Mutilate

Mutilate
Mutilate (4 ranks) Rogue ability 5 . yd range 60 Energy Instant Instantly attacks with both weapons for an additional X with each weapon. Damage is increased by 50% against Poisoned targets. Must be behind the target. Awards 2 combo points.
Properties
Class	Rogue
School	Physical
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Talents
Talent tree	Assassination, Tier 9
Other information
Requirements	Two daggers equipped
Improvements	See below

"Leave nothing the family can identify." - The Assassin's Creed, Chapter 4

Mutilate is a rogue's hard-hitting move that must be performed from behind an enemy. It is the 41-point talent in the Assassination tree and requires two daggers.

Notes

Mutilate does higher initial damage than even [Backstab], and even more so against poisoned targets (+50% against poisoned targets). When combined with various talents, it can deal massive amounts of damage. In addition, it also gives you two combo points, the only other move to do so besides [Cheap Shot], which allows for quick combo point generation for stunlocks, etc.

Limitations:

• High energy cost.
• You must be facing your target.
• Only available when 2 daggers are equipped.
• [Seal Fate] will add only 1 additional combo point.
• Poison immune mobs will greatly decrease DPS.

Because mutilate attacks with both weapons, both attacks have a chance to crit. The crit chance for an additional combo point is 2 x Crit - Crit².

The formula to calculate mutilate damage is (corrected regarding offhand damage, see note at end):

 [Opportunity] = 1 + (0.1 *  [Opportunity] Rank)
Offhand Reduction = 0.5 + (0.05 *  [Dual Wield Specialization] Rank)
 [Lethality] = 0.06 *  [Lethality] Rank
Poison Bonus = 1 + (0.5 if Poisoned Target)

Average Weapon Damage = (Weapon Minimum Damage + Weapon Maximum Damage) / 2
Modifier = (Attack Power / 14) * 1.7
Base Damage = Average Weapon Damage + Modifier

Mainhand Base Damage = Base Damage + Mutilate Bonus Damage
Mainhand Damage = Mainhand Base Damage * Poison Bonus * Opportunity 
Mainhand Critical Damage = Mainhand Damage * (2 + Lethality)

Offhand Base Damage = (Base Damage * Offhand Reduction) + ( Mutilate Bonus Damage * (1 + (.1 *  [Dual Wield Specialization] Rank))
Offhand Damage = Offhand Base Damage * Poison Bonus * Opportunity
Offhand Critical Damage = Offhand Damage * (2 + Lethality)

Minimum Mutilate Damage = Mainhand Damage + Offhand Damage
Maximum Mutilate Damage = Mainhand Critical Damage + Offhand Critical Damage

The formula above has been changed to reflect what actually happens regarding offhand damage. Previously, the Mutilate Bonus Damage was listed as being reduced by the offhand penalty. However, it is in fact not reduced by the offhand penalty. Also, not only is the bonus damage not reduced, 5/5 DW Specialization increases it by 50%. This means the offhand bonus ends up being 101 if you don't have DW Specialization, and 151.5 if you have 5/5 DW Specialization.

See Mutilate vs Backstab for an in-depth mathematical comparison of both abilities with actual numbers.

Rank table

Rank	Bonus Damage	Level	Cost
1	44	50	Talent
2	63	50	49 50
3	88	60	58 50
4	101	70	67 50

Related talents

• [Remorseless Attacks] will give your next Mutilate a 20% or 40% increased chance to crit after killing an opponent that yields honor or experience. The improved crit chance lasts for 20 seconds.
• [Opportunity] increases the damage of your Mutilate by 10% or 20%.
• [Lethality] increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Mutilate by 6%, 12%, 18%, 24%, or 30%.
• [Dual Wield Specialization] increases the damage dealt by your offhand weapon by 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50%.
• [Puncturing Wounds] increases critical strike chance of Mutilate by 5/10/15%.

Tips and tactics

• Poisoning a target is not limited to the rogue's own poisons; other rogue's poison and hunter's Serpent Stings can be used to boost mutilate damage.
• In contrast with traditional dagger builds, using a slower, hard hitting weapon in your offhand is recommended to get the full damage potential of mutilate.
• To maximize the chance of applying poisons to a target before using mutilate, open your fights with [Cheap Shot] and wait the full duration of the stun before using mutilate.
• Mutilate really helps you take advantage of the talents [Cold Blood] and [Improved Kidney Shot]. With the right timing and crits, its possible to get off a mutilate and [Cold Blood] [Eviscerate] or [Envenom] within the duration of kidney shot, thus giving these heavy hitting moves up to 10% bonus dmg with the [Find Weakness] talent.
• Most mutilate builds will also take the "Find Weakness" talent, to max your mutilate damage open with cheap shot, then use expose armor to proc find weakness. Now your target is usually poisoned +50% damage, and a 10% boost from find weakness, with an added bonus of less armor
• When starting a fight out of stealth (e.g. in an instance) its often good to start with [Shiv] and then [Slice and Dice] before using mutilate making sure it is used to its full potential with +10% and +50% damage bonuses.

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB