Getting prepared for Arena involves more than just endlessly farming Battlegrounds (BGs) for PVP gear. Rogues who want to excel in Arena should be planning out their gear upgrades so that they can hit the ground running as soon as they reach 70. This guide is intended for the kind of Rogue who wants to get geared up for PVP in the most efficient and effective manner. Refer to the charts available at ShadowPanther.net when researching items listed in this guide.

Essential Stats for PVP

PVP Gear should always have a good mix of offensive and defensive stats. Offensive stats you want to focus on include Attack Power and Agility. Defensive stats you should focus on include Stamina and Resilience. Since the release of the Burning Crusade expansion, Crit Rating has become much less valuable in PVP due to the abundance of Resilience on PVP gear, so don’t place much emphasis on Crit Rating. Hit Rating, while being very important for PVE, is less important for PVP. Try to keep your Hit Rating around 5% (5/5 Precision or 79 Hit Rating) to avoid missing special attacks. Anything more than that can be useful in limited circumstances (against players with high Defense Ratings or players with special class abilities), but usually won’t be necessary.

When gearing up for PVP, the general rule of thumb is to try to get around 10,000+ health and 300+ Resilience before you start concentrating on offensive stats. Unlike raiding, where a Rogue’s primary responsibility is putting out DPS, in PVP you’ll need to provide both DPS and disruption while maintaining a certain level of survivability. When you first start gearing up, you’ll probably want to socket/enchant your gear with Stamina/Health/Resilience to maximize your survivability. As you start getting more and more PVP gear, you can concentrate less on survivability and work on building up your offensive stats with AP/Agility enchants and gems.

Road Map to Getting Arena Ready

Here are basic steps you should follow to upgrade your gear. Each step is explained in more detail later in this guide.

1. Join One or More Arena Teams - Get onto one or more Arena teams to start the long process of saving up for Season 3/4 (S3/S4) Arena gear.

2. Put Together Your Starter PVP Set - With proper planning, you can reach 9,000 Health, 200 Resilience and 1,200 AP the day you turn 70, which should at least give you a fighting chance in your early Arena matches.

3. Farm BGs for your Season 2 (S2) MH weapon - Your main hand weapon is your most important piece of gear and should always be upgraded first.

4. Farm BGs for your S2 OH weapon - Your offhand weapon is your next most important piece of gear.

5. Farm BGs for your PVP Utility Gear - Your PVP Utility Gear consists of the 2 Minute PVP Trinket (Medallion of the Alliance/Horde) and the PVP Gloves for the spell interrupt effect.

6. Farm BGs for your Guardian’s Gear - Your Guardian’s Gear consists of the Guardian’s Belt, Boots, Bracers, Necklace and Rings.

7. Run Heroics and Join Raids to Fill Out Your PVP Set - For the most part, your PVP set will consist of gear earned through BGs/Arena but there are a few key items you’ll want to try to acquire through Heroics/raiding.

8. Complete your PVP Set with S3/S4 Gear - As you're completing the objectives above, you should be working on finishing up your PVP set with superior S3/S4 weapons and armor using your Arena points.

Arena Teams

The sooner you get onto an Arena team and start saving up points, the sooner you’ll have an endgame-quality set of PVP gear. Some players like to hold off on hitting 70 and stay in the easier 60-69 BG bracket to save up their Honor Points for S2 gear. I don’t recommend this course of action because you’re only delaying the process of saving up Arena points for even better S3/S4 gear. So, as soon as you hit 70, get onto one or more Arena teams ASAP.

Joining Arena teams will be tough for some players, especially if you’ve just reached 70 and/or don’t have much PVP gear built up. If you’re have trouble getting onto a team, I recommend that you create a new 2v2 team with a friend just to get started. It doesn’t even matter if that person is good at PVP, as long as they’re dependable and willing to help out. If this is your situation, then your main priority will be to get in your minimum 10 matches a week so you can start saving up Arena points for superior gear that will help you progress further once you can get onto a better team.

