Assassination Rogue DPS Guide (BfA 8.0.1)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Assassination Rogue
  • 3. Assassination Rogue Strengths
  • 4. Assassination Rogue Weaknesses
  • 5. Assassination Rogue Viability in the Current Patch
  • 6. Contents
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics for Assassination Rogue
  • 3. Talent Choice for Assassination Rogue
  • 4. Stat Choice for Assassination Rogue
  • 5. Basic Rotational Priority for Assassination Rogue
    • 5.1. Tips and Tricks
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Assassination Rogue Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources for Assassination Rogue
  • 3. Basic Abilities for Assassination Rogue
  • 4. Important Procs for Assassination Rogue
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns for Assassination Rogue
  • 6. Defensive Cooldowns for Assassination Rogue
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Assassination Rogue
    • 2.1. Tier 21 4P/ T20 — 2P Poison Build
    • 2.2. Tier 21 Poison Build
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Assassination Rogue
  • 10. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 10.1. Assassination Rogue War Mode Talents
      • 10.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 10.1.2. Assassination Rogue PvP Talents
  • 11. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Changes in 8.0
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Ability Priority List for Assassination Rogue
  • 2. Multiple Target Ability Priority List for Assassination Rogue
    • 2.1. Important Notes
  • 3. Poisons
  • 4. Notable Mechanics for Assassination Rogue
    • 4.1. Nightstalker
    • 4.2. Pandemic and Rupture Refresh
  • 5. Academic Information for Assassination Rogue
    • 5.1. The Interaction Between Combo Points and Energy
    • 5.2. Pooling Energy and Combo Points
    • 5.3. Defensive Utility
  • 6. Opening Sequences for Assassination Rogue
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Assassination Rogue Boss Advice: Antorus, the Burning Throne
    • 1.1. Garothi Worldbreaker
      • 1.1.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.2. Felhounds of Sargeras
      • 1.2.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.3. Antoran High Command
      • 1.3.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.4. Eonar the Life-Binder
      • 1.4.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.5. Portal Keeper Hasabel
      • 1.5.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.6. Imonar the Soulhunter
      • 1.6.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.7. Kin'garoth
      • 1.7.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.8. Varimathras
      • 1.8.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.9. The Coven of Shivarra
      • 1.9.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.10. Aggramar
      • 1.10.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.11. Argus the Unmaker
      • 1.11.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
  • 2. Tomb of Sargeras
    • 2.1. Goroth
      • 2.1.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.2. The Demonic Inquisition
      • 2.2.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.3. Harjatan
      • 2.3.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.4. Sisters of the Moon
      • 2.4.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.5. Mistress Sassz'ine
      • 2.5.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.6. The Desolate Host
      • 2.6.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.7. Maiden of Vigilance
      • 2.7.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.8. Fallen Avatar
      • 2.8.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 2.9. Kil'jaeden
      • 2.9.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
  • 3. The Nighthold
    • 3.1. Skorpyron
      • 3.1.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.2. Chronomatic Anomaly
      • 3.2.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.3. Trilliax
      • 3.3.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.4. Spellblade Aluriel
      • 3.4.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.5. Tichondrius
      • 3.5.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.6. Star Augur Etraeus
      • 3.6.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.7. Krosus
      • 3.7.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.8. High Botanist Tel'arn
      • 3.8.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.9. Grand Magistrix Elisande
      • 3.9.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 3.10. Gul'dan
      • 3.10.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Stat Priority for Assassination Rogue
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Assassination Rogue
  • 2. Enchants for Assassination Rogue
  • 3. Consumables for Assassination Rogue
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. AddOns for Assassination Rogue
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros for Assassination Rogue
    • 2.1. Startattack Macros
    • 2.2. Tricks of the Trade
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 21 Set Bonuses for Assassination Rogue
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses for Assassination Rogue
  • 3. Best in Slot List for Assassination Rogue
  • 4. Best in Slot List for Assassination Rogue (no tier 20)
  • 5. Trinket List for Assassination Rogue
  • 6. Legendaries for Assassination Rogue
    • 6.1. Antorus Recommendations
  • 7. Legendary Tier List for Assassination Rogue
    • 7.1. Top Tier
    • 7.2. Mid Tier
    • 7.3. Bottom Tier
    • 7.4. Extra Information
  • 8. Loot Competition
  • 9. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Assassination Rogue DPS guide for World of Warcraft BfA 8.0.1. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing an Assassination Rogue in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

About Our Author

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Gray_Hound, a Rogue theorycrafter who raids in Strawberry Puppy Kisses. You can find him on Twitch and Twitter.

1. Class Overview

Assassination Rogues deal damage through the application and empowerment of poison and bleed effects. The damage toolkit of Assassination is somewhat limited, mainly focusing on dealing single target damage over a long period. As with the other Rogue specializations, Assassination sports phenomenal defensive abilities that allow them to soak and survive mechanics that most other classes cannot.

2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Assassination Rogue

Overall, very little changed for Assassination. Its core gameplay remains the same going into Battle for Azeroth; a number of abilities that were lost in the Legion prune have returned as talents along with some artifact effects, however the core gameplay is unchanged.

• Bleed and Poison damage over time effects scale with Haste.
• Feint has a cooldown, and cannot be maintained permanently.
• Mastery: Potent Assassin also affects bleed damage.

3. Assassination Rogue Strengths

• Strong and consistent single target damage
• Strong sustained cleave (good for council fights)
• Exceptional defensive utility

4. Assassination Rogue Weaknesses

• Burst AoE and short-term cleave
• Very cooldown-reliant, and cooldowns only affect one target

5. Assassination Rogue Viability in the Current Patch

Assassination is arguably the best Rogue specialization, in terms of pure numbers, in Antorus, the Burning Throne. Due to their limited damage profile, focusing exclusively on single target damage, Assassination is not the ideal choice on every encounter. Overall, however, it is a strong specialization and a suitable choice for any Rogue looking to progress through Antorus.

6. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 10 pages:

• Easy Mode: Simple breakdown and build for those just getting started;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Boss by Boss Strategies: find out how to defeat current content bosses;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear.

7. ChangeLog

• 22 Jul. 2018 (gear page): Added new gear builds using T20, added more information on Sephuz and Insignia of Grand Army. Updated Suggested gear per boss.
• 22 Jul. 2018 (rotation page): Updated opener.
• 22 Jul. 2018 (talents page): Split talents based on gear build (T21 4p vs T21 4p, T20 2p).
• 20 Jul. 2018 (gear page): Updated trinket list order.
• 16 Jul. 2018 (this page): Updated for the Battle for Azeroth pre-patch.

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