Assassination Rogue DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.0.5

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

• High sustained DPS in both single-target and multi-target situations.
• Ability to provide strong execute damage when talenting Blindside and Zoldyck Recipe.
• Exceptional survivability thanks to Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Evasion and Crimson Vial.
• Very good group utility in the form of Shroud of Concealment, Sap, Blind, Garrote and Gouge.
• Very flexible as swapping talents allows for focus on single-target or AoE.

Weaknesses

• Lack of burst damage outside of very specific talent builds.
• Target-swapping is difficult if enemies are not within melee range.
• Distinct talent builds for single-target and AoE means there is no catch-all build.

Assassination has received a variety of changes, that serve as the foundation for removing some of the issues with the class and talent tree, and these efforts will continue into future patches to fully "fix" some of the concerns.

Feint is now baseline, and Elusiveness and Cheat Death are further up the tree now.

Two new talents were added, one on the class and one on the spec tree: Unbreakable Stride and Arterial Precision.

Sepsis received a slight buff, but is still worse than Serrated Bone Spike.

Kingsbane has moved positions and is now a choice node with Dragon-Tempered Blades. Arterial Precision has taken the old location of Kingsbane and offers some slight cleave-damage increase. Kingsbane is unplayable with the current state of its tuning.

Dashing Scoundrel now only costs 2 Talent Points, offering slightly more build variety in the Spec tree.

If you liked the way Assassination played before Dragonflight Patch 10.0.5, with a focus on multi-dotting, ramping damage, and powerful cooldowns, then you will feel right at home in the new patch as well.

If you want to level a new Rogue for Dragonflight, 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 Wounds. 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 of how to set up 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 for newly-leveled characters and advice on wearing two legendaries on our dedicated gearing page.

After gearing up your character, the next step is to apply the appropriate enchants and gems, as well as prepare 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 item-level 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.