To create an Arena team, you’ll need to purchase an Arena Team Charter from an Arena Organizer at one of three locations - The Ring of Trials in Nagrand, Gadgetzan in Tanaris or the Circle of Blood in Blade’s Edge Mountains. After purchasing the charter (80g for 2v2, 120g for 3v3, 200g for 5v5), you’ll need to get signatures and then return the charter to the Arena Organizer to form the team. Your team may consist of as many teammates as twice the size of your Arena bracket (ie. 4 players on a 2v2 team, 6 on a 3v3 team and 10 on a 5v5 team.) Having extra players has it’s advantages as well as it’s disadvantages. More players means more class variety but that can also lead to lack of consistency and comes with its share of issues when trying to make sure everyone gets in their weekly matches.

To earn Arena points each week, you need to play in at least 30% of your team’s matches. You can be on a 2v2, 3v3 and a 5v5 team, but you only get points from one team. In most cases, your 5v5 team will award you the most possible points each week unless your 2v2 or 3v3 team rating is considerably higher. More information on calculating your Arena points can be found here: http://www.wowwiki.com/Arena_Point_Calculators

Starter PVP Set

Listed below is a good set of weapons, armor, enchantments and gems you should aim for as you approach level 70 and start preparing for endgame PVP. While this list may not include the absolute best items you can get, it does a good job of laying out some of the best pre-BG/pre-Arena items you can get for the least amount of effort - - many of them before you even reach level 70! For a complete list of easily attainable items to use until you can farm superior BG/Arena gear, consult my PVP Starter Gear Chart: http://shadowpanther.net/starter-pvp.htm

q Knight's War Hammer of the Bandit - World drop BoE, available on the AH

o Fiery Weapon enchant

q Hungering Bone Cudgel - Nagrand Quest Reward

o Fiery Weapon enchant

q Opportunist's Leather Helm - Cenarion Expedition Honored

o Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

o Swift Skyfire Diamond / Balanced Nightseye

q Thick Felsteel Necklace - Jewelcrafting craftable

q Opportunist's Leather Spaulders - Keepers of Time Honored

o Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

o Balanced Nightseye / Steady Talasite

q Opportunist's Leather Tunic - Lower City Honored

o Major Resilience

o Balanced Nightseye x 2 / Steady Talasite

q Shadowstalker's Sash - Nagrand PVP Reward (20 Halaa Battle Tokens & 1 Halaa Research Token)

q Opportunist's Leather Legguards - Sha'tar Honored

o Clefthide Leg Armor

q The Master's Treads - World drop BoE, usually available on the AH

o Surefooted enchantment

q Dragonhawk Bands of the Bandit - World drop BoE, usually available on the AH

o Superior Stamina enchantment

q Opportunist's Leather Gloves - Honor Hold/Thrallmar Honored

o Assault enchantment

q Conquerer's Band (Horde) / Naliko's Revenge (Alliance) - Hellfire Citadel Quest Rewards

q Lightwarden's Band (Aldor) / Amber Band of the Bandit - Aldor Revered / World drop BoE, available on the AH

q Core of Ar'kelos - Netherstorm quest series reward

q Mark of Conquest - 30 Marks of Honor Hold/Thrall from Hellfire Peninsula/Zangarmarsh

q Delicate Green Poncho - Nagrand quest reward

o Greater Agility enchantment

q Mark V's Throwing Star - Netherstorm quest reward

Total Stats (Approx.): 9,000-9,400 Health, 200-220 Resilience, 1,200-1,250 AP

Farming BGs

Running BGs for your weapons will be a good way to introduce you to the “joy” of farming BGs. Your set of S2 weapons is going to cost you a total of 27,000 Honor Points and 40 Eye of the Storm Marks of Honor. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Expect to farm over 150,000 Honor Points and at least 200 Marks of Honor to eventually get your PVP set completed. You’ll soon find out that Marks will build up faster than Honor Points, so plan accordingly. What this means is farming BGs with higher success rates for your faction/battlegroup after you’ve collected the minimum amount of Marks for the gear you need. Other factors to consider include BG Holidays (each weekend a different BG will give increased Honor) and Daily BG Quests (winning the Daily BG gives you bonus honor and gold.)

