Welcome to the Assassination Rogue Raid guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Assassination Rogue
Assassination RogueRaid
Hero Talents
Assassination Rogue
- Despite some bugs, Deathstalker is currently tuned ahead of Fatebound and is the go-to Hero Talent tree for the raid.
Deathstalker
Fatebound
- Your Ambush marks your target with 3 stacks of Deathstalker's Mark.
- You can only have 1 Deathstalker's Mark active.
- Consume a stack of Deathstalker's Mark by using a 5 Combo Point or more finisher. Echoing Reprimand does not work.
- You can only apply the Deathstalker's Mark with Ambush from Stealth or Subterfuge. Blindside does not work.
- After consuming the last stack of Deathstalker's Mark, or if a mob dies while the Deathstalker's Mark is active, you gain Darkest Night.
- You cannot consume Darkest Night with Echoing Reprimand Combo Points(Bug?)
- When Darkest Night is up, always make sure your next finisher is an Envenom with 7 Combo Points.
- When you consume Darkest Night, you gain Deathstalker's Mark again.
Additionally, there are a few more capstones in the tree that are important.
- Clear the Witnesses
- You want to use Fan of Knives even in your single target when you have the buff up.
- Fatal Intent
- This talent is pretty interesting but undertuned currently. Very similar to Dribbling Inkpod trinket from the past. Works in combination with Shiv.
- Bait and Switch
- A defensive node that that might finally make Evasion useful in raids. Ethereal Cloak is also interesting but much more fight specific.
- Much like in the Deathstalker tree, every 5 Combo Point or more finisher that you use has a chance to flip a coin.
- Landing on Fatebound Coin (Heads) increases your damage by 10%. Additional flips landing on Fatebound Coin (Heads) increase damage by 2%. Stacking
- Landing on Fatebound Coin (Tails) does Cosmic damage. Additional flips increase Fatebound Coin (Tails) damage by 10%.Stacking
- Fateful Ending
- Very strong stat buff that you want to get as soon as possible in a fight.
Neither of these flips offer much in terms of gameplay, and you could do without tracking any of them, but there are a few minmaxing you can do with the talents in the Fatebound tree.
- Inevitability.
- This could in theory make you hit your Fateful Ending earlier by using Cold Blood when you are at 5 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Heads) or Fatebound Coin (Tails). More on this in the Deep Dive section.
- Double Jeopardy.
- Rolling double of the same coin. Can be used in combination with Inevitability.
- Edge Case.
- Rolling both flips for the next finisher can be pretty useful to get closer to your Fateful Ending capstone.
- Fate Intertwined
- This is a pretty bad talent if the adds are not important damage, but decent otherwise.
- Delivered Doom
- Similar to Fate Intertwined, Fatebound Coin (Tails) does less damage if there are mobs nearby, or 30% more with no mobs, if you prefer to read it that way.
Talents
Assassination Rogue
Deathstalker Single-Target
Deathstalker AoE
Fatebound Single-Target
Fatebound AoE
Master Assassin over Vicious Venoms could be better in some situations, very small difference. However, Master Assassin is not as important as before since Kingsbane deals less damage.
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Zoldyck Recipe
- This is your execute talent. Ideally in a fight, you always want to use at least one set of cooldowns with it. If you can only get 1 more use of Deathmark for the remainder of the fight, it is advised that you save it for when the boss hits 35% or below.
- Kingsbane
- Your shorter cooldown burst ability. This is particularly strong when combined with Deathmark every two minutes.
- Deathmark
- Your big cooldown. Doubles your Garrote, Rupture, and Lethal Poisons on your target.
- Rapid Injection
- A new talent with The War Within, making you always want to Envenom before the buff it puts up expires. Especially strong with Darkest Night.
- Dragon-Tempered Blades
- Enables the use of an additional lethal poison.
- Arterial Precision
- Used for the 30% bleed damage increase from your Shiv.
- Blindside
- A proc that can save you a lot of Energy as it makes your next Ambush free. It is especially good in execute range as it procs more often.
