Assassination Rogue PvP Guide — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Assassination Rogues have consistent sustained damage thanks to their Bleeds and Poisons and are very good at cleaving down several enemies with their damage over time effects. Their healing reduction effect, Wound Poison, can be applied to multiple enemies, making it difficult for enemy healers to heal their entire team. Their access to a silence effect with Garrote has made them known to be great at killing healers. An Assassination Rogue left unchecked will quickly close a PvP match!

Strengths

• Excellent sustained damage.
• Decent burst.
• Great control.
• Excellent utility.

Weaknesses

• Very prone to dying in stuns.
• Significant cooldown on defensive abilities.
• Often reliant on teammates to stay alive.
• Predictable burst damage.
• Below average mobility compared to other melee specializations.

• New talents/spells: Cold Blooded Killer, Swift Slasher, Toxic Stiletto, Quick Fingers, Deep Cuts, Danger Sense, Motivated Murderer, Canny Strikes, Razor Wire, and Finish the Job.
• Removed talents/spells: Acrobatic Strikes, Cold Blood, Rushed Setup, Shadowheart, Arterial Precision, Indiscriminate Carnage, Master Assassin, and Serrated Bone Spike.
• Changed talent/spells:
  • Cheap Shot now has a 12 second cooldown. This is a large nerf to Assassination Rogue control.
  • Crimson Tempest deals damage to all enemies in 10 yards. Copies the longest Garrote and places it on 2 other enemies. This is great for increasing your spread damage.
• PvP Talent Changes: no notable PvP talent changes.