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Shadowstep

Shadowstep
25 yd range

Instant	20 sec cooldown

Requires Rogue
Requires level 60

Step through the shadows to appear behind your target and gain 70% movement speed for 2 sec.

Buff

Spell Details

Duration

2 seconds

School

Physical

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

n/a

Cost

None

Range

25 yards (Medium-Short)

Cast time

Instant

Cooldown

20 seconds

GCD

0 seconds

Effect #1

Trigger Spell

	Shadowstep

Effect #2

Apply Aura: Increase Run Speed %
Value: 70%

Flags

Guides

Proven
Assailant for Rogues:
Strategy and Gear

Rogue DPS Guide (Assassination,
Combat, Subtlety)

Rogue PvE
compendium - the
do's and dont's

Comments

Comment by Anarki

Shadowstep is a great great great skill of surprise and I find it useful in grinding as well. If you spec properly you can gain an amazing ambush burst damage combined with easy obtainable AP boosting items in the Burning Crusade.

Basically what happens upon using this skill is a flash of smoke (much like vanish) on the spot you were standing when you used Shadowstep and the spot behind you're enemy where you will be teleport... this happens in almost an instant. You then gain a 10 second buff. Currently, at least through my experiences this works like a charm.

It used to be 30 yards but due to some lag issues by teleporting that far (having to load new areas all of a sudden) this was reduced to 20 so it would happen instant on all computers.

You can also do combos like Shadowstep -> Sap -> Backstab. This is useful in instances where you have to reach mobs that are standing in trivial spots (since the teleport).

Comment by dngnb8

Questions:

1. Do you have to have an enemy targeted when activating or can it be used much like blink?
2. Does it place you behind the target, facing its back everytime (preventing the You must be facing the target error)?

Comment by Vexikuri

Shadowstep has been added with patch 2.0.3.

"Shadowstep" (New Subtlety Talent) attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy. Your next "Ambush", "Backstab" or "Garrote" ability is increased by 20% and lasts 10 sec. This is only usable while stealthed."

Comment by Tehsteve

Shadowstep is a truly fun ability. Think of it like blink, only with certain benefits and restrictions.
Benefits
-low energy cost, only 20 points
-20 yard range
-short cooldown (considering it's a rogue ability) of 20 seconds
-adds a good buff, increasing damage of some abilities
-puts you behind the target

Drawbacks
-if target is against a wall it'll put you in front of them, not sure if this is universal but it happens some times.

that's pretty much it!
It can't be used to teleport you in the air however, so if someone's on a flying mount you can't blink up to them, you'll blink to where they would be if they were on the ground.
also, it's based on line of sight, so you can't always blink to a target on a ledge or something, though I've yet to try in WSG. Otherwise this is just an amazing ability

Comment by Underfoot

I was looking at this talent, combined with Opportunity (5/5), Master of Subtlety (3/3) and Premeditation it is awesome.
You can Premed-Shadowstep-Garrote-Sinister/Hemo/Backstab and Rupture.
The max rank garrote does 810 damage (without AP bonus) and with these talents you get a 52%(!) damage increase. Which results in 1231 damage.
Then when you apply Rupture (which benefits from the Master of Subtlety buff) it will do about 1.4k damage.
This may not seem as a lot, but it adds up. And it can not be dispelled either.
Mages might be forced to ice block, pallys might have to bubble. Anyway, healers have to waste mana for it. Which is always a good thing.

Comment by Mathyas

Good god, and I though my combat rogue was deadly. Think it's time for a re-spec. Just wondering if I should stick with swords or go back to daggers for this build?

Comment by FlipperGandalf

You can activate this while not in stealth in patch 2.3.
The cooldown, however, will be increased to 40 sec.
edit: 30 sec now

Comment by AlphaQ

Currently on 2.3 PTR, Shadowstep is changed to give 20% bonus damage to your next ability instead of only Ambush, Backstab or Garrote. Cooldown is also reduced to 30 seconds.

Comment by Rathanes

2.3 is introducing an 8 yard minimum range for Shadowstep.

Comment by Silvertale

Actually, it was changed. It doesn't have a minimum range anymore, making it pretty good.

It's now 25 yard range, with no minimum, so you can use it anywhere within 25 yards range.

Comment by Tenjou

With Shadowstep becoming usable even outside of stealth, it becomes the perfect choice for fatty Eviscerate crits.

