World of Warcraft: Forever Assassination Rogue Leveling Guide

Rogue offers a unique leveling experience that will allow you to deal massive amounts of single-target damage and completely avoid many enemies with the iconic ability Stealth. While tools like Stealth will make the leveling process a bit easier as you can much more easily pick and choose your battles, Rogue can be a bit slower to level than other classes due to their lack of AoE damage. Despite this lack of AoE, Rogue has some of the best tools in the game to help mitigate incoming damage, and high damage to make up for it.

The goal of this page is to inform you of things you may need to know during the leveling process as an Assassination Rogue. This includes things like which talents to choose, what key gear upgrades to keep an eye out for, how abilities function, and what kind of stats you should be looking for on your gear. All our recommendations update based on the selection you choose with our leveling sliders, so you will be able to find bespoke information for your specific level range.

Our build recommended for leveling your Assassination Rogue focuses heavily on dealing as much damage as possible with new abilities like Mutilate and your poisons. It is important to note that due to the nature of the game, some mobs will be entirely immune to your poisons, making things a bit more difficult to deal max damage as an Assassination Rogue. This build also targets some talents that allow us to generate additional combo points like Seal Fate, or extra Energy like Relentless Strikes.

• Remorseless Attacks: Increase your Critical Strike chance on your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, and Mutilate after killing a target granting experience or honor. This is a nice buff that will allow you to quickly move onto a new target with a high chance of starting off with a Crit.
• Ruthlessness: Gives your finishing moves a chance to add a Combo Point to the target. As a Rogue your biggest limiting factor while leveling is your access to Energy and Combo Points, so any chance to generate extra Combo Points will greatly increase your kill speed.
• Relentless Strikes: Causes your finishing moves to give you a chance per Combo Point spent to restore Energy. Similar to Ruthlessness, the additional access to your damage dealing resources will result in dealing considerably more damage.
• Lethality: Increases the Critical Strike damage of your Mutilate, Sinister Strike, Backstab abilities. Pairs nicely with other talents like Remorseless Attacks and Malice, and the added damage to your Critical Strikes will greatly increase your kill speed.
• Cold Blood: Increases the Critical Strike chance of your next Ambush, Eviscerate, Backstab, and Mutilate abilities by 100%. The on demand Critical Strike can be the difference in being able to defeat an enemy or not. Try to keep this on cooldown to maximize its effectiveness.
• Mutilate: Attacks with both weapons, dealing additional damage to targets that are afflicted by your poisons. It also generates 2 Combo Points. This becomes your primary way to generate Combo Points as soon as you reach Level 30 when it becomes available.
• Seal Fate: Critical Strikes from abilities have a chance to add Combo Points to your target. Having more Combo Points will always be a good thing, as it allows you to more quickly defeat enemies.
• Venom: Increases the damage of your poisons and the chance to for them to proc. The duration scales directly with how many Combo Points are spent on it. This allows you to deal considerably more poison damage and will add a new buff to maintain.

• Puncturing Wounds: Greatly increases the Critical Strike chance of your Mutilate. While this Talent also augments Backstab, by the time we reach it you will already have talented into Mutilate and will be focusing on using that as your primary way of generating Combo Points.
• Opportunity: Increases the damage dealt by your Mutilate ability. This is just a flat increase to your primary source of Combo Point generation and likely your most used ability in any kind of encounter.
• Precision: Increases your chance to hit. If you miss, your ability or auto attack deals zero damage. As Assassination you are constantly attacking and attempting to apply poisons, so this added hit chance is a great way to increase the frequency of your damage landing on the target.

Assassination has some of the most significant level breakpoints of any Class. The biggest thing to highlight is the importance of Mutilate. Mutilate is able to be unlocked at Level 30 and will become your primary way of both dealing damage and generating Combo Points, replacing Sinister Strike/ Backstab. These kind of power spikes can make the leveling process feel a bit slow prior to reaching them.

