TBC Rogue P1 Raid Boss & Expose Armor Guide – Karazhan, Gruul & Magtheridon

Video version of this guide:

FYI – I’ll cover any boss specific extra consumes here, but if you’re looking for a general raid consumes list, I covered that in the Rogue TBC F.A.Q. guide.

You should also always be stacking haste potions on top of your usual CD stack during bosses if you’re intending to parse.

Sno’s PvE CD Tracker Weakaura (public + patreon version)

People have been waiting for the final versions of these and they’re now ready. Below is both the free version available to everyone and the updated new patreon version that has added features such as dynamic growth and I went ahead and pre-added other active trinkets for you.

This aura tracks:

  • Trinkets
  • PvE dps abilities (BF/AR)
  • Main active dps consumables (drums and tea)
  • Only shows the cooldown if you have the ability learnt, trinket equipped or the consumable in your bag

How to set it up:

By default it’s set to track Bloodlust Brooch and the JC Panther trinket. If you use other active trinkets instead, then you need to select one of the trinkets and change the name/ID under Trigger 1 and Trigger 2 to match the name of your trinket:

I took the basic version and amped it up for the patreons. You get a dynamic growing bar that auto extends/shrinks based on how many cooldowns it’s tracking currently (it only shows what you have trained/in your bags/equipped).

It’s the same one you see Sno using currently on stream for raiding:

I already added all the TBC active trinkets for you, so you don’t have to add anything yourself. Let me know if there’s a trinket missing and I can add it in for you.

It also glows when under 10 seconds to let you know when the cooldown is coming up (similar to my PvP HuD weakaura):

Grab it here on my patreon:

TBC parsing is a extremely group dependant

Just fyi – the tips I’m going to give are for you to improve your own raid performance and maybe even cheese out some nice parses, but be aware that actually ranking high in a TBC parse is VERY group setup reliant.

If your guild isn’t setting up your group to have a close to ideal comp involving shaman, hunter, war at the least, it’s going to be very hard to compete at the 99+ parse level. This is before we even add in the fast kill times required to get high parses.

I’d advise you to do these strats for fun and to improve your own performance, but don’t expect 99s without the correct group setup and kill times.

Expose Armor rotation

You have 2 real choices for your expose armor rotation:

  1. 5 pt expose armor from start then SnD after
  2. 1pt SnD into 5 pt expose armor

Both rotations are mostly fine BUT if your guild is hardcore then I’d go 5pt expose first with burning tea or AR to make sure you get it up ASAP for maximum raid benefit.

Phase 1 is kind of chill though, so with the lack of speedrunning and not many hardcore guilds really pushing pace, you’re mostly fine to just do a 1pt snd into 5pt expose to not sacrifice your own dps quite as much. I have extra notes for expose armor noted under each of the bosses where there are mechanics and things you need to watch for if you choose to expose armor.

I like to think of the 15 second mark on expose armor debuff as a rough final point where I can use a different finisher and still have enough time to get back 5pts to refresh expose armor.

Note: If you do expose armor, you really, really, do not want it to ever drop off (otherwise the raid is back to hitting a high armor boss – which really sucks).

Gruul & Magtheridon Boss Guide

These fights are slightly more ‘proper 25 man’ and raids will expect you to do your job more vs. Karazhan where it’s more casual. This means you’re often expose armoring on these 25 man fights.

Honestly the parsing meta for High King is a bit of a joke because the strategy is burn him from start. You just pop full CDs at the start + go hard. The really good guilds will kill High King Maulgar in under 20 seconds, which leads to just crazy weird talent builds with premed just to cheese the parse.

I won’t be covering the full cheese strats and will be more assuming you have a standard combat talent spec and normal kill time.

