With the introduction of the Corruption Vendor, niche builds that require particular Corruption Effects are now available to more of us than just those who were super-lucky. Raz, for whom Expedient III has dropped for like rain, has this amazing little guide for Assassination Rogues.

Update: This guide has been updated to include Crimson Tempest as a Talent option

IMPORTANT: This build requires a significant amount of gear to be optimal.  

BiS Corruption with Optimal Gear

  • 7x Expedient rank 3
  • 1x Expedient rank 2
  • 1 Honed Mind rank 3

Note: As with everything else; to find out what is the best corruption setup with your exact gear, make sure you sim yourself. Simming yourself will ALWAYS result in more precise results, as not everyone will have the same gear.  

Stat Priority

Haste > Crit = Mastery > Versatility > Agility  

Talents

  • Elaborate Planning
  • Subterfuge
  • Deeper Stratagem
  • Exsanguinate
  • Poison Bomb or Crimson Tempest  

Crimson Tempest: This talent becomes a viable choice over Poison Bomb at a very high level of haste. Crimson Tempest is simply another bleed to keep up. You do NOT force it for Exsanguinate.

Azerite Gear

BiS Azerite Gear/Traits  

  • Head: Gibbering Maw (Ra-den) Shrouded Suffocation + Heart of Darkness + Overwhelming Power
  • Shoulders: Gorak Tul’s Mantle (Residuum vendor) Shrouded Suffocation + Blightborne Infusion + Overwhelming Power
  • Chest: Tortured Fleshbeast Cuirass (Carapace of N’zoth) Shrouded Suffocation + Heart of Darkness + Elemental Whirl  

Alternative Azerite Gear  

  • Head: Cowl of Fluid Machinations (Residuum vendor), Irontide Captain’s Hat (Residuum vendor)
  • Shoulders: Extravagant Epaulettes (Residuum vendor), Spaulders of Aberrant Allure (Il’gynoth)
  • Chest: Type II Bomber Jacket (Residuum vendor), Darkheart Robe (Vexiona),  

Trinkets

BiS Trinkets  

  • Vita-Charged Titanshard
  • Lustrous Golden Plumage/Corrupted Gladiator’s Medallion  

Alternative Trinkets  

  • Galecaller’s Boon
  • Ashvane’s Razor Coral
  • Humming Black Dragonscale
  • Harlan’s Loaded Dice  

Essence Setup

There are 4 potential essence setups with this build.

  • Blood of the Enemy (major)
  • Memory of Lucid Dreams (minor)
  • Conflict and Strife/Essence of the Focusing Iris (minor)
  • Breath of the dying (minor)
  • Condensed Life-Force (major)
  • Memory of Lucid Dreams (minor)
  • Conflict and Strife/Essence of the Focusing Iris (minor),
  • Breath of the dying (minor)
  • Blood of the Enemy (major)
  • The Formless Void (minor)
  • Essence of the Focusing Iris (minor)
  • Breath of the dying (minor)
  • Condensed Life-Force (major)
  • The Formless Void (minor)
  • Essence of the Focusing Iris (minor)
  • Breath of the dying (minor)  

Note: When you reach high haste levels, Memory of Lucid Dreams starts to fall off, making the energy refund the essence offers more or less irrelevant. This does not happen until very high levels of haste though, so make sure to, as always, sim yourself.    

Opening Rotation

With Poison Bomb:

Garrote > Rupture > Garrote > Condensed Life-Force (if chosen) > Vendetta > Mutilate > Rupture > Exsanguinate > Blood of the Enemy (if chosen) > Mutilate > Mutilate > Envenom  

With Crimson Tempest:

Crimson Tempest slightly changes how your opening rotation looks and it also has 2 different openers, depending on combo point RNG.

Opener 1:

Garrote > Rupture > Garrote > Condensed Life-Force (if chosen) > Vendetta > Mutilate > Crimson Tempest > Mutilate till 6 combo points > Rupture > Exsanguinate > Blood of the Enemy (if chosen)

This opener occurs if the Mutilate AFTER Vendetta happens to land you at 5 combo points.  

Opener 2:

Garrote > Rupture > Garrote > Condensed Life-Force (if chosen) > Vendetta > Mutilate > Rupture > Exsanguinate > Blood of the Enemy (if chosen) > Mutilate > Mutilate > Crimson Tempest

This opener occurs if the Mutilate AFTER Vendetta happens to land you at 6 combo points.  

Note: Opener 1 is a very minimal DPS gain. If you find all of this too confusing, then simply go with opener 2.

Cooldowns

Vendetta: First Vendetta is straight forward (see opening rotation). 2nd Vendetta should be held until Vanish comes off cooldown. Once 2nd Vendetta has been used Vanish and Vendetta will always line up. Always use the 2 together.

Vanish: First Vanish is used once your initial garrote expires. 2nd Vanish is used as soon as it comes off cooldown with Vendetta.

Exsanguinate: Use Exsanguinate off cooldown. Before using Exsanguinate, make sure the duration of your Rupture is >25 seconds and the duration of your Garrote is >15 seconds. Do not EVER refresh Exsanguinate bleeds until they have expired. Do not EVER overwrite an empowered Garrote. Your 4th Exsanguinate should line up with Vendetta and Vanish in your 2nd set of cooldowns. After this point, you need to start thinking about kill timers.  

Potions

  • Potion of Focused Resolve is the go to potion for single target fights or fights where you will strictly damage 1 enemy for the duration of the potion.
  • Potion of Unbridled Fury: Use on any fight where Potion of Focused Resolve is not used.

About the Author

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