It's Tuesday, which means that talent junkies everywhere get their fix (well, part of it, anyway) -- welcome to Build Shop! Last time we talked rogues in this column it was all about the Subtlety tree. Well, this time we're going into a heavy Assassination / Combat build, known to some as "Combat Mutilate."
Unlike builds that incorporate talents from the Subtlety tree to go along with Mutilate, this build is aimed at rogues who want a competitive PvE build that doesn't suck the fun (and the life) out of you like some other PvE-centric builds.
Since Mutilate is an attack that must be made from behind, like Backstab or Ambush, it has a positional requirement. And yes, for it to do the maximum amount of damage, your target must be poisoned. And yes, there are several other things you can do if you want to buff up your damage even further. It's the price you pay for a build that's fun to play, with quick combo point generation and the potential for a lot of damage.
Unlike builds that incorporate talents from the Subtlety tree to go along with Mutilate, this build is aimed at rogues who want a competitive PvE build that doesn't suck the fun (and the life) out of you like some other PvE-centric builds.
Since Mutilate is an attack that must be made from behind, like Backstab or Ambush, it has a positional requirement. And yes, for it to do the maximum amount of damage, your target must be poisoned. And yes, there are several other things you can do if you want to buff up your damage even further. It's the price you pay for a build that's fun to play, with quick combo point generation and the potential for a lot of damage.
When Burning Crusade came out, I shelled out the gold to respec to Mutilate, and my Rogue has been using it ever since. This is one build where you really have to pay attention in combat if you want to maximize your damage. Like many builds that utilize the Combat tree, Slice and Dice is your best friend, and should be up as long as you're in combat. The key to this build is not just generating combo points, but knowing when to use them to get the most effect out of Find Weakness (more on that later).
The other consideration is Mutilate itself -- it requires daggers in both hands, and for you to be behind your target. In an instance, with a tank, this is not that difficult; however, when you're by yourself it can be a bit of a pain. In addition, the damage Mutilate does is increased by 50% if your target is poisoned. Since Mutilate's damage is somewhat lackluster without a poisoned target, you'll always want to have poison on your blades. Of note is that it doesn't have to be your poison for you to gain the increased damage -- any "poison" debuff on the target will do (like a Hunter's Serpent Sting).
You'll generally want to have Find Weakness up when using Mutilate. The best way to do this is build your combo points and wait for your energy bar to fill back up almost completely, use a finisher to proc Find Weakness, then let your target have it. If you're watching your energy ticks (easier to do with an addon), you should easily be able to use Mutilate twice before FW fades.
Now that you've got the basics, let's jump in and examine these talents, shall we?
Assassination (41 points)
- Malice (5/5) - Increases crit chance by 5%. Pretty much a staple in any rogue build. Since Mutilate doesn't have any talents that increases its chance to crit (unlike Backstab and Ambush), a solid crit rating helps out a lot.
- Ruthlessness (3/3) - Combo point generation is one of the strengths of this build, and this often helps rebuild your CP after you've used them.
- Murder (2/2) - A pretty solid damage increase to 4 common enemy groups.
- Lethality (5/5) - Increases the critical strike damage of your Mutilate (and many other abilities) by 30%. Definitely pick this one up.
- Relentless Strikes (1/1) - On a full 5 point combo, you'll get 25 energy back when you use a finisher. Excellent for helping you build up more CP right away.
- Vile Poisons (5/5) - Increases the damage done by your poisons and Envenom by 20%. You'll be using poisons a lot, and if you're looking to use a burst damage finisher with this build you should be using Envenom anyway, so this isn't a bad way to spend 5 points.
- Cold Blood (1/1) - An oldie but a goodie. When that next attack just has to crit, use this.
- Improved Kidney Shot (3/3) - Better in instances than in raids, but an extra 9% damage from everyone who's hitting your target is nothing to laugh at.
- Quick Recovery (2/2) - You'll take 20% more healing from everything, including potions and bandages as well as spells. Additionally, if you miss a finisher you don't lose much energy, which makes this a solid talent.
- Fleet Footed (2/2) - Since mobility is a pretty big part of this build, increased resistance to snares isn't a bad thing. You'll also run 15% faster on foot, which can be handy.
- Seal Fate (5/5) - One of my favorite talents ever. When you crit an ability that grants a combo point, you get 1 additional combo point. It's important to note that even though Mutilate grants 2 combo points, you'll only get 1 extra combo point on a crit, not 2. This is still a fantastic talent, and can generate CP very quickly.
