Assassination Rogue Rework in Patch 10.2
Assassination Rogues have received many updates going into 10.2 to help with their Cleave and AoE.
In addition to many pathing changes to the tree, here are the major talents to keep an eye on with 10.2:
- Sudden Demise – A powerful tool for open world and mythic+ where heavy bleed damage is prevalent
- Indiscriminate Carnage – An old favorite in mythic+ reworked into a passive effect from stealth
- Sanguine Blades – This redesign of the old Sanguine Blades creates a potent tool for AoE situations where Assassination traditionally has an overflow of energy
- Caustic Spatter – A new talent very similar to Outlaw Rogue’s Blade Flurry allows for a new imagining of Assassination’s Aoe priorities and cooldowns.
- Path of Blood and Vigor – Together these talents give Assassination the potential for a maximum of 300 Energy. This creates interesting decisions around when to spend your resources, which will be discussed in our Assassination Rogue Rotation Guide
- Crimson Tempest – The instant damage on cast has been removed, simplifying Crimson Tempests usage considerably.
- Shadow Dance – Although not new to the tree, it is a very important talent that has become far more accessible with the changes in 10.2 and earns its spot in our Talent Builds.
- Kingsbane – Also not a new addition, Kingsbane comes back strong in 10.2 due to new accessibility in the spec tree.
Assassination Rogue Season 3 Guide
Outlaw Rogue Rework in Patch 10.2
Outlaw Rogue in season 3 has gotten a reshaping of the tree, but the core gameplay loop has remained fairly similar. When it comes to the class tree the largest focus was on removing bland damage nodes and replacing them with more useful utility that no longer costs damage nodes to gain access to. Some of the standouts include Graceful Guile, Iron Stomach and Nimble Fingers giving us stronger self-sustain and defensive options. Improved Sprint combined with Featherfoot makes you incredibly quick, and thanks to Restless Blades the uptime on Sprint can be near 100%.
When it comes to gameplay if you’ve played Outlaw before a lot of the fundamentals have remained the same. Fan the Hammer, Audacity with Hidden Opportunity remain the core focus of the gameplay loop bouncing between Pistol Shot and Ambush procs. The main addition and new core focus of the spec is Crackshot causing our usage of Vanish and Shadow Dance to shift. Rather than using these to refill our procs, we are going to use them to try and fit in as many Between the Eyes casts as possible. Ace Up Your Sleeve becomes an incredibly fun and strong talent where you can end up casting Between the Eyes potentially several times in a row. For those also interested there are still builds that forgo Hidden Opportunity and focus on Keep It Rolling instead.
One thing of note worth mentioning is that while this synergy package sounds like it makes the spec less consistent on average the actual data suggests that the level of variance continues to remain around the same as it’s always been. It’s still on the higher end of variance for most DPS specs, but it’s not exceptionally so that it makes the spec unviable for prog which is a common myth that people hold.
Outlaw Rogue Season 3 Guide
Subtlety Rogue Rework in Patch 10.2
Subtlety Rogue received a major talent rework in 10.2. Many (but not all) of the specialization’s long-term problems were addressed. The most notable change is Shadow Blades. The spell is now on steroids and refills your combo point bar every time you use a combo builder. This has a heavy impact on the damage profile and changes Shadow Blades from a more passive cooldown to a major burst one. Both trees saw significant changes in layout, talent position, and pathing options which allow for new talent combinations and remove decisions between utility a damage nodes. I listed some highlights below, the full changelog can be found in the Season 3 Patch notes.
SubtletyRogue Season 3 Guide
