Our other Rogue guides take you from 10 to 60: the starter guide, Combat leveling, Subtlety and Assassination. This one covers what comes after 60: which stats each Rogue spec should gear for, how the three hit caps and the new expertise stat work, which weapons to chase, and how to plan pre-raid gear before the first raids open.
Key dates (Blizzard): name reservation is open until Nov 3. Launch is Nov 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open Dec 9.
Read this first: the beta stopped at level 30, so nobody has geared a level 60 Rogue in Forever yet. The stat weights below come from SixtySim, a community simulator running beta client data and marked "unverified until level 60 opens". Blizzard hasn't published Forever's attack table, so SixtySim builds it from beta logs plus Classic's numbers. Treat every number as a starting point.
What Forever changed about Rogue gear
From Blizzard's Deep Dive recap:
- Hit and crit are each one stat now. Melee, ranged and spell hit are combined, and so are the three kinds of crit. Blizzard names Rogues directly: hit now makes your poisons more reliable too.
- A new stat lowers the chance to be dodged or parried. SixtySim calls it expertise (more on it below).
- Weapon skill still works, but items carry less of it, so a weapon skill item isn't automatically best.
- Every dungeon drop was re-examined, unique boss items are now blue (rare) quality, and set bonuses were improved.
A few Forever details SixtySim builds its Rogue numbers on:
- A weapon can carry a poison and a sharpening stone at the same time.
- Energy refills at 10 a second no matter how fast you swing, so attack speed doesn't give you more energy.
- Windfury Totem procs off the main hand only and is a buff now, so it no longer pushes your main-hand poison off.
- Poison hits are about a third weaker than in Classic, with a small attack power share added.
- Necklaces take enchants.
Stat priorities by spec (level 60, simulated)
From SixtySim (updated Oct 28, pre-raid gear, beta data). Every weight is in points of attack power (= 1.00). Hit and crit are per 1%, the rest per point.
| Spec | 1 boss, 1 minute | 1 boss, 3 minutes | Gear for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assassination | 1% crit 26.0, 1% hit 19.2, 1% attack speed 16.1, expertise 2.45, Agility 2.07, Strength 1.10 | 1% crit 26.4, 1% hit 21.0, 1% attack speed 16.9, expertise 2.46, Agility 2.10 | Crit, then hit, Agility and expertise. Two daggers |
| Combat | 1% hit 20.5, 1% crit 19.2, 1% attack speed 14.6, expertise 2.63, Agility 1.82, Strength 1.10 | 1% crit 22.4, 1% hit 21.6, 1% attack speed 16.4, expertise 2.53, Agility 1.96 | Hit and crit about equal, expertise, Agility. Slow main-hand sword |
| Subtlety | 1% crit 21.0, 1% hit 16.8, 1% attack speed 12.5, expertise 2.30, Agility 1.89, Strength 1.10 | 1% crit 21.3, 1% hit 17.6, 1% attack speed 13.4, expertise 2.28, Agility 1.91 | Crit, then hit, Agility and expertise |
Weapon damage matters too. Each point of main-hand weapon DPS is worth 8.26 attack power for Assassination, 10.5 for Combat and 10.3 for Subtlety, against 4.11, 2.66 and 2.13 for the off hand. Armor penetration comes last for all three (0.35 to 0.42).
What stands out, per SixtySim:
- Agility is worth about twice Strength. Both give a Rogue 1 attack power a point, but Agility adds 1% crit per 29 points too. Blessing of Kings lifts both by 10%, which is why Strength lands at exactly 1.10.
- Assassination loves crit most. A Mutilate crit on either hand gives Seal Fate's extra combo point, and Malice's crit reaches your poisons too. Crit leads hit "by a quarter or more on every fight".
- Combat: buy whichever an item has more of. Hit and crit sit within a point or two of each other on most fights. Against three bosses for a minute, crit pulls ahead (22.5 vs 19.9).
- Subtlety: crit is plain damage. No talent in SixtySim's build triggers on a crit, but crit still beats hit on every fight it tested.
- Crit doesn't run out yet. White swings stop gaining from crit at about 40 to 49% on your character sheet (depends on spec, hit and expertise), and the pre-raid sets sit at 36.5 to 38.5% on a three-minute fight. Your specials have no such limit.
Hit and expertise: three caps, one dodge (beta logs, partly unconfirmed)
SixtySim says you have three hit caps, one per attack table:
- 8% hit: your specials stop missing. Mutilate, Sinister Strike, Hemorrhage and your finishers stop missing a level 63 boss at 8%. Beta logs show Forever dropped Classic's extra 1% miss against a boss three levels up.
- 17% hit: your poisons stop missing. Poisons roll on the spell table, which misses a raid boss 17% of the time (Classic figure), and in Forever your gear hit counts for them. Hit keeps paying past 8% because of this.
- 27% hit: your white swings would stop missing. Dual-wielding starts white swings at a 27% miss chance, which no pre-raid set comes close to.
SixtySim's sets carry 11.0% hit (Assassination and Combat) and 10.2% (Subtlety): past the first cap, short of the others. So hit never stops being useful before raids.
