Assassination Rogue PVE Guide – Cataclysm

Welcome to the PVE Assassination Rogue Guide for World of Warcraft Cataclysm!

This guide will teach you how to play an Assassination Rogue in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.

This build takes standard DPS talents.

Prime Glyphs

• Glyph of Backstab
• Glyph of Mutilate
• Glyph of Rupture

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Fan of Knives
• Glyph of Feint
• Glyph of Tricks of the Trade

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Blurred Speed
• Glyph of Poisons
• Glyph of Safe Fall

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta – Agile Shadowspirit Diamond
• Red/Prismatic – Delicate Queen’s Garnet, Delicate Inferno Ruby, or Delicate Chimera’s Eye (Jewelcrafting)
• Yellow
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Agility – Delicate Queen’s Garnet or Delicate Inferno Ruby
  • Otherwise, Adept Lava Coral or Adept Ember Topaz
• Blue
  • If Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Agility, Delicate Queen’s Garnet or Delicate Inferno Ruby
  • Otherwise, Glinting Shadow Spinel or Glinting Demonseye

• Head – Arcanum of the Ramkahen
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal or Swiftsteel Inscription (Inscription)
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Major Agility or Swordguard Embroidery (Tailoring)
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer – Agility or Draconic Embossment – Agility (Leatherworking) with Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Major Agility with Synapse Springs (Engineering) or Socket Gloves (Blacksmithing)
• Waist – Ebonsteel Belt Buckle or Grounded Plasma Shield (Engineering)
• Legs – Dragonscale Leg Armor or Dragonbone Leg Reinforcements (Leatherworking)
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Assassin’s Step
• Rings – Enchant Ring – Agility (Enchanting)
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Landslide

• Agility
• Hit Rating (to 17% spell hit cap)
• Mastery
• Haste
• Expertise (to 26 cap)
• Critical Strike
• Hit rating (from 17% to 27% hard melee hit cap)

Single Target Rotation

• Combo Point Builders
  • Use Mutilate if target has 35% HP or more
  • Use Backstab when target’s health is below 35%
    • Use Mutilate if you cannot spend all of your Energy
• Finishing Moves
  • Use Slice and Dice and maintain once (Envenom will refresh it a second time)
  • Use Rupture and maintain, use whatever Combo Points you have when Rupture is set to expire
  • Use Envenom if you have 3-5 Combo Points

Multi Target Rotation

• 5+ Targets
  • Use Fan of Knives on cooldown

Poisons

• Use Instant Poison on your Main-hand weapon
• Use Deadly Poison on your Off-hand weapon
  • If you are using Fan of Knives for AoE, then use Deadly Poison on your Thrown weapon

Cooldowns

• Use Cold Blood before using Envenom with 5 Combo Points
• Use Vanish on cooldown for 20 seconds of Overkill — use Garrote to break out of stealth.
• Use Vendetta on cooldown whenever you can attack your target for 30 seconds uninterrupted