Sno’s self promotion ad: Want more guides? I add an extra rogue video guide for my twitch subscribers once per week! Subscribe at twitch.tv/snomie, help support all of my free content and you’ll get yourself extra rogue guides every week in our bonus discord sub channel <3
Video version of this text guide:
There’s a lot of new gear coming so let’s have an in-depth look at AQ loot and which pieces you should prio getting first.
Firstly, if you haven’t seen the Darkmantle guide, I posted the P5 bis lists at the bottom of that guide, but I’ll quickly go over them again here for quick reference before we go over the rogue loot prio for AQ/Phase 5 items.
There are 2 main gear sets for lategame bis. One uses darkmantle and the other uses full tier 2.5. Both are viable and dps is close-ish, with Tier 2.5 pulling ahead a little more for swords, particular alliance sword rogues due to ZG+King’s buff multiplying gear stats.
Is darkmantle or full tier 2.5 better?
Personally, I value full tier 2.5 a tad higher due to 400 more hp and less rng reliance, even as dagger rogue. That’s not to say Darkmantle is bad or that you can’t top dps meters with Darkmantle, just that you have to keep in mind it has less hp and there’s some rng in the proc luck.
Darkmantle is estimated to have a proc rate of 1 ppm (this is the base proc rate that gets modified afterwards by attack speed, weapons etc etc) since it uses the same proc effect as Shadowcraft, just moved to a 4 piece bonus instead of 6. So while it’s not guaranteed to be the same, it’s highly likely due to how Blizzard typically tends to copy/paste proc effects like this in the past.
I’ll still be getting both sets of gear, since Darkmantle is bis for easy early transition gear and gear upgrade flexibility. This allows me to prio non armor p5 pieces first, then eventually I can transition to full tier 2.5 once I have the full set later in the phase.
Here are the bis lists if you missed them in my Darkmantle guide:
For dagger rogues the 2 sets sim insanely close, even closer than for sword rogues. The rough dps difference on horde is 1~ dps in favour of Darkmantle and 3~ dps in favour of tier 2.5 on alliance (due to Kings + ZG buff).
For swords rogues we see a slightly bigger dps difference. The rough dps difference on horde is 3-4~ dps in favour of tier 2.5 and 10~ dps in favour of tier 2.5 on alliance (due to Kings + ZG buff).
Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj (AQ 20) Rogue Loot Prio
AQ 20 is similar to ZG in that it has some solid items, but most items are overshadowed by better items from the other raids like AQ 40. That said there are a few items that are fairly good or even upgrades over P4 BIS.
There is one set of items in particular that are very good as transition gear. The veiled shadows 3 piece set, so let’s cover that first.
What is the veiled shadows set and why is it awesome?
It’s made up of 3 quest items from AQ 20 that gives a 3 set bonus of -10 energy cost for Slice and Dice. This makes it bis for some rogues up until you get AQ 40 gear to fill in those 3 slots.
As for the actual set items, each is a quest reward requiring a drop from the AQ 20 bosses + a few mats found in AQ 20.
The 3 items are:
Dagger of Veiled Shadows (requires exalted Cenarian Circle rep + Qiraji Spiked Hilt drop)
This dagger actually barely outperforms Core Hound Tooth/Dragonfang Blade in offhand making it a decent pick up even on it’s own.
Cloak of Veiled Shadows (requires revered Cenarian Circle rep + Qiraji Martial Drape drop)
This cloak beats out everything in P4 (except Puissant cape if Horde), also making it worth picking up on it’s own.
Band of Veiled Shadows (requires honored Cenarian Circle rep + Qiraji Ceremonial Ring drop)
Not a horrible ring, but I wouldn’t use this ring by itself (still great as part of the 3 set though).
Okay so who should pick up this veiled shadows set? 2 types of rogues will see a dps gain from using this 3 piece bonus:
- All dagger rogues coming into p5
- Non human sword rogues who are still missing maladath
Here are the dps changes for those curious (simmed as 90 sec fight with full world buffs, bis enchants and upgraded backstab/evis ranks):
- Undead dagger rogue in full p4 bis: 1207.03 dps
- Undead dagger rogue in full p4 bis + veiled shadows set: 1218.30 (+11.27 dps)
- Undead sword rogue in full p4 bis (no maladath): 1211.37 dps
- Undead sword rogue in full p4 bis + veiled shadows set: 1216.97 dps (+5.6 dps)
So basically a sizable upgrade for dagger rogues and a smaller but okay upgrade for non human sword rogues who don’t have a maladath.
