Battle for Azeroth Community Opinions: Class Changes and State of Rogues

BFA Publié 09/04/2018 à 21:00 par Squishei

New and replaced spells and talents

Losing artifact traits and legendaries

Feedback from Legion

The current state on Alpha

Please remember that these are opinions. You may not agree with the opinions stated in this article and you are welcome to your own opinion to the state of the class and spec. Please feel free to leave any feedback regarding this type of article in the comments.

Battle for Azeroth is currently in Alpha and things are subject to change at any point.

comprehensive list of class changes

Ravenholdt

Contributors

Aethys

Fuu
Theorycrafter, guide writer and moderator in the Ravenholdt discord with the main focus on Subtlety.

KiwifruitKojiyamaLoktark

Loktark is a prominent member and moderator in the Ravenholdt discord community. He is the current writer of the Ravenholdt Outlaw guide, having mained Outlaw for all of Legion. He has high hopes for his spec moving into Battle for Azeroth.

Mystler

Mystler is a Rogue Theorycrafter in the Ravenholdt community who also works on SimulationCraft, Hero Damage and more. While he spends time with theorycraft on all specs, his favorite spec and the one he usually plays is Subtlety -- Twitter, Twitch

Paryah

Paryah runs the Ravenholdt website, is an admin on the Ravenholdt Discord, and is responsible for the weekly Fans of Knives rogue news blog. She plays all three specs, but is currently raiding on Subtlety -- Twitter

RosvallWeak

wEak raids in Memento and aids the rogue team with TC related stuff. He is also a moderator on the Ravenholdt Discord and works on the Ravenholdt spec guides -- Twitch

Voleur Assassinat Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 28% 32%.
REMOVED Modifies Spell Effectiveness Value: +5%
NEW Modifies Cooldown Value: -30000

REMOVED Assassin's Resolve Your maximum Energy is increased by 20 and your damage is increased by 17%.

Cécité Blinds the target, causing it to wander disoriented for 1 min. Damage will interrupt the effect. Limit 1.
Cooldown changed from 2 min cooldown to 1 min cooldown

Poison mortel Poisoned weapons have a chance to deal (25.415%4.914% of Attack power) Nature damage to a target already affected by Deadly Poison.

Envenimer Finishing move that drives your poisoned blades in deep, dealing instant Nature damage and increasing your poison application chance by 30%. Damage and duration increased per combo point.
1 point : 60%15% of Attack power) * 1] damage, 2 sec
2 points: 60%15% of Attack power) * 2] damage, 3 sec
3 points: 60%15% of Attack power) * 3] damage, 4 sec
4 points: 60%15% of Attack power) * 4] damage, 5 sec
5 points: 60%15% of Attack power) * 5] damage, 6 sec
6 points: 60%15% of Attack power) * 6] damage, 7 sec

Eviscération Finishing move that disembowels the target, causing damage per combo point.
1 point : 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 1] damage
2 points: 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 2] damage
3 points: 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 3] damage
4 points: 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 4] damage
5 points: 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 5] damage
6 points: 85.333%16.0737% of Attack power) * 6] damage

Éventail de couteaux Sprays knives at all targets within 10 yards, dealing (20.475%20.5% of Attack power) Physical damage and applying your active poisons at their normal rate.
Awards 1 combo points.

Garrot Garrote the enemy, causing (810%117% of Attack power) Bleed damage over 18 sec.
Silences the target for 3 sec when used from Stealth
Awards 1 combo point.
Cooldown changed from 15 sec cooldown to 6 sec cooldown

Maîtrise : Assassin puissant Increases the damage done by your poisons by 32% and the effect of Agonizing Poison by 16% and bleeds by 14.0%.
Name changed from Mastery: Potent Poisons to Mastery: Potent Assassin

Estropier Instantly attacks for (432% + 432%)(29.4996% of Attack power) + (29.4996% of Attack power) Physical damage. Awards 2 combo points.
Cost changed from 55 Energy to 50 Energy

Couteau empoisonné Throws a poison-coated knife, dealing (60%9.828% of Attack power) damage and applying your active Lethal and Non-Lethal Poisons.
Awards 1 combo point.

Rupture Finishing move that tears open the target, dealing Bleed damage over time. Lasts longer per combo point.
1 point : 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 8 / 2] over 8 sec
2 points: 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 12 / 3] over 12 sec
3 points: 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 16 / 4] over 16 sec
4 points: 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 20 / 5] over 20 sec
5 points: 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 24 / 6] over 24 sec
6 points: 150%27.846% of Attack power) * 28 / 7] over 28 sec

Attaque pernicieuse An instant strike that causes 422% Physical damage.21.762% of Attack power) Physical damage.
Awards 1 combo point.

Vendetta Marks an enemy for death for 20 sec, increasing the damage your abilities and auto attacks deal to the target by 30%, and making the target visible to you even through concealments such as stealth and invisibility.
Grants 40 Energy plus an addtional (40)) Energy over 2 sec.

