Uh-oh. Rogues. Those sneaky little bastards could be anywhere. Out of all the classes in the game, there is perhaps no class no more feared for their PvP prowess than rogues. Rogues gain a fearsome reputation by virtue of the nature of the class alone -- they can Stealth. Because of rogues, everyone has to literally watch their backs. No place is safe because a rogue can be lying in lurking in some dark corner waiting to strike at the proper time. Through years of leveling in a PvP server, there is no sound in the game more unsettling than the low humming whoosh of a nearby stealthed rogue. In fact, rogue (and by extension, feral druid) stealth is the single biggest reason why I don't PvP with music on.

And for rogues, it's all about timing. In the Battlegrounds, it isn't uncommon to find rogues preying on the weak, those low on life, the defenseless players eating or drinking. They can't help it. It's in their nature. The class encourages foul play through Stealth and a wonderful repertoire of attacks from behind. Rogues are at their best when catching their opponents off guard and are extremely capable of doing so. After the jump, we'll take a closer look at the basic things to expect when fighting a rogue regardless of their spec.

Stealth

As mentioned, Stealth is a rogue's defining ability. Learned at Level 1, every rogue learns to sneak around and pounce on an opponent. It's their single biggest trump card, the ability to remain unseen. In Arena play, it's critical for the rogue to get the opener, as some of her most powerful attacks require her to be stealthed. Taking a rogue out of stealth removes the element of surprise so it's important to be on your toes. If you see a rogue from a distance entering stealth, always be on the ready. While it is practically impossible to get the jump on a very good rogue, the good news is that there are quite a lot of mediocre rogues who get too close to an opponent assuming their stealth will keep them undetected.

It will help to keep your game sounds on, and any music, whether in-game or maybe iTunes, low to be able to hear the distinctive sound of stealth. Hearing this sound indicates that you will be able to target them, so keep the Tab key handy. If you detect them, you have a very small opening in which to attack or cast a spell. The best abilities to use are those that don't require you to be facing the target -- a quick DoT or AoE should do the trick. These should work fastest and prevent error message delays.

A rogue's first few sequences are predicated on the premise that they get the opener, so taking that away from them breaks their rhythm and forces them to change their battle plan. Rogues hate starting a fight out of stealth, so if you manage to break their stealth at the start of a fight, you've already got a mental edge. Of course, if you can catch them before they even enter stealth, then all the better. Applying a Hunter's Mark or Faerie Fire should help here, or even a DoT if they're within range. Hunter's Mark has a 100 yard range, so it's easy to keep a rogue in check from across the battlefield.

Stuns and incapacitate effects

Another reason why rogues are so fearsome in PvP is because of their vaunted stuns. They can keep an opponent stun-locked or incapacitated in a number of ways so as to effectively neutralize a threat if not kill them outright. This control is why rogues have so much synergy with priests and mages in the Arena. Rogues can stun as an opener from stealth with Cheap Shot, which they'll use mostly against other melee classes. If you can manage it, don't use a cc-break on this because they can easily follow it up with a Kidney Shot as Cheap Shot already awards 2 combo points from the get go.

Basically, expect a rogue to be able to stun you right out from stealth as well as during combat. For the most bang for the buck, rogues will land a few strikes to generate combo points and will wait for one stun to wear off or nearly wear off before applying another one. Because they can apply so much cc, it becomes discretionary when to use your trinket or other stun prevention or removal ability.

In addition to their stuns, rogues also have a pair of incapacitate effects, Sap and Gouge, which take an opponent out of play for a while. Because Sap can only be used on targets that are not in combat and doesn't break their stealth, they can use this to incapacitate one opponent and attack another. Quite often, rogues Sap their opponents to unsettle them and is a very common occurence in world PvP even as a prank when rogues don't necessarily intend to battle their opponents. Sap is a common tool used in the Battlegrounds particularly for capturing the flag against a lone defender. In these cases, it's usually a good idea to break the Sap with a trinket or, in the case of warriors against clueless rogues, Berserker Rage.