Ideal parse strategy:

  1. Your tanks need to position High King Maulgar with an add nearby so you benefit from cleave damage during the burn
  2. Get SnD up and pop full CDs after with Bloodlust and drums
  3. Evasion during whirlwind only at your own risk

Things to watch for:

  • Rogues don’t have a lot of dodge right now, which means you can still have a decent chance to be hit through evasion and die to whirlwind

Expose Armor:

Check your kill time to make sure your kill is long enough to get full value from a 5 pt expose armor.

Ideal parse strategy:

  1. Use 2 min CDs at the start (you should get multiple uses of 2 min CDs on gruul)
  2. If possible try to get shaman in your group to use Bloodlust with first or 2nd CD timing (otherwise they’ll often use it randomly later when you’re in awkward spot between 2 min CDs)
  3. If possible try to position next to Gruul after each ground slam to continue dpsing (not always doable)
  4. Cloak of Shadows after each ground slam (after you land) to avoid the slow (you still need to watch for people near you though)
  5. You can vanish the ground slam aoe to avoid getting knocked up (vanish at end of the cast like usual) – you still need to space properly afterwards

Things to watch for:

  • Be very careful when positioning near Gruul to continue dpsing after ground slam – the last thing you want is to accidentally kill the tank standing near there

Expose Armor:

The expose armor rotation is very tricky on Gruul due to the awkward ground slam timings. If you are expose armoring here then expect to sometimes get screwed on dps while trying to hold 5 combo pts waiting on ground slam.

Ideally you have a nice duration expose armor up just before ground slam goes out, but sometimes it may fall off in between ground slam and re-engage, which means your job will be to get it back up ASAP.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. If assigned to kick, try to be assigned to a double stack of casters so you can get some cleave damage in while doing your kicks
  2. P1 = Get SnD up, pop full CDs at start of P1 for maximum cleave damage (but hold some globals/energy for kick too) – you’ll get 2nd set of full CDs in during end of Mag for typical guild kill times
  3. P2/3 = Normal rotation but watch SnD timers towards your click turn, so you don’t waste a SnD refresh right before you run out to click
  4. You can min/max extra dps by using Agility potions for P1 adds, then swapping to Elixir of Demonslaying for Magtheridon himself

Things to watch for:

  • The P1 casters usually have a small window in between casts – you can use those windows to get some damage in but always hold global/energy when kick is needed
  • I HIGHLY recommend using Evasion during initial cleave into a vanish if needed – it’s easy to pull aggro here
  • Mag is a demon/undead, but his P1 adds are not. This means you could potentially get good value from a Mark of the Champion trinket IF your mag kill time is long (but don’t use it if you have a quicker kill time).

Expose Armor:

If doing expose armor I recommend asking to be on first click rotation (and preferably the click closest to Magtheridon). You want to get a full expose right before you run out for your click (or have another rogue handle expose before your click if there are 2 rogues).

Karazhan Boss Guide

Keep in mind that Karazhan is a more casual 10 man raid, so a lot of guilds take it less seriously than full 25 man guild raids. You can still expose armor in Karazhan, but a lot of guilds/raids won’t mind if you want to have some fun and not worry about exposing on Karazhan bosses.

Ideal parse strategy:

  1. Hold CDs until after boss splits at P2 (you’re unlikely to get more than 1 set of CDs on Attumen unless something goes wrong)
  2. Try to have both Attumen + Midnight tanked close enough together for that juicy blade flurry cleave
  3. Burn all CDs during P2 to maximize cleave damage
  4. If you get the debuff ‘Intagible Presence’ during the fight, use cloak of shadows to remove it quickly

Things to watch for:

  • Threat resets at the phases, so give it a second for tank to re-pick up aggro. I’d highly recommend a safety evasion if you’re going to start attacking early.
  • Don’t forget eviscerate always beats rupture when cleaving
  • Undead – you can use Mark of the Champion on this boss

Expose Armor:

Expose works fine on this fight, just make sure you’re exposing on the kill target and not running off to expose Attumen while the raid is killing Midnight.

