Zach broke up this week's The Art of War(craft) covering rogues because, well, those rogues are darned sneaky! So sneaky that they surprised him with more secret information than he was expecting to write about. So read quickly. Because those rogues have sent all their best operatives to go all Ninja Assassin on Zach's sorry butt. Read and make it worth the sacrifice.

Rogues. The one class that everybody can truly agree to hate. Or maybe that was the paladin... I forget. Anyway, today we pick up where we left off in this introductory guide on how to deal with those sneaky little scoundrels. In the first part of the guide, we took a look at the most commonly used abilities of rogues in PvP. Today, we'll talk a little about how the class works and why this defines their limitations and playing style. A deeper understanding of how the class works should give you a better idea of how to handle them.

Combo points

Rogues have a unique class mechanic called combo points, with two sets of abilities that either grant them or consume them and scale according to how many combo points are on a target. The more combo points on a target, the most devastating the effect of their finishing ability. This means that rogues are basically single-target killing machines. Once a rogue chooses a target, they have tunnel vision on that target until that target is dead or are forced to change.

What does this mean for PvP? This essentially means rogues can't switch targets as easily as other classes. It penalizes them. They won't lose the combo points when they select another target, but combo points are lost when they apply even a single point on someone else. A rogue focusing on one of your allies is a great target for you because you're sure to get a lot of free damage in with little fear that she will switch quickly. Rogues are trained through their leveling to keep at one target until it's dead before moving on to the next one, with very few AoE options, Fan of Knives notwithstanding. After the jump, I'll break down a list of builders, or strikes that grant combo points, and finishers, or abilities that consume them.

Builders

• Ambush - Awards 2 combo points, requires Stealth and a dagger in the main hand. Must be behind the target.
• Backstab - Awards 1 combo point, requires a dagger in the main hand. Must be behind the target.
• Cheap Shot - Awards 2 combo points, requires Stealth.
• Garrote - Awards 1 combo point, requires Stealth. Must be behind the target.
• Gouge - Awards 1 combo point. Must be in front of the target.
• Hemorrhage - Awards 1 combo point. Talent.
• Mutilate - Awards 2 combo points. Talent.
• Shiv - Awards 1 combo point.
• Sinister Strike - Awards 1 combo point.

Finishers

• Deadly Throw
• Envenom
• Eviscerate
• Expose Armor
• Kidney Shot
• Rupture
• Slice and Dice

There are also a number of talents in the different trees that grant additional combo points, but the general idea I want you to absorb right now is that rogues rotate their abilities between builders and finishers. For best results, rogues will build up to five combo points and unleash a finishing move. I am unaware of any way to track how many combo points you have on yourself, so it's all fuzzy math from hereon. Basically, if you are able to keep tabs on what strikes the opposing rogue is using, it should help you predict what her next strike is.

As I mentioned in the first part of this guide, it's a pretty bad idea to let a rogue get the opener, but let's just say they get you with a Cheap Shot. This means you'll be stunned for the next 4 seconds, allowing the rogue to get a couple more builders on you before the stun breaks. For most rogues, this will be a Sinister Strike. Now, unlike most classes, rogue strikes trigger a 1 second global cooldown instead of the regular 1.5 seconds for most spells and attacks. This means that the rogue can apply a few more builder strikes, so when the stun finally breaks, she'll have a full five combo points which she can use to apply a finisher (she won't, really, and I'll explain why a little further down). For total obscenity, let's go with Kidney Shot. So now you're stunned for another 6 seconds because controlled stuns (Kidney Shot) don't share the same DR as opener stuns (Cheap Shot). Sweet.

If you don't have a cc-break at this point, you can assume the rogue will use all six seconds to apply as many builder strikes as possible and finish it off with something really nasty, like an Eviscerate. If you're not dead yet, you'll probably manage to be facing the rogue at which point she'll Gouge you before dropping a couple more builders and then finally kill you before you've had a chance to type 'HELP!' in Battleground chat.

Why is it so important to understand rogue strike categories? Mostly, it gives you an idea of what to expect. Very few rogues will mix up strikes, with most relying on their bread and butter Sinister Strike to apply combo points. Thus, you should expect them to throw up a finisher after 2-3 of these (they won't always wait for 5 combo points). In PvP, you should also mostly expect only two basic finishers from most rogues: Kidney Shot and Eviscerate. More experienced rogues, however, can use Expose Armor on plate, or Rupture on durable enemies (like healers).