- Seal Fate
- Helps with building up your Combo Points for a finisher which is another reason why Crit is a good stat for you.
Class Tree
- Thistle Tea
- Enhances your Mastery while boosting your Energy which is crucial during your cooldowns.
- Echoing Reprimand
- Makes a random Combo Points between 3 and 5 act as if you used a 7 Combo Point finisher. Also makes 4, 5 act this way, if talented into Resounding Clarity. This is a very Energy efficient ability that makes you hit your finishers faster and with more ease. Does not work with Deathstalker's Mark on Combo Point 3 and 4, and Darkest Night does not proc from the Anima-Charged Combo Point.
- Atrophic Poison / Numbing Poison
- In a Raid environment, Atrophic Poison is always your primary choice unless you have more than 1 Rogue. The damage reduction it provides, coupled with Master Poisoner is simply too strong. On the other hand, Numbing Poison stacks with similar abilities from other classes, making it an inferior choice.
- Cheat Death / Elusiveness
- For Raid, Cheat Death is usually recommended unless specified otherwise.
Hero Talents
- Lingering Darkness
- Significantly better than Symbolic Victory.
- Shadewalker
- This is very useful when you have to move around a lot. Meanwhile the alternative, Shroud of Night, doesn't offer much, especially in a raid enviroment.
- Bait and Switch
- A very nice addition to our kit that makes Evasion useful in a raid enviroment.
- Ethereal Cloak can also be decent if you need a longer Cloak of Shadows for a specific mechanic.
Poisons
- This build uses the following Poisons:
- Deadly Poison
- Amplifying Poison
- Atrophic Poison -or- Numbing Poison.
When to use this Spec
Use this spec if you're fighting 3 or more enemies for an extended period of the fight.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Thrown Precision
- Caustic Spatter
- Crimson Tempest
- Indiscriminate Carnage
- Resounding Clarity
- Removed
- Doomblade
- Serrated Bone Spikes
- Vicious Venoms
- Internal Bleeding
- Lethality 2/2 to 1/2
When to use this Spec
This spec is currently tuned a bit lower than Deathstalker and is thus not recommended.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Master Assassin
- Removed
- Vicious Venoms
Class Tree
- Added
- Cold Blood
- Great due to Inevitability.
- Lethality
- Cold Blood
- Removed
- Resounding Clarity
- Echoing Reprimand
Hero Talents
- Added
- Death's Arrival
- Tempted Fate
- Inevitability
When to use this Spec
This spec is currently tuned a bit lower than Deathstalker and is thus not recommended.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Thrown Precision
- Caustic Spatter
- Crimson Tempest
- Indiscriminate Carnage
- Removed
- Doomblade
- Serrated Bone Spikes
- Master Assassin
- Internal Bleeding
Rotation
Assassination Rogue
Tier Set
- 2-Set: When your bleeds deal damage, they have a chance to grant you Vile Tincture for 8 sec, increasing your poison damage by 1.0% per stack (up to 10 stacks).
- 4-Set: While you have 5 or more stacks of Vile Tincture, Garrote, Rupture, and Crimson Tempest deal 10% additional damage.
Single-Target
Deathstalker
Fatebound
Opener
- Your goal is to keep Envenom and Shiv up for the entire duration of your cooldowns. Below, you see an example of how your opener looks when using the recommended Single Target talent spec
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after your Deathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Ambush first global.
- Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Always Envenom at 7 Combo Points with Darkest Night up. Or use a finisher at 4 or less Combo Points with an Anima-Charged Combo Point.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends with Rapid Injection talented. If you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- Use Echoing Reprimand on cooldown.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanish to apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 Combo Points or on an Anima-Charged Combo Point, otherwise Envenom.
- Press Fan of Knives with Clear the Witnesses buff.
Opener
- Your goal is to keep Envenom and Shiv up for the entire duration of your cooldowns. Below, you see an example of how your opener looks when using the recommended Single Target talent spec.
