Assassination Rogue PvP Best Covenants, Soulbinds, Conduits, and Legendary Powers (Dragonflight / 10.0.2)

For more information about what Covenants bring you, please refer to our page about Covenant abilities for Rogues.

There are four Covenants available: Night Fae, Kyrian, Venthyr, and Necrolord. Each Covenant will provide you with a class ability and a Covenant ability. If you have at least one character with Renown 80 and a complete campaign you can freely swap Covenant in Oribos. With Patch 9.2 we also gained the Unity Power, allowing us to access our Covenant Legendary on top of another Legendary. Assassination Rogue players have only one solid option now. Necrolord is by far the best option in Season 4, as Serrated Bone Spike solves a lot of the Combo Point generation issue the spec has while doing a lot of burst and sustained damage. The other three Covenant are all playable but much weaker than Necrolord, and thus will limit you if you want to climb the PvP ladder.

1. Necrolord is the Covenant that will give you the most survivability as well as the most sustained damage. The class ability, Serrated Bone Spike, deals decent damage, is very cheap, and allows you not only to generate Combo Points from a distance, but also to keep dealing damage to an enemy who managed to get away from you. It is worth mentioning that it also works with the Doomblade Legendary power. It is a great spell overall. The Covenant ability, Fleshcraft, is a channeled ability that grants you a large shield and reduces all damage you take by 20% while channeling the shield. This is a very powerful defensive ability, especially with the Ultimate Form passive that comes with one of the Soulbinds, as you will get a crowd control immunity and healing on top of the shield. The Necrolord Legendary, Deathspike, grants you two additional charges of Serrated Bone Spike and allows it to also deal damage to nearby enemies. The cleave part is only useful in a few situations but the added charges allows you to burst down enemies in a very deadly way by using several charges back to back during your Shiv window.
2. Night Fae is the Covenant that will give you the most mobility and a lot of burst damage. The class ability, Sepsis, deals good damage by itself, but since it is a Poison it benefits from Shiv and Well-Placed Steel. As a result it can end up dealing a surprisingly high amount of damage very quickly. However the Conduit Septic Shock was nerfed by 50% in PvP combat this season making Sepsis much weaker. While it can still deal good damage it is no longer enough to be considered worth playing over Necrolord. Sepsis also allows you one use of a Stealth-based ability without being Stealthed, but as Assassination it is currently possible to use two. If you start with Garrote it will silence the enemy as if you were in Stealth but will not consume the Sepsis buff, allowing you to also use Cheap Shot, Ambush, or Sap. One of the Night Fae Soulbinds will also allow Sepsis to give you a significant Mastery buff, making it a nice addition to your burst. The Covenant ability, Soulshape, is the reason why Night Fae is such a great Covenant for Rogues. It allows you to teleport 15 yards away every 4 seconds for 12 seconds. This is a great tool to escape lethal situations and go for re-Stealths. This gives you more mobility, allowing you to get re-Stealths more. Of course it can also be used to reach a target that has been kiting you. An instant teleport effect that can be repeated a few times while the enemy is using its mobility spells really is a boon to a class such as Rogue, as escaping damage and going back into Stealth is really core to the gameplay. The Night Fae Legendary, Toxic Onslaught, allows you to gain Shadow Blades and Adrenaline Rush once Sepsis expires.
3. Kyrian has become a better option now that we will be able to use a Covenant Legendary with Unity. The Covenant ability, Echoing Reprimand, deals moderate damage in PvP combat due to being heavily nerfed in PvP, so the only benefit you would get from it is the possibility of landing a 7 Combo Point Envenom. This is not much, but the Legendary makes it a lot better. The Covenant ability is a spell that will summon a steward, and the steward will give you Phial of Serenity. The cooldown on this heal is excessively long, and it does not start until you leave combat. It is not worth the healing from the Necrolord ability, or the ability to simply avoid damage by escaping provided by both Venthyr and NightFae. However it could be decent if Assassination Rogue and Feral Druid were very represented in the meta as it removes all of their DoTs. The Kyrian Legendary, Resounding Clarity, is good and is what makes this Covenant good. With the Legendary equipped Echoing Reprimand allows you to overcharge your second, third, fourth and fifth Combo Points instead of a random one. Any offensive finisher used with an overcharged Combo Point will count as if used with 7 Combo Points. Being able to land several 7CP Envenom every second Kidney Shot is powerful, and works particularly well with the Doomblade Legendary.
4. Venthyr is a Covenant that will give you burst damage. The class ability, Flagellation, deals large amounts of damage for every Combo Point spent, even more so with the Lashing Scars Conduit. It also gives a bit of Haste, which is great as Assassination. This ability works particularly well alongside Vendetta and Marked for Death for heavy burst damage, since your burst rotation will include two Envenom back to back, causing Flagellation to deal a lot of damage in a very short period of time. The Covenant ability, Door of Shadows, is decent as it allows you to escape a dangerous situation and may even allow you to re-Stealth, but it can be interrupted, making it unreliable when enemies have their interrupts ready. The Venthyr Legendary, Obedience, allows to you lower the CD of Flagellation and to gain a bit of Versatility once it has lashed the target. This works well with the Duskwalker's Patch Legendary, as you can manage to have both Vendetta and Flagellation on a near one-minute cooldown for frequent and powerful burst windows.