Farming BGs is a necessary evil that all serious PVP players have to endure. Think of BGs as a testing ground for improving your PVP skills. Practice your stun locks, kiting, rush-down strategies, etc. Dueling in between BGs is another way to hone and refine your techniques and the experience you gain can be very beneficial when applied to similar 1-on-1 situations in Arena. Arena is quite different from Dueling/BGs, but still utilizes many of the same skills.

Main Hand Weapon

The first thing you’ll want to start farming BGs for is your main hand weapon - - your most important piece of gear. A Rogue's MH weapon should be hard hitting, with high DPS and a high average damage range for maximum special attack damage. I make that distinction, because some Rogues get carried away with top end damage for those screenshot moments, when it's the weapon's average damage that matters most. To determine your weapon’s average damage, take the (Top End + Bottom End) and divide by two. The higher the average damage, the harder your special attacks will hit.

Your main hand weapon will often determine or be determined by your spec of choice. Maces are generally considered to be the best weapon for PVP and are featured in many of the top PVP specs. If you have a build with more than 21 points in Combat, then Mace Specialization is an excellent talent for PVP, giving you a random stun ability that can be very disruptive, especially against opposing casters. Even if your build of choice doesn’t have 21+ points in the Combat Tree, you might decide at some later point to respec, so having Maces gives you that option for extra stuns if you switch to a Combat heavy build.

Swords are the next most popular choice for PVP weapons, especially for those who split time between PVP & PVE. Sword builds are very effective for PVE and do well in PVP too. The extra damage from Sword Spec procs (assuming a 21+ point Combat build) is always useful in PVP, however the disruption of Mace stuns is usually preferred.

Daggers have taken a big hit since Burning Crusade released. Skyrocketing health pools and the abundance of Resilience have severely impacted the effectiveness of Crit-reliant builds. Currently, the only effective Dagger PVP specs are Mutilate builds. Unlike other weapons, where you have the option to switch around between several decent Arena specs, if you choose Daggers, then you’re pretty much locking yourself into some version of a Mutilate build.

Fist Weapons are generally considered to be the least desirable weapon for PVP. The added Crit from a Combat Fist build is directly affected by your opponent’s Resilience, and in high level PVP, your opponents will have plenty of Resilience to counter your Crit. If PVP is your priority, then you’ll probably want to choose a weapon other than Fists.

Offhand Weapon

Once you've secured a hard hitting main hand weapon, you need to get yourself a quality offhand weapon. Generally, Rogues always want an offhand weapon with fast speed (1.6 speed or faster) for increased poison application and other procs. Speed is especially important for Combat Rogues due to the Combat Potency talent. Even Mutilate Rogues can benefit from a fast offhand to give them lower energy cost Shivs. Other factors to look for in a good offhand are nice stats and DPS. Picking your S2 offhand weapon should be fairly straightforward. Whatever weapon type you decide upon for your S2 main hand, you’ll want to get a matching S2 offhand weapon to go along with it.

PVP Utility Gear

Your PVP Utility Gear consists of the 2 Minute PVP Trinket (Medallion of the Alliance/Horde) and PVP Gloves for the spell interrupt effect. The PVP Gloves give your Deadly Throws the ability to interrupt spellcasting, which is a key life-saving ability for PVP Rogues. The PVP trinket gives you the ability to break movement impairing effects and any effects that cause you to lose control of your character. That ability is worth it’s weight in gold and the proper use of your trinket will often mean the difference between success and failure in a close battle. Don’t settle for the less expensive, 5 minute version of the trinket (Insignia of the Alliance/Horde) because the Medallion has added Resilience as well as the shorter cooldown which is quite useful in BGs and can even make a big difference in longer, drawn-out Arena battles. If you’re really serious about PVP, then save up for the epic Medallion, which costs 40,000 Honor.

