and what you can't do.
-How
to kill high armored targets: The higher the armor on the targets are;
the lower the dps. Logical? If a target can take 100 more punches, he
natually ain't as strong and flexible as the little guy. Ergo; you can
allow yourself to be hit a few times. Therefore; don't panic and waste
your Counter-cooldowns (Like CoS, Evasion, Ghostly Strike (if specced)
and Vanish)
-What to look for: Druids use Lifebloom, right? (No
shit) They like having that up (No shit). If Lifebloom was their most
powerful heal, maybe I shouldn't waste all my CDs on dealing Damage and
stun while it's up because it's no use. Just wait out the Lifebloom, or
you can use the time to bring in the next step:
-Expose Armor,
Bleeds and Slice and Dice. These are all viable abilities that will
enchance your total damage over the period they are active and will also
work together with eachother. Personally I focus on using Expose Armor
and Kidney Shot and a 2-3 CP Slice and Dice on rotation. This is to
Reduce the high armor and counter some of that. Kidney Shot is used a
damage and control ability. It stuns the target and keeps it in it's
place. Use this time to place poisons (Shiv spam then? -Prolly yes. Low
energycos, EZ combopoints and Poisons) and to gain further combopoints
for expose armor or Slice and dice. (Why only 2-3 Cp S&D? -No need
for 5. That means your Expose Armor or Kidney Shot will be delayed and
not stacked to 5/5 CP. That means you're going to further waste time and
allow the druid to DoT/HoT.What else?
-Shiv
spam. You don't need to spend your energy on Hemo all the time. It's
harder for a druid to survive with poisons than the increased damage
that lasts 10 strikes from Hemo. Ofc there is a balance to it, but
you've got to find out what is best for you.
Now that you have your basic rotation used together with Hemorrhage;what else can I do to avoid damage?
-Evasion:
Evasion is an ability that is used in order to dodge melee attacks. Can
be used when you feel like you have no stun and have to use Combo
points on expose armor AND the druid is in bearform; trying to DoT you.
Hey! Maybe you'll even be lucky and dodge a Bash (if the dudu sucks)
along with the shitty (Non-)hitting Lacerate?
-Vanish: Vanish is an
ability that is usually useless versus Druids because they use Faerie
Fire. Ergo: Don't f*ckin' rely on it to save your ... That means you're
already doomed to loose. If Fearie Fire runs out; you can use it to
quickly stealth and hit Cheap Shot to gain some extra combo points, but
that is really it.What about CoS (Cloak of Shadows) Cooly.? Isn't that useful?
-HELLSYEAH! Which is why I don't want to categorize it with the previous step, but rather included in this question:What can I do to survive?
-This
is where your cloak of shadows comes to good use and your bandages are
useful! (No FA you say? Forget about killing a druid then (in 1v1 ofc)).
I usually spend my Cloak of shadows for this very moment. Remember that
I did not use Rupture? Well, I don't. Because I have atleast 2/3
Improved Gouge on my spec for this very reason (along with an extended
CC in arena). I don't DoT the druid so that I can be in total control of
him if I want to, without having my CCs breaking. What does this have
to do with CoS? Well. Every 20/30% my HP goes down, I gouge the druid
and Bandage. Still don't get the
point of CoS? -You use it to remove the f*ckin' Moonfire and the Fearie
Fire so you can Vanish -> Reopen for more combo points. So don't
waste your gouge for 1CP and your CoS on some foolish Root. Use
Shadowstep for that to Shadowstep->Kick the next cyclone and root
cast. Also, use trinket on a cyclone or a root. Just make sure that you're certain that the druid won't capture you in a following CC.
P.S.
Blind is hardly used vs a good druid. Just use it when you feel like it
to both have a second blind in store for him. (Blind CD is quicker than
Trinket) The blind will also (most likely) make the druid trinket. That
means stunning him with Kidney shot later on will leave him with no
choice but to stand there and take the beating.
