Assassination Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.3.5)
Table of Contents
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 7.3.5. 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 for Assassination Rogue
1.1. Poison Build
- Maintain
Rupture on up to 3 targets.
- Activate
Vendetta when available.
- Activate
Vanish with 5 Combo Points in order to facilitate
Nightstalker empowered
Ruptures or
Envenoms (see Important Notes below).
- Maintain
Garrote on the primary target.
- Cast
Kingsbane when available.
- Cast
Toxic Blade when available.
- Cast
Envenom with 4-5 Combo Points.
- Cast
Fan of Knives when 2+ targets are within range to generate Combo Points.
- Cast
Mutilate to generate Combo Points.
1.1.1. Important Notes
- Optimal usage of finishers is 4-5 Combo Points with
Vigor, or 5-6 Combo Points with
Deeper Stratagem.
- If
Rupture is about to fall off, it can be reapplied with any number of Combo Points to maintain uptime. It is best to apply it with 5 Combo Points, however, for maximum Energy efficiency and rotational fluidity.
- Use
Vanish to apply full duration
Nightstalker buffed
Ruptures. You should always let Nightstalker empowered Ruptures to tick their full duration and fall off before reapplying. If you are playing with
Mantle of the Master Assassin you should instead use your Nightstalker empowerment on
Envenom.
- It is best to use
Envenom immediately before activating your
Kingsbane.
- Try to maintain the
Envenom buff for the entire duration of
Kingsbane. Ensure
Surge of Toxins is always active for the final 5 seconds of your Kingsbane.
- It is ideal to synchronize
Toxic Blade usage with the last 9 seconds of
Kingsbane, as it ticks the strongest during that time, however, do not delay your
Toxic Blade by more than 5 seconds waiting for
Kingsbane cooldown. If
Vendetta is coming off cooldown within 5 seconds it is also worth delaying
Toxic Blade.
- You should never have more than 80 Energy when activating your
Vendetta on a target. Try to activate Vendetta on a target that will live for the entire duration of the debuff.
For more information on your opening sequence, please refer to our dedicated section.
1.2. Bleed Build
- Maintain
Rupture on up to 3 targets.
- Activate
Vendetta when available.
- Activate
Vanish if
Exsanguinate is available and you have 6 Combo Points. Apply
Rupture.
- Maintain
Garrote on the primary target.
- Cast
Exsanguinate whenever available and
Rupture and
Garrote have been refreshed to their maximum durations.
- Cast
Kingsbane when available.
- Cast
Envenom with 4-5 Combo Points.
- Cast
Fan of Knives when 2+ targets are within range to generate Combo Points.
- Cast
Mutilate to generate Combo Points.
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. Notable Mechanics for Assassination Rogue
3.1. 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 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 it allows you to
maintain the
Surge of Toxins debuff.
3.2. Kingsbane
Kingsbane damage increases by 15% each time
Deadly Poison
is applied. You should
Envenom immediately before each use of
Kingsbane to ensure the damage starts stacking as soon as possible. As a
result, Kingsbane is doing maximum damage in the last few seconds before it
expires. For that reason, we always want to ensure that
Surge of Toxins is active during the final 5 seconds of this
debuff.
If your Toxic Blade lines up with your
Kingsbane cooldown,
you should use it when Kingsbane has 9 seconds remaining for the same
reason.
3.3. Nightstalker
The 50% damage buff from the Nightstalker is applied to
Rupture's full duration. It is best to use
Nightstalker on
Envenom when using
Mantle of the Master Assassin. With other
legendaries,
Rupture will always net more damage.
It is best to use your Vanish during
Vendetta to
maximize your
Nightstalker proc.
3.4. 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.
4. Academic Information for Assassination Rogue
4.1. 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.
4.2. 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).
4.3. Defensive Utility
All Rogues have a solid number of defensive cooldowns, making 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%. Feint is fantastic for dealing with predictable raid damage.
Cloak of Shadows provides magic immunity for a second, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. Cloak has a variety of uses, bother pre-emptive and reactive, such as solo soaking mechanics or clearing debuffs that would force you out of melee range.
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 6 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 at least once in the encounter.
Crimson Vial provides a respectable amount of healing on a very short cooldown. Once the Artifact trait
Dense Concoction is acquire this also adds additional damage reduction to your kit.
Do not forget about this defensive toolkit, as it can be a huge asset for your mortality and your raid!
5. Opening Sequences for Assassination Rogue
Always start the pull from Stealth.
5.1. Poison Build
This opening sequence is optimized for players using the
Mantle of the Master Assassin.
- Use
Potion of Prolonged Power at 1 second on the pull countdown.
- Apply
Garrote.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Apply
Rupture.
- Activate
Vendetta.
- Cast
Toxic Blade.
- Cast
Kingsbane.
- Activate
Vanish.
- Cast
Envenom.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Cast
Envenom.
- Continue with normal priority.
5.2. Bleed Build
- Use
Potion of Prolonged Power at 1 second on the pull countdown.
- Apply
Garrote.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Apply
Rupture.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Activate
Vendetta.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Cast
Mutilate if you have 5 or less Combo Points.
- Activate
Vanish.
- Apply
Rupture.
- Apply
Garrote.
- Activate
Exsanguinate.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Cast
Mutilate.
- Cast
Envenom.
- Cast
Kingsbane.
6. ChangeLog
- 11 Jan. 2018: Restructured and fully updated the page. Split APL & openers into poison/bleed sections.
- 10 Sep. 2017: Updated opener.
- 28 Aug. 2017: Added a more detailed explanation of Toxic Blade usage.
- 28 Jun. 2017: Updated opener.
- 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.



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