Assassination Rogue DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.2.5)

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Perfecto, an Outlaw/Assassination Rogue who raids in Method.

1. Spell Summary

If you are new to Assassination, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resources

Energy is the main resource of Assassination Rogues. Energy is generated passively, the rate of which can be increased by Haste and talents. Venomous Wounds Icon Venomous Wounds also provides some bonus Energy. Keeping track of your Energy and pooling for windows of increased burst is extremely important to playing Assassination properly.

Combo Points are another primary resource utilized by Assassination Rogues. Some of your abilities generate Combo Points, while finishing moves spend them, dealing increased damage per Combo Point. You can generate additional Combo Points by critically striking due to the Seal Fate Icon Seal Fate passive. Combo Point management is very important to maintaining your abilities and maximizing burst.

3. Basic Abilities

These abilities are available no matter what talents you choose, and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

Mutilate Icon Mutilate costs 55 Energy and deals moderate damage, generating 2 Combo Points. This is your main Combo Point generator and requires daggers to be used.

Rupture Icon Rupture is a finishing move that applies a bleed to the target that deals damage over time, lasting longer per combo point. Rupture returns Energy via Venomous Wounds Icon Venomous Wounds. This is a very important finisher and should be maintained at all times on primary and secondary targets.

Envenom Icon Envenom is a finishing move that deals Nature damage and increases your poison application chance by 30%. The damage and duration of Envenom are increased per Combo Point. This is our primary combo point dump when Rupture Icon Rupture does not need a refresh.

Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives deals AoE damage and can apply poisons. This generates one Combo Point. It is usually better to focus on single target, but this can be useful for applying poisons to a stacked group of targets quickly.

Garrote Icon Garrote is a bleed effect that lasts 18 seconds and generates 1 Combo Point. It also silences the target by 3-seconds when used from Stealth Icon Stealth.

4. Important Procs

Seal Fate Icon Seal Fate generates an extra Combo Point per critical strike when your abilities critically strike.

Venomous Wounds Icon Venomous Wounds generates 10 Energy when your abilities deal bleed damage to a target.

Stealth Icon Stealth lets you move around the battlefield unseen. You will start every fight from Stealth as your Tier 2 talent provides a damage benefit to using your abilities while Stealth is active.

5. DPS Cooldowns

Vendetta Icon Vendetta is your main DPS cooldown, which marks an enemy for 20 seconds. During this time, you deal 30% increased damage to the target and are granted true sight of the target. Vendetta is a strong cooldown, but you should be careful using it on targets that are short lived, as it is a debuff on the target rather than a personal buff.

Vanish Icon Vanish breaks movement impairing effects and instantly shifts you into Stealth Icon Stealth. This should be used on cooldown to get cheaper Mutilate Icon Mutilates using the Shadow Focus Icon Shadow Focus talent.