I'm a new rogue at 90. After reading the stickies, I still have a few questions (PVE)

[Yawdead]

1) What is clipping your envenom? It's highly talked about, but rarely described. I'm assuming it's when you cast envenom when a current envenom is already running with > 1s. Is that correct?

2) If I'm correct with #1. I simply don't know how to avoid it. People say avoid clipping like the plague, but when I pop shadow blades, I'll often be at 7-8 CP and approaching energy cap and a couple seconds on envenom still. Is it better to let my energy cap, or to just clip it anyway? Again this normally only applies during shadow blades.

3) I've always opened mut > SnD > mut > envenom to get SND max duration up asap. Is this wrong? Should I instead focus on getting 5cp rupture up before 5cp SND?

4) Is it better to open with ambush or mut? I've seen posts with both of these answers, or is it personal preference?

5) Is haste valued higher than mastery for assassination? I read somewhere it is on elitist jerks but it seems people talk about mastery more here.

6) Is windsong better than colossus? I simply don't have the gold yet to afford 2x dancing steel

Thanks for your help guys!

[Battlebeard]

I don't play Assa but I think i can help you a little anyway

3. You are doing it right, get slice up asap.

4. Always open with Ambush from stealth, using the talent Shadow Focus.

5. Mastery!

6. Windsong is better.

[Deleted]

1. Yes.
2. Pool energy and clip, if you absolutely have to, to avoid energy capping. Never energy cap.
3. I'm usually mut>SnD>SB>mut>rupt or w/e, but it's somewhat down to preference.
4. Preference. I always mut.
5. Mastery.
6. Windsong.

[reef]

4. mut to potentially get a blindside proc.

[Vigilate]

1) What is clipping your envenom? It's highly talked about, but rarely described. I'm assuming it's when you cast envenom when a current envenom is already running with > 1s. Is that correct?

Effectively yes.

2) If I'm correct with #1. I simply don't know how to avoid it. People say avoid clipping like the plague, but when I pop shadow blades, I'll often be at 7-8 CP and approaching energy cap and a couple seconds on envenom still. Is it better to let my energy cap, or to just clip it anyway? Again this normally only applies during shadow blades.

If you're going to energy cap, (i.e. during Heroism/Shadow Blades) it's better to clip Envenom than energy cap. The best way to look at it is that it's not necessarily clipping Envenom that's the dps loss, but not maximizing Envenom uptime that's the dps loss.

3) I've always opened mut > SnD > mut > envenom to get SND max duration up asap. Is this wrong? Should I instead focus on getting 5cp rupture up before 5cp SND?

Yes. A 2 CP SnD should be enough time to get up a 5 cp Rupture and get off an Envenom. Having a Rupture up allows Venomous Wounds to start proccing. Venomous Wounds provides a good chunk of damage and increased energy generation. Advanced Rogue tactics usually involve keeping up Rupture + DP on on 2-3 targets at the same time. Again, if you're new to Rogue, don't worry about Multi-Rupture for the moment. Focus on the basic single target rotation first.

4) Is it better to open with ambush or mut? I've seen posts with both of these answers, or is it personal preference?

Mut tends to lead to smoother opener. There are sometimes fights where it just isn't practical to Ambush. In addition, as Assassination, there's no real bonus to opening with Ambush. However, Mutilate can proc Blindside which gives you a free Dispatch.

5) Is haste valued higher than mastery for assassination? I read somewhere it is on elitist jerks but it seems people talk about mastery more here.

Haste starts to become on par with Mastery for single target once you get two RPPM trinkets and the RPPM meta. However, the major caveat with going with Haste>Mastery is that your damage becomes heavily RNG based due to reliance on trinket procs. In addition, when you start factoring in things like boss mechanics, multi-rupture, and aoe, Mastery is just a better stat than Haste. This doesn't mean Haste is bad. Just don't go out of your way to use Haste gems, enchants, or reforges.

6) Is windsong better than colossus? I simply don't have the gold yet to afford 2x dancing steel

If you have to be cheap, go with Windsong. However, Dancing Steel is a lot better and you should go with it once you get a decent weapon. Colossus doesn't provide a dps increase.

[Ryme]

1. Yes, clipping envenom is simply refreshing envenom before the old envenom buff has faded (or gone to below 1 second duration)

2. You avoid it by pooling energy. However, during shadow blades, it is a dps increase to spam the hell out of it at 5cps so long as you give yourself enough shadow blades time to be back at 5cps to refresh your last one as Shadow Blades is fading without clipping (that sounds complicated, but it's not, let me know if you understand fully)

3. Optimal opener should be mut > snd > mut > rupture > Vendetta > Shadow Blades + Mut

4. The dps difference is unbelievably tiny, it should be better with mut, but only by a staggeringly small margin

5. In theory when you're on a boss for a exceptionally high amount of time, with 2 RPPM trinkets haste beats mastery, with 2 RPPM trinkets and the legendary meta it's only a high amount of time. In practise, mastery should beat haste this tier.

6. Why would colossus be ahead? Windsong wins here.

[Septer]

I wanted to ask. Once the raid boss hits 35
Percent and your dispatch replaces mut as your main combo point builder do you jusy spam the hell out of it while keeping up 5 CP rupture and SnD?

[Fluorescent0]

I wanted to ask. Once the raid boss hits 35
Percent and your dispatch replaces mut as your main combo point builder do you jusy spam the hell out of it while keeping up 5 CP rupture and SnD?

Normal rules from your over-35% rotation still apply. Simply instead of using mutilate you're using dispatch.

[Ssith]

1) What is clipping your envenom? It's highly talked about, but rarely described. I'm assuming it's when you cast envenom when a current envenom is already running with > 1s. Is that correct? yes

2) If I'm correct with #1. I simply don't know how to avoid it. People say avoid clipping like the plague, but when I pop shadow blades, I'll often be at 7-8 CP and approaching energy cap and a couple seconds on envenom still. Is it better to let my energy cap, or to just clip it anyway? Again this normally only applies during shadow blades. anticipation will take care of a lot of it, you're no longer limited to 5 CPs. it's better to clip than to cap.

3) I've always opened mut > SnD > mut > envenom to get SND max duration up asap. Is this wrong? Should I instead focus on getting 5cp rupture up before 5cp SND? 5cp rupture isn't really important. rupture is, but the number of CPs you use on it is not. i personally tend to go Stealth > Mut > SnD > Mut > Rupt > Mut > mut > env and then continue dropping CPs on rupt whenever it's got less than 2 seconds left.

4) Is it better to open with ambush or mut? I've seen posts with both of these answers, or is it personal preference? mut - 2x CPs

5) Is haste valued higher than mastery for assassination? I read somewhere it is on elitist jerks but it seems people talk about mastery more here. no, mastery > haste (at first, there's a balancing point, but shadowcraft can tell you more precisely)

6) Is windsong better than colossus? I simply don't have the gold yet to afford 2x dancing steel yes, windsong is the go-to cheap enchant

Thanks for your help guys!

answers in bold, WTB mutli-quoting.

[shadowboy]

While rupture uptime is more important than the rupture size, size IS important. It's always better to use a 5cp rupture than a 2cp rupture if you can do so without clipping more than 1 tick or losing uptime.