Leveling a Rogue to 20

A beginner's guide to leveling a Rogue to the level 20 beta cap in WoW Forever: which race, every ability by level, the leveling talent builds, what to press, class quests, gear, and the mistakes new Rogues make.

The Forever beta is capped at level 20, and level 30 is expected around mid-October 2026. Ability levels and tooltips in this guide come from the Forever beta client. Anything marked Classic comes from the original game's data and may be different in Forever.

The Rogue in a nutshell

A Rogue is a melee damage dealer. In group terms that makes you DPS (short for damage per second): your job is to kill things, not to heal or to hold the enemies' attention the way a tank does. You fight up close with one or two weapons, you can sneak around unseen with Stealth, and your attacks come in two kinds: builders that add combo points and finishers that spend them.

• Resource: Energy. It refills by itself, in and out of combat, so you never stop to drink the way a caster does. Every attack costs Energy, and when the bar is empty you wait a moment.
• Armor: leather and cloth. Leather with Agility is what you want.
• Weapons: daggers, one-handed swords, maces, axes and fist weapons. The Forever client lets Rogues hold a second weapon in the off hand from level 10. A bow, crossbow, gun or thrown weapon goes in the ranged slot for pulling enemies from a distance.
• Good at: killing one enemy fast, picking your fights with Stealth, sneaking past enemies to reach a quest objective, and stopping enemy spellcasters with Kick.
• Weak at: healing yourself (you have no heals, so you eat food and use bandages), fighting several enemies at once (you have no area attacks yet), and anything at range. Your damage depends heavily on your weapon.

Tip: New to WoW? A mob is any computer-controlled enemy, a pull is starting a fight with one, and aggro means a mob has decided to attack you. Most of leveling is pulling one mob at a time, killing it and moving on.

Choosing a race

Nine races can be Rogues in Forever: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome and High Order Skyborne for the Alliance, and Orc, Undead, Troll and Windshaper Skyborne for the Horde. Tauren can't. Every race has its own racial abilities, and none of them makes or breaks a Rogue, so pick the faction your friends play and a race you like. Here is what each one brings.

Racial tooltips from the Forever client. Blizzard is still tuning racials during the beta.

Watch out: The client's tooltip for the Gnome racial Eureka! reads 'your next 3 damaging abilities have their Energy cost reduced by 10% and deal 10% more damage', but Blizzard's September 24 development notes describe Eureka on every class as a 10% discount on Mana, Rage or Energy abilities. Expect it to change.

The Skyborne are new in Forever and begin on Zephras Isle, their own level 1–12 starting zone (Meet the Skyborne). For every race and racial in one place, see Races, classes and racials.

Tip: On a PvP realm (see rulesets), racials that break stuns or spot stealthed players are worth more, because other players can attack you while you quest.

How a Rogue fights

Energy

Every Rogue attack costs Energy. The bar refills on its own, so a Rogue never has to stop and drink. What you manage is the spending: if you press everything the moment you can, you run dry and stand there auto-attacking. The table shows what your main attacks cost in the Forever client.

Rank 1 Energy costs from the Forever client. Talents can lower them: Improved Sinister Strike takes 5 Energy off Sinister Strike.

Combo points

Builders such as Sinister Strike and Backstab add a combo point to your target, up to 5. Finishers such as Eviscerate and Slice and Dice spend all of them, and the more points you spend, the stronger or longer the finisher. Combo points sit on the target, not on you: switch targets, or let the mob die first, and those points are gone.

Tip: Blizzard lists it as a known issue that the beta's Personal Resource Display doesn't show combo points, so don't rely on it to count them.

Stealth and openers

Stealth makes you hard to see but slows you by 50%. Stealth is rank 2, learned at level 20, and slows you by only 40%.

Stealth isn't invisibility. Mobs notice you when you get close, and higher-level mobs notice you sooner, so approach from behind and go around other enemies instead of brushing past them. From Stealth you start fights with an opener: Garrote from level 14 and Ambush from level 18, both from behind the target. Sap from level 10 takes a Humanoid out of the fight before it starts, and Pick Pocket from level 4 lets you pick a mob's pocket before you attack.

