Contents
Overview
Combat Swords is the raid spec for rogues in Classic Era. It’s steady, it’s simple to play, and it’s the standard raid build from Molten Core onward. You build combo points with 
Sinister Strike, keep 
Slice and Dice up, and spend everything else on 
Eviscerate.
What most guides skip is that the whole spec hangs on one buff. Slice and Dice speeds up every auto-attack you make, and auto-attacks are a big share of a combat rogue’s damage. Let it drop and your damage falls off right away. Plan your combo points around it, and the rest of the rotation falls into place.
Hit to 9% comes before everything else. 
Precision gives you 5% of it for free, so you only need 4% from gear. After that, Agility does more for you than any other stat.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Combat is the reliable raid spec. It doesn’t depend on crit streaks like Seal Fate daggers, which is exactly why it’s the default.
- High, steady single-target damage that doesn’t depend on lucky crits.
- A short rotation that leaves you free to watch threat, interrupt with
Kick and move out of bad spots. 
Blade Flurry and 
Adrenaline Rush give you burst on bosses and on two-target fights.
Vanish and 
Feint let you shed threat when you get too close to the tank.
- No AOE abilities. Outside of Blade Flurry and Engineering bombs, trash packs aren’t your strength.
- Your damage drops hard if Slice and Dice falls off.
- You need 9% hit before your other stats start paying off.
- You pull threat easily on a fresh tank, so Feint and Vanish see a lot of use.
Talents
Hover over any talent to read its tooltip. Calculator not loading? Open the Rogue talent calculator on Wowhead.
The sword build is 19 Assassination, 32 Combat and 0 Subtlety. Combat takes you to Adrenaline Rush, and Assassination adds crit, extra combo points and a longer Slice and Dice.
Key Choices:
- Precision gives 5% melee hit, more than half of the 9% you need.
Sword Specialization gives a 5% chance for an extra attack whenever your sword deals damage, and 
Weapon Expertise adds 5 weapon skill with swords, fist weapons and daggers.
Dual Wield Specialization adds 50% damage to your off-hand weapon. That’s a lot of free damage.- Improved Slice and Dice makes Slice and Dice last 45% longer. Less time spent refreshing it means more Eviscerates.
Ruthlessness gives your finishers a 60% chance to add a combo point, and 
Relentless Strikes gives them a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy. At 5 points, that’s a refund on every finisher.
Malice adds 5% crit, and 
Lethality adds 30% to the crit damage of Sinister Strike.- Improved Sinister Strike takes 5 energy off your main builder, and
Aggression adds 6% damage to Sinister Strike and Eviscerate. - Adrenaline Rush doubles your energy regeneration for 15 seconds. Blade Flurry adds 20% attack speed for 15 seconds, and your attacks also hit a second nearby target.
Using daggers instead? The combat dagger build swaps Sword Specialization for 
Dagger Specialization and 
Improved Backstab, and takes 5 points of Subtlety for 
Opportunity. Backstab replaces Sinister Strike as your builder, so you need to be behind the target. Swords are the easier and more forgiving choice.
Stat Priority
Bosses are three levels above you, and that’s what sets the 9% cap. Below it, your special attacks miss. Above it, every other stat matters more.
- 1
- Hit (to 9%)
the special attack cap against raid bosses.
Precision covers 5%, and Leatherworking’s Devilsaur set adds 2% as a set bonus.
- 2
- Agility
1 attack power per point plus crit and dodge. Your best stat once you’re hit capped.
- 3
- Strength / Attack Power
1 attack power per point of Strength, so treat the two the same.
- 4
- Crit
good, and it makes
Lethality stronger, but never drop below 9% hit to get it.
- 5
- Weapon Skill
300 is the base. Points above it cut down the damage you lose to glancing blows, which is why
Weapon Expertise and the Human sword racial are so strong.
Weapon skill from Weapon Expertise only counts for swords, fist weapons and daggers, so a mace in your hand loses it. Stick to one weapon type in both hands if you can.
Rotation
Energy ticks in at 20 every 2 seconds and caps at 100. Spend it before you cap: above 80 energy, use something. With Adrenaline Rush up, spend at 60. The opener is built to get Slice and Dice up early and then line up your cooldowns.
OPENER
- 1.
twice, to get your first combo points.
- 2.
right away, even at 2 points. Getting the buff up early matters more than a long first one.
- 3.
on a boss, use it now so the energy goes into a strong start.
- 4.
again at 5 combo points, so it lasts a long time.
- 5.
with the next full set of combo points.
PRIORITY
- 1.
keep it up at all times. Refresh it as soon as it runs out, using whatever combo points you have.
- 2.
at 5 combo points while Slice and Dice has time left. When the boss is about to die, use it at any count.
- 3.
your builder for everything else.
AOE
- 1.
your only cleave. Your attacks hit a second nearby target for 15 seconds, with a 2-minute cooldown.
- 2.
pair it with Blade Flurry on big two-target fights or tough trash.
- 3.
keep it up during Blade Flurry. The extra attack speed adds to the cleave.
Leave 
Expose Armor alone if a warrior is putting Sunder Armor on the boss. Expose overwrites Sunder, and your raid loses armor reduction it already had.
Consumables
Rogues get more from consumables than most classes, because so many of them add attack power or Agility. Poisons aren’t optional.
- Poison
on both weapons. Horde rogues in a group with a shaman’s Windfury Totem should leave the main hand without poison so Windfury can apply.
Instant Poison VI- Elixir
25 Agility and 2% crit for an hour.
Elixir of the Mongoose- Buff
30 Strength for 30 minutes.
Juju Might adds attack power on top.
Juju Power- Consumable
restores 100 energy, on a 5-minute cooldown. Use it with Adrenaline Rush or after a long run back to the boss.
Thistle Tea- Elixir
35 attack power for 20 minutes.
Winterfall Firewater- Food
10 Agility.
Blessed Sunfruit (10 Strength) is the other option.
Grilled SquidGear
Gear for combat swords is hit first, then Agility. Sinister Strike adds its damage on top of your main-hand weapon’s hit, so a slow, hard-hitting main-hand sword makes every Sinister Strike bigger. Both hands should be swords to get the most out of Sword Specialization and Weapon Expertise. Leatherworking’s Devilsaur set is the common way to cover 2% hit early, and it can be bought since it isn’t bind on pickup.
- Main Hand
a slow sword with high top-end damage
Crusader is the usual enchant.
- Off Hand
a second sword
enchant it with Agility.
- Hands and Legs
2% hit as a set bonus, and strong Agility and attack power on their own.
- Everything else
hit until 9%, then Agility
Strength and attack power pieces are fine when they come with hit.
Tips & Tricks
Use a timer addon or watch your buff bar for Slice and Dice. Every second it’s down costs you damage.
Humans have a racial that adds weapon skill with swords, which is why so many Alliance raid rogues are Human. On Horde, Orc’s 
Blood Fury is the strongest racial for damage, and Troll’s 
Berserking is a good second.
Don’t use 
Rupture in raids unless your raid leader asks. Eviscerate is the finisher you want with spare combo points.
Engineering is the best damage profession for rogues. Bombs give you the AOE the class otherwise lacks, and they’re useful on every trash pack.
Kick is one of the best interrupts in the raid. Call which caster you’re covering before the pull.
Related Guides
- Rogue Leveling Guide (1-60) — the leveling build and route that gets you here
- Molten Core Raid Guide — your first raid as a combat rogue
- Blackrock Depths Guide — a good place to farm pre-raid gear and gold
- WoW Forever Rogue Guide — what changes for rogues in WoW Forever