Class deep dive: Rogue and Warlock in WoW: Forever

The next class deep dive is about the masters of subtlety and destruction: Rogues and Warlocks.

How talents work in Forever

Talents start at level 10, with one-point milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points, plus a new milestone at 16 points.
Change talents (Legacy talents too) at a class trainer in a major city. Dual Specialization at level 40.
Everything can still change during the beta.

Rogue

Every advantage counts: more ways to prepare a fight, adapt during it and build around your favourite weapons and tricks.

Baseline abilities

Poisons: more charges, and they now work together with weightstones and sharpening stones.
Feint: twice the threat reduction.
Sap: no longer breaks Stealth. Blizzard wants Rogues to bring crowd control to a group that takes their skills to set up, and that helps when a pull has too many mobs to tank safely.
Distract: affected enemies also have worse Stealth detection for 10 seconds. But players will know there is a Rogue nearby.
Expose Armor: now lowers armor as much as 5 Sunder Armors at about the same level. It no longer blocks Sunder Armor, so Warriors can keep building threat with it (a weaker Sunder still doesn't overwrite Expose Armor).
Axes: Rogues can now use one-handed axes. Brigands and outlaws love their axes, and it gives more weapon choice.

Assassination talents

Improved Gouge: moved from Combat to row 1 of Assassination.
Remorseless Attacks, Lethality and Cold Blood: now also work with Mutilate. Lethality's crit bonus is a bit lower, and Cold Blood is now the 16-point gold medal talent instead of 21.
Malice: crit chance for all attacks and poisons.
Murder: now works against Giants, no longer against Beasts and Dragonkin.
Improved Expose Armor (redesigned): cheaper Expose Armor, and at 5 combo points it refunds them.
Improved Poisons: also a big chance that poisons don't use a charge. Assassination is the poison spec.
Vigor: now a 2-point talent on row 5 instead of the 31-point gold medal talent, same effect.
Mutilate (new 21-point gold medal talent): 60 Energy, hits with both daggers, more damage on poisoned targets, 2 combo points. Each hand can trigger procs.
Improved Kidney Shot: the extra damage now only counts for your own attacks and poisons.
Seal Fate: no longer requires Cold Blood. Mutilate triggers it once if either hand crits.
Venom (new 31-point gold medal talent): a 25 Energy finisher that gives your poisons 30% more damage and 10% more chance to apply. Assassination keeps Venom and Slice and Dice up, damage finishers come second.

Combat talents

Improved Eviscerate: moved from Assassination to row 1 of Combat, bigger bonus.
Puncturing Wounds (was Improved Backstab): also some Mutilate crit chance, and Backstab can give an extra combo point.
Deflection: twice the parry per point.
Precision: hit chance for all spells, attacks and poisons.
Endurance: lowers Sprint and Evasion cooldowns by a percentage, more in total.
Flawless Execution (new 16-point gold medal talent): Eviscerate costs 10 Energy less.
Dual Wield Specialization: a smaller off-hand bonus.
Hack and Slash (new, row 5): all weapon specializations in one talent. Axes get the same extra-attack chance as swords, and maces now ignore armor instead of stunning.
Weapon Expertise (redesigned): lowers the target's chance to dodge or parry.
Aggression: also boosts Backstab. Combat now supports a Backstab build next to Sinister Strike.
Removed: Dagger, Mace, Sword and Fist Weapon Specialization (now in Hack and Slash).