I'll add more to this.
Gear!
So,
we've understood the baics of the game. I'll add more tactics regarding
killing certain classea and hey! Even arena tactics, but as for now
let's start with some gearing.
Let's start off with a character screen for now. This is how I gear my rogue.
As
you can see, the focus is attack power. Why? Well, turns out that is
you followed my guide and spec so far you've understood that this spec
has 5/5 points in Deadliness. That makes your attackpower being
multiplied with 10%. That means that your total attack power will be
increased with 10%. Therefore, all those 20 AP gems you thow into your
character will make 22. (20 2). That applies to all items and enchants
too, even procs. Therefore, Attack Power will be your biggest amplifier.
As long as you stay above 2500 you're free to experiment with crit
chance. Some people do this the other way around; more crit chance and
less AP. Personally, I like having the higher AP because this spec turns
to a lot of Attack Speed increase, therefore; the percentages of crit
that you loose will be compensated for, as you hit many many more times
than what you would do. Combine that with macestun; you'll have a
killing machine. On this character I've stacked AP in all the slots, and
kept given it enchants like Resilience on chest for defense to give it
some survivability as you play without healers. For comps like MR or
other DPS comps you may find yourself in, you might want to check in on a
few more defensive aspects, as your total damage (with your partner)
will make up for the loss you experience. I'll explain this further in
Arena Tactics which I will add soon enough.
MaceHARP
means taking Maces into use, which means that you're obviously going to
take Mace Stun into account when playing HARP. Without the Maces it's
hardly any effective at all. HARP is an acronym that is based on the
abilities: Hemorrhage (your main source of damage), Adrenaline Rush
( Blade Flurry) and Preparation (a cooldown resetter). Now you're
finally able to use the expression HARP and actually know what the
expression means! Oh...You already knew? Well then, moving along.
About:
MaceHARP
was a spec that was developed for creating total chaos and had it's
Glory days during arena season 2 and 3. It's a spec that was developed
in order to take down especially healer, but any target for that matter.
It has it's roots in Sublety which combined a double set of cooldowns
using preparation, the AP bonus from Deadliness, Hemorrhage for main
damage source and viable talents for Stealth. So, why go HARP if you
already have these great abiltities by hand? Well, HARP uses
preparation, but is a spec that doesn't rely on Stealth as much as
Sublety. HARP is a spec that is great to use with another partner
because of the Mace Stun effect that you get further down the combat
tree. Combat? - Yes, Combat. Combat isn't only for PvE you know.
Combined with talent trees like Sublety and even Assasination in certain
settings can be more deadly than either Muti or Shadowstep. HARP takes
on the two most powerful Rogue damage amplifiers; Blade Flurry (which
when activated increases weapon swing speed and allow you to hit a
second target in swing-range) and Adrenaline Rush (which when used
Increases your Energy regeneration by 100%, meaning you'll have an
almost «infinate» pool of Energy to dispose). Now what? Rather than
blabbering about what the abilties actually does, let's talk about
talents and their functions!
Talents and functions:
http://wow243.gamestool.net/roguet.php?0000000000000000000003021052022055100200010005002530002311210500000
This
is the build that I've chosen to explain for MaceHARP. Don't like it?
Fine, change some things around, but I suggest you to read what I'm
saying so that you'll get an idea of why I selected the talents I did.
Starting off with the central talent tree: Combat
In combat you'll see a whole lot of abilities that improve your defensive features rather than offensive at start.
3/3 Imp Gouge
Gouge
can be a valuable spell both in the form of CC or just a setup for an
extra combo point and some regeneration time for your Energy. It's
important to use this ability wisely, hence it shares Diminishing Return
(DR) with Sap (Rogue's most powerful CC). Gouge is not to be wasted.
