Rogue.
Your Arena of Champions guide.

Your Rogue game plan

Rogue connects Energy, combo points and a control plan that starts before the first hit. Assassination changes the pressure profile through poison choices and Envenom; Subtlety uses Shadowstep and Shadow Dance to create additional access to stealth-required attacks. The common toolkit is already rich enough to punish wasted control. Our recommended first improvement is therefore restraint: know which opponent your team is damaging, which one must remain untouched, and what resource you need for the next stop. A clean reset is an option to earn, not a guaranteed result of pressing Vanish.

Choose your Rogue specialization

Assassination

DamageB tier

Assassination can maintain a readable pressure plan while retaining shared Rogue disruption. We place it below the most direct utility-and-recovery packages because finishing, controlling and preserving resources need deliberate choices within the same exchange.

Mutilate

A specialization attack that develops its finisher setup.

Envenom

A finisher connected to the poison-pressure plan.

Kidney Shot

A shared control competing with other combo-point decisions.

Watch the tradeoff: Spending resources on damage can change the control available next. Ongoing poison pressure also needs to be considered before setting a damage-breakable control.

Try this: Decide whether the next resource spend is intended to finish the target or preserve the team’s control window.

See the placement notes →

Subtlety

DamageA tier

Subtlety gives a coordinated pair clear opportunities to connect positioning, control and a planned attack. The A placement values that team-facing setup, while recognizing that available stealth actions also depend on the selected talent choices.

Hemorrhage

The current specialization builder in the former Sinister Strike slot.

Shadowstep

A positional tool for reaching the intended target.

Shadow Dance

A window that opens access to stealth-related actions.

Watch the tradeoff: The opening can demand more attention than a sustained-pressure plan. Spending mobility or control without a shared purpose makes the follow-up less reliable.

Try this: Use the current Hemorrhage-based kit; older Backstab or Ghostly Strike instructions no longer describe this specialization.

See the placement notes →

Give the opener a control assignment

Stealth is time-limited in this client, and ordinary activation requires being out of combat. Sap additionally requires an out-of-combat enemy. We would identify that opportunity early instead of planning an indefinite wait for perfect positioning. Cheap Shot needs stealth, while Kidney Shot spends combo points for its stun. Gouge normally requires the target to face you; Dirty Tricks removes that facing requirement. Gouge and Blind both break on damage. These are different tools, not interchangeable extra damage globals. Tell your partner which target is being controlled and stop incidental attacks that would immediately undo the setup you created.

Match the finishers to the selected setup

Assassination's opening poison row offers alternatives: Deadly Poison supplies stacking periodic damage, Wound Poison reduces healing received, and Crippling Poison slows. They are choices rather than three baseline benefits you always possess. Envenom interacts with Deadly Poison by consuming its doses, so consider what your selected poison actually contributes before repeating a borrowed rotation. Subtlety's Shadow Dance permits stealth-style actions and reduces costs; it should not be confused with becoming invisible. Shadowstep creates access, but our advice is to arrive with enough Energy to turn that access into a meaningful attack or control action.

Separate anti-melee, anti-magic and reset tools

Evasion raises dodge chance; it is not blanket immunity to spells or all attacks. Cloak of Shadows removes magical effects and provides magic immunity, making it a different trade. Vanish frees movement restrictions and applies Stealth, but hostile damage or harmful effects can end stealth. We would look for a genuine escape route before treating it as permission to stand still. Kick is another Energy expense worth reserving for an important cast. If you select Preparation, read its named reset list: Vanish, Evasion, Sprint and Shadowstep. It does not say every Rogue cooldown becomes ready again.