WoW Classic Rogue Macros Guide – PvP, PvE, Raid & Dungeon

Macros are essential tools that separate good Rogues from great ones in WoW Classic. Whether you’re ambushing players in world PvP, controlling targets in battlegrounds, or maximizing DPS in raids, the right macros can dramatically improve your performance. This comprehensive guide covers all the essential macros you need for PvP combat, PvE encounters, dungeon runs, and raid progression across all three Rogue specializations.

A well-crafted macro can combine multiple actions into one button press, reduce reaction time in critical moments, and help you maintain optimal positioning during intense fights. From stealth openers to defensive cooldowns, we’ll cover everything you need to dominate as a Rogue in WoW Classic.

Understanding Macro Basics

Before diving into specific macros, you need to understand how macros work in WoW Classic. The macro system allows you to automate sequences of commands, create conditional actions, and streamline your gameplay.

Creating Your First Macro

Open the macro interface by typing /macro or pressing ESC > Macros. You’ll see two categories: General macros (available to all characters) and character-specific macros. Each category can hold up to 18 macros.

Click “New” to create a macro, choose an icon, and give it a memorable name. The text field below is where you’ll enter your commands. Each macro can contain up to 255 characters, so you’ll need to be concise with your scripting.

Essential Macro Commands

Understanding these core commands will help you create powerful macros for any situation:

#showtooltip – Displays the tooltip and icon of the spell you’re using. Place this at the start of your macro to show cooldown timers and mana costs.

/cast – Uses an ability or spell. This is the foundation of most combat macros.

/startattack – Begins auto-attacking your target. Essential for maintaining white damage between ability uses.

/stopcasting – Cancels your current cast. Useful for interrupt macros and quick reactions.

/targetenemy – Targets the nearest enemy. Helpful for quick target acquisition in PvP.

/cleartarget – Clears your current target. Used in some advanced targeting macros.

[modifier] – Creates conditional actions based on key modifiers (shift, ctrl, alt). Allows multiple abilities on one button.

[stance:X] – Checks if you’re in a specific stance. For Rogues, this typically means checking stealth status.

[harm] and [help] – Differentiates between enemy and friendly targets for smart-targeting abilities.

Stealth and Opener Macros

Your opening move often determines the outcome of a fight. These macros ensure you execute the perfect opener every time, whether you’re ganking in world PvP or initiating boss pulls in dungeons.

Stealth Opener Macro

This all-in-one opener macro applies your poison, enters stealth, and prepares you for combat:

#showtooltip Stealth
/cast [nostealth] Stealth
/cast [stealth] Cheap Shot
/startattack

This macro enters Stealth when you’re visible and switches to Cheap Shot when you’re already hidden. The startattack command ensures your auto-attacks begin immediately after the stun lands.

Ambush or Cheap Shot Macro

Choose your opener based on the situation with modifier keys:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Ambush; Cheap Shot
/startattack

Hold Shift for a high-damage Ambush opener in PvE, or use the default Cheap Shot for PvP control. This flexibility is crucial for adapting to different scenarios without cluttering your action bars.

Garrote Silence Macro

Perfect for interrupting casters from stealth:

#showtooltip Garrote
/cast [stealth] Garrote
/startattack

This macro ensures you only use Garrote while stealthed, preventing accidental casts when you meant to use other finishers. Essential for shutting down healers in PvP before they can react.

Sap with Re-stealth

Control enemies and immediately re-enter stealth for additional crowd control:

#showtooltip Sap
/cast Sap
/cast [nostealth] Stealth

After using Sap, this macro attempts to re-enter stealth, allowing you to chain crowd control on multiple targets in dungeons or set up additional openers in PvP.

Combat and DPS Macros

Maximizing your damage output requires efficient ability usage and proper cooldown management. These macros help you maintain your rotation while handling mechanics.

Sinister Strike with Auto-Attack

Never miss a single auto-attack between your abilities:

#showtooltip Sinister Strike
/cast Sinister Strike
/startattack

This simple but essential macro ensures you’re always auto-attacking, which represents a significant portion of your overall DPS. Perfect for both Combat and Assassination specs.

Backstab Positioning Macro

Automatically face your target and execute Backstab:

#showtooltip Backstab
/cast Backstab
/startattack

While this won’t automatically position you behind the target, it ensures you begin attacking immediately when you land the backstab, maximizing your damage uptime.

