Assassination Rogue Guide
Assassination is the bleed-and-poison damage-over-time melee spec — a flexible AoE bleed spreader that thrives in Mythic+, where Crimson Tempest and doubled poison cleave shred packs and its survivability kit (Evasion, Cloak, Cheat Death) keeps it alive in big keys. In single-target raid it's solid but not top-tier: the rotation is energy-hungry and frequently energy-capped, which holds its ceiling back. It rewards ramp-up time, so it shines on sustained fights and pull-after-pull dungeon flow rather than short burst checks.
As of Patch 12.0.5, the Nebulous Voidcore lets you target gear via Bonus Loot rolls after Season 1 Raid bosses, Mythic+ dungeons, Bountiful Delves, and Nightmare Prey Hunts — a controlled way to chase Assassination BiS. A Bonus Roll after a M+ dungeon awards the Great Vault item level for that keystone level, so +10 and above can drop 1/6 Myth-track pieces. Assassination is an M+-leaning spec this season, so weight your weekly cores toward the dungeon trinkets and tier slots that feed its bleed-plus-poison core and its 2-minute Deathmark window.
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Highlighted nodes are taken by a majority of the top players we sampled this patch. Full tree layout & icons from the Blizzard game data.
🚀 Opener
Open from Stealth so Garrote is empowered by Improved Garrote, then dump into your 2-minute burst window. Pre-pot on the pull.
- Garrote from Stealth (Improved Garrote empowered, applies Deathstalker's Mark)
- Mutilate until 5 combo points
- Rupture (lock in the bleed)
- Mutilate until 5 combo points
- Envenom
- Trinkets / on-use (Puzzle Box) / racial + combat Potion
- Deathmark
- Kingsbane
- Garrote again to extend Improved Garrote
- Mutilate until 5 combo points → Envenom
- 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.
- Keep Garrote applied (refresh before it falls; re-apply from Stealth/Subterfuge when possible)
- Keep Rupture applied (refresh near expiry; don't let it drop)
- Deathmark on cooldown (2 min) — your main burst window
- Kingsbane on cooldown (1 min), synced with Deathmark every other use
- Envenom at 5+ combo points (7 with Darkest Night up) — your primary spender
- Shiv to keep poison debuff / amp uptime during burst
- Build combo points with Mutilate (Ambush when a stealth/Subterfuge proc is available)
- 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.
- Garrote key targets (apply the mark on the priority target with Deathstalker)
- Crimson Tempest at 5+ combo points to spread the bleed across the pack
- Maintain Rupture on the priority/longer-lived targets
- Deathmark + Kingsbane on cooldown, synced
- Envenom to apply/refresh Caustic Spatter for cleave (single-target spender when bleeds are all up)
- Shiv to keep the poison amp rolling on the pack
- Build combo points with Fan of Knives at 2+ targets (Mutilate at 1)
- 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.
💚 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+.
🧰 Utility & Crowd Control
| Ability | Use |
|---|---|
| Kick | Primary interrupt. Use a mouseover/focus macro. |
| Blind | 60s incapacitate; Airborne Irritant talent makes it a short AoE disorient for pack control. |
| Sap | Out-of-combat single-target CC for pulls/skips (Stealth required). |
| Gouge | Melee incapacitate; emergency stop on a caster when Kick is down. |
| Kidney Shot / Cheap Shot | Stuns — Kidney Shot is a finisher stun, Cheap Shot opens from Stealth. |
| Shroud of Concealment | Group stealth for skipping trash in M+. |
| Tricks of the Trade | Threat transfer to a tank/ally (a soft external for pulls). |
| Atrophic Poison | Raid-wide debuff that reduces enemy damage dealt — utility poison swap. |
| Sprint / Shadowstep / Grappling Hook | Mobility for mechanics and gap-closing; Shadowstep also repositions onto a target. |
📊 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).
🗝️ 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.