Ideal parse strategy:

  1. Pop drums before/as you engage and make sure shaman knows to bloodlust early (this fight is really quick – it’s easy to waste Bloodlust uptime if you pop it late in the fight)
  2. Get SnD up, position to make sure you have a good cleave then pop full CDs ASAP (make sure you’re not cleaving any shackled adds though)
  3. On Moroes use eviscerates for your finisher (rupture may not be ticking for damage when he disappears)

Things to watch for:

  • Add targets can sometimes die insanely fast here and make you waste combo pts. If this is happening to you then it may be worth targeting a different ad than the kill target to make sure you get full value from cleave + combo points (but if you’re on kick duty make sure you still do you job)
  • Don’t forget eviscerate always beats rupture when cleaving
  • Undead – you can use Mark of the Champion on this boss

Expose Armor:

I don’t recommend expose armor for this fight. The adds die way too quick and Moroes himself is constantly disappearing, making expose rotation sketchy and not generally worth.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Basic tank and spank fight for you, so nothing fancy here (just watch out for being too close to casters and getting chain aoe killed

Things to watch for:

  • If you get Holy Fire you can cloak of shadows it

Expose Armor:

Easy expose armor boss since you’re just standing behind her DPSing the entire fight. There’s no real mechanics to be worried about besides just watching for the chain aoe deaths.

Note: Opera event is excluded from warcraft logs all star points, so you can parse on it but it won’t count towards any actual ranks

Event 1: Wizard of Oz

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Usually too quick to get good usage from 2 sets of 2 min CDs, so hold CDs and see if you can find a good chance to get a big blade flurry in (and if you do then obviously pop all CDs)

Things to watch for:

  • Don’t cleave down Tito before Dorothee (it’s fine to damage him but just don’t kill him before she dies)

Expose Armor:

Easy tank/spank type fight (just with multiple mini bosses in a row), so you’re free to expose armor like a normal fight. Just watch out for exposing if the mini boss is dying too fast to get value from it.

Event 2: Big Bad Wolf

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Just a tank/spank fight. Pop full CDs whenever your shaman uses Bloodlust.

Things to watch for:

  • Don’t forget to evasion/vanish if you get picked as the chase target

Expose Armor:

Standard tank and spank expose armor fight outside of the ‘chasing’ mechanic.

Event 3: Romulo and Julianne

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Check your kill time. If greater than about 2 mins 30 seconds then you might be safe to use 2 min CDs at start and still have it up again at end of the fight.
  2. Wait to pop final CDs until final phase for big cleave damage on both Romulo and Julianne

Things to watch for:

  • Don’t forget to kick on the heal if required

Expose Armor:

Both Romulo and Julianne are fine to expose armor as normal if you wish. I might not necessarily worry about exposing during the cleave phase though since you might be busy cleaving during that (but if you want to then you could get expose up on your primary target before cleaving).

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Check kill time, if sub 2 min 30 seconds kill then hold CDs for Bloodlust (if longer kill time you might get 2 sets of 2 min CDs in)
  2. Ideally your ranged DPS needs to be able to handle adds without you swapping off boss
  3. Shaman needs to pop Bloodlust before actual burn phase if you have a decent kill speed (otherwise you end up wasting Bloodlust timer at the end of the fight)

Things to watch for:

  • If your ranged dps gets overwhelmed or calls for help on adds you may need to swap off

Expose Armor:

Easy tank/spank expose armor fight if you’re staying on boss the entire time. If you’re helping on adds then just be aware that you need to monitor expose time to make sure you never drop expose armor while killing adds.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Pop drums before/as you run in (this is usually a very fast fight like Moroes if done well)
  2. Try to have Kil’rek tanked next to Illhoof so you can get an easier big cleave (not required but having two higher hp cleave targets next to each other makes it easier to get full value vs. low hp adds that keep dying too quick)
  3. Get SnD up and pop full CDs, pay a lot of attention to positioning to try get full cleave value during BF duration
  4. Depending on strategy/dps your guild may choose to stay on Illhoof and burn him down with Bloodlust even after Kil’rek respawns