Slice and Dice Maintenance

Never let your Slice and Dice buff fall off with this reminder macro:

#showtooltip Slice and Dice
/cast Slice and Dice
/script UIErrorsFrame:AddMessage("Slice and Dice Active!", 0.1, 1.0, 0.1, 1.0, 5)

This macro casts the ability and displays a green message confirming activation, helping you track this crucial buff during intense fights.

Eviscerate Finisher

Your primary damage finisher with attack continuation:

#showtooltip Eviscerate
/cast Eviscerate
/startattack

Use this at 4-5 combo points for maximum burst damage in both PvE and PvP situations when you don’t need to refresh Slice and Dice.

Expose Armor Raid Macro

Coordinate with your raid to apply this armor reduction debuff:

#showtooltip Expose Armor
/cast Expose Armor
/raid Applied Expose Armor on %t

This announces to your raid that you’ve applied the debuff, preventing other Rogues from overwriting it unnecessarily and wasting combo points.

Cooldown and Burst Macros

Timing your cooldowns correctly can turn a losing fight into a victory. These macros stack your offensive and defensive abilities for maximum impact.

All-in Burst Macro

Combine your major cooldowns for devastating burst damage:

#showtooltip Adrenaline Rush
/cast Adrenaline Rush
/cast Blade Flurry
/use 13
/use 14

This macro activates Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry while using both your equipped trinkets. Perfect for execute phases in raids or finishing low-health targets in PvP.

Cold Blood Ambush

Guarantee a critical hit with your hardest-hitting ability:

#showtooltip Cold Blood
/cast Cold Blood
/cast Ambush

This Subtlety-specific macro combines Cold Blood with Ambush for guaranteed critical hits exceeding 2000 damage on cloth targets. Devastating for one-shot attempts in PvP.

Defensive Cooldown Stack

Survive dangerous situations by activating all defensive abilities at once:

#showtooltip Evasion
/cast Evasion
/cast [equipped:shield] Riposte
/use Healthstone

This panic button activates Evasion, attempts to use Riposte if you have a shield equipped, and consumes your Healthstone. Bind this to an easily accessible key for emergency situations.

Crowd Control Macros

Controlling enemy players and NPCs is where Rogues truly shine. These macros help you manage multiple targets and chain crowd control effects.

Blind Focus Macro

Apply Blind to your focus target without changing your current target:

#showtooltip Blind
/cast [@focus,exists] Blind; Blind

Essential for PvP, this macro lets you control a healer while you continue DPS on your main target. Set your focus before the fight begins for best results.

Kick Interrupt

Stop spell casts with precise interrupts:

#showtooltip Kick
/stopcasting
/cast Kick

This macro cancels your current ability to immediately interrupt an enemy cast. Critical for preventing critical heals or damaging spells in both PvP and PvE.

Gouge with Automatic Facing

Ensure your Gouge lands by automatically facing your target:

#showtooltip Gouge
/cast Gouge

Gouge requires you to face your target, and this macro ensures proper positioning for successful crowd control. Use this to create distance or set up repositioning.

Kidney Shot Focus Target

Stun your focus target while maintaining DPS on your primary target:

#showtooltip Kidney Shot
/cast [@focus,exists] Kidney Shot; Kidney Shot

Similar to the Blind macro, this allows you to control secondary targets in group PvP or dungeon pulls without losing your main target selection.

Sap Mouseover Macro

Crowd control enemies by simply hovering over them:

#showtooltip Sap
/cast [@mouseover,exists] Sap; Sap

Perfect for quickly marking and controlling multiple enemies in dungeons. Hover over each target and press your keybind without changing your primary target.

PvP-Specific Macros

Player versus player combat demands split-second reactions and clever target management. These macros give you the edge in duels, battlegrounds, and world PvP.

Target Healer Macro

Instantly target the enemy healer in group fights:

#showtooltip
/target Priest
/target Paladin
/target Druid
/target Shaman

This macro cycles through potential healer targets in priority order. Customize the order based on your faction and the threats you face most often.

Sprint Escape Macro

Create distance and remove movement-impairing effects:

#showtooltip Sprint
/cast Sprint
/use Free Action Potion

When you need to escape immediately, this macro activates Sprint and consumes a Free Action Potion, removing snares and roots. Keep these potions stocked for serious PvP.

