Classic TBC Phase 1 Rogue BiS Gear
Classic TBC Phase 1 Best-in-slot List for Rogue
Disclaimer
This guide will tell you about all the best gear you can get for your rogue for PvE damage dealing in Phase 1 of The Burning Crusade Classic. This is written with the assumption that any items added in patch 2.1 or later will not be available in phase 1 of BCC. Notable exclusions are Deathblow X11 Goggles and Relentless Earthstorm Diamond.
All of the gear comparisons in this sheet are done with Simonize’s spreadsheet version 2.0.40, which you can find here
First, we want to make it clear that there are many different configurations of gear that are almost identical in terms of damage output – less than 0.3% difference! This allows you some flexibility in which pieces of armor and which weapons you pick up. We’ll show the absolute best list first, and then discuss the different options.
The List
Head: Netherblade Facemask (with Glyph of Ferocity)
Neck: Choker of Vile Intent
Shoulders: Wastewalker Shoulderpads
Back: Drape of the Dark Reavers (+12agility)
Chest: Terrorweave Tunic (Doomwalker)
Bracers: Nightfall Wristguard
Hands: Wastewalker Gloves (+15 agility)
Belt: Girdle of the Deathdealer
Legs: Netherblade Breeches (Nethercobra Leg Armor)
Boots: Edgewalker Longboots (+12agility)
Ring 1: Ring of a Thousand Marks
Ring 2: Garona’s Signet Ring
Trinket 1: Dragonspine Trophy
Trinket 2: Bloodlust Brooch
Ranged: Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix
Main Hand: Gladiator’s Slicer
Off Hand: Latro’s Shifting Sword
Primary Gear Slot Options
Most of the options come in the 5 primary gear slots: the head, shoulders, chest, hands, and legs. You are going to want to get the 2 piece bonus of both Netherblade and Wastewalker sets. The only really fixed slot in those 5 is the shoulder – you really want to use Wastewalker Shoulderpads. Then among the head, chest, hands, and legs, you want to have 1 piece of Wastewalker, 2 pieces of Netherblade, and 1 good non-set item. Here are the 4 best setups to use, in order of preference:
Head: Netherblade Facemask
Shoulder: Wastewalker Shoulderpads
Chest: Terrorweave Tunic
Hands: Wastewalker Gloves
Legs: Netherblade Breeches
Head: Cowl of Defiance
Shoulder: Wastewalker Shoulderpads
Chest: Netherblade Chestpiece
Hands: Wastewalker Gloves
Legs: Netherblade Breeches
Head: Netherblade Facemask
Shoulder: Wastewalker Shoulderpads
Chest: Netherblade Chestpiece
Hands: Wastewalker Gloves
Legs: Skulker’s Greaves
Head: Wastewalker Helm
Shoulder: Wastewalker Shoulderpads
Chest: Netherblade Chestpiece
Hands: Grips of Deftness
Legs: Netherblade Breeches
The difference between the best setup and the worst is estimated to be 1631.24 DPS with Terrorweave Tunic compared to 1626.86 DPS with Grips of Deftness, a difference of only 0.27%!
Other Gear Options
Outside of those 5 primary gear slots, there are some other gear options as well.
Neck: Worgen Claw Necklace is almost identical to Choker of Vile Intent – only 1 hit rating less! A more interesting alternative is Braided Eternium Chain. This has an on-use effect that gives a 30-minute critical strike chance buff to your entire party. For you, the individual Braided Eternium Chain with its buff active is on par or very slightly better than Choker of Vile Intent – and it buffs your party too!
Wrist: Spymisstriss’s Wristguards come from the Auchenai Crypts quest, “The Soul Devices”. They are just ever so slightly behind Nightfall Wristguards – you’ll do fine if you pick up these quest bracers instead of the heroic drop Nightfall Wristguards.
Waist: Gronn-Stitched Girdle is a bit worse than Girdle of the Deathdealer, all things considered. Both of them might be a little difficult to get seeing as one is a heroic dungeon drop and another is a drop from Gruul the Dragonkiller!
Feet: Fel Leather Boots are definitely worse than Edgewalker Longboots – they should only be considered as a backup if you can’t get the Edgewalkers!
Ring: Ring of Reciprocity is definitely worse than both Garona’s Signet Ring and Ring of a Thousand Marks, but it is the next best option.
Trinket: If you’re up against a demon or undead target, Mark of the Champion is very close to Bloodlust Brooch – the difference comes down to fight duration. You’ll do fine with either. Abacus of Violent Odds is the next best, but is a bit worse than Bloodlust Brooch for sure.
What is the best weapon for rogue during phase 1?
Main hand
There are actually 5 different weapon choices for your mainhand weapon, with the best choice only 0.5% ahead of the worst of these 5! In order they are Dragonmaw, Gladiator’s Slicer, Blinkstrike, Spiteblade, and Hope Ender. These are all exceptional main hand weapons and you won’t go wrong with any of them.
Dragonmaw is slightly ahead for sustained attacking where you don’t have to move or swap targets, but is slightly worse when you have to change targets frequently.
The other weapons do not suffer from having to change targets. The biggest difference between these weapons is how they are acquired – pick whichever one suits you the best!
To get more information on this topic, check this Rogue Life’s article: Top 5 Rogue Weapon Choices for the Phase 1
Offhand
You can get Latro’s Shifting Sword from Black Morass or you can get Gladiator’s Quickblade – there is not a meaningful difference between these two offhand options. Depending on your particular gear setup, you may find one or the other to be very marginally ahead.
Ranged
Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix, Veteran’s Musket (Alliance), Marksman’s Bow (Horde), and Barrel-Blade Longrifle are essentially identical in terms of performance – no meaningful difference. Pick whichever one is easiest for you to get!
Gear optimization (Gems…)
This setup aims for only the level 72 hit cap of 25%, and gems for agility with extra gem slots. This means it is 3% under the level 73 hit cap.
It is a very small loss against level 73 targets, ~3 DPS or about 0.2% damage loss against level 73 targets.
It is a huge advantage against level 72 targets to gem this way – a gain of about 35.5 DPS or 2% (not 0.2%) against level 72 targets.
If you look for more in-depth information to optimize your stats (gem, enchant, EP values etc), you must check our Stat & optimizations page
Thank you for reading this guide! We hope it was informative and helps you plan your rogue’s gear in early TBC. If you have any questions, be sure to contact Simon or Ferrus on Silent Shadows’ discord!