Blessures venimeuses You regain Venom Rush 10 7 Energy each time your abilities Internal Bleeding, Garrote, or Rupture deal Bleed damage to a poisoned target.
If an enemy dies while afflicted by your Rupture, you regain energy based on its remaining duration.
Tooltip error, does not increase with Venom Rush

Poison douloureux Coats your weapons with a Lethal Poison that lasts for 1 hour. Each strike has a 30% chance to poison the enemy, which instantly inflicts (13%2.1294% of Attack power) Nature damage and reduces all healing received for 12 sec.

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Anticipation You may have a maximum of 10 combo points. Finishers still consume a maximum of 5 combo points.

REMOVED La mort venue d’en haut Finishing move that empowers your weapons with shadow energy and performs a devastating two-part attack.
You whirl around, dealing up to (440%57.33% of Attack power) damage to all enemies within 8 yds, then leap into the air and Envenom, Run Through, EviscerateEviscerate your target on the way back down, with such force that it has a 200% stronger effect.
Now Subtlety only

REMOVED Hémorragie Rips a gushing wound in the target, dealing 100%10.54% Physical damage and increasing Bleed damage from your abilities on the target by 25% for 20 sec.
Awards 1 combo point.

REMOVED Focalisation de l’ombre Abilities cost 25% less Energy while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active.

REMOVED Empressement Your finishing moves have a 20 + (20 * ComboPoints)% chance per combo point to grant 3% Haste for 20 sec, stacking up to 105 times.

New

NEW Tempête cramoisie Finishing move that slashes at all enemies within 10 yards, dealing instant damage and causing victims to bleed for additional damage. Lasts longer per combo point.
1 point : plus over 4 sec
2 points: plus over 6 sec
3 points: plus over 8 sec
4 points: plus over 10 sec
5 points: plus over 12 sec
Deeper Stratagem
6 points: plus over 14 sec
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Angle mort Exploits the vulnerability of foes with less than 30% health, dealing (240%58.032% of Attack power) Physical damage to the target.
Mutilate has a 35% chance to make your next Dispatch free and usable on any target, regardless of their health.
Awards 1 combo point.

NEW Every 2 sec, gain 20% increased damage for your next Fan of Knives, stacking up to 20 times.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Maître assassin While Stealth is active and for 3 sec after breaking Stealth, your critical strike chance is increased by 50%.
Tier 2 Talent
After the legendary Mantelet du maître assassin

NEW Bombe de poison Envenom and Rupture have a 4% chance per combo point spent to smash a vial of poison at the target's location, creating a pool of acidic death that deals Nature damage over 2 sec to all enemies within it.
Tier 7 Talent
Former artifact trait Sac à malice

Swapped Positions

Désigné pour mourir Marks the target, instantly generating 5 combo points. Cooldown reset if the target dies within 1 min.
Tier 3 Talent

Afflux de venin Venomous Wounds grants 3 additional Energy each time it grants Energy.Mutilate refunds 5 Energy when used against a poisoned target.
Tier 6 Talent

Changed

Plan élaboré Your finishing moves grant 12%10% increased damage done for 5 sec.

Lames sanguines Twist your blades into the target's wounds, causing your Bleed effects on them to bleed out 150%100% faster.

Hémorragie interne Kidney Shot also deals up to 144%%18.72% of Attack power)] Bleed damage over 126 sec, based on combo points spent.

Fil de fer Resets the remaining cooldown on Garrote when a target dies with your Garrote active.Increase the duration of Garrote's silence effect to 8 sec.
Enemies silenced by Garrote deal 15% reduced damage for 8 sec.
Name changed from Thuggee to Iron Wire

Poison sangsue Coats your weapons with a Non-Lethal Poison that lasts for 1 hour, granting you 10% Leech.
Can now be used in addition to non-lethal poison

Subterfuge Your abilities requiring Stealth can still be used for 3 sec after Stealth breaks.
Also causes Garrote to deal 125%100% increased damage and have no cooldown when used from Stealth orand for 3 sec after Stealth breaks.breaking Stealth.

Lame toxique Stab your enemy with a toxic poisoned blade, dealing (600% Nature damage.65.7696% of Attack power) Nature damage.
The damage of your poisons against the target is increased by 35%30% for 9 sec.
Awards 1 combo point.

Neurotoxine Stabs the target with your off-hand weapon, causing (100% of weapon damage8.2212% of Attack power) Nature damage, and applies a deadly neurotoxin for 10 sec. The neurotoxin causes any ability used to incur a 3 sec cooldown.

Contaminant Mutilate has a 10% chance to apply additional Deadly Poison, and does (62 * 2) additional damage.
Assassination

Legacy
Assassination been known as the rogues’ go-to spec for new players due to its traditional simplicity. With the changes in Battle for Azeroth alpha, this is taken even further and Assassination loses a lot of mechanics for very little gain.

Gameplay Changes
With the removal of artifact weapons in Battle for Azeroth, Assassination is losing two golden artifact traits, Dans les ombres, and Sang des assassinés, while Sac à malice is becoming a talent aptly named Bombe de poison.

