Rogues Do It From Behind...

This should be common sense for all you subtlety rogues out there (and all rogues in general), but stay behind your target! Subtlety rogues are the most dependent for needing to be behind our targets because of our abilities, so mostly all of you better understand that already. But you need to be behind so that your target can't parry attacks and other reasons.

Your auto attacks and special abilities can be parried, but your target can't parry your attacks if you're from behind. Not only is this good for you when fighting targets as it'll allow your auto attacks (white damage) to go through much more, but if you're fighting your target from the front, if your attacks are parried they actually give your target more damage, so it would hurt your tank more.

But being behind your target when using your abilities is even more important, both on PvE and PvP. Getting one of your abilities parried, such as Kidney Shot or Dismantle, can really fuck you over in the long run.

There are four things that can make your attacks fail. You miss, your attack is dodged, parried or blocked. The way it works now, players and targets can dodge and block (players can only block if they have a shield) from any direction, and you of course can miss from any direction.

You can help not miss so much by skilling your weapon to max or investing in hit and expertise I believe (but I don't worry about hit and expertise). There's not much prevent your attacks from being dodged (there are things expertise, but not worth mentioning) it's because that's based on your target and not you. There's not much to prevent your attacks from being blocked either (if it's blocked, your attack will still go through but won't be as powerful). But when it comes to havin' your shit parried, you can prevent it 100% if you're behind your target.

As you should have already known, this is advice that all melee classes should follow. This is why all pets and minions always attack from behind now and why you should see all melee classes fighting right along aside you, from behind.

And remember, some mobs (and I guess players too) have attacks that can hit any melee players in front of them... so another reason not to be fighting in front as your tank.

So your attacks can be parried, you can hurt your tank and you can be hit also if you're in front of your target. Mostly all melee classes should know their rolls on where to stand when fighting with a tank by now. But shit, not long ago, man I'd see armatures and seasoned melee players, including rogues, fuckin' fightin' from the front. Bein' a subtlety rogue, I had to be behind my target for my own abilities... so it'd be so funny to see a rogue in much better gear as me get fuckin' told where to stand 'cuz they were messin' shit up or gettin' killed. Just another reason to do your own experimenting on your class and not wait until people start tellin' ya what do it. (I was even told by combat rogues back in the way "dude, dont stand behind, stay front of the mob"... fuckin' button-mashin' dip shits.)

Yeah, it's freakin' hard stayin' behind your targets in instances, but bring the party or raid some PvP experience... stay on your fuckin' toes the entire time (and rely on Shadowstep) to stay behind your target. It's not hard at all when you consider the shit you gotta' go through for PvP... but just keep on your toes. If you're doin' it right, you'll be the first one to targets and the one that's movin' around the most and the quickest to react, even against other rogues.

Jeaxx