Expertise is new: every 10 points cuts the boss's 6.5% chance to dodge by 1%. From behind, a boss can't parry or block, so dodge is all that's left. A dodge stops a special or finisher, not just a swing, so 10 points of expertise is worth more than 1% hit for every spec. Few pre-raid items carry it. Combat gets 2% from the Weapon Expertise talent, and Adaptive Combat Assistant (trinket, Pix Xizzix in Stranglethorn Vale) adds 2%, which is why it's in almost every set.
Weapons: daggers vs swords
Per SixtySim:
- Assassination: two daggers (Mutilate needs them). Every Alliance set holds Electrified Dagger (Stormpike Guard) and every Horde set Glacial Blade (Frostwolf Clan), the Alterac Valley daggers: same 1.8 speed and 10 Agility, bind on pickup. The other dagger changes by fight and the candidates finish within a few DPS: Heartseeker (Blacksmithing, bind on equip, 1% crit), Scarlet Kris (1.5-speed world drop) or the Warsong Gulch daggers (Sentinel's Blade / Scout's Blade). Deadly Poison goes on the off hand.
- Combat: a slow sword in the main hand for Hack and Slash. Every pre-raid set holds Teebu's Blazing Longsword (world drop). Persuader (Blacksmithing mace) is next, 8.8 DPS behind for the Alliance and 6.5 for the Horde on three minutes. Off hand: Mirah's Song (Kirtonos the Herald quest, Scholomance) on most single-boss fights, or Hanzo Sword (1.5-speed world drop), which is about level with it. Sinister Strike reads every one-hander but a dagger at 2.4 seconds, so a slower main hand only helps your white swings.
- Subtlety: also Teebu's on one boss. A dagger raises Hemorrhage to 145% weapon damage, but Hemorrhage counts a dagger's attack power at 1.7 seconds instead of 2.4, so the sword wins. The off hand is Scarlet Kris: a fast dagger lands Deadly Poison more often than a slower one with more damage.
- Against three bosses, Combat and Subtlety sometimes take Hand of Edward the Odd, a caster mace whose 90 spell damage feeds Dragonbreath Chili's fire.
- Proc rates are guesses. Teebu's Firebolt and Hanzo Sword's wound use Classic's rate of about once a minute, since Forever's client data gives none.
Shadowcraft Armor: the Rogue dungeon set
Forever reworked the bonuses on the eight-piece Rogue dungeon set. Per the beta client (builds 1.60.1.70532 and 70658), as listed on ForeverDB and ForeverDiff:
| Pieces | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 2 | +8 all resistances |
| 3 | +30 attack power |
| 4 | When struck, 5% chance to remove a snare from yourself (once every 60 sec) |
| 5 | Chance on melee attack to restore 20 energy |
| 6 | Restores 15 health per 5 sec |
In Classic it was +200 armor (2), +40 attack power (4), a 35-energy proc (6) and +8 all resistances (8). Forever moved the bonuses to fewer pieces, but the energy proc is smaller (20 instead of 35).
Does it make the cut? Barely. SixtySim's Subtlety set wears Shadowcraft Boots (Rattlegore, Scholomance), and for Assassination and Combat they tie with the quest boots. Every other piece loses: Shadowcraft Tunic (General Drakkisath, Upper Blackrock Spire) costs 11.8 to 14.8 DPS against Dawn Armor. Blizzard hasn't confirmed Forever's drop sources, so treat these as Classic-based.
Pre-raid planning, spec by spec
SixtySim builds each set from items whose Forever stats are published. wow4ever builds its own list from items with a known source and says many numbers are still Classic ones until launch, so the two disagree in places. wow4ever has one "DPS Rogue" page, not one per spec.
What all three SixtySim sets share:
- Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings (Leatherworking, bind on equip). Together they give 2% hit. Swap either and you lose the bonus too: on three minutes the next gloves cost Assassination 8.3 DPS and Combat 9.8.
- Gnomish Battle Chicken is in every set: on the pull, its Battle Squawk gives 5% attack speed for four minutes. Caveat: it binds on pickup and needs a Gnomish engineer, the sim assumes every use squawks, and Classic players report it on about one use in two, which would roughly halve its worth.
- Adaptive Combat Assistant (2% expertise) in the other trinket slot.
- Dawn Armor (Leatherworking chest with Agility, hit and crit), Darkmantle Cap (quest reward, 1% crit; you won't wear enough Darkmantle for its set bonus) and Darkmantle Boots (quest) or Shadowcraft Boots.
- Pix Xizzix (Stranglethorn Vale) sells Howler's Furs (cloak) and Assassin's Waistguard, a Rogue-only belt with 2% hit. Forest Stalker's Bracers and Don Julio's Band are vendor items too.
- Reputation: the shoulders are Exalted rewards from Forever's new Barrens factions, Darkspear Pauldrons (Darkspear Raiders, Horde) or Theramore Pauldrons (Theramore Expeditionary Force, Alliance). Ferocious Watcher's Signet needs Exalted with The Watchers (the Revered version is about as good). SixtySim says start these first, since they take longest.
