Assassination Rogue DPS Mythic+ Tips — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Last updated on Jan 19, 2026 at 18:00 by Seliathan 86 comments
General Information

In this guide, you will find tips and advice to tackle Mythic+ dungeons with your Assassination Rogue in World of Warcraft — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0).

1.

Assassination Rogue in Mythic+ in Midnight Pre-Patch

The playstyle of Assassination in Mythic+ revolves around setting up your bleeds on multiple targets, ramping up your Energy regeneration until you become global cooldown-locked, and then continuing to cycle bleeds between targets. A key feature of Assassination AoE is that while it is most optimal in multi-dotting evenly across several targets; you can still channel your damage into a single target as well, which will cleave onto nearby targets thanks to Caustic Spatter Icon Caustic Spatter.

To learn more about the Mythic+ Meta, check out our Mythic+ Tier List below.

2.

Best Mythic+ Talents for Assassination Rogue in The War Within

Assassination in Mythic+ offers both high sustained AoE damage as well as strong single-target cooldowns that can be used on bosses or high-priority targets that need to be taken out quickly or have much higher health pools than the surrounding enemies. You can play this as either Hero Talent spec, depending on your preference, with neither really being a significant gain over the other in Mythic+.

For a more general overview of Talents for Assassination Rogue, please visit our dedicated Talents page.

3.

Best Mythic+ Talent Builds for Assassination Rogue

Assassination Fatebound Mythic+ Build Assassination Deathstalker M+ Build
3.3.

This is the Deathstalker build for Assassination. This build excels at high sustained damage in AoE, as trash packs tend to live quite a bit longer in higher level keys than your weekly key runs. Energy may feel a bit low compared to previous iterations of the spec, which is largely fixed by our Apex-Talent that we do not yet have access to during the Pre-Patch.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Assassination Deathstalker Mythic+ Build
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA4BmZmZxwDMAAAAAwsNYZGAAAAAQ2GzMmZGjZmZmtZ2mZMegZmZmxwMjxAwsAGwCYZQghFDmZAA
3.4.

This is the Deathstalker build for Assassination. This build excels at high sustained damage in AoE, as trash packs tend to live quite a bit longer in higher level keys than your weekly key runs. Energy may feel a bit low compared to previous iterations of the spec, which is largely fixed by our Apex-Talent that we do not yet have access to during the Pre-Patch.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Assassination Fatebound M+ Build
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA4BmZmZxwDMAAAAAwsNYZGAAAAAQ2GzMmZGjZmZmtZ2mZMegZmZmxwMjxAYgNYY0AALDYzAgZGA
4.

Mythic+ Utility for Assassination Rogue in Midnight Pre-Patch

This section talks mostly about the uses of different spells. For in-depth explanations of all Rogue Abilities and Talents, including these, check out our Spells page.

5.

Utility of Assassination Rogue in The War Within

Interrupts, Stuns and Stops Other Utility
5.1.

Interrupts, Stuns and Stops

Kick Icon Kick is your, well, "kick". You will interrupt your targeted enemy, or, when using a Focus-Macro, the target you set up as your focus.

  • /stopcasting
  • /stopcasting
  • /cast [@focus,exists,nodead] [] Kick

This macro will kick your focus target if you have one and your target if you have no focus target. We recommend keeping both the macro and a regular kick cast on your bars, as you may have multiple targets to interrupt, and the macro always prioritizes the focus target.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro or setting the "Focus Target" hotkey in the game's keybinding settings.

  • /focus [@mouseover]

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

5.2.

Stunning and "Stops"

Sap Icon Sap and Blind Icon Blind can be useful to hard-crowd control multiple mobs in a single trash pack. You can also use it right before the tank is pulling, as Blackjack Icon Blackjack applies a damage reduction debuff to the target when Sap breaks.

Vanish Icon Vanish can be used to Garrote Icon Garrote enemies, silencing them thanks to Iron Wire Icon Iron Wire. This is also a DPS increase due to Improved Garrote Icon Improved Garrote, so clever planning of your CDs will be rewarded with higher DPS. If you are unsure about your usage of Vanish, err on the side of caution and use it for the silence first and foremost, not for DPS.

