Best Rogue Cleave since Ret Rogue Priest

Since I am getting more and more requests for help with my current setup in 3s lately, I decided to just write about it.

The comp I am talking about is Rogue/Feral Druid/Discipline Priest.


Due to the decline of RMP, the fact that RRP doesn't cut it either and the lack of quality shamans/warlocks for RLS, lots of Rogues struggle to find a strong and versatile 3v3 setup.

As a result of both our long-time Mages quitting the game, me and my Priest decided to pick up a competent Feral Druid and just play around a bit with the comp, surprisingly leading to very satisfying and promising results so far as we became the highest rated Rogue Feral Priest team world-wide by a large margin as well as the only team with this setup that appears on SK top 100 and all this has been achieved with less than two months of experience:

http://www.sk-gaming.com/wowteam/eu/257/14421
http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/3/all/all/all/all/all/rogue/priest/druid///


But what makes the comp as strong as it is? A short summary:

• insane burst-potential - can you say BERSERK?
• great longevity - Innervate+Shadowfiend+two mana-independant classes
• decent CC - /hi instant Cyclone
• lots of defensive cds, peels, offensive and defensive Dispel
• the lack of an actual countercomp
• did I mention the really insane burst this comp is capable of? it's just ridiculous!

This is the point where the weaknesses are supposed to be listed but I have a hard time finding any.

If I had to name one it would be the Priest since we all know how squishy the class can be under certain circumstances even if it's a Priest of Vultrox' caliber (1144resil / 29k health with fort and motw). The only other thing that troubles us are well played Hunters. Fortunately they are kinda rare and/or come with very favourable targets like Warlocks.


The setup itself is somewhat unfair in my opinion as it doesn't require the high level of precision and teamplay of RMP but, according to my experiences, nets better results most of the time. The biggest part of the questions  I receive on a daily basis is about the way we play against certain comps, what target to focus and what target to swap on but before covering that I'd like to share some general tips concerning the setup:

• Feral Pounce + Rogue Garrote is you most favourable opener since it prevents your opponent from moving and from casting since there are quite some things that can otherwise be cast inside of the opening stun (Pain Supression (glyphed), Barkskin, Hand of Freedom, Blink) OR will be cast after an immediate trinket (Psychic Scream, Warlock port, Shadowfury/HoT)
• improved Kidney Shot + Glyph of Tricks of the Trade are both very useful. The Feral in this team will be the main damage source while the Rogue is more of a handy tool as he brings -healing debuff, strong snare, stuns, interrupts. Of course he's also capable of some decent burst but in the end the scoreboard clearly reflects the respective roles in the team
• don't wear that much PvE. It's highly advisable for both DDs to maintain enough defense to tank quite a bit of dmg. Your dmg and burstability is through the roof anyways
• stop wasting precious time with puzzling out complicated strats. This setup is almost as simple as it gets. Its a (yet to be given a ridiculous name) cleave! 90% of the games you want to either focus the warlock or the healer. Excessive swapping is also not recommended due to the nature of both classes having to "prepare" the current target with poisons, combo points, bleeds and other debuffs
• don't be stingy with Berserk! Most of your opponents won't survive the first 30 seconds at all if you use it and even IF they live through it they certainly had to use many defensive cds to do so and die shortly after
• there's an interesting issue with Cyclone, Mass Dispel and a third spell. I won't comment on that topic further than that, but...you should take advantage of it as long as it's there

Short strat analysis comp by comp:

RMP (Rogue/Mage/Priest)

• - try to get a Sap on the Mage if he has not yet entered invis
• - open on Priest ASAP
• - cc Rogue with Cyclone/Dismantle/Blind
• - ignore Mage
• - pool energy, let Kidney cooldown refresh and kill the Priest

Difficulty: 3/10


RLS (Rogue/Lock/Shaman)

• get a sap on the Shaman
• open on Lock ASAP
• cc Rogue with Cyclone/Dismantle/Blind
• destroy Tremor Totem and land fears on the Shaman
• kill Warlock
• on certain maps it can be more viable to Sap Lock and go all out on the Shaman due to Circle port (Blade's Edge, Dalaran Sewers)

Difficulty: 4/10


TSG (Warrior/Dk/Paladin)

• try to get a Sap on the DK if he has not yet Lichborned
• if DK has LB'ed already try to get a Sap on the DK
• dispel HoSac or Div. Sac if up and Paladin sapped
• if DK sapped go all out on Warrior, try to get a kill
• if Paladin sapped go all out on DK while rotating cc on Warrior/Paladin
• if no Sap split damage, Rogue on DK, Feral on Warrior, spread Wound Poison with FoK, switch to the most desirable target in terms of still available defensive cds and health
• be ready to MD the Hand of Protection
• never ever try to kill the Paladin. It will only result in a dead Priest.

Difficulty: 7/10


PHD (Paladin/Hunter/DK)

• try to get a Sap on the Paladin or Hunter, whichever is positioned better for the Rogue
• open on DK
• cc Hunter with Cyclone/Dismantle/Blind
• Fear/Cyclone Paladin
• be ready to MD the Hand of Protection
• kill DK

Difficulty: 8/10


Beastcleave (Paladin or Priest/BM Hunter/Enh. Shaman)

• try to get a Sap on something
• if a Priest is part of the team focus and kill him
• if a Paladin is part of the team train the Shaman
• try to land fears on the Paladin while the Shaman sits in a stunlock with Tremor down or Earthbind out
• Blind the Paladin when Trinket and Divine Shield are gone and there are no Fear DRs
• Kill Shaman
• if necessary, LoS the sh*t out of them until Wolves/BM/Heroism wear off

Difficulty: 7-8/10


Wizardcleave (Various)

• if there's a Shaman Healer in it, go all out on him and kill him ASAP
• if there's a Paladin Healer in it, go all out on the Warlock, be prepared to remove Hand of Protection and kill him
• if there's a Paladin Healer but no Warlock, go cry. On a serious note..we have yet to meet such a team, but I'd advise to either split DPS between Elesham (Rogue) and Mage (Feral) or to go all out on the Mage with quick dispels for Flameshock

Difficulty: 6-8/10


RRP (Rogue/Ret/Priest)

• get a Sap on the Ret while not getting Nova'ed out of Stealth
• open on Priest
• dispel Hand of Protection
• cc Rogue with Cyclone/Dismantle/Blind
• peel your Priest if needed, swap to Ret if necessary to do so
• kill Priest or Ret, depending on the situation

Difficulty: 8/10


DK/Lock/Druid

• try to get a Sap on the DK if he has not yet Lichborned
• open on Warlock
• kill Warlock

Difficulty: 4/10


Mirrormatches

• kill their Priest faster and with less cd usage than they kill yours
• win the 2v2

Difficulty: --/--


Double Healer (Various)

• If it is Druid/Dpriest/Warr just switch beteen Warr/Priest, Manaburn Druid and kill something
• If it is Shaman/Paladin/Warrior either try to zerg down Shaman while Paladin sapped and cc'ed afterwards OR try to oom the Shaman and kill the Paladin afterwards
• If it is a mix of the comps listed above try a mix of the given instructions

Difficulty: 5-6/10





Sooo..numerous walls of text later I hope most questions are answered (if not -> comments section) and you had somewhat of an enjoyable read. Feel free to correct any mistakes or give me some input about the topic.

If you're sad now after you wasted some precious minutes of your life or sad for any other reason, Barney Stinson has a fix: