In Live PVP:

Free action potion + sprint does the trick nicely. They really don’t have anything that can counter this even if they free action themselves.

Of course, none of those are real options in a clean duel. You can’t really say you beat a hunter if you resort to those tactics. Every class has counters, this may be the most broken matchup (a blue paladin will never kill an epic warrior, a blue priest will never beat an epic mage for example, the way a blue dwarf hunter can beat a full epic rogue) in WOW but hopefully Blizzard will give us a bone eventually like how warlocks got their death coil.

Rogue vs Rogue

Difficulty: Broken
Poison Choice: Dual Cripple
Spec Choice: CB/Prep/Hemo

Probably the most broken mirror match out there. Regardless of spec, it is very easy to stunlock a rogue from opening CS stun to death. Thankfully, very few rogues really know the art of stunlock. Most of them have very flawed openers which gives you a chance to come back. A true stunlock, the opponent is stunned the entire time, no dodge, no parry, and with enough gear, no misses. If your opponent can gouge you out of it, you are not stunlocking properly.

REAL Stunlocks:

With enough +to hit items, all of those combos are guaranteed 100 to 0 at equal gear. The versions I posted are as cooldown efficient as possible, maximum damage with minimum cooldowns. It is good to learn those stunlocks because they are also extremely useful against non-succubus warlocks.

CB/Prep/Hemo:

CS->Hemo->Gouge->KS->Hemo->Hemo->Blind->Slice & Dice
Restealth
CS->Hemo->Gouge->KS->Hemo->Hemo->Evis (or CB Evis)

The Unsouled combo. Without instant poison, with just Dalrends and no epics, he stunlocks me to death every time with this combo, and I have 5000 health. The second CS, properly timed, is NOT on diminishing returns. Remember CS, Gouge, and KS are all on separate timers. You only need 15 seconds after each ends to avoid diminishing returns. Be sure to wait for maximum duration of gouge before KSing, stunwatch is extremely helpful.

Seal Fate Dagger:

Countless rogues do the CS->BS->KS opener, IMO unless you plan to tea, this is a much weaker opener than CS->SS->Gouge. If your BS doesn’t crit you only have 3 combo point, for a 4 second stun and the chance to not get back 25 energy is very high. If you don’t get 25 energy back your combo is broken and your KS does no damage. A gouge is a free combo point for no energy if you have improved version. It is much better to use it BEFORE the kidney shot.

CS->SS->Gouge->KS->BS->Blind
Restealth
CS BS KS BS (IMO CS BS KS is much better for the second opener, for 120 energy builds you can CS->BS->CB Evis on the second opener to knock people out, 110 energy can CS->SS->CB Evis if the opponent is low on health).

Combat Spec:

CS->AR->SS->Gouge->KS
SSx3
Blind
Restealth
CS->Wait For Energy->KS
SSx3

With high end gear, you don’t need blind to kill 99% of the rogues if you plan to use AR. Gouge is awesome because it allows you to get a full bar of energy before KS, and for 99% of the rogues that I ran into, the fight ends during kidney shot. Blind is just excessive here. I usually evis instead of blind because that is all it takes.

21/8/22

Being a hybrid spec you can do either the seal fate dagger version or the hemo version. The hemo combo is easily done with SS (make sure you have improved CS 1), although the seal fate dagger version is easier.

Rupture Kite:

Warriors hate this strategy, and rogues hate it even more. Do any combo listed above, instead of blind, just rupture and vanish. Then reopen with CS CB Evis or whatever opener of your choice. Easy to do, hard to counter.

Counters to openers:

Most people don’t stunlock with blind, and a lot of rupture kiters love to run away and restealth, more than 50% of the players don’t do either strategy. There are plenty of counters when your opponent allows them.

1) Against rupture kiter who ran away to restealth instead of vanishing.

a) Bow him, if he tries to run back into rupture range blind him, restealth between rupture ticks, and do your own rupture kite, except you will vanish instead of trying to restealth and don’t give him the same opening.

b) Vanish to break cripple poison, sprint and run away until rupture wears off, restealth. Extremely useful in world PVP.

c) Eat, this works if the person you are fighting didn’t stunlock into rupture, instead he did something amatuerish like CS BS Rupture Vanish. Damage is low, as soon as you start eating he will come CS you which has diminishing returns and you mash evasion or vanish to counter.

2) Against blind stunlocks & tea combos

Some of the blind stunlocks are quite tight on timing (people also tend to get greedy and want to squeeze an extra hemo in there for example). Tea combos that involve CB evis are usually VERY tight in timing requires certain number of combo points. Mash vanish or evasion and you can survive quite a few of them. In world PVP, consider a poison elixir to break blind.

3) Against broken openers

Evasion is countered with vanish->CS, even if you have a DOT on you it is doable between the ticks. Still, try to turn on evasion as early as possible just to dodge a possible KS or Gouge. Try to jump through him and hit him from behind, it is hard when you are snared but sometimes people get too aggressive.

Try to land a gouge while he stunlocks you, then you can either blind bandage, or blind into your own stunlock. Or if the person is truly amatuerish on his stunlock you can just backstab and go from there.

No Timer No Stealth Fight:

Very common situation in BGs, and getting more and more popular in duels. A combat rogue has a tremendous advantage here. Dodged gouge/kidney shot is fatal to the dagger rogue.

Unlike most other rogues, I prefer to open with SS to start with this fight as opposed to gouge. Because of lag, I will at least get 1 sometimes 2 SS off before I am gouged. This is a tremendous advantage. I done good damage from SS and white attacks, my opponent did no damage, just a gouge. He is waiting for his energy to tick, guess what, I am getting my energy back as well. SS is a much better opener even if you are dagger. Don’t try to land a backstab on another rogue when he is not snared or stunned, it just doesn’t work in high level play.

Try to SS a few times, back off let energy recharge. Once you have 3-4 combo points, go for a gouge, KS with a near full bar of energy, and it is usually GG at equal gear. KS is extremely valuable in this fight. You never want to throw it out without gouging first, you never want to waste it when you don’t have enough combo points/energy. End game weapons, a 4-5 CP KS when you have a full bar of energy is 2500 damage on leather easily. As with against warriors, always try to jump through him and land the kidney shot from behind.

Racials:

Human perception and Orc stun resistance are the most powerful racials in this matchup. Orc rogues probably have the best chance to win since they can stunlock all other races to death yet no one can apply the full stunlock on them. Human rogues with equal levels of MOD will always land the opener. There really isn’t much you can do if you are not a Orc or Dwarf and someone lands an opener on you. You have to pray he gives you a chance to retaliate. Dwarf can break blind and rupture kite, the AR stunlock usually doesn’t require either, just evis or vanish CS instead of blind or rupture.