Rogues are a considered a high DPS (Damage Per Second) class. The best way to level a rogue is to focus on caster mobs (squishies) that have low armor and low health. These will be the best mob types to grind on and you should always focus on finding an area full of caster mobs if possible.
Sword Vs Daggers
There’s a constant heated debate in the World of Warcraft forums about which weapons are the best for leveling as well as what builds. While generally speaking, swords are supposedly better for leveling, I think it’s just because most people are lazy and have no skill. After reading this article you will see how it is possible to level with daggers and swords efficiently.
Swords, Maces, Fists
The common rogue leveling build is typically used with swords, maces, or other non-dagger weapons. It focuses on using sinister strikes for generating combo points and hitting hard with eviscerates to finish mobs off. Swords are not an affective burst DPS build but they can be deadly in PvP when combined with a stunlock build. To use swords or maces all you need to do is target a mob and spam sinister strike until you can eviscerate. Later on you will get talents like blade furry, which will allow you to take on two mobs at once without much of a problem. Here is what you should focus on getting for talents as you level.
10-11: Improved Sinister Strike 2/2
12-16: Malice 5/5
17-19: Improved Eviscerate 3/3
20-21: Ruthlessness 2/3
22-26: Lethality 5/5
27: Relentless Strikes 1/1
28-29: Ruthlessness 2/2
30: You can continue down the Assassination tree, build up the combat tree, or retalent into the combat tree so that you go all the way down to Blade Furry. At this point you will have an idea of how you want to play your class and can follow one of the rogue cookie cutter builds.
Daggers
Not many people choose a dagger build to level because they don’t know how to do it efficiently. A lot will try to run in like you have a combat build, which is inefficient. The best way to level with daggers is through the subtlety tree. You will rely on high burst damage to open the fight and then finish the mobs life off by spamming sinister strike. Getting camouflage and improved ambush are key to this setup. What you will do is use camouflage, ambush, finish mob off and repeat process. Camouflage allows you to move faster in stealth and makes your cool down 5 seconds shorter so you won’t be slow going from mob to mob while grinding.
10-14: Opportunity 5/5
15-19: Camouflage 5/5
20-22: Improved Ambush 3/3
23-27: Malice 5/5
28: Based off your playing style you can either continue down the subtlety tree, or head into the assassination tree. You will know at this point what grinding build works best for you.
Rogue Summary
Rogues can be an extremely fun and competitive class to play. I wouldn’t plan on getting into groups easy with this class so be prepared to solo. There is a surplus of this class on most servers and group space is limited. I play my rogue for PvP because they are extremely good at it. Talent builds make and break a rogue because they are not innately good like some of the other classes. Without the right talent build and play style, a rogue is useless.