World of Warcraft: Warrior's PVP Guide - How to Kill a Rogue

You're walking along, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, perhaps you see a fel iron lode off in the distance, eagerly you march towards it with visions of your next piece of Fel Armament dancing through your head. You begin swinging away, happily grooving to the heavenly sound of "tink", "tink" "tink"...

SUDDENLY, the "tink" stops, "perhaps I moved", you say to yourself. Instinctively you try to start mining again, "what's this?" you think, "Why am I not moving...and what's this swirly thing above my head?"

It hits you... "I've been sapped"

A second later your health drops as you see (-800) to (-3000) flash before your eyes. You've been ambushed. A World of Warcraft rogue has decided to test your fortitude, your armor, and your general ability to take a knife in the back.

What do you do? Read on and you'll learn and you'll stay alive and soon be dancing over the grave of a rogue who's next appearance will be on Fox's "When Ambushes Go Bad"

Understanding the World of Warcraft Rogue:

Rogues are sneaky creatures by nature, relying heavily upon their ability to not be seen and to not be hit.

So you're down (-800) to (-3000) health, that's ok chances are you still have double what your leathery friend has. The trick is to not panic, and pray you have itemrack (a great addon for warriors). Item rack allows you to switch items based on sets and lets you swap weapons at the touch of a button...even when in battle.

Step 1.

If you don't have a two handed weapon already equipped, use item rack to switch to a two handed weapon and hop into battle stance ASAP.

Step 2.

Start swinging and hope you miss....Yeah I said it, hope you miss, rather hope you get blocked or parried. I know you just thought "WOHhhhh, back up, what?" Let me explain. The World of Warcraft powers that be have seen it fit to provide warriors with a great tool.

OVERPOWER, which essentially guarantees a hit on thing that blocks or parries you, also the ARMS tree provides a nice boost to your critical when using overpower.

Step 3.

Keep swinging away and taking MASSIVE amounts of your rogue friend's life. Even after being ambushed chances are you'll be able to outlast the rogue and his butter knife. Literally with overpower you can hit each time for 1-2k a swing(lvl 58+), couple that with any damage you do in between cool downs and the 2-7k life of a rogue is down to nothing in 2-5 hits of overpower.

Step 4.
Cycle through thunderclap to slow his attack speed down, and Rend to place damage over time on him.

Things to watch for:

Gouge: This will freeze you in place while your Rogue friend tries to either bandage or get off a backstab. Be prepared to use your many hold breakers(Medallion of the Horde, etc) to get back into the swing of things.

Vanish: Steps 1-3 will undoubtedly get the Rogue to say to himself, "A good idea this was not". He will try to run, by vanishing. As the rogue started the fight I generally find myself obligated to finish it. It is very important that you follow step 4 as your Rend ability will tick and break him from his hiding spot. Catch him and finish him off

Stunlock: This is a device no doubt created first by the devil then given to the programmers of World of Warcraft. Essentially a skilled rogue can continue to hit you then lock you in place via stuns. Even a skilled warrior can have a pickle of a time when a good rogue starts doing this. In the end just be mindful of your health and if you need to fear the bugger away do so and bandage. Continue to use your hold breaks as often as possible and pray for crits.

Push comes to shove:

When push comes to shove and you just don't want to die use your stance ability (i.e. Retaliation in battle stance) to give yourself that little edge. Swirling swords around you are what no rogue wants to see as every time they hit you, you'll hit them. You hit harder, have more life and wear plate in a blow to blow battle even a warrior 4-5 lvls below a rogue stands a chance.

Take these tips along to your next rogue fight and rest assured you'll fair 10 times better. Killing a rogue in World of Warcraft is one of the many enjoyments warriors have.