With Airborne Irritant Icon Airborne Irritant talented, Blind Icon Blind turns into a powerful AoE disrupt that also drastically reduces tank damage taken.

Gouge Icon Gouge (if talented) can be used to disrupt enemies from casting otherwise uninterruptible spells. This requires you to stand in front of the enemy but can be used in many situations to keep enemies from using some of their most lethal abilities. Many of these abilities go on cooldown once used, so disrupting them with Gouge, Kidney Shot Icon Kidney Shot, or Blind Icon Blind will keep these mobs from re-casting these abilities for a while.

Vanish Icon Vanish can also be used to Cheap Shot Icon Cheap Shot an enemy that can only be stopped, not interrupted, but this is an absolute last resort play.

5.3.

Other Utility

Shroud of Concealment Icon Shroud of Concealment projects AoE Stealth Icon Stealth around you. It is important to note, however, that in the current expansion, there is a much greater number of enemies who can detect through Stealth or Invisibility, whom you will need to be on the lookout for.

Distract Icon Distract helps set up Shroud-skips and keeps patrolling trash packs in place for 10 seconds. Make sure to force enemies to look away from you to allow you to stealth past them.

Feint Icon Feint, Cloak of Shadows Icon Cloak of Shadows, Evasion Icon Evasion, Crimson Vial Icon Crimson Vial and Cheat Death Icon Cheat Death form a very powerful set of defensive cooldowns and are one of the biggest reasons for Rogue's strength in Mythic+.

Tricks of the Trade Icon Tricks of the Trade is not exceptionally great normally. However, any kind of support that helps your tank keep aggro on all enemies is encouraged. Sadly it is a choice-node with Blackjack Icon Blackjack.

Shiv Icon Shiv can be used to dispel Enrage effects. Keep in mind that this means you will not be able to use Shiv for DPS.

Numbing Poison Icon Numbing Poison and Atrophic Poison Icon Atrophic Poison are both useful in Mythic+, but with the heavier emphasis on trash mobs, Numbing Poison Icon Numbing Poison is likely to win out on Fortified, with Atrophic gaining more value on Tyrannical weeks. Communicate with your tank and healer which ones are preferable.

6.

Changelog

  • 19 Jan. 2026: Page updated for Pre-Patch.
  • 30 Nov. 2025: Page was reviewed for Patch 11.2.7 and no changes were required.
  • 05 Oct. 2025: Page was reviewed for Patch 11.2.5 and no changes were required.
  • 04 Aug. 2025: Page updated for Patch 11.2 and Season 3, with weekly and high key build recommendations.
  • 15 Jun. 2025: Page was reviewed for Patch 11.1.7 and no changes were required.
  • 21 Apr. 2025: Switched to Bleed Build for Mythic+ and reviewed page for Patch 11.1.5.
  • 24 Feb. 2025: Page has been reviewed and updated for TWW Patch 11.1.
  • 15 Dec. 2024: Page has been reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
  • 21 Oct. 2024: Updated Talent builds for Patch 11.0.5.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for the start of Season 1 of The War Within.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Page has been reviewed and updated for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 21 Mar. 2024: Page has been reviewed for Patch 10.2.6, no changes were necessary.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Page has been reviewed and updated for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 08 Nov. 2023: Added disclaimer about talent build not being highest DPS option.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Page updated for the Patch 10.2 Rogue rework.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Page was reviewed for Patch 10.1.7 and no changes were necessary.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Page was reviewed for Patch 10.1.5 and no changes were necessary as Assassination received no changes for the Patch.
  • 06 Jun. 2023: Updated for Exsanguinate bug.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated tips and tricks for Patch 10.1 Affix changes.
  • 26 Mar. 2023: Replaced Flying Daggers with Improved Poisons.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 05 Mar. 2023: Updated Stat prio and Raging Affix description.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5 changes.
  • 04 Jan. 2023: Updated talents and sample opener.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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