- This is one variation of the Fatebound opener, more on this under the Deep Dive section.
- Your Garrote can be shifted to your Vanish during the pull without much difference, replacing a Mutilate.
- Refer to the Deep Dive section below on how to maximize your chances of getting Lucky Coin in your opener.
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after your Deathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends if you have Rapid Injection talented. Currently Improved Poisons is very close and it might be that you won't have to play with Rapid Injection if things change.
- If you are playing with Rapid Injection, and you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- Use Cold Blood on Cooldown if talented outside of your opener.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanish to apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 or more Combo Points.
Multi-Target
Deathstalker
Fatebound
On Multi Target fights, referring to ones where you get adds spawning throughout the fights occasionally, your rotation and build remains largely unchanged. The only thing to keep in mind is Caustic Spatter, and, in some cases, Crimson Tempest.
- How to utilize Caustic Spatter:
- Caustic Spatter cleaves from your target, unlike Blade Flurry.
- Always keep Rupture up on your main target. If you have to swap, your first global should be Rupture on the new mob, then Mutilate right after to proc Caustic Spatter.
- Keep track of your Caustic Spatter debuff on your target. Refresh it with Mutilate before it runs out.
- Deathmark and Kingsbane augment your Caustic Spatter damage. Always use them on a mob that survives for the full duration.
Opener
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after yourDeathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Multi-Target Priority List
- Ambush first global.
- You need to press Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Always Envenom at 7 Combo Points with Darkest Night up. Or use a finisher at 4 or less Combo Points with an Anima-Charged Combo Point.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends with Rapid Injection talented. If you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- Use Echoing Reprimand on cooldown.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanish to apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 Combo Points or on an Anima-Charged Combo Point, otherwise Envenom.
- Press Fan of Knives with Clear the Witnesses buff.
On Multi Target fights, referring to ones where you get adds spawning throughout the fights occasionally, your rotation and build remains largely unchanged. The only thing to keep in mind is Caustic Spatter, and, in some cases, Crimson Tempest.
- How to utilize Caustic Spatter:
- Caustic Spatter cleaves from your target, unlike Blade Flurry.
- Always keep Rupture up on your main target. If you have to swap, your first global should be Rupture on the new mob, then Mutilate right after to proc Caustic Spatter.
- Keep track of your Caustic Spatter debuff on your target. Refresh it with Mutilate before it runs out.
- Deathmark and Kingsbane augment your Caustic Spatter damage. Always use them on a mob that survives for the full duration.
Opener
- Refer to the Deep Dive section below on how to maximize your chances of getting Lucky Coin in your opener.
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after your Deathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- You need to press Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends if you have Rapid Injection talented. Currently Improved Poisons is very close and it might be that you won't have to play with Rapid Injection if things change.
- If you are playing with Rapid Injection, and you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- Use Cold Blood on Cooldown if talented outside of your opener.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanish to apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 or more Combo Points.
AoE
Deathstalker
Fatebound
Opener
- In your opener, your goal is to DoT up every mob with your Rupture and Garrote for the duration of your Indiscriminate Carnage, and then set up a Crimson Tempest that ideally hits every target, before going into a Mutilate to proc your Caustic Spatter and start your normal opener.
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- Make sure your main target gets a 22s+ Garrote either by pressing it twice on your main target or by cleaving.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after your Deathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Priority List
- Ambush first global.
- Spread Garrote and Rupture during your Indiscriminate Carnage window.
- Crimson Tempest if talented.
- You need to press Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight on all enemies that will live its duration. Rupture has priority, Garrote a bit less so on nearby targets unless spread by Indiscriminate Carnage.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Always Envenom at 7 Combo Points with Darkest Night up. Or use a finisher at 4 or less Combo Points with an Anima-Charged Combo Point.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends with Rapid Injection talented. If you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- Use Echoing Reprimand on cooldown.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanish to apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown. Make sure to dot every mob nearby before going into your cooldowns.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 Combo Points or on an Anima-Charged Combo Point, otherwise Envenom.