Poisons

Speculation: Poisons at level 20 are in the client but not confirmed. The Forever client has the Poisons skill at level 20, and both Instant Poison and Crippling Poison need level 20. Their tooltips: Instant Poison gives each hit a 20% chance to deal 13 to 17 Nature damage, with 60 charges, and Crippling Poison gives each hit a 30% chance to slow the target by 50% for 12 sec. Both last 30 minutes on a weapon. In Classic, Rogues learned poisons through a class quest chain that starts at level 20 (Mathias and the Defias for the Alliance, Deep Cover for the Horde) and mixed them from ingredients such as Dust of Decay. Classic's chains run through quests of level 24 to 26, above the beta cap, so how Forever players at 20 get poisons isn't known yet.

Your abilities, level by level

The table lists everything the Rogue trainer teaches up to level 20, straight from the Forever client. Visit your class trainer whenever you reach a new even level: new ranks hit harder, and new abilities change how you fight.

Everything a Rogue learns from the class trainer up to level 20, from the Forever client.

The ones that matter most while leveling, in the order you get them:

• Level 1: Sinister Strike is your first builder and works with any weapon. Eviscerate is your finisher: rank 1 deals 26-30 damage at 5 points, plus a share of your Attack Power. Stealth lets you sneak up on mobs. Puncturing Wounds is a passive that is new in Forever; it gives Backstab 30% more critical strike chance and a 45% chance to add an extra combo point.
• Level 4: Backstab deals 150% weapon damage plus 10, but only from behind the target and only with a dagger in your main hand. Pick Pocket steals from a mob before you fight it.
• Level 6: Gouge incapacitates a mob that is facing you for 4 sec and adds a combo point. Gouge also turns off your own auto attack, so use the pause to let Energy refill or to step behind the mob.
• Level 8: Evasion raises your dodge chance by 50% for 15 sec. It has a long cooldown, so it's your answer to a fight you might lose.
• Level 10: Sap incapacitates a Humanoid that isn't in combat for up to 25 sec and doesn't break Stealth. Slice and Dice is a finisher that makes you attack 20% faster; more points only make it last longer. Sprint makes you 50% faster for 15 sec and doesn't break Stealth, which makes it your escape button. Level 10 is also when your first talent point and your off-hand weapon slot arrive.
• Level 12: Kick interrupts a spell and stops the caster using that school of magic for 5 sec. Use it on enemy heals.
• Level 14: Garrote is an opener from Stealth and from behind: a bleed for 144 damage over 18 sec, plus a share of your Attack Power. Expose Armor lowers a target's armor, which is mostly for long group fights, not solo play.
• Level 16: Feint lowers your threat, the number that decides which player a mob attacks. You need it in groups, not solo.
• Level 18: Ambush is the big dagger opener: 250% weapon damage plus 70, from Stealth and from behind.
• Level 20: Rupture is a bleed finisher, but its Forever numbers are low (87 damage over 16 secs at 5 points, before Attack Power), so Eviscerate stays your main finisher. You also get Stealth and Backstab.
• After the cap: Vanish and Distract come at level 22, Cheap Shot at level 26, and Kidney Shot and the new Coup de Grace at level 30.

Talents: which spec to level with

Your first talent point comes at level 10 and you get one more each level, so you have 11 by level 20. Each of the three trees (Assassination, Combat and Subtlety) opens a new row of talents for every 5 points you put into it. ForeverDB publishes a level 20 leveling build for each tree on the Rogue builds page, with the reason for every point and a talent calculator. In short:

The published level 20 leveling builds. See the builds page for the full reasoning and the dungeon and PvP versions.

If you're new, Combat is the forgiving choice: you don't need to stand behind the mob, any decent one-handed weapon works, and Endurance keeps your emergency buttons ready. Pick Assassination if you like big finishers, or Subtlety if you enjoy the stealthy dagger style and don't mind hunting for a good dagger.

