Assassination, the specialization built on poison and combo points
In vanilla, Assassination is the Rogue’s most understated spec: not Combat’s brutal burst, nor Subtlety’s stealth game, but tight management of poison and combo points. Malice and Lethality push your critical strike chance across the board, Vile Poisons and Improved Poisons strengthen how reliably your poisons land and resist being dispelled, and Cold Blood guarantees a critical hit at a moment of your choosing rather than leaving it to chance. It’s a spec that rewards discipline over improvisation: an armor debuff applied at the right time and well-timed finishers matter more than any piece of gear. In both PvE and PvP, it gives the Rogue a steady, poison-based damage source rather than occasional spikes.
What Forever changes in the Assassination tree
Of seventeen talents, three are entirely new and twelve have been reworked; Murder leaves the tree in the November 2 launch notes. Mutilate is an instant two-weapon attack that grants two combo points at once, dealing 20% extra damage against a poisoned target: exactly the tool a poison-based spec was missing. Venom has become a passive tied to Shank: your Shank increases your poison damage by 30% and your chance to apply poisons by 20% for 6 seconds. With Blood Splatter, which lengthens Rupture by 6 seconds and Garrote by 9, these new talents deepen what Assassination was already doing in vanilla rather than reinventing it. Cold Blood and Remorseless Attacks, already in the tree, are reworked to fold Mutilate into the list of abilities they affect.
Interactive talent calculator
Try the three Rogue specializations yourself below: the Assassination tree is featured in the first column. Hover over a talent to see its full description, or switch to full screen for more room.
The detail of every talent and spell is in the WoW Forever Spellbook →
Talents: reference build simulated by MythicSim (937 DPS single target, 2-minute fight, dungeon and crafted gear with the best trinket pair, November 2026).
Build adapted by Kami Labs to the November 2 launch notes, until MythicSim updates its simulations.
Gear used by the simulation
The pieces worn by the simulated character to reach the 937 DPS quoted above (dungeon and crafted gear). Without trinkets the simulation gives 911 DPS; the two trinkets, picked by MythicSim, add 2.9%.
HeadShadowcraft Capitem level 62
NeckMark of Fordringitem level 63
ShouldersShadowcraft Spauldersitem level 60
BackCape of the Black Baronitem level 63
ChestDawn Armoritem level 61
WristsShadowcraft Bracersitem level 57
HandsDevilsaur Gauntletsitem level 58
WaistShadowcraft Beltitem level 58
LegsDevilsaur Leggingsitem level 60
FeetShadowcraft Bootsitem level 59
Finger 1Tarnished Elven Ringitem level 61
Finger 2Don Julio's Banditem level 60
Trinket 1Adaptive Combat Assistantitem level 65
Trinket 2Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalasitem level 62
Main handFelstrikeritem level 63
Off handHeartseekeritem level 63
RangedSatyr's Bowitem level 58
Gear from the MythicSim simulation (November 9, 2026).
See the full BiS for this spec → BiS is the best gear you can reach, not the gear of the simulation.
Simulation details
What the simulated character does during the 120 s of the fight, where its 911 DPS without trinkets come from (937 DPS quoted above with the trinket pair), which effects it has and in which order it casts.
Damage breakdown
Each line is an ability: the damage per second it adds, its share of the total, how many times it is cast in a fight, the damage of an average cast and, for a lasting effect, the part of the fight where it is active.
