I'm Back, And I'm An Assassin, Baby!

It's been nearly two years, but I'm back, baby! And, and... I'm no longer a subtlety rogue. I'm assassination. So what on Earth happened for me to make the change? Here's my story...

I was already a subtlety rogue before Wrath (mainly PvPing), so with the "bug" of Honor Among Thieves, subtlety rogues were the kings of the DPS crop. Shortly before my last post (January 2nd, 2009), changes had happened to subtlety rogues. That change came in the form of Honor Among Thieves, where they added a one second cooldown. It killed the DPS of subtlety rogues. I was noticing my DPS was way, way below not just combat and assassination rogues, but all other DPS classes. My DPS was barely above the tanks.

But that was just for raids, I used subtlety for PvP too. But that also became a problem. Ambush and Backstab both need to be from behind. But in PvP, when you got your feet rooted or frozen and your target is facing you, stunned, you can't do any real damage. Sinister Strike with a subtlety build doesn't do serious damage.

The PvP environment (and subtlety build) changed with Wrath of the Lich King. Shadowstep and Ambush and Shadow Dance and Backstab use to dominate all other rogues in PvP during the Burning Crusade. Not any more. Not only was subtlety not cutting it much against other classes (unless your target keeps its back to you), but combat and especially assassination rogues were able to stand toe-to-toe with me, and unless I could keep their back to me, I'd miss out on getting a chance to kill them.

Shadow Dance was the main problem. Shortly after Wrath was released, Ambush did less damage than it used to. So in order to take out a target one-on-one, you needed Shadow Dance. And let me tell ya, I can count more times that Shadow Dance failed than it worked (was stunned, rooted, wrong position, etc).

So I decided to test out combat. Vast change in DPS for PvE compared to subtlety. Huge, huge change. For PvP, I tried out a combat PvP built. I found, when using all cooldowns, there was a lot damage. But I found that, without cooldowns, I preferred subtlety over combat. I seemed to die quicker than I did when I was subtlety. So I stuck with subtlety for PvP and combat for PvE.

I did combat for about a week. I then tried out assassination. I tried it out for PvE and found I got more DPS with assassination than I got with combat on single targets. In fact, I loved Mutilate. It has the power the original backstab, but has NONE of the positioning requirements. So it's great for solo PvE and raid PvE.

I tried assassination out for PvP also and I was floored. It was amazing. Every Mutilate had the power of the original backstab, but I could do it from any position. (Yes, rogues do it from behind, but because we choose to, not because we can't do it anywhere else.) There was such power and survivability with this spec and build. It was just like how the subtlety spec used to be, but lacked Shadow Step. But in giving up the mobility of Shadow Step, I then gained full run speed while stealthed AND a 15% run speed increase. Ohh-yeah...

So I was sold. Subtlety has always had great survivability (such as Ghostly Strike, Cheat Death, etc) for PvE, but weak DPS compared to the other specs (and other classes). But now that it's DPS seems to have gotten even weaker for PvE, and a PvP Mutilate assassination build has gotten much stronger for PvP, I've made the switch to assassination for both PvE and PvP and I'm lovin' it.

Then shortly after I made the switch, I stopped playing for, shit... at least a year. I came back for about a two months during Trail of the Crusader.

But I stopped playing WoW for a few months and then started back again at the start of Icecrown Citadel's release. I've been an assassination rogue ever since, doin' raids and mainly PvP.

It's unfortunate what's happened to subtlety, but I've just been burned too many times before in the past. Now I'm gonna' go with what puts out the most power, what feels the best and what's the funnest to play. If something doesn't have all three of those things, I ain't doin' it. Now my loyalty lies with whichever spec does me right, and for the past year of on-and-off play, assassination's had my back every time.

Prey on the weak,

Night Elf Rogue

Jaexx - Icecrown

Continue reading I'm Back, And I'm An Assassin, Baby!

Solo PvE Backstabbin'? I Got You Covered...

I'll be out tearin' up some target solo and, from time to time, I'll get whispers from "dagger rogues" (as they like to call themselves) after seein' me, askin' how I'm able to do so many Backstabs or what tactics I'm usin'. Tactics, talents and glyphs... that's how I'm able to pull off some crazy shit and I'm gonna' tell you exactly how I do it.

On a single target, I'm able to pull off an Ambush and three, count'em, three Backstabs... all before my target even has a chance to hit me. After that, a level 80 target will be down to 10-20% health by the time they're finally able to face me and, by that time, a quick Eviscerate takes care of'em... all without me takin' hardly any damage.

There are three important factors that have to be there in order to do this shit. Combo points, energy and damage from Ambush and Backstab. But combo points and energy are the most important. Without enough energy and combo points, you won't be able to do this shit in enough time.