- Vigor (1/1) - 10 extra energy. Use it wisely.
- Find Weakness (5/5) - Increases the damage of all your offensive abilities by 10% for 10 seconds any time you use a finishing move. Try to save your energy to make the most of these 10 seconds whenever possible.
- Mutilate (1/1) - This is the whole reason we're here. Attack instantly with both of your daggers for an additional 101 damage, giving you 2 combo points for 60 energy. With this attack, either dagger can crit, both can crit, or they can both do regular damage. With double crits under the right conditions, you can pump out Ambush-style damage without stealth very quickly.
Combat (20 points)
- Improved Gouge (3/3) & Improved Sinister Strike (2/2) - Kind of filler in this build. You'll use Gouge to help extend your stunlocks in solo play, but you shouldn't ever use Sinister Strike with this build. Feel free to shift some points into Lightning Reflexes to increase your Dodge instead.
- Improved Slice and Dice (3/3) - You should generally have Slice and Dice up as much as possible with this build, and this talent increases its duration by 45%, freeing you up to use other finishers more often.
- Precision (5/5) - Like many PvE Combat builds, it's a good idea to have a lot of hit rating to help maximize your white damage. This gives you an additional 5% hit, making it a very solid talent.
- Endurance (2/2) OR Improved Sprint (2/2) - I'm taking Endurance because I like the cooldown reduction, but take Improved Sprint if you so desire.
- Dual Wield Specialization (5/5) - Increases the damage done by your offhand weapon by 50%. This is a big one, because it also applies to your Mutilate in addition to increasing your white damage.
So there you have it -- Combat Mutilate. It's one of the most fun builds I've ever played, and if you can master the positioning, poisoning, and timing, your reward is some incredible combo point generation and great damage. It's definitely viable for raiding, though your damage will take a hit on any fight where the target can't be poisoned. If you're bored with your current build I'd definitely give this a try! You won't be disappointed.
That wraps up this edition of Build Shop, but I'll be back again next week! What do you want to see on Build Shop? Send me an email with your questions or comments, and we'll talk shop.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-20-2007 @ 3:07PM
rick said...
One thing you don't mention is weapon choice. You'll want 2 high damage daggers... this usually means 2 slow daggers since, for a given DPS, a slower dagger has a higher damage range. Twin Ced's are an OK starter. Malchazeen and Emerald Ripper are nice, etc, etc.
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11-20-2007 @ 3:09PM
Ryan said...
This is a super fun build. No doubt about it. My rogue is currently level 66 and uses something very similar.
I'd like to suggest the following for rogues that are leveling and like to pvp along with it. It simply moves the points in Murder, Vile Poisons and Imp Kidney Shot around to get Imp Poisons and Master Poisoner. Which will ensure you get those precious poisons up on your target quickly (and during pvp you shouldn't be using deadly poison with envenom). I think it works great and I'm sure most clothies hate it when I stunlock them down.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhe0oxgoidVoGzVbbV
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11-20-2007 @ 3:11PM
Ryan said...
Also, rick is right above me. Two slow weapons (go 1.8 speed or higher (if you're leveling the old level 60 GM weapons are 2.0 speed x_x) for the maximum output.
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11-20-2007 @ 3:18PM
Drashian said...
As far as attack sequences and Find Weakness go, I find that the right timing can give you an amazing burst of DPS. I shiv to cheaply put a deadly poison on my enemy, then 1 or 2-point slice and dice at full energy just before a tick. By the time Find Weakness has gone away I've usually gotten not only the 2 full-powered mutilates you mentioned in there, but a 4 or 5 point Envenom as well (the 4-piece Assassination set bonus makes this much easier to do within the time limit since 110 energy - Mutilate + tick - Mutilate + tick = 30 energy, or the 105 energy you'll have after a tick if S&D doesn't get your Relentless Strikes bonus will still leave you with the 25 you need for a modified Envenom).
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11-20-2007 @ 3:20PM
Drashian said...
P.S. Great build, I'm using a deep assassination build on my rogue (as you can tell) with a few points in Subtlety from back when Imp Sap was basically a necessity for PvE 5-mans, but I'm seriously thinking about doing something like this if I can't get the weapons to make a good deep combat build.
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11-20-2007 @ 3:33PM
bdonk said...
Why would you profile an old build like this instead of discussing the new viability of 0/37/24 or 0/31/30??
