Assassination Rogue Guide

Welcome to the Assasination Rogue PvE guide. Assassination is the highest DPS spec for rogues in 3.3.5, but unlike combat rogues, they do not grant anything special for the raid. Their weakness is target switching and AoE damage, and thus they are often told to DPS the boss when rest of the group goes for adds, for example in the Lady Deathwhisper fight.

A Combat rogue's DPS comes mainly from auto-attacks and Sinister Strike, so if they change targets, they can easily get back to their optimal DPS.

An Assa rogue's DPS, on the other hand, comes mainly from Deadly Poison being stacked 5 times on the target and the rogue having the Envenom buff up. So, as you can imagine, switching targets as an Assa rogue is disastrous to their DPS.

Due to these serious shortcomings, Combat is the preferred spec for end-game raiding. Still, Assa has its place, especially in early-game raiding where it dwarfs Combat in terms of DPS.

Rotation
Open with Garrote only if there is no one in the group that gives bleeds. Otherwise, open straight with Mutilate from Stealth, then Slice and Dice, then Mutilate again, then Envenom. What this does is:


 * 1) It ensures you open with the max number of combo points and the best chance of applying poisons.
 * 2) It ensures that SnD is up ASAP.
 * 3) It then ensures that Deadly Poison is stacked ASAP.
 * 4) Together with 3), you will also extend SnD to its max duration.

From there on, your rotation becomes extremely simple:


 * 1) Keep Hunger for Blood on the target (bleeds usually provided by MM hunters or Warriors)
 * 2) Use Mutilate as a CP builder.
 * 3) Use Envenom when the Envenom buff is at 0 seconds left and about to expire (Envenom should be used at 4-5 CP)
 * 4) Use Vanish offensively to get another proc of Overkill (only use it after pooling enough energy for Mutilate - otherwise you will sit in Vanish, doing no DPS)

Due to the Ruthlessness talent, sometimes even one Mutilate may be enough to reach 4 CP (1 CP from Ruthlessness, 3 CP from a critting Mutilate).

Stat priority
Hit rating (315) > Expertise (26) > Attack Power > Haste > Crit >>>>> ArPen

Hit and expertise are needed so your attacks and poisons don't miss. Until you reach their caps, they will be your highest DPS increase. After reaching the expertise cap, its value becomes zero. After reaching the hit cap, more hit rating will only affect your auto-attacks.

Attack power is your main offensive stat. You want to have as much of this stat as possible, with 4k being seen as the bare minimum before you can start pumping some serious DPS.

Haste is your second-best offensive stat. More haste = more auto-attacks. More auto-attacks = more Focused Attacks procs and more poison applications (which is what this spec revolves around).

Crit is far behind AP and haste, and you need not worry about this stat. It comes passively with gear. A critting Muti will reward 3 CP instead of 2 due to the Seal Fate talent. A critting auto-attack will reward 2 energy through the Focused Attacks talent.

ArPen is a near-useless stat for Assa, as it only affects around 1/3 of your damage. Neither poisons nor your Envenom are affected by it. If a piece of gear has ArPen on it, it's almost always worse for Assa than even a one-tier lower item without ArPen. Let Combat rogues or Feral druids have these items.

 Weapons and poisons 

Due to Muti requiring daggers, you will use daggers in both hands. Your MH dagger should be slow [1.8] so your Muti actually does damage. Your OH dagger should be fast [1.4] so your Deadly Poison is applied as fast as possible. An excellent example of a starting OH dagger for Assa is the Librarian's Paper Cutter [1.3], which happens to outperform everything until Webbed Death [1.4] (so, any other 200 and 213ilvl dagger in the game).

Your MH should have Instant Poison and your OH should have Deadly Poison. Once DP reaches 5 stacks, every new application procs the poison from your other weapons. Therefore, it is of  PARAMOUNT  importance for an Assa rogue to have a fast OH dagger.

Gemming, Consumables & Professions
 Gemming 

Relentless Earthsiege Diamond.

Attack power in every red socket.

Attack power in every yellow socket OR attack power + haste if you're over 4k AP.

Attack power in every blue socket. Just ignore blue sockets. The only exception to this rule is your 1 Nightmare Tear, which you can put in a blue socket, as long as the socket bonus is strong (helms & chests).

 Consumables 

Flask of Endless Rage - gives 180 AP. No-brainer.

Fish Feast / Poached Northern Sculpin / Mega Mammoth Meal - gives 80 AP. No-brainer again.

 Professions 

Standard: Skin + LW - crit + improved AP enchant on bracers. Suboptimal, but a natural choice for rogues. Also saves you some gold from leg armor & bracer enchants.

Passive: JC + BS - two extra sockets and three special gems. The most powerful on fresh servers, falls off significantly as the content progresses and epic gems become available. If you're gonna do this, start with Mining + JC, not Mining + BS. JC is extremely random, expensive and annoying to level. After you hit max JC, get the mats you need for BS, then delete Mining and max BS.

Active: Engi + Tailoring - flashy procs. Pretty powerful on fresh servers due to the helm you get. Get Engi + Mining first, then drop Mining when you reach max Engi. Tailoring can be leveled as a stand-alone.

Big-brain: Inscription + (something, not Herbalism) - easy access to DMC: Greatness, one of the best Assa trinkets until ICC. Never have to do the quest chain for Sons of Hodir. Replace Herbalism with something else - Lifeblood is 0 DPS.

Talents
51/18/2 is the highest dps spec for Assassination Rogues in patch 3.3.5. However, if you're just starting out, then the better choice is 51/13/7, which will give you more energy. The most important part for an Assa rogue is keeping up their Envenom debuff, and without good gear you will rely on Relentless Strikes for that.

 Glyphs :

Major:


 * 1) Mutilate (reduces Muti's energy cost by 5)
 * 2) Hunger for Blood (increases the flat % bonus of HfB)
 * 3) Fan of Knives if you don't have T10 Set2, Tricks of the Trade if you do.

Minor:


 * It doesn't matter at all, really. None of the minor glyphs will give you any DPS.

Link to talent calculator