Combat builds combo points with one ability and spends them on two finishers, one of them a buff. 
Sinister Strike is the builder, and every combo point goes either into 
Slice and Dice, which you never let drop, or into 
Eviscerate. Energy is the limit, and it refills at 10 a second.
Before the pull
- 1At -3 s: Cast
Blade Flurry
Cast Blade Flurry a second or two before you reach the boss. It costs 25 of your 100 starting energy, most of which refills before the pull, and its 15 seconds of 20 % attack speed cover the opening. Its 2-minute cooldown brings it back near the two-minute mark.
Open with Sinister Strike and put the first combo point straight into Slice and Dice. With Improved Slice and Dice a 1-point Slice and Dice lasts 13 seconds, and 
Ruthlessness hands the point back 60 % of the time. Your potion, sapper and on-use trinkets go out in the first two or three seconds, once Slice and Dice is up, and 
Adrenaline Rush follows as soon as your energy drops below about 60.
Priority
Each time you can act, the top line that is ready wins. It isn't a fixed order. Below are all the lines our simulated Combat Rogue plays, how often each casts, and how much DPS the rotation loses without it.
- 1Cast
Berserking if Slice and Dice activeCast by the Troll only: the faction's races share this rotation.– - 2Cast Slice and Dice if (combo points ≥ 1 and Slice and Dice not active and time remaining ≥ 9) or (combo points ≥ 5 and Slice and Dice remaining < 2 and time remaining > 9)3.8/min+121 DPS · 15.8 %
- 3Cast Adrenaline Rush if energy < 59 and time to the next energy tick < 11.0/min–
- 4Use the other cooldowns as they come up if Slice and Dice active+23 DPS · 3.0 %
- 5Cast
Cold Blood if combo points ≥ 5 and can cast Eviscerate and combo points ≥ 3 and (Slice and Dice active or energy ≥ 79 or time remaining < 6)1.0/min+11 DPS · 1.4 % - 6Cast Eviscerate if combo points ≥ 3 and (Slice and Dice active or energy ≥ 79 or time remaining < 6) and (not (Cold Blood known and Cold Blood ready) or Cold Blood active or combo points ≥ 5 or time remaining < 8)4.6/min+82 DPS · 10.7 %
- 7Cast Sinister Strike if time to the next main-hand swing > main-hand swing time − 0.6 or time remaining < 6 or energy ≥ 7919/min+420 DPS · 55.2 %
- Slice and Dice whenever it is down and you have a combo point, unless the fight is about to end. Its 30 % attack speed makes it the line worth most after your builder, 15.8 %. Some fights also refresh it at 5 combo points with under 2 seconds left. Otherwise the rotation puts a single point into it rather than let it drop.
- Adrenaline Rush when your energy falls below about 60. The line's energy-tick condition always passes, because Forever's energy has no ticks. The line is worth only 0.1 %, since without it the automatic cooldowns would cast Adrenaline Rush anyway. The talent behind it adds 8.5 %.
- Cold Blood just before a 5-point Eviscerate, so that Eviscerate crits. Until it is used, the Eviscerate line waits for 5 points.
- Eviscerate while Slice and Dice is up. The two- and three-minute single-boss rotations finish at 4 combo points, the shorter and three-boss ones at 3 or even 2. Its line adds 10.7 %. A 5-point Eviscerate always triggers
Relentless Strikes's 25 energy. - Sinister Strike with the energy left. It costs 40 with Improved Sinister Strike. Without it there are no finishers, which is why the line is worth 55.2 %.
On this fight the rotation pools: it presses Sinister Strike within about half a second after a main-hand swing, or once energy reaches 79. With a steady refill, waiting costs nothing as long as you stay below 100.
Berserking is the Troll's racial, cast while Slice and Dice is up. The rotation also holds a 
Thistle Tea line that never runs, which the table leaves out: it keeps the automatic cooldowns from drinking the tea.
