Rogue PvP Opener: Shadowlands

If you’re wondering how Rogues are able to one-shot or get an almost guaranteed kill, I’ve listed the standard PvP opener below. Note that this is for Subtlety Rogues who are spec’d and talented to the current meta which you can find on Icy-Veins.

1. Stealth
2. Shadow Blades
3. Cheap Shot
4. Shadow Dance
5. Cold Blood
6. Symbols of Death
7. Echoing Reprimand
8. Kidney Shot
9. Mark for Death
10. Eviscerate
11. Shadowstrike
12. Shadowstrike
13. Eviscerate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V3w6NBpEVI

I’ll go into brief detail below as to the reasoning behind the opener, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel if this video information has been helpful as it will help me out tremendously.

Sub Rogue PvP Opener Shadowlands

Stealth (Shadow Dance if in combat)

• You’ll want to start in stealth for obvious reasons. Not only can you surprise your enemy, you’ll also be able to open with Cheap Shot. Now, you can also open with Cheap Shot by using Shadow Dance, which is also an option.

Shadow Blades

• Shadow Blades gives a massive 50% increased damage along with allowing for higher combo point generation per move. This is our biggest burst cooldown, so try to use it effectively. Sometimes, if I know it will be a long fight, I will withhold use of my Shadow Blades and wait for the enemy to use their cooldowns. After cooldowns are used, I will re-stealth and re-open with Shadow Blades for an almost guaranteed kill.

Cheap Shot

Pretty self-explanatory here: lockdown the enemy for 4 seconds and generate combo points. This will sometimes be trinketed, so be prepared to follow with a quick Kidney Shot.

Shadow Dance, Cold Blood, Symbols of Death, Echoing Reprimand

• You’ll want to use these abilities all in rapid succession, it will be helpful to use macros to do this effectively. I use the following macros and include use my trinket in the Shadow Dance macro as well:

#showtooltip Shadow Dance
/cast Sinful Aspirant’s Badge of Ferocity
/cast [stance:0] Shadow Dance

#showtooltip Symbols of Death
/cast Cold Blood
/cast Symbols of Death

Kidney Shot (or Eviscerate)

• Pretty self-explanatory here, you want to continue to lockdown the target. This will be a full-combo point, half-duration Kidney Shot (due to diminishing returns).
• If the target is very low (30-40%) after your Echoing Reprimand, I prefer to use an Eviscerate here to secure the kill.

Mark for Death, Eviscerate

• Mark for Death does not trigger a GCD, so you can use these two abilities simultaneously. This will provide nice follow-up damage to your initial Echoing Reprimand burst.

Shadowstrike, Shadowstrike, Eviscerate

• Follow-up damage to secure the kill. If you’re able to land on your Animacharged combo point following the first Shadowstrike, try to land a 7-point Eviscerate!

Thanks for reading!