Blades and Shadows
This post is part of the Escaping the Crowds series, which focuses on escape mechanism for PvP.
If there is one class that has lots of tricks up her sleeves (literally), it must be the Rogue. Masters of assassination, combat and subtlety, you will never see them coming, and by then it’ll be your end.
Today however, we’re interested in quite the opposite – never seeing them escape. Emphasis on escape.
Does a stealth approach imply the ability of a stealth retreat? That is what we’d like to know.
Yet before I start, there is a point which has to be mentioned. Rogue escapsim is based on different principles than most classes I have covered in the past. Rogues attempt to escape damage, but at the same time strive to close-in on their targets. On critical situations, they will try to flee, but mostly, the short range is where they feel most comfortable.
How to remain in this range is something I’ll talk about another time.
Now, back to escapism.
Splash! Your foot lands in a dark puddle in a darker alley. You quickly look behind you, making sure your enemies did not gain the knowledge of your location. But they did. A dark silhouette is clearly seen at the end of the passage. And the weapons it wields indicate more than a little regarding its intentions.
Time to scram. Time to unleash the trickful pockets.
Dodging the Bullet (or the Magic Missile)
As someone who spends most his time close to his enemies, the Rogue has better be good protecting himself as he is stabbing the enemy. For this purpose, he has two baseline abilities. One is aimed versus melee and ranged opponents, the other against users of magic.
Evasion grants 15 seconds of extra 50% to dodge, and 25% to be missed by ranged attacks. It can be used every 5 minutes (3.5 talented). Adding the base dodge Rogues have which is already pretty high, this can add up to avoiding over 75% of melee hits.
Cloak of Shadows removes all harmful spell effects (unless Crowd Controlled which prevents any action), and gives 90% to resist any spell for 5 seconds. Usable every minute. The bane of all casters, unless they are extremely lucky.
In addition, Rogues can gain much more mitigation and avoidance using talents. While they can’t take everything, there is a bit within each talent tree for the picking.
- Lightning Reflexes. Up to 5% more dodge, to avoid annoying melee attacks.
- Deflection. Same as the above, but with parry.
- Sleight of Hand. 1 to 2 percent reduction to be inflicted with a melee or ranged critical hit.
- Ghostly Strike. An attack that increases dodge by 15% for 7 seconds, usable every 20 seconds.
- Riposte. After parrying an incoming attack, allows disarming a target for 6 seconds. While this isn’t true mitigation, an enemy with no weapon will deal a significant lower amount of damage (and might not be able to use certain attacks).
- Heightened Senses. Reduces the chance to be hit by ranged and spell attacks by up to 4%.
- Deadened Nerves. Reduces all physical damage by up to 5%.
- Enveloping Shadows. Grants up to 15% chance to avoid area of effect attacks completely.
- Cheat Death. The cream of the crop mitigation-wise. This talent will nullify some of any attack that will cause the Rogue’s death, and reduce all incoming damage thereafter for 3 seconds. It activates passively, but only once a minute.
I’m Blind!
Mitigation and avoidance is all good and well, but sometimes it takes active action to prevent being hurt. Thankfully, Rogues have several tricks to incapacitate their enemies for enough time to regain some balance.
Blind causes the target to be disoriented for up to 10 seconds, every 3 minutes (1.5 talented). It is also one of the rare Rogue skills which are ranged, affecting a target up to 10 yards (15 talented) away.
Next skill doesn’t actually make the target blind, but it attempts to take her eyes out (don’t ask me how this can be used on eyeless creatures such as skeletons, I do not know).
Gouge incapacitates the opponent for up to 4 seconds (5.5 talented). It is primarily used to allow a backstabbing maneuver, but is still handy to slow down enemies and even stop casters from completing their incantation.
The last skill has nothing to do with sight or eyes, but with a completely different organ. Still, it achieves a similar purpose, so I’ll cover it here.
Kidney Shot stuns the target for the number of combo points on her + 1. Its main use is allowing mutilation of the enemy while it is helpless to react, but it can also be used for even less honorable actions such as fleeing battle.
Vanishing Act
Sometimes, dire circumstances require dire measures. For such days, Rogues can Vanish. When used, the skill instantly introduces the user into an improved state of stealth, and also removes all moving impairing effects. This can be used once every 5 minutes (3.5 talented).
A smart opponent will probably attempt to flush the Rogue out of stealth using an area of effect attack, but he has to be quick. Every passing moment takes the Rogue in a random direction, making him harder to locate.
While vanished, the Rogue can either flee to safety, or take advantage of his stealth state to use skills such as Ambush, Cheap Shot and maybe even Sap (I admit I am not sure if the opponent is also considered out of combat when the Rogue vanishes, so this remains to be tested).
Poison Running through my Veins
Poisons have always been an integral part of the assassin’s arsenal, and a good Rogue doesn’t leave his house (the Assassin’s Guild maybe?) without a few vials of different kinds.
The Poison of the Day is Crippling Poison. Once applied to a weapon, it has 30% per successful hit to affect the target, reducing her speed by 70% for 12 seconds. Depending on the Rogue’s weapon of choice, and whether the poison is applied to both his hands, it has a varying chance to slow down targets.
While it is probably brewed to prevent preys from fleeing the assassin, it could also allow him to flee himself when facing foes who are beyond his skills (just to backstab them another day).
Running for your Life
When all else fails, using one’s feet are probably the safest course.
Sprint increases movement speed by 70% for 15 seconds. With the proper talent, it will also remove all movement impairing effects when used (allowing to escape even more situations). It can be used every 5 minutes (3.5 talented), and also under the effect of stealth, hence allowing both bold or elegant retreats.
A common practice is sprinting away from an enemy for several seconds, consecutively leaving combat which allows the Rogue to stealth.
Pre-Combat Tricks
Last but not least.
Rogues of all kind have several tricks that can only be used before they enter combat.
The first and most obvious is Stealth. This is more or less their second nature, and we can assume that every time we meet a Rogue for the first time, he will not be visible.
Second is Sap, which is the Rogue’s form of Crowd Control. It can only be applied to enemies which are not in combat either, so it should be used within the fight’s setup, as it can be to no use later.
Last is a skill that is more famous in PvE, but still has PvP uses. Distract forces everyone within an area that is not in combat to look at a specific direction. It might sound funny, but that small moment of enemy confusement can grant quite an advantage.
Summary
Rogues do have many tricks, but all are tied to various cooldowns. From several seconds to several minutes, being a good Rogue requires managing time and abilities efficiently. They have many ways to escape, but those must be ready at the right time, or else… Splash.
Why do people not fear what they cannot see? Because the dead can’t tell the tale.
– “Serrated” (Wanted for the King Pontius assassination attempt)
Tags: Escape, PvP, Rogue, World of Warcraft
