Assassination Rogue DPS Guide — Shadowlands 9.0.2

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.
• Vendetta is a strong single-target 2-minute cooldown.
• 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.
• Damage is under-tuned in the current patch on both single-target and AoE.
• No AoE cooldowns, with Vendetta only applying to a single target.
• Conduit choices are forcing you to decide between AoE and single-target.

We are maintaining a list of changes for Rogues, so you can see what changed between Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands. The new expansion also introduces new character customization options with Covenants and Legendary Powers, for which we have Rogue-specific pages that you can access below.

All in all Rogue has been largely unchanged going into Shadowlands, with Assassination and Outlaw only receiving a few minor rotational changes while Subtlety is getting a complete rework. A handful of previously lost abilities will make its return as well, so if you enjoyed the way that Rogue has played in Battle for Azeroth, you will surely fall in love with it all over again in Shadowlands.

Some of the biggest new features are the Covenant system, the return of legendary powers as well as the introduction of Torghast, Tower of the. You can find more information on these new features on our dedicated sections.

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.

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 that drops in this tier 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.