ZG is released with Phase 4, so let the tiger mount farming begin! Here’s what you need to know as a rogue headed into ZG.
The ‘bis’ rogue items in ZG
Everyone wants to know about ‘bis’ loot, so let’s start there first. Out of all the loot in ZG, 3 items are best in slot depending on your spec/gearing.
Most rogues know this trinket is bis for pvp, but what some don’t realize is it’s also bis for pve. In particular, it’s especially great for daggers rogues or clown sword set rogues who can pair this item with the Zandalar Madcap Mantle shoulders for the 2 set 20 atk bonus.
Some rough dps sims using bis p4 gear options (simmed as undead rogue + full world buffs/consumes + bis enchants):
- 60 sec fight as dagger rogue clown set (no zg gear): 1348.69 dps
- 60 sec fight as dagger rogue clown set (with renataki’s trinket and madcap mantle): 1372.71 (+24.02 dps)
- 90 sec fight as dagger rogue clown set (no zg gear): 1280.32 dps
- 90 sec fight as dagger rogue clown set (renataki’s trinket + madcap mantle): 1288.61 dps (+8.29 dps)
The trinket basically functions as 60 extra energy worth of dps per 3 mins plus 20 atk due to the 2 set bonus with shoulders. Basically a big upgrade for dagger rogues in quick fights especially.
Our sims shows that this combo is bis for dagger clown suit users (tier mixed with aclg + shadow flame boots) for almost all fights:
Like their dagger cousins, clown set sword rogues also get a solid upgrade from ZG shoulder + trinket as well. Here are sims using the same settings but as a clown set sword rogue:
- 60 sec fight as sword rogue clown set (no zg gear): 1360.63 dps
- 60 sec fight as sword rogue clown set (with renataki’s trinket and madcap mantle): 1372.93 dps (+12.3 dps)
- 90 sec fight as sword rogue clown set (no zg gear): 1290.97 dps
- 90 sec fight as sword rogue clown set (renataki’s trinket + madcap mantle): 1294.32 dps (+3.35 dps)
Still a very solid dps boost, but about half the dps gain of a dagger spec rogue. These sims shows that this combo is bis for clown clown suit users for any fights 110 seconds or less.
Here’s what the rogue bis sword rogue ‘clown set’ for p4 would look like:
What about sword rogues not using clown set? This trinket is bis for you too, but only at lower fight times due to missing the 2 piece 20 atk bonus. Here are the sims:
- 60 sec fight as sword rogue 8/8 bloodfang (no zg gear): 1366.68 dps
- 60 sec fight as sword rogue 8/8 bloodfang (with renataki’s trinket): 1373.47 (+6.79 dps)
- 90 sec fight as sword rogue 8/8 bloodfang (no zg gear): 1295.81 dps
- 90 sec fight as sword rogue 8/8 bloodfang (with renataki’s trinket): 1293.75 (-2.06 dps)
You need the fight to be 80 seconds or less to be worth using Renataki’s trinket as a sword rogue in 8/8 bloodfang.
A note on kill times and using Renataki’s trinket:
If the fight reaches 3 mins, you would technically be getting a 2nd use of the Renataki’s trinket again (it has a 3 min cooldown). This would once again put the dps gain in favour of using Renataki over Blackhand’s Breadth or HoJ for some cases, particularly as a dagger clown set using rogue, where Renataki’s is strongest.
I won’t get into the complicated maths here, but basically if you’re a dagger rogue, then Renataki’s would be better for fights less then 168 seconds long, then worse if it ends between 168 to 180 seconds long, then better again if the fight goes beyond 180 seconds (since you get a 2nd usage of the trinket).
TL;DR – If you’re a dagger rogue just use the Renataki’s trinket for every fight, even the long ones. It’s going to be better almost always.
Some might be confused about how exactly you obtain the trinket quest items so here’s a very brief rundown.
You need 5 ZG drops to combine your ‘Renataki’s Charm of Trickery’ trinket.
