Sin rogue has become my favorite spec in wow over the past few years and my goal is only to improve the spec. Thematically, as the games poison spec, there is very little reference to poisons outside of passive talents and refreshing the buff once every hour. Mechanically, the spec revolves around keeping your plates (snd, bleeds, etc) spinning and filling the gaps with envenoms. There never feels to be a great payoff for maintaining the plates, even our cd deathmark just doubles the passives.
My goal with this ability is to increase player agency and skill expression. To reward sin rogues for keeping the aforementioned plates spinning while taking advantage of a resource rarely used in a thematically interesting way. This ability adds some much needed complexity to an otherwise simple spec. I will do my best to explain the ability below but the actual numbers will without a doubt need adjusted, however the ability potentially killing the player is intended.
Toxic Temptation:
A potent concoction rushes through the players body empowering the players envenom at the cost of vitality. Each second the player is under the effects of the toxin the player suffers 5% of their maximum health as damage. The player may repress the button (off gcd) anytime after the minimum duration of 5 seconds to administer the antivenom. The maximum duration of the toxin is 25 seconds before the player automatically administers the antivenom.
While effected by the toxin, casting envenom grants the following buffs based on cp spent:
If garrote is active on the target, grant X critical strike
If rupture is active on the target, grant X mastery
If ct is active on the target, grant X versatility
If snd is active on the player, grant X haste
If multiple of the above are active, then multiple buffs are granted. A small value for X seems fine but impactful enough to feel. When the antivenom is administered these buffs fade over 5 seconds. The timings on this ability seem weird but if the player can survive the full 25 seconds, this ability acts as a steroid that lasts a maximum duration of 30 seconds but peaks around 20-25 seconds which is more dynamic than a flat amount and requires proper play of the spec for any reward. This peak can only be reached if the player plans ahead with defensives or has healing on hand adding more complexity.
With a downside like this I wanted the player to be able to toggle off the ability when required but it greatly hinders the potency of the steroid, with the greatest effect coming at the end. The player can mitigate this downside through cv, cos, and any other form of healing, but most importantly through proper planning and knowledge of the fight at hand. If you know unavoidable damage is coming consider holding the ability or having defensives ready. If the damage is avoidable, get out of the way.
A 90 second cd would fill the dead space (mut-mut-envenom-repeat) in the rotation of sin rogue nicely without becoming overwhelming to the player. For example, it pairs nicely with the tier sets in 10.1 so even missing the dm window, the toxin would still benefit from the increased damage. Even if the numbers aren’t great and the spec gets nerfed elsewhere, the extra complexity and theme of the spec shines brighter. More sin rogues will end up on the floor because of this ability but learning to manage the risk of poisons and toxins with some finesse feels thematically correct for assassination rogue.