WoW Forever Rogue Rework: Shank, Poised and a Death Mark Capstone

Shank is a new ability learned at level 24. It costs 5 Energy, has a 10-second cooldown and can't miss: you strike with your off-hand weapon for 50% weapon damage and generate 15 Energy, or 25 Energy with rank 2 at level 44. In practice it's an Energy refund on a short cooldown, and several new talents build on it.

Poised is a passive learned at level 18. While you are out of combat at full Energy, your next Energy ability costs 10 less, so your opener from Stealth is cheaper. Druids learn the same passive at level 32.

Poisons hit harder too: the Attack Power coefficient of Deadly Poison doubles to 0.009, and that of Instant Poison to 0.01.

• Murder is removed. Blood Splatter, a new 1-point talent on row 3, makes Rupture last 6 seconds longer and Garrote 9 seconds longer.
• Seal Fate reaches its full 100% chance with 3 points instead of 5, and Lethality becomes a 2-point talent worth 10/20% more critical strike damage (was 5 points).
• Relentless Strikes moves to row 5 and now takes 5 points: each Combo Point gives a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to restore 25 Energy, where a single point used to give 20%.
• Venom moves up to row 5 and becomes passive: for 6 seconds after a Shank, your poisons deal 30% more damage and are 20% more likely to apply.
• Mutilate now deals 90% weapon damage plus a larger bonus (was 75%). Improved Expose Armor moves up to row 2 and Vigor to row 3.

• Composure, a new 2-point talent on row 3, makes Poised reduce Energy costs by a further 5/10.
• Flash of Steel, a new 5-point talent on row 6, makes Shank generate 3 to 15 more Energy and cuts its cooldown by up to 2 seconds.
• Improved Eviscerate is renamed Coup de Grace. It raises the damage of Eviscerate by 7/13/20%, and the damage and storage rate of Death Mark by the same amount.
• Improved Sinister Strike becomes Efficient Strikes, which now cuts the Energy cost of Hemorrhage as well as Sinister Strike by 3/5.
• Flawless Execution now saves 15 Energy (was 10), and Aggression raises the damage of Sinister Strike and Eviscerate by 5/10/15% but no longer affects Backstab.
• Dual Wield Specialization becomes a 2-point talent worth 25/50% more off-hand damage (was 5 points for up to 25%). Weapon Expertise and Aggression move up to row 4.

Death Mark is the new 31-point Subtlety talent: a finishing move that costs 25 Energy, has a 20-yard range and a 10-second cooldown. It marks the target and stores part of the damage your attacks deal to it, more for each Combo Point and twice as much from Garrote and Rupture. After 6 seconds the stored damage is dealt at once, up to a cap that grows with your Attack Power and critical strike chance. The mark is a Curse effect.

• Quietus, Cutthroat, Thousand Cuts and Improved Distract are removed.
• Boot Knife, a new 5-point talent on row 6, gives Shank a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to add 2 Combo Points.
• Quick Getaway, a new 2-point talent on row 4, lets you keep one more target under Sap and gives you 15/30% movement speed for 3 seconds after a Sap.
• Ghostly Strike also lets your next Ambush or Garrote within 7 seconds be used outside Stealth, and Hemorrhage now makes your Rupture and Garrote deal 15% more damage (was Rupture only).
• Opportunity becomes 5 points for 4–20% more damage with Backstab, Garrote, Ambush and Mutilate, Camouflage becomes 3 points, and Setup drops to a 15/30/45% chance.
• A bug that made Hemorrhage and Ghostly Strike deal far more damage than intended with a dagger is fixed.

• Use Shank whenever you're short of Energy. It costs 5 and returns 15 (25 from level 44), and Combat and Subtlety talents make it stronger still.
• Pull at full Energy to get the Poised discount on your opener, or a bigger one with Composure.
• Re-plan your talents: five talents are gone, two are renamed and several changed size, so builds made during the beta no longer add up.
• Assassination keeps its bleeds up longer with Blood Splatter, and every Rogue's poisons gain from the doubled coefficients.
• The other classes' changes are in our launch tuning overview.