Overview
Rogue/Warlock is the patient cousin of Rogue/Mage. You bring the same double-DPS threat but trade nuke burst for control depth and staying power: the Rogue locks two enemies at once while the Warlock rots the kill target with Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Curse of Agony and Siphon Life. Because you have controls on every DR category — Sap and Blind, Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot, Fear and Death Coil and Howl of Terror — a coordinated pair can run a locked target from full to dead without ever letting them act.
The flip side is that you have no panic button of raw damage. If the Rogue gets peeled, slowed or kited, your pressure evaporates, because the Warlock alone will not out-DPS a competent healer. That makes the opener everything: dot the whole enemy team, land a clean Sap, and commit your full CC chain on one kill. If you don't own the match inside the first twenty seconds, disengage, reset with Vanish and Preparation, and set up again — this comp punishes greed but rewards a clean second opener.
Win condition
Win by turning a full CC chain into a kill before the enemy healer can act. Pre-pot and pre-dot everything with Corruption, Curse of Agony, Siphon Life and Unstable Affliction so damage is already ticking, then Sap the off-target (usually a healer) and open on the kill target. The canonical sequence: Cheap Shot into five combo points, the Warlock lands Death Coil on the target as the Cheap Shot ends, Rogue Garrotes out of stealth or Kidney Shots on the Coil — if they trinket the Coil you full Kidney Shot, if they sit it you Eviscerate. Layer Fear or Howl of Terror on the healer during the stun window, refresh Unstable Affliction so any dispel blows them up, and the target dies inside one uninterrupted lockdown. Against healers you can't burst, the backup plan is attrition: keep dots rolling, Curse of Tongues the healer, and let the tanky Warlock outlast them.
Strengths
- +Stacked control across every DR — Sap, Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot, Blind, Fear, Death Coil and Howl of Terror let you chain-lock a target from opener to grave.
- +The Warlock is genuinely tanky: Siphon Life, Drain Life and Death Coil self-heals mean you win long attrition games most double-DPS teams lose.
- +A clean opener deletes uncoordinated teams in one CC chain before they get a cast off.
Weaknesses
- −No real burst — outside a Nightfall Shadow Bolt proc you have to tunnel, so a peeled Rogue means zero pressure.
- −Whiff the opener and the comp stalls hard; a slowed, kited Rogue with a tanky healer across from you is a loss you can't force.
Cooldown timeline
Everything hinges on the first stun window, so stack cooldowns there. Rogue opens with Premeditation into Cheap Shot for a five-point Kidney Shot, uses Shadowstep to close and reopen, and holds Preparation to reset Vanish/Cold Blood/Blind for a second full opener if the first stalls. The Warlock pre-casts dots, then dumps Death Coil, Fear and a Nightfall-proc instant Shadow Bolt into the same window; Fel Domination re-summons the Felhunter for a fresh Spell Lock if it died. Save Blind and Cloak of Shadows for the peel war — Cloak eats the enemy's kill setup, Blind resets a healer's tempo. Around the two-minute mark, PvP trinkets and Vanish/Preparation are back; that's your best second kill attempt, so bank them if the opener didn't connect rather than bleeding them on defense.
Positioning
The Warlock is your weak link — immobile, and dead if the enemy trains it. Keep the Warlock near a pillar at all times so it can LoS incoming casters and pets while it dots and Fears, and never let it get caught in the open against a melee or hunter. The Rogue plays the space between the two enemies, using Kidney Shot on one and Blind or Gouge on the other to peel for the Warlock while the dots do work. Against melee, kite the Rogue's threat to the pillar and let the Warlock use the wall to break line of sight on healers mid-Fear. When you commit the kill, both of you funnel one target into the open away from their healer's line of sight; when you're on defense, collapse back to the pillar and reset.
Vs. the meta
This is your hardest wall — the Druid HoT-kites out of your dot pressure while the Warrior Hamstrings, Intercepts and Pummels the Rogue off the kill. Don't tunnel the Warrior; you can't kill him through a peeling Druid. Instead train the Druid: Curse of Exhaustion and Curse of Tongues to slow his casts and kite, Cheap Shot/Kidney into a Warlock Fear to force him out of Bear/HoT range, and Cloak of Shadows to shrug the Warrior's slows so the Rogue can stay on the healer. Bait Cyclone with Cloak up and only fully commit once the Druid is out of position and low on mana. Expect long games — your Warlock's Drain/Siphon self-sustain is what wins them.
Gear requirements
- ▸Rogue: stack Vengeful Gladiator resilience and grab the arena set energy bonus as early as possible; run a fast off-hand dagger with a slow, high-damage main-hand for fat Hemorrhage and Eviscerate hits.
- ▸Warlock: prioritize resilience and Stamina to survive being trained, then shadow spell damage; keep mana regen honest and a Felhunter (Spell Lock) or Succubus (Seduction) ready, since you win the attrition games and can't afford to be caught out of mana.
Tips
- •Pre-dot the whole enemy team before you Sap — free pressure that also stops stealth/vanish resets and forces early defensive globals.
- •Never dispel-bait carelessly: keep Unstable Affliction rolling so any priest or shaman that cleanses your dots eats the UA detonation.
- •Use Preparation as your reset button, not your panic button — if the first opener stalls, Vanish out, re-Sap, and rebuild the chain rather than feeding damage.
- •Coordinate the Rogue's Kidney Shot and the Warlock's Death Coil on different DR so your stun window on the kill target is as long as possible before Fear takes over on the healer.
Gear & talents for this comp
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