As a rogue, we really have the beauty of it all. Unless we are fighting an exceptional player of thier class, there really is few classes that we can't beat. When I make this statement, remember that I am not speaking about duels, or goofy BGs group zerg PvP. I'm speaking of 1 vs 1, open-world PvP. Also keep in mind that certain specs are almost
Impossible for a rogue to beat. When it comes to PvP, anything goes. In this case, I will use everything in my power to beat you into submission. Pots, tea, cooldowns, ect. Anything that is at my disposal will be used. Now then:
An optimal situation is the opener. Getting that Cheap Shot off, or the big numbers Ambush is awesome. About 98% of the fights I have where I get the opener, I will walk away victorious. I'm going to explain each fight with and without a successful opening move, on the part of the rogue.
Mage- Success=Big numbers Ambush. With decent gear, and a good crit, the mage is going to watch half their health be instantly sucked away. Most of the time, unless the mage is fast on thier fingers, I can also get a backstab off. If both of these crit, and the mage isn't in decent gear, it's normally enough to kill them outright. If not, hit them with a kidney shot. A mage is going to instantly blink away from you, and try to get you Frost Novaed. Blind them. Restealth, and either Cheap Shot/Evis, or hit them with another Ambush. No mage in this game has the HP to survive this, if you are decently equipped. You WILL burn cooldowns fighting a GOOD mage. There is no way around it. So, make sure you are prepared, before you try to tackle one.
Failure= Hope that the mage goes for a polymorph. Most will. You should have your PvP trinket equiped, for a speedy break of the poly. Worst case scenario is that the Mage will PoM poly you again. Most mages won't due to diminishing returns, and wasting that PoM. If you are polyed again, watch for the spell they are casting. If it's a frostbolt, be rdy to vanish, AS SOON AS IT HITS. This will break their target lock on you, and will remove that slow effect. Back away from the mage a bit, and re-evaluate for the possible opener. If it's a fireball, be rdy to mash your sprint button, if they are out of range of blind. Either case is to get in range to blind them, and restealth for a possible opener. Remember that a mage will ALWAYS blink out of stun, if Blink is not on cooldown. Always be prepared to keep as close to them as you can. No Mana Shield, no Ice Armor, no nothing can keep you from beating them into the ground, once you are in range. They will try to prevent this at all costs.
Warlock- Woohoo, this is a tricky one. There are so many different specs to Warlocks. You really need to know your target, or be able to study them in combat, to have a grasp on how to deal with them.
Soul Link = Kill the demon that they are linked to. Most Soul Link 'locks are based around fear kite and curses, while they wait for the Nightfall proc. Your best hope is to CC the Warlock, while you dispatch the demon. A good Warlock will have thier Succubus out against a rogue. If they don't, your life is that much easier. Sap/blind the Warlock, and wait for the Seduction from the Succy. Use whatever means you have to break the "charm" effect(trinket/wotf/ect) and then kill the succubus. Once dead, the Warlock is much easier to handle, and will either have to insta-summon another demon, or face your wrath.
Nukers(Destruction/ruin/ect) = These guys are all about the fire dmg. They may have a demon out, and they may not. I've fought a few that totally rely on thier own dmg, and have no need for the demon. DO NOT let them kite you. If they get the range on you, it's going to be a world of hurt. Use whatever means you have to keep them in range for stunning. Lock them down, and thier health will melt away.
Most Warlocks I've seen are the above builds, or hybrids of such. As I stated above, the Warlock is a tricky class, and you really need to know your opponent.
Priest- Ah, the priest. Another class that if played badly, is no challenge. But, if played properly, can spell certain doom. My personal experience leans towards a love of Shadow-priests. They have the dmg mitigation, but they can not heal in that form. And, there is no form of "mitigation" that can stop a determined rogue.
Shadowpriests: They WILL have 3 points into Imp. Shield. This means they will ALWAYS have a shield up, and will renew it every 15seconds, if given the opportunity. Sadly, 1.10 will give ALL priests this ability FOR FREE, and they will then use the points to make that shield absorb MORE. Watch for the priest to shield themselves. Start counting. 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, ect. At 13 seconds, sap them. Continue to count. Your sap should out-last the 17seconds remaining on the shield. During this time, you should have re-stealthed, or have Imp. Sap. Begin a stunlock on the priest. Most priests will either be mashing the fear button, or thier dots. Those dots hurt, so try to keep them locked down. If the priest gets a fear off, break it ASAP. If a good Shadowpriest gets you kited, it's pretty much over. The dots/Mind Blast/Flay combo can eat through just about any rogues HP in mere seconds. Keep them locked down, and try to prevent spell-casts. Imp. Kick works wonders here, as you can silence the whole Shadow tree.
