Seriously, I fail at Rogue so much. I don’t play Feral for a reason either. All of this finishing move combo point stuff, along with energy usage and cooldowns is just making me crazy trying to figure it out.
Is it possible for someone to explain to me as if I were a two year old the basic rotation and priority of Assassination Rogue? I just want to try this again on my pretty Velf that I have sitting there wasting space and the Wowhead and Icy Veins articles made my brain go:
You are too young for Rogues.
Done.
Garrote (out of stealth) bonespike, mutilate, rupture, mutilate, mutilate, energy pool, vendetta, shiv, envenom, mutilate, mutilate, envenom, vanish, garrote, bonespike, mtulate, rupture.
On single target the spec in insnaely simple, keep garrote and rupture up at all time, pool energy and have at least 4 combo points before you shiv so you can fit as many envenoms in to the shiv window as possible, and thats literally it. Keep in mind garrote does way more damage when used out of stealth so be trying to get restealths, or use vanish offensively.
Thank you! 
Stealth, stun, stab, stab, vanish, stun, stab, stab, finishing move.
Load up dots…lots of haste to speed up auto attack. some damage is in the autoattack. It is useful.
That is cliffnotes. Illidanar has the expanded version.
Which is keep up dot pressure long form.
Bonespke is the necrolord ability. good one too. This if I deal with the 9.2 crap would be why I get her (my sin rogue) a belt. More spikes…
Go to a practice dummy, watch what your hits do. Certain hits will create combo points.
Once you have enough, use a spell that’ll eat them up. There’s your burst/power move.
I usually play sub but I think sub and assassination are similar in the combo points usage.
I haven’t played my rogues much lately but I do know they’re dependent on good gear and weapons. Big time.
In case it’s not clear you to, ‘combo points’ are the dots that appear under the bars of your toon.
The other BIG thing is do NOT use your abilities (unless you have to) until the lower yellow bar is at max, this will increase the damage you do on the abilities you use.
Icy Veins has a decent rotation recommendation for assassination rogue.
I understand what they are and how they work. There’s just so many combo point abilities, I was looking for the rotation of builders and spenders. 
Slice and dice up, you’ll refresh this with envenoms later
Rupture up, ideally empowered (from stealth, so in opener and whenever vanish is up)
Keep rupture up (5-7 pt)
Don’t cap bone spike charges
Envenom when above all taken care off
Mutilate single-target combo point gain, fan of knives aoe/cleave
Vendetta off CD as long as the target won’t die immediately after
Assa in a nutshell
I really like the multi-dot aspect, as you just put garrote/rupture on something then move on to another target. Feels smooth. You get extra energy from bleeding (and poisoned) targets, so you’re encouraged to, if possible.
Thanks! 
Marked For Death is also a super nice talent when you’re doing anything where you’ll get resets.
Well… it starts with holding a knife… repeat after me… ‘‘knnnniiifffeee’’.
You have to hide behind the person, like you are sneaking up at 'em…
''Thallia, stop sucking your thumb!"
Anyway where were we…
You go ''SURPRISE!" and knife the sucker to death…
I’ll go put a $1 in the naughty jar.
LOL… fun fact: my mom tried to give me pacifiers when I was a baby and I hated them. Thumb or nothing! 
Essentially, you need just need to keep Slice and Dice up, as well Rupture (And Crimson Tempest if your talented in that) on your enemies targets up, and when your not doing that, Envenom or Kidney Shot if needed a stun.
And always start with Garrote from stealth. If not to silence the target, it’s for extra dot. It’s also worth nothing to keep re-applying this before it runs out.
install the addon maxDPS for rogues. it will literally tell you what to do next as you press buttons. this can help get the flow of things much easier.
basically for regular mobs its stealth, sneak attack, build up combo points, spend combo points to execute. if you just want to sneak by mobs while questing use sap.
against bosses you will want to build up combo points and spend them on the self buffs like slice and dice. then just build up and spend combo points like normal. maintain the self buffs and use finishers. you dont need to wait until you have max combo points either. using slice and dice with 3 points to make building more combo points faster is totally an option.
in pvp you will want to use the ability marked for death while still stealthed, then just ambush non casters or garrote casters, use vendetta and get stab happy like normal. bind kick to a button in easy reach to interrupt casters. use evasion when attacking hard hitters like warriors and paladins. use sap against lone players and separate them from a group. harass healers. if things get too hot use vanish and gtfo.
rogue is a very spammy class. there is not much of a serious full scale rotation like there is with other classes. its basiclly just sneak attack and stab repeatedly until they die. some things to note for assassin rogue is it relies a bit on damage over time, so keep you poisons active. you can take 2 poisons at once, usually deadly and crippling. or crippling and wounding in pvp. and you can use envenom and shiv to make poisons work better. also in pvp rogue works wonders as a flanker. follow a warrior or paladin on your side into battle and back them up. or try to guard your strong casters from other rogues. few things piss rogues off more then another rogue playing the “anti-rogue” role.
a very basic opening for general use would be ambush from stealth, mutilate, blind, slice and dice, vendetta, mutilate, envenom if they are not already poisoned and rupture if they are. then basically stab at will. if your in pvp try to stay behind them. run straight thru them if you need to. they cant dodge or hit what they cant “see” and breaking line of sight can interrupt casting. same goes with bosses. if the tank has their attention get behind the boss.
i have not played in a while so this is not very in depth but this should at least get you going. 
Hey lil fella.
Stick the pointy end into the bad man.
Glad to hear it! I hate to make assumptions as I so often see people skip the basics and further confuse people rather than helping.