Assassination Rogue has a relatively simple rotation that you will follow throughout almost your entire leveling experience. It changes slightly based on your level and what talents you have unlocked, but your primary focus will always be generating Combo Points and then spending them on finishing moves. However, Rogue has some rather unique mechanics that are important to understand before jumping into your DPS rotation.

Combo Points are a resource that is added to your target anytime you deal damage with a Combo Point generating abilities like Sinister Strike, and eventually, Mutilate. These points can be spent on powerful abilities like Eviscerate, Venom, or Slice and Dice. It is important to keep in mind that your Combo Points will persist on a target even if you switch the target, but if you begin to generate Combo Points on another target, or your original target dies with Combo Points still active, you will not be able to transfer them to the new target.

Energy is your main resource as a Rogue, and all your abilities will cost Energy. Energy regenerates passively at all times, but it is important to keep in mind that you can pool your Energy, should you need to deal a large amount of damage in a small window of time. The rate at which Energy regenerates is very stable at 10 Energy a second, outside of talents that may offer a quick refund. Do not, ever, overcap Energy unless you absolutely have to.

Stealth is an ability that allows Rogues to avoid detection by enemies. Many of the enemies you encounter in your adventures through Azeroth will be hostile, meaning they will attack you the second you step into their aggro radius - Stealth greatly reduces this radius. The exact formula on how close you can get to a mob without being revealed from stealth depends on a few different factors: Your level compared to the enemy, any additional levels of stealth you may have from talents like Master of Deception, or some mobs that are just able to see through Stealth. Stealth will also allow you to use powerful abilities that can only be used while Stealth is active, like Cheap Shot or Garrote.

Poisons are a mechanic unique to Rogue that allows you to coat your weapons and cause your attacks to apply additional effects to your target. These effects range from things as simple as bonus damage when using Instant Poison or some added utility like being able to slow your target with Crippling Poison.

The leveling rotation for Assassination Rogue is extremely simple and focuses primarily on generating as many Combo Points as possible with our Sinister Strike and eventually Mutilate, then spending them on either maintaining our Slice and Dice/ Venom buffs, with excess points going towards casting a Eviscerate. There are a few exceptions to this that will be broken down below. Poisons can be unlocked at Level 20 by completing a series of quests provided by your class trainer.

• Make sure you have a poison active on both of your weapons. While leveling this will ideally be Instant Poison, but if you are fighting mobs that are constantly running away you can consider Crippling Poison.
• Begin each encounter in Stealth. If the mob can be stunned, Cheap Shot will help mitigate a ton of damage. You can also open with Garrote for damage.
• Cast Backstab to generate Combo Points. If you are unable to get behind your target cast Sinister Strike instead. At Level 30, start using Mutilate instead to generate Combo Points.
• Cast Venom and Slice and Dice if you are confident you will have targets to hit for its duration, otherwise cast Eviscerate upon reaching 5 Combo Points.

Rogue unfortunately lacks true AoE. Your rotation for dealing damage will be identical in both single-target and AoE situations.

While the damage rotation is relatively simple as a Rogue, you will also find yourself with some of the strongest utility in the game. This added utility will allow you a ton of control over how an encounter plays out in ways other than simply dealing enough damage. Highlighted below are some key abilities.