Only rank 1 of many talents has text in the Forever client, so what the extra ranks add isn't known yet. Blizzard's September 24 notes say that during the beta, resetting your talents costs 1 silver if you haven't changed them recently, so it's cheap to try all three.

The published level 30 builds carry on into Riposte and Blade Flurry for Combat, the poison talents and Cold Blood for Assassination, and Hemorrhage for Subtlety.

What to press

This is the Combat leveling rotation from the builds page, in plain steps. Auto attack is your weapon swinging on its own once a fight starts; everything else is a button you press.

One enemy

1. Walk up in Stealth if you want to start the fight on your terms. If the mob will live a while, open with Garrote from behind; otherwise just attack.
2. Press Sinister Strike until you have 1 or 2 combo points, then spend them on Slice and Dice if the fight will last. Skip it on mobs that die quickly.
3. Keep pressing Sinister Strike up to 5 combo points, then use Eviscerate. If the mob is nearly dead, finish with 3 or 4 points instead of wasting Energy.
4. If the mob starts casting a spell, especially a heal, Kick it.
5. Low on Energy against a tough mob? Use Gouge, let your Energy come back, then carry on. Any damage wakes the mob up, so don't hit it until you're ready.

With a dagger (the Assassination and Subtlety builds), open with Ambush from behind and use Backstab whenever you're behind the mob, falling back to Sinister Strike when you're in front. Subtlety also presses Ghostly Strike whenever it's ready.

Two or more enemies

You have no area attacks at 20, so the plan is to take enemies out of the fight and kill them one at a time.

1. If a Humanoid stands next to your target before the fight, Sap it first, then open on the other one.
2. When two mobs are hitting you, press Evasion early, not when you're nearly dead.
3. Gouge the second mob and kill the first. Don't hit the Gouged one, because any damage breaks it.
4. Build and finish on one target at a time, and spend your combo points before that target dies.
5. If it's going badly, use Sprint and run. Vanish only comes at level 22, so at 20 running is your way out.

Tip: Use your bow, gun, crossbow or thrown weapon to pull a single mob toward you from a distance, away from its friends, then fight it where nothing else can join in.

Class quests up to 20

Class quests are only offered to your class. The Forever client has the Rogue quests below, but the givers and places in the table come from Classic's data, so Forever may have moved or changed them. The early ones mostly point you to your trainer or a Rogue contact in a city; the later ones send you around your faction's zones.

Rogue class quests the Forever client has, up to level 20. Levels, givers and places are Classic data. The Skyborne start on Zephras Isle, and the data doesn't show which of these they get.

Some level 20 chains continue past the beta cap in Classic's data: Klaven's Tower (Westfall) and Mission: Possible But Not Probable (The Barrens) are level 24, and the second Hinott's Assistance is level 26. The map links drop a pin on the Forever map at the Classic spot.

Speculation: Pick Lock is in the Forever client, but it isn't in the Rogue trainer list, so we can't say when you get it. In Classic the Rogue trainer taught it at level 16.

Gear and weapons

Your weapon matters more than any other item. Sinister Strike adds a flat amount to your weapon's damage, and Backstab and Ambush deal a percentage of it, so a harder-hitting main-hand weapon makes every attack stronger. Replace your weapon whenever you find a clear upgrade.

• Combat: any one-handed sword, mace, axe or fist weapon with the best damage you can find. Humans with a sword, Orcs with an axe and Dwarves with a mace also get their racial critical strike bonus.
• Assassination and Subtlety: a dagger in the main hand, because Backstab and Ambush need one.
• Off hand: from level 10 you can hold a second one-handed weapon. It swings on its own and adds damage, so put your second-best weapon there.
• Armor: leather with Agility. For groups, the Rogue dungeon guide ranks the stats as Hit, Agility, Critical Strike, Attack Power, then Strength.