Other “Utility” effects you want to have in your PVP arsenal include Minor Speed and resistance to Snares, Roots and/or Stuns. Some of these abilities can be gained through gems and enchantments whereas some can be achieved through talents. Without taking talents into account, your best Helm metagem and Boot enchant combination is usually going to be Swift Skyfire Diamond and Surefooted enchant to your boots. This combination gives you Minor Speed, Snare/Root Resistance and added Hit Rating (which can often be difficult to find on PVP gear). However, if you’re a Mutilate Rogue with the Fleet Flooted talent, then you’ll want to use Enigmatic Skyfire Diamond for your metagem instead. NOTE: Resistance to movement impairing effects do stack, but the speed bonus from the Fleet Footed talent does not stack with other Minor Speed effects (although it does stack with the Camouflage talent.)

One Month PVP Set

This is what your gear should look like after about a month of farming Arena/BGs, assuming a rate of 40-80,000 Honor per month and 500 Arena Points per week. To achieve a rate of 500 Arena points per week, you’ll need to attain a rating of around 1625-1725. At this point, you should have your set of S2 weapons and all of your PVP Utility Gear in place. You should also be approaching 1,500-2,000 Arena points by now, which is when you’ll start purchasing your first Arena upgrade. I recommend the S4 Chestpiece, which is a major PVP upgrade as well as being strong for PVE.

q Merciless Gladiator’s Pummeler - 18,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Merciless Gladiator’s Bonecracker - 9,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Opportunist's Leather Helm - Cenarion Expedition Honored

o Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

o Swift Skyfire Diamond / Balanced Nightseye

q Thick Felsteel Necklace - Jewelcrafting craftable

q Opportunist's Leather Spaulders - Keepers of Time Honored

o Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

o Balanced Nightseye / Steady Talasite

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Tunic - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,600 Personal/Team Rating

o 2x Bright Living Ruby

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

o Major Resilience

q Shadowstalker's Sash - Nagrand PVP Reward (20 Halaa Battle Tokens & 1 Halaa Research Token)

q Opportunist's Leather Legguards - Sha'tar Honored

o Clefthide Leg Armor

q The Master's Treads - World drop BoE, usually available on the AH

o Surefooted enchantment

q Dragonhawk Bands of the Bandit - World drop BoE, usually available on the AH

o Superior Stamina enchantment

q Opportunist's Leather Gloves - Honor Hold/Thrallmar Honored

o Assault enchantment

q Conquerer's Band (Horde) / Naliko's Revenge (Alliance) - Hellfire Citadel Quest Rewards

q Lightwarden's Band (Aldor) / Amber Band of the Bandit - Aldor Revered / World drop BoE, available on the AH

q Core of Ar'kelos - Netherstorm quest series reward

q Medallion of the Alliance / Medallion of the Horde - 40,000 Honor Points

q Delicate Green Poncho - Nagrand quest reward

o Greater Agility enchantment

q Mark V's Throwing Star - Netherstorm quest reward

Total Stats (Approx.): 9,400-9,600 Health, 240-260 Resilience, 1,250-1,300 AP

Guardian's Gear

Now that you’ve gotten the basics of your PVP gear in order, it’s time to start the hardcore BG farming to upgrade your Necklace, Belt, Bracers, Rings and Boots, and generally in that order, as dictated by your current Arena Ratings. Guardian’s Bracers/Rings/Boots now require that you achieve a certain Arena Rating in order to purchase them.

As you begin upgrading your PVP gear, you’ll want to try and replace items that give you the highest AEP upgrade over your current gear. AEP refers to Agility Equivalence Points which is the system my PVP charts use to compare the value of stats to Agility. For more information about how AEP is used in my charts, consult my PVP Resources page: http://shadowpanther.net/pvp.htm

When evaluating gear for upgrades, make sure to factor in enchantment/gem upgrades as well (ie. If your PVP Starter Bracers have Superior Stamina but the Guardian’s Leather Bracers you plan on getting will have Assault, that’s an additional 10 AEP to factor in.) Also, when upgrading your rings, you’ll want to pick up a Vindicator’s Band of Triumph to go alongside your Guardian’s Band of Triumph (you can only wear one of each unique ring.) Farming for all of this honor gear will take many weeks, but each item should be a significant upgrade over your current gear.