I obviously wouldn’t prio sword rogues missing maladath over dagger rogues for the set, but if dagger rogues and other people have it already or don’t need it, then I could see sword rogues picking it up as a holdover.
Okay now let’s talk the rest of the AQ 20 loot. I’ll only cover the purple gear because the blue gear drops are pretty much only used as pre-bis gear.
Qiraji Sacrificial Dagger
Not particularly great vs. p4 bis daggers. Not a horrible offhand, but it’s worse than both CHT and Dragonfang Blade and even Fang of the Faceless from ZG is slightly better.
Only pick it up if you’re upgrading from non raid weapons.
Sand Polished Hammer
Not a bad weapon, but loses out to all the other raid weapons and mace spec isn’t ideal for pve. Worse than a Claw of the Black Drake if we’re comparing entry level raid weapons.
Similar to the dagger above, I’d only see someone picking this up if they were using non raid weapons or if they wanted to play with it in pvp mace spec.
Thick Silithid Chestguard
Worse than both Tier 1 and Tier 2 chest. Only pick this up if you want it for resist gear.
Boots of the Vanguard
Beats Bloodfang boots but a tad worse than Boots of the Shadow Flame.
Note: For alliance with ZG + Pally buff stacked these boots actually come very close to BotSF (within 1 dps).
Bow of Taut Sinew
Don’t get this unless you just want it for a nature resistance set. It’s worse than Striker’s Mark, and also worse than all the other pre Striker’s alternatives like Gurubashi Dwarf Destroyer, Precisely Calibrated Boomstick or Satyr’s Bow.
Crossbow of Imminent Doom
Actually pretty good weapon that sims barely below dps gain of a Striker’s Mark. On alliance side with ZG+Pally buff stacked it has potential to barely outsim striker’s mark too (by less than 1 dps).
Sandstorm Cloak
Has some possible use in niche pvp scenario and maybe in a dodge set for farming/soloing harder things, but pretty bad cloak for pve raiding.
Choker of the Shifting Sands
Quest reward from Ossirian’s head turn in quest. Worse than both Onyxia Tooth Pendant and Prestor’s for pve, but not a bad pvp necklace.
Temple of Ahn’Qiraj (AQ 40) Rogue Loot Prio
Alright, here’s what everyone wants to know. What should you prio in AQ 40 as a rogue?
First, let’s cover tier 2.5 pieces, then we’ll move on to the other items afterwards.
Firstly, this is what Tier 2.5 (Deathdealer’s Embrace) looks like for rogues…
Besides having a really ugly helmet graphic, there are also 2 set bonuses on tier 2.5.
The 3 set bonus basically isn’t great, but the 5 piece is very nice, particularly for sword rogues. Dagger rogues don’t benefit much from it, but the raw stats on tier 2.5 are so good that the set is still great even without optimal bonus synergy.
Alright, now there are 3 big things you need to know about tier 2.5 armor drops:
1: Tokens drop from bosses instead of armor
Tier 2.5 (Deathdealer’s Embrace) moves us to the token loot system. This means instead of the actual armor pieces dropping, bosses will drop a token which can be turned in for a certain piece of armor.
For example, the boss Viscidus drops the ‘Qiraji Bindings of Command’ which can be turned in (along with a few other mats found in AQ 40) for your tier 2.5 boots or shoulders.
2: Tokens have shared classes (but most don’t care about tier 2.5)
Tokens means no more worrying about your classes armor piece dropping each week, but it also means we compete with other classes for certain armor pieces.
Rogues share our tokens with a few other classes, but the good news is most other classes don’t care about their tier 2.5 set. The only other classes who both share tokens with us and who care about their tier 2.5 set are warriors and shamans.