The Rogue dungeon guide lists the best items for each slot at 20 and 30 and where they come from, and the gear planner lets you try combinations. A few examples at 20:

• Brawler's Leather Armor and the rest of the Brawler's Leather set are new Forever Leatherworking recipes. The chest needs level 15 and Brawler's Leather Pants needs level 20.
• Pyrewood Signet Ring is a new Rogue-only ring in the client. Where it comes from isn't known yet.
• In Classic's loot tables, Cruel Barb (a sword) drops from Edwin VanCleef in the Deadmines, and Butcher's Cleaver (a one-handed axe, which Forever Rogues can now use) from Razorclaw the Butcher in Shadowfang Keep. Forever may have changed these drops.

Professions that suit a Rogue

Any profession works, and Professions explains them all. Rogue-friendly picks:

• Skinning and Leatherworking: skin the beasts you kill anyway and turn the leather into armor you wear, such as the Brawler's Leather set.
• First Aid: you have no heals, so bandages such as Linen Bandage save you food and time. In the Forever client, First Aid also has healing potion recipes such as Minor Healing Potion.
• Herbalism or Mining: a gathering profession earns the money you'll spend on training and weapons.

Groups and dungeons

In a group you're melee DPS. Let the tank (the player who holds the mobs' attention) pull, then attack the tank's target from behind. Good habits:

• Stay in Stealth until the tank has the mobs' attention, then open.
• Before the pull, Sap one Humanoid from Stealth and tell the group which one, so the tank faces one mob fewer.
• Use Kick on enemy casters, especially their heals.
• Use Feint when you're close to pulling a mob off the tank, especially after a big critical Eviscerate.
• Use Gouge on a loose mob that's hitting the healer, while the tank comes to pick it up.
• Kill mobs in the order the tank marks them.

Dungeons within reach by 20 include Ragefire Chasm, the Deadmines, Wailing Caverns and Shadowfang Keep; each page lists its level, bosses and quests. The Rogue dungeon guide has group builds such as Dagger Backstab for groups, and Your first dungeon covers finding a group and what to expect.

Common beginner mistakes

• Finishing with 1 or 2 combo points. Eviscerate costs the same Energy at any number of points, so build to 5 unless the mob is about to die.
• Switching targets with points on the first mob. The points stay on that mob and are lost when it dies.
• Pressing Backstab from the front, or without a dagger. It only works from behind with a dagger in your main hand. Use Sinister Strike instead.
• Hitting a Gouged or Sapped mob by accident. Any damage breaks both, so plan which mob you're fighting first.
• Saving Evasion until you're nearly dead. Press it as soon as a second mob joins in.
• Walking through mobs in Stealth. The closer you get, the more likely they see you. Go around them.
• Keeping an old weapon. Your weapon is most of your damage; upgrade it whenever you can.
• Forgetting food and bandages. You have no heals, so carry both.
• Pulling for the group in a dungeon. Let the tank start every fight.

What Forever changed for Rogues

• Puncturing Wounds is new: every Rogue has it from level 1, and it makes Backstab crit far more often.
• Rogues can use one-handed axes, which they couldn't in Classic, so the Orc racial Axe Specialization now helps Rogues too.
• The Forever tooltip for Sap drops Classic's 'Must be stealthed' line and says 'Does not break Stealth'. Blizzard's September 24 notes add that Sap now flags you for PvP when you use it on a player who is flagged.
• Some numbers moved. Backstab rank 1 adds 10 damage instead of Classic's 15, and Expose Armor rank 1 removes 90 armor per combo point instead of 80.
• New tools arrive after the cap: Coup de Grace at level 30 makes Eviscerate hit harder against targets with your Deadly Poison, and Mutilate and Venom come at level 40.
• Flawless Execution, a new passive that makes Eviscerate cheaper, is in the client but isn't taught by the trainer. How you get it isn't known.
• Blizzard's known issues: the Cooldown Manager can't track poisons yet, and it isn't testable for Rogues yet.

The full list of Rogue differences from Classic is on the Rogue changes page, and our Rogue outlook looks ahead to levels 21 to 40.

Checked against WoW Forever beta build 1.60.1.70009.