Rogues get Mutilate and axes, Warlocks get Banes

Blizzard’s class deep dive on the Rogue and the Warlock is out. Rogues in WoW Forever can equip one-handed axes, and Sap no longer breaks Stealth. Warlocks get Banes: Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom become a separate kind of spell, next to their Curses.

The talent trees follow the same structure as in the deep dive on the Mage and the Shaman: talents from level 10, milestones at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points, and Dual Specialization at level 40. Everything can still change during the beta, says Blizzard.

Rogue

Poisons get more charges and stay on the weapon next to Sharpening Stones and Weightstones. Sap no longer breaks Stealth, so Rogues can take an extra monster out of a pull. Distract now also lowers the Stealth detection of enemies for 10 seconds. Enemy players do notice that a Rogue is close. Feint drops twice as much threat.

Expose Armor now removes as much armor as 5 Sunder Armor at about the same level. Warriors can still use Sunder Armor on the same target to build threat. Rogues can also learn one-handed axes. Brigands and outlaws in stories often carry an axe, Blizzard explains, and the extra weapon type gives more choice in loot.

Assassination is built around Poisons. Mutilate, at 21 points, strikes with two daggers, hits harder on poisoned targets and gives 2 Combo Points. Improved Poisons lets a Poison often trigger without using a charge. The tree ends in Venom, a finisher that gives Poisons 30% more damage. Cold Blood moves to 16 points.

Combat folds the four weapon specializations into Hack and Slash, with a bonus for Axes on top. Maces now ignore part of the target’s armor instead of stunning. Flawless Execution, at 16 points, makes Eviscerate 10 Energy cheaper. Aggression now also helps Backstab, so Combat can be built around Backstab or Sinister Strike.

Subtlety gets Premeditation at 16 points, with a duration of 20 seconds. Cutthroat lets Backstab sometimes allow an Ambush without Stealth. Quietus strengthens Sinister Strike, Ghostly Strike and Hemorrhage on targets below 35% health. Thousand Cuts, at 31 points, makes each tick of Rupture cheapen the next Hemorrhage or Backstab. Sleight of Hand and Deadliness are gone.

Warlock

Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom become Banes. Banes hold the damage, Curses the utility, and each Warlock can keep only one Bane on a target. Curse of the Elements now covers all magic damage, and Curse of Shadows is removed. Firestone and Spellstone become weapon imbues that stack with Wizard Oil. Firestone adds Fire damage and crit, Spellstone Shadow damage and spell haste.

Life Tap scales with Spirit. Drain Soul gets a growing chance per tick to give a Soul Shard, until one is guaranteed. Demons now scale with the stats of their Warlock.

Affliction ends in Wrack, a drain spell that makes the other Shadow damage over time hit 10% harder. Pandemic raises the critical strike bonus of damage over time and drains by up to 100%. Curse of Exhaustion moves to 16 points and slows by 30%. Improved Curse of Weakness, Grim Reach and Dark Pact are among six removed talents.

Demonology gets Demonic Sacrifice at 11 points, with effects that last 2 hours. Fel Domination moves to 16 points and Soul Link to 21. Demonic Pact, at 31 points, keeps the sacrifice when another demon is summoned. The Warlock then has Demonic Sacrifice and Master Demonologist at once. Both talents were already in the Class Highlights video.

Destruction gets Conflagrate at 16 points and Bane of Havoc at 21. That Bane copies 15% of all damage on other targets to the cursed one. The tree ends in Incinerate, with 25% more damage on a target with Immolate. Destructive Reach moves to the first row and now works for every damaging spell. Devastation and Emberstorm are removed.

Rogue milestone talents

Talent	Tree	Points
Cold Blood	Assassination	16
Mutilate	Assassination	21
Venom	Assassination	31
Flawless Execution	Combat	16
Premeditation	Subtlety	16
Thousand Cuts	Subtlety	31

Warlock milestone talents

Talent	Tree	Points
Curse of Exhaustion	Affliction	16
Wrack	Affliction	31
Demonic Sacrifice	Demonology	11
Fel Domination	Demonology	16
Soul Link	Demonology	21
Demonic Pact	Demonology	31
Conflagrate	Destruction	16
Bane of Havoc	Destruction	21
Incinerate	Destruction	31

Every talent of both classes, rank by rank, is in the talent calculator for the Rogue and the Warlock.