Combat Rogues: all the ways Killing Spree can KILL you...

[thottstation]

It's quite annoying having to discover through experience (and the mocking taunts/irritation of your fellow raiders) all the vast ways that KILLING SPREE can instantly/nearly instantly kill you in Siege of Orgrimmar. So, if you have any obvious mentions, I'm sure people will appreciate it.


Normal & Heroic IMMERSEUS: His "back" is at the door to the Golden Lotus trio (They pledged their LIIIIIIIIVES~!). No matter which way Immerseus is facing at the time, that door is where Killing Spree will take you. Badly timed, you will pop KS and teleport over there, drop a puddle under you, and maybe die before KS is done. Always watch when the puddles are coming. At the very start of each appearance, the Puddle will drop under you in about 3 seconds. Just enough to tap the boss (trinkets/enchants/etc proc), and in second 2, pop Killing Spree. If you've glyphed it to send you back where you came from, you should be back where you started before the puddle drops. If you're late, the puddle will only get you for 1 tick or so before you teleport back. The puddle should be long gone by the time KS can be used again. On Heroic, getting the debuff just as you popped KS will add tons of stacks to you within seconds, and pretty much kill you instantly. Always best to use Killing Spree the moment the boss appears to avoid this.

NORUSHEN: Instead of Killing Spree teleporting you to the "back" of the boss, it drops you smack bang in the middle... where the BLIND HATRED laser beam insta-kills you, no matter where it's pointing. However, using Cloak of Shadows immediately before you pop KS will immune you from the laser beam. If you don't, also be careful if Blade Flurry is on, as it might send you to an add that's near the beam.

GALAKRAS: The 2nd mini-boss on the ground (1st being Snake-Girl) is "High Enforcer Thranok". His special ability is a whirlwind/stomp, which is announced by a dust cloud circle under him, going out as far as his whirlwind will reach. Bad time to Killing Spree. just sayin'. Also, Galakras has FLAME OF THE GALAKROND, which targets you before sending out his fireball. You should be putting some distance between you and the boss, allowing it to go through other players before hitting you... which won't happen if you Killing Spree and are stuck inside him for the entire cast time. Not exactly a guaranteed 1-shot, but very, very dangerous to you and everyone else.

JUGGERNAUT: The boss sends 3 waves of ground spikes out from under it, and off in different directions. Using Killing Spree will put you right under the boss, and having all three ground spikes appear under you at once will hurt massively... as will using Killing Spree when one of the lines, having left the boss, decides to do a U-turn and go back under the boss again. Using glyphed Cloak just beforehand should solve that problem, if you're not reserving it for the knockback. Assuming I haven't turned it off somehow in the options, there is no DBM warning saying the ground Spikes are coming... so you've just got to pay attention to see if you need Cloak or not. Also, glyphed Killing Spree is handy in case the big red circle targets you mid-Killing Spree. But that would be incredibly unlucky, and could just as unluckily take you back to a red circle you only just left. I don't bother.

Normal & Heroic DARK SHAMANS: Specifically, Haromm. Literally every ability they have can kill you if you Killing Spree during it.. but the FOUL STREAM is the no.1 killer. If it targets you mid-KS, the Dark Shaman will keep turning around to face you every time your KS teleports you to their back, which means the boss will keep turning this way, then that way, then this way, then that way... BOOM. Foul Stream killed you and probably at least two other people. If you EVER use Killing Spree in this fight, make sure there's plenty of time before the boss casts Foul Stream. Ashen Wall is also bad, because it will appear where the boss is, and you will teleport right into their back, which (assuming the tank is good) is now at the Ashen Wall. Those things can 1-shot you, Evasion or otherwise. On Heroic, he has Iron Tombs pop under you, which can send you flying into the Ashen Wall for laughs. As for Kardriss, her slimes have an aura which hurt you if they're near you... but you shouldn't be using Killing Spree on them anyway. Leave them for the range dps.

NAZGRIM: at 30 rage, his HEROIC SHOCKWAVE leap sends him at a random target and leaves erupting fire lines. If the boss is standing in any of these lines while you're KS'ing him... boom. Ouch. Hopefully the tanks drags him out of there each time, but it's still best avoided. Also the Ironblade add's whirlwind spin is obviously a bad Killing Spree target. Leave them for range dps.

MALKOROK: Killing Spree actually puts you behind the boss, so you're safe from every ARCING SMASH... but BREATH OF Y'SHAARJ covers almost everything, so if you didn't Cloak immune just before Killing Spree... you're dead. The slime adds can also sometimes move in front of the boss, so if you're using Blade Flurry with Killing Spree, it's possible to teleport into his Arcing Smash if the slime add moves there. Keep an eye on DBM timers, or just pay attention.

SPOILS: The big Mogu adds have an AoE that should be Feint'd, but it's not a 1-shot, so Killing Spree during it shouldn't instant-kill you unless you're undergeared/unbuffed. One of the initial Pandaren spirit adds runs and leaves a trail of fireflowers on the ground, so using Killing Spree and being stuck to his back as he runs through those could hurt severely... but again, not necessarily 1-shot you. On the Mantid side, there are amber puddles and tornadoes to keep track of, and Killing Spree (Blade Flurry or not) can send you into all of them at once, but gear/quick heals will help you survive them. No instant kills, but plenty of close calls.