Make sure that your target does not have any DoTs ticking, beacause it
will break the effect. You'll want to use gouge to get some time
regenerating, let HoTs or short term buffs run out (but please, don't
fkin ever use it to abuse the 5 second combat timer, which is actually
supposed to be 6 seconds. You'll get the upper hand, but you'll be
flamed for as long as you're on TBH by any knowledged gamer). You can
also use Gouge as a cast-breaker or short term CC of your possible Focus
Target. Can't get the more powerfull Sap because you don't have Vanish?
Well, get gouging!
2/5 Lightning Reflexes
This
talent is mainly a filler for what to come below. It's a passive
talent, meaning you'll substain the effect all the time, permanently; up
untill removal of the talent. It increases your dodge by a full 2%!
Just two percentage? Let me answer that with another question. Would you
say no thank you to 2% crit, even though you probably have 35% ? Even
1% could be useful, so don't make a scene of it. Those 2% can save your
life when a warrior swings his Stunherald towards you.
1/3 Slice'n'Dice
This
talent is also a filler, but at the same time it's viable! It increases
the time of your Slice and Dice, which stacks with Blade Flurry which I
mentioned earlier; making the Mace Stun (further down) to have more
swings to proc on. SnD is not to be underestimated. Slice'n'Dice can be
used with both many or few combat points. It's a way to spend a few
combat points when both Kidney is on cooldown and Expose Armor is up.
Don't use EA? Well, you better start rethinking how you're going to kill
them Shells.
5/5 Precision
Precision
increases your chance to hit, which is important. One thing is getting
resisted (which is annoying) but a dodge won't accumilate your combo
points, but a miss does. Therefore a miss could be devastating. Better
get that Hit chance up!
2/2 Endurance
Reduces
the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion by 1.5 minutes. Sounds good to
me. Does it need further explanation? Well then, please continue to the
next talent then.
2/2 Improved Sprint
Sprint
increases your movement speed by 70% and is the most powerfull speed
enhancer that any class can use (not like Dash which disappears when you
have to change form. Problem, druids?). This all sounds really really
good, but why is it neccesary to enhance that effect even further? Well,
turns out that Improved sprint removes all movement imparing effects as
you activate Sprint. That means Hamstring, Concussive Shot, Entangling
Roots, Entrapment, Mage Novas etc...Will be broken by the click of your
everyday Sprint! Why is this so important? Well, turns out that after
TBH became a reality, Rogue Glove Bonus is not on anybody's mind, except
for the Bloody Rogues that experience the lack. Now, there is a way to
counter mages who are a little hard on you, making Shadowstep almost
useless (although, Shadowstep makes resapping easier, but that shouldn't
be a problem if you think 1 second about your placement contra your CC
target).
2/2 Improved Kick
Kick
is a baws ninja looking fancy ability that allows you to use your feet
for something other than running. Yeah, it kicks the target, shakes them
up a bit so they'll stop casting. Good aye? Well, for kick to be
effective you have to hit a spell cast. (Damn you fake casters) However,
with Improved Kick you'll be able to Silence your target for a whole 2
seconds in addition to the primary effect, regardless of wether you hit a
cast or not.
5/5 Dual Wield Specialization
Increases
the damage done by your Off-Hand by 50%. Offhand?! I only use Main Hand
for damage! Son, I am disappoint. Immagine if all your Shivs did 50%
more damage. Oh wait! That can be a reality with this talent! Long story
short: Enhances your average dps even further.
5/5 Mace Specialization
Mace
Specialization increases your Mace Skill which will further increase
your chance to hit. It's not a loss to get a few extra hits on the
target, but that is not why we've capped it. We've chosen Mace
Specialization because of the 6% chance to stun the target. This is what
HARP is all about. A Mace Stun at the right time can be just as
devastating as a Kidney Shot or a Cheap shot, without even doing
anything other than auto-hitting. It even procs on most of your
abilities! Immagine that you'll lock a druid down out of form for 8
seconds or more. A kidney shot and some mace stuns. Scary thought.