Opener
- In your opener, your goal is to DoT up every mob with your Rupture and Garrote for the duration of your Indiscriminate Carnage, and then set up a Crimson Tempest that ideally hits every target, before going into a Mutilate to proc your Caustic Spatter and start your normal opener.
- Always cast Slice and Dice unless it was already applied by Cut to the Chase.
- Make sure your main target gets a 22s+ Garrote either by pressing it twice on your main target or by cleaving.
- If you are playing Treacherous Transmitter, try to fit it in a few globals before your Deathmark, and depending on what you got, pick up the buff right after your Deathmark, around the time when you apply Shiv or Kingsbane.
- If you play an on use trinket such as Skardyn's Grace, simply use it before your first Envenom with your Tempered Potion.
Priority List
- Spread Garrote and Rupture during your Indiscriminate Carnage window.
- Crimson Tempest if talented.
- You need to press Slice and Dice once during your opener, Cut to the Chase keeps it active for the rest of the fight.
- Keep up Rupture and Garrote throughout the fight on all enemies that will live its duration. Rupture has priority, Garrote a bit less so on nearby targets unless spread by Indiscriminate Carnage.
- Do not overwrite your Improved Garrote and instead apply Garrote as soon as the buffed one expires.
- Maximize Envenom uptime and always clip it before it ends with Rapid Injection talented. If you cannot maintain Envenom, get to 6-7 Combo Points and pool your Energy back to 70% before starting again.
- If not talented into Rapid Injection, you do not need to clip your Envenom.
- Use Echoing Reprimand on cooldown.
- Only use Shiv during your Kingsbane.
- Be ready to use your Vanishto apply Garrote, Deathmark and Kingsbane as soon as they come off cooldown, start preparing for them once they have approximately 8 seconds remaining on their cooldown. Make sure to dot every mob nearby before going into your cooldowns.
- Press Mutilate if not at 5 Combo Points or on an Anima-Charged Combo Point, otherwise Envenom.
Deep Dive
Assassination Rogue
Min maxing Your Envenom Uptime
- Due to the new talent Rapid Injection, in combination with Darkest Night on Deathstalker you now always want to use Envenom before the buff expires, ideally during it's Pandemic window. Envenom uses a dynamic pandemic window, similar to Rupture, where the pandemic is calculated with the Combo Points of the new cast.
- 5 Combo Points: 1.5s
- 6: 1.8s
- 7: 2.1s
- This means that you want to create a chain of Envenoms throughout the fight, maximizing its uptime and never letting it drop. However, due to the random nature of the class with Seal Fate and Blindside procs, you hit moments during the fight where you might not get either of these procs making it extremely difficult to keep chaining Envenoms. When that inevitably happens, you have to build up to the maximum Combo Points or be 1 away from the maximum, then pool your Energy until you hit 70% to 75%, before using Envenom again. This ensures that you can establish a new chain of Envenoms.
- If you are not talented into Rapid Injection, Envenom chaining becomes less relevant and you do not need to clip you Envenom anymore.
When to Refresh Your Garrote and Rupture
- With Shadow Dance removed from Assassination Rogues, you are no longer able to snapshot your bleeds, with the exception of Garrote with Improved Garrote. Because of this, you need to follow a few rules when refreshing Garrote.
- If your current Garrote is buffed with Improved Garrote, do not overwrite it and leave it to expire before applying it again.
- If your current Garrote is not buffed with Improved Garrote, you do not have cooldowns running, and it has less than 5.2s left on it, refresh it.
- With Rupture being a Combo Point based finisher, it uses a flexible pandemic. This means that regardless of how many Combo Points the current Rupture on your target was used with, the pandemic is calculated with the Combo Points of the new cast of Rupture. The list below are the rules to follow for optimal refreshing:
- If you currently have 5 Combo Points, you can safely refresh your Rupture at 7.2s or less.
- If you currently have 6 Combo Points, you can safely refresh your Rupture at 8.4s or less.