Subtlety talents

Camouflage: moved up to row 1.
Master of Deception: 3 points instead of 5, with a clearer tooltip.
Opportunity: also works with Mutilate.
Setup and Initiative: 100% chance with 3 points.
Dirty Tricks (was Improved Sap): moved up to row 2, now makes Sap and Blind a lot cheaper (Sap not breaking Stealth is baseline now).
Improved Ambush: moved up to row 2.
Ghostly Strike and Hemorrhage: more damage with a dagger. Hemorrhage also boosts your Rupture on the target for 15 seconds.
Improved Distract (new, row 3): bigger Distract radius and a bigger Stealth detection penalty.
Heightened Senses: moved up to row 4, with a clearer tooltip.
Premeditation: now the 16-point gold medal talent instead of 31, lasts 20 seconds.
Serrated Blades: ignores a percentage of armor instead of a flat amount.
Dirty Deeds: Garrote no longer needs you behind the target.
Quietus (new, row 6, requires Dirty Deeds): Sinister Strike, Ghostly Strike and Hemorrhage hit harder below 35% health.
Cutthroat (new, row 6): Backstab can let your next Ambush work without Stealth, even in combat.
Thousand Cuts (new 31-point gold medal talent): every Rupture tick makes your next Hemorrhage or Backstab 3 Energy cheaper, stacking 5 times.
Removed: Sleight of Hand and Deadliness.

Blizzard's view: Rogues stay the masters of Stealth, with Pick Pocket, Distract, Sap and Garrote, and they are the only ones with poisons. Assassination is all about daggers and buffing finishers, Combat about hard direct hits and some cleave with Blade Flurry, and Subtlety about tricks and bleeds. Always welcome for Stealth, control and the highest single target melee damage in the game.

Warlock

Power at any price: Banes, imbue stones, pets that grow with you and new ways to combine Shadow, Fire and demons.

Baseline abilities

Banes: Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom are now Banes. One Bane per Warlock per target, separate from your utility curses. Everything that worked with Curses also works with Banes.
Curse of the Elements now covers all magic damage. Curse of Shadows is removed.
Firestone and Spellstone are now weapon imbues that stack with wizard oils. Firestone: more Fire damage and crit. Spellstone: more Shadow damage and spell haste.
Life Tap scales with Spirit, and the tooltip now shows it correctly.
Drain Soul: every tick has a growing chance to give a Soul Shard, until it is guaranteed.
Pets scale with their master's stats.

Affliction talents

Improved Life Tap: moved up to row 1.
Suppression (redesigned): up to 5% more hit chance and up to 20% less threat.
Improved Corruption: also up to 10% more Corruption damage.
Malediction (new, row 2): up to 5% more periodic damage.
Improved Drain Soul is now called Soul Harvest.
Improved Drains (new, row 2): up to 20% more from Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack.
Improved Bane of Agony (was Improved Curse of Agony): more damage, 2 points instead of 3.
Fel Concentration: 3 points instead of 5, also works for Wrack.
Pandemic (new, row 3): up to 100% more crit damage for Corruption, Bane of Agony, Bane of Doom, Drain Soul, Drain Life, Siphon Life and Wrack.
Nightfall: also triggered by Drain Soul and Wrack.
Curse of Exhaustion: moved up to row 4, now the 16-point gold medal talent, 30% slow.
Malevolence (new, row 4): up to 5% more crit chance for Shadow spells.
Soul Siphon (new, row 5): Drain Life, Drain Soul and Wrack do up to 12% more per other Affliction spell on the target, up to 36%.
Shadow Mastery: a smaller damage bonus.
Wrack (new 31-point gold medal talent): Shadow damage every second, and the target takes 10% more from your other Shadow damage over time for 6 seconds. Your main filler between DoT refreshes and Nightfall Shadow Bolts.
Removed: Improved Curse of Weakness, Improved Drain Life, Improved Drain Mana, Improved Curse of Exhaustion, Grim Reach and Dark Pact.