The removal of cooldown reductions and Dans les ombres, which makes Vendetta throw knives at the target, is a positive one. It allows more emphasis on Vendetta and makes theorycrafting regarding cooldown usage considerably nicer.

Sang des assassinés is another artifact trait that some people may miss, but it is ultimately a boring RNG based passive ability that does not affect gameplay. It would sometimes make damage spike higher on burst, but it added nothing worth playing around nor did it require tracking for optimal play.

A normal trait that is also being removed is Afflux de toxines. This was a hot mess in itself as the tooltip was never accurate and figuring out how it interacted properly with was not as simple as it may have looked. From a gameplay perspective, it was not anything special either. It was a simple five second aura that you applied after a finisher that ever so slightly increased your damage. This type of aura is fairly boring as they are just simple multipliers, but it was still something that could be tracked/focused on when we used Plaie des rois.

The big artifact on-use, Plaie des rois, is gone. This was what made Assassination work in legion. It is the type of spell that you want more of in the game, it is something you actually want to think about how to use regarding your target selection, it is something you want to plan ahead even a little so you don’t find yourself starving for energy after you strike your target with it. And now it’s just gone. This is absolutely the kind of ability that should have been kept instead of Bombe de poison or maybe even Angle mort (see talent section).

As a side note: the Nighthold version of Plaie des rois may have been the best as it really emphasized the player’s capability of preparing for Plaie des rois. It was such a huge part of your total damage (due to bugs, yes) that it actually made better players stand out. If all the spells you actually cast have a lesser impact than random procs (like Bombe de poison) it does not feel rewarding at all. Playing well does not mean as much if the other rogue just got insane Bombe de poison procs and crushed you.

A big change for Assassination is the advent of hasted bleeds - this has been a long time coming just in terms of balance. Haste has been a useless stat for Assassination for way too long. It did not scale with anything other than your auto attacks and only a part of your regen. Now this will obviously cause some other balance nightmares because now haste will affect all of our regen and huge portion of our damage output.

Talents
Level 15
Maître empoisonneur: We still keep Maître empoisonneur which is the most boring talent ever and causes some imbalance between bleed and poison build choice. That said, it is still fairly neutral in most eyes.

Plan élaboré: This new version is a really cool design. In late Legion it fell flat due to the endless amount of resources we could have, and ultimately lead to 100% uptime on the aura.

Angle mort: Angle mort makes its return! This was something people wanted back and we got it, but the talent has a few problems with the the way it is set up. You would only want to pick Angle mort for single target and execute, but Angle mort not working with Afflux de venin already devalues the combo of the two since both talents are obviously single target focused. Angle mort also has the chance to devalue resource management again come later stages of Battle for Azeroth and better gear levels.

Level 30
Traqueur nocturne and Subterfuge: Both are nice talents and vary considerably from their Legion versions.

Maître assassin: This is a talent we just don’t want to see. Yes the effect was cool to have as a legendary in Legion for obvious reasons: it was totally bonkers. With its effect reduced so much and even made rng, it just feels bad and is so short you don't really get to feel the power. A 100% chance to proc Seal Fate regardless of crits for x seconds would resolve RNG issues while making the talent not overpowered when stacked with on-uses or other effects.

Level 45
Vigueur and Stratagème approfondi: Neither of these talents is seeing a change.

Désigné pour mourir: Anticipation being replaced with Désigné pour mourir should be a welcome change. Anticipation has really not seen any play all expansion in Legion and was barely better than the other two talents in the row in very niche and and generally nonexistent situations.

Level 90
Afflux de venin: Afflux de venin has been reworked into a single target focused talent and has had its power level reduced a lot. This is good to combat the resource flood seen in Legion, but it clashes with other talents such as Angle mort. This may be better included with a reduced effect.

Lame toxique: There is nothing particularly amazing or new about this spell. It is an extra button you ended up pressing on cooldown in Legion and disregarding its effect to a degree. Yes, you would still emphasise Envenimer usage during it but you would not sacrifice any other higher priority usage for it. It will be interesting to see how well planning around this goes with reduced resources.

Lames sanguines: This is still one of the cooler spells in game; it makes dps feel good during Lames sanguinesd bleeds and its impact can be very easily felt. That said, this spell could possibly become a balance and TC nightmare due to the new hasted bleeds, and is something that might become very alien to some more casual players.

Level 100
Bombe de poison: Of all the artifact traits that could have been brought over to Battle for Azeroth, Sac à malice in its new incarnation as, Bombe de poison, was chosen. This is obviously controversial as Sac à malice’ RNG based proc and location based implementation that was invisible to others (including tanks) is what caused Assassination to have such huge and out of control damage spikes or lows in all of Legion. This trait alone made Assassination either completely useless on AoE or totally crush any other player for those few glorious seconds that it procced a few times in the right place. Even with the increased proc rate, reduced damage and reduced duration, Bombe de poison is still out of the player’s control and will keep its stigma.

Lames secrètes: This is another controversial effect. People didn’t use cloak at all in later stages of legion apart from padding logs. It just makes gameplay feel so bad when you lock yourself out of using your intended AoE builder.

