Is the build of choice for assassination from elitistjerks last time I slogged through the rogue thread.

The point I want to make though is that assassination is now a fun, challenging and rewarding build to play. It takes a lot of concentration to keep rupture/SnD/HfB up without missing one.

90% of players are going to switch to assassination from combat swords, find it a harder build to play without a significant dps increase and switch back. The 10% that stick with it and bleed out every last point of dps will see an ultimately higher overall dps than combat swords can reach. It will be a lot of work to attain it though. To me that is exciting and fun, and something I wish WoW had more of.

With the latest patch, I am starting off with 2-3 combo points… Premeditation (2) – then (paly shield crit hitting)(1) – so that’s 3 points – then coming out of stealth with garrote, (5) we are talking pretty much instantly.. If we are on trash, depending on targets health, I will either pop SnD or Evis – if its a boss, I typical drop rupture, and build my combo points back with Sinister strike / Hemo – keep in mind I typical only have to build 1 or 2 myself, as I gain so many combo points on any one in my parties crit hit. So as a sub – I’d say raw burst damage is what is giving me my DPS, being able to pop so many evis’s so quickly, because I am not really having to build combo points, and or dropping a rupture.. I’m just waiting for energy – my starved state!

I like Combat (swords).
I don’t enjoy Mutiliate or really daggers of any kind.
My only job in a raid is to do maximal DPS on a single (boss) target.

Where does that leave me? Anything higher than a 2-3% delta between builds is enough to seriously push someone into the higher build. Because that gap is what it is right now choosing one vs the other, even with optimal PLAY, lumps you into a mediocre pile.

So I can either play the spec I don’t enjoy and do my job, or I can have fun and effectively failboat my expected role. Not really much of a choice.

Yes, Sub is at a disadvantage, you won’t have the expertise or hit combat has, nor the amazing crit or poison talents of Assassination. But it can hold its own. In our 25 man raid we have two rogues, myself (Sub) and another (Combat Swords). I’m generally above the Combat Swords rogue (similar gear) in overall damage (tho not in dps) b/c Cheat Death lets me live a bit longer than him in some fights.

But we’re both way below Hunters since the patch, their new volley ability in fights like Hyjal blow everyone away (and our Warlocks are now very very sad).

My usual rotation (HAT gives usually 2-3 combo points before opener):

garrote->5/5 SnD->Hemo/HAT to 5/5 Rupture->Hemo/HAT to 5/5 Evis->repeat as needed

Sub damage ramps up a bit once the boss is under 20% health.

@Dinaer: My daggers are way sub-par to the swords I had with Combat Swords. And I felt like I had similar results against a Combat Fists Rogue in Mount Hyjal. However, all the ranged classes far out damaged all of us with their AoE attacks.

I did use Hunger for Blood, but found it very difficult to keep up HfB, Rupture and SnD (through Envenom).

@Dyera: Yeah, I can’t wait for 10 more talent points. I haven’t done the math, but I thought the Envenom would do a lot better than Eviscerate.

@TJ: 33 seconds with Slice and Dice? Hmm. I didn’t think we could make it last that long.

@chronic: ^_^ The point is to interpret GC’s comments as they are and then to see if it comes out in play.

I found that at the beginning of fights, Feint wasn’t a bad idea, but after a while, I just used Vanish to reset my aggro and I never caught up to the tank after that.

@Traq: I did perform okay with Assassination, but I didn’t have a post-3.0.2 Combat Swords meter to compare it to. I am guessing that my gear is not quite up to the build.

@Dyera: It would be hard to juggle the points for Improved Slice and Dice and Hunger for Blood. But something to try in the expansion.

@Cory: I totally agree.

@Pawan: Yeah, Opportunity and Relentless Strikes are looking to be essential to an Assassination build.

@Seri: Until 3.0.2 I was still Subtelty for PvP, then I switched to Combat Swords. I found Killing Spree to not seem to matter as much as it seem to on the Beta servers.

As for rotations, I think we’ll see that soon as soon as Blizzard stops messing around with the abilities. Because of the way Assassination works (Combo Points at odd times because of talents, etc), I’d be surprised to see rotations that work. Rather, I’d just focus on keeping Hunger for Blood, Slice and Dice and Rupture up as much as possible.

@Jesus aka Simplefreak/Abagoo. I ignored this the first time you did it. Did you feel like you had to come back until I responded? That sounds like harassment. It’s pathetic enough that you feel like you have to insult me or my readers, but you’re also cowardly enough to use anonymity to try to hide your identity?

I was Subtlety for a long time because I mostly PvP’d, but when my interests shifted and I started playing her more for 10-mans I swapped to Combat/Swords (and stuck with it after 3.0, 5/51/5). I miss Subtlety but I have to admit Killing Spree is fun.

I wouldn’t mind giving Assassination a try before I decide which spec to use for leveling to 80, but I’m not sure where to start when it comes to rotations. I have some good daggers in the bank, though I would need to enchant them.

I love to my talent build and have been assassination since beta. The new changes are amazing. I love hunger of blood, although it’s annoying to keep it up all the time.

Cut to the chase is absolutely amazing. Check out my build.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Detheroc&n=Dankh

With the remainder of the points to lvl 80, I am putting 5 in precision and 5 in close quarters combat. I am switchin those points to camo and elusiveness for arena. Thats it.