10k is a minium health level. Shot for as much resilience as you can fit while keeping other stats up, the PvP gear is matched just fine. If you got 40+ combat, +hit becomes better.

Regarding positioning, that is a playstyle thing, if you can handle the back, keep what you have.

Common addons like cooldown timers (OmniCC), cast bars (Natur's enemy cast bar), energy tic (until 2.2 patch) counter, and some mod to track stuns/gouge.

10k hitpoints unbuffed is what you want to aim at and anything above that is pretty useless in my opinion. I always try to stay at around 10.2-10.3k hitpoints unbuffed and for the rest I'm stacking dps gems and enchants. Just to give you an example of my pvp stats unbuffed: 10.2k hitpoints, 27% dodge, 1450 attack power (will be around 1470 when I get my season 2 legs enchanted), 28% crit, 120'ish hit rating and around 320 resilience. I believe the biggest mistake alot of rogues make is to focus so much on survivability that they forgot to get decent dps stats. A rogue that can't do high damage might as well be replaced. Using pve gear in the ring,neck,bracer,belt and boot slots is nothing to be ashamed off as these items tend to offer more balanced stats.

It entirely depends on your battlegroup, some you need 11,000-12,000 health and 350+ resilience, others you're fine with 10,000 and 275-300 reslience because they don't realize you can kill a Rogue easly.

It's not eally a mistake to focus on survivability, it's covered pretty well in the Rogue PvP topic.

I've got about 10.8k HP and I'm currently subbing OUT Elunes for more resi (currently 360) and dps stats. Once you get to a level where you can survive some burst while a healer is CC'd, resilience is more valuable than stam.

QR is amazingly valuable and it's what I'm going to miss most going to Maces this week.

Re: poisons.

Always always carry a spare OH and put Crippling / Mind Numbing on your main/spare as per your needs. If I'm focusing a warrior's target, I'll shiv MN over Crip as standard, since Hamstring is good enough.

Then make a macro that swaps your OH weapon (I use Warp Splinter's thorn as my spare, since it's 1.4 speed). I have one that swaps OH then swaps back when pressed again. So I can shiv two poisons on. It's probably the best thing I ever did for my PvP utility (being able to snare and 'tongues' is amazingly useful, esp. now MN lasts longer than tongues).

For Maces I'm going to use Blackout Truncheon.

Another thing to remember about Mutilate poisons is this: you need your target to be poisoned to do good dps, of course. However- when a target has BoF, they're immune to Crippling and when they have a Mortal Strike on them, they're immune to Wound. You can either put a single Mind Numb on them to Mutilate off, but it's very easy to cleanse a single layer (depending on your Vile level). Your only other option is Deadly, which is great, and does good damage, but stops you gouging. Something to bear in mind.

I'm also going to weapon chain my spare OH for the few times I meet people who try to disarm me (I use double mongoose most of the time for PvE reasons as much as anything else).

I have a question though - how valuable do people consider 5% parry + Riposte and what do you give up for it? I've seen that Xechs takes it and gives up 1/3 SnD and 2/3 Aggression for example... any thoughts?

Er, Riposte isn't just for the disarm, it's an incredibly strong instant attack for 10 energy. All Battlegroups are riddled with PvE server teams that do quite well, and very often those warriors have decided to dip into more Flurry and sometimes 0 or even 1 point into their weapon talent. This is also true for rogues, you'll find quite a few who are rocking double mongoose. For combat dagger I can see passing it up, but not heavy swords, maces or fists.

I won't argue the necessity of having 3/3 Imp SnD if you're still raiding a lot though, but if you're spec'ing for PvP I would never pass it up.

Edit: Sorry, I somehow read that "Cheap" as it being unsportsmanslike instead of it being good damage for 10 energy. But I still think you're discounting how powerful 1k+ hits are for 10 energy. That's another instant strike that's going to proc mace or sword spec.

My goals are 9500 HP and 300 rsl, 1500 AP 25% crit and at least 7% hit (though I don't think more is wasted in PVP given how hard it is to burst someone down). I'm not there yet and I run with way too much hit in PVP (16% right now), but it's not too far away. Good goals or should I adjust anything?

I just got my s2 dagger so I'm pretty committed to staying Mutilate, though I was tempted to go combat maces. I know the spec gets weaker as my opponents get stronger, but for my balance of PVE and PVP I think it was my best choice.

I tend to play initial disruption (sap + stun), then burst (renataki's with cold blood mutilate), then disruption for the rest of the game (kick, stun, gouge).

You actually have to contort pretty hard to keep Riposte + get everything else you need - it costs 1 point in Imp Evis(who cares), all of Murder(sorta sucks), and 1 point in Lethality(definitely sucks). I've found that it's worth the sacrifice to keep it, but many other rogues won't agree.

It's only a 10-12% chance to proc, if they're attacking in front of you and only melee classes which mostly means Rogues and Warriors, if the Rogue is Mutilate then thats even less time spent in front of you, just don't see it worth the 6 talent points required.

I disagree. I can count a few times riposte has won the game for us. Its not for the disarm, its for that wierd time you are on their caster and the warlock pet is chasing you around to keep you from vanishing. 10 energy for another attack I find to be amazing.

And dont discount the extra 5 percent avoidance from parry vs warriors and rogues. With reflexes and parry I am at 98 percent avoidance with mongoose up. Without I am at 88 percent and the difference is remarkable for survivability.

But then I am one of those freaks that likes the 5/31/25 build...I find the extra evasion and AR are amazing if you mistime them. Maybe it just lets me be a bit sloppier, but its nice to be able to AR twice if I get feared off that warlock or kill the priest and need to get back on another target. Plus 2 vanishes and 2 improved sprints are godsends.

I've seen maybe 2-3 games that Warlocks have put there pet on me, the only time I've ever had any pet stay on me is when (on my Warrior) I'd AE taunt them this includes Hunters, they'll go onto a healer 99% of the time.

5% avoidance when you aren't stunned and they're in front of you, unless they've changed something so you can parry/dodge from behind.

My guess is you're on a burst damage team, since a prep build is incredibly weak once you've burned your cooldowns, and you lose most of your sustained damage.

Yeah, I put warlock pet in there, but it applies to hunter pets as well. A frenzied pet on you isnt doing much damage, but it allows you some nice burst and the hunter cant melee me.

As for my build, I lose lethality, relentless, combat potency and the 41 point combat talent. Or I lose quick recovery. I still have sword spec, adrenaline rush, dual wield spec, precision, improved sprint. I find lethality to be lackluster at best in a resilience rich enviorment. I miss lethality alot. Combat potency is great for sustained DPS, but in my pvp gear my hit is lacking anyway. I miss surprise attacks. Having a kidney shot dodged is painful. Quick recovery I dont miss at all surprisingly. My job is to avoid being a focus target, not tank and soak heals.

In return I gain armor penetration, hemo, prep, faster movement while stealthed, double vanish, double improved sprint and double AR. Being able to do 2 rushdowns in a match is amazing. Yes I do less sustained damage. I feel I have more control during a match, however and having a 35 energy instant is better then a 40 energy one for many reasons.

Our toughest matches are usually mirrors. Having better stealth and double the timers over combat rogues is almost an auto-win especially when I have most of the combat tricks.