Tempête cramoisie: Tempête cramoisie makes a return. This will be great as long as it is not useless as it used to be in previous expansions. On the other hand does Assassination have to have serious AoE if the fantasy of Assassination is focusing on that isolated guy and taking him down. Alternatively, raiding and other group activities are team-centric and having a strong AoE options could make for a much more rounded spec.

Overall
All in all some of the changes are good. Limiting resources in a way that actually affects our thought process is a positive thing. The simplicity of Assassination gameplay at higher levels is troubling. You put up your bleeds and then you mutilate to Envenimer. There is no big focus as there was on Plaie des rois, there are no small tracking items like tier bonus’ and Afflux de toxines tied to Envenimer. Even the early looks at Azerite traits for Assassination have been really underwhelming. Outlaw at least got to keep their legendary wrist effect which spices up the rotation nicely. Having an option to at least talent into a more complex version of the spec would be a great addition.

Voleur Hors-la-loi Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 10% 42%.

REMOVED Bribe Bribes a non-player humanoid target up to level 55 with fool's gold, convincing it to fight for you for 5 min.

Embuscade Ambush the target, causing 780%(95.472% of Attack power) Physical damage.
Awards 1 combo point.

Finishing move that deals damage with your pistol and stuns the target.
Critical strikes with this ability deal four times normal damage
1 point : 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 1] damage, 1 sec
2 points: 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 2] damage, 2 sec
3 points: 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 3] damage, 3 sec
4 points: 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 4] damage, 4 sec
5 points: 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 5] damage, 5 sec
6 points: 110.5%18.0999% of Attack power) * 6] damage, 6 sec
Cooldown changed from 20 to 30 sec
Cost changed from 35 Energy / 1 Energy to 25 Energy / 1 Energy

Déluge de lames While active, your meleeCauses your attacks also strike all nearby enemies for 30%50% of normal damage for 12 sec, but your Energy regeneration is reduced by 20%. Lasts until cancelled.
Cooldown changed to 25 sec and no longer lasts until cancelled
Now has 2 Charges
Cost changed from 10 to 15 Energy

Cécité Blinds the target, causing it to wander disoriented for 1 min. Damage will interrupt the effect. Limit 1.
Cooldown changed from 2 min cooldown to 1 min cooldown

Botte fatale Your off-hand attacks have a 30%75% chance to generate 10 Energy.

Suriner Gouges the eyes of an enemy target, incapacitating for 4 sec. Damage will interrupt the effect.
Awards 1 combo point.
Cooldown changed from 10 sec cooldown to 15 sec cooldown

Maîtrise : Main gauche Your main-hand attacks have a 18.030% chance to trigger an attack with your off-hand that deals 210%(0.1% of Attack power) Physical damage.

Coup de pistolet Draw a concealed pistol and fire a quick shot at an enemy, dealing (214.5%35.1351% of Attack power) Physical damage and reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec.
Awards 1 combo point.

Lames sans repos Finishing moves reduce the remaining cooldown of Adrenaline Rush, Between the Eyes, Sprint, Grappling Hook, Ghostly Strike, Killing Spree, Marked for Death, Blade Rush, Death from Above, and Vanish by 0.51 sec per combo point spent.

Riposte Grants 100% chance to parry for 10 sec, and each time you parry an attack you will riposte the target for 130%19.8% of Attack Power Physical damage. Cannot occur more often than once per 1 sec.

Couperet Lunging finishing move that causes damage per combo point and has increased range:
1 point : 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 1] damage
2 points: 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 2] damage
3 points: 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 3] damage
4 points: 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 4] damage
5 points: 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 5] damage
6 points: 184.6%35% of Attack power) * 6] damage

Attaque pernicieuse Viciously slash an enemy, causing * ((max(0, min(Level - 10, 10)) * 8 + 195) / 275)] Physical damage.
Saber Slash has a 35% chance to strike an additional time, making your next Pistol Shot freehalf cost and double damage.
Awards 1 combo point each time it strikes.
Cost changed from 50 to 45 Energy

Toute-puissance de combat Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 20% and your Attack Power by 50%35%.
Outlaw (Level 50)
Your off-hand attacks have a 75% chance to generate 10 Energy
Name changed from Vitality to Combat Potency

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Anticipation You may have a maximum of 10 combo points. Finishers still consume a maximum of 5 combo points.

REMOVED La mort venue d’en haut Finishing move that empowers your weapons with shadow energy and performs a devastating two-part attack.
You whirl around, dealing up to (440%73.5% of Attack power) damage to all enemies within 8 yds, then leap into the air and Envenom, Run Through, EviscerateEviscerate your target on the way back down, with such force that it has a 200% stronger effect.