1/1 Blade Flurry
As
I said earlier; «increases weapon swing speed and allow you to hit a
second target in swing-range». Well, that is exactly what it does, and
it will live up to the expectation of a deep talent. If you use this
correctly; all the damage (and mace stun effect) will and can be applied
to the second target you're making hits on. Ergo; you can dps two
targets by just targeting one. I don't know about you, but that sounds
like one of them «pay for two take one»-deal! Or...Was it the other way
around? Anyway! Blade Flurry is a good complimentary ability to a
trinket like Berserker's Call. They share the exact same cooldown-timer.
It's important however that it's used correctly together with
Adrenaline Rush.
2/2 Blade Twisting
Blade
Twisting will apply a simmilar effect to the one Crippling Poisons
does. Wouldn't it be great having that little extra slow that can't be
cleansed or abolished by those bloody classes you're pounding on all the
time? Blade Twisting does just that, and is the reason for why it's
picked out for this build. It will help you stay on your enemy's heels.
1/1 Adrenaline Rush
Adranaline
Rush is the second most important talent in this build, right after
Mace Stun. Also an ability that has been mentioned before. «Increases
your Energy regeneration by 100%, meaning you'll have an almost
«infinate» pool of Energy to dispose.» It's important that you use
Adrenaline Rush at the right moment, as with Blade Flurry and a possible
amplifying trinket. It's important to notice that neither Adrenaline
Rush nor Blade Flurry will be effected by Preparation. Hence it's
important to spend these abilities correctly, for when you're in for a
definate kill.
Quite amazing, isn't it? -The combat tree I mean,
not my handfull of typos nor wall of text. Moving right along to the
Sublety tree. For this I will use some of the same explanations I used
for my Mutilate Guide!
Sublety
5/5 Master of Deception
Master
of Deception is there because you need to be able to compete against
other rogues in sap battles. Especially in 2v2. In 3v3 this isn't the
biggest issue. You don't want to get sapped first and be stuck in a
chain of CC for 20 sec because you can't break the first CCs since the
other rogue will Blind you if you do. What a Paradox.
2/2 Dirty Tricks
Dirty
Tricks is important because of the range-increase on the abilities Sap
and Blind. You don't want to be limited to a short range, regardless of
your class. The longer, the better. You don't want to use Sap, but find
out that half your Energy Pool is gone because you had to sap a target.
Furthermore you don't want to have to wait for energy when things get
hot. If you're already on little Energy; you Vanish in order to Resap
the CC target, but you find yourself with insufficient Energy, the
target breaks free and you're unable to CC, smashing all your plans into
little bits along with most of your hope. Even with this talent this
problem tend to occur if you're not paying attention.
3/3 Initiative
Initiative
is only a viable talent for specs that use preparation in my opinion.
It's not often you'll get the time to restealth, but having that chance
to gain some extra points on the target for starters now that you'll
have multiple Vanishes can be a good thing. Makes it easier to pump out
lots of Dps early on.
2/2 Elusiveness
Elusiveness
will lower the Cooldown on your Vanish and Blind. If you're unlucky as
HARP; you'll find yourself in situations you're just waiting for the
cooldowns to come back to you. It's awesome if your cooldown-timers
became shortened. Well, this talent does just that with the two
abilities you base your most powerful CCs on: Vanish and Blind. Speaks
for itself.
3/3 Serrated Blades
This
has been put to the test. A client side bug shows you 0 Armor Increase.
kGo; inspect a different rogue and it will give you a different result.
It works. I've conducted a test to prove that it's working with great
results. This will increase your Armor Penetration. Armor Penetration
ignored the an amount of the target's armor. Wouldn't it be sweet if all
targets had little armor? Of course it would. That means your damage
would be vastly superior. Since you don't have Improved Expose armor
this is an important talent. It also increases damage on Rupture! This
will help you versus shells. Another great feature about this is that
it unlocks your main source of damage as HARP, Hemorrhage.