The items :
- Renataki’s Tooth (boss drop)
- Hazza’rah’s Dream Thread (boss drop)
- Wushoolay’s Mane (boss drop)
- Gri’lek’s Blood (boss drop)
- One voodoo doll for your class (drops randomly inside ZG)
You get the 4 boss drops from an event inside ZG called ‘Edge of Madness’. The steps go like this:
Step 1: Get a Gurubashi Mojo Madness potion
You need this to summon the boss. They are player made and tradeable, but they require a Black Lotus. One black lotus makes 3 potions.
Step 2: Summon and kill boss
The boss will drop between 1 to 3 of the item you need (eg. Renataki will drop 1 to 3 ‘Renataki’s Tooth’).
Step 3: Repeat for 8 weeks
The 4 summoned bosses are on a 2 week rotation cycle. This means one boss will be available for 2 weeks, then it swaps to the next boss and so on. Basically this means the earliest you can get all 4 different bosses killed is 8 weeks.
In total you will be able to complete between 4 to 15 trinkets per 8 weeks (assuming you do ZG on reset every 3 days). It’s a bit RNG here, but there’s nothing you can do about the rng drop amounts.
Step 4: Combine your 4 boss drops with the rogue voodoo doll
That’s it. So basically you need to work out who is providing the summoning potion each ZG run and continue to do ZG over the course of 8 weeks.
If you are running ZG with a guild, the guild will need to decide who gets priority over other classes first for their trinkets. Dagger rogues tend to fall somewhere in the middle for trinket priority as it is a solid upgrade for us, but not a must have like the druid trinket.
Comes from turning in the ‘Primal Hakkari Girdle’ drop with honored reputation.
This item is almost identical dps as your tier 1 nightslayer shoulder pads. They’re so close that even in sims they’re less than 1 dps apart (nightslayer being barely ahead). However, as mentioned above, they work amazing when paired with the Renataki’s trinket for clown set users.
Keep these banked until you complete your Renataki’s trinket.
Finally a fast sword with good atk stats. Non human rogues will still need to pick up Maladath from BWL for the +sword skill, but human rogues will all want this sword as their new bis offhand for phase 4.
Some basic sword sim numbers as human rogue (90 sec fight with full p4 world buffs/consumes/enchants):
- Human Rogue Chromatically Tempered Sword + Brutality Blade= 1201.90 dps
- Human Rogue Chromatically Tempered Sword + Warblade of the Hakkari (offhand) = 1206.61 dps (+4.71 dps)
- Human Rogue Chromatically Tempered Sword + Maladath = 1199.26 dps (-2.64 dps) (don’t take maladath as a human rogue)
It’s still not a bad offhand for non-human sword rogues missing a good offhand, but it’s not as good as Maladath, so you may want to let human rogues have priority on this sword if you are alliance.
It sims roughly 5~ dps above Brutality Blade for non human rogues:
- Undead rogue chromatically tempered sword + brutality blade= 1281.55 dps
- Undead rogue chromatically tempered sword + warblade of the hakkari (offhand) = 1287.04 dps (+5.49 dps)
Other rogue drops (non-bis):
The other ZG items fall somewhere roughly between pre-bis and bis. This of a lot of these other drops as decent filler gear for your badly equiped slots, but not what you’d pick to be your bis raiding gear.
Here’s a quick item breakdown (thanks to Ishanu from rogue discord for initially compiling this list).
Zandalarian Hero Medallion
This trinket loses to a lot of other trinkets in PvE. Has some possible pvp uses (eg. use trinket > backstab for large burst), but you’ll probably be letting other classes take the heart first for their better PvE usage.
Note: This trinket also shares a 30 sec usage cooldown with a lot of other active trinkets (such as the Renataki’s trinket and the later Phase 5/6 active trinkets). This is how blizzard prevents people from stacking active trinkets together.
Foror’s Eyepatch
Worse than Tier 2 Bloodfang Hood, but better than Tier 1 Nightslayer Cover.
Blooddrenched Mask
Worse than Tier 1 Nightslayer Cover, but better stats than blue dungeon pre-bis items (but don’t break your pre-bis shadowcraft 6 piece set for this).
The Eye of Hakkar
Decent item, but worse than Onyxia Tooth Pendant. Let other classes take this item.
