Assassination Rogue DPS Easy Mode — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, we explain how to easily play Assassination Rogue in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
Disclaimer: With the vast amount of changes to Rogue and Assassination talents and abilities in Patch 10.2, we expect more findings and optimizations to surface as the Theorycrafting community continues their efforts to find the best possible way to play the spec. As a result, information on this page might receive frequent updates after Patch 10.2 hits live servers.
If you are new to the class or spec, it is best advised to start slow by starting with a straightforward build to get a better handle on the core mechanics and interactions. This build is only slightly worse and easier to play than the most optimal way to play the spec, so there is no need to worry at all about potentially lacking behind fellow Rogue players while you get to know the foundations of Assassination.
The Basics for Assassination Rogue
Assassination primarily focuses on maintaining damage-over-time effects for potent sustained damage and cleave. In this section, we will be focusing on a setup that minimizes the number of buttons and reactivity necessary without unduly compromising overall damage output.
If you are completely new to Assassination and need more information on the abilities and talents available to you, you can check out our Spell Summary page.
Talent Choice for Assassination Rogue
This build is NOT the highest-performing build for Assassination, but
it closely resembles the well-known playstyle of previous patches, while utilizing
some of the new or reworked talents and abilities for high single-target damage
output. It can also easily swap in Caustic Spatter instead of
Internal Bleeding
for great cleave potential. It performs about 6-7% worse than the highest-simming
build, which you can find on our Talents page.
Be sure to use the 'Copy Export String' button on our calculator below to import our build ingame!:
For a more in-depth analysis of each of the talent choices and the reasoning behind the aforementioned build as the go-to for ease of use, check out the Talent section below.
Stat Choice for Assassination Rogue
Currently, you will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows for both Raiding and Mythic+:
- Agility;
- Mastery;
- Critical Strike;
- Haste;
- Versatility.
Mastery, Critical Strike, and Haste are all very close in value to one another, and all 3 of these stats are desirable. Agility is by far the most important stat, meaning any item level increase is typically an upgrade, regardless of secondary stats. The secondary stat priorities shift and change as you acquire new gear, and we highly recommend simming yourself in order to find out what stat is best for you specifically. You can learn more about what each stat does for you and which stats are the best for each situation by heading to our stats page.
If you are wondering how to sim yourself and find out about the best upgrades for you, you can learn more about it on our Simulations page as well!
Basic Rotational Priority for Assassination Rogue
Always make sure to have Deadly Poison,
Amplifying Poison and
your choice of non-lethal Poisons applied for maximum DPS.
- Use
Mutilate as your single-target builder, and
Envenom as your single-target spender. Use
Ambush instead of
Mutilate when available.
- Use
Fan of Knives as your AoE builder, and maintain
Crimson Tempest as your AoE spender (if talented into it). Use
Mutilate or
Ambush once every 10 seconds on AoE if talented into
Caustic Spatter.
- Maintain
Slice and Dice,
Rupture,
Garrote and
Serrated Bone Spike (if talented) at all times.
- Use
Shiv,
Echoing Reprimand,
Sepsis,
Kingsbane (if talented) and
Deathmark on cooldown.
- Use
Serrated Bone Spike (if talented) and
Thistle Tea to avoid overcapping charges. Do not overcap Energy when using Thistle Tea.
- Try to sync as many of your cooldowns as possible, so they all benefit from each other.
By following the link, you will be able to find a more detailed version of this priority list for both single-target and AoE, as well as a deeper explanation of some of the core concepts of Assassination gameplay. If you would like to know more about how to pool Energy properly and what your opener should look like, check out the Rotation section of this guide.
Tips and Tricks
- Refresh
Rupture and
Garrote before activating
Deathmark and
Shiv, so you do not have to cast these abilities while it is active.
- Always cast finishers at 5+ Combo Points, or when it hits an Animacharged
Combo Point from
Echoing Reprimand.
- Maintain
Slice and Dice by using
Envenom.
Cut to the Chase will automatically extend your Slice and Dice duration.
- Try to cast
Envenom with 5+ Combo Points at least twice during each
Shiv.
Sepsis (if talented) grants you the ability to cast empowered
Garrote, once when you use Sepsis and once again after it expires (for up to 10 seconds). You will want to cast one immediately, and then extend it with the second free Garrote cast as late as possible.
Deathmark duplicates the currently active bleeds. If these are buffed through something like
Improved Garrote, the duplicated bleeds will also benefit from these effects.
- When using
Rogue Assassination 10.2 Class Set 4pc, make sure to cast Envenom while a previous Envenom is still active, or you lose out on the 4-piece bonus effect.
Changelog
- 14 Nov. 2023: Updated with newly optimized Assa single-target priority during Deathmark and Dance.
- 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 Sepsis build, removed Exsanguinate while it is bugged.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1. Simplified rotational priorities.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5 changes.
- 04 Jan. 2023: Updated talent build.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Rogue Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written and reviewed by Seliathan, who has been playing Rogue since the first day of Classic. He currently raids in Familiar with Drama, and is one of the foremost Mythic+ Rogue players. You can often find him streaming on Twitch, or follow him on his personal Discord server.
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