#1 - Feb. 15, 2017, 10:35 p.m.
Item - Rogue T20 Assassination 4P Bonus (New) Garrote generates 1 additional combo point and deals 20% increased damage.
As it stands, without major changes to how Garrote works, these are absolutely Terrible
2 piece: Currently, Garrote lasts for 18 seconds and has a 15 second cooldown. With current garrote, this would only be a dps increase when using Exsanguinate (causes Garrote complete in half of the time) or in a cleave situation, where you can (barely) keep two garrotes up at once. Depending on the number of AoE targets, Garrote may not be worth using (after multiple ruptures are up).
It goes without saying that this bonus, without changes to the base ability, is terrible. Only a very slight single target increase with one specific talent (often considered the weakest on the tier), an okayish (maybe?) increase on cleave, and potentially nothing on AoE. The only way I could see it being good is if Garrote was affected by haste in a way that caused it to tick out faster without reducing the cooldown, And you'd need FAR more haste than the average non Alacrity Assassination rogue to do that. that or stacking on the same target
Oh, and thanks to Thuggee, this wouldn't even be that useful for the Class hall set. Or even a levelling set.
4 piece- It's... Weak at best. Garrote is a portion of our damage, but not such a large one that a 20% increase in damage (Even after the extra artifact traits) would be significant (Maybe a 3% total increase at most). The extra combo point is nice, but still not that much- 3.3 a minute on single target (even WITH the 2 piece)? That's... Okay, I guess.
Problem is though, if Garrote should generate an extra combo point, it shouldn't be part of a 4 piece tier set. Garrote's my least favourite part of the Assassination rotation, as it's pretty expensive to use, but only provides a single combo point as its instant effect. Making it generate two (and rebalancing the extra damage away elsewhere) would make the rotation feel far more fluid, and thus shouldn't be a tier bonus. Especially not a 4 piece.
In short, if these tier bonuses go live without massive overhauls to Garrote, this is getting close to a T5 or T9-esque tier. That is, One that nobody bothers using/only uses if they're desperate for higher level gear.