3: Tokens are 100% drop rate
This is the really awesome. Not only do we have low-ish competition on tier 2.5 drops, but 1 token also drops every single week guaranteed.
With how low general interest is for tier 2.5 among other classes + the 100% droprate every week, rogues in good guilds should all be able to get their full tier 2.5 set eventually (assuming you’re in a guild doing proper prio for tier 2.5 gear).
4: Tokens need idols
Besides the tokens themselves, each turn in requires some other mats which drop in AQ 40. One mat is ‘scarabs’ (kind of like coins in ZG), which are super common. The other mat is ‘idols’ which are kind of rare.
These are boe, so you can buy them in auction house, but just be aware that you’re more likely to be limited by idol drops than you are the tokens at times, unless you go buy the idols yourself.
How high should I prio getting tier 2.5 pieces?
As just mentioned, full tier 2.5 will not be a big struggle for most rogue to obtain due to 100% droprate and low outside class competition. This means I actually don’t recommend you highly prio getting your 2.5 first for most people.
Assuming an intelligent guild loot system setup (dkp with prio or loot council prio run by smart, non corrupt people) then you’re likely better off aiming for other non tier 2.5 loot first if possible since that isn’t 100% droprate.
I’ll go over the rough prios that most guilds/people should be using in the following tabs and how high priority rogues are for each tier piece.
Deathdealer’s Helm
This comes from the following token:
On alliance side, rogues will likely get first dibs on the helmet tokens.
On horde side, a lot of guilds will choose a select number of shamans (their best ones) to get full tier 2.5 first before other classes because their 5 set gives them a really nice cast time reduction on their chain healing spell.
So rough token prio would look like this:
- shamans (selected ones) > rogues > others.
Note: Shoulders and boots share the same token
Deathdealer’s Spaulders
Deathdealer’s Boots
Both of these comes from this token:
Because the token is shared between boot and shoulders, the allocation for these is going to be a little bit more complicated with shoulders typically being prio’d to people first, followed by boots.
Warriors and rogues are pretty much the only classes really eyeing the shoulders/boots token. For warriors the shoulders are bis for both tanking and dps pretty much.
The boots are also good for wars, but they have other options available like chromatic boots, so how much they want them will depend on the individual warrior and what loot your guild has received.
For both horde/alliance, it goes something like this:
- War (tank+dps) shoulders > rogue shoulders > rogue boots (those without botsf) > rogue boots (with botsf) > warrior boots > others
Deathdealer’s Leggings
This comes from this token:
Again warriors and rogues are the only ones who really want their 2.5 legs. Warriors do wants them although they have alternatives such as Titanic Leggings, but I’ve been told they still want 2.5 as their bis because it has more balanced stats.
For both horde/alliance, it goes something like this:
- War (tanks – depending on guild needs) > rogues/wars (depends on the individual war for how much they value getting 2.5 legs early) > others
Deathdealer’s Vest
This comes from this token:
Chest is one of the more contested items because both wars and shamans who want the chest. In particular all your tanks will want this chest, while dps wars do have other possible options such as the BP of Annihilation.
For both horde/alliance, it goes something like this:
- War (tanks – depending on guilds needs) / shaman (selected ones) > rogues / dps wars (some dps wars may go bp of annihilation instead) > others
Alright onwards to the rest of the fun loot now! I’ve added rough dps gains for a 90 sec fight (full buffs) for the following items as I think dps gains is more important for figuring out prio on offset items (vs. tier 2.5 where you’re practically guaranteed to get all the tokens eventually).
Note: There’s going to be some shifting of your Darkmantle 4 piece usage based on drop rng and what you upgrade first, so I compared the items below to p4 bis instead and if you want Darkmantle vs p5 bis sims you can find those in the rogue Darkmantle guide.
Death’s Sting
DPS gain vs. Perdition’s Blade:
- 40~ dps gain for all dagger rogues (absolutely gigantic upgrade)
DPS gain vs. Blessed Qiraji Pugio:
- 15-20 dps gain for all dagger rogues (still huge)
This is your number one prio if you’re a dagger rogue of course. No other item comes close.