Before I tell you what I use and what you'll need to perform this stuff, I'll go over the process. First enter stealth and select your target and activate Premeditation. That gives you 2 combo points on your target instantly. You don't have to use Shadowstep, but Shadowstep is very helpful, not only will it make your Ambush more powerful, but because there's a chance that you'll slow your target down (like Crippling Poison does). Next you'll Ambush your target. You'll always either have 4 to 5 combo points (most of the time you'll have 5). At this point, you'll be down to about 75% energy. Then, you wait about a second or two to regain 90-100% energy. Because of the mini-sprint you get with Shadowstep and hopefully the slowing effect of Ambush, you run from your target slightly so your target can't hit you and wait a second or two to regain energy. You must have 90-100% energy and 5 combo points, if you do, perform Kidney Shot. You're now able to run behind your target and you'll be able to pull off 3 Backstabs before Kidney Shot wears off. From those three Backstabs, you'll then have 3 combo points. By the time your target has time to turn around, you can either finish your target off with an Eviscerate, or if your fighting a real bad ass and their health is above 50%, then just start your fight as normal... which I'll then use one Hemorrhage, then Ghostly Strike and shit... if my target still ain't dead by then, I'll do Gouge Backstabs.

Now, you won't be able to do this without talents and glyphs. So here are the talents that allow me to do this.

Relentless Strikes 5/5

When you use Kidney Shot with five combo points, you'll have a 100% chance to restore 25 energy. This will be needed to have enough energy to perform 3 Backstabs before Cheap Shot wears out.

Opportunity 2/2

Increases damage for both Ambush and Backstab by 20%.

Initiative 3/3

This gives you a 75% chance to add that fifth combo point to your target after doing your Ambush.

Improved Ambush 2/2

Increased your critical strike chance of Ambush by 50%. This is important for the Waylay talent.

Dirty Deeds 2/2

It gives an amazing 35% damage bonus when your target is below 35% health.

Master of Subtlety 3/3

This causes all damage to do 10% more damage for 6 seconds after breaking stealth. This gives your Ambush and Backstabs more power.

Premeditation 1/1

This is the ability (talent) that allows you to put those all important 2 combo points on your target from stealth.

Sinister Calling 5/5

This makes your Backstab do an additional 5% damage.

Waylay 2/2

When you get a critical strike from your Ambush, you reduce their movement speed which can help you "kite" them for about a second or two until you have enough energy to perform your Kidney Shot (will will prevent you from getting hit, keeping your health extremely high after killing your target).

Shadow Step 1/1

This causes you to not only have Shadow Step, but it also gives you 20% more damage to your Ambush and also gives you a mini-sprint that'll help you kite your target, even if Waylay isn't active.

Slaughter from the Shadows 5/5

This reduces the energy cost of Backstab and Ambush by 15.

So those are the talents that let you have the energy, combo points and damage. But there's also a glyph that comes into play.

Glyph of Backstab

This increases your Backstab damage by 20% against stunned targets. This is perfect because, in solo PvE, that's the only way you'll ever be able to Backstab your target, either through Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot or Gouge.

So with all this "math" shit over... let's just go over what this'll allow you to do in a nut shell. You Ambush your target, stun your target, run behind and pull off 3 Backstabs, all without your target hitting you. By that point, you can just finish that bitch off any way you want. I love showin' off against combat rogues when fightin' the same type of targets. Not only will I finish a target off slightly quicker, I'll have like 70% health and the combat will be down to like 20% after a while of fighting. While they've stop to eat or "vanish" because their health drops down and almost die, I'm still goin' out doin' my shit.

It's important to note that, instead of using Kidney Shot and doing Backstabs, I can Eviscerate and use other abilities and take my target out about just as quickly... but, I'll take damage the entire time. So, doing this method not only is cool and it's "show off" type shit, but it really keeps you alive and well, free from most of your target's damgage. That helps you kill more targets without having to heal yourself.

one important thing to realize is that, if your target is stunned, your target can't block, dodge or parry your attacks so your Backstabs will always go through, unless you happen to miss.

This works out perfectly for PvP too, just make sure you do everything perfect... and when doing your Kidney Shot, it may help if you Dismantle melee players so they can't parry or block your Kidney Shot.

So go out there and show off those sexy subtlety skills of yours.

Jeaxx Continue reading Solo PvE Backstabbin'? I Got You Covered...

Why Shadow Dance Doesn't Have FXs

So, I've figured out why Shadow Dance doesn't have FXs. A lotta' subtlety rogues have complained to me about Shadow Dance not having any FXs, and I even wondered the same thing. But I realized awhile ago why Shadow Dance doesn't have any special FXs like Shadow Step or any of our other abilities do... it's not meant to!

I thought to myself, "Why would Blizzard do this? It used to have special FXs, so why not now?". They knew exactly what they were doing. They did that so that no one can tell when we start the Shadow Dance. They did it to protect and help us while doin' PvP. One of the worst things that can happen to a rogue is being stunned, frozen or somehow locked down in the middle of Shadow Dance. If Shadow Dance had special FXs, it would be a big ass red flag to anyone and everyone around to stun or disable your ass. I mean, can you imagine being Dismantled in the middle of Shadow Dance? Shit... tha'd mess your whole game up!

So, yes, there were special FXs for Shadow Dance, but Blizzard was smart and took it out. I'm so glad they did it. I'm also glad that Ambush and Backstab have the same sound FXs because while you're doing Shadow Dance, no one can tell if you're just doing Backstabs or if you're doing Ambushes (until they look at their health, haha).

Jeaxx Continue reading Why Shadow Dance Doesn't Have FXs