Soulbinds are unlocked as you progress your character with a Covenant. Each Covenant features 3 Soulbinds, and every Soulbind has its own set of passive effects. In every Soulbind you will have to choose a path, and that path is important as it determines what passives you get, and what kind of Conduits you can use.

Here is the Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Necrolord.

This Soulbind gives you the Ooz's Frictionless Coating passive, which will amount to quite a bit of healing overall despite its recent nerf in PvP combat. You also gain the passive Ultimate Form that allows Fleshcraft to heal you and provide you with crowd control immunity for a short period of time. This can be useful in many situations if you know the enemy team is about to crowd control you.

Here is the Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Night Fae.

This Soulbind gives you the Field of Blossoms passive. This will allow you to gain 15% Haste when using Sepsis as long as you remain in the circle, greatly empowering your DoT damage. This is very powerful when the target is in a Kidney Shot. The passive Dream Delver gives you more sustained damage throughout the fight. The passive Soothing Voice is decent as it massively slows your targets after a Blind or a Sap, which can sometimes be the extra second you need to land a kill. And lastly the Soulbind offers two defensive passives. The first one, Waking Dreams, gives you a shield every minute. It will help your healer with sustained healing. The second one is the signature passive of this Soulbind, Podtender. Upon receiving a killing blow you become a Regenerating Wildseed. If your team is able to prevent the seed from being killed for 10s, you come back to life. This will sometimes win you games.

As Night Fae you have a second powerful Soulbind that will give you more Envenom damage on your burst window at the expense of DoT damage.

This Soulbind gives you the Grove Invigoration passive. This will allow you to gain 300 Mastery when using Sepsis, greatly increasing the burst damage of your Bleeds and Poisons. This buff will become 450 Mastery for the first 5 seconds thanks to Bonded Hearts, the last passive, if the condition is met, for even more burst damage. Envenom counts as a Poison too. You also get Run Without Tiring, which is a bit of healing when kiting away with Soulshape. The passive Survivor's Rally also provides healing which is always a huge help in PvP. Bonded Hearts also provides a bit of passive healing, but most importantly allows Sepsis to heal you and your allies upon use, which can help your healer a little bit.

Here is the Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Kyrian.

This Soulbind gives you the Combat Meditation passive. This will allow you to gain Mastery when using Echoing Reprimand, increasing the burst damage of your bleeds and Poisons. Envenom counts as a Poison, so you gain a lot of burst damage with this passive. You also get the passive Let Go of the Past, which is a small defensive bonus. The last two passives are the strongest of the Soulbind. Path of the Devoted will reduce all incoming damage by 20% after recovering from a crowd control effect once every 30 seconds. While this may be triggered by crowd control abilities that will not hurt you it could also trigger on very dangerous abilities such as Kidney Shot or Storm Bolt. If you are the target it is likely that you will indeed get value out of it as many crowd control attacks on you will be meant to kill you. The last passive, Newfound Resolve is a powerful damage increase when you manage to get it, although it may not always be very practical to do so while in PvP combat. Following this path allows you to put the Conduit Prepared for All on the top right in order to pick Phial of Patience in match-ups that require more self-healing. You may also replace Lethal Poisons with Reverberation, but the Conduit is heavily nerfed in PvP, so the burst damage increase will not be very high.

Here is Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Venthyr.