Theorycrafting with a modest 1200 AP and a 17/3/41 PvP Shadowstep build:

(The 5CP Eviscerate damage formula: -)

1165-1285 -- Regular 5CP Eviscerate
1340-1478 -- 5CP 3/3 Imp. Evisc.
2680-2956 -- 5CP 3/3 Imp. Evisc. Crit.
3082-3400 -- 5CP 3/3 Imp. Evisc. 5/5 Lethality Crit.
3698-4080 -- 5CP 3/3 Imp. Evisc. 5/5 Lethality Crit. Shadowstep
4068-4488 -- 5CP 3/3 Imp. Evisc. 5/5 Lethality Crit. Shadowstep Master of Subtlety (from steath)

That's a roughly a 1K damage increase for a meager 10 energy spent on ShS.

Note that these numbers are pre-armor and resilience reduction. 3/3 Serrated Blades is pretty much de facto for all Shadowstep builds. With SB and a 5/5 (Imp.) Expose Armor in place, the numbers listed will be close to actual damage on (leather and) cloth, as SB and EA in conjunction will lower the armor to 0.

Let's look at this in a PvP scenario with mitigation. Against an EA'd cloth/leather opponent with 400 Resilience (10.15% crit. damage reduction), you're still looking at a 3655-4032 crit. By the time you've got that opponent EA'd, he's dropped pretty low. Low enough that he's in Dirty Deeds range, which increases your special ability damage by 20%. You Vanish, ShS, then drop the 5 point Evisc hammer.

It crits.

4386-4838 damage killing blow.

How sexy is that... =D

Comment by darkyoshi87

Shadowstep now adds a "Mini-Sprint" effect as some veteran Rogues are calling it. It increases movement speed by 70% for three seconds. (This is on the 2.3.2 PTR)

Comment by nyck

This new patch nerfed the fun out of my rogue. I really hate playing him now. Rogues where always the oddball classes with some really different talents and abilities. Now if I sap someone it makes me hostile. There goes that fun.

Now we can shadowstep unstealthed...well why would a rogue do that? If I'm unstealthed I can use sprint to cover distance for someone running away. Use blind to stop them from running. or throw out a distract if i wanted to. I really don't see when a rogue has an opportunity to shadowstep while being out of stealth.

If I need to use shadow step then i'm probably going to set them up for something. It's best purpose was blind -> get away and stealth -> shadowstep right back on their ass. now I'm suppose to just blind -> walk away and then shadowstep without going back into stealth?

Blizzard should of really thought this one through. I respecced today to ColdBlood/Prep because I just can't have fun on my rogue anymore.

Comment by cheesepizza

the good thing is this is like an intercept... usually u should save it until ur being kited and now that the buff is any ability this is even better.

Comment by Veeria

Since shadowstep is useable outside of stealth (since the increased cooldown and added threat reduction), it now have alot of new interesting uses. You might even want to consider not using it for stealth opener depending on the situation.

Comment by demonsummoner

You can use this in conjunction with Evis for a nice 20% increase in damage to it. it will also helps against resilience since it works on crit and a evis with 20% added damage isnt killed by resil.

Comment by Lukrid

For people trying to level lockpicking, or just make a bit more money, I suggest using this skill combined in a macro with pick pocket (with auto-looting turned on, of course).

Comment by demonsummoner

just a note this also breaks snare. so if you are rooted you can just shadow-step out of it. altho it would be a little waste but just letting you know.

Comment by Turretti

I specced to shadowstep today. It's my first time testing the build, and the only thing I dont like about it so far is, that it doesnt break snares. I had got the idea, that it would break nova and so on, but at least when I shadowstepped, sure, I did get teleported behind enemy, but I was still in the nova.

There are still many nice uses for this ability, but this is at least one huge downside of it

Comment by Xdreadfather

I don't know if this was already obvious to everyone, but in fooling around I found that this can be used when falling. I use it from time to time to PvP in the Outlands when I'm bored, just hop on my flying mount, bail off and SS behind my target. Considering you can time it right (or just spam the hotkey for it till your in range) you want take fall damage when you appear, much like blinking out of fall damage.

Comment by daurenr

5 combo point -> Shadowstep-> Evis

Comment by NeonKnightmare

A fun fact for anyone who is curious... As it is not a hostile attack, using this on a PvP-flagged enemy player while not flagged yourself will NOT flag you, or get you attacked by neutral faction guards. I've been toying with this one in Quel'Danas when I'm too lazy to run up to the top of a pavillion/tower/whatever. Lazy? Sure. But god, that has to be unsettling for the other guy.

Another fun use: teleporting up to the top floor of bunkers in Alterac Valley. Target an archer, Shadowstep, voila. You're there about 20 seconds ahead of your group.

