Twinking rogue alts. I wrote this a while ago but I didn't get round to posting it, then I forgot about it, and I just bumped into it as I cleaned up some of my PC. I wrote it after a bunch of people where asking lots of questions in guild chat about roguey stuff, so here's my thoughts on it for ya, and I hope it's still helpful :) This is some information for those people starting/playing rogue alts on how to spend your talent points and find weapons to truely twink your rogue for the best grinding and questing. ===Weapons=== Whilst levelling, forget about daggers. They're too much hassle, even with all the talent points you need to really get backstab doing good damage (which is a lot). What you want is a weapon with the highest possible damage range you can find, which should be the slowest weapon you can find. Even after the nerf to slow weapons, slow and heavy = win. The biggest twink weapon that you'll encounter first is 'The Butcher': http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=8226 That is the kind of weapon you're looking for. Really slow, really powerful. It will give you sickening Sinister Strike damage. Don't feel you have to pay through the nose for weapons, but an awesome blue like that will last your rogue a good while. Another classic is the almighty Krol Blade for those willing to pay money for it. I've no doubt that it is truely awesome at the level you can first equip it, and it is a damn fine mainhander at 60 too (almost equal to a Dal'Rend). Whether it is worth the money though, I'm not sure. You're probably better off just doing some Maraudon runs and picking up a Thrash Blade. ===Talent build=== When all is said and done, combat is THE best tree for soloing. Every talent helps you to kill faster with minimum fuss and minimum chance for things to mess you up. The order of talents I'd take is the following: Two points in Improved Sinister Strike - Although five energy doesn't sound like much, it greatly improves your energy effiency, as it reduces the number of Energy ticks require for a Sinister Strike. Three points in either improved gouge or Lightning Reflexes - Either is fine. Improved gouge is important for Stunlocking so could be considered mainly a PvP ability, and unlike PvP, dodge is useful when grinding :) Five points in Deflection Riposte - I cannot describe how awesome this talent is when soloing. What you have here is a 10% chance to get a 10 energy attack that is more powerful that Sinister Strike AND nerfs your opponent. Get Riposte. FOUR points in Precision. Precision is another awesome talent for levelling, as any melee class can tell you how frustrating a miss is, and misses come thick and fast against mobs higher level than you. Now, if you intend to take you ickle git PvPing, instead of putting the final point in Precision, move up the tree and put Two points in Improved Kick. It's a great little move, and on mages is a better opener than cheapshot. If you don't want to take your rogue PvPing, just finish off Precision. Now start putting points into Dual Wield Spec until you have twenty points in Combat, and pick up Blade Flurry. Blade Flurry is yet another great little thing for soloing and grinding. A tiny cooldown that allows you to eat two mobs at once. After you have Blade Flurry you can either continue in Dual Wield Spec then climb to Adrenaline rush (an awesome 'oh shit' ability, that combined with Evasion should allow you to easily take Elites of your level) or go into Assassination. If you are climbing to Adrenaline Rush, you might want to take a weapon specialisation, but be warned it can be hard finding good swords after a point, and you may have to switch to Maces. If you don't want to take a weapon spec, then you can fill out Lightning Reflexes instead. Getting Adrenaline rush early is probably a great idea though :) In Assassination the route I'd suggest is Five in Malice, then 3 in Ruthlessness, then 2 in Improved Eviscerate and finally the single point in Relentless Strikes. Relentless strikes should give you a nice boost to your energy effiency, as a high combo point finish will now return energy when used. After that, pump points into Lethality.