I. Nightblade
The Nightblade is one of the top three viable main souls in Rogue PVP. While it doesn't bring much utility, it does bring both raw DPS and survivability. It isn't the most reliable for organized PVP, but the burst that a 51 NB brings is only outmatched by a Saboteur's, and the ST burst is much more reliable. It has great synergy with other souls, both as a main spec and a subspec.
Builds:
Full NB:
51/12/3
Buffs: Combat Preparation, Hellfire Blades, Fell blades
Pros: Full Nightblade is a bursty, survivable healer-killer spec. What makes it superior to a Marksman is that the burst is more manageable, but it also comes packed with survivability and DPS cooldowns, and most importantly--auto attacks. When attacking a healer with a cleansable healing debuff, it's imperative that you maintain uptime on Fell Blades. The extra possible procs on auto-attacks aren't anything to sneeze at, and it allows you to put a significant amount of pressure on a healer, more than possibly any other Rogue spec in the game.
Cons: It's a melee spec, and it does have a severe lack of gap-closing ability. Staying in melee is manageable, but it'll be tough if you're fighting a Pyro or a Marksman. It's not a rambo spec--stick to fighting within your group.
Playstyle:
Remember to keybind your buffs, use NKrebuff or at least simply be aware of them. If Fell Blades gets purged off of you, you become extremely ineffective. Keep in mind that under almost any circumstance, you should open with Dark Malady. It's better than Ebon Terror, by a lot.
Remember that you are a melee class with a severe lack of gap closers, and as such you should stick to pressuring healers who aren't going to kite you very hard, and pressuring healers is where this build excels. Don't waste your Flash of Steel--approach targets with your snares, or open from stealth, and wait to use it if they use an ability that creates a gap. The following will also hold true in all high NB builds: watch your Heat Retention stacks. You want to pop Scourge of Darkness when you're at 5 stacks, because it's going to be an extreme DPS gain even if you have to use your builders beforehand.
Remember to maintain Fiery Spike on the target. You gain the bonus from Lingering Flame, which is a massive DPS boost. Just as well, remember the DPS bonus you gain from Nightstalker--spam those Blazing Strikes, when your target is below 30%. A 3cp Blazing Strike on a target under 30% health becomes a 5cp Blazing Strike, so don't waste that window of opportunity. The same goes for your burst CDs--if you can line up Scourge, Living Flame, and Ebon Fury at once, not much is going to stand in your wake as you blow through the enemies' defenses.
Despite how macro-friendly NB is, you can become a serious threat in high level PVP by timing your burst, but I can understand why some people wouldn't think it's worth the effort
Macros:
Here is where it gets iffy. I don't recommend playing with these, because not only will you suffer serious macro-lag, but this
is a guide, and if you can't handle a 5 button rotation as a melee spec in the heat of battle, these will help.
#show Dusk Strike
cast Dusk Strike
cast Twilight Force
cast Fiery Chains
cast Primal Strike
cast Fiery Spike
This is your basic builder macro. I recommend putting Dusk to Dawn on it's own key, and keep a separate key with Fiery Spike as to make sure you always maintain 100% uptime on it.
#show Scourge of Darkness
cast Scourge of Darkness
cast Blazing Strike
cast Flame Thrust
Your finisher macro. I recommend putting a Blazing Strike/Flame Thrust macro on a separate key, so you can still use finishers while managing your timing on SoD.
#show Dark Containment
cast @mouseover Dark Containment
cast Dark Containment
A mouseover macro to improve the ease of use of DC. Just move your mouse over the target you want it to be cast on. It also functions as using DC on your current target if you have no @mouseover.
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Originally Posted by Ehxon
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