More than one target
Combat has no area attack in this rotation, so Blade Flurry does that job. For its 15 seconds every melee hit you land is dealt again to one more target, Sinister Strike and Eviscerate included, but not your poisons. On a three-minute fight against three bosses the copied hits add up to 15.0 % of your damage. The rest of the priority doesn't change: cast Blade Flurry when the second boss is in reach. 
Dragonbreath Chili procs and the 
Goblin Sapper Charge reach all three bosses on their own.
Cooldowns
Combat's cooldowns go early. Nothing here gains from waiting: there is no execute phase, and the simulated boss has every raid debuff from the pull. In a real raid the armor debuffs take a few seconds to go up, which the simulator doesn't model.
- Adrenaline Rush goes in the first few seconds. On a boss that lasts past 5 minutes, use it again as soon as it is ready.
- Blade Flurry goes before the pull and again on cooldown. On one boss it is only haste.
- Cold Blood goes on the first 5-point Eviscerate, about 10 seconds in.
- Potion, sapper and trinkets go on the pull with Slice and Dice up, the potion again two minutes later, and Elune's Light, Blood Fury and Berserking with them. The benchmark's potion is a
Mighty Rage Potion, for its 60 Strength, but Wowhead's Forever tooltip lists it for Warriors and Druids only (see Gear).
| Cooldown | Uses | At |
|---|---|---|
| Blade Flurry | 1 | 0:00 |
 Molten Heart of the Mountain | 1 | 0:02 |
| Mighty Rage Potion | 1 | 0:02 |
| Goblin Sapper Charge | 1 | 0:02 |
| Adrenaline Rush | 1 | 0:03 |
| Cold Blood | 1 | 0:12 |
What your log should show
Line your Warcraft Logs report up against this table. Too few Sinister Strikes a minute means you are sitting on energy. Slice and Dice dropping often means your finishers are in the wrong order.
| Ability | Casts per minute | Of damage | Crit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto attack | 92.0 | 35.9 % | 39.9 % |
| Sinister Strike | 18.6 | 21.1 % | 29.7 % |
Auto attack via  Windfury Totem attack | 19.1 | 16.0 % | 35.5 % |
| Eviscerate | 4.6 | 13.7 % | 45.0 % |
 Deadly Poison V | – | 4.5 % | 8.2 % |
 Instant Poison VI | – | 3.1 % | 15.9 % |
 Touch of the Grave | – | 2.6 % | 0.0 % |
 Dragonbreath Chili | – | 1.6 % | 15.9 % |
| Goblin Sapper Charge | 1.0 | 1.5 % | 15.2 % |
| Slice and Dice | 3.8 | – | – |
| Cold Blood | 1.0 | – | – |
| Adrenaline Rush | 1.0 | – | – |
| Mighty Rage Potion | 1.0 | – | – |
| Molten Heart of the Mountain | 1.0 | – | – |
| Blade Flurry | 1.0 | – | – |
The numbers that tell the most: about 18.6 Sinister Strikes and 4.6 Eviscerates a minute, and Deadly Poison V near 4.5 % of your damage. Windfury Totem's extra attacks get a line of their own, apart from your auto attacks.
Uptimes
| Buff or debuff | Uptime | Times per fight |
|---|---|---|
| Windfury Totem aura | 100.0 % | 13 |
| Deadly Poison Von the boss | 93.4 % | 1.3 |
| Slice and Dice | 91.5 % | 3.8 |
| Holy Strength | 47.5 % | 2.9 |
| Mighty Rage Potion | 33.3 % | 1.0 |
| Molten Heart of the Mountain | 25.0 % | 1.0 |
| Adrenaline Rush | 25.0 % | 1.0 |
| Blade Flurry | 20.0 % | 1.0 |
| Windfury Totem | 6.6 % | 19 |
Watch Slice and Dice most: the simulated rogue keeps it up 91.5 % of the time. Below that you are refreshing it late, and every second without it costs you its 30 % attack speed.