Class Prio:
Dagger rogue prio, but debatable if your dagger rogues suck and your tank is really good (and if he has no Thunderfury + needs it for threat). I think the only realistic place I could really see tank prio for this is if you were in an extremely hardcore horde guild where the tank had no TF still and it’s badly needed for threat.
Blessed Qiraji Pugio
DPS gain vs. Perdition’s Blade:
- 22-25 dps gain for all dagger rogues
DPS gain vs. Core Hound Tooth:
- 17-20 dps gain for all dagger rogues
Great weapon upgrade that is flexible for both MH or OH. Ideally dagger rogues want Death’s Sting mainhand, but it’s so rare that some rogues may end up using double Pugio instead, depending on your rng drops.
Class Prio:
Tough to say because this item is made from the ‘Imperial Qiraji Armaments’ which can be made into a few different items. Prio will really depend on your guilds rng as far as what has dropped for you up to this point.
Obviously dagger rogues and some warriors will love to have this drop though they should be fairly high up on the prio for this.
Ancient Qiraji Ripper
DPS gain vs. Viskag:
- Sword rogue (horde): 30 dps gain
- Sword rogue (ally): 24-25 dps gain
DPS gain vs. CTS:
- Sword rogue (horde): 11~ dps gain
- Sword rogue (ally): 5~ dps gain
You’d mostly never give this sword to a rogue/war who already has CTS unless you had amazing luck in BWL and everyone already has a CTS or similar mainhand.
Class Prio:
Sword rogue/war prio.
Silithid Claw
I love claws, but big no to this claw. Too fast to be ideal for rogue usage.
Guise of the Devourer
DPS downgrade from tier for rogues. Feral druids love this helm and there’s no real reason to take this as a rogue in PvE.
I could see some possible rogue PvP usage in a sta stack set though.
Barbed Choker
DPS loss vs. Prestor’s Talisman:
- Alliance rogue: 8-9 dps loss
- Horde rogue: 7-8 dps loss
DPS loss vs. Onyxia Tooth Pendant:
- All rogues (ally/hode): 2-3 dps loss
No reason to take this necklace for PvE. You could maybe grab it for pvp if no one else wants it (some warriors will be taking this as a small upgrade though).
Pendant of the Qiraji Guardian
No reason for rogues to take this as Onyxia Tooth Pendant is much better. This necklace is nice for pvp though, so if no tanks want this I could see pvp rogues picking it up (although pvp specialized rogues may have already taken nefarian quest necklace over the ring).
Amulet of Foul Warding
Nature resist set gear.
Mantle of Wicked Revenge
DPS loss vs Deathdealer’s spaulders:
- All rogues: 17-18~ dps loss
DPS gain vs Nightslayer shoulders:
- Horde rogue: same dps
- Alliance rogue: 1-2 dps gain
Performs a tiny bit better for ally rogues (due to ZG+pally buff stack), but not worth taking for any rogues as tier 2.5 shoulders are way better.
Class prio:
Feral druid bis. Don’t take these from them.
Cloak of Concentrated Hatred
DPS gain vs. Cape of the Black Baron
- Dagger (horde): 6 dps gain
- Dagger (ally): 5-6 dps gain
- Sword (horde): 7 dps gain
- Sword (ally): 6 dps gain
For horde both this and Cloak of the Fallen God are almost the same dps gain, while on alliance Cloak of the Fallen God does 1-ish dps better due to ZG+pally buff stacking.
All rogues will be aiming for Cloak of Concentrated Hatred because the other cloak is a quest reward from Eye of C’thun hand in (similar to nefarian head quest). The caster rewards for the Eye of C’thun quest are way better so you won’t be seeing rogues with the eye anytime soon.
Class Prio:
Rogues will be high on the prio list for this cloak, along with possibly some tanks. DPS wars have another option for back from AQ 20.
Cloak of the Fallen God
DPS gain vs. Cape of the Black Baron
- Dagger (horde): 6 dps gain
- Dagger (ally): 7 dps gain
- Sword (horde): 6-7 dps gain
- Sword (ally): 7-8 dps gain
Cloak of the Golden Hive
Don’t take this for pve, it’s a dps loss for all rogues vs Cape of the Black Baron. Great pvp back though if no one (tanks might want it) is grabbing it for pve.