- 1: 2.2s
- 2: 3.4s
- 3: 4.8s
- 4: 6s
- 7: 9.6s
- As Deathstalker, because of Corrupt the Blood, your Rupture has 3 extra seconds, meaning the Pandemics for the relevant Combo Points are such:
- 4: 6.9s
- 5: 8.1s
- 6: 9.3s
- 7: 10.5s
Maximizing Your Deathmark and Kingsbane window.
- Envenom needs to have 100% uptime during your cooldowns and the same goes for Shiv. It is important that you do not drop Shiv at all, with the last ticks of Kingsbane being the most important.
- Use 2 charges of Thistle Tea when both Kingsbane and Deathmark are up, with your 1 minute Kingsbane window getting only one use of Thistle Tea at less than 6 seconds remaining on the duration of Kingsbane.
- If you have Master Assassin talented, use your Vanish on the last 3 seconds of Kingsbane during your opener, but make sure that your Kingsbane has less than 3 seconds remaining before casting.
Outside of your Opener, your 2 minute cooldown usage is very similar, this is the most important rule to follow when setting up for Deathmark:
- Always refresh your bleeds before using Deathmark if they have 18 seconds or less at the moment that you press it. In particular:
- Refresh your Rupture at 6+ Combo Points.
- Sync up your Vanish so that you cast an Improved Garrote over an existing Garrote on your target to get the full pandemic benefit.
- Mutilate to 6 Combo Points then Envenom before pressing your Deathmark.
Below is an example of using your Deathmark correctly in the middle of an encounter in Raids.
- This is not a fixed rotation; This is just one example of how to play during your Deathmark window. Blindside procs and critical hits can potentially alter the ability usage.
Maximizing your chances of hitting your Fateful Ending Capstone with Cold Blood.
Fateful Ending is a pretty big DPS increase, and trying to get it during your opener is optimal. However, all you can do is maximize your chances, you can still end up not hitting it.
Generally, your Fatebound opener looks like this. To clarify, Fatebound Coin (Tails) could be Fatebound Coin (Heads) too with the same outcome, and vice versa.
To explain what is happening a bit further
- You gain 2 stacks with your first Rupture because of Double Jeopardy.
- Your first Envenom in this case is hitting 3 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Tails).
- After using your Deathmark, Edge Case will give your next finisher a guarantee of rolling both stacks
- Using your Vanish before your first Envenom after pressing Deathmark guaranteees a double stack roll with Double Jeopardy on the first Edge Case proc. So in this specific case, you will get:
- The first finisher after your Deathmark will give you 5 Fatebound Coin (Tails), and 2 Fatebound Coin (Heads).
- On the second finisher you are going to randomly roll one one of the two. This is the part where you might lose your chance on getting Lucky Coin. In this specific case, you get to keep 6 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Tails).
- After using your Edge Case finishers, you press Cold Blood, and due to Inevitability, you guarantee 7 stacks and Lucky Coin for the remainder of the fight.
- What happens if you first Envenom does not roll into a 3 stack, and instead you get 1 stack.
- This the worse case scenario
- Your first Envenom drops you 2 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Tails) into an 1 stack of Fatebound Coin (Heads).
- Your Edge Case window starts with 1 stack
- In your first Envenom you get 3 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Heads) and 2 of Fatebound Coin (Tails) due to Double Jeopardy.
- On your second Envenom you get unlucky again and instead of rolling Fatebound Coin (Heads) and hit 4 stacks, you roll Fatebound Coin (Tails) and end up with 3 stacks before your Inevitability window.
- At that point, you press your Cold Blood as always and end up at 5 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Tails). You are not going to get your Lucky Coin during your Kingsbane, and unless Mean Streak works in your favor and you roll 2 Envenom back to back into 7 stacks of Fatebound Coin (Tails), you won't get a much better chance at rolling it either.
The opposite of that would be getting to keep your Fatebound Coin (Heads) after your second Envenom in your Edge Case window, as such:
- At that point, your rolls are going to look like this.
