Basic information on the spec:

The Rogue is a lightly armored class that specializes in melee damage and has 2 main resources: Energy and Combo Points (CP). Accordingly, there are abilities that spend these resources, or, vice versa, allow you to gain them. The correct use of these abilities and wise rotations are your keys to success.

Tier 3 Lvl 30 Talents that affect resources.

Vigor – increases your maximum Energy by 50 and your Energy regeneration by 10%. Standard Talent against single targets.

Deeper Stratagem – you may have a maximum of 6 combo points, and your finishing moves deal 5% increased damage. Good for long cleave fights. Bleed effects on several targets grant you regeneration from Venomous Wounds‘ passive, overall more regen than from Vigor.

Marked for Death – marks the target, instantly generating 5 combo points. CD 60 sec (dynamic), duration 60 sec.  Cooldown reset if the target dies within 1 min. Use it only if you can implement it frequently and effectively, for example, in M+.

Tier 4 Lvl 35 Defensive abilities.

Leeching Poison – adds a Leeching Poison effect to your Deadly Poison and Wound Poison, granting you 10% Leech. Can be used for solo-content or sometimes in raids where all the damage is predictable and you lack healing. In all other situations, this is not the best Talent.

Cheat Death – fatal attacks instead reduce you to 7% of your maximum health. For 3 sec afterward, you take 85% reduced damage. Cannot trigger more often than once per 6 min. Always take this Talent, as there’s nothing better than a second life!

Elusiveness – Feint also reduces all damage you take from non-area-of-effect attacks by 30% for 5 sec. Keep in mind that Feint costs 35 Energy and lasts only 5 sec (CD 15 sec), so maintaining Feint high uptime is quite impossible, while frequent use negatively affects your damage. Questionable Talent, as it’s very specific.

Tier 5 Lvl 40 Control tier.

Internal Bleeding – Kidney Shot also deals Bleed damage over 6 sec, based on combo points spent. It’s mostly useful in PvP.

Iron Wire – increase the duration of Garrote‘s silence effect by 3 sec. Enemies silenced by Garrote deal 15% reduced damage for 8 sec. Take this Talent if you don’t need to stun anyone, it’s especially useful in M+.

Prey on the Weak – enemies disabled by one of your stuns take 10% increased damage from all sources for 6 sec. Sometimes it can be useful in raids.

Tier 6 lvl 45 Talents that affect DPS.

Venom Rush – Mutilate refunds 8 Energy when used against a poisoned target. Weak talent, never used.

Alacrity – your finishing moves have a 20+ % chance per combo point (up to 100% with 5 CP) to grant 2% Haste for 20 sec, stacking up to 5 times. It is the best choice in any situation, as 10% Haste is a very good buff.

Exsanguinate – twist your blades into the target’s wounds, causing your Bleed effects on them to bleed out 100% faster. At the moment, Alacrity is a better Talent, while Exsanguinate becomes relevant over time and requires some serious gear.

Tier 7 Lvl 50 Talents that affect DPS.

Poison Bomb – Envenom and Rupture have a 4% chance per combo point spent to smash a vial of poison at the target’s location, creating a pool of acidic death that deals Nature damage over 2 sec to all enemies within it. This Talent works passively and suits most situations.

Hidden Blades – every 2 sec, gain 20% increased damage for your next Fan of Knives, stacking up to 20 times. Grants average damage and can be used in M+ or AoE situations only if you have Potency Conduit Poisoned Katar of a high rank.

Crimson Tempest – finishing move that slashes at up to 8 enemies within 10 yards, dealing instant damage and causing victims to bleed for additional damage. Lasts longer per combo point. Costs 35 Energy.

Beneficial for long massive AoE. In M+ Poison Bomb is usually more effective, as it can be used on single targets. In general, this is a situational Talent.

Here are your common builds:

Single Target:

3-3/2-1-2-2-2-1

Blindside

Master Assassin / Subterfuge

Vigor

Cheat Death

Iron Wire

Alacrity

Poison Bomb

M+:

2-2-3/1-2-2-2-1

Elaborate Planning

Subterfuge

Marked for Death / Vigor

Cheat Death

Iron Wire

Alacrity

Poison Bomb / Hidden Blades (with Conduit Poisoned Katar, high rank) / Crimson Tempest (very specific, for huge AoE)

THE KYRIAN

Echoing Reprimand – deal Arcane damage to an enemy, extracting their anima to Animacharge a combo point. Damaging finishing moves that consume the same number of combo points as your Animacharge deal damage as if they consume 7 combo points. Costs 30 Energy, CD 45 sec.

Sometimes hard to implement, but still grants a solid boost.

Summon Steward – call your steward to bring you a Phial of Serenity. CD 4 min.

It may seem useless, but don’t underestimate the extra heal. It also removes all Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects – very useful throughout the game.

THE VENTHYR

Flagellation – lash the target 3 times, dealing Shadow damage and adding a stack of Flagellation for each lash. The target remains tormented for 20 sec, receiving an additional lash for each combo point you spend. Reactivating Flagellation cleanses their torment, increasing your Haste by 0.5% per stack, up to a maximum of 15% Haste for 20 sec. CD 1.5 min. Good DPS ability, but it can be fairly inconvenient when used against squishy targets.

Door of Shadows – castable blink.

Can be used to skip some enemies or shorten the distance, but overall a Rogue is mobile enough even without it.

THE NIGHT FAE

Sepsis – infect the target’s blood, dealing Nature damage over 10 sec. If the target survives its full duration, they suffer an additional damage and you Vanish from sight.

Cooldown reduced by 60 sec if Sepsis does not last its full duration.