- Neck: Medallion of the Dawn (quest), or Beads of Ogre Might (quest: Falrin's Vendetta) for Subtlety.
- Ranged: Precisely Calibrated Boomstick (world drop) or Blackcrow (Shadow Hunter Vosh'gajin, Lower Blackrock Spire).
wow4ever's list is different: two Persuaders (Blacksmithing maces), Mask of the Unforgiven (Stratholme), Imperial Jewel (Emperor Dagran Thaurissan, Blackrock Depths), Truestrike Shoulders (Pyroguard Emberseer, Upper Blackrock Spire), Cape of the Black Baron (Baron Rivendare), Void-Powered Slayer's Vambraces (Engineering), Might of the Timbermaw and Mongoose Boots (Leatherworking), Plaguehound Leggings (Stratholme trash), Tarnished Elven Ring and Counterattack Lodestone (Dire Maul North tribute), Painweaver Band (General Drakkisath) and Frozen Heart of the Mountain (Enchanting). Both agree on Dawn Armor, Devilsaur Gauntlets and Blackcrow, and SixtySim rates Cape of the Black Baron level with its pick.
Enchants (SixtySim): Crusader on the main hand (Combat's Holy Strength is up 47.8% of the time) and Agility on the off hand. Arcanum of Rapidity or Lesser Arcanum of Voracity on head and legs (it switches between fights). Greater Stats on chest, Superior Agility on gloves, Greater Agility on boots, and Agility on bracers, cloak and neck.
Consumables (SixtySim, worth on one boss for one minute):
| Assassination | Combat | Subtlety | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadly Poison IV (off hand) | 8.3% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Instant Poison VI (main hand) | 4.8% | 3.2% | 2.9% |
| Thistle Tea | 7.8% | 5.1% | 7.4% |
| Elixir of the Mongoose | 3.4% | 3.2% | 3.2% |
| Dense Sharpening Stone (main hand) | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Major Frenzy Potion | 1.4% | 1.6% | 1.6% |
- Stone plus poison: each weapon carries a Dense Sharpening Stone (+8 weapon damage) next to its poison. Elemental Sharpening Stone would be better, but its plans drop only in Molten Core.
- Flask of Supreme Power looks wrong for a Rogue, but its spell damage feeds Dragonbreath Chili's fire (1.0 to 1.2% on one boss, about 3% against three).
- Mighty Rage Potion is Warrior and Druid only in Forever, so Rogues drink Major Frenzy Potion (recipe sold for Merchant's Favor).
- Smaller gains: Ground Scorpok Assay, Juju Might, Juju Power, Dragonbreath Chili, Goblin Sapper Charge (Engineering), and Tender Wolf Steak or Mightfish Steak.
Remember the catch: per Blizzard's interviews (as reported by WoW Classic Forever), there's no Dungeon Journal, and you can't see an item's stats until it has dropped for you or on your server. Use these lists to plan where to go, not as a final shopping list.
Where to farm at 55–60
Blizzard's new endgame dungeons are Blackmaw Hold (55–60) and Shaper's Terrace (58–60), and Icy Veins still lists their loot as "Coming Soon". The Classic endgame dungeons are also in Forever: Blackrock Depths, Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, Scholomance and Stratholme (Icy Veins dungeon overview). For Rogues, Scholomance (Shadowcraft Boots, Mirah's Song quest), Stratholme and Upper Blackrock Spire show up most in the lists above.
Side note: where Rogues rank
On SixtySim's Oct 28 rankings (one boss, one minute, pre-raid), Combat is #18, Assassination #20 and Subtlety #21 of 25 damage specs (836.4, 742.7 and 728.7 DPS). Its builds are Combat 18/33/0, Assassination 30/21/0 and Subtlety 17/3/31. That's simulated on beta data, so treat it as a curiosity until real logs exist.
Still unclear
- Forever's attack table. Blizzard hasn't published it; the 8% cap comes from beta logs and the 17% poison miss chance from Classic.
- How often Gnomish Battle Chicken actually squawks in Forever.
- Proc rates for Teebu's Blazing Longsword and Hanzo Sword in Forever (SixtySim uses Classic's).
- Real item stats and drop sources, especially from the new dungeons, and where Shadowcraft pieces drop.
Sources
- Blizzard: Deep Dive panel recap (combined hit and crit, poisons, dodge/parry stat, weapon skill, set bonuses), name reservation, pre-purchase and launch (Nov 4), raid overview (Dec 9)
- SixtySim stat weights (updated Oct 28): Assassination, Combat, Subtlety
- SixtySim pre-raid gear, enchants and consumables: Assassination, Combat, Subtlety
- wow4ever pre-raid list: DPS Rogue
- Shadowcraft Armor set bonuses: ForeverDB, ForeverDiff
- WoW Classic Forever: dungeons (no Dungeon Journal, item stats hidden until they drop)
Fan community guide by Systematic. World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment; we're not affiliated with Blizzard.
Images: header and gearing cheat-sheet by Systematic, using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Ability and item icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ). Stat weights on the card from SixtySim; set bonuses from ForeverDB/ForeverDiff.
