Assassination Vs Subtlety DPS in 4.0

I ran a short test on the target dummies in Silvermoon. One build was Assassination, the other Subtlety, both 4.0. The Assassination build is ElitistJerk’s DPS build, and the Sub is more PvP oriented. Just a short test along the lines of getting the rust polished off.

Note that you need 31 points to grab talents from the other trees, but you do not need to have the top talent in whichever tree. Mastery happens at 80.

Sub. did about 24-2500 DPS on the 83 target dummy and Assassination was close to 4k.I’m not claiming to be an expert anything, but that’s a pretty big difference. I didn’t even have Vendetta up on the Assassination test, showing what a nub I am.  Before 4.0 it was about 2k DPS or so with an Assassination build and the same gear.

• Mongoose on both daggers
• Instant poison on the MH, Deadly on the OH
• No other buffs
• About 4562 Gearscore (I know, it sucks.)

Assassination build (4.0:)

1. 3/3 Coup de Grace
2. 3/3 Lethality
3. 3/3 Ruthlessness
4. 2/2 Quickening
5. 3/3 Puncturing Wounds
6. 1/2 Deadly Brew
7. 1/1 Cold Blood
8. 3/3 Vile Poisons
9. 2/2 Seal Fate
10. 2/2 Murderous Intent
11. Overkill
12. Master Poisoner
13. 3/3 Cut to the Chase
14. 2/2 Venomous Wounds
15. Vendetta
16. 2/3 Precision
17. 3/3 Relentless Strikes

Prime glyphs: Mutilate, Backstab, Rupture

Major Glyphs: Feint, Garrote, Fan of Knives

Minor Glyphs: Whatever. I have Pick Lock, Poisons, Safe Fall

Subtlety Build for 4.0

1. 2/2 Nightstalker
2. 3/3 Improved Ambush
3. 3/3 Relentless Strikes
4. 1/3 Elusiveness
5. 2/2 Waylay
6. 3/3 Opportunity
7. 2/2 Initiative
8. 2/2 Find Weakness
9. Hemorrhage
10. 3/3 Honor Among Thieves (will probably lose this. Your group gets the extra crit rating, so it’s useful for group fights, but it seems to be bugged right now.)
11. Premeditation
12. 2/3 Cheat Death
13. Preparation
14. 2/2 Sanguinary Vein
15. 3/3 Slaughter from the Shadows
16. Shadowdance
17. 3/3 Precision
18. 1/3 Coup de Grace

More DPS?

1. Drop Nightstalker and Elusiveness for 3/3 Energetic Recovery (more energy)
2. Drop Cheat Death for 2/2 Serrated Blades

Glyphs:

• Prime: Hemo, Evisc, Backstab
• Major: Ambush, Garrote, Cloak of Shadows
• Minor: Safe Fall, Blurred Speed, Poisons

Macros:

Opener macro, since I can never remember to hit that Premeditation button. The pickpocket is in there for when you’re not fighting players:

#showtooltip Ambush
/cast Pick Pocket
/cast Premeditation
/cast Ambush

#showtooltip Eviscerate (or change to Envenom)
/cast  Cold Blood
/cast Eviscerate (or change to Envenom)

Ambush is looking really brutal in PvP. Glyph for Ambush (adds range) and Eviscerate (adds crit chance to Ev.) Ambush gives 5 combo points with the above build, then Evisc/Rupture

Leveling

At this moment in time all the trees are good for leveling. Combat has better consistent DPS than the others and Subtlety has the huge opener. I haven’t leveled Assassination yet, but it should be between the two, at first guess.

If you’re leveling a Rogue then take a glance at our Rogue leveling page.