This ability has a nice synergy with Mark of the Master Assassin, but since this Legendary isn’t your priority at the moment, it shouldn’t affect your choice.

Soulshape – turn into a Vulpin, teleporting 15 yards forward and increasing your movement speed by 50%. You may reactivate Soulshape every few sec to teleport again. Lasts 12 sec, or indefinitely while in a rest area. When Soulshape is active, you can’t cast spells.

It’s a useful ability both for mobility out of combat and for quick repositioning in fights.

THE NECROLORDS

Serrated Bone Spike – embed a bone spike in the target, dealing Bleed damage every 3 sec until they die. Deals damage and generates 1 Combo Point per active bone spike. Refunds 1 charge when the target dies or is healed to full. Costs 10 Energy, CD 30 sec.

Can be used on single or multiple targets.

Fleshcraft – form a shield of flesh and bone over 4 sec that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum health for 2 min. Channeling near a corpse claims their essence to grow the shield, up to 50% of your maximum health. This is most effective against powerful enemies. Besides, the spell gives you a combat buff, depending on the race of the monster. 

It’s a pretty good utility ability, but it’s channeled, so you can’t always use it in fights.

The Covenants that suit Assassination best are the following:

The Night Fae > The Kyrian > = the Necrolords > the Venthyr

1. Maintain Slice and Dice on yourself 24/7.
2. Maintain Garrote and Rupture on your target all the time.
3. Use your main burst (Vendetta) on recharge.
4. Use Vanish -> Garrote if you have Subterfuge, or Vanish -> Ambush if you have Master Assassin. On recharge, refresh regular Garrote with empowered one (due to Subterfuge) 5.4 sec before the effect goes off.
5. Cast Shiv as often as possible, gain Energy in advance. Make sure that you don’t have to refresh Slice and Diceand Rupture while Shiv is active.
6. Use Envenom as your main finisher considering your other priorities.
7. Proc Blindside by pressing Ambush (if you have Blindside).
8. In a standard situation collect CP with Mutilate.

AoE priorities:

In AoE situations, use Fan of Knives instead of Mutilate on 3+ targets.

Keep Rupture active on 3+ targets if they can live long enough. Next, you can spend CP on Envenom.

Use Garrote on additional targets that can last a greater part of its duration. There’s no point to DoT targets that will die in a few seconds.

Keep in mind that if an enemy dies while afflicted by your Rupture, you regain energy based on its remaining duration.

Covenant abilities and their impact on your priorities:

The Kyrian

Echoing Reprimand – used on recharge. The buff itself lasts for 45 sec and has the same CD. It means that it can be easily implemented with other useful buffs, say, to enhance Envenom while Shiv is active.

The Venthyr

Flagellation – used on recharge and recast at 30 stacks, or before the buff goes off. No point to synergize it with bursts, we just want to minimize its downtime.

The Night Fae

Sepsis – used on recharge. If the target survives its full duration, Vanish from sight and follow your standard rotation.

The Necrolords

Serrated Bone Spike – minimize its downtime and if you have 3 Spike charges, embed at least one of them in any target.

When fighting single targets, just use Serrated Bone Spike charges whenever you can, for example, to cap your CP.

In M+ or in cleave fights, keep this ability active on as many enemies as possible. Try to use Serrated Bone Spike on targets that are most likely to die first to gain some extra charges.

Cloak:Enchant Cloak – Soul Vitality /Enchant Cloak – Fortified Leech

Ring:Enchant Ring – Tenet of Haste

Weapons:Enchant Weapon – Celestial Guidance +Enchant Weapon – Sinful Revelation /Enchant Weapon – Lightless Force (AoE) x 2

Consumables:

Stones:Shaded Sharpening Stone

Flasks:Eternal Cauldron /Spectral Flask of Power

Potions:Potion of Spectral Agility /Potion of Phantom Fire / АоЕ:Potion of Empowered Exorcisms

Heal pots:Spiritual Healing Potion

Food:Feast of Gluttonous Hedonism (+20 Agility) /Tenebrous Crown Roast Aspic (+30 Haste)

Armor kits:Heavy Desolate Armor Kit

Ring #1 –Hyperlight Band – Lady Inerva Venaoscura

Ring #2 –Most Regal Signet of Sire Denathrius – Sire Denathrius

Trinket #1 –Macabre Sheet Music – The Council of Blood

Trinket #2 –Stone Legion Heraldry – Stone Legion Generals

Weapon #1 –Zenith Anima Spherule – Sire Denathrius

Weapon #2 –Zenith Anima Spherule – Sire Denathrius

Top list of trinkets in Shadowlands:

/cast [@focus , exists, harm] Kick;Kick

Marked for Death at the cursor position (mouseover macro)

#showtooltip

/cast [@mouseover] Marked for Death

Shadowstep at the cursor position (mouseover macro)

#showtooltip

/cast [@mouseover] Shadowstep

• Assassination isn’t the hardest spec. You will deal decent DPS if you follow basic priorities without focusing on something specific. Refresh DoT’s and Slice and Dice in time; avoid losing CP by using finishers at 4-5 CP, or at 5-6 CP if you have Deeper Stratagem.
• Another important point – utilize your cooldowns. Don’t keep yourShiv to generate Energy – it can be profitable only ifVendetta is about to recharge. In other cases, gain Energy in advance. In the end, a more frequent use of burst abilities gives a greater increase than effective but rare casts.
• If you find yourself in M+, try to keep upAlacrity between pack pulls, stacking combo points for the kills, for example, to refreshSlice and Dice. You can also use Marked for Death on this purpose.