Comment by OhTeeSee

If anyone has been in that situation where you see someone sitting down eating/drinking it is recommended that you do not Shadowstep to them and then use Ambush, as the act of Shadowstepping, though not breaking stealth, for some reason causes the target to stand up, losing its "sitting: 100% crit chance" status. Instead, I would suggest shadowstepping a nearby target first (If any are available) to gain the 20% damage buff, and then walking up to the sitting target and ambushing.

Note: I have not tried combining this into a macro as of yet, I will edit further after gathering more information.

Comment by slashlol

Does anyone notice that is says "Attempts to step through the shadows" so does that mean u can fail?

Yes, depending on terrain, you may very well end up stepping through the world textures, leading to a gruesome death in the Twisting Nether.

Comment by coyote72

You can actually get on the other team's starting spawn point n Eye of the Storm with this, cross rivers, it's not a blink, it's a direct teleport, so even in AV, if you're on the ground, the snow, you can (if there's a person there) teleport to the tower's flag without walking up the stairs.

I hope they fix this hack soon.

Comment by Zaffy

I simply love tihs talent! a nice trick when ure in ab is to go to lm and then if ure about to die u jump off vanish ss one of the enemies and ur safe! love it

Comment by Lieandra

It's the ability that will save a rogue if his enemy gets away from him and kites.

Upcoming nerf. I hope everyone got to enjoy this part of Shadowstep, as with the upcoming patch, this will no longer allow the ability to Shadowstep when rooted any more. Meaning: it's back to being mage and hunter and sometimes locks food again.

Comment by qhiiyr

Autorun will persist through shadowstep, beware.

Comment by 1771

about the nerf...I got one thing to say to you fellows....

- Escape Artist -

Comment by WebBug

Best suggestion for this is to perhaps use Cloak Of Shadows to remove the root then Shadowstep or in most instances it would probably be safer to Shadowstep away from someone quick. ie if your frost nova'd a mage is most likley going to spam ice lance so quicker you get out of his range or his LOS the better ;)
If you use Cloak of Shadows, then you're no longer frozen. If you're not frozen, then shatter combo doesn't work. Also, you'll most likely resist the next Ice Lance anyway. Seems to me like you'd be much better off using that opportunity to get in his face and stunlock him than to run away.

Comment by stillnotking

In Strand of the Ancients, Shadowstep rogues can ShS up to turrets on offense, thereby bypassing gates. There are two good strategies that a ShS rogue can use to capitalize on this.

- Go to the gate everyone else is NOT going to (Green or Blue) at the start. Ride as close to the gate as you think you can get away with, stealth, ShS up to a turret, then cap the GY on that side. The main assault force should cap the other one. Capping both the east and west graveyards early is a huge tactical advantage because it doubles the number of tanks your side has easy access to.

- Get to the Yellow gate as quickly as possible by Shadowstepping up to turrets (again, preferably on the side everyone else is NOT taking so you avoid AOEs etc.). Destroy both turrets on the Yellow gate, which rogues can do very quickly -- I can take out a turret in about 15-20 seconds assuming no interference. This is, again, a huge advantage, because the heaviest fighting usually takes place around the Yellow gate, and you are depriving the enemy of their biggest source of DPS against tanks. It is not typically worthwhile to destroy turrets on any gate but Yellow, however.

With multiple ShS rogues carrying Seaforium in a premade, they could even win the round without destroying a single gate! I would love to see a premade of ONLY Shadowsteppers -- the enemy is standing around at Green/Blue scratching their heads, then all of a sudden "The keep has been destroyed!" LOL!

Comment by Skullhawk13

Funniest use i seen so far has been a rogue nearly dead jumping off Lumber Mill in AB to what i thought was certain death only to re appear behind me an backstab :( doh

Never show your back, or we subtly rogues will STAB IT! Ambush >> vanish >> kindey shot >> sprint >> preperation >>> shadowstep >>> cheep shot >> kidney shot >> hemmorage >> slice and dice DEAD! >;)

Comment by deadpetwalks

hi, im new on WoW, and i need some advice on my talent build
wat u guys think bout this shadowstep bo
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhxboxZZebfbhGzdAzVfot

thx =)

Comment by Shnissigah

amazing ability...

1. Can be used to avoid fall damage.
2. Flag carriers are NOTHING!
3. Can be used to move up/down/across distances/terrain which would normally cause you to go around.
4. Increases Garrote damage.
5. If used right, can make for an excellent getaway if your Vanish/Prep is on cooldown.

