Beat Subtlety Rogue

What they want to do

Open from stealth, Cheap Shot into Kidney Shot on the kill target, then Shadow Dance while your healer is inside Smoke Bomb or crowd-controlled. They win Solo Shuffle when you trinket Cheap Shot and cannot stop the Kidney Shot.

Main danger

Shadow Dance overlapping Kidney Shot on the same target. You die in that stun if Cloak of Shadows, Evasion, or Feint are still available to stall your peel.

Interrupt priority

1. 2 Nothing they channel

   Do not interrupt the Subtlety rogue. Kick their healer the moment the rogue opens. Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot are instants — your kick cannot stop them.

Watch for

• Shadow Dance plus Kidney Shot on the same target is the kill. Be in a defensive before the stun, not after.
• Smoke Bomb cutting your healer off the peel. Step out of the cloud to help; healing and most spells cannot go in.
• Cloak of Shadows eating your first magic crowd control, then a restun. Throw a cheap magic spell first.
• Vanish used as a second opener, not as an escape. Do not instantly AoE; they can re-stealth and Cheap Shot again.

Offensive cooldowns

• Shadow Dance. The kill window. Kidney Shot comes before or during it, never after it ends. Use a defensive going into the stun, not after Secret Technique.
• Shadow Blades. Longer damage buff. Shadow Dance will overlap it. Treat Blades as the setup; the Dance stun is still what kills.
• Secret Technique. Cleave inside Shadow Dance. Do not stack on the kill target; the copies hit everyone in melee.
• Kidney Shot. The stun that kills. Do not trinket Cheap Shot — hold the trinket for Kidney Shot. Cheap Shot is the opener that steals the trinket.

Defensive cooldowns

• Cloak of Shadows. Magic immunity. Stop casting at them. Swap to physical damage or wait it out.
• Evasion. Physical dodge. Melee stop hitting. Casters keep going.
• Feint. Area-of-effect damage reduction, not a full wall. Chip is fine; do not dump a cleave cooldown into it and call that your window.
• Vanish. Combat reset and a second opener. Do not instantly AoE; they can re-stealth and Cheap Shot again.
• Smoke Bomb. Isolates the kill. Healing and most spells cannot enter the cloud. Step out to peel; do not stand inside it and try to help.

Crowd control

• Kidney Shot
• Cheap Shot
• Blind
• Gouge
• Sap
• Dismantle if talented

Dispels

• Blind is magic — dispel it off your healer or the peeler.
• Poisons and wound bleeds if you have the dispel. Do not waste a purge on Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot.

Mobility

Shadowstep and Sprint. They choose when combat starts. Face the opener angle at the gates; the first Cheap Shot comes from behind a pillar, not from mid. Do not stand in a line from your healer to a pillar — that is the Shadowstep path into Smoke Bomb.

Kill windows

• Cloak of Shadows and Evasion are both down and Shadow Dance is not active.
• After they dump Kidney Shot on the wrong target.
• When Smoke Bomb expires and your healer can see the target again.

When to run

When Shadow Dance is up, you have no trinket, and your healer is in Smoke Bomb or crowd-controlled. Line the Dance. Do not stay in melee inside the bomb.

When to attack

Out of stealth with Cloak of Shadows down and Shadow Dance not active. After a wasted Kidney Shot. When Evasion is up you can still spell them down. After Smoke Bomb expires and your healer can see.

Common tricks

• Cheap Shot is there to steal your trinket. Kidney Shot is the stun that kills. Hold the trinket.
• They Cloak of Shadows your first magic crowd control every round. Throw a cheap magic spell first, then Blind or the real stun.
• Smoke Bomb is as much a defensive as an isolation tool. If they drop it on themselves while you are pressing, step out and wait; do not tunnel inside the cloud.

Common mistakes against them

• Trinketing Cheap Shot instead of holding it for Kidney Shot.
• Dumping your magic cooldowns into Cloak of Shadows.
• Meleeing Evasion.
• Standing in Smoke Bomb while trying to peel.