THOK: Glyphed Killing Spree will get you out of the tail's way and back to safety at the side of the boss. NEVER use Killing Spree during the focus chase phase. Instant kill. As usual, it shouldn't be... but it is. I guess his bum has big chompy teeth, huh?

Normal & Heroic SIEGECRAFTER: If you're on the belts, being stuck mid-Killing Spree as the armaments pass through the fire lines can hurt... not that I would know. I'm lucky to be on the boss every time. I assume Cloak will immune you from the fire lines. As for the boss, using Killing Spree can kill you when mines appear on the boss and target you (standing 2 feet away), and also on Heroic, when the magnet starts sending the spinning blades outwards and back inwards back onto the boss, right onto you.

Heroic PARAGONS: Hisek now has RAPID FIRE, which sends slow fireballs out all around the room. Mid-Killing Spree, that's 5 slow fireballs right on you, and possibly five more a second or two later. Either way: guaranteed death. Iyyokuk's FIREY EDGE fire lines are on eight people now, so being on the boss mid-Killing Spree can be bad with interescting lines on you, the tank, and anyone nearby. Kil'Ruk has REAVE (spinning, sucking whirlwind), so that's an instant 1-shot.

Normal & Heroic GARROSH: Using Killing Spree when an Iron Star is headed your way is obvious suicide. Use Killing Spree only on Garrosh (before the adds turn up), since the adds don't have an aggro table, and instead target whoever's closest to them. With Blade Flurry+Killing Spree, having you teleporting from add to add is just risking being 1-shot by the Warbringer adds, unless you're geared nicely and can survive a hit from them. During the intermission realm transition phases, let me reveal to you my discovery: GARROSH'S ANNIHILATE CAN HIT YOU, MID-KILLING SPREE. This happened to me only once, and enraged me at the time. It has never happened before or since (because I stopped doing it), but it seems the Annihilate frontal cone either includes the area right under his feet, or lag may result in him turning around after, and maybe your Killing Spree putting you behind him and into the still-lingering Annihilate cone. or not. I don't know. I had no explanation. Every Killing Spree put me behind the boss and kept me safe from his frontal cone every time... except that once. I thought maybe it was the AoE, but I had the buff, and it hit me for more than 700K, and my corpse dropped to the ground... still behind him. Maybe it was a split-second of Australian lag, oblivious to the naked eye? I dunno. Better to be safe than sorry and waste a rez. Moving on, WHIRLING CORRUPTION can kill you if you're stuck in Killing Spree, but Cloak immune will get you through it easily. On Heroic P4, only ever use killing Spree inbetween MALICE. Garrosh's size is much bigger now, and Killing Spree puts you too far inside his hitbox, and you don't want to be the one chosen for Malice when that happens. Everyone needs to be stacked.


Well, that's all I can think of, off the top of my head. If you can think of other cases where the Combat Rogue's ultimate signature ability can KILL US, mention it below!

[Deleted]

SHA OF PRIDE: If you are banished during killing spree it will send you to the middle of the pacman room causing you to go through several walls which kills you.

PARAGONS: Kaz'tik the manipulator's sonic projection will hit you once during killing spree but if you time it so that you killing spree right at the end of the cast you can avoid it before he's finished casting again but realistically you'll only succed with that half of the time so pop defensives if you're going to killing spree the boss, it's 500k physicial damage.
Kil'ruk the the Wind-Reaver's death from above will kill you if you're using killing spree when it happens. For me dbm hasn't been showing a correct timer for when this ability is about to happen but it seems to always hit 5-10 seconds after reave, so avoid using killing spree right after reave and wait untill he has done death from above.

GARROSH: I've never died from killing spree during annihilate and it is most likely not killing spree which will kill you. If you accidentally tap forward once after killing spree it will put you in range of annihilate, so just be very careful with movement after killing spree and try not to use jerky movement.

PROTECTORS: If you're using the stack tactic there's several things nasty ground effects that can kill you during killing spree coupled with high raid damage, so don't be afraid to pop cloak of shadows.

SPOILS:Set'thik Wind Wielder's windstorm can kill you during killing spree, the biggest danger comes right after he summons the winds with all of them stack in one place, but you can completley avoid the damage with cloak of shadows.

[Deleted]

Galakras, Juggernaut and Dark Shamans:Using Killing Spree may randomly cause you to fall through the ground, though depending on exactly where it happens you might actually survive, but you're still out of the fight.

[ymirsson]

I've never had a class ability kill me as much as it kills baddies except for this one.

[Canderous1]

siegecrafter - killing spree is pretty effective if you use it right away on your belt target, it will be over before the first set of beams and you'll probably be done killing your target anyway. back to boss, ar on the boss, and ks will be back up for the next belt phase.

[Thra]

I've never had a class ability kill me as much as it kills baddies except for this one.

Well it is 'Killing' Spree.


