Assassination Rogue PvP Best Races and Racials — Midnight (12.0.1)

1. Night Elf
2. Human

The Night Elf racial bonus ( Shadowmeld) is always a strong choice. This race has a high skill cap, but using it to avoid crowd control can be very powerful. For example, if a Mage is casting Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their Psychic Scream, you will not be feared. You can also use it to leave combat in case you need an emergency drink to replenish your Mana or to get a Stealth if you play a Rogue. Being a Night Elf also provides you with two noteworthy passive abilities: Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.

The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) allows you to break free of a stun once every 3 minutes, effectively acting as a second trinket, but only for stuns. Even though it shares it 1-min cooldown with the regular trinket, it still allows you to get out of stuns more often than any other race. It is also important to note that Humans also have The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another beneficial reason to play Human.

1. High Mountain Tauren
2. Orc
3. Blood Elf

Highmountain Taurens come with a few racials that are worth noting for PvP. Bull Rush charges you forward, knocking down all enemies you hit, and stunning them for 1.5 seconds. This is incredibly strong if you are stuck in a Smoke Bomb and do not have the mobility to get out of it. You can also use it as an interrupt with the stun affect. Mountaineer increases your Versatility by 1%. This is always a strong stat in PvP and should not be overlooked. Finally, the primary reason you would be playing Highmountain Tauren, Rugged Tenacity. This spell reduces damage taken from each attack you take by a certain percentage. However, this impacts different spells differently. Versus classes like Demon Hunter, this will actually reduce damage you take from spells, like Eye Beam, by upwards of 30%! Use Highmountain Tauren if you are the primary target for most teams and you want to focus on surviving.

The active racial ability, Blood Fury, increases your attack power by a substantial amount when used. It is a nice addition to your burst. However, Orcs truly shine for their passive racial ability, Hardiness. This passive will reduce the duration of all incoming stuns by 5% at all times. Although it might now seem strong, it is still less time spent in stuns.

The Blood Elf racial bonus ( Arcane Torrent) has multiple effects. The primary use for this ability is that it removes 1 beneficial effect from all enemies in range. This is great for removing abilities such as Blessing of Protection from Paladins or Soul of the Forest from Restoration Druids. It is very situational, but powerful nonetheless. The other effect is that it restores resources based on what specialization you are.