@huhbum
LC isn't very usable in solo play, It can be a good party skill with a good tank to distract all the enemies, but I'm pretty sure it can't compete with those spinning warriors.
...And why is uptime so important? Not being able to keep Envenom up makes sense because it deals so much damage per tick (4x what Rupture deals). That doesn't make it weaker. Sear with talents is better than Rupture with talents. Not by much, but it's better. Sear can deal 300% dps over 10 seconds. Rupture can deal 100% instant damage, then 200% more over 10 seconds. They're similar, but there's that casting animation. Sear is a quick swipe, while rupture feels painfully slow. Not sure why an aoe class's main DOT is better than the single target class's main DOT.
One other thing that annoys me about assassins is their lack of threat reduction skills.
LC can't compete with spinning Warriors because spinning Warriors who want to maximize their DPS can and should take LC talents as well, and I'm already starting to see more Warrior/Sin hybrids in dungeons. It's not as useful for Assassins in solo play, but can be useful for Warrior or Templar hybrid variants in solo/group play(I fiddled around with this a few times, and it can actually be a really neat build if you can tank the hits).
The reverse is true as well. Bleed Assassins who want to maximize their DPS can and should take Sear talents as well. Rupture can and should be used in addition to its bleed value due to the fact that not only does it apply Blood Thirst, but since the damage portion can crit, it can generate double stacks. Also, Rupture has a unique interaction with health on hit effects in that it does a 'double hit' for on-hit purposes. Yes, the skill animation is too long, but it's still an absolutely worthwhile skill to use in any Assassin rotation.
As to uptime: uptime is incredibly important in prolonged fights(basically, every boss battle and dungeon post-30). Three out of the four Assassin bleed skills are 'fire and forget', meaning they can be used and will tick away while the Assassin is doing other things. This is also what makes Lethal Concoction a competitive AoE skill versus talented Blizzard, Storm, Maelstrom, or Dragon's Breath, as while those skills do more damage than LC, LC doesn't require channel time!
Comparing Ranger Envenom to Assassin Bleed DPS via uptime:
Envenom does 84% DPS per second for 5s when fully talented, with a cooldown of 25s. If we assume Rangers took 4/4 Dexterous but have no other Ranged Haste modifiers, with Haste buff, that's 17% Ranged Haste before stats(probably in the range of an additional 10% Ranged Haste). Let's be even more ambitious and suppose the Ranger has 50% total Ranged Haste(in a stacked situation) for 84% DPS per second, for 5s every 12.5s(this is an unlikely scenario, but we'll skew the raw data in favor of Rangers to make their bleed more competitive).
Sum total is 425% DPS every 12.5s. However, Envenom is also fire and forget, meaning they will get some extra global cooldown skill or autoattack hits in because they are using one skill, not three.
Stacking talented LC, talented Sear, and talented Rupture, not including talented Lacerate(which functions differently) is 45%+34.5%+23% DPS per second(remember that Lacerate, Sear and Rupture can be further boosted by Serrated Edge 3/3), for a total of 102.5% DPS per second, for 10 of 12.5 seconds without any Melee Haste whatsoever(with enough Melee Haste, you can have all of these skills up more or less permanently).
Sum total is 1025% DPS every 12.5s, minus a few auto attacks/Black Fangs, but not counting Haste, or Lacerate.
This is a demonstration of why uptime is important. Envenom beats any individual bleed skill in a short burst encounter with the exception of LC, which outright beats Envenom if the cast animation of LC is not considered. However, in prolonged fights, over time, Assassins not only have superior bleed DPS, but have way more bleed DPS skills than Rangers.
This isn't to say that Rangers have poor DPS, but that Assassin single-target DPS with bleeds is superior.
TL:DR version: Just because a skill isn't in your specific class tree doesn't mean it's not useful and doesn't mean it won't make your specific 'class' more powerful. The sooner players realize that this game is only loosely based on a class system, and is actually much more open than that in terms of talent and skill usage, the sooner players will discover new and untapped power!
Edited by huhbum, 30 April 2014 - 22:43.