Assassination Rogue Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Always first: Agility (your main stat) and overall item level — a higher-ilvl piece is almost always the upgrade regardless of secondaries.

• Critical Strike - the standout secondary in both raid and M+; drives poison/bleed crit damage and is the top priority after Agility.
• Haste - second; more energy regen and faster builders, which directly fights this spec's energy-capping problem.
• Versatility - solid all-round damage + a little defense; sits ahead of Mastery for most builds.
• Mastery - amplifies poison/nature damage but tends to be the weakest secondary here; don't gear around it.

Priority: Agility / Item Level > Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility > Mastery. All secondaries hit diminishing returns, so don't stack any single one to the exclusion of item level. Tertiaries: Leech and Avoidance are nice for M+ survival, Speed for dungeon movement.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set (via Catalyst): 2pc = Garrote deals +30% damage and also applies your weapon poisons. 4pc = Garrote's Energy cost is reduced by 10, and Mutilate, Ambush and Fan of Knives deal +25% damage to targets affected by your weapon poisons. This set leans hard into the bleed-plus-poison core, so it's a high-value chase set — prioritize getting 4pc.

Top trinkets: S-tier — Gaze of the Alnseer, Algeth'ar Puzzle Box (on-use that you line into Deathmark). A-tier — Solarflare Prism, Radiant Plume, Light Company Guidon. Puzzle Box is especially nice because it slots cleanly into the 2-minute burst window.

Consumables: Flask of the Shattered Sun (DPS) or Flask of Thalassian Resistance (survival) · Food Hearty Silvermoon Parade · Combat Potion of Recklessness · Void-Touched Augment Rune · weapon oil Thalassian Phoenix Oil. Gems: Flawless Deadly Amethyst plus one each of Flawless Deadly Lapis / Flawless Quick Garnet / Flawless Deadly Peridot. Enchants: Weapon — Berserker's Rage · Chest — Mark of the Worldsoul · Boots — Farstrider's Hunt (rings/legs/bracers as available).

🚀 Opener

Open from Stealth so Garrote is empowered by Improved Garrote, then dump into your 2-minute burst window. Pre-pot on the pull.

1. Garrote from Stealth (Improved Garrote empowered, applies Deathstalker's Mark)
2. Mutilate until 5 combo points
3. Rupture (lock in the bleed)
4. Mutilate until 5 combo points
5. Envenom
6. Trinkets / on-use (Puzzle Box) / racial + combat Potion
7. Deathmark
8. Kingsbane
9. Garrote again to extend Improved Garrote
10. Mutilate until 5 combo points → Envenom
11. From here follow the single-target priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

Bleeds first, then build and spend. Keep Garrote and Rupture rolling at all times — they fuel Venomous Wounds energy regen. With Deathstalker, prioritize spending Darkest Night Envenoms when the buff is up.

1. Keep Garrote applied (refresh before it falls; re-apply from Stealth/Subterfuge when possible)
2. Keep Rupture applied (refresh near expiry; don't let it drop)
3. Deathmark on cooldown (2 min) — your main burst window
4. Kingsbane on cooldown (1 min), synced with Deathmark every other use
5. Envenom at 5+ combo points (7 with Darkest Night up) — your primary spender
6. Shiv to keep poison debuff / amp uptime during burst
7. Build combo points with Mutilate (Ambush when a stealth/Subterfuge proc is available)
8. Refresh both bleeds shortly BEFORE Deathmark/Kingsbane so they're snapshotted into the doubled-damage window

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Spread bleeds wide, then let Caustic Spatter cleave do the work. Crimson Tempest replaces Rupture as your AoE finisher and applies the bleed to everything; Fan of Knives is your AoE builder. Aim to keep Rupture/Crimson Tempest on as many targets as the fight allows.

1. Garrote key targets (apply the mark on the priority target with Deathstalker)
2. Crimson Tempest at 5+ combo points to spread the bleed across the pack
3. Maintain Rupture on the priority/longer-lived targets
4. Deathmark + Kingsbane on cooldown, synced
5. Envenom to apply/refresh Caustic Spatter for cleave (single-target spender when bleeds are all up)
6. Shiv to keep the poison amp rolling on the pack
7. Build combo points with Fan of Knives at 2+ targets (Mutilate at 1)
8. On 3+ targets, favor Crimson Tempest spreads over single-target Envenom unless bleeds are already maxed

⏱️ Cooldowns

Two offensive cooldowns that you line up together, plus an energy tool. Sync Deathmark and Kingsbane; Kingsbane comes up twice as often, so every other Kingsbane is a solo mini-burst.

