Combat Rogue levelling - which poisons to use?

[mzanker]

I'm currently levelling a combat rogue and have got to level 20. To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about poisons - I've been one or two-shotting mobs with my heirloom mace/dagger in MH/OH anyway.

Firstly, do I really need to use poisons while levelling? If so, what should I use? After googling for info all I seem to come up with is flame wars about what's good and what isn't

[Cartman]

Extra damage is always something to think about.
At lower levels I used instant poison on both weapons.
In dungeons I used instant poison on the main hand and deadly poison on the off hand. But while leveling the enemies normally are dead before you get the benefit of deadly poison.
On some occasions the other poisons may be handy. If you are fighting enemies that run away crippling poison saves life.
If you are fighting against lots of casters you can use mind-numbing poison or if they have healing capabilities wound poison.

[mzanker]

Thanks, I've gone with instant on both weapons but I guess I won't see any benefit until fights take longer

[Cartman]

You never know, maybe you kill enemies half a second faster now. So if you are killing many enemies this saves a lot time
At higher levels you'll notice the difference but at level 20 the game is so Diablo style...

[pinghansen]

Poisons _really_ make a difference in your damage output. Whenever my poisons run out in combat, I notice the drop in damage because it takes much longer to put the enemy down - sometimes I have to use four or even five moves in stead of the usual two to three.

On lower levels I habitually use instant on main, crippling on offhand, and either instant or mind-numbing on thrown - as they become available. The reason for this mix is not DPS, but survivability. By using crippling, the damage the mob does to me decreases and they don't run very fast if trying to escape. I only use the mind-numbing against bothersome casters, and rarely at that, as I very much prefer sneak attacks.

On my higher level rogues I have been using wound poison ever since it became available, but that's up for a review.

[Skippyninja]

Ping's advice is perfect of leveling, since you get the mixed benefit to deal with the many situations you can find yourself in.

Once you get to level 85 or you choose to run dungeons follow Cartman's advice: Instant on MH, Deadly on OH. In addition: add Instant Poisin to your thrown weapon; if you ever have to AoE using Fan of Knives, the extra damage is amazing.

[Cartman]

I never knew that I can put poisons on thrown weapons. And I have a level 80 Rogue with T9 equipment
Thanks for the hint.

[mzanker]

On lower levels I habitually use instant on main, crippling on offhand, and either instant or mind-numbing on thrown - as they become available. The reason for this mix is not DPS, but survivability. By using crippling, the damage the mob does to me decreases and they don't run very fast if trying to escape. I only use the mind-numbing against bothersome casters, and rarely at that, as I very much prefer sneak attacks.

Thanks - this is working very well for me, especially with "runners". I don't do dungeons so survivability rather than outright DPS is best for me.

[Skippyninja]

I never knew that I can put poisons on thrown weapons. And I have a level 80 Rogue with T9 equipment
Thanks for the hint.

I think this feature was added with Cataclysm, in Wrath I never saw Rogues putting poisons on their thrown weps.

[mzanker]

I think this feature was added with Cataclysm, in Wrath I never saw Rogues putting poisons on their thrown weps.

I replaced my thrown weapon with a ranged one for the stats - you can't put poison on that, it seems

[Skippyninja]

I replaced my thrown weapon with a ranged one for the stats - you can't put poison on that, it seems

Nope, you sure can't. At endgame thrown wepons are comparable to ranged weapons so picking a good thrown isn't too hard. For leveling it just allows another poison option for added utility.

[pinghansen]

I carry a bow (heirloom) for stats, but temporarily swap a poisoned thrown for pulling. I have never gotten around to finding/writing one, but there's most likely macros/addons for that purpose floating around somewhere.

Quick-n-dirty, when you have thrown:
/equip name-of-bow

or simply drag the bow to an action-button

Hmm, wonder if I can do something like this:

/throw [equipped:thrown]
/shoot [equipped:bow][equipped:crossbow]

[voltec]

I replaced my thrown weapon with a ranged one for the stats - you can't put poison on that, it seems

I considered this for my mid level rogue (currently level 45) but then I didn't because honestly, I can't remember the last time he actually thew something... oh, that's right, a few times as something tried to run away from me. I never use it at the beginning of a fight of course, since I like to open with a stealth move.

[pinghansen]

I can't remember the last time he actually thew something...
I never use it at the beginning of a fight of course, since I like to open with a stealth move.

It's not wery often that I use the ranged/thrown weapons either, but sometimes you have to pull from a crowd.

Yeah, I can drop one and then use Vanish. Well, Vanish is a great tool, but it kinda sucks when you get a DOT in the middle of a crowd. Sap one, blind another, gouge and kidneyshot - well, I'm not that fast on the keys and at precise targeting. Better to pull.

And when in a random instance, most tanks are as intelligent as a garden slug (with social skills to match) and never use the abilities of the other players. Especially no patience for sneak attacks.

A thrown with crippling poison is great against runners, like a thrown with mind-numbing is against casters. Some rogues that I've heard about keep several thrown in their bags, one with each relevant poison. And several sets of weapons as well, swapping between attacks.
Imagine keybinding alt-1 to throw a crippling, alt-2 to throw a mind-numbing, alt-3 to equip the normal ranged, Then ctrl-1 to equip dagger with crip in offhand or ctrl-2 ....

There used to be an addon that handled that kind of stuff.

[cabby]

You have to prepare for it before the fighting starts now. Blizzard changed it so that you can't swap equipment while you're in combat.