Vanish with Consumables

Ensure your Vanish successfully breaks combat:

#showtooltip Vanish
/cast Vanish
/use Thistle Tea
/stopmacro [combat]
/cast Stealth

This advanced macro uses Vanish, consumes Thistle Tea for energy, and re-enters stealth if you successfully leave combat. The stopmacro line prevents the stealth cast if you’re still in combat.

Arena Target Macros

Create separate macros for quickly targeting arena opponents:

#showtooltip Cheap Shot
/cast [@arena1] Cheap Shot

#showtooltip Cheap Shot
/cast [@arena2] Cheap Shot

#showtooltip Cheap Shot
/cast [@arena3] Cheap Shot

Though WoW Classic doesn’t have arenas, these naming conventions work for targeting party members in battlegrounds. Replace “arena1” with “party1” for Classic functionality.

Blind Trinket Tracker

Track when enemies use their PvP trinkets:

#showtooltip Blind
/cast Blind
/raid %t used PvP trinket - Blind them NOW!

This macro announces to your party when you’ve forced a trinket use, allowing coordinated follow-up crowd control. Communication is key in organized PvP.

Utility and Quality of Life Macros

These convenience macros streamline common tasks and reduce the number of buttons on your action bars.

Modifier Poison Application

Apply different poisons with a single button:

#showtooltip
/use [mod:shift] Deadly Poison; [mod:ctrl] Mind-numbing Poison; Instant Poison

Hold Shift for Deadly Poison, Ctrl for Mind-numbing Poison, or press normally for Instant Poison. This saves multiple action bar slots for more important abilities.

Universal Trinket Macro

Use both trinkets with one button:

#showtooltip
/use [mod:shift] 13; 14

Hold Shift to use your top trinket slot or press normally for your bottom trinket slot. Great for trinkets with use effects that you want easily accessible.

Pick Lock and Open

Automatically switch between lockpicking and opening containers:

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Pick Lock; Open
/use [nomod] item

Hold Shift to Pick Lock on locked containers, or press normally to open unlocked items. Streamlines dungeon chest looting and reduces action bar clutter.

Distract Smart Cast

Use Distract without losing your current target:

#showtooltip Distract
/cast [@cursor] Distract

This macro casts Distract at your cursor location, allowing you to position NPCs without complicated targeting. Perfect for creating safe paths through dungeon patrols.

Mount with Sprint Fallback

Attempt to mount, or Sprint if you’re in combat:

#showtooltip
/use [nocombat] Reins of the Swift Mistsaber
/cast [combat] Sprint

Press once to mount out of combat, or Sprint if enemies are nearby. Reduces the need for separate mount and Sprint keybinds.

Dungeon and Raid Macros

Group content requires coordination and efficiency. These macros help you fulfill your role as DPS and occasional crowd control specialist.

Rupture Multi-Target

Apply Rupture to multiple targets for bleed damage:

#showtooltip Rupture
/cast Rupture
/targetenemy [dead]

After applying Rupture, this macro automatically targets the next enemy if your current target dies. Useful for maintaining bleed effects on multiple targets in AoE situations.

Feint Threat Reduction

Reduce your threat during high-DPS phases:

#showtooltip Feint
/cast Feint
/raid Reducing threat with Feint

This announces your threat reduction to the raid, helping tanks understand when you’re managing your aggro. Essential for preventing unwanted boss attention in raids.

Blade Flurry AoE

Activate cleave damage for multi-target encounters:

#showtooltip Blade Flurry
/cast Blade Flurry
/startattack

Turn on your cleave damage and ensure auto-attacks continue. Perfect for trash packs in raids and dungeons where multiple enemies are stacked.

Expose Armor Coordination

Prevent debuff overwriting with communication:

#showtooltip Expose Armor
/cast Expose Armor
/p Applied Expose Armor - 5 CP on %t

This party-chat macro lets other Rogues know you’ve applied the maximum-rank Expose Armor, preventing wasted combo points from others attempting the same debuff.

Advanced Macro Techniques

Once you’ve mastered basic macros, these advanced techniques will take your gameplay to the next level.

Castsequence Macros

Execute abilities in a specific order with repeated presses:

#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Eviscerate

This macro builds combo points and finishes with Eviscerate automatically. While convenient for learning, experienced players typically avoid castsequence for maximum flexibility.

Equipment Swap Macros

Change gear sets for specific situations:

#showtooltip
/equip Alcor's Sunrazor
/equip Dragonfang Blade

Swap to your weapon configuration instantly. Useful for switching between weapon sets with different enchants or stats for various encounters.