Demonology talents

Improved Imp: no longer affects Blood Pact.
Demonic Embrace: no longer lowers Spirit.
Unholy Power: moved up from row 4 to row 1, a smaller pet damage bonus.
Improved Health Funnel: moved up to row 1, transfers more, up to 100% less threat, and works whatever your demon's health is.
Demonic Aegis (new, row 2): Demon Skin and Demon Armor up to 30% stronger.
Fel Vitality (new, row 2): up to 15% more health and mana for your Imp, Voidwalker, Succubus, Incubus and Felhunter, and up to 15% more mana for you.
Demonic Energies (new, row 2): your spell damage heals your pet for up to 15%, and Life Tap gives your demon up to 100% of the mana you gain.
Fel Domination: now the 16-point gold medal talent, requires Master Summoner (moved up to row 3).
Demonic Sacrifice (redesigned): now the 11-point gold medal talent, lasts 2 hours. Imp: more Shadow damage. Voidwalker: mana. Succubus or Incubus: more Fire damage. Felhunter: health.
Decimation (new, row 4): up to 90% lower Soul Fire cooldown. Shadow Bolt or Searing Pain on a target below 35% health makes Soul Fire up to 40% faster and free of Soul Shards for 10 seconds.
Demonic Brand (new, row 4): Searing Pain makes less threat and brands the target, so your pet's next 2 attacks deal Fire or Shadow damage. Only a tanking pet like the Voidwalker gets the extra threat.
Improved Felhunter (new, row 5): stronger Tainted Blood, Devour Magic and Paranoia, and a 2 second shorter Spell Lock cooldown.
Soul Link: moved up to row 5, now the 21-point gold medal talent instead of 31.
Demonic Knowledge (new, row 5): you and your demon get spell damage equal to up to 33% of your level while it is out.
Master Demonologist (redesigned): Imp: more Fire damage. Voidwalker: less physical damage taken. Succubus or Incubus: more Shadow damage. Felhunter: less magic damage taken.
Demonic Pact (new 31-point gold medal talent, requires Soul Link): summoning a different pet no longer cancels Demonic Sacrifice. For the first time you can use Demonic Sacrifice and Master Demonologist together.
Removed: Improved Healthstone, Fel Intellect, Fel Stamina, Improved Subjugate Demon, Improved Firestone and Improved Spellstone.

Destruction talents

Destructive Reach: moved up to row 1, for all damage spells, so every Warlock can reach it.
Improved Shadow Bolt: only your own Shadow damage, but no more charges that run out.
Bane: moved to row 1, also works for Incinerate.
Cataclysm: moved down to row 2, up to 10% cheaper Destruction spells.
Molten Skin (new, row 2): up to 10% less damage taken.
Aftermath (redesigned): up to 50% more initial Immolate damage, and Conflagrate can daze for 5 seconds (50% slow).
Ruin: moved up to row 3, 5 points for the same effect, easier for Demonology and hybrid builds.
Agonizing Flames (was Improved Searing Pain): 3 points, more damage for all Destruction spells and more Searing Pain crit.
Conflagrate: moved up from row 7 to row 4 as the 16-point gold medal talent.
Intensity: 3 points, pushback protection for all Destruction spells.
Pyroclasm: clearer wording.
Fire and Brimstone (new, row 5, requires Conflagrate): more Conflagrate crit chance.
Bane of Havoc (new 21-point gold medal talent): for 5 minutes, 15% of all damage you deal to other targets is also dealt to the target with this Bane. One target at a time.
Shadow and Flame (new, row 6): Conflagrate boosts your Shadow damage and Shadowburn your Fire damage for 20 seconds. Conflagrate may not consume Immolate, and Shadowburn may refund its Soul Shard.
Incinerate (new 31-point gold medal talent, requires Bane of Havoc): Fire damage plus 25% if the target has your Immolate. 2.5 second cast, 30 yards.
Removed: Improved Firebolt, Improved Lash of Pain, Devastation, Improved Immolate and Emberstorm.

Blizzard's view: Affliction is now fully viable with crits and strong drains to keep yourself alive, Demonology empowers you and your pet with Demonic Brand, Demonic Knowledge and Demonic Pact, and Destruction mixes Shadowburn and Conflagrate with Incinerate and Bane of Havoc. Warlocks are still fragile and lean on their demons, but can now compete with any other caster in three very different styles.

What this means for Legends of Azeroth

Rogues: grab an axe and try Sap without breaking Stealth in dungeons. Warlocks: Banes free up your curse slot, so Curse of the Elements and your own damage finally go together. Share your builds in the class forums!

Source: Blizzard Entertainment at https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-gb/news/24310968
Images: Blizzard Entertainment.