Deathmark2 min

Your defining burst. Applies a debuff that duplicates your Garrote, Rupture and lethal poison damage on the target (effectively doubling bleed/poison output) and grants energy. Refresh your bleeds just before pressing it so they're locked into the window.

Kingsbane1 min

A poison DoT that ramps in damage with EVERY poison application landed during its duration. Because Deathmark doubles poison applications, a Deathmark-synced Kingsbane ramps roughly twice as fast. Use on cooldown; sync with Deathmark every second cast.

Thistle Teaauto / on demand

Energy restore (multiple charges). Treat it as an auto-proc resource — fire it alongside Kingsbane to avoid overcapping charges and to keep your hands full during burst. No need to plan it tightly.

Shivshort CD (charges)

Applies/extends your non-lethal poison amp and dispels some enrage/buffs. Weave it into burst windows to keep the poison damage multiplier rolling on your target or pack.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Assassination has one of the strongest survival kits among DPS — a full-immunity button, heavy dodge, a death-cheat passive, and a self-heal. This is a big reason it's prized in high M+.

Cloak of Shadows~2 min

Magic immunity + removes most harmful magic effects. Your panic button for magic burst and dispellable debuffs.

Evasion~2 min

Large dodge boost vs melee/ranged physical for the duration. Bait and Switch (talent) adds Versatility-based damage reduction on top; take it for high keys.

Cheat Death / Elusivenesspassive

Cheat Death prevents a lethal blow and caps incoming damage briefly (lower keys). Elusiveness reduces the damage you take while Feint/Evasion are active (preferred in high keys).

Crimson Vial~30s

Cheap, off-the-GCD self-heal over a few seconds. Press it proactively and often — it's your bread-and-butter sustain.

Feint~15s

Reduces AoE damage taken (and all damage with Elusiveness). Pre-press before known raid/dungeon AoE pulses.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• This is your home content — spread Garrote + Crimson Tempest across the pack early so Caustic Spatter cleave and doubled poisons ramp before the pack dies.
• Fatebound is the low-stress AoE pick; Deathstalker pushes more priority/funnel damage if you'll manage the mark on the kill target.
• Pre-poison the pack and refresh bleeds just before Deathmark so the whole pull is inside the doubled-damage window.
• Lean on the survival kit: Evasion (with Bait and Switch) for physical pulls, Cloak of Shadows for magic burst and to self-dispel, Feint before AoE pulses.
• Use Shroud of Concealment and Sap for skips/route control; Tricks of the Trade to help the tank snap threat on big pulls.
• Take Elusiveness over Cheat Death in high keys for smoother sustained mitigation; keep Crimson Vial on cooldown as background healing.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io). Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, Hekili or the built-in rotation helper for priority, Details!, OmniCD.

#showtooltip Kick
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead] Kick

#showtooltip Deathmark
/cast Deathmark
/cast Kingsbane
/use 13
/cast Thistle Tea

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cast [@focus,help,exists][@mouseover,help,exists] Tricks of the Trade

#showtooltip
/cast [nostealth] Stealth
/cast [stealth] Garrote

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Letting Garrote or Rupture fall off — your bleeds drive Venomous Wounds energy regen, so a dropped bleed double-dips as lost damage AND lost energy.
• Refreshing bleeds AFTER pressing Deathmark instead of just before — you want them snapshotted into the doubled-damage window.
• Forgetting to keep poisons applied (lethal + non-lethal) — a poisonless Assassination Rogue is a fraction of its output.
• Energy-capping in single target — the rotation overflows easily; spend down with Envenom/builders and use Thistle Tea to dump rather than sitting capped.
• Playing Deathstalker without tracking the mark in AoE — if you can't manage Deathstalker's Mark cleanly, Fatebound gives near-equal damage with no babysitting.
• Hoarding defensives — Crimson Vial, Feint and Evasion are cheap and frequent; pre-use them instead of dying with them off cooldown.