Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss how a few stats interact with various rogue specs.

Have you ever had a problem finding a group as a rogue? My own rogue isn't immune to this issue, and I sometimes find myself without a raid group on a Saturday night. The rogue population has been steadily growing since its sharp decline right after the launch of Wrath, and that means increased competition for the coveted melee DPS raid slots. With the plentiful bounty of Death Knights and Ret Paladins vying for the three different two-hand weapons that drop from just the first 4 bosses of ICC10 and ICC25, it can be tough finding your place.

However, with hard work and good performance, most raid leaders will see the value in bringing back quality DPS. To ensure that you're on the reinvite list, doing as much damage as possible will leave the most tangible evidence of your efforts (as well as being your overarching goal). Sometimes this means doing more with less, and using the gear you have to its highest potential before you're able to reap the benefits of the great 251/264 epics that you're working towards.

Your rotation:

Due to the uneven scaling of every ability (as no ability functions exactly the same as another), it's truly impossible to know what the best rotation for any given rogue may be. Each case must be examined individually to see if the stats are above or below certain 'decision thresholds'. This has been evident as we see Combat rogues nearing the armor penetration soft cap dropping Rupture from their rotation, as well as Mutilate rogues dropping Rupture to bring about higher Envenom buff uptime. The fact is that without the proper gear to support armor penetration, dropping Rupture from your rotation may very well be a DPS loss.

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