Assassination Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
    • 2.2. General Purpose/Leveling
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Third Golden Trait
    • 1.4. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• ×Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
  • 2. Poisons
  • 3. Important Notes
    • 3.1. The Interaction Between Combo Points and Energy
    • 3.2. Pooling Energy and Combo Points
    • 3.3. Surge of Toxins
    • 3.4. Rupture
      • 3.4.1. Pandemic and Rupture Refresh
    • 3.5. Vendetta Usage
    • 3.6. Kingsbane
    • 3.7. Defensive Utility
  • 4. Core Concepts
    • 4.1. Ability Uptimes
    • 4.2. Cooldown Usage
    • 4.3. Resource Management
    • 4.4. Opening Sequence
    • 4.5. With Mantle of the Master Assassin
    • 4.6. Without Mantle of the Master Assassin
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. The Nighthold
    • 1.1. Skorpyron
      • 1.1.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.2. Chronomatic Anomaly
      • 1.2.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.3. Trilliax
      • 1.3.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.4. Spellblade Aluriel
      • 1.4.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.5. Tichondrius
      • 1.5.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.6. Star Augur Etraeus
      • 1.6.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.7. Krosus
      • 1.7.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.8. High Botanist Tel'arn
      • 1.8.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.9. Grand Magistrix Elisande
      • 1.9.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
    • 1.10. Gul'dan
      • 1.10.1. Talents, Trinkets, and Legendaries
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Stat Priority
    • 1.1. Master Poisoner/Toxic Blade
    • 1.2. Elaborate Planning/Alacrity
    • 1.3. Elaborate Planning/Exsanguinate
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
    • 1.1. Master Poisoner/Toxic Blade or Elaborate Planning/Alacrity
    • 1.2. Elaborate Planning/Exsanguinate
  • 2. Enchants
    • 2.1. Master Poisoner/Toxic Blade or Elaborate Planning/Alacrity
    • 2.2. Elaborate Planning/Exsanguinate
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. AddOns
    • 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
    • 2.1. Startattack Macros
    • 2.2. Tricks of the Trade
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket List
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list your Assassination Rogue core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing an Assassination Rogue.

The other pages of our Assassination Rogue guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Perfecto, an Outlaw/Assassination Rogue who raids in Method.

1. Ability Priority List

This assumes you are using the raid focused talent build in our Talents page.

1. Maintain Rupture on primary and secondary targets (up to 3 targets).
2. Activate Vendetta when it is off cooldown and you have spent all your Energy.
3. Activate Vanish if it is off cooldown and you have 5 Combo Points, then use Rupture (if you are talented into Nightstalker, otherwise use Mutilate).
4. Maintain Garrote on the primary target.
5. Envenom right before OR right after activating Kingsbane.
6. Cast Kingsbane when it is off cooldown.
   • Pool Energy before activating Kingsbane and maintain the Envenom buff for the entire duration of Kingsbane.
7. Cast Envenom to spend extra Combo Points.
8. Cast Fan of Knives on 3+ targets to apply and maintain Deadly Poison and generate Combo Points.
9. Cast Mutilate to generate Combo Points.

Optimal usage of finishers is at 4-5 Combo Points. Rupture can be applied at any number of Combo Points if it is about to drop, however, it is best to apply it with 5 Combo Points if possible to keep a more fluid rotation and waste the least amount of Energy possible.

For more information on your opening sequence, please refer to our dedicated section.

2. Poisons

Your Lethal Poison should always be Deadly Poison.

Crippling Poison is your only default Non-Lethal poison and you should only use it if something should be slowed. Otherwise, avoid using this as it can be spread by Fan of Knives, and unnecessarily slowing things that should not be is always a bad thing.

3. Important Notes

3.1. The Interaction Between Combo Points and Energy

As an Assassination Rogue many of your abilities require Energy to be utilized. Your Energy bar has a maximum capacity of 120 Energy (170 Energy when you have Vigor talented). Your baseline rate of Energy regeneration is 10 Energy per second, however, it is increased by:

• current Haste rating (Haste and Haste-enhancing buffs);
• the Venomous Wounds passive;
• the Urge to Kill Artifact trait;
• the Venom Rush talent.

Higher Energy regeneration allows for higher uptimes on Surge of Toxins and Envenom, which awards much higher DPS on an extended encounter.

It is very important to avoid resource overflow. Capping Energy and overcapping Combo Points is an egregious error and special care should be taken to avoid wasting precious resources. "Pooling" higher levels of Energy, however, can be very beneficial (providing you do not cap) as it allows you to store resources in anticipation of a window of high burst. This can help reduce the patchiness of your debuff/buff uptimes (such as Surge of Toxins) which will result in more consistent and smooth damage output.

