Here is a short guide/information that I have put together so people have easier time adjusting to 1.5 reality.

Combo mechanics
You have to "land" every combo "step" in order to deal 100% damage. If you miss one combo step you will see one of combo's "arrow" light up red. Missing a combo step will apply penality of -5% damage.

Game mechanics
Dubble tapping and using active block no longer gives buff
Dubble tapping backwards puts evade buff on cooldown

Combo steps
Combos got their steps reduced.

Combo changes
- Lots of cooldown changes
- Grim corruption and Slow Death Strikes combo tiers now share cooldowns (example: using GCIII will put also put cooldown on GCII)

Grim corruption
a) it applies snare
b) it applies debuff. Debuff type is dependant on stance in which GC is applied.

Feat changes

Lotus tree
a) Flesh rot - adding points will also add damage to corrupted backlash, it is instant now, can be used while moving (upgraded)
b) Blindside - it now deals more damage and drains more stamina from your target (upgraded)
c) Lotus weapon - it now always proc, does more damage (upgraded)
d) Swift ending - it now proc sooner (uprgraded)
e) Lotus overdoes - it no longer applies any penality (upgraded)
f) Furry of blows - longer duration (uprgaded)
g) Assassination - bigger bonus (uprgaded)
h) Corrupted body - it adds protection bonus on damage (reworked)
i) Curse of Lotus - limited to 12 targets, no casting time, instant (upgraded)

Corruption tree
a) Unholy Strenght - it adds 5% damage intead of 10% (nerfed)
b) Life leech - it heals more (upgraded)
c) Unholy armor - gives 50% bonus to your armor (changed, nerfed)
d) Death's gaze - it is instant now (upgraded)
e) Avatar of death - duration is 15s now from 20s (nerfed)
f) Seeds of corruption - it applies debuff for HP regeneration, if GC is used the seeds will "explode" and deal instant damage (reworked)
g) Lunge - it now adds 70% weapon damage, 20s cooldown (reworked)
h) Burden to bear - applies armor debuff, more points give higher chance to proc (changed)
i) From the darkness - it stuns, captures soul shard (changed)

General tree
a) Quick recovery - adds stamina regeneration (reworked)
b) Excellent balance - needs only 1 point, 1 m cooldown (changed)
c) Lethality - adds weapon damage, poor choice for assassins (new)
d) Agile mind - it is now clickable, each point added reduces its cooldown from 9 to 3 (reworked)
e) Ambush - it no longer gives damage boost (nerfed)

Combos usefull in PVP and PVE
Swift Strikes are still our bread and butter,
Slow Death Strikes deal a lot of damage,
Grim Corruption mainly debuffs target

How to use combos in typical PVP/PVE encounter
1) Apply debuff (Grim corruption)
2) