Assassination Rogue DPS Guide — Shadowlands 9.1.5

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.

Strengths

• Solid sustained DPS in both single-target and multi-target situations that does not rely on cooldowns.
• Ability to provide strong execute damage when using Blindside and Zoldyck Insignia.
• Exceptional survivability thanks to Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Evasion and Crimson Vial.
• Very good group utility for Mythic+ in the form of Shroud of Concealment, Sap, Blind and Garrote.

Weaknesses

• Lack of burst damage, since most abilities deal damage over time.
• No AoE cooldowns, with Vendetta only applying to a single target.
• Conduit choices force you to decide between AoE and single-target.

We are maintaining a list of changes for Rogues, so you can see what changes with every patch of Shadowlands. Be sure to also check out Assassination's specific changes for the upcoming patch, 9.2, to hear our thoughts on the new tier set bonuses that will be coming.

From Patch 9.1.5 onward, both Legion Timewalking and the Mage Tower have returned. As such we have created a separate guide detailing what you can expect from the Mage Tower challenge available to Assassination Rogues.

Patch 9.1.5 brings only one set of changes for Assassination Rogues. Both Fan of Knives as well as Crimson Tempest are no longer capped to only dealing damage and applying debuffs to up to 8 targets per cast, but instead affect more targets while reducing the initial damage whenever they hit 9 or more targets.

This is a fairly significant change, as it allows for more consistent Combo Point generation on high target counts for Fan of Knives due to the way it generates additional Combo Points through Seal Fate.

While both Fan of Knives and Crimson Tempest will have lowered initial damage when striking more than 8 targets, it is still a significant damage gain due to the damage-over-time effects we apply in the process, whether it is Deadly Poison or the bleed effect caused by Crimson Tempest. These secondary damage sources, which make up a large part of our AoE damage, are not subject to the damage reduction when hitting more than 8 targets, and as such Assassination has gained a sizeable amount of DPS on uncapped AoE.

The Night Fae Covenant has received a few buffs, both to its Covenant-specific Legendary and its Conduit, but neither of them are meaningful enough to warrant choosing Night Fae over any other Covenant for performance reasons. It has, however, narrowed the gap between the other 3 Covenants and the Night Fae one.

If you want to leveling a new Rogue in the Shadowlands you should check out our leveling guide to help you on your journey.

If at any point you feel like you would like to customize your user interface or have been wondering if there are any useful macros or addons that might further your enjoyment and performance on your Rogue, you should check out our Addon section.

Assassination Rogue is a spec that utilizes a Combo Point system and spreads its damage over time effects to generate additional resources, while maintaining a couple of high-impact buffs and debuffs to deal strong sustained DPS.

Generating additional resources is core to the spec, so making sure to maintain both Garrote and Rupture at all times is of vital importance due to Venomous Vim. Combo Points are generated by using either Mutilate on single-target or Fan of Knives on AoE. Excess Combo Points that are not used on Rupture can be spent on Envenom to increase the passive damage your poisons provide. Shiv offers some minor burst-damage potential on a low cooldown.

For more information on the basics of the spec you can check out the Spell Summary to get a good idea of the abilities you will be using while playing Assassination. If you are completely new to playing Assassination Rogue, we suggest taking a look at the Easy Mode page below to get a general idea on how to setup your new character.

If you already have some experience playing a Rogue or have familiarized yourself with the basics of the Spec you can also read up more information on how to optimize your Rotation and the individual strengths of the different Talents.

Shadowlands allows for extra customization by letting you choose one of four Covenants, craft a specific Legendary and pick from one of three Soulbinds, depending on Covenant.

Once you have chosen your Covenant you will gain access to two new abilities: one Covenant-specific one that improves either your survivability or mobility, as well as an active damaging ability. While this choice can be reverted and changed, doing so will require some catching-up so making an informed decision is highly recommended. You can find out more about the four Covenants and each of their benefits in our comprehensive Covenant section.

Once you have taken your first steps into the Shadowlands, you will also be able to craft multiple Legendary items that provide specific benefits to you. Some of these bonuses are specific to Assassination, while other work in all three specs. To find out more about which Legendaries we recommend for you, head over to our Legendary section of this guide.

With all the different gearing options that are available to you, you might ask yourself what gear is worth chasing after. Since a lot of the decisions and variables depend on the gear that you are already wearing right now we strongly recommend "simming" yourself. You can find more information on how to do that, as well as a list of the current Best in Slot gear for newly-leveled characters and advice on Domination Sockets on our dedicated gearing page.

After gearing up your character, the next step is to apply the appropriate enchants and gems, as well as preparing the best potions, flasks and buff food. Which consumables are the best for you depends on your stat priority, which might change depending on your gear, talents and the type of content you are about to tackle. The following two sections of the guide address all questions about consumables as well as the shifting stat priorities for Assassination Rogues.

The gameplay of your Assassination Rogue will change drastically once you start getting access to better and higher itemlevel gear. Once you feel that you are ready to tackle some of the most difficult content the game has to offer you should check out the dedicated pages for each type of content below. You will find helpful tips and tricks, recommendations on your talents and equipment as well as general information on mechanics and guidance on what to look out for as you make your way to the top.

Once you have your gear in order and are looking to improve not just your character itself but also your gameplay, you can check out these helpful sections as a first step into analyzing your own performance in more detail.