Speaking of pooling Anticipation/Combo for higher levels of Insight... Has there finally been a mod written that tracks the "sub-charges" of Insight? I.e. how many more SS/RVS are actually needed to push the next level of Insight? I always found Insight to offer some nice wiggle room for player skill, but counting in my head during a complex encounter can be a bit taxing...

I don't know about any mod (but I did not actually search for one), but I am sure you could implement this "charge" counting in WeakAuras. I am talking about Bandit's Guile here, not Anticipation (because I think thats what Omanko was asking for?).

Yes, I was refering to Insight levels, which come from Bandit's Guile. Anticipation is easy, Insight is not!

[top]Enchants

Head: No Longer Enchantable
Shoulders: [Item not found!] – Crafted by Scribes
Chest: [Item not found!]
Wrists: [Item not found!]

Hands: [Item not found!] (Combat if not capped)
[Item not found!] (Assassination Only)
[Item not found!] (Combat if Expertise capped and Subtlety)


Waist: [Item not found!] - Crafted by Blacksmithers
Legs: [Item not found!] - Crafted by Leatherworkers
Feet: [Item not found!] (All Specs) OR [item][Enchant Boots: Greater Precision] (if not yellow hit capped)*

Weapon: ATM: [Item not found!] or [Item not found!]
Endgame:[Item not found!]

ForteXorcist can track insight levels for you ForteXorcist - Buffs & Debuffs - World of Warcraft Addons - Curse

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure though how Forte is supposed to track sub-levels - I have no trouble getting it to track the regular buff, but I see no way for it to track the hidden "in-betweens".

I really don't know why Blizzard had to make it so complicated. Was a stacking buff that ticks over into a new one at a certain number of stacks really too much to ask?

It's generally not the best idea to base enchant selection off of cappable stats. Reforging is the most efficient way to get to a stat cap, and allows far greater flexibility regarding which stats you sacrifice in order to get to that cap (e.g., exchanging a comparatively useless stat like crit). Enchanting or gemming is a backup measure during those relatively rare occasions when reforging can't get you there.

There’ve been a few posts about how to start up your rotation, Killing Spree usage, Revealing Strike and T90. I’d like to offer my 2 copper.

Initiating the rotation
First off, in the posts I’ve read, I’d say Slice and Dice hasn’t been sufficiently prioritized. SnD is our single biggest passive source of damage, and it’s a dps gain to activate Slice and Dice sooner rather than later.

As such, the generic start-up of our rotation would look like this:

· Stealth
· Shadowstep
· Ambush
· Slice and Dice
· Revealing Strike
· Sinister Strike (up to 5 Combo Points)
· Rupture

> Normal rotation ensues.

However, there’s been some discussion regarding the use of Killing Spree. For some time, it was considered worthwhile to combine Killing Spree with Deep Insight. However, because of Restless Blades, you’d stand to gain from using Killing Spree as soon as the initial start-up has amassed you 5 combo points, like described above. Following that, you activate Adrenaline Rush, use the 5 Combo Points you’ve obtained, and start shaving off seconds of the cooldown of both Killing Spree and Adrenaline Rush.

So, in order to get the best out of Restless Blades, the generic start-up could arguably be modified to this:

· Stealth
· Shadowstep
· Ambush
· Slice and Dice
· Revealing Strike
· Sinister Strike (up to 5 Combo Points)
· Killing Spree
· Adrenaline Rush
· Rupture

> Normal rotation ensues.

The caveat here is that this *is* a generic list. Depending on the encounter, you may need to start up differently to fit the specifics of the encounter and objectives of your raid. Also, Vanish could theoretically be used right after you've activated Slice and Dice in order to weave in another Ambush. However, you'd have to use Vanish in a way that prevents you from energy capping, and thus it might be better used later on in the priority queue. Last disclaimer is that Rupture would obviously be substituted with Eviscerate in times of Blade Flurry.

Revealing Strike
Revealing Strike is relevant to two aspects of your damage output: Sinister Strike and your offensive finishing moves. As such, Revealing Strike isn’t a buff you need to maintain as strictly as Slice and Dice. It’s something you need to have up and running when the next thing you’re about to perform is either a Sinister Strike, an Eviscerate or a Rupture. If your next GCDs are spent on Recuperate, Blade Flurry, Shiv, Feint etc., then Revealing Strike is irrelevant.

T90
The above carries over into the discussion about our final tier talent. A few good points about the benefits of Anticipation have been made. It’s relevant during Shadow Blades and it allows for a bit more leniency concerning your upkeep of Slice and Dice and Rupture. Additionally, Anticipation also counteracts the RNG based nature of Revealing Strike in the sense that you don’t lose combo points if the Revealing Strike buff procs when you’re sitting at 4 combo points.

As for discussing Anticipation vs. Verstility, I’d say it’s encounter specific. In encounters where you’re able to dps the same target for most parts, Anticipation is likely to give you an advantage when it comes to optimizing your rotation. In encounters where there’s a lot of adds to take care of, Versatility will likely increase your overall dps. And considering how you can switch talents on the spot with Tome of the Clear Mind, I guess it becomes redundant to discuss whatever talent’s the best across the board. You could simply, in a matter of a couple seconds, adjust your spec to fit whatever situation you’re in.

You will probably want to use Eviscerate in that opening sequence instead of Rupture. You are almost certainly going to energy cap when using Killing Spree and AR in quick succession, negating the benefit of using Rupture over Eviscerate.

With anticipation, you can get to Moderate Insight before using an offensive finisher. Would it be a DPS increase to delay the first KS and AR/SB until you get to moderate? That should leave you at 5 combo points and 3-5 charges of anticipation.

Vanish + shadow focus + ambush is best used in Deep Insight, both because of the high damage boost and also because you don't need to advance guile anymore.

As combat, I've been using anticipation to 'store' combo points for higher bandit's guile levels. Since bandit's guile is advanced by only generators and not finishers, in zero or light insight, I don't use finishers until Anticipation is at 4+ stacks. At moderate or deep insight, I then go back to normal and evisc at 5 CP.

Now that rupture updates as guile advances, I believe it would be optimal to apply rupture when your guile is low for the lower energy cost, and eviscerate when guile is high for the instant damage. But that's probably pretty obvious.

I am pretty sure this statement is false, unless Blizzard changed it for 5.0.x. I am at work and can't check it at the moment.