REMOVED Pourparlers Pacifies a target not in combat, who is forced to negotiate instead of fighting for 5 min. Only works on Humanoids, Demons, and Dragonkin. Damage caused will break the peace. Limit 1.
Poudre aveuglante

REMOVED Grappin Launch a grappling hook and pull yourself to the target location.
Now baseline

New

NEW Danse d’acier Increases the duration of Blade Flurry by 3 sec and its damage by 5%.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Volée de lames Charge to your target with your blades out, dealing (150% of Attack power)% Physical damage. While Blade Flurry is active, also hits all nearby enemies for 100% damage. Generates 25 Energy over 5 sec.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Poudre aveuglante Reduce the cooldown of Blind by 30 sec and increase its range by 15 yds.
Tier 5 Talent

NEW Dés pipés Activating Adrenaline Rush causes your next Roll the Bones to grant at least two matches.
Tier 6 Talent

NEW Grappin rétractable Reduce the cooldown of Grappling Hook by 30 sec.
Tier 2 Talent

Changed

Frappe fantomatique Strikes an enemy with your cursed weapon, dealing (252%, dealing (80% of Attack power) Physical damage and causing the target to take 10% increased damage from your abilities for 15 sec.
Awards 1 combo point.
Cooldown changed from None to 35 sec cooldown

Swapped Positions

Empressement Your finishing moves have a 20 + (20 * ComboPoints)% chance per combo point to grant 3% Haste for 20 sec, stacking up to 105 times.
Tier 6 Talent

Command a ghost ship crew to barrage the target area with cannonballs doing 195%26.208% of Attack power) * 6] Physical damage over 2 sec and slowing enemies by 50% for 1.50 sec.
Tier 7 Talent

Série meurtrière Teleport to an enemy within 10 yards, attacking 6 times over 2 sec with both weapons for a total of 338% * 7 + 338%47.736% of Attack power)% * 6 + 0% * 6] Physical damage over 2 sec.
While Blade Flurry is active, each Killing Spree attack will teleport to and damage a different nearby enemy targetalso hits all nearby enemies for 100% damage.
Tier 7 Talent

Dés pipés Activating Adrenaline Rush causes your next Roll the Bones to grant at least two matches.
Tier 6 Talent

Désigné pour mourir Marks the target, instantly generating 5 combo points. Cooldown reset if the target dies within 1 min.
Tier 3 Talent

Débiter Finishing move that consumes combo points to increase attack speed by 125%60% and Energy regeneration rate by 15%. Lasts longer per combo point.
1 point : 12 seconds
2 points: 18 seconds
3 points: 24 seconds
4 points: 30 seconds
5 points: 36 seconds
6 points: 42 seconds

Tireur rapide FreeHalf-cost uses of Pistol Shot granted by Saber Slash now generate 1 additional combo point, and deal 50% increasedadditional damage.
Tier 6 Talent

Bretteur Saber Slash has 3% additional chance to strike twice, and does 49 additional damage.
Outlaw

Legacy
Outlaw and its predecessor, Combat, have been renowned as the fast paced rogue spec with a particular affinity for AoE damage. Legion saw many players move away from the spec as it became bogged down with RNG heavy abilities early in the expansion. Battle for Azeroth promises a slightly slower paced but more engaging version of the spec.

Gameplay Changes
Moving into Battle for Azeroth, Outlaw’s two primary generators have seen significant changes. Attaque pernicieuse now only generates a combo point on the first hit, and costs 45 energy instead of 50. Occasion now reduces the cost of Coup de pistolet by only 50%, but doubles the damage. These two changes mean that we spend more energy for fewer combo points spacing finishers out a lot more and slowing the pace of play.

Outlaw’s hugely powerful AoE ability, Déluge de lames is no longer a togglable ability that reduces energy regeneration. It now runs off of a charge system with 2 charges, 25 second recharge, and a cost of 15 energy . The damage dealt has been increased to 50% of our single target damage, and now includes damage dealt by Coup de pistolet and Entre les deux yeux améliorée. While this change looks bad to some since we will no longer have a 100% uptime on Déluge de lames it’s actually a good change for gameplay. Déluge de lames will be more engaging to use and far less passive than it has been in the past.

A couple of utility changes will mostly affect Mythic+. The cooldown of Suriner is now 15 seconds up from 10. With this change, Outlaw rogues will not be able to interrupt mobs with Suriner as often. Pot de vin has been removed. Even though Pot de vin was rarely used, it was nice to have for Mythic+.

Lames sans repos now reduces cooldowns by 1 second per combo point up from 0.5 seconds. This helps compensate for our reduced combo point generation to keep our cooldown coming back quickly.

Maîtrise : Main gauche now has a static chance to trigger, and mastery rating now increases the damage dealt. Because of this change, mastery rating will no longer increase our energy regeneration but Main Gauche will deal considerably more damage..

Toute-puissance de combat now has a 75% chance to trigger up from 30%. While this change looks like an extreme buff it is actually 2 changes together. The tooltip now displays the the chance to trigger for a slow (2.6) weapon instead of a very fast (1.4) weapon. On top of this change the chance to trigger was increased to match what we have now with 5 ranks of Frappes de la fortune. This means the actual trigger chance for a slow (2.6) weapon was increased from 55% to 75%, and increased from 38% to 51% for a fast (1.8) weapon.

Vitality has been changed from 20% increased energy regeneration rate to 35%, and it has been merged with Toute-puissance de combat. The increased energy from this change helps counter the loss of resources from our artifact weapon traits.

