Energy Management and Pooling
As a rogue, energy is your lifeblood. Proper energy management means the difference between 100% Slice and Dice uptime and letting it drop for 2-3 seconds every cycle. There are several basic tactics to keep in mind, and then there are some more advanced techniques which you can work in on more DPS-sensitive fights.
You begin any fight with 100 energy (or 110 if you have Vigor) and regenerate energy at a rate of 20 every 2 seconds. Adrenaline Rush provides an extra 100% energy regeneration for 15 seconds per use, or 150 energy. It is vital to note that your energy will always cap at your original base of 100 or 110. If you gain more energy at any time than it takes to reach this cap, the remaining energy will go to waste, effectively costing you DPS. Thus, it is very important that you never let your energy surpass the cap. The safest way to avoid this situation is to simply spend all of your energy as you receive it. If you never have more energy than the amount required to Sinister Strike or Backstab, then you are theoretically immune to capping your energy.
However, it is not always necessary or optimal to spend your energy immediately as you receive it. As long as your energy doesn't tick over 100 or 110, it is not wasted and can be used at your convenience. The technique of intentionally allowing energy to accumulate without spending it is called "energy pooling" (also known as "energy queuing") and has many applications. For combat rogues, energy pooling is most commonly used when you reach enough CP to refresh your Slice, but still have several seconds left on your previous Slice buff. Pooling at this time effectively gives you more energy to spend on the next iteration of your cycle. This is useful particularly for combat rogues because most cycles count on Combat Potency to provide a certain amount of extra energy per cycle. In the event that you have bad luck on Combat Potency procs during your cycle, the energy you pooled before your Slice helps you complete the cycle without letting Slice drop.
Another use of energy pooling is for Mutilate rogues with Find Weakness, and for any rogue with [Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality]. Pooling energy before finishers, in combination with either of these procs, effectively gives you more energy to spend during the proc. The more energy affected by these procs, the more effective DPS they provide. In particular, Mutilate rogues must pool energy before a finisher so that Find Weakness will be active for all of their Mutilates and any direct-damage finishers. This same strategy can be applied by any rogue to any proc, in fact. By pooling energy between Sinister Strikes (or other primary attack), one can wait until some number of procs occur (typically double Lightning Speed procs) and unleash the energy at once. However, be wary of attempting such precise energy pooling if the encounter demands more than focused DPS, as you may end up either missing important non-DPS duties or else letting your energy tick over 100.
Of final note is [Thistle Tea], which instantly regenerates 40 energy for a level 70 rogue. For any rogue, this 40 extra energy provides some additional DPS. However, another important aspect of this consumable is that it provides some extra breathing room to compensate for an absence of procs (notably Combat Potency for combat rogues and Seal Fate for Mutilate rogues). It is highly recommended that you keep some [Thistle Tea] in your inventory for such situations.
As a rogue, energy is your lifeblood. Proper energy management means the difference between 100% Slice and Dice uptime and letting it drop for 2-3 seconds every cycle. There are several basic tactics to keep in mind, and then there are some more advanced techniques which you can work in on more DPS-sensitive fights.
You begin any fight with 100 energy (or 110 if you have Vigor) and regenerate energy at a rate of 20 every 2 seconds. Adrenaline Rush provides an extra 100% energy regeneration for 15 seconds per use, or 150 energy. It is vital to note that your energy will always cap at your original base of 100 or 110. If you gain more energy at any time than it takes to reach this cap, the remaining energy will go to waste, effectively costing you DPS. Thus, it is very important that you never let your energy surpass the cap. The safest way to avoid this situation is to simply spend all of your energy as you receive it. If you never have more energy than the amount required to Sinister Strike or Backstab, then you are theoretically immune to capping your energy.
However, it is not always necessary or optimal to spend your energy immediately as you receive it. As long as your energy doesn't tick over 100 or 110, it is not wasted and can be used at your convenience. The technique of intentionally allowing energy to accumulate without spending it is called "energy pooling" (also known as "energy queuing") and has many applications. For combat rogues, energy pooling is most commonly used when you reach enough CP to refresh your Slice, but still have several seconds left on your previous Slice buff. Pooling at this time effectively gives you more energy to spend on the next iteration of your cycle. This is useful particularly for combat rogues because most cycles count on Combat Potency to provide a certain amount of extra energy per cycle. In the event that you have bad luck on Combat Potency procs during your cycle, the energy you pooled before your Slice helps you complete the cycle without letting Slice drop.
Another use of energy pooling is for Mutilate rogues with Find Weakness, and for any rogue with [Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality]. Pooling energy before finishers, in combination with either of these procs, effectively gives you more energy to spend during the proc. The more energy affected by these procs, the more effective DPS they provide. In particular, Mutilate rogues must pool energy before a finisher so that Find Weakness will be active for all of their Mutilates and any direct-damage finishers. This same strategy can be applied by any rogue to any proc, in fact. By pooling energy between Sinister Strikes (or other primary attack), one can wait until some number of procs occur (typically double Lightning Speed procs) and unleash the energy at once. However, be wary of attempting such precise energy pooling if the encounter demands more than focused DPS, as you may end up either missing important non-DPS duties or else letting your energy tick over 100.
Of final note is [Thistle Tea], which instantly regenerates 40 energy for a level 70 rogue. For any rogue, this 40 extra energy provides some additional DPS. However, another important aspect of this consumable is that it provides some extra breathing room to compensate for an absence of procs (notably Combat Potency for combat rogues and Seal Fate for Mutilate rogues). It is highly recommended that you keep some [Thistle Tea] in your inventory for such situations.