1/1 Hemorrhage
Hemo
is by far the best damage dealing ability for swinging weapons (not
puncturing like daggers). Therefore we're using it. The high damage it
presents, but also the bonus increase it applies to the target. The
debuff will increase physical damage from all sources, meaning your
bleeds and your hits along with other player's physical damage. Would be
a shame to waste it.
2/2 Dirty Tricks
Dirty
Tricks comes in handy with a spec that utilizes preparation, just like
Initiative does. It's important to save up Energy, and with many
restealthers, it's important to make sure that the opener doesn't cost
much. Ergo; a decrease on the Energy cost of your two main openers is a
huge gain.
1/1 Preparation
Preparation
is the final core-ability for this spec. It's a cooldown resetter for
most of your cooldowns, except for the ones gained in the combat tree.
It's important to use Preparation with case and with logic. It's only
logical to use preparation when you're in need of cooldowns. Hence;
don't just burn all your CDs wildly and use preparation to get them back
in order for a full spend once again. Preparation is mainly used to
reset Sprint and Vanish. Vanish is crucial for CC and sprint is your
best chance of getting around and out of trouble. Therefore, don't burn
it because you need another evasion. You can't resap twice with only one
vanish. It's also important to note that Preparation has a 10 min
Cooldown if you didn't catch that. Meaning it's a long wait before you
can create a good CC chain as a rogue.
1/2 Hightened Senses
This
will increase your stealth detection and reduces the hit chance on you
by spells and raged attacks. Personally I don't choose this talent to
help me versus other rogues while stealthed, but as both a filler and a
usefull boost to your avoidance from ranged attacks.
5/5 Deadliness
Deadliness
is your primary stat-booster in HARP. Since you don't have much crit
chance from Malice, we go for massive Attack Power. Think this also
speaks for itself.
Now, to some general selection of items and gear.
It's
important to notice that HARP is a spec that can create a lot of chaos
for your opponents, meaning that your survivability is increased being
this spec. Therefore; it opens a lot of doors to bring in items and
improvements on your offensive side, instead of defensive. Personally I
prefer going got huge stacks of AP since I have Deadliness which
increases my total attack power by 10%. Some crit chance is important,
but as your gear grows, your crit does too. Therefore; hit chance is
also quite valuable, although, due to precision; you can prolly stack up
some extra crit chance anyhow. You're choice!
As HARP it's
important that you find a rotation that deals great damage. We've
understood that HARP has a lot of CC built into other abilities and
functions, therefore we can try to find some rotations that will
compliment our damage. Personally I've decided to go for a simple
rotation that is mainly based on 4-5 CPs for each accumilator. Kidney
shot -> Expose Armor -> Kidney Shot -> Rupture/Silce'n'Dice (if
Rupture, you can follow up with a low CP Slice'n'Dice. That will
probably not affect your rotation of accumilators. What you put in
between there is quite obvious, but if you're new to rogue; then it
should be something like Cheap shot -> Hemo -> Shiv -> Kidney
Shot -> Hemo -> Hemo -> Shiv -> Gouge [Wait] -> Expose
Armor. It's important to notice that you're not supposed to spam Hemo
frequently, because you'll probably need the extra energy for Kicks or
other abilities; hence the shivving.
So, how do we take down
certain classes? I'll try to answer that with a few examples. I advice
you to try to put this information into use while fighting other
classes, not just the few I mention.
The Rogue's biggest enemies
are shells. I prefer taking the shells down using a handfull of bandages
and time at my disposal. Most of these healing shells have a weakness;
their damage. It's not great and it's easily avoided with your CoS. So
don't just waste cloak of shadows. I'd like to copy an old reply of mine
to a guy who wondered how he should kill resto druids.
1.What are druids capable of doing?
-Restodruids
are capable of stacking multiple sources of Healing over Time (HoT).
