Assassination Rogue DPS Mythic+ Tips — The War Within (11.2)

Note: While this build was very weaker than the Cleave build until the end of Season 2, the Bleed build has gained a lot of strength with 11.2 and the new tier-set, which is likely going to boost it above the cleave build even in high-keys.

This is the Deathstalker build for Assassination that works best for your weekly key adventures. There is no specific cutoff at which point another build becomes better, or this build ends up performing worse, due to the nature of every Mythic+ run being slightly different. Whether it is your fellow DPS doing a lot more damage one run than another group or the pull-size differing a lot due to the routing, you will want to play a build you're comfortable with that can perform well in every circumstance.

There isn't a whole lot of flexibility in your talent choices, but these are the choices you can make:

• You can opt out of any of the talents that are not required to path through in order to pick up Stillshroud for any keys where Shroud is used. Wiping and not being able to return to the boss or trash pack you wiped on is usually a depleted key, but with a reduced cooldown, Shroud might be back up again to keep going.
• While playing without Iron Wire is not ideal, talenting into it comes at a quite heavy DPS loss. If you really want the AoE silence and damage reduction to help our your team, you can drop Lightweight Shiv or pick up a little more single-target damage by dropping Doomblade and Serrated Bone Spike, and picking up Kingsbane and Iron Wire instead. The lack of SBS will be noticeable in your AoE opener, however.
• You can swap Airborne Irritant for Gouge if there is a desperate need for additional stops on a low cooldown. This is another thing that will very likely only be used in higher-level keys.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Note: While this build was very strong up until the end of Season 2, the Bleed build has gained a lot of strength with 11.2 and the new tier-set, which is likely going to boost it above the cleave build even in high-keys.

This was the Deathstalker build for Assassination for high key pushing. High key pushing tends to be a much more coordinated and structured affair, so you will have a better understanding of the size of the pulls, where your damage is needed most, and when to use your cooldowns. This build excels at high sustained damage in AoE, as trash packs tend to live quite a bit longer in higher level keys than your weekly key runs.

There isn't a whole lot of flexibility in your talent choices, but these are the choices you can make:

• You can opt out of any of the talents that are not required to path through in order to pick up Stillshroud for any keys where Shroud is used. Wiping and not being able to return to the boss or trash pack you wiped on is usually a depleted key, but with a reduced cooldown, Shroud might be back up again to keep going.
• While playing without Iron Wire is not ideal, talenting into it comes at a quite heavy DPS loss. If you really want the AoE silence and damage reduction to help our your team, you can drop Lightweight Shiv or pick up a little more single-target damage by dropping Doomblade and Serrated Bone Spike, and picking up Kingsbane and Iron Wire instead. The lack of SBS will be noticeable in your AoE opener, however.
• You can swap Airborne Irritant for Gouge if there is a desperate need for additional stops on a low cooldown. This is another thing that will very likely only be used in higher-level keys.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This is the Fatebound build for Assassination, which offers incredible single-target damage, but suffers greatly in AoE compared to Deathstalker. There might be a situational use for this build if bosses are the only thing holding you back from succeeding, but it is NOT recommended to play this until you know exactly why.

Try to maintain your coin buffs between packs, although do not pull packs the tank did not yet engage, just because your buffs are about to run out.

There isn't a whole lot of flexibility in your talent choices, but these are the choices you can make:

• You can opt out of any of the talents that are not required to path through in order to pick up Stillshroud for any keys where Shroud is used. Wiping and not being able to return to the boss or trash pack you wiped on is usually a depleted key, but with a reduced cooldown, Shroud might be back up again to keep going.
• While it is absolutely not recommended in 99,99% of cases, you can opt to play Without a Trace if you really need the second charge of Vanish to avoid dangerous boss abilities. This is really only ever going to be required for absolute World-First Keys and for players who know what they're doing, but it is mentioned here for completeness.
• You can swap Airborne Irritant for Gouge if there is a desperate need for additional stops on a low cooldown. This is another thing that will very likely only be used in higher-level keys.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Kick is your, well, "kick". You will interrupt your targeted enemy, or, when using a Focus-Macro, the target you set up as your focus.

• /stopcasting
• /stopcasting
• /cast [@focus,exists,nodead] [] Kick

This macro will kick your focus target if you have one and your target if you have no focus target. We recommend keeping both the macro and a regular kick cast on your bars, as you may have multiple targets to interrupt, and the macro always prioritizes the focus target.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro or setting the "Focus Target" hotkey in the game's keybinding settings.

• /focus [@mouseover]

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Sap and Blind can be useful to hard-crowd control multiple mobs in a single trash pack. You can also use it right before the tank is pulling, as Blackjack applies a damage reduction debuff to the target when Sap breaks.

Vanish can be used to Garrote enemies, silencing them thanks to Iron Wire. This is also a DPS increase due to Improved Garrote, so clever planning of your CDs will be rewarded with higher DPS. If you are unsure about your usage of Vanish, err on the side of caution and use it for the silence first and foremost, not for DPS.

With Airborne Irritant talented, Blind turns into a powerful AoE disrupt that also drastically reduces tank damage taken.

Gouge (if talented) can be used to disrupt enemies from casting otherwise uninterruptible spells. This requires you to stand in front of the enemy but can be used in many situations to keep enemies from using some of their most lethal abilities. Many of these abilities go on cooldown once used, so disrupting them with Gouge, Kidney Shot, or Blind will keep these mobs from re-casting these abilities for a while.

Vanish can also be used to Cheap Shot an enemy that can only be stopped, not interrupted, but this is an absolute last resort play.

Shroud of Concealment projects AoE Stealth around you. It is important to note, however, that in the current expansion, there is a much greater number of enemies who can detect through Stealth or Invisibility, whom you will need to be on the lookout for.

Distract helps set up Shroud-skips and keeps patrolling trash packs in place for 10 seconds. Make sure to force enemies to look away from you to allow you to stealth past them.

Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Evasion, Crimson Vial and Cheat Death form a very powerful set of defensive cooldowns and are one of the biggest reasons for Rogue's strength in Mythic+.

Tricks of the Trade is not exceptionally great normally. However, any kind of support that helps your tank keep aggro on all enemies is encouraged. Sadly it is a choice-node with Blackjack.

Shiv can be used to dispel Enrage effects. Keep in mind that this means you will not be able to use Shiv for DPS.

Numbing Poison and Atrophic Poison are both useful in Mythic+, but with the heavier emphasis on trash mobs, Numbing Poison is likely to win out on Fortified, with Atrophic gaining more value on Tyrannical weeks. Communicate with your tank and healer which ones are preferable.