C'mon...we already know about mutilate. Let's talk about the new hawtness of 2.3 Hemo.
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11-20-2007 @ 4:23PM
steven W Riggins said...
I have a weird build, no 41 talent, switched to fists when 2.3 came out and so far upped my DPS over my combat build by 100+. Fun heh.
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Silver+Hand&n=Stabbarella
I know, it's odd, but that is what makes WoW fun :)
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11-20-2007 @ 4:51PM
celeron450 said...
bdonk, you are right that hemo combat is what it's about in 2.3, but you can't have 0 in assassination for a good raiding spec. The new hemo combat raiding specs are 11/28/22 or 11/27/23 for sword spec, or 11/20/30 for maces or fists. Relentless strikes is too good to leave out.
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11-20-2007 @ 5:02PM
Brie said...
Sigh...I miss mutilate. The biggest problem with this build is that after T4 content it becomes virtually useless. There are far too many poison immune mobs to make it a long term viable raiding spec. And that's really too bad because it's fun to play.
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11-20-2007 @ 5:10PM
Bart said...
I notice you say that you dont use sinister strike, and that you put points into gouge. I think putting points into improved gouge is useless, since you are so dependent on poisons for your dps, gouging will be useless, since a DOT will break it. Also, since you wont be using sinister strike, just shiv, then you migth as well put those 5 points into increased dodge, since that is more survivability.
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11-20-2007 @ 5:34PM
Devries said...
The first couple posters are incorrect in their assertion that a slow offhand is necessary for combat mutilate. Extensive testing has shown that in raid environments, the damage lost per mutilate with a fast (1.3 or 1.4) offhand is more than made up by increased poison procs. The majority of offhand Mutilate damage is achieved through the damage bonus, which is increased in your OH by 50% by Dual Wield specialization.
For PvP you would want a slow offhand to maximize your burst Muti damage, but for raiding (which is what this build is primarily for) a fast offhand is actually preferable. Especially because the Gladiator weapons are superior to most raid offhand drops (of which there are few, if any) until BT/Hyjal
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11-20-2007 @ 6:25PM
Furien said...
@10 Not all poisons are a DoT. The author suggests it might be handy for solo play. Wounding on the offhand to get that poison on, then gouge might give you enough time to get into position for another Mutilate. It comes down to personal preference.
@11 Absolutely correct, for raiding a slow offhand isn't essential with this build. Just grab the best offhand dagger available to you.
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11-20-2007 @ 6:39PM
Aelfinn said...
I recently switched to a mutilate build for combat daggers and I find mutiliate far more fun. Its a nice change of pace from simply using sinister strike over and over and over and over and over, I think you get the point.
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11-21-2007 @ 2:41AM
evestraw said...
43 / 0 / 18
like this better with remorceless attacks and opportunity for 20% more damage from mutilate and 40% more crit
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11-21-2007 @ 3:52AM
AndyF said...
#9 - don't despair! There are very few poison-immune bosses in the later raids.
Off hand, I don't think ANY of the Hyjal / Black Temple bosses are poison immune, although there are some in T5 raid content (accept them as mutilate-weak fights and carry on).
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11-21-2007 @ 8:22AM
Loudfiero said...
How can you say you maximized Mutilate damage while leaving out Opportunity?
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11-21-2007 @ 12:36PM
Siorra said...
@16: Because that's the biggest pain with Mutilate. You have to choose either Duel Wield spec and Opportunity. One being more Pve based, the other PvP. And until Wrath, we can't have both! It's so unfair...
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11-21-2007 @ 12:44PM
CyCo23 said...
It's a myth concerning 2 high dmg daggers vs fast/slow.
http://roguecrap.blogspot.com/2007/03/mutilate-part-4-myth-on-off-hand-weapon.html
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11-21-2007 @ 1:03PM
Chris Jahosky said...
@16 -
According to those renowned theorycrafters worldwide, because Mutilate gains a larger benefit from having Dual Wield spec instead of Opportunity, and like 17 said -- you can only have one or the other until Wrath hits.
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12-23-2007 @ 1:50PM
Zuper dude said...
Is this thread for noob rogues? I mean, do we honestly need a list of what every talent helps you with? Not really..lol. Lets get an experienced rogue (someone in BT or over 2k in arena)to talk about the class in detail, because the rogue columns are lackluster, dull, and uninteresting in their current state. Now all you noob rogues, GTFO
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