Zandalarian Shadow Talisman
This is a free necklace that upgrades every reputation level from friendly up to exalted. You get this by talking to ‘Falthir the Sightless’ on Yojamba Isle at friendly reputation.
This is the end result:
This necklace kind of sucks due to Onyxia Tooth Pendant being much better, but don’t delete it. You get reputation for turning it in for the upgraded version at each faction level. Keep it in your bank and upgrade it later for free reputation.
Zulian Tigerhide Cloak
Worse than pre-bis Cape of the Black Baron, but not bad to swap in if you are crit capped and need to add more hit gear.
Zandalar Madcap’s Tunic (requires revered rep)
Roughly same as T1 Chestpiece (within 1-2 dps), but much worse than T2 Bloodfang chestpiece. Can be a budget option to pair with ZG trinket/shoulder if you’re still missing T2 chest.
Primal Batskin Jerkin
Better than pre-bis Cadaverous Chest, but worse than T1 Nightslayer Chestpiece.
Primal Batskin Bracers (crafted)
Worse than T2 Bloodfang bracers, but tiny bit better than pre-bis Bracers of the eclipse and T1 Nightslayer bracers.
Zandalar Madcap’s Bracers (required friendly rep)
Roughly similar to T1 Nightslayer bracers, but also another budget 2 piece set option to pair with ZG shoulders or trinket for the 20 atk bonus.
Blooddrenched Grips
Worse than T1 Nightslayer or ACLG, but better single item dps than Devilsaur gloves (not better than devilsaur set though).
Primal Batskin Gloves
Tiny bit better than Blooddrenched Grips, but still worse than T1 and ACLG.
Belt of Preserved Heads
Worse than T2 Bloodfang belt, but roughly equal to T1 Nightslayer belt (sims within 1 dps of T1).
Blooddrenched Leggings
Roughly similar to pre-bis devilsaur legs, but no awesome 2 set bonus.
Very good boots! Only worse than Boots of the Shadow Flame from BWL. Better than both T1 and T2 boots (unless you are using t2 8/8 set bonus).
Band of Jin + Seal of Jin
Forms set of 2 rings with 30+ atk set bonus. Not horrible, but leave these for hunters. Nef head quest ring is easy to get (it drops every single week) and paired with Don Julios you have 2 fairly easy to obtain rings that beat this ZG set.
Seal of the Gurubashi Berserker
Worse than both pre-bis ring options, Don Julio’s Band and Tarnished Elven Ring from DM tribute. Possible pvp usage for the stamina, but you wouldn’t be using this ring in PvE.
Gurubashi Dwarf Destroyer
Good ranged item. Worse than Striker’s Mark from MC, but it beats all pre-bis options. Good pickup if you’re struggling to get the highly competitive Striker’s Mark.
Fang of the Faceless
Decent dagger, but not worth taking from guilded hunters if you are in a raid guild. It’s similar to Gutgore Ripper from MC, and only a tiny bit better than ‘The Lobotimizer’ from Alterac Valley. Generally will want to let guildy hunters take this so they stay away from your raid daggers.
Warblade of the Hakkari (mainhand)
Too fast to be ideal for sword rogues. It beats pre-raid swords, but worse than a Brutality Blade or a Claw of the Black Drake. It’s also a hunter bis weapon when combined with Fang of the Faceless for offhand, so they’ll be eyeing this sword already.
Zul’Gurub Enchants
These enchants come from turning in a rogue class ‘punctured voodoo doll’ plus a ‘Primal Hakkari Idol’ (you get 2 of these per ZG run assuming you kill Jin’do and Bloodlord Mandokir).
The rogue enchant is nice, but not as insanely good as some other classes (such as the mage and hunter ones for example), so most guilds will prioritise the enchants to other classes first. There’s no massive rush to get your enchant as you will get plenty of these enchants for everyone with 2 enchants per run and a short 3 day ZG lockout.
Zandalar Signet of Might
This requires 15x Zandalar Honor Tokens (you get these completing various quests and from destroying Bijous inside ZG) and exalted reputation. It’s a simple reputation reward much like the Argent Dawn resistance enchants.