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Assassination Rogue Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

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
Venom
Popular builds
1
Version
WoW Forever

How to play

Assassination in WoW Forever is built on Mutilate, which strikes with both weapons for two combo points and hits harder on poisoned targets, and Venom, a finisher that makes your poisons stronger and more likely to apply for longer with more combo points. Seal Fate turns crits into extra combo points, and Combat's Puncturing Wounds raises Mutilate's crit chance.

Keep Slice and Dice and Venom up, Mutilate to five points and spend them on Eviscerate or Rupture. Cold Blood guarantees a crit for burst.

Assassination is a strong group damage spec and very dangerous in player-versus-player fights.

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 Forever.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Open from stealth with Garrote, Ambush or Cheap Shot.
  2. 2Slice and Dice and Venom kept up.
  3. 3Mutilate to build combo points; Seal Fate adds more on crits.
  4. 4Eviscerate at five points, or Rupture on long fights.
  5. 5Cold Blood before a big finisher.
  6. 6Feint to stay below the tank.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Mutilate builds combo points fast.
  • Venom makes poisons a large share of your damage.
  • Strong burst with Cold Blood.

Weaknesses

  • Two finishers to keep up besides your damage ones.
  • Needs crit to get the most from Seal Fate.
  • 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. 1

    Hitto the cap

  2. 2

    Agility

  3. 3

    Critical strikeSeal Fate

  4. 4

    Attack power

  5. 5

    Weapon skill

  6. 6

    Strength

What to look for

  • Two fast weapons with high damage for Mutilate and poison procs.
  • Agility, hit and crit.
  • Poisons on both weapons for Mutilate's bonus.

Builds

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

  • Assassination
  • Combat
  • Subtlety

  • Venom Mutilator

    DamagePvE
    37/12/2

    Assassination built around Mutilate: Seal Fate turns crits into combo points, Venom boosts your poisons, and Puncturing Wounds raises Mutilate's crit chance.

    • Relentless Strikes 1/1
    • Cold Blood 1/1
    • Mutilate 1/1
    • Seal Fate 5/5
    • Venom 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

Key talents

  • Venom · top talent, up to 1

    Finishing move that increases the damage of your Poisons by 30% and your chance to apply Poisons by 10%. Lasts longer per combo point: 1 point : 9 sec 2 points: 12 sec 3 points: 15 sec 4 points: 18 sec 5 points: 21 sec

  • Ruthlessness · tier 2, up to 3

    Gives your finishing moves a 60% chance to add a Combo Point to your target.

  • Murder · tier 2, up to 2

    Increases all damage dealt by 4% against Humanoid and Giant targets.

  • 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, Mutilate, Ghostly Strike, and Hemorrhage abilities by 20%.

  • Vile Poisons · tier 4, up to 5

    Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 20% and gives your poisons an additional 40% chance to resist dispel effects.

  • Cold Blood · tier 4, up to 1

    When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, Eviscerate, or Mutilate by 100%.

  • Improved Poisons · tier 4, up to 5

    Increases the chance to apply Poisons to your target by 10%, and gives Poison applications a 50% chance to not consume a charge.

  • Mutilate · tier 5, up to 1

    Instantly attacks with both weapons for 75% weapon damage plus an additional 17 with each weapon. Damage increased by 20% against Poisoned targets. Awards 2 Combo Points.

  • 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.

What WoW Forever changed

New talents in this tree

  • MutilateInstantly attacks with both weapons for 75% weapon damage plus an additional 17 with each weapon. Damage increased by 20% against Poisoned targets. Awards 2 Combo Points.
  • VenomFinishing move that increases the damage of your Poisons by 30% and your chance to apply Poisons by 10%. Lasts longer per combo point: 1 point : 9 sec 2 points: 12 sec 3 points: 15 sec 4 points: 18 sec 5 points: 21 sec

Classic Era talents the class no longer has

None.

Spells

New: Mutilate, Venom. Changed: Eviscerate, Expose Armor, Rupture, Cold Blood.

Related

Other rogue specs: Combat, Subtlety