This article is part of a directory: WoW Wrath Classic (WotLK): Complete Guide Directory
Table of contents

  • World of Warcraft- Wrath of the Lich King Classic box art
    World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic
    Platform:
    PC
    Developer:
    Blizzard
    Publisher:
    Activision
    Genre:
    MMORPG
    Multiplayer:
    Online Multiplayer
    ESRB:
    Teen
    Released:
    2022-09-26
    Franchise:
    Warcraft

All Rogue Guides

Rogue Class Specialization Guides

combat rogue

rogue assassination spec

rogue-overview-1

rogue bis guide

Assassination Rogue Basics in WOTLK

The Assassination Rogue in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is considered one of the best damage dealers throughout most phases of the expansion. In Phase 1 it is top tier DPS, and after that it is still very good, some may say top tier, others may say 2nd tier. In any case, if you come across lists like the PvE DPS Tier List, you should find them in great standing for WOTLK.

The assassination rogue will focus on using Daggers as their main and only weapon choice. This differs from their raid-brothers the Combat Rogues and their swords and axes.

This means that they also benefit from low competition from other classes when it comes to weapons. They should get priority when it comes to dagger drops within the raids, as no other raid specs focus on daggers specifically. In contrast to the Subtlety Rogue, the Assassination rogue can still attack from the front even while wielding daggers. This means that any inconvenience or missed opportunity from not being behind the enemy is mitigated.

The key skills and passives you will benefit from while using the WOTLK Assassination build are Mutilate, Hunger For Blood, Cut to the Chase, Overkill, Cold Blood, and more. We’ll dive into these a little bit later in the guide as we discuss rotation.

As suggested in our non-specialization level Rogue Class Guide, the most picked races for PvE rogues will be Orcs, Trolls, and Humans. As an assassination rogue, Trolls will be the best choice for Horde with Orcs coming in a close second. For the alliance, usually Humans are preferred, but usually because of their sword racial ability, which assassination rogues do not use. For this reason, any race of rogue on the Alliance side is viable. Night Elves may even be preferred due to their Shadowmeld ability allowing a reactivation of stealth. The reasons behind race choices are discussed here.

Stat Priority of an Assassination Rogue

The stat priorities in WOTLK for the Assassination Rogue are approximately as follows:

  1. Hit Rating up to 237 Rating Cap
    1. Exception: 210 Cap if Draenei is in the party
  2. Expertise Rating up to 214 Cap
  3. Attack Power / Haste Rating (approximately the same)
  4. Agility
  5. Crit Rating
  6. Armor Penetration
  7. Strength

It is important to note that all of these stats have a trade-off. You do not need to miss out on a huge stat increase in one just to get 1 more hit rating, for example. Sometimes you may choose one piece over another if it offers much more of a stat lower on the list, but these are your general priorities.

assassination rogue wotlk

Single Target (Boss) Skill Rotation

Your main rotation can be completed in a few different ways, but our main suggestion is this route:

  1. Activate Stealth
  2. Use Tricks of the Trade (Use on tank for the opening attack)
  3. Garrote or Ambush (If there is someone else applying bleeds)
  4. Hunger for Blood
  5. Slice and Dice
  6. Mutilate (until at least 4 combo points)
  7. Cold Blood (if off cooldown)
  8. Envenom

After this opener has completed, continue to use Mutilate to stack combo points, then Envenom once you reach at least 4 points. Your main priority will be to keep up Hunger for Blood and Slice and Dice in the meantime, only refreshing them when they are about to expire. With Cut to the Chase, your Slice and Dice should refresh itself without you needing to manually activate it again while in combat. If Cold Blood comes off cooldown, you can also reactivate it to be used with Envenom.

Wrath Classic Assassination Rogue Rotation Explained

Activating Stealth will allow you to benefit from the Overkill passive talent. This talent will activate when you exit stealth, increasing your energy regeneration by 30% for 20 seconds. After the opening of the fight 20 seconds may pass and you lose the Overkill buff. If this happens, you can use Vanish to re-enter stealth and open again, reactivating the Overkill buff.