Restodruids are capable of doing few offensive spelldamage casts, and an
simmilar amount of casted Damage over Time (DoT). However; druids have
forms. Usually we're talking Dire Bear Form in this case. Without going
into details; a druid will use Dire bear form to mainly tank you because
of the increased HP and Armor. Dire Bear Form, along with Bear Form;
features another set of dots that will stack up to five times: Lacerate.
Although on this server, Lacerate f*ckin' fails and can't hit
rogues...Maybe twice in 10 swings. So; we can conclude that VS rogues
(due to avoidence) we can say that it's about 20-30% chance for Lacerate
to hit. Druids can also reduce AP and regenerate Hp via an exclusive
regeneration ability to Dire- and Bear Form, based on rage.
Keep in mind that they also have the ability to remove poisons.
2.
How the f*ck do I counter all that? -Even though it doesn't seem like
it. Druids have their flaws, along with every other class. You just have
to find these and make the best of it. So; think rationally and
logically. Continue reading:
-Druids main healing tools are
Lifebloom (can stack three times), Swiftmend (Requires either an active
Rejuvation or Regrowth HoT) and Nature Swiftness X-Heal (This is an
ability that will make any casted spell instant. X represents "Any"
cast).
-Druids can Pre-HoT (They don't have to have lost HP to HoT themselves up).
-Druids will try to outlast you, not to burst you. (Really, what burst except for Starfire do they have?)
-Druids will try to DoT you as much as possible.
-Druids will try to remove poisons.
-Druids will try to save mana. (Why? Well, Idk. They have innervate.)
Now
that we know these things (there are more, but these are the most
interesting to us as a rogue) let's focus on the question once again.How the f*ck do I counter all that?
At
this point Druids seem pretty much immortal since they sound like the
perfect counter to rogue. High HP, High Armor, High Heals,
Poison-Removal (QQ, no healing reduc). However, there are some flaws.
Druids can not heal in Bear Form (or any other form than Tree of like
which is total bullshit) than their Humanoid
form. A lot of rogues wait for druids to come out of their Bear Form in
order to Dps. This is a good tactic, beause this is where the druid is
most vaulnerable, but this shouldn't stop you from setting up your
amplifiers while he is in bear form. Like, Expose Armor, Slice'n'Dice.
However, don't just blow all your cooldowns because he is out. Make sure
that you can hit him, else he will just tease you for a second and drop
back into bear leaving you with a feeling of being trolled.
Question 2b:So Cooly, WTF do I do then?
-There are no clear tactic, but I can tell you what to look for, what you should do and what you can't do.
-How
to kill high armored targets: The higher the armor on the targets are;
the lower the dps. Logical? If a target can take 100 more punches, he
natually ain't as strong and flexible as the little guy. Ergo; you can
allow yourself to be hit a few times. Therefore; don't panic and waste
your Counter-cooldowns (Like CoS, Evasion, Ghostly Strike (if specced)
and Vanish)
-What to look for: Druids use Lifebloom, right? (No
shit) They like having that up (No shit). If Lifebloom was their most
powerful heal, maybe I shouldn't waste all my CDs on dealing Damage and
stun while it's up because it's no use. Just wait out the Lifebloom, or
you can use the time to bring in the next step:
-Expose Armor,
Bleeds and Slice and Dice. These are all viable abilities that will
enchance your total damage over the period they are active and will also
work together with eachother. Personally I focus on using Expose Armor
and Kidney Shot and a 2-3 CP Slice and Dice on rotation. This is to
Reduce the high armor and counter some of that. Kidney Shot is used a
damage and control ability. It stuns the target and keeps it in it's
place. Use this time to place poisons (Shiv spam then? -Prolly yes. Low
energycos, EZ combopoints and Poisons) and to gain further combopoints
for expose armor or Slice and dice. (Why only 2-3 Cp S&D? -No need
for 5. That means your Expose Armor or Kidney Shot will be delayed and
not stacked to 5/5 CP. That means you're going to further waste time and
allow the druid to DoT/HoT.What else?
