resurrecting a rogue

[semi_subtle]

I'm just coming back from a year-long break from WoW, and though I've done my best to keep up with the changes you all have been discussing since Cata, the fact remains that I'm pretty much a below average player. My DPS is inconsistent, I've always got some kind of missing enchantment or gear snafu, and I'm really looking to improve now that I'm

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[tricks_of_trade]

Did someone say Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker assassination rogue?

I play one of those!

Here's a spec. Take everything and anything having to do with poisons. I have points in Nightstalker as opposed to Deadly Momentum and Deadened Nerves because I like to be the person in front when we have to run away from things - but this is, more or less, the "accepted" assassination spec. Some people prefer to point into Deadened Nerves at high end raiding time, but unless you're min-maxing, it's kind of moot.

Now, gear. As of level 80, mastery comes into play. Mastery for rogues increases poison damage, and as of Cata, the assassination spec is essentially the poison spec. You want mastery, and you want lots of it.

Basically, think of your gearing stats this way: Agi > Hit > Mastery > Haste > Expertise > Crit. Yarp, crit rating is at the end of the list for almost all the rogue specs now, but doubly so for assassination. Agility, Hit, and Mastery all contribute to our crit percentage much more than actual crit rating.

When you get to 85, you will gem for Agi and Hit, and if you get crit rating pieces you'll want to reforge the crit to Hit until you reach the "spell hit cap" which, if you're not a gnome and have 3/3 Precision in your spec, will be 1127 hit rating. Expertise is not quite as important as it used to be, but you can reforge crit to expertise (781 is the cap; 691 if you're a gnome) once you've reached spell hit cap. Mastery doesn't have a cap per se, but you can really never go wrong reforging crit away to some of that if the item in question already has, say, hit on it.

Rotation! I had a HUGE problem at the start of Cata with my DPS essentially being in the toilet. Then I saw the tooltip for Venomous Wounds. Go ahead, take a look at it, I'll wait.

Okay. So, prior to Cata, rupture uptime was something that could technically fall by the wayside. If you forgot it, well, your DPS was lower, but oh well.

But now with that talent it is absolutely essential that you keep Rupture up. The general rotation is: Build CP with whatever (I usually open from Stealth with Garrote due to that talent), then get Slice and Dice on the go. Do a Rupture ASAP (the number of combo points at first is irrelevant, aim for 4 but don't be afraid to do less just to get it on the target), then Envenom at 4+ CP. Cut to the Chase will keep your S&D going every time you Envenom, so generally speaking we want to alternate Rupture and Envenom as our finishers. Refresh Rupture as soon as it's about to fall.

I did this and saw a substantial increase in my DPS.

Also! Keep your cooldowns handy. Kick anything that's casting. You won't do any more DPS but you'll be giving your healers a break. Interrupt everything where you can.

[tricks_of_trade]

Also also: Elitist Jerks has a really handy Assassination guide here. It gives you the information you want, plus the numbers to back it up.

For gearing, take a look at Ask Mr Robot. Their gear optimizer is pretty neat and you can filter it based on the kind of play you'll be doing :D

[semi_subtle]

Excellent advice, thank you so much!

[tricks_of_trade]

It was my pleasure! I find in the greater world this is a spec that doesn't see very much play, so I'm always happy to help!

I forgot about enchants! You will want to rep with Ramkahen and Therazane asap so that you can get their enchants. Therazane, at Exalted, has the Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal for the shoulders and Ramkahen, at Revered, has an enchant that I didn't go and get and now I feel kinda derp. I believe it's the Arcanum of the Ramkahen, for your helmet.