Things to watch for:

  • You still need to help kill chains if someone gets chained
  • Undead/demon – you can use Mark of the Champion on this boss

Expose Armor:

A bit of a chaotic fight, so I generally wouldn’t worry about exposing here since you’re swapping between targets constantly with Kil’rek, chains and Illhoof. Kil’rek is also too low armor to worry about exposing anyway.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Don’t accidentally start the fight BUT you can sneak in closer in stealth to get higher uptime by engaging quicker
  2. Check kill time – you might get 2 sets of 2 min CDs in if you have a longer kill time
  3. Save sprint for arcane explosion (stay in longer during cast time, then run out slightly later with sprint – but don’t do this if there’s a Blizzard slowing you of course)
  4. Try to position next to Shade if he’s casting Flame Wreath so that you can dps during that period if you get put inside the fire circle

Things to watch for:

  • You cannot cloak arcane explosion
  • You can vanish arcane explosion – but it’s generally a dumb idea to do this because if you fail you’re going to die (I’d only do this if I was going for a 100 parse or something huge, it’s not generally worth the risk)

Expose Armor:

Don’t expose armor Shade of Aran. He has too low starting armor.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Green beam into blue beam (or vice versa) is your ideal assignment if you want to parse
  2. Most guilds do the ‘run away’ strategy – but you can actually increase dps if you do the stay in but avoid breathe strategy (it’s just riskier though so less guilds do this)
  3. If doing ‘run out’ strategy you’ll usually get 2 sets of 2 min CDs, so use CDs at the start if possible to stack well with Bloodlust

Things to watch for:

  • Green beams make your abilities cheaper to use
  • Blue beams increase your damage
  • Watch the timing on end of portal phase to avoid wasting uptime on your SnD

Expose Armor:

Normal expose armor rotation, but you might want to save some combo points to come back in with the quicker expose armor if you do the ‘run out’ strategy.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. Check kill time, but if 2 min 30 seconds+ you might be able to fit in 2 sets of 2 min CDs
  2. Have tank position near the run out ‘nook’ for quicker in/out aoe avoidance
  3. You can both cloak + vanish the knockback aoe (I highly recommend NOT trying to do it if you get enfeebled though)

Things to watch for:

  • Cloak of Shadows still has a 10% chance to fail, so generally don’t try to cloak the aoe if you get enfeebled. That’s a 10% chance you die (which is not worth unless you’re going for a big 100 parse)
  • If you have the Shadow Word Pain dot on you be careful to watch aoe timing – you can go from high hp to dead really fast if you get an unlucky tick of the shadow dot + aoe at the same time
  • If parry haste is not a concern you can stand in front of Prince just before his knockback for better knockback positioning
  • Demon – you can use Mark of the Champion on this boss

Expose Armor:

Exposing is fine on this fight, but you may have to hold extra combo points at times to play it safe, since enfeebles and running out with bad meteor rng can make expose armor a bit annoying sometimes.

Ideal parsing strategy:

  1. (option 1) Use CDs at start – you’ll get them back up later again anyway
  2. (option 2) Use CDs at start BUT hold BF/Cloak for add phase
  3. If you held BF/Cloak, then use cloak to run in + sapper/grenades (when up) + prepopped BF to get add damage (you can do this every add phase that you have BF/Cloak up)

Things to watch for:

  • Your parse here will rely a lot on your guilds strategy – some guilds don’t let melee do anything during air phase
  • Timing with bloodlust can be awkward on this fight sometimes so talk to shaman to time your AR/Tea properly with them
  • Cloak of Shadows can also be used to clear debuffs on yourself/tail swipe if you have it up when you get hit by any of those
  • Undead – you can use Mark of the Champion on this boss

Expose Armor:

Normal expose armor rotation, but if not hitting adds then you may consider holding some combo pts to get quicker expose armor up on boss when he lands after each air phase.