"Normal" priests: I call them normal, as they are not specced for Shadow. These priests are even MORE dangerous than Shadowpriests. They may not hit quite as hard as a Shadowpriest, but that's because they don't need to. If they get you fear-kited even once, you will be facing that priest back at full health. You must prevent this AT ALL COSTS. If it looks like you are going to lose your stunlock at any time, blind them, and regain control. A priest that can heal will outlast ANY rogue. There is no way around it.
Warriors- Yes, the "rock" to our "scissors". A well-played Warrior should have no issues tearing a rogue into little leather scraps. A well-geared Warrior is going to have around 4-7k HP, depending on Spec/Gear, and about 4-8k Armor. You will know the difference between a Protection Warrior, and a Fury/Arms Warrior. Most, if not all Warriors that are not Protection will be 31/20/0 Mortal Strike Warriors. These hit HARD. They will have thier finger poised over thier "Overpower" hotkey, waiting for us dodgey fellows to light it up. Protection warriors will laugh at our little dagger/swords, as we backstab for 100dmg, or Sinister Strike for 75. Trust me, I've lived it.
"DPS" Warriors: They hurt. No doubt about it. If you even HOPE to stand a chance against a good one, you'd better have bandages and Health pots at the ready. Open with a Cheap Shot. There is no other option. Ambush isn't going to hit that hard, unless they are geared poorly. If that is the case, then they aren't a problem anyways, but we are speaking of well-geared players here. CONTROL is key here. If you can keep a warrior totally locked down, then you have a major success. As I stated above, you are GOING to get hit by Overpower. It's unavoidable. We dodge, it's what we do. Depending on the Warrior's gear, it may or may not hurt BAD, but it will hurt. I personally pop evasion, as soon as I see my first dodge light up. I know the Overpower is coming, but I'd rather dodge everything else that Warrior throws at me. Make sure to use Blind, if you are getting low on health. Blind them, back off, and try to bandage up. If you have good health pots with you, save them for after the bandage. They are instant, and could very well save your life. Lock them down as best you can. Combat rogues do fairly well against them, thanks to Riposte. But, if the Warrior has a weap. chain, or the Stonghold Gauntlets, you will be at a large disadvantage.
Protection Warriors: I avoid them. I've seen some with almost 8k UNBUFFED HP, and 8k armor. They have +defense in the 400ish range, and they will have a shield on with an insane amount of +block on it. With all honesty, I have never beaten a GOOD Protection warrior. They do what they are supposed to. They OUTLAST. For the bad warriors, kite them. Try to get an Expose Armor on, to help a bit with that huge AC count. Hit them with Rupture, as it is Armor-ignoring damage. Keep kiting. Try to stay just inside Intecept range. Hope for the best.
Druids: Once again, another fairly complex class. If they are not Feral, they really are no challenge. Resto spec/Moonkin druids do not have the skills needed to effectively kite a well-played rogue, while mitigating the insane damage that we can put out. If they root you, vanish. If they kite you, sprint. If they heal, interrupt. Keep in melee range, and chew them up.
Feral Druids: THESE, on the other hand, are quite the threat to a rogue. They have the ability to do that of a healer/tank/rogue all in one, and can do so at will. While not as effective as each of those classes individually, wrapped all in one, they are powerful indeed.
Successful opener= We are hoping they are in caster form. They have the least amount of armor in this form, and are the easiest to lock down. Do your damndest to keep them stunlocked. They will most likely try to root you, and get a heal off, before shifting into a feral form. Most good druids will be trying for Bear-form, as that gives them the best chance to mitigate our damage. A well-equipped bear-druid is going to have armor and HP comparable to a Protection Warrior. Follow the guide-line above for warriors, and try to keep them stunned. Watch for them to Feral Charge you, as they will do it when they get low on health. They will charge, and then back away to heal. If a good feral druid gets healed to full, and then back into the fight, you WILL have to pot, or blind/bandage. At this point, you have a serious problem, and you might not walk away alive.