Talents
Level 15
Frappe fantomatique has been given a 35 second cooldown (reduced by Lames sans repos). This change potentially means that Frappe fantomatique will not have a 100% uptime causing you to plan around when it may be up.

Level 30
Grappin is now baseline and the talent has been replaced with Grappin rétractable which reduces the cooldown to 30 seconds from 60. This change is something many Outlaw players have wanted for nearly the entire expansion. Definitely a good change.

Level 45
Anticipation has been removed from our level 45 row and replaced with Désigné pour mourir. With this change I don’t expect us to take anything other than Désigné pour mourir as it is extremely potent with our lower combo point generation and the increased potency of Lames sans repos.

Level 75
Parley has been replaced with Poudre aveuglante, a talent that reduces the cooldown of Cécité by 30 seconds and increases the range by 15 yards. This new talent is extremely powerful as it allows us to hit a target with Cécité from 30 yards away, a range that exceeds any of our attacks.

Level 90
Cannonball Barrage has been removed. Empressement now increases haste by 3% with 5 stacks. This change helps compensate for our lower combo point generation by reducing the number of required stacks significantly at the cost of having a lower maximum haste. Dés pipés is now a level 90 talent. Débiter is now a level 90 talent, and now increases attack speed by 60% down from 125%

These changes to the level 90 row put three extremely powerful resource generating talents in the same row. None of these choices feel insignificant, and the decision between them will greatly affect the gameplay and flow of the spec.

Level 100
Death from Above has been removed. Danse d’acier is a new talent that increases the duration of Déluge de lames by 3 seconds and its damage by 5%. Volée de lames is a new talent that charges at a target up to 20 yards away dealing damage to your target and all nearby enemies. Killing Spree is now a level 100 talent, and its duration has been reduced to 2 seconds.

The changes to our level 100 talents generate some odd choices. Volée de lames is a very welcome mobility ability, but feels simply superior to Killing Spree mechanically. There doesn’t seem to be much point in Killing Spree existing when Volée de lames does. Danse d’acier is a pure aoe/cleave talent in a row competing with 2 talents that actually affect single target damage, something that I think shouldn't happen.

Overall
With the loss of artifact weapons, Outlaw is losing its most impactful cooldown Malédiction des lames d’effroi. Losing Malédiction des lames d’effroi means we have a less bursty playstyle with no cooldown that significantly changes the way we generate our combo points. The loss of most of our other traits will not really be felt as we have received changes within the class to compensate for their removal.

Outlaw is losing 3 legendaries that significantly change our gameplay when equipped.

Mantelet du maître assassin gave us a very powerful cooldown. The loss of this cooldown brings Outlaw down to only having Poussée d'adrénaline as a damage increasing cooldown.

Symétrie shivarra gave Déluge de lames a very engaging effect that caused you to toggle it, and plan around your 3 second damage windows. I think the changes made to Déluge de lames are an acceptable replacement for the engaging features of this legendary.

Protège-poignets détrempés de Vertepeau changed gameplay significantly by adding a lot more decision making to the rotation. The azerite trait, Deadshot, is extremely similar to the effect of this legendary and will produce a similar level of decision making for the spec.

Overall our loss of legendaries and artifacts has been compensated for significantly, but compensation for our loss of cooldowns has come up short. It would be great to see either a new skill or Disparition made a damage cooldown. Either of these solutions could be done through yet to be revealed Azerite traits.

Voleur Finesse Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 27% 25%.
NEW Modifies Cooldown Value: -30000

Attaque sournoise Stab the target, causing * ((max(0, min(Level - 10, 10)) * 11 + 260) / 370)] Physical damage. Damage increased by 20% when you are behind your target.
Awards 1 combo point.

Eviscération Finishing move that disembowels the target, causing damage per combo point.
1 point : 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 1] damage
2 points: 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 2] damage
3 points: 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 3] damage
4 points: 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 4] damage
5 points: 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 5] damage
6 points: 85.33%16.0737% of Attack power) * 6] damage

Lamenuit Finishing move that infects the target with shadowy energy, dealing Shadow damage over time and causing attacks against the target to reduce movement speed by 50%20% for 8 sec. Lasts longer per combo point.
1 point : 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 8 / 26] over 8 sec
2 points: 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 10 / 26] over 10 sec
3 points: 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 12 / 26] over 12 sec
4 points: 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 14 / 26] over 14 sec
5 points: 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 16 / 26] over 16 sec
6 points: 90%37.8378% of Attack power) * 18 / 26] over 18 sec
You deal 15% increased damage to enemies afflicted by your Nightblade.

Lames de l’ombre Draws upon surrounding shadows to empower your weapons causing auto attacks to deal Shadow damage and abilities that generate combo points tofor 20 sec, causing your Backstab, Shadowstrike, and auto attacks to deal Shadowstrike damage and your Gloomblade to deal 30% increased damage.
Additionally, your combo point generating abilities generate 1 additional combo point.Lasts 15 sec.