This Soulbind gives you the Thrill Seeker passive. This will grant you 20% Haste at times, and Haste is a great stat for Assassination Rogues. You also gain Agent of Chaos, allowing you to disorient enemies with Door of Shadows. Beware, this will put the target on diminishing return for Blind. You also gain the passive Dauntless Duelist that will slightly increase your damage to one target. Last but not least, the final passive, Fatal Flaw, is extremely powerful as it will give you 20% Versatility once Euphoria ends. This Soulbind only allows you to use two Potency Conduits, when three is better, but the passives provided are extremely potent and more than make up for it.

Conduits are passive buffs that you can use to fill empty slots in your Soulbind Trees. There are three types of Conduits: Potency, Endurance, and Finesse. Here are the best Conduits for each of those different types:

1. If you are Night Fae, Septic Shock increases the damage of your Sepsis, making the DoT much stronger.
2. If you are Necrolord, Sudden Fractures increases the overall damage of the Serrated Bone Spike DoT by giving it a significant chance to trigger an additional time.
3. If you are Kyrian, Reverberation increases the damage of your Echoing Reprimand, increasing your burst damage.
4. If you are Venthyr, Lashing Scars increases the damage of your Flagellation, increasing your burst damage in a short period of time.
5. Well-Placed Steel causes the target you use Shiv on to take more Nature damage. This is crucial for increasing your burst damage.
6. Lethal Poisons increases the damage of your weapon poisons by a substantial amount. This is a great Conduit to use when playing with Deadly Poison and Master Poisoner.
7. Maim, Mangle causes Garrote to increase the damage of Mutilate on the target. This is good to increase your sustained damage, especially with the Doomblade legendary power. You can use it instead of Lethal Poisons if you play with Doomblade.

1. Recuperator makes Slice and Dice heal you over time. This is good to help your healer with sustained healing as you will have Slice and Dice up most of the time.
2. Cloaked in Shadows allows Stealth to grant you a large shield for 4s. Stealth will not break to DoT damage as long as the shield holds. This Conduit is helpful when facing double DPS comps in 2s, such as Rogue/Mage, as you will often use Vanish defensively in such match-ups and you want to remain stealthed until your healer is out of CC.

1. Quick Decisions reduces the cooldown of Shadowstep and increases its range. This is great for both running down enemies or kiting away from them if you need to. Assassination is not an overly mobile spec so this Conduit definitely helps a lot.
2. Prepared for All reduces the cooldown of Cloak of Shadows when you successfully interrupt a cast, and of Evasion when you dodge an attack. It is not mandatory, but can be a good pick when you know you will get a lot of value out of it. The fact that you can have your defensives back off cooldown when the enemy thinks they are still unavailable can cause them to do mistakes.

Legendaries have many different effects and some can alter how you should use some of your abilities. For more information on Legendaries, check out our general guide on them.

Here are the best Legendaries for an Assassination Rogues.

1. Duskwalker's Patch is a great pick. This allows you to reduce the cooldown of your Vendetta by 1s for every 30 Energy spent. Vendetta is one of the best burst cooldowns in the game. With this Legendary you will have Vendetta back a lot faster which will greatly increase your overall damage output and pressure. But most importantly since you will get your Vendetta back under 2 minutes the enemy will not have a trinket for your Vendetta if they used it on the previous one. It also works well with the Venthyr Legendary if you play Venthyr, as the cooldown of both Vendetta and Flagellation will be between 1 minute and 1 minute 15 seconds, allowing for frequent bursts.
2. Doomblade is also great pick. This gives you an additional bleed and will result in Envenom dealing more damage. It will both increase your sustained damage output and your burst damage output. It is worth mentioning that the bleed applied by Serrated Bone Spike works with the Legendary, so using it as Necrolord is very valuable. It also works great if you are a Kyrian to empower the four 7CP Envenoms granted by the Kyrian Legendary, for a powerful burst.
3. Mark of the Master Assassin is a still decent Legendary despite the PvP nerf. It gives you 100% Critical Strike chance for 2.4 seconds after Stealth breaks. This gives you short windows to do large amounts of damage to enemy players. However, as Assassination your damage will not be high after you exit Stealth the first time as you will need to apply your bleeds to your target. That means that you need to sacrifice Vanish offensively to get value out of this Legendary and in return you get one of the highest burst damage output in the game. You will use this Legendary only when you can afford to use Vanish offensively. It is worth mentioning that if you are a Night Elf, you can trigger the Critical Strike buff by going in stealth with Shadowmeld. This Legendary then gains a lot of value and can sometimes be used in games where you need to use Vanish defensively as you will use Shadowmeld to trigger the Legendary during your burst window and not Vanish.