Monday, December 7, 2015

Breaking Down Outlaw

I was debating whether to do Outlaw or Subtlety first. Sub's in for big changes, and I have a lot of nostalgia for it as my Rogue was Subtlety for a long time before I decided I liked Assassination's rotation better (and the new one makes me think I'll be switching back!) but Outlaw is both way cooler (in my opinion) than the old Combat and also is, you know, the spec that's getting renamed.

In a way, Outlaw isn't actually that much different than Combat, but there are subtle distinctions that look like they'll give it a very different feel.

Outlaw is still going to be the Rogue spec that doesn't use daggers, but rather than that being more or less its only defining characteristic, they're really leaning in on a swashbuckling theme, particularly the pirate sub-category of swashbucklers (I'd count people like Robin Hood - or really anyone played by Errol Flynn - as swashbucklers.)

There's a theme here of having a mix of melee and ranged attacks, and while I don't think that you're going to be effective as a hunter (well, non-Survival hunter) at range, it should give you some backup if you've got a tricky enemy who likes to move around a lot (or an obnoxious tank.)

So, let's get to the abilities.

Saber Slash is the main CP generator. It costs 50 Energy and generates one Combo Point, but it has a 35% chance to hit a second time, generating a second CP and also making your next Pistol Shot free.

Pistol Shot is a ranged attack that costs 40 Energy (when there's no Saber Slash proc) and damages the target as well as slowing it for a few seconds and also generates a CP.

Run Through is kind of the new Eviscerate, costing 35 energy and lunging forward to give it an 8-yard range, and dealing more damage for spending more CPs.

Slice and Dice remains, though it now appears to be Outlaw only - it actually looks like each Rogue spec will have one major "maintenance finisher" by default and one active one.

Between the Eyes is a ranged finishing move that stuns the target and deals damage based on CPs, stunning for one second for each CP expended.

Adrenaline Rush remains as a major cooldown, increasing Energy regen by 100% and attack speed by 20% for 15 seconds on a 3-min cooldown.

Blade Flurry remains as the powerful AoE/Cleave toggle.

There are also some fun abilities like Bribe, which allows you to get Humanoids as a pet (presumably like Enslave Demon or Control Undead.) There's also Riposte, which is a replacement for Evasion, now causing you to parry instead and also attack back on each parry.

So, before talents and artifact traits, the rotation is rather straightforward.

Finishers:

1. Maintain Slice and Dice.
2. Run Through

Generators:

1. Pistol Shot if it's procced.
2. Saber Slash.

AoE is simple - you'll just turn Blade Flurry on. I think the fun of the spec will be about reacting to the proc, getting in more finishers and shooting people at close range. You'll also have a nice set of options if you're forced to stay at range, with Pistol Shot and Between the Eyes giving you a kind of rudimentary ranged rotation.

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