Sinister Calling buffed in 3.1
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 31st 2009 at 7:00PM
A bug where Glyph of Backstab interacted with Dirty Deeds to cause the glyph to benefit attacks other than Backstab was, apparently, recently fixed. However, there was concern that this bug fix would hurt Subtlety DPS too hard, so the Sub talent Sinister Calling is being buffed to compensate - full Sinister Calling will now award a 10% damage bonus to Backstab and Hemorrhage, instead of 5%. This buff will go live with patch 3.1.
Rogues are in a place in PvE that I don't recall them ever being in before Wrath: all three trees have viable raid specs. Most rogues seem to be Mut right now, but Combat is still holding its own, and I'm told that HaT specs are quite strong depending on the particular group and fight. It seems like the glyph bug wouldn't really have been affecting PvE much, given that raid mobs aren't often stunned or incapacitated, so this change acts as a straight buff for raiding HaTters. In PvP, on the other hand, this should keep Sub from getting stomped on too hard. Buffs are always so nice to write about - I like bringing good news to you guys.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jason Mar 31st 2009 7:08PM
I still don't think i'd call all 3 trees raid viable. Assassination is now. Combat will be after the patch. Sub to me still seems lackluster and I don't think an extra 5% on a talent will change that.
Riley Mar 31st 2009 7:13PM
Combat is most definitely already viable, but will be moreso after the patch
jason Mar 31st 2009 7:17PM
combat does ok now. But it's not up to par compared to assassination.
Grubba Apr 1st 2009 3:13AM
"I still don't think i'd call all 3 trees raid viable. Assassination is now. Combat will be after the patch. Sub to me still seems lackluster and I don't think an extra 5% on a talent will change that."
If you think that about Sub, you really haven't been paying attention to Honor Among Thieves builds. At their worst, they're more or less on par with Assassination and Combat. At their best, they're the top build.
Jason Apr 1st 2009 11:09AM
Sure, HAT was on top. When it was bugged.
Pifoah Mar 31st 2009 7:08PM
i hate rogues
Cyno01 Mar 31st 2009 7:10PM
As a HAT rogue, all i can say is yay. Between this and the poison change allowing for the use of slow weapons again, hemo may not just be for combo points anymore.
Unfortunately most HAT builds dont take Slaughter from the Shadows, leaving backstab at still too high an energy cost to be workable in a rotation.
Allen Mar 31st 2009 7:29PM
This bug has not been fixed yet.
Zeplar Mar 31st 2009 8:03PM
Rogues still just need buffs all round...
When I hit 80 on my moonkin, still wearing t4/5-ish stuff and a couple quest blues, I was around 1500 DPS.
When my rogue friend hit 80, he was around 900 DPS. And he's a 'pure' class.
There's rogues with good gear in my guild doing 2500, 3000 DPS... but then the death knights, warriors, and hunters are doing 3500.
Being pure, they ought to be above warriors, and being melee, I think they should really be above hunters. I mean, Mail, Ranged, and one of the best DPS classes? Not really fair to the leather and melee rogues.
Lorsty Mar 31st 2009 8:37PM
For a moment I read the title as "Sinister Squashling buffed in patch 3.1" and I was like "wut".
Then my heart was broken when I noticed it had nothing to do with the pet. *sniffs*
Avrus Mar 31st 2009 9:26PM
Uh ... wow ... a rogue fix.
I had to read it twice to make sure it wasn't an April fools posting.
Lemons Mar 31st 2009 9:54PM
Sinister Calling originally was just +15% agil. Then they buffed it I think around the same time they buffed shs (I want to say 2.3?) and gave it +5% hemo damage and +10% backstab damage.
It was great. My backstabs felt like they were actually doing the damage they should have been doing all along. But then the blues quickly nerfed the +10% backstab damage down to +5%. Doesn't seem like a huge nerf, but I definately felt it.
I don't understand why, but a lot of nerfs are aimed specifically at sub daggers. It's a very difficult spec to play (what with all the positioning required) and almost no one specs it, and yet the people that do are continueally punished for it.
Another example that happened recently was when blizz nerfed letheality to only apply to attacks done outside of stealth (a direct nerf to ambush and thus shadow dance). I realize the need for the nerf in terms of a 10k ambush and then 2 5k mutilates was simply too much damage too quickly. But in terms of sub, ambushing some1 for 6-7k felt about right. Now I'm lucky to see an ambush crit for over 5k and I'm using Sinsiter Revenge as my MH weapon.
I don't understand why Blizz is so intent on nerfing a spec that needs buffs more than anything. This change to Sinister Calling is nice, but in reality it's changing it back to how it should have been all along. I hope blizz doesn't stop with this Sinister Calling buff and takes a good hard look at sub pvp as a whole.
Shnissigah Apr 1st 2009 3:02AM
when i first saw this, is was all like :o
then when i saw the words "buff for sub" i put on my rape face >:D
but then, i saw how puny it is, and i died a little inside...
koki Apr 1st 2009 8:20AM
i think this is retarded... so bliz fucks up and sub is doing more damage than it should so they fix a glitch then buff the spec because people would QQ that they are doing less damage than when their spec was glitched absolutely pathetic
Josh Apr 1st 2009 10:35AM
They didn't say sub was doing too much damage, they said there was a bug causing certain abilities too that was undiscovered when they did their DPS balancing.
There were other rogue bugs that blizz balanced around and then fixed the bugs without compensation, and that's why rogue DPS is as low as it is now.
SINisterWyvern Apr 1st 2009 10:43AM
You're an idiot. Where has anyone stated that Sub was doing more damage than it should? Sub was at the DPS that Blizzard intended when the glitch was happening and they did not know about it. After they found and fixed the glitch they found that Sub dps was lower than they intended and then buffed it.
Use brain to think, then speak.
kryonik Apr 1st 2009 11:59AM
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. Who the heck uses Backstab as HaT in a PvE situation?
jizzt Apr 27th 2009 2:40PM
"full Sinister Calling will now award a 10% damage bonus to Backstab and Hemorrhage, instead of 5%...
...so this change acts as a straight buff for raiding HaTters."
any HAT spec that gets sinister calling is gimping themselves