Assassination Rogue DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents - The War Within (11.0.2) (2024)

TWW Pre-Season TalentsTWW Delve Talents Deathstalker Raid Talents Deathstalker Mythic+ Talents Fatebound Raid TalentsTalents/Pathing Explained

This build excels in AoE situations where mobs rarely live longer than 15 seconds,like early Heroic or Mythic dungeons, as well as for leveling and questing.

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button to import our build ingame!

Delves are new content in TWW that you can engage with solo or with up tothree friends (and the help ofa follower!). They are short ~10-15 minute scenarios, and as a Rogue, you'll beable to bypass some of the stages almost entirely thanks to being able to Stealth to objectives, instead of having to fight.

Surviving is tough in these, as the enemies hit hard, especially when you areundergeared, and your follower's heals aren't that strong just yet. That's whythis talent build takes all the defensive and CC talents, so you can take onenemies methodically. Remember that there is no time limit, so you are freeto wait for cooldowns or heal up to full HP, and most enemies are kitable with Crippling Poison as well.

This build is optimal for pure single-target situations.

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button to import our build ingame!

This is the current best build for Mythic+ playing Deathstalker, sporting high AoE damage whilesacrificing some of its single-target potential.

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button to import our build ingame!

This is the current best build for Raid that plays Fatebound. You can easily adaptthis build to Mythic+ by taking the Deathstalker Class+Spec Talents with the same Fatebound talents.

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button to import our build ingame!

This section goes into detail about the possible choices you can make thatmight deviate from the linked single-target and Mythic+ builds. Note that wedo not explain every single talent here, but instead explain why certaintalents are picked and if there are any alternative choices you can make. Formore information on all the individual talents, please consult our Spells pagevia the button instead.

Atrophic Poison OR Numbing Poison	Theattack-speed slow can be provided by another class (Curse of Weakness fromWarlocks and Insidious Chill from Death Knights), and thus,Atrophic Poison will almost always be the better choice outside of Mythic+.
Cheat Death OR Elusiveness	Cheat Deathis almost always going to be the better choice for progression. Elusiveness hasits strengths on encounters where there is no big burst damage that might killyou, but instead, constant damage over time. Even then, Cheat Death will likelyserve you better during progression.
Reverberation OR Resounding Clarity	Similarto the previous choice, there is a clear DPS winner here in all situations:Resounding Clarity.
Internal Bleeding OR Caustic Spatter	InternalBleeding is the stronger choice for single-target, but the moment any adds areinvolved in a fight, and you need to contribute DPS to them, Caustic Spatteris the clear winner.
Deadly Precision OR Virulent Poisons	Thisis a simple matter of DPS, and Deadly Precision offers a higher DPS increasethan Virulent Poisons.
Airborne Irritant OR Gouge	Both talentsallow you to disrupt enemies in Mythic+, giving you additional control. AirborneIrritant is likely going to be the choice for Mythic+, as AoE interrupts are hardto come by, and Blackjack allows it to also serve as a defensive toolfor your tank.
Blackjack OR Tricks of the Trade	In a raidenvironment, Tricks is likely the better choice. However, in Mythic+, the combinationof Blackjack and Airborne Irritant offers incredible control and also helpsthe tank.
Flying Daggers OR Venom Rush	This is asimple single-target vs AoE choice, and while Venom Rush is very potent for ST,this talent is typically skipped entirely for AoE, as there are strongertalents elsewhere on the tree.
Tight Spender OR Improved Ambush	Thisis another simple matter of DPS. Tight Spender is better in AoE, while ImprovedAmbush wins out in single-target.
Iron Wire OR Intent to Kill	Iron Wire isincredibly powerful in Mythic+, while Intent to Kill is more of a PvP talent.

All the talents here are utility talents, offering survivability, mobility, orcrowd-control abilities. All theselected talents offer the most use in a raid or Mythic+ environment while stillopening up pathing to the 3 central nodes later down the line. As we need toallocate Deadly Precision, Recuperator and Improved Ambushto access all the talents in Rows 8-10, there are only a few free talent pointsavailable to us in Rows 1-7.

Shadowstep	Mandatory mobility talent. You already getone charge automatically, but a second charge gives you a lot more freedom to useit.
Cheat Death	A must-pick for progression fights, although Elusiveness might be useful on the occasional encounter.
Improved Sprint and Featherfoot	Incredible mobilitycombo, giving you a 12-second 100% speed boost every minute.

Similar to the first handful of rows, you will have to allocate many points hereto open up the pathing to the last section of the tree. Many of the talents hereare too situational, and there are stronger talents in Rows 1-4 for survivabilityor utility. You can also opt to not talent into Blind and Airborne Irritantat all, and instead, pick up more survivability talents in Rows 5-7.

Iron Stomach is the go-to choice as one of the few flex points, but ifyou run Mythic+ and use Shroud of Concealment a lot, Stillshroudcan be the difference maker between wiping and having to end the run becauseShroud is still on cooldown, or being able to shroud again thanks to thelarge cd-reduction Stillshroud provides.

Graceful Guile can be replaced with Deadened Nerves, but thereare very few encounters where you take heavy physical damage that can't also bereduced by Feint.

Deadly Precision OR Virulent Poisons	Thisis a simple matter of DPS, and Deadly Precision offers a higher DPS increasethan Virulent Poisons.
Atrophic Poison OR Numbing Poison	Theattack-speed slow can be provided by another class (Curse of Weakness fromWarlocks and Insidious Chill from Death Knights), and thus,Atrophic Poison will almost always be the better choice outside of Mythic+.
Tight Spender OR Improved Ambush	Thisis another simple matter of DPS. Tight Spender is better in AoE, while ImprovedAmbush wins out in single-target.

