Leveling Using Mutilate

When the expansion was released Blizzard was kind enough to reset our talents for free, so knowing that I was going to be back lvling again I decided to spec heavily into combat swords. Which was fine for the first while (lvls 61-64).

I picked up a Shadowrend Longblade from the Hellfire Ramparts and a Footman's Longsword after getting honored with Honor Hold (easy to do, just completed the quests in the zone). Using gear with high attack power, +hit, some crit and using the Blade Fist's Breadth trinket to further boost atk power. There wasn't a mob I couldn't solo. Whenever I pulled more than one mob I popped blade flurry and adrenalin rush, they dropped like flies. Fun times. But that was Rogue easy mode. One or two buttons = easy kill.

Prior to BC I was combat dagger spec, at 1.12 I specced mutilate to pvp and farm. Mutilate is the new 1.12 assassination talent where you attack with both weapons at once dealing weapon dmg +44 and if the target is poisoned it deals an additional 50% damage (!!!). Plus this thing can crit on both hands and deal even more damage. Plus it generates two combo points. It is the new backstab IMO.

After a quick trip to the Slave Pens I got the Wastewalker Shiv, which is a kickass main hand dagger. At lvl 65 you can do the Big Bone Worm quest and get Dib'Muad's Crysknife. Set is complete and I respecced Mutilate.

"Give me back my damn dagger!"

This is my current spec: Link
Not your typical cookie cutter Mutilate build. But the combo point generation is insane, I can easily nail a 5 point kidney shot before cheap shot wears off. My last two points I could either put into slight of hand for that bit of extra agro reduction or imp eviscerate for extra damage. I'm not sure yet. The key here is I put the 5 points into find weakness, its an awesome ability that boosts your damage by 10% whenever you do a finishing move. This includes slice and dice.

Soloing with that build is a cinch. The enemy can be kept stunned fairly easily with all the extra combo points you'll generate. If you accidentally miss the cheap shot you can pop cold blood and gouge, followed by a mutilate and cheap shot to stun your target. Imp sap makes killing multiple mobs easy, plus in instances people will love you. On escort quests its easy to solo as well, just stay ahead of the mark and keep sapping any mob in its way. You never break stealth and never have to break a sweat.

While fighting the best combo is go stealth > cheap shot > mutilate (5 combo points) > wait till you are about 80% energy > kidney shot (find weakness pops) > mutilate x2 (+10% boost to dmg) > (5 combo points) eviscerate = dead mob. If its not dead, throw a gouge and mutilate again. It should be dead by then.

Going daggers after grinding swords for a long time will seem like a frustrating transition. But after you learn some patience and get the timings down you'll find that mobs start dropping like flies. Just use your abilities and avoid pulling multiple mobs, imp sap is included for a reason. Plus the strong boxes you pick up from pickpocketing usually include plenty of blinding powder (thank you Blizzard).

I'll make another post about grouping with people using mutilate.