I've finally tried out the level 75 rogue talent Tricks of the Trade... and man am I lovin' it. Tricks of the Trade is a "misdirect" type of ability that'll let you direct 100% of any aggro directly to someone in your party for 6 seconds. It also gives a 15% damage buff to that target.
Now I've been askin' level 75 and higher rogues what they think of Tricks of the Trade and they all said they haven't been using it. When I asked why, most of them really didn't understand it. And as you can see from the wowhead comments about Tricks of the Trade, there's a lotta' bull shit bein' "taught" about it. Mostly all of the comments were said before WotLK was even released, so how the 'freak you gonna' be talkin' about somethin' you don't know anything about? (yeah, I really doubt they all were beta testers) So I'm gonna' tell you how it really works...
Tricks of the Trade is 'freakin' awesome when you're in a group doin' PvE. Some rules about Tricks of the Trade... You can't use it on yourself. You have to be in a group to use it on other people. You can use it on raid members even if they're not in your group. And one of the most important, Tricks of the Trade becomes disabled (greyed out) if you're grouped with someone who's a much lower level than you.
So 'nough of that; how's it great? The bitch is awesome... it lets you direct all aggro, threat, to any target you want, as well as give our first and only buff to other players. It'll allow you to do one of four things. It'll allow you to pull a target like a hunter's Misdirect does. It'll allow you make the first attack on a target without worrying about the tank "gaining aggro" first. It'll allow you to manage your threat levels if you've got a target on you. And, it'll allow you to force a target into attacking someone in your party you don't like.
There's a lotta' bull shit online about how it's not a "Misdirect" for rogues... but really, it is. They say that, although you can "misdirect" one "mob", all the rest will be on you and "lolol noob, u will be a dead rogue". That's not the truth. If you put Tricks of the Trade on your tank from stealth and then let's say Shadow Step and Ambush in on some targets, any targets that would get pulled will all go for your tank. Now all level 80 warriors now have Heroic Throw, which means that they won't need hunters (or rogues) to do long distance pulls (where charging in on a target would cause problems). But rogues can absolutely do pulls the same exact way hunters have been with Misdirect. If the tank stands back in the group, if you go to your target and attack, they all will run to the tank. But we can also do long range pulls... Simply be in stealth, activate Premeditation, to put two combo points on your target and then get within range for Deadly Throw. Now Deadly Throw slows your target down, so if it's a pull, the other targets will reach your tank before your main target, which isn't really ideal. So, if you're with a group that either has a warrior who hasn't reached level 80, or some other tanking class and you happen to have a hunter in your group, rely on the hunter or warrior to do long distance pulls. You'd rather do an Ambush on your target than a 2 combo point Deadly Throw anyways.
When it comes to making the first strike, Tricks of the Trade is perfect for that. The old saying goes... "Give your tank a few seconds to build aggro until you attack". That's true and not true... A good tank can gain aggro off you regardless of what you do... but, I've noticed a lotta' hybrid classes, druids in bear form or paladins, have trouble keeping aggro, so you did have to give them time to build aggro. So that's where Tricks of the Trade is perfect. Go ahead, go make the first attack... not only will you not be gettin' any aggro, but it'll actually help... yes, help, your tank build aggro that much faster.
And one of the nicest things about Tricks of the Trade is threat management. What would happen before is that, if you got aggro on yourself, let's say from a boss that can tear you up... you would either have to use Evasion or Vanish, or try and use Feint, or... stop attacking so the tank can regain aggro. That sucks, havin' to use cooldowns to keep yourself from getting hit or stop attacking. Now, with Tricks of the Trade, you can put that onto your tank and, instead of using Feint or trying to be "gentle" on your damage, you now wanna' try to do as much immediate damage (such as Eviscerate) because for 6 seconds, the more hurt you dish out, the more the target will get off your ass.
And the best thing is usin' Tricks of the Trade to make a target attack someone that you don't like... you know, someone you want the target to attack, either to give them a tough time or to try 'n' kill. I'll explain in a sec...
So, how to use it. It doesn't break stealth so it's perfectly fine to use it from stealth on your tank and make the first strike. Until Tricks of the Trade becomes more well known, simply link to your party that you'll be using Tricks of the Trade, so there's no confusion or anybody thinking "The rogue isn't waiting for the tank to build aggro, so I don't need to either" kinda' thing. It's so much fun... I've always felt that rogues should be the first one in battle, and now you can. In fact, if your party is smart, they'll want you to do that.
An important talent is Filthy Tricks (Rank 2). It not only reduces your Preparation from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, but it also reduces your Tricks of the Trade from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. That makes Tricks of the Trade available at almost anytime.
