Rogue: Glyphs in 3.1

Please note that these are not live changes yet, and may not make it into the game

Blizzard is spending some time adding and retooling a lot of glyphs in 3.1 (guess this means I should be more active on my Warlock and level inscribing past 407).  Today I’ll list off the changes (you could go to mmo-champion.com to view all of the 3.1 information), and I’ll give you a brief perspective on each glyph. 

– Glyph Changes in 3.1 –

Glyph of Sap – Increases the duration of Sap by 20 secs.

This is a change from a 10 second to a 20 second buff.  I might be alone in this but… I enjoy sapping.  I find it much more fun to be in total control of a pull with CC than the AoE fest we’re currently getting.  It takes more skill, and is more interesting in my opinion.  With all of the changes to Sap in Wrath, it’s a much more versatile cc.  I’m not sure if this is a major glyph or not, but if it’s minor, I’m taking it.

Edit:  This is indeed a major glyph, so even though it is nice, if you’re going for max dps, you’re probably not going to take it for PvE..  Thanks, Chronic

Glyph of Deadly Throw – Increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 10%

This glyph used to increase the range of DT by 5 yards.  I don’t know that rogues needed the extra 5 yards, but the extra slowing will definitely help close gaps in PvP when we get kited.

Glyph of Adrenaline Rush – Increases the Duration of Adrenaline Rush by 5 sec.

The old glyph lowered the cooldown by a minute, but they’re lowering the cooldown by 2 minutes in 3.1 anyway.  If you’re a Combat Rogue, there’s a good chance you’ll be taking this glyph, as those extra 5 seconds every 3 minutes are a sizable DPS boost.  This also might help combat in PvP, as it increases our burst.

Glyph of Sprint – Increases the movement of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%.

The change to this glyph is the removal of  “also reduces the duration by 5%” that used to come with this.  I like this change.  Blizzard seems to be moving toward glyphs that only add to your abilities.  There were many glyphs that used to exist that carried both a positive and negative to them, and sometimes the positive wasn’t good enough to make you want the glyph.  My $0.02 is that if you’re going to let people customize their abilities, all changes should be for the better.

Glyph of Crippling Poison – Increases the chance to inflict your target with crippling poison by an additional 20%

This is a boost from the 10% increase the glyph currently gives.  Get ready for the QQ fest.  Casters are going to complain left and right that Rogues are “always” keeping Crippling poison on them.  Even if this makes it to live, I see a “Paladinesque Hot Fix” to patch it back down to 10%.

Glyph of Pick Lock – Reduces the cast time of your Pick Lock by 100%

This is a change from the 75% reduction that it was.  Instant lock pick?  Sure thing.  Assuming I don’t need the minor glyph slot for something better, I’ll take this.  Now if Blizzard would just increase the drop rate of boxes….

– New Glyphs in 3.1 –

Glyph of Hunger for Blood – Increases the bonus damage from Hunger for Blood by 3%.

I think this was in the development before 3.0.9.  Clearly, this is either going to be omitted or reworked.  The problem with the glyph is that as of 3.1, HfB doesn’t have stacks.  it’s just going to be a 30 second 15% damage buff that’s usable when a bleed effect is on a target.  Either this damage was already rolled into the improved version in 3.0.9 and the glyph will be removed, or they really meant for it to be an increase of 3-5% on the glyph.  It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Edit:  The glyph had read 1% per application, but has been updated to a flat 3% increase as I thought it might.  Thanks Hal.

Glyph of Killing Spree – Reduces the cooldown on Killing Spree by 45 sec.

Shaving 45 seconds off your Killing Spree will be a fair boost to Combat DPS.  Blizzard has stated that they want the harder specs to play to do more DPS than easier specs, and they took this a bit too far with specs like Combat Rogues and Beastmaster Hunters.  Glyphs like these are “band-aids” for the problems they created when re-balancing the classes and specs.  I’m not necessarily complaining about their methods, but it would be nice if we could use our glyphs to make Combat more interesting to play, rather than using it to bring it closer to the DPS potential of Assassination.

Glyph of Shadow Dance – Increases the duration of your Shadow Dance by 4 sec.

I’ll be the first to admit that Subtlety is the tree that I know the least about.  However, it’s clear that 4 more seconds of Shadow dance is a very good PvP buff.  To be honest, this might be another of those too good to stay in buffs.  It would not be unlikely that this is reworked before live, or even deleted.  Shadow Dance is already a fairly powerful tool, and making it 4 seconds longer makes it that much more devastating.  If it stays in and you’re a PvP Rogue, you’re going to probably take this.

Glyph of Fan of Knives – Increases the damage done by Fan of Knives by 20%

A solid buff to our AoE ability.  I would only take this as a minor glyph, or as a major glyph for Trash in a duel spec scenario.  Personally for the energy cost, Fan’s still fairly weak compared to caster AoE.  In it’s defense though, since it was buffed, I’ve been getting good damage out of in on trash.

Glyph of Tricks of The Trade – Your Tricks of the Trade grants and additional 10% bonus damage to your target.

Assuming this is a minor glyph, I’m taking it without any questions.  It will most likely be major though.   I love Tricks of the Trade.  It’s probably my new favorite ability.  The extra 25%(15% ability + 10% glyph) damage is more threat for the tank you’re using it on, or if threat isn’t an issue, it’s a 25% damage buff to a DPS on a 30 second timer.

 

Glyph of Mutilate – Reduces the cost of Mutilate by 5 energy.

This is another band-aid fix.  Mutilate was apparently doing too much damage in PvP so it was nerfed.  the problem is that in PvE it’s not just a combat point generation move, it’s also a significant source of our DPS.  By reducing the cost of the move by 5 Energy, we can use it more often, and that will be a slight increase in DPS for us.  This will probably be a must for raiding Assassination Rogues.

Glyph of Cloak of Shadows – While Cloak of Shadows is active, you take 40% less physical damage.

The PvP use is obvious here, this will help immensely with incoming physical damage.  However, this may save your bacon in PvE more often than you’d think.  There are situations where you’re going to take physical damage and popping this might give you the survivability to live long enough to get the heal you need.  I doubt that this will be a minor glyph, so it’s unlikely that you will be able to fit this into a PvE build though.

 

– Summary –

There are a lot of positive changes coming out of 3.1 for us, and generally we should see our damage increase.  I think the biggest winner of all the trees is Combat.  Glyph of Killing Spree, Adrenaline Rush, and Slice and Dice seem like a solid combo.  Assination gets more DPS out of Mutilate again, and Subtlety gets a duration buff for Shadow Dance.  I’m looking forward to see what makes it to live.

– Sam