Two Month PVP Set

This is what your gear should look like after about two months of farming Arena/BGs. I’ve chosen the S4 Helm as your next logical S4 upgrade, because much like the S4 Chestpiece, the S4 Helm should be a major PVP upgrade as well as a strong PVE upgrade.

q Merciless Gladiator’s Pummeler - 18,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Merciless Gladiator’s Bonecracker - 9,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Helm - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,700 Personal/Team Rating

o Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

o Swift Skyfire Diamond

o Bright Living Ruby

q Guardian’s Pendant of Triumph - 15,300 Honor Points + 10 Eye of Storm Marks

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Opportunist's Leather Spaulders - Keepers of Time Honored

o Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

o Balanced Nightseye / Steady Talasite

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Tunic - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,600 Personal/Team Rating

o 2x Bright Living Ruby

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

o Major Resilience

q Guardian’s Leather Belt - 17,850 Honor Points + 40 Arathi Basin marks

q Opportunist's Leather Legguards - Sha'tar Honored

o Clefthide Leg Armor

q The Master's Treads - World drop BoE, usually available on the AH

o Surefooted enchantment

q Guardian’s Leather Bracers - 11,794 Honor Points + 20 Warsong Gulch marks + 1,575 Personal/Team Rating

o Assault enchantment

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Opportunist's Leather Gloves - Honor Hold/Thrallmar Honored

o Assault enchantment

q Conquerer's Band (Horde) / Naliko's Revenge (Alliance) - Hellfire Citadel Quest Rewards

q Lightwarden's Band (Aldor) / Amber Band of the Bandit - Aldor Revered / World drop BoE, available on the AH

q Core of Ar'kelos - Netherstorm quest series reward

q Medallion of the Alliance / Medallion of the Horde - 40,000 Honor Points

q Delicate Green Poncho - Nagrand quest reward

o Greater Agility enchantment

q Mark V's Throwing Star - Netherstorm quest reward

Total Stats (Approx.): 10,000-10,500 Health, 330-350 Resilience, 1,350-1,450 AP

Heroics/Raids

Your first few months of gearing up for Arena should be focused on farming BG/Arena gear to get your defensive stats up to the 10,000 Health/300 Resilience level. Once this has been achieved, you’ll want to start redirecting your efforts towards maximizing your offensive potential. Running Heroics and/or joining raids can be a good way to fill out your PVP set. In particular, you should be farming Badges of Justice which can be used to purchase two excellent pieces of gear for PVP - - Bloodlust Brooch and Dory’s Embrace.

Bloodlust Brooch is an upgraded version of Core of Ar’Kelos, both of which give you the power to burst through your opponent when the need arises. If you get the chance to raid in Zul’Aman, Berserker’s Call is an even better version of those AP Burst trinkets. Dory’s Embrace is an upgraded version of Sergeant’s Heavy Cloak, with extra Stamina, AP and Armor Penetration. Armor Penetration is a stat that’s especially powerful when stacked against low armor targets.

In addition to farming Badges, you might want to look into joining 25 man raids to upgrade some of your other gear that needs attention. If you can, try to replace your S2 weapons through raiding, which will free up valuable Arena points to finish upgrading your armor. If you find it difficult to get into Heroics/raid groups, it might be because you’re outfitted with PVP gear and/or using a PVP spec. If that’s the case, try switching to a more Combat-oriented spec and picking up some raiding gear. For more information, consult my PVE Resources page: http://shadowpanther.net/pve.htm

Three Month PVP Set

This is what your gear should look like after about three months of farming Arena/BGs/Badges.