Combo Point generation is increased by Seal Fate, which causes your critical hits with melee Combo Generators to add an additional Combo Point on your target per critical. This means Mutilate can generate up to 4 Combo Points if main hand and offhand both critically strike. You should never cast a Combo Point generator at or above 4 Combo Points unless it is Garrote or Poisoned Knife (as neither of these benefits from Seal Fate). Do not use Poisoned Knife to reach 5 Combo Points unless you are out of range of the boss and in danger of hitting Energy cap.

3.2. Pooling Energy and Combo Points

It can be very beneficial to "pool" your Energy and Combo Points, which involves auto-attacking while your Energy regenerates. The advantage this provides is variable, meaning that pooling does not always result in damage gained. Situations where pooling Energy and Combo Points is beneficial include:

• before an important add spawns, so you can apply as much instant pressure as possible;
• when you have maximum Combo Points but low Energy, so when you dump with Envenom you can quickly regain Combo Points and Envenom again before Surge of Toxins drops off;
• to assist with Envenom uptime, by chaining two Envenoms so that the buff does not drop;
• an encounter specific buff or damage phase is imminent;

Pooling Energy is not a magical DPS gain by itself. It allows you to slightly adjust the timing of your abilities so that you fit more attacks during periods of increased damage (provided you can properly identify when such periods are going to come).

3.3. Surge of Toxins

Surge of Toxins is an Artifact trait that increases the Poison damage the target takes by 10%. Every time you cast a finishing move, Surge of Toxins is applied to the recipient of that finisher for 5.0 seconds. It is not affected by Pandemic and will always have the same duration and buff regardless of the number of Combo Points consumed.

Playing around Surge of Toxins uptimes is very important. You should always be sure to maintain 100% uptime on this debuff while Vendetta is active. You should also pool Energy outside of Vendetta so you can chain several finishers in a row without losing the Surge of Toxins debuff. During Vendetta it is acceptable to cast a 3 Combo Point Envenom if absolutely necessary if it allows you to maintain the Surge of Toxins debuff.

3.4. Rupture

Rupture is your highest priority as it deals strong damage. The 50% damage buff from the Nightstalker is applied to Rupture, so it is best to use your Vanish only when you have 5 Combo Points and can apply a fresh Rupture. Rupture should always be applied to secondary targets (if they are equal priority) for the increased damage and Energy generation from Venomous Wounds.

You should always overlap your Vanish Nightstalker buffed Rupture with a Vendetta usage. You should also ensure this buffed Rupture has full Pandemic duration for maximum damage.

3.4.1. Pandemic and Rupture Refresh

When you refresh Rupture before it expires, the duration that was left is added to the new Rupture DoT, up to a maximum of 30% of the original duration. You can safely refresh a 5 Combo Point Rupture when it has 7.2 seconds or less remaining. Deeper Stratagem allows for 6 Combo Point Ruptures which last 28 seconds. 6 Combo Point Ruptures can be refreshed safely when they have 8.4 seconds or less remaining.

Safe Pandemic refresh timing is based off the current number of combo points you have and not the original length of the Rupture. Therefore, a 1 Combo Point Rupture can benefit from full Pandemic if it is refreshed by a 4-5 Combo Point Rupture. This is taken advantage of in the opening sequence later in the guide.

If you are talented into Exsanguinate, you should refresh your bleed effects before Exsanguinate casts for maximum efficacy.

3.5. Vendetta Usage

Vendetta is your main DPS cooldown. It has a 2-minute cooldown (90s with the Master Assassin), and is a debuff applied to a single target, rather than a buff that increases all your damage to all targets. Vendetta is best applied to your primary target, and during this period you should focus all of your damage into single target onto that marked enemy. If secondary targets are present, refresh your bleed effects (especially Rupture for Energy regeneration) before activating your Vendetta. You should aim to go into Vendetta with all your bleed effects fully refreshed when possible, along with as little Energy as possible (once you have the Urge to Kill). During Vendetta it is important to keep 100% uptime on Surge of Toxins on your Vendetta target.

3.6. Kingsbane

Kingsbane is a strong cooldown available once your Artifact is obtained. You should pool Energy before activating Kingsbane. You should also Envenom right before casting Kingsbane, and maintain the Envenom buff for the entire duration of the Kingsbane effect. As of Patch 7.1, Kingsbane now generates a Combo Point when used, so be sure not to accidentally overcap Combo Points when using this ability.

If you have Duskwalker's Footpads, Convergence of Fates, and Master Assassin Relics, you should ensure that Kingsbane is used with every usage of Vendetta.

3.7. Defensive Utility

All Rogues come ready made with a dizzying phalanx of defensive cooldowns, which make them the best candidate for soaking required mechanics and dealing with heavy incoming damage.