For complex pulls when you're not with a level 80 warrior and don't have a hunter, don't be afraid to do the pull yourself... just let your tank know. If you can, move up and sap one of the targets, move back and then do Premeditation and Deadly Throw. If you don't want your target to be slowed, just simply throw your weapon at your target.
It's also good for tagging targets. I was with a group doin' the new Ring of Blood arena in Northren. We were already done with our quests, but we were trying to "tag" the bosses people summoned so that we'd get the XP from the kill (while they still got credit). It wasn't easy 'cuz we had multiple groups in there, all tryin' to do the same thing. I could normally attack the boss first and get it tagged, but the boss would be on me and if I didn't use Evasion, I'd get torn up. Well that's when Tricks of the Trade was perfect... I'd attack the boss and each attack directed the boss to our tank, which not only tagged it for us, it put the boss right on our tank and left me untouched. Gotta' love that...
And one of the funnest things to do is put this on someone in your party who isn't a tank. With the same group in the new Ring of Blood, it was at the stage where guy with the mount comes out. A level 79 druid in feral cat form (I was level 75) from our group kept jumping into the mount each time the mount dropped. This was our 5th time facing this boss and the druid kept getting into the mount... so when it was time to face this boss, instead of putting Tricks of the Trade on our tank, I put it on the druid. Boss turned to the druid and ripped him up, almost killing it. What would you know, 20 seconds later Tricks of the Trade was ready, put it again on the druid and the boss killed the druid this time. Haha... Druid didn't even know it was on'em either. (I explained what I did after the fight and the druid thought it was funny, I had already saved his life a few fights before so he didn't mind.)
Speaking of being creative with Tricks of the Trade, I was the leader of a 5 man in a level 75+ instance... We lost our healer so I had my bud, a level 80, join. Most of us were in this instance to do a quest, to collect a quest item. We originally had five people collecting the quest items, and bein' the leader, I made sure everyone collected the quest items before me. But we were right near the end of the instance and I barely had any quest items, so I needed to grab any and all quest items. I saw one of them off in a corner, right near an elite. I told the group to go back, take this one elite out so I can get the quest item (they were all finished but I wasn't), but my level 80 bud wanted to just rush through the instance, not caring about the quest items. Screw that, that's why we all came here, but because he was a level 80, they all kept falling him and pushing on. Screw this, I'm not gettin' fucked over just 'cuz the level 80's in a rush or the rest of the group finished their quest items.
Tricks of the Trade only has a 20 yard range, really short... so I ran up to the level 80, out of stealth, put Tricks of the Trade on'em, then sprinted to the elite... as soon as the elite came to attack, I used Sinister Strike on it and it immediately made the elite run the level 80 to attack. I was able to loot the item then. Once the elite ran and found my bud, oh... now he tells everyone to attack the elite. Yeah, don't try'ta screw me over.
As you can see, you can use Tricks of the Trade in very creative ways. Just be aware that an icon floats over your head so everyone can see when you're using Tricks of the Trade. But, the good thing is that you'll be using it enough that if you do put it on yourself in an "evil" way, people will probably just think your putting it on the tank, or not think anything of it at all. And, if someone does say "Hey, you put that buff on me and that's why I was attacked!" you just say "Sorry, I was trying to target the tank." Haha, ohh, so fuckin' nice 'n' evil.
This ability functions like healing abilities do (I assume), where you can apply this ability to a party member without having to be off your target. When you click Tricks of the Trade, a "select target" icon comes up and you select your party member. You can select your target on screen, like if your tank's in front of you, but I don't recommend that because it's too hard to target someone on screen and you can easily miss and hit someone else in your party. Instead, click it and select your party member's icon to the right of your screen. It's much faster and more reliable (that's how healers heal). You can target your party member and then click the ability and it'll go directly on your party member, but you really shouldn't have a party member targeted... you should have an enemy targeted, simple as that. Because of that, this is one ability I'm not key binding to my keyboard because I already need to use WoW's cursor. If you are in a raid, but your main tank isn't in your group, you can "set focus" to that person to put their icon on screen.
Now, Tricks of the Trade is really only for PvE, it's not for PvP. Of course, with players, there is no threat or aggro, so that goes out the window. You can put buffs on players, give them 15% damage boost... but, you really just need to worry about yourself. Although if you happen to be in stealth and are walking pass someone in a battleground fighting someone, it's safe to put Tricks of the Trade on that person and know it won't break stealth or commit you to the fight.
As you can see, there are so many creative ways to use Tricks of the Trade and I'm sure there will be many stories that'll come out from this ability. Use it for good... use it for evil... it's up to you.
Jeaxx
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