Combat Dagger

Combat Dagger is a talent build that developed from a need to move away from the flat damage of Eviscerate. Better weapons have changed the focus in PvE from burst damage popular earlier in the game to maintaining a high sustained damage. Toward this end, this build emphasizes the high damage possible from Backstab and increasing damage from normal swings by increasing attack speed with the finisher Slice and Dice.

A typical build is known at 16/25/10 and could be built as such -

Assassination - 16 points

5/5 Malice

Italic text5% crit is never a bad thingItalic text

3/3 Ruthlessness

Italic textUseful in its own right for maintaining Slice and Dice as long as possible, and a prereq for Relentless StrikesItalic text

2/3 Improved Slice and Dice

Italic textAn important talent for improving overall DPS. A possible variation is to move one point from Dagger Specialization to get 3/3 Improved Slice and Dice. This extends a 5 pt. Slice and Dice to 30 seconds of hasted attack speed 1/1 Relentless Strikes 5/5 Lethality

Combat - 25 points

2/2 Improved Sinister Strike 3/3 Improved Gouge 3/3 Improved Backstab 5/5 Precision 2/5 Deflection 5/5 Dual Wield Specialization 4/5 Dagger Specialization 1/1 Blade Flurry

Subtlety - 10 points

5/5 Master of Deception 5/5 Opportunity