• Evasion: Greatly increases your chance to dodge. This should be used early and often to keep yourself alive and mitigate downtime. While solo leveling, it is important to try and keep this ability on cooldown, but in a group you may want to keep it ready for a situation where you pull aggro or the tank dies.
• Stealth: Allows you to avoid combat all together, or give you a considerable edge on your opponent by starting the fight out with either a stun like Cheap Shot or some bonus damage with Garrote.
• Gouge: Briefly incapacitates your target. This can act as an impromptu way to interrupt, or just allow you to gain some distance between yourself and a target. Keep in mind that this will break on any kind of damage.
• Blind: Disorients your target. This can be used in many ways, but the key ones to consider are using it to either escape a target, or an impromptu way to regenerate some Energy and channel a quick bandage from first-aid while the enemy cannot fight back. It unfortunately will not allow you to drop combat in PvE scenarios but in PvP it can also allow you a quick re-stealth.
• Cheap Shot: Allows you to stun your target while exiting Stealth. This gives you a strong advantage immediately by allowing you to deal damage and generate Combo Points before they can retaliate.
• Kidney Shot: Allows you to stun your target based on the amount of Combo Points active on the target.
• Pick Lock: This ability lets you open lockboxes and locked chests. If there is a locked door in an area, the game will also sometimes let you open it without needing a quest-related key, saving you lots of time.
• Distract: Redirects the direction that an enemy is looking. Mobs have less stealth detection behind them, making it easier for you to sneak past mobs that would otherwise detect you in Stealth.

As an Assassination Rogue our main priority is to have to powerful Daggers, ideally with a high top end damage to benefit from multipliers found on attacks like Mutilate. It is important to note that you must use two Daggers to even be able to use Mutilate. Outside of Weapon Damage, our focus will be on grabbing as much Agility as possible, while sneaking in some Stamina to allow us to survive encounters.

1. Weapon Damage: Having the correct weapons as an Assassination rogue is crucial, so it is important to try and find a high weapon damage Dagger. It is generally worth dropping some stats on your weapons, if it means getting a higher base weapon damage.
2. Hit & Expertise: If your attack misses or is dodged, you will deal zero damage to the target. While Hit and Expertise are quite rare on gear, especially while leveling, these stats are hugely important to grab whenever you can get them.
3. Agility: Agility increases your Attack Power, Dodge, and Critical Strike Chance. Attack Power makes your attacks/spells deal more damage, and can also be found on gear directly. The added Dodge and Critical Strike rating from Agility are what make this stat truly valuable.
4. Critical Strike: A critical Strike deals 200% damage of a normal attack, greatly increasing your damage.
5. Strength: Increases your Attack Power.
6. Stamina: Increases your Health. It is rare you will ever have to choose between Stamina and other stats while leveling as it is present on many items by default.

As you level and new zones become available to you, there will typically be a few different areas you can choose to level in for each level bracket. It is important to try and stick to one place until you begin to run out of quests, as there are often follow up quests that yield much stronger rewards or can send you to a nearby dungeon that will offer you some incredibly powerful upgrades.

Highlighted below are some of our recommended zones based on level and nearby dungeons just to give you a general idea of where you should consider leveling to ensure a smooth experience in your journeys through Azeroth.

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Loch Modan/Darkshore
  • The Barrens
• Available Dungeons:
  • Hall of Thanes
  • Ragefire Chasm

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Westfall/Darkshore
  • Silverpine Forest
• Available Dungeons:
  • Hall of Thanes
  • Ragefire Chasm and Ruins of Lordaeron

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Westfall/Redridge Mountains
  • The Barrens/Stonetalon Mountains
• Available Dungeons:
  • Hall of Thanes
  • Wailing Caverns

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Redridge Mountains/Duskwood
  • Hillsbrad Foothills/Stonetalon Mountains
• Available Dungeons:
  • The Stockade
  • Shadowfang Keep and Wailing Caverns

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Ashenvale/Duskwood
  • Ashenvale/Duskwood
• Available Dungeons:
  • Blackfathom Deeps and The Stockade
  • Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Wetlands/Ashenvale
  • Hillsbrad Foothills/Wetlands
• Available Dungeons:
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Blackfathom Deeps
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Blackfathom Deeps

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Wetlands/Ashenvale
  • Wetlands/Thousand Needles
• Available Dungeons:
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Gnomeregan
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Razorfen Kraul

There are also some powerful items we would recommend grabbing along your journey, some of these may result in some slight detours but will often greatly increase your leveling quality of life as you progress through your adventures in Azeroth.