Comment by JFMiller

It's great to combine ShS with the ambush talents (+50% crit and 100% chance on crit to reduce movement speed by 70% and attack speed) so basically we get to apply crippling, deal good damage (if it isn't plate) and reduce attack speed, more useful against some classes than others, but its still less damage. It all depends on the crit of course, that's the only downside.

Comment by oeax

just curious but does this still work on turrets in wintergrasp/strand of the ancients?

Comment by killerdinoblood

Shadowspet is the perfect suprise atk.Im dueliing my feral druid friend in nagrand and we cant find each other while we are invisable.So he used swift fly form to fly on a tree and stayd there and was calm cuz he think i cant touch him.And then i used shadowstep teleported and OWND HIM.

NOTE:Shadowstep is also good for this-while in PVP some ally is trying to eat and has climend on a safe place shadowspet can suprise him vry much!

Comment by wowlock999

if u are not stealthed, u just appear behind them and u can use backstab / prevent them from fleeing. If u are stealthed, u appear behind them and u can sap / ambush.

Comment by Shadowstep4Life

Thats funny, i have done all of the stuff stated above when BC came out.

I remember seeing a 70 troll rogue in STV and he used shadowstep, i remember wanting to do it so bad i made my rogue hit 70 and made the pvp spec, but with wotlk i went mut/minor sub talents but after my now 4 month break of wow i think i'm gonna come back in a week and i'm going to dual spec my rogue to be shadowstep/assassination so i can play as both.

I have levels 80 80 80 74 74 72 72 70 70 70 so i know practically all the moves in the game; by all means i think this one is not only powerful but the most fun.

Comment by Slambush

I was born a Sub rogue. ^_^ I ding'd to level 50...in the middle of a level 49 battleground. I placed this talent into my action bar and was oddly curious....the description does NOT do this sucker justice, it packs a PUNCH.

Small anecdote....in the same warsong gulch battle i had leveled in, there was a level 42 undead mage grabbing our flag. The entire team was chasing him, he was about to make a really fast cap....approaching tunnel entrance, up the hill to the lumber mill....(before i continue on, here's some info, to set the stage). I had dinged to 50 among many "congratz" from the other BGers, score was 1-2 horde, and i led the honorable kills, damage done, and killing blows on the team. The mage was obviously skilled, geared in blues and high-greens, knew what he was doing, too...and extremely squishy. If this guy made a cap...it was game. The horde had just killed our flag carrier and there was still a "brutal assault" debuff active (+100% damage), and...this guy was gonna make it. Paladins were blasting our offensive line, hunters were concussing/wing clipping us, and i slither through, we're easily 5 steps from the mage....frost nova. BAM. All of a sudden im the only one left, all our offense getting stuck in place....SO. i hit the panic button. Shadowstep, for the first time. Cloak of smoke around me, all of a sudden im in the tunnel and staring at the back of a mage....AMBUSH! Big yellow numbers: 2,673. As a level 50? Not nearly possible. I was freaking out, the dudes who were looking at recount freaked out, my numbers had jumped almost 3000 points in a split second. I returned the flag, then followed up to grab theirs, run out their graveyard, blow off a sprint/preparation/sprint combo, and capped it. Flawless. I then spent the next while in the battleground trying out my new panic button...

The mage had come back to redeem himself, and returned to the roof of our base to blizzard us away. I started thinking like the rogue character i played, as though that panic button was talking to me again. I wall-hugged, blasted away Shadowstep....and appeared, right behind his squishy throat...two floors above where i had been standing a moment before.

Truly a remarkable attack. Turns tables instantly. Changes the tide of an entire game, if conditions are favorable (see above xD). And if you fit into a sub rogue mold perfectly, like i did at the start of my rogue career, this is your KEY. The panic button....it's amazing. Sub rogues, you'll love it. It was enough to turn a few people i know into spending gold to respec.
SUBTLETY FTW

Rock on, sub rogues, rock on

Comment by cjm336

ive noticed FoK does not consume Shadowstep.

Does FoK gain the 20% damage benefit from Shadowstep for the duration of the buff?

Comment by Dualflame

I know the coolest thing to do with Shadowstep is SS and ambush, but you will get much more of this talent by first sneaking behind-->ambush then when target escapes SS and backstab.

Comment by Magepro

What If opener after SS is Cheap Shot: will it consume (waste) +20% dmg bonus or NEXT yellow dmg still have bonus?