q Merciless Gladiator’s Pummeler - 18,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Merciless Gladiator’s Bonecracker - 9,000 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks

o Mongoose enchant

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Helm - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,700 Personal/Team Rating

o Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

o Swift Skyfire Diamond

o Bright Living Ruby

q Guardian’s Pendant of Triumph - 15,300 Honor Points + 10 Eye of Storm Marks

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Opportunist's Leather Spaulders - Keepers of Time Honored

o Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

o Balanced Nightseye / Steady Talasite

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Tunic - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,600 Personal/Team Rating

o 2x Bright Living Ruby

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

o Major Resilience

q Guardian’s Leather Belt - 17,850 Honor Points + 40 Arathi Basin marks

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Legguards - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,550 Personal/Team Rating

o Nethercobra Leg Armor

q Guardian’s Leather Boots - 17,850 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks + 1,700 Personal/Team Rating

o Surefooted enchantment

q Guardian’s Leather Bracers - 11,794 Honor Points + 20 Warsong Gulch marks + 1,575 Personal/Team Rating

o Assault enchantment

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Opportunist's Leather Gloves - Honor Hold/Thrallmar Honored

o Assault enchantment

q Guardian’s Band of Triumph - 15,300 Honor Points + 10 Alterac Valley marks + 1,650 Personal/Team Rating

q Vindicator's Band of Triumph - 11,934 Honor Points + 10 Alterac Valley marks

q Bloodlust Brooch - 41 Badges of Justice

q Medallion of the Alliance / Medallion of the Horde - 40,000 Honor Points

q Dory's Embrace - 60 Badges of Justice

o Greater Agility enchantment

q Merciless Gladiator's War Edge - 8,000 Honor Points + 10 Eye of the Storm marks

Total Stats (Approx.): 10,500-10,800 Health, 400-420 Resilience, 1,450-1,600 AP

S3/S4 Gear

By now, most of your PVP gear should be in place, so it’s just a matter of working on improving your Arena team ratings to get more points to finish upgrading the rest of your gear. The goal at this point is to get up to an 1800/2050 Arena rating (both team and personal rating) so that you can purchase a set of S3/S4 weapons. In the meantime, you can also upgrade your Gloves, Shoulders and Throwing Weapon with S3/S4 versions, all of which should be relatively minor upgrades over your current gear at this point.

Final PVP Set

This is what your gear should look like after about 4-6 months of hardcore PVP in both BGs and Arena, providing that you and your team can reach the 1950/2200 Arena rating threshold (the rating required to purchase the prestigious S3/S4 shoulders.)

q Brutal Gladiator’s Pummeler - 2,625 Arena Points + 2,050 Personal/Team Rating

o Mongoose enchant

q Brutal Gladiator’s Bonecracker - 1,125 Arena Points + 2,050 Personal/Team Rating

o Mongoose enchant

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Helm - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,700 Personal/Team Rating

o Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

o Swift Skyfire Diamond

o Bright Living Ruby

q Guardian’s Pendant of Triumph - 15,300 Honor Points + 10 Eye of Storm Marks

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Spaulders - 1,500 Arena Points + 2,200 Personal/Team Rating

o Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

o Bold Ornate Ruby

o Inscribed Ornate Topaz

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Tunic - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,600 Personal/Team Rating

o 2x Bright Living Ruby

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

o Major Resilience

q Guardian’s Leather Belt - 17,850 Honor Points + 40 Arathi Basin marks

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Legguards - 1,875 Arena Points + 1,550 Personal/Team Rating

o Nethercobra Leg Armor

q Guardian’s Leather Boots - 17,850 Honor Points + 20 Eye of the Storm marks + 1,700 Personal/Team Rating

o Surefooted enchantment

q Guardian’s Leather Bracers - 11,794 Honor Points + 20 Warsong Gulch marks + 1,575 Personal/Team Rating

o Assault enchantment

o 1 Wicked Noble Topaz

q Brutal Gladiator's Leather Gloves - 1,125 Arena Points

o Assault enchantment

q Guardian’s Band of Triumph - 15,300 Honor Points + 10 Alterac Valley marks + 1,650 Personal/Team Rating

