Assassination Rogue Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic

Crits, poisons and stronger finishing moves.

A leather-wearing melee fighter who builds combo points with Energy and spends them on finishing moves. Rogues open from stealth, stun and blind enemies, and poison their weapons. More about the rogue

Class: Rogue
Roles: Damage
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Vigor
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Classic

How to play

Assassination turns critical strikes into combo points. Seal Fate adds an extra combo point whenever a builder crits, Relentless Strikes refunds Energy on finishers, and Cold Blood guarantees a crit on your next ability. Most Classic Assassination rogues also go into Combat for Blade Flurry and dual-wield hit.

Damage comes in bursts: build five points fast, keep Slice and Dice up and finish with Eviscerate. Daggers with Backstab or swords with Sinister Strike both work; crit chance is what makes the tree tick.

Improved Poisons and Vile Poisons make poison procs stronger, which matters most in player-versus-player play, where Cold Blood and a five-point Eviscerate make a strong kill shot.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Classic.

Rotation and priorities

1Open from stealth with Garrote or, with a dagger, Ambush; against players, Cheap Shot.
2Slice and Dice at any combo points to start, then refresh it before it drops.
3Build with Sinister Strike, or Backstab from behind with a dagger.
4Eviscerate at five combo points; Seal Fate often takes you from three to five quickly.
5Cold Blood before an Eviscerate when you need burst.
6Feint regularly in raids to stay below the tank's threat.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Strong burst from Cold Blood and five-point Eviscerates.
Seal Fate makes combo points come fast with crit gear.
Works in raids and duels alike.

Weaknesses

Lower sustained raid damage than Combat in Classic.
Needs a lot of crit to work.
Little area damage.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Hitto 9% for special attacks; Precision gives 5%
2
Agilityattack power, crit and dodge
3
Critical strikefeeds Seal Fate
4
Weapon skill
5
Attack power
6
Strength

What to look for

A main hand for your builder (a dagger for Backstab or a slow sword for Sinister Strike) and a fast off-hand for poison procs.
Leather with Agility, crit and hit.
Crusader on both weapons.

Items worth chasing

Core Hound ToothA raid dagger for Backstab builds.
Perdition's BladeA raid dagger with a fire damage proc.
Devilsaur GauntletsCrafted leather gloves with attack power and hit.
Hand of JusticeExtra attacks and attack power in a trinket slot.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Assassination
Combat
Subtlety

Seal Fate Assassin
DamagePvE
3021
30/21/0
Assassination for raids: Seal Fate turns crits into extra combo points, Cold Blood guarantees a big finisher, and Combat adds Blade Flurry.
- Relentless Strikes 1/1
- Improved Poisons 4/5
- Cold Blood 1/1
- Seal Fate 5/5
- Blade Flurry 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Vigor · top talent, up to 1
Increases your maximum Energy by 10.
Improved Eviscerate · tier 1, up to 3
Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate ability by 15%.
Malice · tier 1, up to 5
Increases your critical strike chance by 5%.
Ruthlessness · tier 2, up to 3
Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a combo point to your target.
Improved Slice and Dice · tier 2, up to 3
Increases the duration of your Slice and Dice ability by 45%.
Relentless Strikes · tier 3, up to 1
Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
Lethality · tier 3, up to 5
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Gouge, Backstab, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage abilities by 30%.
Improved Poisons · tier 4, up to 5
Increases the chance to apply poisons to your target by 10%.
Cold Blood · tier 5, up to 1
When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%.
Seal Fate · tier 6, up to 5
Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 100% chance to add an additional combo point.

Assassination abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.