Bleeds and poisons, Envenom to spend, and a two-minute Deathmark and Kingsbane window.
Damage
Gear: Method.ggBuilds: Archon consensus, M+ This Week (+7–+19)Updated 10/29/2026 by Guild guides
Playing
Assassination keeps Garrote and Rupture on its target, builds combo points with Mutilate (or Fan of Knives on packs) and spends them on Envenom. Every two minutes Deathmark and Kingsbane go out together for a large poison and bleed burst. Midnight removed Indiscriminate Carnage and the old stealth bonuses, and turned Crimson Tempest into a generator that copies your bleeds onto nearby enemies.
Difficulty
A slow, planned spec: keep Garrote and Rupture up, spend on Envenom, and sync Deathmark with Kingsbane. Few reactive procs; the skill is resource planning.
Resource
Energy and Combo Points
Hero talents in keys
Deathstalker or Fatebound
Standing this patch
ARaid
Brings to the group
InterruptKick (15s)
StunKidney Shot, Cheap Shot
Dispelnone
PurgeShiv (enrage, talent)
Battle resnone
Lustnone
MobilitySprint, Shadowstep
Pick any button below to follow it through the guide: where it sits in the opener, which rung of the priority fires it, and every mistake it is part of.
16sGarrote
2Rupture
3Mutilate
4Fan of Knives
5Crimson Tempest
6Envenom
72mDeathmark
81mKingsbane
92mVanish
s115sKick
s215sFeint
s32mCloak of Shadows
s42mEvasion
s530sCrimson Vial
s630sKidney Shot
s7Cheap Shot
s82mBlind
s930sTricks of the Trade
6mShroud of Concealment
2mSprint
30sShadowstep
Rotation
What do I press?
Press order
1Garrote0.0s
2Fan of Knives1.0s
3Fan of Knives2.0s
4Rupture3.0s
5Crimson Tempest4.0s
6Crimson Tempest5.0s
7Envenom6.0s
8Fan of Knives7.0s
9Fan of Knives8.0s
10Envenom9.0s
11Crimson Tempest10.0s
12Fan of Knives11.0s
13Envenom12.0s
Garrote0.0s
Fires because your main target's Garrote is missing or expiring.
0s5s10s15s
One press per global at base haste (1s), longer for casts. Real pulls drift with haste and procs; the order is what matters.
Cooldowns and when to use them
Two-minute window that amplifies bleeds and doubles poison applications. Apply bleeds and Envenom first.
What the simulations press
Executed every time the actor is available. Restealth if possible (no vulnerable enemies in combat)
Stealth
KickInterrupt on cooldown to allow simming interactions with that
Thistle Teaenergy.pct<30 or fight remains<10Edge-case check to dump thistle tea at the end of fights
Ambushstealthed.rogue and single target and blindside and improved ambush and not shrouded suffocationSpecial Ambush condition for the start of fights when applicable
single target or not scent of blood or scent of blood.stack>=(2*scent of blood.rank*spell targets.fan of knives>?20)Cooldown list takes priority
Maintain dots when possible
not darkest night.up and combo points<5 or darkest night.up and combo points.deficit>0Build combo points until 5, max with darkest night
not darkest night.up and combo points>=5 or darkest night.up and combo points.deficit=0If combo point threshold is reached, spend them
From SimulationCraft's rogue_assassination.simc, changed Sep 8, 2026. This is what the simulations behind most guides press; conditions are shown as SimC writes them.
What top players actually cast
Below are the opening rotations from a small sample of recent top Assassination Rogue rankings for Altar of Fangs. You can use this to compare to your own opener and find potential points of improvement. Note that the opener for some specs may vary based on when certain buffs proc.
GarroteOver timeInstant · 6s cd · 18s long · -45 Energy, +1 Combo PointBleed you keep on the target. From stealth or Vanish, Improved Garrote makes it 50% stronger with no cooldown for a few seconds.
RuptureOver timeInstant · -25 Energy, spends Combo PointsFinisher bleed; refresh it at 5+ combo points when it is in its last few seconds.
Fan of KnivesBuilderInstant · -35 Energy, +1 Combo PointArea builder that spreads your poisons; replaces Mutilate from two targets up.
Crimson TempestBuilderInstant · -60 Energy, +1 Combo PointReworked in Midnight into an area generator that copies your longest Garrote and Rupture onto enemies missing them.