- In this case, you are simply 1 Envenom away from your Lucky Coin.
- In short, getting to keep your stacks in your second Envenom of your Edge Case is crucial to maximizing your chances at getting Lucky Coin in your opener.
There are obviously more variations of this, it's merely intended for you to understand the mechanic.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Nerub-ar Palace
Assassination Rogue
The following tips are mainly applicable to Heroic Bosses. Mythic tips are released after our progression concludes.
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Ulgrax
Bloodbound Horror
Sikran
Rasha'nan
Broodtwister
Nexus-Princess
Silken Court
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Use your Shadowstep to stick to the boss while he is casting Carnivorous Contest to gain uptime and not get eaten.
- Use your Sprint to clear Stalker Netting on normal and heroic difficulties with your Cloak of Shadows.
- You can use utility such as Shadowstep and Sprint to feed the boss quickly.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
If you're assigned to Group 1:
If you're assigned to Group 2:
- Do note that the length of the fight impacts your cooldown usage heavily. If your fight lasts shorter than 6 minutes you use your Deathmark on pull.
Defensive Cooldown Usage
If you're assigned to Group 1:
If you're assigned to Group 2:
Boss Tips
- You can use your Cloak of Shadows on Goresplatter to gain uptime.
- If you don't need the damage downstairs, you can use cooldowns on boss.
- Use your Shadowstep on friendly targets to move around the platform quickly, especially if you are out of range of Gruesome Disgorge and you need to go downstairs.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Use Feint on Shattering Sweep and Decimate
- Cloak of Shadows doesnt work on Shattering Sweep
- You can use your Cloak of Shadows to drop the stacks of Cosmic Shards
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Try to always look at the intermission timer and have your Sprint ready so you don't lose too much uptime.
- Move out with Spinneret's Strands and quickly Shadowstep back on the boss.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Move out away from other players and use your Cloak of Shadows on the Unstable Web to trigger Web Eruption and cleanse yourself.
- Use your Kick on Poison Burst.
- Look for the Experimental Dosage timer so you are aware when this mechanic is coming as you might have to go and break an egg with Rupture.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Your last set of cooldowns has to be during execute.
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Watch out for other players having Queensbane on them. If you have it yourself, position in a way so that you don't hit anyone else.
- Multiple stacks of Queensbane can be quite dangerous. Consider using Cloak of Shadows to drop the stacks, or Algari Healing Potion.
- The main thing to keep an eye out for on this boss is the position of each Nether Rift. Their placement dictates how much you get pulled towards them. If they are not positioned properly, you will have to use your Shadowstep or Sprint.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Use your Shadowstep or Sprint to break the Binding Webs quickly.
- Make sure you always have some sort of utility if the boss charges away too far so you don't lose uptime, and make the most out of Entangled.
- If you get Stinging Swarm make sure you position yourself properly under the boss to get dispelled.
Stat Priority
Assassination Rogue
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid boss fights as a Assassination Rogue. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
- All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.
