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Assassination Overview in Midnight

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Assassination in Midnight is a tad slower than usual, but maintains its core envenom-spamming playstyle.

Notable changes from previous versions include:

Shivs removal as a core rotational cooldown
Many stealth interactions removed, bleed spreading can be done at any point
Venomous Wounds VERY heavily nerfed, especially in AoE
"Rupture Sniping" is fully dead
A lot of the nerfed energy regen has been moved into passive/base energy regen
Crimson Tempest has been reworked into a fan of knives style generator that spreads bleeds to two additional enemies
Fatebound is good in AoE now after talent redesigns

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Midnight Builds

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Midnight Season 1 Builds can be found below

Fatebound (recommended everywhere)

Single Target:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZMbzgBAAAAAmlBLzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2mZZmZGMmZmZMzYYAMwCMjRjZBklBsZAwMzgB
Raid Cleave/AoE:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZMbGMAAAAAwsMYZGAAAAAQbbzMzMzMjxMzMz2MLzMzgZmZmZMzwYAMwCMjRjZBklBsZAwMzgB
Raid Paladins/Mythic Dragons:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZzgBAAAAAmlBbzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2mZZmxD4BmZMzYYmxYAMwCMjRjZDklBsZsBYmxwA
Mythic+ Recommended:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZzgBAAAAAmlBbzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2mZZmBPwMzMzYYmxYAMwCMjRjZDklBsZsBYmhxA
Mythic+ Sudden Demise FOR TINY BOY WEEKLY KEYS (12ish and under):
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZzgBAAAAAmlBbzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2GmZGmxMzMzMjZMGADsAzY0YWAZZAbGbAmZGMA

Deathstalker (bad and awful to play, but niche extra prio damage)

Single Target:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZMbzgBAAAAAmlBLzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2mZZmZGMmZmZMzYYA2MLDMglglhJwwiBzMADG
Raid Cleave:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZMbGMAAAAAwsMYZGAAAAAQbbzMzMzMjxMzMz2MLzMzgZmZmZMzwYA2MLDMglglhJwwiBzMADG
Mythic+:
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmlZmNDGAAAAAYWGsNDAAAAAottZmZmZmxYmZmZbmlZG8AzMzMjhZGjBYzsMwAWCWGmADLGLmZAYMA
Mythic+ Sudden Demise FOR TINY BOY WEEKLY KEYS (12ish and under):
CMQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYmZmZzgBAAAAAmlBbzAAAAAAabbmZmZmZMmZmZ2GmZGmxMzMzMjZMGgNzyADYJYZYCMsYsZmBYwA

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Stats

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Assassination likes all stats, typically making item level the biggest upgrade available at any given time. You will always get more accurate results using Raidbots Top Gear, as stat values will fluctuate depending on gear and situation. For a rough recommendation:

Agility (Item level) > Crit >= Haste > Mastery > Vers
Yes Mastery is worse than Haste. Given all of the new haste scalars (swift slasher for example), energy changes, and the removal of shiv for burst, mastery has slipped behind. In Mythic+ specifically, you can opt for more Mastery to increase AoE damage, but do not completely drop haste.

Note that Energy is always slow on Assassination and haste will not magically "fix" it. This is intended spec design by Blizzard

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Simple Rotation

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All finishers should be used with at least 5 combo points unless noted otherwise. Generators should therefore be used until 5 combo points, again unless noted otherwise.

Bleeds

Bleeds are a special category that need to be maintained at all times on your main target.

Garrote from stealth for Improved Garrote
Garrote regularly to maintain the bleed if the current one ticking is not an Improved Garrote.
Rupture with at least 5 combo points

Generators/Envenom

Mutilate/Ambush in 1 target situations. With Blindside talented, use on 2 targets
Crimson Tempest in any AoE situation as main generator until all targets have bleeds
Fan of Knives in 2+ target situations. With Blindside talented use on 3+ targets.
Envenom to dump combo points

Cooldowns

Deathmark on cooldown every 2 min
Kingsbane on cooldown every 1 min, lining up with Deathmark
Vanish on cooldown every 2 min. Line up with Deathmark if possible for ease. In raid fights it can be beneficial to hold sometimes to spread improved garrote onto adds for example, this will vary wildly based on your raid. In Mythic+, you should try and hold vanish for a situation where you don't get a restealth, or a really long pull.

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Advanced Optimizations

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These optimizations are important to varying degrees, but are not necessary to clearing any content, and this list mostly serves as a reference document, not a rotation guide.

Darkest Night

Generate to maximum combo points before casting Envenom
Do not cast Rupture while Darkest Night is active
If there are 1-3 targets, Darkest Night is active, and you are 1 combo points from maximum, cast Shiv if you are talented into Toxic Stiletto

Envenom

Ignoring buff duration is totally fine outside of the apex
If you hit 80 stacks on the apex, AND WILL NOT OVERCAP BY DROPPING ENVENOM OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER, you would drop envenom

CT, Bleeds, and time to die

These numbers are from sims, but can serve to give some insight on how things play together.

If your main target would die within 12 seconds of your rupture expiring, do not recast rupture or garrote, just slam envenoms to finish it off. You would cast improved garrotes if you find yourself in this situation from vanish.
Crimson Tempest should be cast until all targets have bleeds, as long as your main target rupture has >5 seconds left, so as not to spread a rupture that's going to instantly expire.
In situations where adds are spawning and dying quickly (such as voidorbs on dragons), it is still preferred to cast crimson tempest over fok.

Misc

With Razor Wire talented, cast a second Improved Garrote towards the end of the 6 sec window in order to pandemic the Improved Garrote.
Let tea auto-proc, it doesn't give mastery
Envenom before going into Kingsbane is better always. This is for both slice and dice in opener, as well as the envenom buff at the start of kingsbane when it's most important to have

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Updated <t:1775724473:R>

Lots of sim stuff has been bugged, imp garrote has gone through some changes. The basics here are still fine, but I've updated ALOT of stuff, and all the builds and optimizations are now up to date as of the time stamp.

#assassination-faq