Gouge is an interesting ability. It is a quick way for rogues to escape combat and is employed cleverly as an interrupt in a pinch. It is a 4 second incapacitate effect and is usually not worth breaking because it breaks on damage, anyway. Because it requires that their opponent be facing them, rogues often also use this to maneuver behind their opponent. It has a fairly short, 10-second cooldown, making it an extremely potent tool in controlling the fight. The good news is that it is extremely expensive at 45 Energy, so rogues won't always be able to use it even when it's available.

Kick

The reason rogues are a caster's bane is because they have so many tools at their disposal to prevent spellcasting. Kick doesn't just interrupt, it also locks casters out of the school for 5 seconds. For a caster, that's about an eternity. You need to remember two things as a caster -- Kick is on a short, 10-second cooldown and it costs 25 Energy. Because of the short cooldown, you should always assume they can use it at any time and it won't matter too much to track it through AddOns. Keep the Energy cost in mind and always assume that a rogue with about a quarter of her Energy left can use it.

The best way to deal with a Kick is to bait it out of the rogue. This means you'll need to keep juking your spells. A /stopcasting macro before every spell allows you to keep canceling spells that are currently being cast instead of stacking it. This should also remove the need to move to break a cast, which is less efficient. One trick is to keep juking with a spell from another, less-important school of magic so that if the rogue bites and uses Kick, you're free to cast spells from another school. Healers have a tougher time here mostly because smart rogues will use Kick on Holy or Nature school spells only.

If a rogue manages to Kick you and you're locked out of your primary (or in the case of paladins, your only) school, you can go two ways -- act as defensively as possible or go all out on offense. When a rogue has locked you out of casting spells, especially heals, they will go all out on damage without even bothering with a stun knowing that you have few options. Fortunately for priests, Psychic Scream is from the Shadow school, so getting Kicked in the middle of a heal means it's probably a good time to cast it. It's also a good idea to go on the offensive by accessing attacks from other schools during this time.

Cloak of Shadows

In addition to Kick and their arsenal of stuns and incapacitate effects, rogues are absolute nightmares for casters because of Cloak of Shadows, which makes them considerably more resistant to spell effects for 5 seconds. Rogues can use this to remove DoTs, which would normally prevent them from re-entering stealth. When a rogue activates this, it can only mean one of two things -- she wishes to flee or she's moving in for the kill. In some cases, it's even both, with the Cloak of Shadows allowing the rogue to re-enter stealth without fear of it breaking and then returning to finish off an opponent from stealth with vicious opening moves. The ability is on a 1.5 minute cooldown, which means rogues won't be able to use it as often but the best rogues always find the right opportunity to use it and not just blow it on the first few DoTs.

The scary part is that it is considered a removal effect, and not a dispel, so it won't proc spells with dispel triggers such as Unstable Affliction. Despite their higher resistance through this period, keep casting spells at them, anyway. The chances of landing a spell will vary depending on your spell penetration, so higher Spell penetration Hit should grant you a better chance to hit a rogue with Cloak of Shadows.

Blind

So rogues can stun and incapacitate. Did I mention they can also disorient? Blind is a clutch ability that rogues use to escape, dictate the pace of a battle, stand aside to bandage, or keep a second opponent out of play. It has a long, three minute cooldown but talents can reduce that two. It has since been changed from a poison back in the day to a more difficult to counter physical effect, meaning practically the only things that can break a Blind would be a trinket or paladin immunities. Blind is almost always used defensively because it breaks on damage and rogues can take the opportunity to run and re-stealth after exiting combat.

It is often worth using the trinket on Blind, mostly because it is always used strategically. Rogues never use Blind at random the way they might use any other ability. Rogues who blow their Blind cooldown are either planning something nasty or hoping to flee. In either case, the ability's long cooldown makes it a prime candidate for the cc-break. That said, trinket use against a rogue is always discretionary considering how many crowd control and lockdown abilities they can employ.