Gear
Assassination Rogue
Best in Slot
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | K'areshi Phantom's Emptiness | Tier / Catalyst |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stonevault |
| Shoulder | K'areshi Phantom's Shoulderpads | Tier / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
| Chest | Omnivore's Venomous Camouflage | Queen Ansurek |
| Wrist | Polluted Spectre's Wraps | The Bloodbound Horror |
| Gloves | K'areshi Phantom's Grips | Tier / Catalyst |
| Belt | Devourer's Taut Innards | Ulgrax |
| Legs | K'areshi Phantom's Leggings | Tier / Catalyst |
| Boots | Chitin-Spiked Jackboots | Sikran |
| Ring 1 | Experiment 08752's Band | Ovi'nax |
| Ring 2 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | Queen Ansurek |
| Trinket 1 | Treacherous Transmitter | Nexus Princess |
| Trinket 2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara |
| Weapon | Regicide | Nexus Princess |
| Weapon | Regicide | Nexus Princess |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Hood of the Hidden Path | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stonevault |
| Shoulder | Epaulets of the Clipped Wings | The Dawnbreaker |
| Cloak | Troggstitched Drape | Grim Batol |
| Chest | Cursed Skardyn Vest | Grim Batol |
| Wrist | Scheming Assailer's Bands | The Dawnbreaker |
| Gloves | Wharf Warden's Gloves | Siege of Boralus |
| Belt | Sapgorger Belt | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Legs | Glimmerthread Pantaloons | Grim Batol |
| Boots | Whisperer's Echoing Steps | City of Threads |
| Ring 1 | Umbriss Band | Grim Batol |
| Ring 2 | Seal of the City Watch | Siege of Boralus |
| Trinket 1 | Skardyn's Grace | Grim Batol |
| Trinket 2 | Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj | The Dawnbreaker |
| Weapon | Windwalker Blade | Grim Batol |
| Weapon | Windwalker Blade | Grim Batol |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the raid boss.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Skardyn's Grace
- A significant dropgrade from Treacherous Transmitter, but a much easier to play trinket.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- This is a great alternative to Ara-Kara Sacbrood with some passive agility ontop.
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Fairly close to the previous trinket, and doesn't require you to hit the same target. A bit rng with what stat you end up getting.
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
- A bit worse to the previous two, but still decent.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Not recommended as necessary movement can make it worse.
The previous graph assumes you are using Treacherous Transmitter or Skardyn's Grace as your first trinket.
Embellishments
- Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension on weapon.
- Writhing Armor Banding
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 636 on max item level, therefore, it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
Assassination Rogue
- Phials
- Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
- Weapon Oil
- Ironclaw Whetstone
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Quick Onyx
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
- As always, sim your character to check for the best gems with your current gear.
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech |
| Waist | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.
Races
Assassination Rogue
For min-maxing as an Assassination Rogue in raiding, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- Dispels Magic and Bleed debuffs. Has been useful in the past on some bosses with Bleeds.
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
- While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
- Berserking -- Troll
- Strong DPS racial but lines up poorly with Deathmark
- Blood Fury -- Orc
- Strong racial for damage that very competitive now since it scales with level and lines up with your Deathmark.
- 20% reduced stun duration on you which can be useful in some situations.
- Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
- Spawn a shadow traveling into your facing direction, and activate it again to teleport to it.
- Maximum range of 100 yards.
- Entropic Embrace -- Void Elf
- Decent passive trait.
- Combat Analysis -- Mechagnome
- Fairly strong passive trait that scales with level, hence why it's so strong now.
Recommendation
In general, it's safe to say that if you care about min-maxing your DPS, you should go with the highest DPS racial. That being said, the story is a bit different if it's about progression raiding. Some help out massively to speed up the progression on certain bosses. Notably, Dwarf with their Stoneform helped out on Tindral Sageswift and Fyrakk the Blazing in the latest Race to World First by having easy access to dispelling yourself at crucial points of the fights mentioned.
Macros
Assassination Rogue
Discover recommended macros for Assassination Rogues during Raid encounters and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Mouseover Macros
Garrote -- Casts Garrote on your mouseover or target.
#showtooltip Garrote
/cast [@mouseover,exists] Garrote;GarroteRupture -- Casts Rupture on your mouseover target if it exists, is not dead and is hostile, else Rupture is cast on your target.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,exists,nodead,harm] Rupture;RuptureSets your focus and places a marker on them when you mouseover a mob. This is great for letting you teammates know what you are planning on using your Kick on.
/focus [@mouseover][]
/run SetRaidTarget("mouseover",6)Shadowstep on your mouseover target
#showtooltip Shadowstep
/cast [@mouseover] ShadowstepMouseover Kick if you prefer that over focus target.
#showicon Kick
/cast [target=mouseover] KickFocus Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Assassination Rogue
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Assassination Rogue, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Raids to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Assassination Rogue
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Assassination Rogue
Q: Why is my Envenom uptime low?
Credits
Written By: Perfecto
Reviewed By: Stove