Use Garrote if you do not have another Assassination Rogue, or Druid or Warrior applying bleeds. If they are in your raid and using bleeds, you can use Ambush or even Mutilate as your opener instead. Mutilate may be better in many scenarios where it is tougher to get behind your enemy quickly.

Hunger for Blood is a very simple buff that increases all of your damage done by 5% (8% with the Major Glyph activated). It lasts a very generous 1 minute, which also means it can be easily forgotten about if it falls off. Watch for this buff’s duration and refresh it near its expiry.

Cold Blood will guarantee a critical strike on your next ability. For obvious reasons, we use this with Envenom, our most powerful damaging ability.

Tricks of the Trade is another excellent buff you can use in raid to help in various situations. You should use this on cooldown on either the top DPS player in your raid, or the main tank. Use on the main tank at the beginning of a pull to help with threat generation. If Tricks of the Trade comes off cooldown mid fight and the tank's threat is very good, use it on the top DPS player to maximize damage.

Multiple Target (AOE) Skill Rotation

Unlike the Combat Rogue who has talents such as Blade Flurry, Killing Spree, and Adrenaline Rush, the Assassination rogue does not benefit from any additional boosts in the AoE department. You will rely on Fan of Knives anytime there are 3 or more enemies. You should still make sure that your Hunger for Blood is activated and providing you with your extra 5% (8% w/ Glyph) damage.

Defensive and Utility Abilities and When To Use Them in Combat

  • Vanish - Used if you have aggro or high threat on a target to disengage from combat and drop your threat. You can also use this mid-fight to re-enter stealth and refresh your Overkill passive.
  • Cloak of Shadows - Use if you have harmful spells on you, or to negate a spell you know is coming within the next 5 seconds.
  • Evasion - If you get aggro and vanish is on cooldown, you can use this to mitigate some physical damage.
  • Feint - Use this if your tank is having a tough time holding aggro, to wipe some threat from you.
  • Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot, Blind, Gouge - All usable stuns or crowd control you can utilize to interrupt spell casting or sun the target for some time.
  • Dismantle - Use this whenever it is off cooldown, on enemies that carry a weapon and are able to be disarmed.

Assassination Rogue Wrath Classic Talent and Glyph Choices

The following image uses wowhead.com Talent Calculator

Key Talent Choices for WOTLK Assassination Rogue

Our recommended talent build for the Assassination Rogue in WOTLK is seen in the above screenshot of the talent calculator. This build is actually very flexible, you will see many rogues with slightly different builds. Some notable choices are:

  • Choosing between Quick Recovery and Fleet Footed. Quick recovery will help you stay alive in raids with the buff to healing, and will also refund you more energy especially if you haven’t reached the Hit Cap yet. On the other hand, Fleet Footed will give you a permanent movement speed boost that will help you keep up in the raid and get to your next enemy sooner, maximizing your active attacking time. Choose between these at your own volition.
  • Turn the Tables vs. 5 points in Cut to the Chase. The reason we choose 4 points in Cut to the Chase, is that it still nets an 80% chance to refresh your Slice and Dice. In all likelihood, before your Slice and Dice is expired, your Envenom will have refreshed it using this 80% chance. For this reason, we choose 4 points and add 1 into Turn the Tables. This will help increase your critical chance and offer more damage output.

Most other choices in the talent build are mandatory if you want to min / max and also have all of the necessary skills that go with the Assassination Specialization.

Major Glyph Choices

  • Glyph of Mutilate is required as it will allow you to use Mutilate much more often, reducing the energy cost by 5.
  • Glyph of Hunger for Blood is another mandatory Major Glyph as it will increase your skill from 5% to 8% bonus damage. This is essentially a 3% permanent damage boost as you will always keep this buff up.
  • Glyph of Tricks of the Trade will help your raid the most, as you will allow more damage output with the extended 4 seconds of ability.

Minor Glyph Choices

Minor glyphs are just that: minor. You can select any you'd like and it won't make much of a difference. Personal preference here is to stick with Vanish, Sprint, and Safe Fall as they tend to be a little more useful than alternatives.

BIS Assassination Rogue Gear

If you are looking for BIS Assassination Rogue Gear for WOTLK, head on over to our BIS guides section. Here is a link to the Rogue BIS Gear Guide.