Here’s a solid leveling/World Quest build. Depending on your preferences, you could use Master Poisoner to buff Leeching Poison, but I find Elaborate Planning helps you kill things faster, so there’s less need for the healing.
This build is designed with the use of Fan of Knives and Warmode in mind, so you can get the most out of your AE abilities. It’s worth noting, that burst damage can also be used to heal yourself, since you are using Leeching Poison, so this adds Envenom and Vendetta some utility as well. You want Vigor instead of Marked for Death, as Combo Point generation isn’t really an issue for Assassination, it’s Energy management, that you need to learn.
To gain the most out of Venomous Wounds, you want to Garrote multiple targets at the start, so tab targeting works great. You can get 4 Garrotes, 3 reliably, if the mobs are close enough to each other. If the enemies have enough health, you can use FoK and use 3-5CP Ruptures on multiple targets as well, as that will give you good value from Venomous Wounds. You’ll be able to spam FoK, Envenom, FoK again and keep up your Ruptures and Garrote on main target.
Smoke Bomb can be used for LoS, if there is a mob casting or shooting at you from a distance. Cloak is also very good, as is Feint, when your enemies have AE abilities. Evasion and Vial are handy tools, but don’t forget about your Stuns, Blind and Kick. Elite Mobs often have strong special abilities, that you can totally negate with Evasion+Feint, Cloak, or just interrupting them with a Kick or Stun. When all else fails, Vanish and Sprint to safety.
People often forget about consumables. Bandages are great, and using Blind or a Stun can buy you time to use them, or a Health Potion. Always have a stack of those handy. You can also get Drums cheap from the AH, to gain Bloodlust/Heroism. DPS potions and Flasks are also handy, even the cheap ones. You don’t need to use the best stuff while leveling or questing, the cheap stuff will do just fine.
Using Vanish mid-fight can be tricky, because if you don’t attack immediately, the mobs will often reset. However, if you want to speed up killing something, and feel confident enough, you can Vanish to reapply Garrote, or Cheap Shot. In the worst case you will just start all over. Sometimes this can be used to pull a huge band of mobs, kill half of them, Vanish to safety, and engage only half of them with the 2nd pull. Even if half of them are reset to full health, you’ve already cleared a good amount of them without dying, so you’re still making good progress.
Sometimes things get a bit messy, and you can’t run away. That’s when you start kiting. You can slow mobs down with Crippling Poison, and you can apply that by either your Poisoned Knife (30y range) or FoK (10y range). Create a bit of distance, Bandage and use a Health Pot if possible, and you can make the killing blow safely. You’d be surprised just how many Killing Blows can happen in World PvP with your Poisoned Knife as well!
