Season of Discovery Assassination Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Last updated on Aug 24, 2024 at 10:00 by Sellin 7 comments

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your DPS Assassination Rogue, in WoW Classic - Season of Discovery. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, and others in order to minmax your damage efficiency.

1.

Introduction

As an Assassination Rogue in Season of Discovery there have been some major changes made to greatly improve your damage output and also lessen the downtime traditional to Rogue DPS. Assassination operates off of a list of priorities as opposed to a DPS rotation but we have updated this list below to reflect what your rotation should look like now including abilities added in Season of Discovery via the Rune stone Engraving system.

While it is not required Engineering is a great tool to have as a Rogue not only because of the many toys and gizmos associated with it but bombs such as Solid Dynamite Icon Solid Dynamite can are essentially free damage and while Rogue now has tools to deal AoE damage it is still rather limited. Bombs are typically best used on the pull as soon as your tank has established aggro so you can get multiple uses in an encounter, however if you know a fight will have multiple targets always try to keep the cooldown ready for when there are multiple targets to hit.

2.

Assassination Weapons

Assassination Rogue will use Mutilate Icon Mutilate primarily to generate combo points so you will need to be using two Daggers. The Speed of your main-hand Dagger is largely irrelevant though slower Daggers typically have higher top-end damage and scale better with Mutilate Icon Mutilate.

This rotation assumes that you are using the Assassination build highlighted in our talent guide. This rotation is extremely simple and focuses primarily on using Mutilate Icon Mutilate as much as possible to generate combo points to apply your Slice and Dice Icon Slice and Dice buff and Rupture Icon Rupture debuff to activate Carnage Icon Carnage while still trying to use Envenom Icon Envenom as often as possible to spend any excess combo points.

3.

Single-Target Rotation

  1. Ensure you have Instant Poison Icon Instant Poison applied to both of your weapons before combat, if you are assigned to or your group is lacking a source of it apply Sebacious Poison Icon Sebacious Poison to your main-hand to apply the Expose Armor Icon Expose Armor effect.
  2. Begin Combat in Stealth Icon Stealth to maximize Master of Subtlety Icon Master of Subtlety uptime.
  3. If starting in stealth, apply Garrote Icon Garrote.
  4. If an ability needs to be interrupted, prioritize interrupting it with Kick Icon Kick.
  5. When the target has 5 stacks of Deadly Poison Icon Deadly Poison/Occult Poison I Icon Occult Poison I cast Poisoned Knife Icon Poisoned Knife.
  6. Cast Mutilate Icon Mutilate to generate combo points.
  7. After the Master of Subtlety Icon Master of Subtlety buff has faded, cast Vanish Icon Vanish to refresh it.
  8. Cast Slice and Dice Icon Slice and Dice once you have achieved 5 combo points.
  9. Apply and maintain Rupture Icon Rupture to the target to benefit from the Carnage Icon Carnage buff.
  10. If you find yourself with extra combo points after maintaining Slice and Dice Icon Slice and Dice and Rupture Icon Rupture cast Envenom Icon Envenom to spend them.
3.1.

Multi-Target Rotation

With the addition of the Back Rune slot Rogue has three new abilities to deal consistent AoE damage but we typically recommend Blunderbuss Icon Blunderbuss. In a situation where you are fighting 3 or more mobs for an extended period of time consider swapping your belt slot over to Shuriken Toss Icon Shuriken Toss.

4.

Cool down Usage

Cold Blood Icon Cold Blood should be used on cool down and ideally is paired with an Envenom Icon Envenom.

Blade Flurry Icon Blade Flurry should be used on cool down for the attack speed benefit, though it is worth holding onto for a couple of seconds if an add is going to spawn and you are not facing enough enemies to warrant switching over to casting Fan of Knives Icon Fan of Knives.

4.1.

Sprint

Sprint Icon Sprint increases your movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds, this has great uses both in and outside of combat and can be used to both travel the world more effectively or close the gap in some type of combat scenario.

4.2.

Evasion

Evasion Icon Evasion is an incredibly useful tool that greatly increases your dodge chance and will allow you to avoid massive amounts of incoming physical damage.

4.3.

Vanish

Vanish Icon Vanish will instantly send you back into stealth clearing any rooting or slowing effects in the process. This is an incredible tool for both resetting your threat but also enabling you to use another stealth only ability such as Ambush Icon Ambush. Vanish will also allow you to take advantage of Master of Subtlety Icon Master of Subtlety so in a situation where you are not concerned with threat consider using this ability to further maximize your damage by refreshing this buff.

5.

Utility Spells

Shadowstep Icon Shadowstep teleports you behind your current target and increases your movement speed by 70% for 3 seconds. This is a great way to close the gap when an enemy is running or move to a target quickly to interrupt an ability you otherwise may not have been able to reach in time.

Kick Icon Kick interrupts spell casting and should be utilized as often as possible to lessen incoming damage both when playing solo to maximize your up time or in a group to lessen the burden on your healer.

Gouge Icon Gouge is a brief incapacitating ability that stops spell casting and renders the target unable to act for a few seconds, make sure to take advantage of this to either stop incoming damage, interrupt a spell cast or use it to create distance between you and an enemy in an emergency situation.

Redirect Icon Redirect will allow you to move your combo points from your previous target to your current target, this only works on unspent combo points and if you generate a combo point on your new target before redirecting then you will be unable to move your previous ones to the new target.

Kidney Shot Icon Kidney Shot is a stun that will consume your combo points, its duration depending on how many combo points you spent. This is a great way to interrupt spell casting in a situation where Kick Icon Kick or Gouge Icon Gouge is not available or just to crowd control and otherwise dangerous enemy.

Cheap Shot Icon Cheap Shot is a stun that can only be used exiting stealth, your target will be stunned for 4 seconds and you will be awarded two combo points to the target.

5.1.

Combo Points

Combo Points are a resource that Rogues generate by using 'generating' abilities, in the highlighted build above the majority of your combo points will be generated by Mutilate Icon Mutilate. These points can be spent on various different finishing moves but at this point in time your main focus should be on maintaining as much up time as possible on Slice and Dice Icon Slice and Dice and should you find yourself with excess they should be spent on Envenom Icon Envenom. Keeping Slice and Dice Icon Slice and Dice active is a much greater priority than an extra cast of Envenom Icon Envenom so keep this in mind when considering which ability to use next.

6.

Changelog

  • 24 Aug. 2024: Updated for Saber Slash change.
  • 21 Jul. 2024: Updated for Blunderbuss.
  • 06 Jul. 2024: Updated for Phase 4.
  • 01 Apr. 2024: Updated for Phase 3.
  • 11 Feb. 2024: Updated for Phase 2.
  • 15 Dec. 2023: Guide updated.
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