q Vindicator’s Band of Triumph - 11,934 Honor Points + 10 Alterac Valley marks

q Bloodlust Brooch - 41 Badges of Justice

q Medallion of the Alliance / Medallion of the Horde - 40,000 Honor Points

q Dory's Embrace - 60 Badges of Justice

o Greater Agility enchantment

q Brutal Gladiator's War Edge - 1,000 Arena Points

Total Stats (Approx.): 11,000-11,500 Health, 400-420 Resilience, 1,650-1,850 AP

You can make a few final improvements to your gear by farming even more BGs to purchase epic gems and/or acquiring epic gems from endgame raiding guilds to boost your stats. Speaking of endgame raiding guilds, if you can find a way to balance your PVP and PVE playtime, then endgame raiding in Tier 5 & Tier 6 instances can be a great way to put the finishing touches on your PVP gear. Some of the gear available in those instances, despite having less Stamina and completely lacking Resilience, has an abundance of offensive stats that would make it worth your while to swap out a few pieces of PVP gear to take advantage of the superior DPS potential of that PVE gear. And I think it goes without saying that a set of Warglaives would do wonders for your offensive output!

Enchantments

As you’re getting your weapons and armor in order, you’ll want to make sure that you get everything properly enchanted. Inexperienced Rogues often underestimate the value of quality enchantments. If you don't enchant your gear, it's like walking around with broken pieces of armor. Listed below are optimal enchants for each of your items. A complete list of PVP Rogue enchantments can be found here: http://shadowpanther.net/enchantments-pvp.htm

MH Weapon: Mongoose (or consider Executioner if you have Serrated Blades and/or plenty of Armor Ignore gear)

OH Weapon: Mongoose (or a Weapon Chain on a spare offhand weapon if you find yourself being disarmed a lot)

Head: Glyph of Ferocity (Cenarion Expedition Revered)

Shoulder: Greater Inscription of the Blade/Vengeance (Scryers/Aldor Exalted)

Chest: Greater Resilience or Exceptional Stats

Legs: Nethercobra Leg Armor or Nethercleft Leg Armor

Feet: Surefooted / Boar’s Speed / Dexterity (depending upon your helm’s metagem)

Wrist: Assault

Hands: Assault or Superior Agility

Back: Greater Agility or Stealth

Gems

Much like with enchantments, you should pay special attention to your gems to maximize your stats for PVP. Whenever possible, you should always try to match socket colors for the socket bonus to get the most out of your gear. Listed below are the best rare quality PVP gems from which to choose for each color socket. A complete list of PVP Rogue gems can be found here: http://shadowpanther.net/gems-pvp.htm

Meta Socket: Swift Skyfire Diamond or Enigmatic Skyfire Diamond

Yellow Sockets: Wicked Noble Topaz, Unstable Citrine, Steady Talasite or Mystic Dawnstone

Red Sockets: Bright Living Ruby or Balanced Nightseye

Blue Sockets: Balanced Nightseye, Solid Star of Elune, Shifting Nightseye or Steady Talasite

Always keep in mind any socket color requirements imposed by your helm’s metagem. Also, make sure not to duplicate minor speed effects between your metagem, boot enchant and/or Fleet Footed talent, since those speed effects do not stack.

Poisons

Your optimal poison configuration for Arena will usually be main hand Wound Poison and offhand Crippling Poison. This configuration is best for several reasons. You want Wound Poison on your main hand so that you can severely reduce the opposing team’s healing effectiveness (while getting a little extra poison DPS), and you want Crippling Poison on your offhand so that you can Shiv on applications to guarantee a snare on your target. If your enemy is able to get away and stay outside your melee range then you’re as good as dead. And since both of these poisons stay on your opponent, you should have no problem getting off full power Mutilates if you’re a Dagger Rogue.

Now there will always be exceptions to this rule or ways to improve upon this concept. If you’re on a team with a Warrior, then you don’t want to duplicate Wound Poison/Mortal Strike or Crippling Poison/Hamstring abilities, so plan accordingly and decide who will be using which effects. Mind Numbing Poison is a good alternate poison to have as a backup against healers who rely on non-instacast healing spells.