Coming from a pure Assassination stand point, combat the past week has been an adventure on what to do when and when not to do that. Fun times

[overdose]

For those of u that dont have this yet:

/cancelaura Killing Spree

I'm a spammer so I didnt macro it with killing spree to make it like a toggle cd, but if you wanted to i think it would be like this:

#showtooltip
/cancelaura killing spree
/cast killing spree

Of course it is alot better to just watch your timers n cloak/feint right before your killing spree if it will kill you, but an "oh shit" button is always nice!

[Lazuli]

^Yes take that macro, you WILL need it at times, and you are much better off canceling the skill than dying to that AoE you are in.. so fucking retarded.

I hate this skill with a passion, I never use it without CoS up on fights with AoE, also talented Feint can save you a lot of damage taken.

BUT WHAT IF I DON'T WANNA BE BEHIND MY TARGET, BLIZZ!?!?!?!? /RAGGGEEEEE

[Deleted]

It's an ability that rewards experience, reading up on boss mechanics and situational awareness. The more I play combat rogue the more I enjoy this ability and I just like the fact that you're risking survival for dps because it adds more flavour to the spec in my opinion, but hey each to his own.

[Trubo]

Ultraxion - Fall to your death if not glyphed.

Good times

[shadowboy]

You never actually killed ultraxion as combat, have you? Killing spree places you in front of the guy.

[Deleted]

It's an ability that rewards experience, reading up on boss mechanics and situational awareness.

No, it doesn't, it punishes inexperience. Combat is tuned with the assumption that you use Killing Spree, so having the experience to use it properly just puts you on par with other dps.

[Vigilate]

A decent chunk of my raid testing on PTR usually involves trying to figure out what you can and cannot use Killing Spree on. It was worse when it would always target random targets. During ToT testing, I pretty much figured that Killing Spree was FAR too much of a pain on many fights.

[Deleted]

You never actually killed ultraxion as combat, have you? Killing spree places you in front of the guy.

indeed, however, I can tell you from experience that shadowstep DOES put you behind him. but why you would want to ShS ultraxion is beyond me...

[Deleted]

No, it doesn't, it punishes inexperience. Combat is tuned with the assumption that you use Killing Spree, so having the experience to use it properly just puts you on par with other dps.

This is just a matter of how you look at it. Either you look at it like the glass is half full or half empty. Secondly I don't know if it's tuned with that assumption but it also doesn't matter too me, and keep in mind I didn't just mention experience which is a only a factor when the other two points matter just as much.

It still rewards you in a way that will seperate you from other rogues when using killing spree properly and this is really what holds the biggest value for me when it comes to feeling rewarded so this is mostly subjective and it's rather pointless argueing about because it won't lead anywhere, you don't feel rewarded because you say we are tuned around using killing spree anyway and I feel rewarded because it can seperate a rogue from other rogues. And I'm not going to argue wheter or not we are rewarded compared to other classes when using killing spree because it's not relevant to me, but I can say this: proper use of killing spree and just playing your rogue good will put you in around the top range, with warlocks being the big exception, so saying that we are on par with other dps is flawed.

I agree with you that it punishes inexperience (and the other points I mentioned) but that's where the flavour comes for me, that it can be so unforgiving and so rewarding at the same time.

But why are we going so offtopic.

[intrinsc]

The only only time Killing Spreed would kill a rogue is in situations where you are chasing a mob up some terrain and get sent down through the world, or you're a bad rogue. A good rogue has already recognized every other situation and uses the skill accordingly.

[Trubo]

You never actually killed ultraxion as combat, have you? Killing spree places you in front of the guy.

Guess I'm not remembering correctly. I figured that if shadowstep would (and still does) cause you to die so would killing spree.

[Thra]

It's an ability that rewards experience, reading up on boss mechanics and situational awareness. The more I play combat rogue the more I enjoy this ability and I just like the fact that you're risking survival for dps because it adds more flavour to the spec in my opinion, but hey each to his own.

This a good point. For years Killing Spree has been an icon of the combat spec. It does make us stand out, every rogue knows that sound...

[Skarzog]

It's an ability that rewards experience, reading up on boss mechanics and situational awareness. The more I play combat rogue the more I enjoy this ability and I just like the fact that you're risking survival for dps because it adds more flavour to the spec in my opinion, but hey each to his own.

I agree with this, no doubt experience and knowledge of a fight is vital for proper usage of KS. And I would have no qualms with the ability if the same were true for other classes/specs. But as far as I can tell KS is the only ability in the game which forces the player to give up control of their character. As far as rewards, its a cooldown, its about as rewarding as any other cooldown.

If combat is the best performing spec, its what I go with, and deal with the additional danger attached to Killing Spree. The alure of the ability wore off for me rather quickly, and is now just an annoyance. I might feel differently if this sort of cost benefit were attached to other cooldowns, or if Killing Spree was actually rewarding in comparison to other cooldowns.

[ymirsson]

As i read in another thread: "Now if only Stampede had a chance to backfire and kill the hunter"

Flavour or not, KS is nowhere as strong as to warrant a dath by misuse. And we're not talking about "I botched so badly, my raid dies and the server crashes out of shame" we're talking about a "oops, wrong second to press this button".

Rewarding? Hardly