Stop Casting for Faster Responses

Cancel your current action for immediate ability usage:

#showtooltip Kick
/stopcasting
/cast Kick

This interrupt macro stops whatever you’re doing to immediately kick an enemy cast. The small delay from finishing your current ability could mean a successful heal or devastating spell.

Modifier Targeting Combinations

Create complex targeting logic with nested conditions:

#showtooltip Sap
/cast [mod:shift,@focus] [mod:ctrl,@mouseover] [mod:alt,@targettarget] Sap; Sap

This advanced macro uses Sap on your focus (Shift), mouseover target (Ctrl), target’s target (Alt), or current target (no modifier). Maximum flexibility from a single button.

Macro Organization Tips

Keeping your macros organized ensures you can find and modify them efficiently as your needs change.

Create naming conventions that make sense to you. Prefix PvP macros with “PVP-” and PvE macros with “PVE-” for easy identification. Use descriptive names like “Stealth-Opener-CS” instead of “Macro1” for better organization.

Group similar macros together in your macro list. Keep all crowd control macros near each other, all DPS macros together, and utility macros in their own section. This mental organization helps when you need to update or create new macros quickly.

Backup your macros by taking screenshots of the text or copying them to a separate document. If you need to recreate them after a reinstall or on a new character, you’ll save significant time.

Test new macros on target dummies or in safe environments before using them in raids or competitive PvP. A broken macro at a critical moment can cost your group a kill or lead to embarrassing deaths.

Troubleshooting Common Macro Issues

Even experienced players encounter macro problems. Here’s how to solve the most common issues.

Macro doesn’t work at all: Check for spelling errors in ability names. WoW Classic is case-sensitive, so “stealth” won’t work while “Stealth” will. Verify that you haven’t exceeded the 255-character limit.

Macro works sometimes but not always: Conditional statements might be conflicting. Review your [modifier] and [@target] conditions to ensure they’re not overlapping in unexpected ways.

Icon doesn’t show cooldown timer: Make sure #showtooltip is the first line of your macro and correctly references the ability you want to display. Without this, you’ll see a generic icon without cooldown information.

“That ability isn’t ready yet” error: You’re trying to cast abilities too quickly. Remove duplicate /cast lines or add /stopcasting before the ability to cancel your current action first.

Macro button is grayed out: Check that you meet the requirements for the ability (correct stance, enough energy, proper positioning). Your macro might be trying to cast something that’s currently unavailable.

Spec-Specific Macro Recommendations

Different specializations have different macro priorities. Here’s what to focus on for each spec.

Combat Rogue Macros

Combat Rogues should prioritize DPS macros that maintain Slice and Dice uptime and maximize Blade Flurry effectiveness. The burst macro combining Adrenaline Rush with trinkets is essential for parse-chasing in raids. Focus on simple, reliable macros that keep your rotation smooth rather than complex conditionals.

Assassination Rogue Macros

Assassination players benefit most from poison application macros and Rupture management tools. Your Cold Blood macro becomes crucial for guaranteed critical strikes on key abilities. Stealth opener macros are particularly valuable since you’ll be using stealth frequently in PvP situations.

Subtlety Rogue Macros

Subtlety Rogues need advanced PvP macros more than the other specs. Focus target macros for controlling healers, Vanish combinations for reset potential, and Preparation macros for cooldown management are all critical. Your success depends on clever macro usage and quick reactions.

FAQ Section

Conclusion

Mastering Rogue macros in WoW Classic transforms you from a button-mashing player into a precision instrument of death. The macros covered in this guide provide everything you need for PvP domination, raid progression, dungeon efficiency, and world content exploration.

Start by implementing the essential opener and combat macros to build muscle memory. As you become comfortable with basic macros, gradually add more complex ones like focus target crowd control and modifier-based utility commands. Remember that even professional players began with simple macros before building their sophisticated setups.

The difference between a good Rogue and a great Rogue often comes down to preparation and efficiency. With these macros properly configured and bound to comfortable keybinds, you’ll react faster in PvP, maintain higher DPS in raids, and provide better utility in dungeons.

Practice your macros regularly, adjust them to match your playstyle, and don’t be afraid to experiment with new combinations. The macro system is flexible enough to accommodate any approach, and finding what works best for you is part of the journey to becoming a master Rogue.

For more Rogue optimization, check out our complete guides on talents, gear, and specialization strategies. The combination of proper macros, optimal builds, and skilled execution will make you an unstoppable force in WoW Classic.