Hey everyone,
With the evening quiet here in Montenegro, I was theorycrafting a fun new direction for Subtlety Rogue and wanted to share it with the community.
This concept re-imagines the spec as a pure 40-yard ranged DPS called the Shade Weaver, a master of spectral duplication who overwhelms enemies with an army of shadow clones. The core fantasy is commanding your shades from a distance, setting up for a massive, visually spectacular burst with Secret Technique.
Let me know what you think!
CORE FANTASY & GAMEPLAY
The Shade Weaver uses shadow magic to project phantom copies of themselves onto the battlefield. These clones aren’t just illusions; they mimic your attacks, building to a crescendo where you command them all to strike at once.
- Primary Resources: Energy & Combo Points
- New Core Mechanic: Shades
- You build stacks of a personal buff called Shades (up to 4). Each stack represents a clone you have ready to summon.
- Your primary finisher, Secret Technique, consumes all your Shades to summon that many clones for its attack. More Shades = exponentially more damage.
- Mastery: Phantom Tactics
- Increases the damage dealt by your Shade Clones from all sources. This makes Mastery a crucial stat for empowering your finishers and cooldowns.
CORE ABILITY BREAKDOWN
Builders (Clone Generation)
- Shadow Shuriken (Primary Builder)
- 40 yd range, 40 Energy, Generates 2 CP.
- Throws a shuriken at your target.
- Your CRITICAL STRIKES with this ability summon a Shade, granting you 1 stack.
- Shuriken Storm (AoE Builder)
- Fires a volley of shurikens at your target’s location.
- Each enemy critically struck by the initial volley has a 50% chance to summon a Shade.
Finishers (Clone Command)
- Secret Technique (Primary Finisher & Shade Spender)
- 40 yd range, 35 Energy, 1-5+ CP.
- You and a clone perform a whirlwind of attacks near your target.
- NEW MECHANIC: Consumes all stacks of Shades. For each stack consumed, you summon an ADDITIONAL Shade Clone to join the assault. A 5-CP, 4-Shade cast is a massive burst moment.
- Rupturing Shadows (Secondary Finisher)
- 40 yd range, 30 Energy, 1-5+ CP.
- Applies a Shadow damage bleed to the target.
- Its duration is increased by 2 seconds for each stack of Shades you currently have. This ability does NOT consume Shades, making it your go-to when you’re saving up for a big Secret Technique.
Mobility & Cooldowns
- Phantom Position (Core Mobility)
- Replaces Shadowstep. 40 yd range, 2 Charges, 25 sec recharge.
- Instantly teleport to a target location. This is your primary tool for kiting and repositioning.
- Shadow Dance (Burst Setup)
- For 8 seconds, EVERY Shadow Shuriken you cast summons a Shade (no crit required). This is your main window to rapidly build Shades.
- Symbols of Death
- Functions similarly, granting a damage buff and making your next builder a guaranteed critical strike (and thus, a guaranteed Shade).
- Echoing Shadows (Major Cooldown)
- For 15 seconds, you summon two persistent Shade Clones that float beside you and mimic every Shadow Shuriken you cast.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: THE GAMEPLAY LOOP
The rotation is all about managing your Shade generation for the biggest possible Secret Technique.
- Build Phase: Use Shadow Shuriken to build Combo Points, fishing for crits to generate Shades. Use Symbols of Death to guarantee a Shade when you need one.
- Setup Phase: Activate Shadow Dance. In this window, you can rapidly fire off Shurikens to quickly get to your maximum of 4 Shades.
- Burst Phase: With 5 Combo Points and 4 stacks of Shades, cast Secret Technique for a massive, visually impressive burst of damage.
- Sustain: When cooldowns are down or you are saving up, use Rupturing Shadows to keep consistent damage on the target without spending your precious Shades.
- Mobility: Constantly use Phantom Position to maintain optimal range and dodge mechanics, allowing you to cast uninterrupted.
Thanks for reading! I think this would create a really unique and engaging ranged spec with a high skill ceiling based on resource and cooldown management.
What are your thoughts?