Rogue Leveling Guide

This rogue leveling guide is designed for one reason, to help you cruise your way to 70. For those of you just starting World of Warcraft or finally deciding to level a rogue alt let me congradulate you. Leveling a rogue is one of the most fulfilling and exciting elements of the game, take it from me…I’ve leveled a total of 7 rogues to 60 and 2 to 70, clocking more days on the game than I’d game to remember.

The rogue class is a dynamic and engaging experience, simply put…it’s a blast to level. But enough talk, let’s get right down to what tools you’re going to need to level the most effectively, and more importantly, the fastest.

Now, I don’t recommend other player’s guides often…because quite frankly 99% of “expert guides” are 100% bull shit. But when it comes to leveling guides I haven’t found a more effective resource than Team I-Demise’s leveling guide package. The guide details the step by step process of leveling 1-70, and walks you through the whole process with an in-game map mod. Awesome guide that has my 100% recommendation.

Rogue Leveling Specs
First things first, let’s talk rogue leveling talent specs. This is probably the most important factor of any in determining the speed at which you can power grind quests and mobs. The best talent spec for leveling is almost always going to be a deep combat build, rogue leveling build - 19/42/0. The link to the left is my prefered build for leveling.

It offers the greatest long duration damage output, while not leaving you completely screwed if you get into a PvP situation. You will want to fill out the combat tree first and foremost, getting adrenaline rush, combat potency, and surprise attacks will help you greatly. Most of the assassination talents help, but aren’t as clutch. So 42 into combat first, 19 into assassination second.

Now, if you’ve ever visited my site before then you know I’m a huge fan of combat for all realms of this game. That said, a solid subtly build can work just as effectively for leveling purposes. Subtly rogue leveling spec - 19/0/42. Make sure you get your 42 into the subtly tree before putting any into assassination.

Keep in mind, the build above takes advantage of only those talents that will provide the greatest benefit to you in a leveling environment. It’s not designed for PvP, but due to the strong openers and energy management will offer you better protection against ganking (and the ability to gank) than the combat build.

Either of the above two builds will work great for you, as will any slight point variations. The only builds you should stay 100% away from are those which use position attacks, in essence, mutilate, backstab, and ambush. Since you’ll be solo grinding large portions of your experience and quest you can’t afford to deal with positional attacks.

Best Rogue Race
Now this is a very difficult question, especially for someone who plays a troll rogue. I’ve built two lists below to hopefully give you some guidance. These lists are based off of the overall effectiveness / usefulness of the racials, considering both PvE and PvP elements.

Horde

1. Undead
2. Blood Elf
3. Orc
4. Troll

Alliance

1. Human
2. Gnome, Dwarf
3. Night Elf

Rogue Leveling Weapons
For weapons we are going to be using a hierarchy of big hitting swords. If you have another character with a bit of gold (and you should since you’ve already read my Gold Secrets Guide!) you can certainly assist your rogue’s leveling ability by purchasing swords off the auction house. However, for the purpose of this guide let’s go over all the swords easily at our disposal.

1. Wingblade - complete quest “Leaders of the Fang” in Wailing Caverns, min. level 10 (horde only)
2. Outlaw Sabre - complete quest “Baron Aquanis” in Ashenvale, min. level 21 (horde only)
3. Sword of Serenity - complete quest “In the name of the Light” in Scarlet Monastery, min. level 34 (alliance only)
4. Sword of Omen - complete quest “Into the Scarlet Monastery” in Scarlet Monastery, min. level 34 (horde only)
5. Vanquisher’s Sword - complete quest “Bring the End” (horde only) or “Bring the Light” (alliance only) both in Razer Fend Down, min. level 37
6. Thrash Blade - complete quest “Corruption of Earth and Seed“, in Maraudon min. level 45 (alliance & horde)
7. Foe Reaver - complete quest “Felspark Ravine” (horde only) or “The Path of Anguish” (alliance only) in Hellfire Peninsula, min. level 58
8. Blade of the Unyielding - complete quest “Honor the Fallen” in Hellfire Peninsula, min. level 58 (horde only)
9. Keen Marshfang Slicer - complete quest “The Sharpest Blades” (horde only) or “Lines of Communication” (alliance only) in Zangarmarsh, min. level 62

Now, obviously I haven’t listed out every single sword from every quest out there. But, this is the list I’ve used to level all of my rogues and found it works quite well. When you have gaps in the list simply get the best green sword available.

For swords you think should be on this list, but I left out, check this custom wowhead chart I’ve created. It details every uncommon, rare, or epic sword from levels 1-70 so you can always find what you need.