| Ability | DPS | Share | Casts | Per cast | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 EviscerateCrit 39.4% · Dodge 3.5% | 240.2 | 25.6% | 21.6 | 1,336 | - |
 MutilateCrit 32.7% · Dodge 1.2% | 173.3 | 18.5% | 75.1 | 277 | - |
 MeleeCrit 32.2% · Miss 14.1% · Dodge 3.5% · Glancing 40.0% | 167.2 | 17.9% | 90.5 | 222 | - |
| Melee (off hand)Crit 32.4% · Miss 14.0% · Dodge 3.5% · Glancing 39.9% | 83.7 | 8.9% | 80.5 | 125 | - |
 Deadly PoisonCrit 0.0% · Miss 5.6% | 78.9 | 8.4% | - | - | 96.5% |
 Instant PoisonCrit 23.7% · Miss 5.5% | 65.5 | 7.0% | - | - | - |
| Melee (extra attack)Crit 32.3% · Miss 13.9% · Dodge 3.5% · Glancing 40.2% | 48.8 | 5.2% | 23.8 | 247 | - |
 GarroteCrit 0.0% | 29.6 | 3.2% | 2.0 | 1,776 | 45.0% |
 FrostboltCrit 23.6% · Miss 5.5% | 19.3 | 2.1% | - | - | - |
 Dragonbreath ChiliCrit 25.1% · Miss 5.5% | 15.4 | 1.6% | - | - | - |
 ShankCrit 36.2% | 9.0 | 1.0% | 12.2 | 89 | - |
 Goblin Sapper ChargeCrit 20.6% · Miss 1.1% | 6.0 | 0.6% | 1.0 | 722 | - |
Buffs and debuffs
The percentages are coverage times, meaning the share of the fight during which the effect is active: they are not proc chances. “91.0×” is the average number of applications in a fight.
Procs and cooldowns
Slice and Dice91.5%
Venom59.3%
Holy Strength67.4%
Major Frenzy Potion26.6%
Felstriker10.1%
Eureka!8.1%
Windfury Totem (2)5.8%
Cold Blood0.1%
Stealth0.1%
Leader of the Pack0.0%
Poised0.0%
Debuffs on the target
Curse of Recklessness100.0%- Deadly Poison96.5%
- Garrote45.0%
Hatched: the debuff is applied, but its armor effect is not (another armor debuff takes over).
Active the whole fight
Battle Shout
Gift of the Wild
Grace of Air
Greater Blessing of Kings
Greater Blessing of Might
Moonkin Aura
Strength of Earth
Trueshot Aura- Windfury Totem
Curse of the Elements
Faerie Fire
Gift of Arthas
Sunder Armor
Rotation
Simulation rotation: Mutilate. At each decision the simulator goes through the list from top to bottom and casts the first ability whose condition is met.
Before the fight
- −1 sStealth
Priority
- Garroteif Stealth is active
- Slice and Diceif combo points are at least 1 and Slice and Dice is not active and the remaining fight time is at least 6 s
- Shankif energy is below 80
- Other cooldowns (Eureka!, Major Frenzy Potion, Thistle Tea, Goblin Sapper Charge)if Slice and Dice is active
- Cold Bloodif combo points are at least 4 and Slice and Dice is active and (it is not true that (the character knows Felstriker and Felstriker is active))
- Eviscerateif (combo points are at least 3 or (combo points are at least 1 and less than 5 s of the fight remain)) and (Slice and Dice is active or energy is at least 79 or the remaining fight time is below 6 s)
Vanishif energy is at least 50 and combo points are at most 3 and Garrote is not active on the target- Mutilateno condition
Simulation details from MythicSim (November 9, 2026), reproduced with the author’s permission.
Mutilate and poison: the synergy still has to be tested
Mutilate and Venom deepen what Assassination was already doing in vanilla, without reinventing it. The build guide will confirm or disprove that once the spec has been tested in game, from the beta’s opening on September 17, 2026 through to launch on November 4, 2026.
Going further
You can also check out our Combat and Subtlety pages to compare the Rogue’s three trees, along with the full list of WoW Forever builds on the section hub. To gear a poison-focused Rogue before Forever, our Rogue BIS List WoW SoD – Phase 2 is still available.
2 Commentaires
je me pose la question a wow forever les poison scale avec attack power ou comme a vannilla avec de la spell power
Salut reaper212, petite précision sur la prémisse d’abord : en vanilla, les poisons du voleur (Poison instantané, Poison mortel) infligeaient déjà des dégâts fixes par rang, ils ne scalaient ni avec l’attack power ni avec le spell power. La comparaison avec du spell power part donc d’une base un peu fausse. Pour Forever : j’ai fouillé les données Wowhead qu’on a récupérées pendant la bêta, et les poisons y sont toujours affichés en valeurs fixes par rang, sans coefficient AP ou SP, exactement comme en vanilla. Rien n’indique de changement à ce stade. Je reste honnête, je n’ai pas de patch note officiel qui le confirme noir sur blanc, donc si tu vois tes dégâts de poison bouger avec ton stuff en jeu, dis-le-moi et je creuse. Bonne bêta ! 🗡️