EnvenomSpenderInstant · -35 Energy, spends Combo PointsMain finisher: poison damage and a buff that raises poison application. Spend at 5+ combo points (all of them with Darkest Night).
Cooldowns
DeathmarkCooldownInstant · 2m cd · 16s longTwo-minute burst: bleeds and poisons on the target hit much harder and poisons apply twice. Needs Garrote, Rupture and Envenom up first.
KingsbaneCooldownInstant · 1m cd · 14s long · -35 EnergyOne-minute poison that grows with every poison applied; every other cast goes with Deathmark.
VanishCooldownInstant · 2m cdUsed for an Improved Garrote, ideally inside Deathmark. In Mythic+ it can be saved to open a chain pull from stealth.
Survival
FeintDefensiveInstant · 15s cd · 6s long · -35 Energy40% less area damage; with Elusiveness it reduces all damage. Your main defensive.
Cloak of ShadowsDefensiveInstant · 2m cd · 5s longRemoves harmful magic and resists spells for 5 seconds.
EvasionDefensiveInstant · 2m cd · 10s longDoubles dodge for 10 seconds; good against frontal melee hits.
Crimson VialDefensiveInstant · 30s cd · -20 EnergyHeals 20% of your health over 4 seconds.
Utility
KickInterruptInstant · 15s cdInterrupt that locks the school for 6 seconds.
Kidney ShotUtilityInstant · 30s cdFinisher stun, up to 8 seconds.
Cheap ShotUtilityInstant6-second stun from stealth.
BlindUtilityInstant · 2m cdLong disorient on one target; damage breaks it.
Tricks of the TradeUtilityInstant · 30s cdSends your threat to an ally, usually the tank, at the start of a pull.
Shroud of ConcealmentUtilityInstant · 6m cd · 15s longStealths the group for 15 seconds to skip packs.
SprintMovementInstant · 2m cd · 8s long70% movement speed for 8 seconds.
ShadowstepMovementInstant · 30s cdTeleport behind a target.
Builds / Talents
Raid and Mythic+ talents
DeathstalkerRaid and Mythic+Method's theorycrafter rates it 2-5% ahead everywhere after the 12.1 tuning, with extra funnel and priority-target damage that is valuable in Mythic+.
FateboundRaid and Mythic+Still fully viable and actually the more common pick among the top 50 Mythic+ players on Murlok (29 to 21). Coin flips add passive damage with less to track, and some players prefer it for raid.
26 of the top 50 Mythic+ players run Deathstalker (4009–4323 rating). Murlok.io
Mythic+
23,087 logs · 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Consensus loadoutRecommended
Popularity 97.4% heatmap match · 97.4% heatmap match
Recommended loadout is the closest match to Archon’s aggregate popularity across top parses — not a single one-off key.
Sample size: 23087 top parses. Only talents in the recommended loadout are drawn.
Class
Specialization
Hero
Only talents in this loadout are drawn (Deathstalker). Hover a node for its Wowhead tooltip.
Across 23,087 logs. A talent has to show up in at least 40% of them before it is part of the build.
Gear
What do I wear and enchant?
Stats for Mythic+
1Agility
›
2Crit
›
3Haste
›
4Mastery
›
5Vers
Left to right — highest priority first. Sim your character when secondaries are close.
Based on data in the last 2 weeks, the stat priority for Assassination Rogue looks to be Agility > Crit > Haste > Mastery > Vers. However, there may be bias based on what gear is available to players.
What the top Mythic+ players actually have
Critical Strike39% +1067
Mastery50% +995
Haste25% +959
Versatility3% +151
Average secondary stats of the top 50 Mythic+ players (4009–4323 rating), from Murlok.io, updated 7 hours ago.
4×piece set: Assassination Rogue16×slots
Best in slot from Method.gg. Every slot is on the figure. Point at a piece to light it.
Wear 4 tier pieces. The 4-piece bonus is what this spec is tuned around.
2-piece: Envenom damage increased by 10% and it increases your damage dealt by 3%.
4-piece: Deadly Poison increases your bleed damage on the target by 10%. Auto-attacks to targets with your Amplifying Poison deal 3% increased damage per stack. Wound Poison hits a second time.
Best-to-good single-target order from Liquid Armory (Oct 12, 2026). Filled marks = higher on the list. Your own gear can change the order — sim before you buy.
Forest Hunter's Armor Kit
Eyes of the Eagle
Rite of the Hash'ey
Indecipherable Eversong Diamond
Flawless Quick Garnet
