Assassination Rogue

Overview

Talents and builds

Level 60 build

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Raid build

The raid build moves 17 points from Improved Gouge (3), Remorseless Attacks (2), Lethality (2), Vile Poisons (3) and 3 more to Ruthlessness (3), Improved Slice and Dice (2), Seal Fate (5), Improved Sinister Strike (2) and 3 more.

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Key talents

• Venom1/1Finishing move that increases the damage of your Poisons by 30% and your chance to apply Poisons by 10%. Lasts longer per combo point: 1 point : 9 sec 2 points: 12 sec 3 points: 15 sec 4 points: 18 sec 5 points: 21 sec
• Mutilate1/1Instantly attacks with both weapons for 75% weapon damage plus an additional 17 with each weapon. Damage increased by 20% against Poisoned targets. Awards 2 Combo Points
• Vile Poisons5/5Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 20% and gives your poisons an additional 40% chance to resist dispel effects
• Improved Poisons5/5Increases the chance to apply Poisons to your target by 10%, and gives Poison applications a 50% chance to not consume a charge
• Cold Blood1/1When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, Eviscerate, or Mutilate by 100%
• Lethality5/5Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge, Backstab, Mutilate, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage abilities by 20%

Reading the tree in priority order for a single-target build: Malice (flat crit chance with attacks and poisons) and Lethality (bonus critical strike damage on Sinister Strike, Gouge, Backstab, Mutilate, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage) come first as damage multipliers that scale everything after them. Seal Fate turns a combo-point builder’s crit into one more combo point. Mutilate procs it once a cast when either hand crits, so the raid build takes all five ranks: about +3% in our level-60 search run. For a boss kill it pays with Remorseless Attacks (a bonus after each kill, which helps on trash, not on a single boss), a point each from Lethality and Lightning Reflexes and three from Dual Wield Specialization, and it adds a second point of Improved Sinister Strike. The leveling build below still skips Seal Fate. Cold Blood is the spec’s signature burst cooldown, guaranteeing a critical strike on the next attack. Vile Poisons and Improved Poisons raise both poison damage and application chance, which matters more here than in the other two trees. The two talent-granted abilities new to this tree in Forever, Mutilate (a combo builder that strikes with a dagger in each hand and hits harder against a target already carrying your poisons) and Venom (a finisher that raises how hard and how often your poisons land), round out the kit; Mutilate is live in this site’s simulated rotation once talented, while Venom is not cast (see Rotation below).

The leveling build’s points are still heavily weighted into Assassination: 32 points reach Venom at the bottom of the tree, with 11 in Combat (Improved Eviscerate, Lightning Reflexes, Puncturing Wounds, Precision) and 8 in Subtlety (Camouflage, Master of Deception, Opportunity). Open the planner at /planner?class=rogue to build this out.

Rotation and priority

Poisons come first: Deadly Poison on the main hand and Instant Poison on the off hand once Deadly is learned at 30. Mutilate’s bonus against poisoned targets counts only a poison that lingers, so two Instants leave it on the table; this site’s simulator carries that kit for Assassination, and it measured well ahead of two Instants. Mutilate is your builder, striking with both daggers for 2 combo points a cast (it needs a dagger in each hand), and you spend combo points from four rather than waiting for five: Mutilate gives points in twos, so a fifth point wastes one of them and a whole Mutilate on top. Slice and Dice goes first at four or more combo points whenever it has lapsed (opened when it is down, refreshed under 3 seconds remaining), for the attack-speed bonus; otherwise Eviscerate is the finisher whenever its 35 energy is there, and Cold Blood goes off right ahead of it for a guaranteed crit. Cold Blood costs no combo points and no global cooldown, so it simply waits for the Eviscerate. Venom, this tree’s poison finisher, is not cast. The simulator models it to the client’s numbers (30% more poison damage, 10 points more poison proc chance, 6 seconds plus 3 per combo point), but it multiplies Venom’s bonus with Vile Poisons where the client adds the two, which flatters Venom, and even so the rotation measured about 1 to 2% better on the bare character without it and no different in the raid-ready run, where the Eviscerate and Slice and Dice lines take every set of combo points first. Thistle Tea goes in whenever energy is near empty: 100 Energy on a 5 minute cooldown. Without the Mutilate talent, Sinister Strike builds instead. Poisons do much of this spec’s work, so keep them applied; Mutilate hits harder against a poisoned target.

Stat priority

1. 1Hit
2. 2Agility
3. 3Critical strike
4. 4Strength
5. 5Attack power
6. 6Melee haste

Best in slot

A new stat that reduces the target’s dodge and parry chance may show up on gear as itemization fills in, which would sit alongside hit rating in value for a dagger-and-poison spec that wants attacks to land.

Enchants and consumables

A raid shaman’s Windfury Totem is an aura on you, not a weapon enchant, so it stacks with your poisons; this site’s raid-preset numbers include it.

Races

• Human
• Orc
• Dwarf
• Night Elf (Recommended)
• Undead
• Gnome
• Troll (Recommended)
• High Order Skyborne
• Windshaper Skyborne

Night Elf is the Alliance pick: Elune's Light. Troll is the Horde pick: Berserking.

Professions

Community convention for Rogue favors Engineering for its combat utility items (bombs, gadgets) alongside a gathering profession like Herbalism or Mining for self-funded leveling, since Rogue has no crafting profession that directly boosts poison or weapon damage the way casters benefit from tailored gear.

Leveling

Outlined: points added in this level range.

Combat is generally regarded as the stronger leveling spec for Rogue, since Adrenaline Rush and heavier weapon damage clear trash faster than Assassination’s poison-uptime playstyle, which pays off more in sustained single-target fights.