With the current tuning, there are no choices here, as the talents eitherprovide raw throughput or provide no benefit whatsoever, like in the case of Subterfuge (we already get virtually the same benefit from Improved Garrote). We, therefore, simply pick the highest DPS options,which are Thistle Tea, Deeper Stratagem, and Echoing Reprimand with Resounding Clarity. The last availablepoint goes into Lethality.

Subterfuge	The only relevant stealth ability we have is Garrote, and we already get six seconds of stealth benefits for it from Improved Garrote, making this a 0 DPS talent for 2 points.
Without a Trace	Offer you a second charge on your Vanish,which is a very small bonus to DPS as we do not get a lot of value out of it.
Deeper Stratagem	Adds a maximum Combo Point, for 6 total.This means that you will want to use all your finishers with 5 or 6 Combo Points.
Echoing Reprimand and Resounding Clarity	ER empowers your 2nd, 3rd and 4th ComboPoints, while RC only increases the damage of the ability itself. Casting a finisherwith empowered Combo Points changes it to instead be cast as if you used 7 ComboPoints on it. Make sure to use up all of them before the next ER is ready, as theunused ones will be overwritten.
Thistle Tea	This is almost entirely used for the Masteryboost during our burst windows and to give us extra Energy that furtherboosts our damage output via Sanguine Blades during cooldowns.
Alacrity	Passive Haste buff. This might rarely run outon single-target, but there is no way to avoid that.
Cold Blood	Cold Blood is too weak of a talent to becompetitive with the other choices like Thistle Tea, Echoing Reprimand or DeeperStratagem. Do not play this.
Recuperator	Decent self-sustain talent that isrequired to access Echoing Reprimand.

All the talents selected here are required to hit the 8-point cut-off exceptfor one. That one additional talent is required to hit the 20-point cutoff.

Improved Poisons is the weakest talent among all the choices and willbe swapped for Thrown Precision for Mythic+. Internal Bleeding will beswapped for Caustic Spatter in cleave and AoE as well.

Venomous Wounds	Mandatory talent. This talent generatesthe vast majority of our Energy, especially on AoE.
Thrown Precision	Higher crit chance for Fan of Knivesmeans more Combo Points via Seal Fate. Requirement for Crimson Tempest.
Sanguine Blades	Mandatory talent for AoE, and strong enoughto also be useful on single-target. Adds extra damage as long as we are above acertain Energy threshold, which happens during cooldowns/Bloodlust.
Seal Fate	Mandatory talent. Allows you to generate extraCombo Points. Mutilate will generate up to 4, while Fan of Knives can technicallygenerate your maximum CP with just one cast if you crit enough.

In this part of the tree, you get to choose between optimizing your build forsingle-target or multi-target encounters. After picking all the potent DPStalents for the content you engage with in these rows, you allocate one morepoint in Rows 1-4 to unlock the last three Rows.

Crimson Tempest	Mandatory talent for AoE.
Sanguine Stratagem	Mandatory talent that provides an additional maximum Combo Point.
Flying Daggers	A weak AoE talent that is not worth playing.
Iron Wire	Incredible utility in Mythic+ that is a must-play, even if it does not provide DPS like other possible choices.
Deathmark	Extremely powerful cooldown that duplicatesyour Rupture and Garrote, even empowered ones. Mandatory pick.
Master Assassin	Too weak to be worth playing in any circ*mstance.
Amplifying Poison OR Twist the Knife	Haveto pick one of these to unlock the next row. Amplifying Poison is about thirtytimes stronger than Twist the Knife due to a later talent choice.

You will once more allocate talents based on whether you engage in multi-targetor single-target combat.

Dragon-Tempered Blades	Mandatory picks due to its synergywith many previous talents.
Kingsbane	Powerful cooldown that synergizes well withDragon-Tempered Blades and Caustic Spatter.
Shrouded Suffocation	Makes Garrote grant 3 CP per castwhen cast from Stealth and drastically increases its damage. Works with Vanish.
Indiscriminate Carnage	Very powerful AoE passive thattriggers from Stealth and inherits bonuses like Iron Wire or Shrouded Suffocation for all DoTs. Must-pick for Mythic+.
Serrated Bone Spike	Automatically casts a Bone Spike atthe enemy when you use Rupture, which deals damage, applies a bleed DoT, and grants Combo Points.Has 3 charges, and with IC, you cast all 3 at once if you Rupture 3 targets at once.
Poison Bomb	Gives Envenom a chance to also procan AoE damaging effect. You can spam either Envenom or Crimson Tempeston AoE, and both will deal almost exactly the same damage.
Blindside	A potent talent that grants you free casts of Ambush. Can proc repeatedly. Use Mutilate anyway if you'reovercapping Energy.
Zoldyck Recipe	Powerful execute talent.
Tiny Toxic Blade	Inferior choice to Blindside in single-target.
Arterial Precision	A better cleave talent if you fightexactly4-5 targets. Almost never used in any encounter, as the alternativesare strictly performing better on DPS. Use at 0 CP as it grants 1 CP per enemy hit (and 2 if crit).
Scent of Blood	Grants a strong bonus to Agility, our primarystat, when there are multiple targets present that we can cast Rupture on.
Sudden Demise	While the instant-kill effect itself allowsus to not waste as much damage when re-applying bleeds on AoE, the main reasonwhy it is useful is in the 10% damage increase to all bleeds. Also great forquesting and lower Mythic+ keystones.