-Shiv
spam. You don't need to spend your energy on Hemo all the time. It's
harder for a druid to survive with poisons than the increased damage
that lasts 10 strikes from Hemo. Ofc there is a balance to it, but
you've got to find out what is best for you.
Now that you have your basic rotation used together with Hemorrhage;what else can I do to avoid damage?
-Evasion:
Evasion is an ability that is used in order to dodge melee attacks. Can
be used when you feel like you have no stun and have to use Combo
points on expose armor AND the druid is in bearform; trying to DoT you.
Hey! Maybe you'll even be lucky and dodge a Bash (if the dudu sucks)
along with the shitty (Non-)hitting Lacerate?
-Vanish: Vanish is an
ability that is usually useless versus Druids because they use Faerie
Fire. Ergo: Don't f*ckin' rely on it to save your ... That means you're
already doomed to loose. If Fearie Fire runs out; you can use it to
quickly stealth and hit Cheap Shot to gain some extra combo points, but
that is really it.What about CoS (Cloak of Shadows) Cooly.? Isn't that useful?
-HELLSYEAH! Which is why I don't want to categorize it with the previous step, but rather included in this question:What can I do to survive?
-This
is where your cloak of shadows comes to good use and your bandages are
useful! (No FA you say? Forget about killing a druid then (in 1v1 ofc)).
I usually spend my Cloak of shadows for this very moment. Remember that
I did not use Rupture? Well, I don't. Because I have atleast 2/3
Improved Gouge on my spec for this very reason (along with an extended
CC in arena). I don't DoT the druid so that I can be in total control of
him if I want to, without having my CCs breaking. What does this have
to do with CoS? Well. Every 20/30% my HP goes down, I gouge the druid
and Bandage. Still don't get the
point of CoS? -You use it to remove the f*ckin' Moonfire and the Fearie
Fire so you can Vanish -> Reopen for more combo points. So don't
waste your gouge for 1CP and your CoS on some foolish Root. Use
Shadowstep for that to Shadowstep->Kick the next cyclone and root
cast. Also, use trinket on a cyclone or a root. Just make sure that you're certain that the druid won't capture you in a following CC.
P.S.
Blind is hardly used vs a good druid. Just use it when you feel like it
to both have a second blind in store for him. (Blind CD is quicker than
Trinket) The blind will also (most likely) make the druid trinket. That
means stunning him with Kidney shot later on will leave him with no
choice but to stand there and take the beating.
I'll add more to this.
Gear!
So,
we've understood the baics of the game. I'll add more tactics regarding
killing certain classea and hey! Even arena tactics, but as for now
let's start with some gearing.
Let's start off with a character screen for now. This is how I gear my rogue.
As
you can see, the focus is attack power. Why? Well, turns out that is
you followed my guide and spec so far you've understood that this spec
has 5/5 points in Deadliness. That makes your attackpower being
multiplied with 10%. That means that your total attack power will be
increased with 10%. Therefore, all those 20 AP gems you thow into your
character will make 22. (20 2). That applies to all items and enchants
too, even procs. Therefore, Attack Power will be your biggest amplifier.
As long as you stay above 2500 you're free to experiment with crit
chance. Some people do this the other way around; more crit chance and
less AP. Personally, I like having the higher AP because this spec turns
to a lot of Attack Speed increase, therefore; the percentages of crit
that you loose will be compensated for, as you hit many many more times
than what you would do. Combine that with macestun; you'll have a
killing machine. On this character I've stacked AP in all the slots, and
kept given it enchants like Resilience on chest for defense to give it
some survivability as you play without healers. For comps like MR or
other DPS comps you may find yourself in, you might want to check in on a
few more defensive aspects, as your total damage (with your partner)
will make up for the loss you experience. I'll explain this further in
Arena Tactics which I will add soon enough.