SF/Hemo Will Be The Best Overall 2.3.2 Spec

Loz's exact spec:



http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fheoRxMoiZZxrfoMuRoxo



I blew probably 1000g in respecs from the day AR/prep
nerf was announced to today, I tried every spec and while some will
perform better with specific set-ups in specific brackets, none of them
come close to SF/hemo for playing in all three brackets across the
largest variety of comps.




The inevitable finally happened, as hard as it is to confront the loss of the second AR from AR/prep, everyone must move on and find their new niche. I think the first a few weeks will see people with all sorts of different specs before everyone settle in for good. And I believe when the smoke clears, SF/hemo will be the most popular spec once people understand how close it was to AR/prep in 2.3.



SF/hemo was the most versatile spec not named AR/prep in 2.3. In fact, if you have access to the T6 trinket (and god I hope they add a good crit trinket for PVPers soon), one can argue this was every bit as good as AR/prep. Look at Loz, 3rd ranked 3v3 team in BG9 with warrior/rogue/druid, I would argue SF/hemo was better for this comp than pre-nerf AR/prep because of super fast improved EA for your warrior, and quick recovery is a huge increase in rogue survivability as well. Of course, he has 120 higher AP and 1% more crit than me, that is while wearing the amazing T6 trinket that adds no passive stats. QR allows him to drop some stamina/resilience for superior offensive stats despite playing on a team where he is the primary target.



It is probably the most versatile spec when it comes to competing in all three brackets. There are many myths about SF/hemo which I would like to dispel:



1) AR/Prep owns SF/hemo toe-to-toe



Nothing can be further from the truth. My version of AR/prep included 5% dodge and 5% parry, riposte, mace stuns, and set-up for maximum anti-melee power. I fought Telemarketer aka Litercola on PTR no-stealth, no-CD, and it was 50-50 with just both of us toe-to-toeing each other. Now consider QR, when backed by healers, AR/prep's healer will go OOM first, especially with only one AR.



2) Your sustained damage is lacking unless you pick-up DW spec



5 point improved expose armor: 3075

Serrated blade: 560

Full S3 Gear + Dory's Embrace: 518



That is 4153 armor, stripping a rogue to zero armor is a 35% increase in damage (100% / 74% = 1.34). Outside of mutilate there is no other spec that has enough combo points to consistently maintain expose armor at all times on top of slice and dice. Even against S3 warriors with 2 hand, 4153 armor is a 30% increase in physical damage. Tanking warriors until his healer is OOM has been a pretty popular strategy, and SF hemo is certainly capable of it once you strip a warrior's armor. The damage he is taking will be out of control especially with a magic DPS assisting, he will be forced to go one hand and shield and even then 4153 armor is roughly 25% damage increase against a shield warrior.



Even without expose armor up, this spec has deceivingly high damage. Telemarketer was able to drop me from 8000 health in a single 5-point kidney shot without expose armor up. CB evis after target hits 35% hurts a lot. Hemo debuff itself is equal to +226 AP for your mainhand, +392 for offhand, now throw in 160 AP from deadliness and serrated blades, you have white damage comparable to 41/20 combat mutilate.



And vs AR/prep, precision/dw spec/weapon specialization combine for 12-13% overall damage. But murder +2%, malice +4% even vs 400 resilience targets, relentless is at least 4% overall damage, now throw in ruthless/seal fate, SF/hemo will definitely outdamage AR/prep by a big margin when AR's are down.



And in 2.3.2, I would say two CB is simply superior to one AR, it is far harder to CC, and it is true on demand burst damage, especially with premeditation.



3) The hemo nerf makes hemo inferior to sinister strike



Once again this is the most silly statement I have heard in a long time. 1600 AP and S3 weapons, damage per 40 energy:



2.3 hemo (did not uses its own debuff): 774

2.3.2 hemo without sinister calling (does use its own debuff: 729

2.3.2 hemo with sinister calling (does use its own debuff: 791

41 combat sinister strike: 746

Ghostly strike (uses hemo debuff, unnormalized): 748



Never, ever forget, that sinister strike costs 14% more energy than hemo, and unless you have full aggression and surprise attacks, doesn't do 14% more damage. This is before dirty deeds, 10% higher AP etc. The superiority of hemo over sinister strike and the strength of prep is what makes it very hard for me to go QR combat.



Bottomline, with 100% PVP geared rogues able to go as high as 1750 AP and 32% crit (and 5% hit without any hit gems), SF hemo is not lacking in damage. Fleet footed with proper meta gem + boot enchant is 20% chance to resist snares, coupled with 7% higher movement speed, it goes a long way making up the lack of two improved sprints.




It is a very, very potent spec. The best way for me to describe it, is sustained damage of subtlety mutilate, without positioning/poison requirements, and the power of prep. In fact, with hemo debuff and 10% higher AP, you will see higher sustained damage than subtlety mutilate. It really is the spec with least weaknesses at the moment.




Filler choices:



1) Poisons



Vile poison works extremely well against shamans (extremely popular in 5v5) and paladins. I did notice vile poison working against escape artist and improved sprint as well, which is a nice bonus. However, it does not work against our number one enemy in 2v2/3v3, druid abolish poison. I tested it outside of IF, it works against the initial tick, but the next four ticks will ALWAYS remove four stacks. It is a silly, silly bug that really wrecks a great, great talent.



2) Vigor vs Premeditation



I am going to play 2v2 competitively with Radikal and I liked premeditation a lot for that bracket. Vigor only really works well if you get kited a lot and have to go in-and-out of combat a lot, and if that happens you are probably losing anyway. CB evis -> prep -> vanish CS premed CS -> CB evis, that is four second and a LOT of damage. Premeditation also sets up instant 5 point expose armors and allows you to get the EA + SND rotation up right away, it is also amazing in duels. Premeditation is just too good for rushdown style.  I will be experimenting with both, 120 energy with a 35 energy special is sexy as well, I can't deny.



I am having a blast playing with Radikal's AP/fire spec. I really believe this is potentially a rogue's best 2v2 combo in 2.3.2. Against a 433 resilience priest, we dropped him in six seconds twice, and that is without critting the pyro. I believe we finally have a chance at killing the druid in mage/rogue vs lock/druid. It is simply monster damage and pretty much a free win if his pyro does crit. The trick is of course to always land the pyro, never wasting it on ice block, divine shield, cloak of shadows etc, but I really believe AP/fire with ice block now trainable is going to make for some amazing 2DPS, 3DPS and 4DPS teams and rogue is going to really benefit from them.



Patch 2.4 Preview:



Preparation now resets the cooldown of kidney shot but no longer resets the cooldown of cold blood.



Just kidding