Assassination Rogue Pre-Patch Guide for WotLK Classic

Rogues in general have some amazing changes coming their way in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, but 2 of the 3 most important changes only take effect after the expansion releases. For the pre-patch, all Rogue specs can enjoy the implementation of their poisons now scaling with Attack Power, which is massively useful for Assassination especially.

Assassination has solid single-target damage in the pre-patch, while bringing the Master Poisoner debuff to the raid group, which increases the critical strike chance of all attacks made against enemies you have poisoned by 3%.

The talent tree listed above uses the points available at Level 70 to get as many of the desired talents as possible, but it still falls short. For example, while Opportunity is a solid talent, it simply does not provide as much of a DPS increase as Dual Wield Specialization or Relentless Strikes in raids.

We would expect Rogues to be at the hit cap, as well as near Expertise cap during the pre-patch, so you should take Fleet Footed instead of Quick Recovery, due to the fact that you will not be missing many of your finishers.

At Level 70, you will only have access to 2 of your 3 major glyph slots.

For Level 70, you will want to have the Mutilate and Slice and Dice glyphs for your major glyphs.

1. Hit Rating to cap;
2. Expertise;
3. Agility.

For Assassination Rogues, the majority of secondary stats are fairly similar in their priority, with Hit, Expertise, and Agility taking priority over the others. Point-for-point, these 3 are the strongest stats for Assassination in the pre-patch.

The rotation as an Assassination Rogue is fairly simple, but it is important to ensure that you get a proper opener, depending on the raid setup you are currently in.

If another player is able to apply bleeds to the boss, your opener will look like this:

1. Mutilate
2. Slice and Dice
3. Hunger For Blood
4. Mutilate
5. Mutilate*
6. Envenom

The second Mutilate following your Hunger For Blood may not be necessary, depending on the number of combo points the first one generates.

If another player is not able to apply bleeds to the boss, your opener will look like this:

1. Mutilate
2. Slice and Dice
   • If you do not receive a CP from Ruthlessness, cast Mutilate.
3. Rupture
4. Hunger For Blood
5. Mutilate
6. Mutilate*
7. Envenom

The second Mutilate following your Hunger For Blood may not be necessary, depending on the number of combo points the first one generates.

The rotation for Assassination is massively simple after your opener: you will simply alternate between Mutilate and Envenom for most of the fight. You should aim to use Mutilate if you have 1-3 combo points and Envenom if you have 4-5 combo points.

Make sure not to use Envenom too early, to avoid wasting the buff from your previous cast.

If you have to put bleeds on the boss yourself, then you will need to re-apply Rupture when you next want to use Hunger For Blood. Simply replace an Envenom with Rupture in order to do so.

If you do not have any Warriors in your group, you will need to use Expose Armor and maintain the buff at all times. You should aim to always have it active and should prioritise the usage of it over your own Envenoms, if it prevents the buff from falling off.

The 4-set bonus for Assassination is fairly weak, due to the lower reliance on your CP-generator abilities and their relatively lower damage out percentage. You can aim to get your 2-set bonus of the Slayer set.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Duplicitous Guise Cursed Vision of Sargeras Quad Deathblow X44 Goggles Slayer's Helm	Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau Illidan Stormrage — The Black Temple Engineering Recipe — Sunwell Plateau Trash Archimonde in Hyjal Summit
Neck	Clutch of Demise Hard Khorium Choker Choker of Endless Nightmares Shattered Sun Pendant of Might Braided Eternium Chain	Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau Jewelcrafting Recipe — Sunwell Plateau Trash Supremus — The Black Temple Shattered Sun Offensive Exalted Jewelcrafting
Shoulders	Shoulderpads of Vehemence Slayer's Shoulderpads Swiftstrike Shoulders	Eredar Twins — Sunwell Plateau Mother Shahraz — The Black Temple Leatherworking
Back	Cloak of Unforgivable Sin Shadowmoon Destroyer's Drape Cloak of Fiends	Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau Teron Gorefiend — The Black Temple Timed Chest — Zul'Aman
Chest	Carapace of Sun and Shadow Bladed Chaos Tunic Slayer's Chestguard	Leatherworking Recipe — Sunwell Plateau Trash Eredar Twins — Sunwell Plateau Illidan Stormrage — The Black Temple
Wrists	Slayer's Bracers Insidious Bands Swiftstrike Bracers Deadly Cuffs	Kalecgos — Sunwell Plateau Teron Gorefiend — The Black Temple Leatherworking Rage Winterchill — Hyjal Summit
Hands	Gloves of Immortal Dusk Slayer's Handguards	Crafted Leatherworking BoE Azgalor — Hyjal Summit
Waist	Slayer's Belt Belt of One-Hundred Deaths	Brutallus — Sunwell Plateau Lady Vashj — Serpentshrine Cavern
Legs	Leggings of the Immortal Night Trousers of the Scryers' Retainer Slayer's Legguards	Felmyst — Sunwell Plateau Badge of Justice (100) The Illidari Council — The Black Temple
Feet	Slayer's Boots Nyn'jah's Tabi Boots Shadowmaster's Boots	Felmyst — Sunwell Plateau Badge of Justice (60) Mother Shahraz — The Black Temple
Rings	Band of Ruinous Delight Hard Khorium Band Stormrage Signet Ring Angelista's Revenge	Eredar Twins — Sunwell Plateau Crafted Jewelcrafting BoE Illidan Stormrage — The Black Temple Badge of Justice (60)
Trinkets	Blackened Naaru Sliver Dragonspine Trophy Shard of Contempt Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality	M'uru — Sunwell Plateau Gruul The Dragonkiller — Gruul's Lair Priestess Delrissa — Magister's Terrace Exalted with Ashtongue Deathsworn
Ranged	Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury Golden Bow of Quel'Thalas Blade of Life's Inevitability	Kil'jaeden — Sunwell Plateau Eredar Twins — Sunwell Plateau Sunwell Plateau Trash

The best combination of weapons for Assassination is Crux of the Apocalypse in your mainhand with Brutal Gladiator's Shiv in your offhand.

There are a number of options for you, but as long as you follow these rules, your combination will work fine:

• At least one fast weapon, with 1.3-1.5 speed.
• The second weapon can be any speed.
• Take the highest DPS daggers you can, as long as one of them is fast.

For your poisons, you should use Instant Poison on your slow weapon and Deadly Poison on your fast weapon.

The gems you choose to use will depend on the gear you have, but for the most part, you should aim to fill the slots with the following:

• Meta: Relentless Earthstorm Diamond
• Red or Blue: Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst
• Red or Yellow: Glinting Pyrestone

The gems you choose to use should never "waste" Hit Rating by overcapping you. You should also only aim to use a minimum of 2 purple gems to active your meta gem, but beyond that, you should be using red/orange gems for the highest DPS per stat increase.

For your enchants, you should use the following:

Slot	Enchantment
Head	Arcanum of Ferocity
Shoulders	Might of the Scourge
Back	Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility
Chest	Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Assault
Gloves	Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility
Legs	Nethercobra Leg Armor
Feet	Enchant Boots - Dexterity
Ring	Enchant Ring - Striking
Melee Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Mongoose

Spicy Hot Talbuk is your best well-fed buff if you are not hit-capped, Grilled Mudfish if you are hit capped, to give you as much Agility as possible.

Flask of Relentless Assault is your typical go-to flask of choice.

Elixir of Major Agility is our best choice for your in-fight potion.