world of warcraft Glossary

At home in the shadows and skilled at disappearing from sight, the Rogues of Azeroth are most comfortable when acting in the background. Twisting events to their favor, striking only when advantage is greatest: this is where a Rogue excels. With their cunning tricks, physical abilities, and mastery of concealment and disguise, Rogues have no trouble finding employment as thieves, cutthroats, spies, and assassins.

The Rogue is a very involved and fun class to play. There is a lot to take in, but players can master the Rogue with knowledge and experience. Here are a few sample skills available to Rogues.

This page does not have a complete listing of all abilities that are available. Look for more once our database section is active.

Energy
The Rogue requires energy to perform most abilities. Energy is built up over time. You can only increase your energy pool or the rate at which it regenerates through the use of high-end talents. Abilities cost less energy if they miss or are blocked.

Stealth
Stealth is the ability to remain undetected by the enemy. It is not the same as invisibility. When something is in Stealth mode it can still be seen but only if detected. However, detected players in Stealth mode become clear or transparent and blend in with the background making them more difficult to spot

• Being behind a target is much better than in front of a target.
• The better you are at stealth, the closer you can approach a target before he spots you. Although normal speed is reduced rogues can move freely while in stealth mode. In other words, you don't get a bonus for standing still.
• Abilities will not cancel Stealth/Vanish when they fail to go off.
• Your success at remaining undetected depends on your Stealth skill level, the direction the monster is facing, and how close you get to the monster.

Using Stealth
By using Stealth you can sneak up behind monsters to perform various abilities such as Sap, Backstab, and Ambush. Without Stealth the monster would simply turn around and attack. Try to predict the movement patterns of the monster and then sneak up behind it at the right moment. This becomes much easier once you reach Stealth level 2 which allows you to move faster. A common way for a Rogue to fight is to first sneak up on a monster from behind using Stealth. The Rogue then uses a Backstab, Sap, Ambush, or Cheap Shot. The Rogue then continues with combat now that the monster is in a weakened state.

Sprint
Sprint is useful in two situations. Its main purpose is to act as a special "oh no" ability which gets you out of trouble. If too many monsters come at you at once, if a special monster aggros on you, etc., you can press this button and run away from danger. The second use of Sprint is for a short burst of speed as you're traveling around the world. You can also use it to beat other players in foot races. There are certain timed quests which Sprint can also help with. Place Sprint on your first action bar page so you can always see when it is ready to be used again. Sprint can be used while stealthed.

Evasion
The Rogue's dodge chance will increase by X% for Y seconds. This is another "oh no" ability that you should use in emergency situations.

Safe Fall
Reduces damage from falling. You can use this to jump off high locations without dying. =]

Sap (Sleep) Pull
The Rogue can use Sap to put Humanoids to sleep. If you are alone you can use Sap to break up a group of two enemies. Sneak up on the targets from behind using Stealth. Then use Sap to put a victim to sleep. Then pull the still awake enemy and kill it, and then finish off the sapped target.

Typical Battle
Sneak up behind the monster using Stealth. Perform a Backstab, Ambush, Cheap Shot, or DOT on the monster. Then begin combat with the monster. Start using Sinister Strike to build up Combo Points. Then release with a DOT, or direct damage finishing move such as Eviscerate, or use Slice and Dice. Now build up Combo Points again using Sinister Strike. You should always perform a move the second you have enough energy unless you're building up more energy for a more powerful ability. A common mistake among novice Rogues is to not use their abilities enough.

Rogue Combos
Use Gouge to stun a monster during a battle. Then use a Backstab from behind. You will need enough energy for this to work; otherwise the monster will wake up before you can do your Backstab.

Use Sinister Strike to build up Combo Points. Then use Slice-N-Dice after earning a couple of Combo Points. Now gain more Combo Points using Sinister Strike again. Now release with Eviscerate.

Use Cheap Shot to stun a monster at the start of combat. Then power up additional Combo Points with abilities like Sinister Strike while the monster cannot move.

Away from Keyboard
When you have to leave your computer, enter Stealth mode and move to a spot where the monsters are unlikely to patrol. Using Stealth, the Rogue can go AFK in places that other classes generally can't.

Skill Points
Rogues should focus on getting more Agility which adds to their Defense, Critical Hit chances, Attack Power, and Dodge chance. Additionally, you could also focus on Stamina for added health.

Weapons
Rogues use daggers by default. You can, however, train in swords if you wish to be different. You can even build up both skills and use the best depending on what weapons you have. At level 10 you can dual wield.

Rogues can also use throwing weapons or train in bows, crossbows, or guns which will typically do more damage. You can use throwing weapons to get some additional damage done to the monster before it reaches you. They can also be used to finish off monsters that are running away. Additionally, these weapons are useful for pulling monsters rather than sneaking up on them in Stealth mode.

Poisoning
The Rogue has the unique ability to create and apply special poisons to weapons. Poisoning can be trained at level 20. To create poisons you will need to buy empty vials and purchase various reagents as dictated by each recipe. At higher character levels the Rogue can train in more powerful and unique poison recipes. There are even additional extremely powerful recipes to be found which require rare ingredients available out in the world. Poisons can be resisted.