Vest of Swift Execution
DPS gain vs. Nightslayer chest:
- Horde rogue: 4~ dps gain
- Alliance rogue: 5~ dps gain
DPS loss vs. Bloodfang chest:
- Horde (swords): 11-12 dps loss
- Alliance rogue: 12-13 dps loss
Class Prio:
Not a bad chestpiece, but much worse than tier 2. This would be going to a feral druid first as their bis. You’d only pick this up if you are still wearing tier 1 and no druids wanted it first.
Qiraji Execution Bracers
DPS gain vs Bloodfang Bracers
- Less than 1 dps gain for all rogues (horde/ally)
These are an upgrade but a very minor one. I would rate it as one of the last items on your prio list.
Class Prio:
Feral druids are probably top prio for these, followed by rogues and wars who have other options depending on if they need the hit.
Beetle Scaled Wristguards
Nature resist set gear.
Gloves of Enforcement
DPS gain vs. Nightslayer gloves:
- 8-9 dps gain for all rogues (horde/ally)
Note: Dagger rogues don’t want to use these unless you have death’s sting.
These are a very solid dps upgrade for all rogues.
Class Prio:
Rogues / feral druids (better for feral druid maybe but depends on how good your feral druid performs – would give to a good rogue over a mediocre feral) > wars
Feral druids are a tricky one because there’s a big difference between giving the gloves to a good feral druid vs. a mediocre feral druid.
Gloves of the Hidden Temple
DPS downgrade for all rogues, don’t take these. Let the feral druids have these gloves.
Bile-Covered Gauntlets
Obviously a dps loss vs tier 1 gloves or ACLG. Only pick these up for a nature resist set.
Belt of Never-Ending Agony
DPS gain vs. Bloodfang Belt:
- Dagger rogue (ally): 6-7 dps gain
- Dagger rogue (horde): 10~ dps gain
- Sword rogue (ally): 6-7 dps gain
- Sword rogue (horde): 10~ dps gain
Interestingly this item is known as an amazing item, yet due to ZG+Pally buff not affecting the +atk on alliance side, the gain from this belt is reduced vs. Bloodfang Belt for them.
Don’t get this wrong, it’s still a great item, just that the dps gain on alliance isn’t as huge as some people may be thinking.
Class Prio:
Rogue prio. If you have a world class feral druid I could see them equal prio for this too, but would be heavily dependent on the feral druid being god tier.
Thick Qirajihide Belt
Just a tier 1 belt, but with parry instead of crit. Feral druids will like this belt, and there’s no real reason to take this belt as a rogue.
Only minor use case for this belt is maybe you want to play around with it in some pvp spec or a farming dodge/parry set.
Hive Tunneler’s Boots
Worse DPS than even tier 1. Decent feral druid gear (but most would prefer boots of the shadow flame still).
You’ll see rogues picking this up for PvP mostly.
Ring of Qiraji Fury
DPS vs. Nefarian head ring:
- Horde rogue: 1~ dps loss
- Alliance rogue: roughly same dps
DPS vs. Don Julio’s band:
- All rogues (horde/ally): roughly same dps
Basically not worth taking this ring unless no one else wants it and you’re using pre-bis still. Even without a rare-ish Band of Accuria, you can pick up nef head ring + don julio’s without ever needing this ring.
Ring of Emperor Vek’lor
DPS downgrade for pve rogues obviously. It’s a great mitigation ring for feral druids though. I could see some rogues picking this up for pvp if no tanks/druids want or need it anymore.
Ring of the Godslayer
DPS vs. Nefarian head quest ring:
- Alliance rogues: 0-1 dps loss
- Horde rogues: 3-4 dps loss
DPS vs. Don Julio’s Band:
- Alliance rogues: 0-1 dps gain
- Horde rogues: 2-3 dps loss
Don’t take this ring, it’s a dps loss or equal dps at best vs nefarian quest ring and don julios. Hunters might possible want this ring.
I could see this as another not bad pvp rogue ring option if no one wants it.
