Assassination better than combat even with inferior weapons?

[Tellof]

Hi all, semi long-time reader, first time poster.

I mained Combat for the last half of Cata, so I feel as though I have a proper grasp for how to play the spec. I want to main Assassination this expansion and I recognize it is the superior spec for single-target fights, however I can't get daggers to drop anywhere no matter how hard I try.

My weapons:
Daggers: 471/463, x2 Windsong, 499 equipped.
Combat: 502+DancingSteel / 496+Windsong, 504 equipped.

At a glance, combat is the overwhelmingly obvious winner... however I found the performance underwhelming.

I have spent time using gear fully gemmed+enchanted+reforged for both specs respectively, and I have also tried DPSing as the spec opposite of what my gear is reworked towards.

I have found that even in combat gear, my assassination will outperform in single-target DPS, even on a fight like Jin'Rokh where I have 100% uptime and very little movement which would remove problems with combats more active-damage playstyle.

Is Assassination really THAT much better for single-target? Even with weapons THAT different?

I'm mostly looking to see if any other rogues have observed this large damage disparity as well. I will not be posting any logs, my armory is irrelevant, I reforge myself with Mr. Robot regularly.

Thank you.

[Kael]

The disparity does exist, yes, although your armory is quite relevant, ironically. Itemization can make a difference. If you're experiencing a LARGE gap between combat and assassination with a 31 level weapon gap, you're probably doing something wrong in combat, if it favors assassination.

For a quick comparison, try shadowcraft.mmo-mumble.com to see the expected approximate differences in your specs.

[Thaendra]

I feel like sometimes Mr Robot does not reforge you quite right all the time. Armory could be very relevant. It's not that MR Robot is bad at all, it's that sometimes you need to put custom EP values for yourself to get an accurate representation.

It also depends what fight(s) you are trying to play combat on, and how good you are at utilizing combat's cooldowns. Combat only pulls ahead of assassination in single target at BiS or near-BiS levels.. so there is that to consider.

[Lolkrayd]

doing my own personal test (Jin-Rok) *my lfr and normal raid came out roughly the same*
Assassination came out to be ~160k-180k (slightly better gear 510/504 dagger/dagger)
Combat ~160k (Slightly worst gear 504/504 fist/dagger) only had one attempt so I can't say much, however perhaps you're not getting enough uptime on pools as combat?

Mr.Robot is kinda meh...overvalues some trinkets.

[Boil]

I only turn to Mr. Robot when Shadowcraft is not working…

I would like to close with…

BUFF COMBAT…!!!

[Jakmax]

I only turn to Mr. Robot when Shadowcraft is not working…

I would like to close with…

BUFF COMBAT…!!!

This. Everyone knew without its cleave combat would need more than a stinking 5% buff to a passive. Just another example of blizzard screwing the pooch.

[Deleted]

This. Everyone knew without its cleave combat would need more than a stinking 5% buff to a passive. Just another example of blizzard screwing the pooch.

Uh... combat is already more than 10 % ahead if you got 4p t15 and 522+ gear.

[Deleted]

Uh... combat is already more than 10 % ahead if you got 4p t15 and 522+ gear.

Based on what? Because SimC at 522ilvl rates combat way lower than assa. Also the fact that top guilds rogues are still using assa even with 4p bonus should tell you that's not true at all.

[Jerycho]

Uh... combat is already more than 10 % ahead if you got 4p t15 and 522+ gear.

I see a couple sims showing that maximum dps (not realistic) for combat with BiS should be slightly better than assassination. Even with that though, when I check out the best geared rogues, with the exception of a couple, most of them are still rolling assassination. I'm only at a 506 ilvl myself so I can only speak from my experience, but I don't think combat will be worth it during this patch at all. With that said, I've currently been rolling combat simply because I have horrid luck getting daggers so I'm stuck with 522 axe and 483 dagger ._.