Assassination Rogue

Is Assassination worth levelling?

Sources genuinely disagree, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

For: one publishes a pure level-20 Assassination build, rates levelling 4 out of 5, and says "Assassination is likely to be very strong especially in this level bracket due to the potency of talents like Remorseless Attacks."

Against: another says the level-20 options are the Combat Riposte build or the Subtlety hybrid, and that only "as the level cap progresses to 30" do you get "even having a viable Assassination build."

Both agree on why 30 matters: Mutilate needs 21 points in the tree. Below that, Assassination is Malice and Lethality — good passive numbers with no signature button. If you want a decision: Combat is lower-risk, and this spec pays off at 30.

Your talent points

Level 20 — 11/0/0, with the click order published:

1. Remorseless Attacks, 2 points
2. Malice, 3 points
3. Ruthlessness, 3 points
4. Malice to 5/5
5. Relentless Strikes at 20

Improved Slice and Dice is explicitly rejected: "mobs and even bosses in this level bracket are unlikely to survive long enough."

A dungeon alternative abandons the tree entirely — Malice 3 / Improved Eviscerate 3 / Improved Sinister Strike 2 / Precision 3, labelled "Combat for damage in dungeons." That is a fair reflection of how weak pure Assassination is at 20.

Level 30 — 21/0/0, in order: Malice 5 → Remorseless Attacks 2 → Ruthlessness 3 → Relentless Strikes 1 → Lethality 5 → Vile Poisons 4 → Mutilate at 30. "The level 30 cap unlocks Mutilate… extremely strong in both dungeons and solo play."

Rotation

At level 20 all three Rogue specs play identically.

1. From 20, Instant Poison on both weapons
2. Open from Stealth with Ambush
3. Backstab behind the target, otherwise Sinister Strike
4. At 5 combo points, Slice and Dice if the target will survive its duration
5. Otherwise Eviscerate at 5 combo points

From 30, Mutilate becomes your builder, with Slice and Dice upkeep — and one piece of practical advice: "sometimes it's better to use Sinister Strike to add the last Combo Point and conserve energy."

Multi-target: no source publishes an Assassination area rotation. The only relevant note is that Remorseless Attacks "heavily incentivizes pulling multiple mobs" — it rewards chain-killing, which is not the same as cleaving.

Stat priority

Weapon damage, then Hit and Expertise, Agility, critical strike, Strength, Stamina.

Slow main hand, fast off hand. "Intellect and Spirit are wasted on a rogue."

What defines Assassination

What Forever changed for Rogues

• Poisons and Lockpicking are secondary skills now, "like First Aid", not class skills. Poison damage is lower with more charges — Instant Poison rank 1 is "13 to 17 instead of 19 to 25, 60 instead of 40". Poison and a sharpening stone now stack.
• Mutilate and Venom are both new.
• Improved Gouge moved in from Combat; Improved Eviscerate moved out to Combat. Puncturing Wounds is a new Combat talent that buffs Mutilate — which is why the two trees now talk to each other.
• Rogues can learn axes, and the skill starts at 1.
• Baseline nerfs: Rupture rank 6 is "159 instead of 272"; Eviscerate rank 6 was lowered. Expose Armor was buffed to "450 instead of 340" at rank 5.
• Hit and critical strike are now unified across spell, melee and ranged.

At level 60

Unknown: whether poison scaling and Venom upkeep make Assassination competitive with Combat in raids. There is no raid PTR, item stats are hidden until the items drop, and both 31-point capstones are untested.