Death from Above

The Dfa talent specialisation revolves around setting up the [Symbols of Death] and aligning your cooldowns accordingly.
It offers you regular burst phases and strong burst damage on priority adds as well as additional cleave damage from death from above.

Pre-pull and Opener:

When the pull timer starts.
Use [Tricks of the Trade]on the main tank.
Use [Potion of Prolonged Power] with 1 second left on pull timer.
Use [Shadow Blades] on pull.

Opener (without[The First of the Dead]):

Opener (with [The First of the Dead]):

Keep in mind that you might have to adjust the opener slightly depending on your [Shadow Techniques] procs.
[Nightblade] will be used with 3 CP during the opener which is fine.

The reason you use a [Shadowstrike] after [Vanish] in the opener is that you basically replace a weak [Backstab] combo builder with a +25% buffed one during [Symbols of Death]. This makes [Death from Above] a secure 6 combo point hit as well. [Shadowstrike] in general has a stronger value due to the stronger base damage and the higher combo coint generation (and the 25% damage on top if used after [Vanish] or during [Stealth]).

Rotation:

The change that allows the spec to become strong is that [Shadow Dance] can be used off GCD as well as the introduction of [Dark Shadow].
[Death from Above] has two different damage parts: The initial, AoE hit, and the [Eviscerate] hit. [Death from Above] has a interesting interaction that allows us to use off global cooldown spells before the [Eviscerate] part hits and lets us use [Shadow Dance] and [Symbols of Death] right before it triggers giving the benefits of both buffs without losing duration / casts during the uptime.

The Core gameplay is centered around the [Symbols of Death] cooldown and the alignment of [Death from Above] with [Shadow Dance]. The changes to [Symbols of Death] together with T20 made this spell our strongest one that we aim to use as often as possible during an encounter. That is the reason that we use it pretty much on cooldown and align our strong damage cooldowns to it.
When using [Symbols of Death] you have 4 Global cooldowns to prepare for [Death from Above] which allows us to have some room to generate combo points, pool energy, use trinkets, use the effect of [The First of the Dead] or use cooldowns like [Vanish].

Visual representation:

In Detail:

You will not be on a certain amount of combo points when using [Symbols of Death]. After using [Symbols of Death] you need to adjust to your situation, this means you use either [Backstab] or [Vanish] followed up with [Shadowstrike] or [Death from Above] depending on your combo point situation. You use [Death from Above] with 5 combo points during [Shadow Blades] and 6 combo points without.

[The First of the Dead] changes the rotation slightly. We want to use [Backstab] during the legendary effect and prepare for that.
This means we use [Eviscerate] with 3 or more combo points after [Symbols of Death] followed by [Backstab] or [Vanish] and [Shadowstrike].
[Death from Above] is used after building combo points with the legendary effect.

[Shadow Dance] is always used before the [Eviscerate] part of [Death from Above] hits and followed up with as many [Shadowstrike] cast as possible while using [Eviscerate] if on 5 or 6 combo points.
[Shadow Dance] is used outside of the [Death from Above] alignment when you are sure that you will have 1 charge ready for the next [Symbols of Death] use and that you don't need to refresh [Nightblade] during [Shadow Dance]. Keep in mind to only use [Shadow Dance] outside of [Symbols of Death] if [Nightblade] lasts longer then 4 seconds.

We have the bonus to be able to play around [Finality] for [Eviscerate] if we have 4 or more targets (use [Death from Above] with [Finality] Buff up).

Outside of [Symbols of Death] we use [Backstab] when possible and finish with [Nightblade] or [Eviscerate] with 5 combo points when [Shadow Blades] is up and 6 combo points without. [Backstab] is also our combo builder during [Symbols of Death] when we are not in [Vanish] or [Shadow Dance]. [Gloomblade] replaces [Backstab] as a combo builder when specced into it.

[Nightblade] is best cycled in a way where you don't need to refresh it during [Symbols of Death] while still playing around [Finality] and Pandemic.

Pandemic timers are:
- without T19 2p
4.8 seconds with 5 combo points
5.4 seconds with 6 combo points (DS)

- with T19 2p
7.8 seconds with 5 combo points
9 seconds with 6 combo points (DS)

The usual rotation is:
start -> apply [Nightblade]-> refresh [Nightblade] with the highest possible pandemic time -> let it run to the last tick -> start

However we can break this circle to meet the requirement to have the duration of [Symbols of Death] covered by [Nightblade].
We refresh [Nightblade] with 5 combo points up to 5 seconds.before [Symbols of Death] comes up or 6 seconds with 6 combo points.

Use [Goremaw's Bite] with 2 or less combo points and less than 50 energy (90 with [Vigor]).