It's good to learn what the finishers are because it's a fairly good assumption that after a rogue has applied a finisher, she's less likely to apply another one with considerable effect. This means that the best time to peel from a rogue is after she's unleashed a finisher. This means she won't have combo points for a Deadly Throw, so time peels such as Disengage or Typhoon after their finisher, leaving them to have to build up again. With any luck, the loss of combo points can discourage them and force them to switch targets. This is why it's not the best idea to break a Cheap Shot, because you already have combo points on you. It's far better to break Kidney Shot because it's a finisher.

Energy

Rogues also utilize a vastly different resource system from other classes by relying on a rapidly replenishing resource called Energy, which is fixed at a max value of 100 (120 with the Vigor talent and glyph and 130 with some gear bonus). For all the speed of rogue strikes, their biggest limitation is their rate of Energy regeneration, which is fixed at 1 per 1/10th of a second, or 10 Energy per second. That means the stun-lock scenario described above isn't actually as scary as it sounds because rogues will normally have 40 Energy left after opening with a Cheap Shot which costs 60 Energy. Although they can almost immediately hit with a Sinister Strike (it takes half a second to get back up to 45 Energy and some rogues pick up Improved Sinister Strike to drop the base cost to 40 Energy, anyway) right after the Cheap Shot, they will be left with 0 Energy and will have to wait another few seconds to apply another builder strike.

Now that's not so scary, anymore, is it? Most of the strikes that a rogue applies on you while you're stunned are actually auto-attacks, which don't generate any combo points. Sure, they'll hurt, but only because rogue auto-attacks are stupidly fast. This means any sort of reflective damage ability will totally demolish them, such as Thorns or Holy Shield. Now understand that in PvP, rogues will almost always try to keep an Energy reserve for abilities such as Kick and try to keep enough to be able to Gouge (45 Energy). Having an acute understanding of rogue Energy should also give you an idea of what strikes they'll be able to pull off.

The bad news is that rogues never run out of Energy. Never. It takes about 10 seconds to fill up an Energy bar to 100, so that's wickedly fast. The good news is that the best rogue strikes are extremely expensive, ranging from 45 to 60 Energy. So the best recourse when fighting a rogue? Hit them with your most powerful strikes while their Energy is low, basically the boxing equivalent of counter-punching. It's easier said than done, but keeping track of their Energy as well as when they unleash a finishing move is a good rule of thumb for your own attacks and counters.

Limitations

These limitations should give you a fairly good idea of how a rogue operates in PvP. They are single target opponents who tend to focus on one target at a time, looking to build up their attacks before unleashing powerful ones. Because the class actually demands it of some abilities, a lot of rogues learn early on how important it is to be behind an opponent. That said, maneuvering behind an opponent is not a beginner's skill. It takes tremendous practice to execute, so take comfort in the fact that most rogues aren't capable of doing this at will in the chaos of the battlefield.

If you can manage it, always face the rogue you're fighting. This is where mouse movement versus keyboard turning becomes a decisive factor. It's easier and faster to turn with your mouse than it is to use they keyboard. Against a rogue, that's pretty critical. Take away her key strength of fighting behind you and you should take away a good part of her bite. While it's basic for melee classes to stay behind their targets, rogues get particular benefits from doing so. Don't let them. That's why Gouge is so important to them. It lets them re-establish their position. One of a rogue's greatest weapons in PvP isn't their abilities but their need to fight from behind an opponent. You can't hit what you can't see.

Rogues are melee glass cannons, which is why they absolutely need to use every bit of crowd control they have at their disposal. This is why they hit and run. This is why they attack from stealth and from behind an opponent. Catch them in a stun and they'll wither very quickly to attacks. The best way to handle a rogue is to turn the tables on them -- take away their openers, hamper their mobility, and surprise them with a burst of damage to force them to blow evasive cooldowns or escape.

Alright. Now we've gone through some rogue basics, such as their class mechanic and resource. In the next and final part of this introductory guide, we'll take a closer look at the three different rogue specs, their special abilities, and the subtle differences in rogue fighting styles as well as how to counter them. For now, have a good time out on the battlefield and always keep your eyes peeled and ears alert for that signature whoosh.