Jom Gabbar
DPS gain vs. Earthstrike (90 sec fight):
- Dagger rogue (ally): 5-6 dps
- Dagger rogue (horde): 5-6 dps
- Sword rogue (horde): 6-7 dps
- Sword rogue (ally): 5-6~ dps
Keep in mind the above DPS numbers do not account for perfect stacking of Jom Gabbar with pooling/CDs, so I would expect Jom Gabbar to perform better than the dps sim numbers say here.
I will update this list here when/if we’re able to more accurately sim pooled dps gain for this trinket, but for now let’s say it gets a nice double dps boost from pooling the dps (so maybe 10-12 dps gain?)
Personally I view Jom Gabbar as a bit of a trap though. P6 trinkets are better and Earthstrike (which everyone gets for free) is already a great active trinket. I wouldn’t want to take Jom Gabbar and lose some prio on P6 trinkets as a result.
Based on current estimations of the dps gained, I will not be prioing Jom Gabbar myself and will be waiting for P6 trinkets instead.
All of this is dependent on your guild’s loot system of course, because if you run dkp with no prio, then it doesn’t hurt you as much to take a Jom Gabbar now.
Class Prio:
I would not be surprised to see a lot of guilds give this to hunters. A lot of rogues/wars don’t want to take this for fear of hurting their P6 trinket prio, and hunters don’t have a lot of loot where they get to be prio.
Badge of the Swarmguard
Interesting trinket. On boss fights it should have a minimal effect (bosses already get so much armor reduction stacked on them, even more so if you run an expose armor rogue).
On trash is where this trinket will shine as the likely bis trash clearing damage trinket. How much you value this trinket depends on how much you/your guild cares about trash damage and where your guild feels the trinket would be best used.
Note: This is also a great pvp damage trinket as armor reduction tends to perform very highly in pvp
The Burrower’s Shell
PvP trinket, no one is really using this PvE as far as I know. It’s basically an Arena Grand Master trinket but with a shorter cooldown timer.
Petrified Scarab
Interesting trinket, but it’ll see more pvp usage than pve. Has some PvE uses for rogues in resist fights possibly though (eg. could be handy on Firemaw fight) though.
I wouldn’t prio this trinket a lot for pve, but could be an interesting pickup to play around with resist fight usage.
Huhuran’s Stinger
DPS loss vs. Striker’s Mark:
- Horde rogue : 1-2 dps loss
- Alliance rogue: less than 1 dps loss
Not a bad bow, but tad worse than a Striker’s Mark. On alliance it sims even closer due to ZG+Pally buff stack. It beats any pre-bis or ZG ranged weapon, so a decent pickup if you’re still using pre-bis/ZG ranged.
Larvae of the Great Worm
DPS vs. Striker’s Mark:
- Alliance rogue: 0-2 dps gain
- Horde rogue: 0-1 dps gain
Actually a very good ranged weapon. Sidegrade-ish to Striker’s Mark. You’re basically swapping hit for crit so depending on your gear it can be a tiny dps upgrade over Striker’s Mark.
Class Prio:
Hunters missing xbow from BWL will benefit from this, but if no hunters need/want it then rogues and warriors would be next for this gun.
What BIS gear should I prio first?
That depends on your gear going into AQ 40 of course, but here’s a rough list of how I’d prio my p5 bis gear.
Note: I personally would put all tier 2.5 last in my prio as it drops 100% of the time, has low overall competition and every rogue should end up with a full set eventually even without prioing it.
Darkmantle enables you to not worry much about tier 2.5 and just focus on offset upgrades first. This would be my top prio focus:
- Weapons first (of course)
- Belt of Never-ending Agony (but possible drops 1-2 slot lower in prio if alliance)
- Gloves of Enforcement (sword rogues first unless dagger rogue has Death’s Sting)
- Cloak of Concentrated Hatred
- Jom Gabbar (debatable prio due to losing possible Phase 6 prio on better trinkets)
Good luck and may the RNG gods favour you!
Sno’s self promotion ad: Want more guides? I add an extra rogue video guide for my twitch subscribers once per week! Subscribe at twitch.tv/snomie, help support all of my free content and you’ll get yourself extra rogue guides in our discord sub channel <3