Danse de l’ombre Allows use of all Stealth abilities and grants all the combat benefits of Stealth for 45 sec. Effect not broken from taking damage or attacking.

Techniques des Ombres Your auto attacks have a chance to generate a combo point1 combo point and 8 Energy.

Frappe-ténèbres Strike the target, dealing 850% Physical damage.69.8802d% of Attack power) Physical damage.
While Stealth is active, you strike through the shadows and appear behind your target up to 25 yds away, dealing 25% additional damage
Awards 2 combo point.

Déluge de shurikens Shuriken Storm increases the damage of your next Eviscerate by 10%5% for each enemy hit beyond the first. Stacks up to 5 times.

Tempête de shurikens Sprays shurikens at all targets within 10 yards, dealing (120%18% of Attack power) Physical damage.
Damage increased by 100%50% while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active.
Awards 1 combo points per target hit.

Lancer de shuriken Throws a shuriken at an enemy target for (120%19.656% of Attack power) Physical damage.
Awards 1 combo point.

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Anticipation You may have a maximum of 10 combo points. Finishers still consume a maximum of 5 combo points.

REMOVED Maître de la discrétion Attacks made while stealthed and for 5 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 10% damage.

REMOVED Ombres enchevêtrées Nightblade now decreases the target's movement speed by an additional 20%.

New

NEW Prochainement There is a new talent hiding in the shadows!
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Découverte des faiblesses Your Shadowstrike and Cheap Shot abilities reveal a flaw in your target's defenses, causing all your attacks to bypass 40% of that enemy's armor for 10 sec.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Tir de nuit After entering Stealth or Shadow Dance, your next Cheap Shot is free.
Tier 5 Talent

Changed

Ombres noires While Shadow Dance is active, all damage you deal is increased by 30%25%.

La mort venue d’en haut Finishing move that empowers your weapons with shadow energy and performs a devastating two-part attack.
You whirl around, dealing up to (440%57.33% of Attack power) damage to all enemies within 8 yds, then leap into the air and Envenom, Run Through, EviscerateEviscerate your target on the way back down, with such force that it has a 200% stronger effect.

Ombres enveloppantes Deepening Shadows reduces the remaining cooldown of Shadow Dance by an additional 1.01 sec per combo point spent.
Shadow Dance gains 1 additional charge.

Triste-lame Punctures your target with your shadow-infused blade for 575%47.151% of Attack power Shadow damage, bypassing armor.
Awards 1 combo point.

Focalisation de l’ombre Abilities cost 75%25% less Energy while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active.

Ténèbres apaisantes You heal 3% of your maximum lifehealth every 1 sec while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active.

Maître d’armes Your abilities have a 6%Shadowstrike and Backstab have a 15% chance to hit the target twice each time they deal damage.

Swapped Positions

Désigné pour mourir Marks the target, instantly generating 5 combo points. Cooldown reset if the target dies within 1 min.
Tier 3 Talent

Nightblade's duration is increased by 1.0 sec, and deals 14 additional damage whenever it deals damage.
Subtlety

Legacy
Subtlety is the highly mobile, burst damage member of the rogue family. In Legion, it enjoyed a lot of popularity in dungeons and during Tomb of Sargeras. Battle for Azeroth sees a slow down in the pacing of the spec and a leaning toward single target damage.

Gameplay Changes
Compared to the state of the Subtlety Rogue in Legion, the most noticeable system change is the loss of the artifact weapon and, thus, the artifact traits. You will likely feel the loss of some major traits. Coups de couteau énergiques gave us some kind of steady energy income. Without it, the pace of the spec slows down a bit and pooling will become more relevant again. Morsure de Gueulétripe (and Frénésie affamée) are gone as well. While it was an additional ability helping to get some more resources and boost regeneration of Danse de l’ombre charges, the loss does not have a high impact - besides, Frénésie affamée often led to overcapping on energy. Finalité has also been removed. It added an additional layer of complexity to the spec and opened some space for finisher optimization but it was also a bit confusing for new players. Losing Finalité will also not have a very high impact. The energy gain on Techniques des Ombres from the trait Shadow’s Whisper was made baseline. Other than that, you may also notice the loss of Catlike Reflexes. Subtlety Rogues, be prepared to take falling damage again; enjoy this trait on live while you still can.