Failure= I'm sorry for you. If a druid gets the drop on you, it will most likely be in cat-form. They will Ravage you, and get a DoT on you. Also watch for Farie Fire, which will keep you from stealthing AT ALL. At this point, you have a serious problem. Try to keep them stunlocked, and in cat-form. While this isn't as good as caster form, it still has less armor than bear-form, and is about your only chance.
Shamans= Complex class. If they are specced for PvP, and know what they are doing, a good Shaman is basically unbeatable 1 vs 1. They have a way to remove any form of CC we have. Posions are worthless. If they know how to kite well, consider the fight basically lost. They will use thier PvP trinket to break your stun, and then Frost Shock you. They will then most likely lay a EB totem, and a Fire totem. This will then keep you out of stealth, and continuously damage you. Your only hope is to be able to front-load so much damage on them, that they cannot heal enough through your stuns to compansate. You WILL burn cooldowns here. Keep them stunned AT ALL COSTS. Shamans are the only class that, when specced and played right, can front-load and heal MASSIVE amounts of damage. I've seen Earth-Shock crits for 2.5k, and I've seen Chain Lighting crits for 2k. It's a scary scary thing to face a PvP specced Shaman who is geared well 1 v 1.
Most Shamans that are Raid/healing specced won't be doing much fighting. They have given up most of thier heavy-hitting damage to be an asset to their raid. Shamans HAVE to be heavily specced into one side of thier trees or the other, to be truly effective at one thing. If they aren't, then they really do fall short. It's because of this that Shamans are not considered "broken" by Blizzard. The only deviance of that is once they are geared well enough to make up for those short-falls. When that becomes the case, just run from them. One of the reasons I rolled Horde.
Paladins- Interesting bunch. Kinda like the pale shadow of Shamans. They can heal like champions, and can actually front-load some pain, if they are specced to do so. Reckoning Paladins are evil evil creatures. They have these horrid bubbles, that NOTHING in the game can do anything about. Fighting one is essentially fighting 3, as that is how many health bars you are going to kill.
Whether you get the opener or not, the outcome is going to be the same. You WILL be Hammer of Justiced, and they WILL heal. If you get them really low really fast, they WILL bubble. WATCH for what type of "bubble" they use. If it's thier "total stoppage pwnt" bubble(you know the one
), then back off, and bandage up. You might even get lucky, and be able to re-stealth, while they heal. I also like to do a bit of /danceing, while they heal up. Once this is over, you now have HP #2. Continue to beat on them. Watch for when and if they cast thier second "shield". This looks like a flash of light through thier character model. This makes them immune to physical and magical damage. They will then try to heal again. BLIND THEM. Thier shield makes them immune to damage, but you CAN blind them, and make them walk around all funny looking. Best part of this is that the shield lasts 10seconds, and so does blind. You are now in the home stretch. So, restealth, and start stunning them again, once the shield is gone. Now then, the FINAL straw of the Paladin. You may or may not see this, depending on how badly you have pissed off the Paladin. Lay on Hands. This is a 1-hour cooldown INSTANT full-life to the target spell. I offer congrats to you, if the Paladin has to do this, because they REALLY want to kick your butt at this point. This is a fight about endurance, and tact. You have to bide your time, and chip away at them. Keep your cool, and beat them down.
Rogues- Ahh the rogues. Our fellow stealthy lurkers of the shadow. In my opinion, both the easiest and hardest fight you will have. If you get the opener, and you know your stuff, it should be all over with. Rogues have no real way to counter stuns, so a stunlock will most likely spell death. If you give a GOOD rogue an opening in that stun lock, they will blind/gouge/vanish, and then begin a stunlock on you. So, your best hope is to get the opener. If not, watch for them to make a mistake, and exploit it. The key here is to lock them down, and make sure they don't get that second chance. Be ruthless, and don't hold back.
So, this is just my general knowledge and experience, on my travels in the World of Warcraft. I have yet to play any other class to 60, so I'm not too wise in the ways that other classes play. I only know how they counter Rogues, as I see how they attempt to deal with me. My advice is to get out there, and get to fighting. You can only learn through trying.
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