Comment by Hidengokill

On the 17/5/2010, an Unconscious Dig Rat (which summons an idle Dig Rat) was used by Jider to solo Patchwerk25.
He used this rat in conjunction with Shadowstep, which created what is now known as "JiderStep".

Comment by nerflocked

Yet another bull&*!@ rogue skill to make them stupidly OP vs. most casters.

Comment by butcher098

Without a doubt, one of the more fun rogue moves available, shame it isn't something trainable. And I can confirm for cjm336 that the 20% increased damage buff, does work with fan of knives. Also stacks with Glyph of Fan of Knives tested it recently.

Comment by Coolguy555

With the changes in cataclysm, this will be one of the subtlety "Signature Talents", meaning you will earn it at level 10.

The thought of this made me incredibly happy as i'll be rerolling my poor little level 25 Troll Rogue that I rarely play as a Worgen, and I will be staying Subtlety specced. Aspiring Subtlety rogues everywhere rejoice!

Comment by MonkeyChief

As of right now, in cataclysm, this spell will no longer affect any ability - only Ambush or Garrote. However the damage bonus has been increased and the cooldown and energy cost of the ability reduced (from 30 seconds to 20 seconds and from 10 energy to 0).
Overall, I think this is a buff.
For levelling it is definitely a buff as from level 10 you will have both ambush and shadowstep - it'll speed up your travel time from mob to mob and remove a nice chunk of health from any mob that you engage.

For PvP, it's probably still a buff - whilst you can no longer use it to boost the damage of, say, backstab - you can use the spell more often to reach that caster over there, and of course get harder hitting ambushes if you can get back into stealth.

Comment by Twinked94

Anyone who knows when you're gonna learn this spell in Cataclysm?

Comment by HandofDeath

when a rogue uses this on my holy priest i go holy crap batman just one shotted me

Comment by Indrigis

Thanks to the new dualspec cost EVERY rogue in pre-80 PvP is subtlety now.

Great job "making all specs viable", or something.

Comment by Rarehunter

I've been wondering about the icon... at first, I thought it was a boot or something. But it kind of looks like Zeratul now...

Comment by Thelasko97

Shadowstep, ambush laied to waste >:D

Comment by Ganbantein

what a lot of rogues tend to do is to jump before using this ability
most of the time it's just a simple jump, but some rogues can get very tricky and jump off a ledge, expecting someone to follow them and then use ShS to counter
it looks like an on-going trend

Comment by Spakals

I really enjoy this skill, especially in the old days when ppl didnt really know what the heck was going on and rouges pwnd before others even had a chance to cast anything.

Comment by cardinalchang

This is my first time playing a sub rogue and this spell is even better than I thought. Here are the facts as at 4.1:

Shadowstep works both in and out of stealth AND in and out of combat;
Shadowstep doesn't break stealth - you can use it while in stealth and use Ambush straight away;
Because Shadowstep isn't an attack (e.g it's more like Blink than Charge), if you are moving when you cast Shadowstep you will keep moving when you land;
Shadowstep doesn't put you in combat (though obviously if you are unstealthed and targeting a red then aggro range could do that) - so you can easily use it as a Blink-style transporter without even having to fight your target.

Yay!

Comment by Ballbearingz

It is hilarious in Warsong Gulch to grab the flag, run towards a few enemies running to intercept you, and then shadowstep the enemy farthest away, do a 180, and leave them bewildered as to what just happened. It worked at level 14 at least.

Comment by micxiao

i just tried to shadowstep a harpy in mount hyjal and fell right through the terrain :'[

Comment by guatafu

This can break the game, I have seen rogues Shadowstep to the turrets in strand of the ancients allowing them to go cap the graveyards while the gates are still up... Awesome :D

Comment by zxczxczbfg

At least for me, this spell is the bread and Ambush is the butter. I just SStep behind an enemy and ambush them, a passable opener for most normal fights. And sometimes I SStep in the middle of a fight randomly. Sure, it screws up my cooldown, but it looks epic.

Comment by imri500

Can now be used on allies as well as enemies, which is fantastic, can now be used for epic escapes and tactical re-positions!

Comment by Xythros

After patch 5.0.4, this ability also stacks with other speed effects, such as Sprint or Rocket Boosts.

Comment by ash1k1

Seemingly doesn't work properly on players (both friendly and hostile) which are not on the ground. You will Shadowstep behind them, however you will be on the ground, below them. This still works normally (i.e. behind them in the air) on NPCs, though. The same happens with Killing Spree, too. :(

Comment by Axebeard

On your farm, you can quickly weed one of your crops by grabbing it, then Shadowstepping behind Yoon or your dog.

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