• Weapons
  • Blade of Cunning is your first major upgrade in the weapon slot and the quest for this can be picked up at your class trainer at level 10. The exact quest will depend on what race you have chosen to play but the time invested will be well worth the upgrade.
  • Meathook Slicer is another solid weapon upgrade that can be found in the Ruins of Lordaeron dungeon from The Baron. This weapon has decently high top end and will last you for quite a few levels.
  • The Shadowfang Keep gives us a chance at Meteor Shard which hits incredibly hard for the Level range.The dungeon also offers chances at some gear upgrades in like Worgpelt Leggings and a ton of rare but incredibly strong BoEs. If you are a member of the Horde try to time your run around the Arugal Must Die quest to also snag the Seal of Sylvanas.
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands is our next focus due to the strong weapon rewards available for completing quests on either faction. As a member of the Horde you can get the Serrated Raptor Claw from the quest located inside of the Excavation Site dungeon. As Alliance you will be able to earn Subdued Dragon's Fang from completing the Stopping the Cycle quest line.
• Gear
  • The The Deadmines has tons of usueful drops for you as a Rogue, the entire Defias set but especially the Blackened Defias Belt and the Blackened Defias Leggings will last you quite a while if you are able to get them to drop. If you are a member of the Alliance you can try to time your run around your completion of The Defias Brotherhood quest line to snag the Tunic of Westfall.

Due to the frequency of new things being found on the WoW Forever beta and the Level cap being set at level 30 it is impossible at this time to give any kind of extensive list of upgrades or items to chase after post level 30 but we will update this as quickly as possible when this information becomes more available.

Maximize Up-time: Your number one focus while leveling should be to constantly chase gaining experience. This may seem obvious, but small things like killing mobs as you run from one objective to another, utilizing cooldowns like Evasion to reduce the time you spend eating to restore health, or doing idle tasks like professions while waiting for boats, will result in a noticeable increase in your leveling speed.

Level First Aid: As a Rogue, First Aid is absolutely crucial and worth every second spend leveling it. Using bandages is considerably faster than eating, and in a situation where you need to use it in combat, a quick Blind will give you plenty of time to heal.

Remember to take advantage of campfire buffs: Especially early game, when your character power feels low, the added buffs from a campsite can help make your character feel stronger. They often also increase the effectiveness of your experience gains via bonus rested XP.

Consider groups: As a Rogue you may struggle to solo specific content. Do not hesitate to reach out to players you see nearby or in the zone chat to form groups for more difficult quests. If you happen to find yourself completing a kill quest and see another player killing the same mobs, there is no harm in inviting them to get through the kill count quicker, especially as Rogue is quite bad at tagging enemies quickly from range.

Level	Important Ability/Class Quest/Game-Altering Talent
10	Dual Wield Unlock
15	Lockpicking Class Quest
20	Poison Crafting Class Quest
22	Vanish Unlock
26	Cheap Shot Unlock
30	Mutilate available through talents
34	Blind Unlock
40	Venom available through talents
50	Ravenholdt Questline Available

Leatherworking is an incredible choice, especially when paired with Skinning. There are many pieces of gear that you can craft quite early into your leveling experience that will last you for a considerable amount of levels, and it is very likely that some of the best end-game rewards will be crafted via Leatherworking as well. Skinning allows you to gather the majority of the materials you will need to level your Leatherworking skill.

First Aid and Cooking, while not primary professions, are also incredibly important for your leveling journey. First Aid allows you to bandage yourself quickly, healing back damage taken, which can both be done in combat while an enemy is crowd controlled, or outside of it as a quicker alternative to eating. Cooking can be used to create powerful buff foods, many of which even increase the amount of experience you gain from kills. Both are typically quite easily leveled with materials you will find naturally through your adventures in Azeroth, and will not require many detours.

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