Known as Spies, Chemists, mad scientists, or simply sadists, Assassination Rogues coat their blades with carefully curated deadly brews that bring a grotesque and painful demise to any who dare peak their interest. Their specialization’s identity was always closely tied into the powerful Poison Damage, with the trend being even more heavily emphasized with the arrival of Cataclysm.
Assassination Rogue in Cataclysm
Similar to their brethren, the Assassination Rogues specialization were barely changed in Cataclysm, with their overall gameplay plays mostly the same. Assassination Rogues received a large amount of buffs, with their gameplay feeling amazing, in both Single-Target and AoE encounters.
The clear differences come in term of damage-enhancing effects and overall buff to their Poison Damage, receiving new or improved effects such as Vile Poisons, Venomous Wounds, and Master Poisoner. Those effects empower both their Single-Target and AoE performance, with Rupture becoming a powerful Single-Target tool while Fan of Knives acts as the star of the show for AoE, granting them a clear advantage over Combat Rogues.
Additionally, they forgo their old Hunger for Blood effect in favor of a brand new and powerful offensive cooldown, Vendetta, which also grants them a powerful Burst Phase. Lastly, one of their abilities has been rebranded into an Execution Tool, Backstab, once their target reaches 35% health.
Assassination Rogue Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- High Single-Target & AoE Damage
Assassination Rogues received an overall boon in both Single-Target and AoE encounters, having an amazing overall damage output. Their Single-Target Magical Damage is even stronger while their AoE is vastly increased thanks to the interaction between Fan of Knives and Vile Poisons.
- Good Utility
While Combat Rogues can only empower Physical Damage Dealers, Assassination Rogues also provide the Master Poisoner effect to their raid group besides the usual Tricks of the Trade and Expose Armor effects.
- Easy Learning Curve
Assassination Rogues have a simplistic rotation that can be easily adapted to your muscle memory. Unlike other specializations that rely on procs and precise timing, Assassination Rogue has both a consistent rotation that is easy to follow and a very powerful Burst Phase that has no special prerequisites.
- Engaging Playstyle
Similar to their brethren, Assassination Rogues have a very engaging playstyle with close to no downtime, especially as they increase their Energy regeneration. Since their rotation is spammy, there is close to no downtime.
Weaknesses
- Gear Dependent
The specialization is rather underwhelming until it acquires the proper equipment. Once Assassination Rogue gets access to powerful gear, the damage output skyrockets considerably.
- Very Weak in Cleave Encounters
Assassination Rogues have one massive weakness. While their Aoe Damage is incredible, they lack any Cleave Tool, meaning they have to rely on weaving Fan of Knives in between their normal Single-Target rotation to deal any damage in any Cleave encounters.
Best Races
Horde
The horde has the better races from a PvE point of view, with most of their racial abilities providing direct damage-enhancing effects. The strongest available race for Assassination Rogue is Troll as it has access to Berserking, followed by Orc with Blood Fury, and Goblin with Time is Money and Rocket Barrage.
- Troll: Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Regeneration, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization.
- Orc: Blood Fury, Axe Specialization, Hardiness, Command.
- Goblin: Time is Money, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry.
- Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Affinity.
- Undead: Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Underwater Breathing.
Alliance
The Alliance has stronger PvP racial effects than PvE racials, with most PvE racial effects being represented by passive effects. Gnome is the strongest option due to Shortblade Specialization, followed by Worgen due to Viciousness.
- Gnome: Shortblade Specialization, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Arcane Resistance.
- Worgen: Darkflight, Flayer, Viciousness, Abberation.
- Human: Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Will to Survive, The Human Spirit, Diplomacy.
- Dwarf: Stoneform, Explorer, Mace Specialization, Gun Specialization, Frost Resistance.
- Night Elf: Elusiveness, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit, Nature Resistance.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has been able to help you decide if PvE Assassination Rogue is the class/spec for you. Make sure to check out our other sections, such as talents, gear, gems, etc, to get more information on how to improve your performance as an Assassination Rogue in Cataclysm!
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