[Vanish] can be used at any point during [Symbols of Death] if you don't use [Mantle of the Master Assassin].

[Shuriken Toss] is only used on boss fights with downtimes when you are not in a position to hit the target and about to cap energy.

T21 changes:

There are only 2 changes:
If you use T20 4 piece bonus and T21 2 piece you delay your [Symbols of Death] cast for [Death from Above] in single target situations.
If you use T21 4 piece bonus and [The First of the Dead] you delay your [Symbols of Death] by 1 secound and use [Eviscerate] before to consume the proc before using [Symbols of Death].

Multi Target:

Multiple targets changes the use of certain abilities.

We replace [Backstab] with [Shuriken Storm] as our combo point builder if we have 2 or more targets.3 or more if [Master of Subtlety] or [Symbols of Death] is up.
We replace [Shadowstrike] with [Shuriken Storm] if we have 3 or more targets.

[Nightblade] is applied to all targets.
Only apply [Nightblade] to additional targets if they survive for at least 12 seconds.
Keep in mind that using [Nightblade] on multiple targets results in a primary target damage loss.

[Eviscerate] can be used on 4 or more combo points when you have 4 targets.

[Shadow Dance] can be used to buff the initial hit of [Death from Above] in situations with 4 or more targets.
Keep in mind that this reduces your primary target damage but gives you higher overall results. Shadowdance will also rechagre faster in multi target situations which allows us to use it more often.

We can play around having [Finality] for [Death from Above] with 4 or more targets.

[The Dreadlord's Deceit] doesn't change the multi-target rotation. If you use it on single target fights use [Shuriken Storm] as a combo builder if you are on 29 or more stacks during [Shadow Dance].

Trinkets:

When using multiple On-Use trinkets, the use of one trinket will trigger a 10 second cooldown on the second trinket which is something to keep in mind.
"If you use [Specter of Betrayal] pin combination with another On-Use trinket, prioritize it over your other trinket and most likely use the second trinket on as soon as the cooldown finishes.

Some trinkets have special use conditions, the most popular of which I have listed here:

[Specter of Betrayal]- Use when in [Shadow Dance] during [Symbols of Death]. You can macro it to [Shadow Dance] if you want. Just keep in mind to properly position yourself when using the trinket.

[Umbral Moonglaives]- Use it when [Shadow Dance] and [Symbols of Death] are up. You can adjust the use in multi target situations to use it with [Symbols of Death] and get the explosion during [Shadow Dance] (if possible).

[Vial of Ceaseless Toxins]- Use it with [Shadow Dance] and [Symbols of Death] up. You can adjust the use to abuse the reset in add fights.

Mythic plus: Switching trinkets in mythic plus dungeons is common practice. If you switch a trinket it will trigger a 30 second cooldown on the newly equipped trinket. You can use this time to prepare for specific mob groups/pulls.

Optimization:

[Shadow Techniques] - You can deley your combo builder/finisher under certain conditions to use the proc efficiently. The most common use will be to wait slightly if you are on 5 combo points and don't overcap on energy waiting for the proc. The proc can also be used during [Shadow Dance] when on 4 cp but I don't recommend it because of the tight time window of [Shadow Dance] that can result in the loss of 1 ability cast during the buff.

Energy Pooling:
Pooling became less important due to the increase of energy gain from [Symbols of Death] and [Shadow Techniques] as well as the chance to proc [Energetic Stabbing] on [Backstab].

Certain abilities will still benefit from Pooling.

[Vanish] you want to use it with 55+ energy. This condition is usually met by default when lining it up with [Symbols of Death]

[Death from Above] can be used on 50+ energy to make the [Shadow Dance] rotation more reliable.
Keep in mind that this might be a loss if you delay it out of alignments like [Specter of Betrayal] or during [Shadow Blades] with [Denial of the Half-Giants].

[Shadow Dance] you want to be at an energy level that allows you to perform 4 abilities during the buff.
An energy level of 70-75 is sufficient in this situation. I made a calculation about this. You can take a look at: Calculation.

Utility Cooldowns:
[Cloak of Shadows]-is mainly used to get higher uptimes during boss fights by avoiding damage from boss mechanics if possible. Certain boss fights will require you to use the ability to soak abilities.

[Sprint] / [Shadowstep] - is mainly used to get higher uptimes on the boss, [Shadowstep] can also be used on bosses, adds or friendly players to avoid knockbacks.

[Feint] - is only used if needed for a certain boss mechanic as it consumes quite alot of energy.

[Crimson Vial] - only used if you would otherwise die. There should usually be no reason in a raid enviroment to use it.

Final Words:

If you want me to add anything to the guide or have questions you can contact me via Discord or PM me. Everyone makes mistakes, so if you find a mistake feel free to contact me.My Discord tag is fuu#7750.