• Feint reduces AoE damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds for only 20 Energy. When talented into Elusiveness it also reduces all other damage by 30%. This is one of the most overpowered abilities in the game and a huge asset on fights with heavy raid damage. Do not forget about this button!
• Cloak of Shadows provides magic immunity for a second, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. This spell is mostly used for clearing debuffs that might otherwise force you out of melee range, like Fel Surge on Xhul'horac. Cloak of Shadows is also a fantastic tool for soaking abilities that do not pierce immunities.
• Evasion increases your Dodge chance by 100% for 10 seconds. This can be useful if you have to tank some adds or the boss for a few seconds.
• Cheat Death is a talent that allows you to escape lethal damage once every 2 minutes. The damage cannot exceed more than twice your maximum health. Cheat Death is great for soaking mechanics that pierce immunities and damage reductions as it guarantees your survival. It is also great for encounters with bursty damage that might take you by surprise, as you get a free get out of jail free card once every 2 minutes.
• Crimson Vial provides a respectable amount of healing on a very short cooldown. Use this often in boss encounters.

Do not forget about this defensive toolkit, as it can be a huge asset for your mortality and your raid!

4. Core Concepts

Assassination Rogue has received a number of changes in Legion, particularly with the introduction of Exsanguinate. Much of the optimization comes from the interaction between your current debuff timers and your cooldowns, and understanding how and when to properly burst. Like most Rogue specializations, this specialization requires fast fingers during cooldown periods as there are a significant number of keybinds to hit in a short period of time (compared to most specializations). Learning to focus on what is important and master the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performances on the damage charts. Assassination features 3 major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:

1. ability uptimes;
2. cooldown usage;
3. resource management.

4.1. Ability Uptimes

Paying close attention to the uptime of your bleeds is key. During cleave scenarios, keep close track of your bleeds on multiple targets along with the application of Deadly Poison. Use the additional Energy from Rupture ticks to dump extra damage into the primary target. Aura tracking is recommended to help you keep track of your bleeds. Remember that Rupture can be refreshed in accordance with Pandemic (30% of maximum duration remaining) and it will be added to the new Rupture duration.

Surge of Toxins should be applied continually to the main target. You should always space out your finishers (e.g. waiting until Surge of Toxins has 0.5 second left before casting the next finisher) to achieve maximum uptime. The exception to this rule is if Vendetta is about to expire and you have enough Combo Points to cast another Envenom.

4.2. Cooldown Usage

As mentioned above, it is imperative you keep a careful watch on your cooldowns and understand how they interact with each other. On the opener, all your cooldowns overlap, so check the opening sequence for an idea of how to execute in that situation. Make good use of your Vanish for larger bleeds and ensure all your effects are fully refreshed before entering a cooldown window, so you do not waste any global cooldowns.

4.3. Resource Management

Remember the importance of pooling Energy for burst and pay close attention to your Combo Points, as it can be easy to overcap with Seal Fate. Plan your damage in accordance with the boss timers to maximize output. Remember not to immediately spend your Combo Points on Envenom if you are not in danger of Energy capping to extend your Surge of Toxins uptime.

4.4. Opening Sequence

Always start the pull from Stealth.

4.5. With Mantle of the Master Assassin

1. Use Potion of the Old War.
2. Apply Garrote.
3. Cast Mutilate.
4. Apply Rupture.
5. Cast Mutilate.
6. Activate Vendetta.
7. Cast Envenom.
8. Activate Kingsbane.
9. Cast Mutilate.
10. Activate Vanish and cast Envenom.
11. Cast Mutilate.
12. Use Draught of Souls (if equipped).

4.6. Without Mantle of the Master Assassin

1. Use Potion of the Old War.
2. Apply Garrote.
3. Cast Mutilate.
4. Apply Rupture.
5. Cast Mutilate until Combo Point cap.
6. Activate Vanish and apply Rupture.
7. Activate Vendetta on the primary target.
8. Use any active racials, such as Berserking.
9. Cast Kingsbane.
10. Continue with the normal rotation. You should aim to maximize your Envenom uptime and try and keep Surge of Toxins applied as much as possible while still casting 4+ Combo Point Envenoms.

5. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 12 Jun. 2017: A few improvements here and there. Split opener in 2 sections: with and without Mantle of the Master Assassin.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 07 Mar. 2017: Numerous updates, new sections added, reworked several existing sections.
• 14 Jan. 2017: Trimmed some mentions of Deeper Strategem and updated opener.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 09 Dec. 2016: Updated Kingsbane section, Opening Sequence, and Action Priority List.
• 02 Nov. 2016: Updated pooling section to make note of Urge to Kill.
• 25 Oct. 2016: Updated Kingsbane section to note that it generates a Combo Point in Patch 7.1.
• 07 Oct. 2016: Adjusted page to be further in line with the Agonizing Poison build.
• 05 Oct. 2016: Updated opener.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Jul. 2016: Updated Opening Sequence & added note about 5-6 CP vs. 6 CP finisher usage.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Added a mention about safe Pandemic refresh for Rupture.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.