There were further changes to our toolkit of offensive abilities. The duration of Danse de l’ombre has been increased from 4 to 5 seconds, making it equal to Danse de l’ombre with Subterfuge on live servers. With Battle for Azeroth, Subterfuge further increases the duration to 6 seconds. Pooling and optimizing your GCD usage during Danse de l’ombre will become a bit more important. In terms of AoE situations, Subtlety also takes quite a hit. The damage bonus on Tempête de shurikens during Danse de l’ombre was reduced from 100% to 50%, with Tempête de shurikens having a slightly higher amount of base damage. In addition, the passive Déluge de shurikens only increases Eviscération damage by 5% instead of 10% per stack. These changes significantly reduce our AoE burst potential as well as our conversion of AoE situations into damage on the main target. Sustained AoE is slightly buffed, but with Subtlety having been mostly about burst and focus target conversion, these changes (in addition to the loss of the artifact trait Shadow Nova) seem to be hitting quite hard and it is not very clear how Subtlety is supposed to perform in AoE. Lamenuit, similar to Bleeds and Poisons, also scales with Haste now, which will finally add some more value to the stat that has been quite unwelcome so far. Though the hasted dot is a welcome change, Lamenuit still seems overloaded, being both a damage amplifier and a DoT effect with a very short duration. Lamenuit adds a ramp up time to the spec and has to be refreshed very often. Despite the damage amplification originally being introduced to fight multi-dotting, cycling targets has still been an increase throughout Legion. Lames de l’ombre continues to be our main cooldown. In addition to granting an additional combo point and changing your auto attacks, it now also changes your Frappe-ténèbres and Attaque sournoise to deal Shadowstrike damage (the mixed school of Physical and Shadow damage) and increases Gloomblade damage by 30%. Lames de l’ombre also now triggers the global cooldown. While this adds a bit of more value to the cooldown, it still is not very interesting, especially in AoE situations. Disparition for Subtlety is also back at its original 2 minute cooldown, making it have less impact as an offensive cooldown, considering we will not have Mantelet du maître assassin anymore.

Our defensive toolkit got some changes as well. Feinte now has a 15 seconds cooldown and reduces AoE damage taken by 40% instead of 50%. While this is a noticeable nerf, Feinte is still very strong, you simply cannot spam it anymore and have to put some more thought into using it. Cape d'ombre cooldown was increased to 2 minutes.

Talents
Level 15
Maître d’armes has been changed to be a single target talent. Instead of a 6% chance for all abilities to hit twice, it is now a 15% chance on Attaque sournoise and Frappe-ténèbres. Master of Subtlety was replaced by Découverte des faiblesses, which adds an armor penetration debuff to the target when using Frappe-ténèbres or Coup bas. While this allows for some interesting builds about maximizing Découverte des faiblesses uptime, the bypass effect also adds some discrepancy with Lames de l’ombre turning your main single target generators into Shadowstrike damage (and thus bypass armor already).

Level 45
Anticipation has been replaced by Désigné pour mourir. This change fits the theme very well and makes the whole tier much more competitive. At the same time, it opens up the bottom tier of our talent tree for new directions and ideas.

Level 90
Ombres noires got a slight nerf from 30% to 25% increased damage during Danse de l’ombre. This was likely done in order to make the choice between stronger dances with Ombres noires and more dances with Ombres enveloppantes more competitive. Empressement is staying on this row unchanged. It is a rather boring talent and easily overshadowed by the other two.

Level 100
La mort venue d’en haut so far, has not been changed. While having an amazing animation, the main issue this ability is suffering from is the loss of swings, mid-flight cooldown usage, and some weird positional behavior on certain encounters. We are still hoping for changes to make it less painful to use in these situations. At the time of writing, the second talent in this tier empty and marked as “Coming Soon” on Alpha. We will have to wait some more in order to be able to properly comment on this row.

Overall
Considering the loss of artifact traits, current tier bonuses, and legendaries, Subtlety’s pacing is noticeably slower on Alpha. There are some energy management issues, that can be addressed with a couple of talent selections. The major points for improvement are likely Lamenuit and La mort venue d’en haut.

The general theme of converting AoE situations into more single target damage with Tempête de shurikens combo points and Déluge de shurikens is pretty cool and makes Sub somewhat special. In situations where some real AoE damage is necessary, the Subtlety toolkit is rather lacking, however. What made Subtlety fun in AoE-heavy situations in Legion is the burst damage that stemmed mostly from the shoulder and cloak legendaries. With these and Shadow Nova gone, as well as the nerfs to the Tempête de shurikens bonus and Déluge de shurikens, AoE situations will be different in Battle for Azeroth. This does not mean that Subtlety has to be a great AoE spec, but it would be nice to have something else in the toolkit to give AoE more impact. Unfortunately, Lames de l’ombre is still not a damage cooldown that feels encouraging to press in these situations.

Lames de l’ombre has always come across as somewhat useless in AoE situations where the extra combo points are wasted and, both, single target generators and auto attacks do not really matter. Here are some ideas, maybe one or more of those could help to make it more interesting:

Also turn Tempête de shurikens into Shadow damage.
Convert the overflowing combo points (into damage?).
Mirror Shadow Blade auto attacks onto all targets in the area.

NEW Toucher mystique Your damage exposes weaknesses in the target's armor, increasing Physical damage taken by 5% for 1 min.
Removed in build 282727, made a Windwalker debuff

Feinte Performs an evasive maneuver, reducing damage taken from area-of-effect attacks by 50%40% for 5 sec.
Cooldown changed from None to 15 sec cooldown

Voile de dissimulation Extend a cloak that wrapsshrouds party and raid members within 30 yards in shadows, providing stealth for 15 sec.

Deals 500%(41.106% of Attack power) Physical damage, and reduces the target's movement speed by 70% for 4 sec.
Cannot be blocked, dodged or parried.

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