Crippling Poison, which can slow an enemy's movement speed, is very effective against monsters that run when they are about to die. This makes the Rogue very useful in a party. Party members become accustomed to having a Rogue around for this helpful ability.

world of warcraft Glossary

Here are some of the terms which may cause some confusion. This is not a complete list of words that you may hear. There are many other common terms but we do not list them because they are uncool and shouldn't be encouraged.

AM
Archmage

Buff
A Buff is a beneficial spell cast on a unit. An example of a "buff" is the Priest's Inner Fire or Shaman's Bloodlust.

BL
Blood Lust

BM
Blademaster, Blood Mage, Beastmaster, or Brewmaster!

Campers
People who purposely do not expand or head out around the map, but instead, try to defend their town and get other players to attack it.

Creeping
The process of clearing out Creeps for experience, gold, and items.

Creep Jacking
Sneaking up on your enemy while they are fighting Creeps and attacking them from behind.

Dancing
A term from StarCraft meaning to pull injured troops out of harm and quickly put them back, or to move the target of focus fire away to make the enemy chase.

De-Buff
A De-Buff is a negative spell cast on a unit that makes it less powerful. An example of a "de-buff" is the Banshee's Curse, Druid of the Talon's Faerie Fire, or Sorceress' Slow.

DH
Demon Hunter

DK
Death Knight

DL
Dread Lord

DotC
Druid of the Claw

DotT
Druid of the Talon

Expansion
An Expansion is a new town built at a location other than the player's main starting town.

Focused Fire
This simply means all units attacking a single target which is typcially a unit. An example would be selecting all of your Archers and attacking an Abomination.

FS
Far Seer

GG
Good Game. If players say GG too early it is a sarcastic way of saying you have lost and the game is over. It can also mean that the player who said it is admiting that they have lost.

GL HF
Good Luck. Have Fun.

Grunt Rush
A slang term coined by Tou to originally refer to building a Barracks first before Town Hall which was an exploit in the tech tree fixed in Warcraft II Battle.net Edition. Later Grunt Rush has evolved into meaning attacking early with Grunts or Footmen or other early units.

Hero Arena
A popular custom map type where the map is just heroes that fight it out for number of kills. It can be extremely fun and teaches new players how to use Heroes and more about each Hero.

Hero Trap Town (Trap Town)
A Hero Trap Town is a town built in such a way that Heroes and units become trapped when they teleport to it. Usually this means players have built buildings next to their Town Hall. In the worst examples players become stuck between buildings and can't even move. Avoid building Hero Trap Towns. Leave plenty of space around your Town Hall.

Inc
Incoming. This means an attack is coming. It can mean an army or a Hero. Usage: "inc (then ping area where attack is coming from)" or "inc UP" (attack coming from north)

KOTG
Keeper of the Grove

LOL
Lots of Laugh or Laughing Out Loud. This abbreviation indicates something is really funny. Unfortunately although very common, that term became uncool a long long long time ago. Other alternatives that you can use instead are "hehehehe" or "hahahaha" which aren't the best but are more hip. ROFL should also be avoided to appear cool.

ot or o/tower
To offensive tower someone. Towers are built inside or outside an enemy town, and more Towers are built until they can attack the whole town. Rather than use towers for defense, players use towers for offense.

Macromanagement (Macro)
To focus time on creating new buildings, researching upgrades, expanding, and training units. To focus on Macro typically means to let battles fight themselves or to ignore units in combat while focusing on building, training, and expanding.

Marn
A Tauren Chieftain, named after Marn Thunderhorn the Tauren Chieftain. Some players call all Tauren Chieftain's Marns.

Meat
This means units that stand in the front of a battle and soak up damage such as Grunts, Footmen, Mountain Giants, and so on.

Micromanagement (Micro)
To focus time on controlling individual units in battle. When someone "has good micro" they are good at controlling their troops. Lock Picking
You can improve this skill on locked chests. You should also create practice locks with engineering, or purchase them from engineers, to develop this skill more quickly.

You can also offer to unlock locked boxes from other players for free to build up skill in Lock Picking.

Only rogues may train in Lock Picking.

Traps
The Rogue can detect and disarm traps. Hunters use traps. Disarming an enemy faction hunter's trap will flag the rogue for PvP.

Footlockers
A number of areas in the world have footlockers in them. These areas are in place for rogues to visit to increase their lockpicking skills. The contents of these footlockers are only token amounts of treasure, but they should allow for a more interesting experience while increasing lockpicking skill. The difficulty of the locks in the area correspond to the level of the zone, so if your lockpicking skill is around 100, you would go to Durnholde Keep in Hillsbrad. But if your skill is 250, you might head to Tyr's Hand in Eastern Plaguelands. The Rogue trainers will point the player to an appropriate area with boxes to unlock depending on the lockpicking skill of the player.

• Hillsbrad Foothills - Durnholde Keep
• Redridge Mountains - Lake Everstill
• Ashenvale Forest - Zoram Strand
• Stonetalon Mountains - Windshear Crag and Associated Mines
• Wetlands - Murloc Camps
• Desolace - Sar'theris Strand
• Badlands - Angor Fortress
• Swamp of Sorrows - Pool of Tears
• Searing Gorge - The Slag Pit
• Tanaris Desert - Lost Rigger Cove
• Azshara - Bay of Storms
• Eastern Plaguelands - Tyr's Hand (elite)