Dismantle

This Wrath ability has become a staple in rogue PvP. Think of it as Kick for melee. Dismantle is on a longer, one minute cooldown, but it allows rogues to handle melee classes which they would otherwise have a harder time with. It helps to keep track of Dismantle through AddOns such as Afflicted 3. Because the abilities and attacks of most melee classes and even hunters rely on their having a weapon, Dismantle effectively keeps them from doing much for a very long ten seconds. A good way to counter this is by using your own crowd control abilities if you have some, such as a stun or fear. Keeping the rogue out of play for a majority of the time you are Dismantled should lessen its impact, allowing you to stay on the offensive.

Vanish

While I could have lumped this in with stealth, Vanish deserves special mention because it's such a clutch ability. It allows rogues to escape almost any encounter completely, which is vital to rogue strategy. No other class has such a viable option for escape other than, perhaps, a paladin bubble-hearthing her way out of harm's way. A rogue with Vanish available means that she always has a way out, so even a rogue with a sliver of health can conceivably Vanish and spoil what would've been a killing blow. Almost any rogue worth her PvP salt will have it properly glyphed, allowing quick escape from even the most dire situations.

Keep track of Vanish, and always have a DoT applied on the rogue to break their stealth as soon as they enter it. It's a narrow window, but it's quite possible to pull off casting and landing a stealth-breaking spell or ability between the time they use Cloak of Shadows and subsequently Vanish. The best rogues won't be caught, however, because Vanish is off the global cooldown and some can macro it along with Cloak of Shadows to provide instantaneous escape. It has a long three minute cooldown, but the same talents that improve Blind can reduce that to two. The most aggressive rogues -- those who fight using burst instead of control -- will use Vanish offensively. If a rogue isn't low on health but Vanishes, you should expect to be dealth a vicious Ambush or if you're a caster, Garrote. And that reminds me. There's Garrote, too. Against casters, rogues will use Garrote instead of Cheap Shot or Ambush, using the 3 seconds of silence it grants to deliver even more damage. Garrote should give casters even more reason to keep the rogue from entering or starting the battle in stealth.

Poisons

Rogues can also tailor their fighting style according to their enemy using poisons. Just remember that these debuffs are, obviously, poisons, which gives classes that can remove poisons a bit of an edge against rogues (this should give you an idea why priests dread rogues so much). Paladins can Cleanse, druids can Abolish Poison, and shamans can drop Cleansing Totem. In fact, against a rogue, Cleansing Totem is the water totem a shaman should use.

One of the most common poisons that they use in PvP is Crippling Poison, which hampers movement speed and helps prevent them from being kited. This sees a lot of use in PvP because rogues must do all they can to keep their enemies close. Rogues are practically no threat at long range, so it is in your best interest to keep them at bay unless you're a melee class. Against healers, rogues can use a potent combination of Mind-Numbing Poison and Wound Poison. Because rogues must take some time to apply the proper poison to their weapons, they are at their best when they have prepared for an opponent, making them the most deadly when they have tailored their preparation to their prey. The most dedicated PvP rogues even have the luxury of extra weapons coated with different poisons allowing them to swap in whatever poison is strategically best with virtually no downtime.

End of part one

Rogues are an interesting study for PvP, and we've only just touched the surface! Tomorrow, in the next installment of this introductory guide, we'll go a little more in-depth about the rogue's resource, Energy, as well as the combo point system. A deeper understanding of these mechanics will give you greater insight into how a rogue fights and thinks, as well as allow you to counter them. We'll also talk about their need for mobility, the kinds of rogue fighting styles -- pure burst, hit and run, and control -- as well as the obligatory spec overview to get a better grasp of the abilities that talent trees give them. Until then, stay safe and watch your back.