It’s a good idea to keep around one or two quick offhand weapons (like the S1/S2 OH you’ll eventually replace) and apply a different poison to each so that you can switch to them when the need arises. You might even consider enchanting those weapons with the new Deathfrost enchantment for even more disruption potential. Then, set up a weapon switch macro or mod to quickly swap in your backup offhand weapons to Shiv on the poison of your choice. Applying multiple poisons in this manner can be especially effective against teams when they’re relying on Abolish Poison or Poison Cleansing totems to remove your poisons one at a time. Keeping 5 stacks of Wound Poison on your opponent is often going to be essential to winning, so applying other poisons to cover it can be a useful tactic.

Talent Specs

The best gear in the game won't do you any good if you choose a bad talent spec. Listed below are sample talent specs for the most effective “cookie cutter” PVP builds:

20/0/41 Shadowstep Assassination

Shadowstep builds, which were often considered weak and ineffective prior to 2.3.2, have now moved to the forefront of Rogue PVP builds largely in part to buffs given to Shadowstep, Sinister Calling and Preparation.

Key Talents: Relentless Strikes, Vile Poisons, Preparation, Dirty Deeds, Deadliness, Hemorrhage, Shadowstep

Pros: Survivability, Control

Cons: Burst DPS

0/20/41 Shadowstep Combat

This build trades the control, energy and combo point (CP) generation of a Shadowstep Assassination build for the increased mobility of Improved Sprint. Whether or not this significant tradeoff is worth it is up to you.

Key Talents: Improved Sprint, Preparation, Dirty Deeds, Deadliness, Hemorrhage, Shadowstep

Pros: Mobility, Survivability

Cons: Burst DPS, CP Gen, Energy

0/31/30 AR/Prep Maces & 0/31/30 AR/Prep Swords

The once mighty AR/Prep build is still hanging around, minus the second Adrenaline Rush and with a weaker Hemorrhage. Despite these changes, AR/Prep can still be a decent build with plenty of utility for a variety of situations.

Key Talents: Riposte, Improved Sprint, Mace/Sword Specialization, Adrenaline Rush, Preparation, Dirty Deeds, Deadliness, Hemorrhage

Pros: Mobility, Survivability, Control

Cons: CP Gen

19/42 Combat Maces & 19/42 Combat Swords

This build is a PVP variation of the standard 20/41 Combat PVE build. What this build lacks in PVP utility talents it makes up for in sustained damage with the combined energy-machine of Combat Potency and Relentless Strikes.

Key Talents: Relentless Strikes, Improved Sprint, Mace/Sword Specialization, Adrenaline Rush, Combat Potency, Surprise Attacks

Pros: Sustained DPS, Energy

Cons: Burst DPS, CP Gen, Mobility, Survivability

41/20 Mutilate Combat (PVP)

This build differs a bit from the PVE version of 41/20 Mutilate Combat, trading sustained DPS talents for increased Burst DPS.

Key Talents: Relentless Strikes, Fleet Footed, Cold Blood, Seal Fate, Quick Recovery, Mutilate, Improved Sprint, Dual Wield Specialization

Pros: Burst DPS, CP Gen, Mobility, Survivability

Cons: Energy, Control

50/0/11 Mutilate Subtlety

When compared to Mutilate Combat, this build loses the increased mobility of Improved Sprint, but makes up for it with essential burst and control talents from the Subtlety tree.

Key Talents: Relentless Strikes, Vile Poisons, Fleet Footed, Cold Blood, Seal Fate, Quick Recovery, Mutilate, Opportunity, Dirty Tricks

Pros: Burst DPS, CP Gen, Energy, Control

Cons: Sustained DPS, Mobility, Survivability

30/0/31 SF/Hemo

This build, while not very popular, has been known to be useful in limited circumstances.

Key Talents: Relentless Strikes, Fleet Footed, Quick Recovery, Preparation, Dirty Deeds, Deadliness, Hemorrhage

Pros: Burst DPS, CP Gen, Energy

Cons: Sustained DPS

The spec you finally decide upon will be determined by your own personal playstyle, preferences and Arena team configuration. No amount of reading or research will be able to replace the experience you’ll gain from trying out each of these specs for yourself to see which works best for you.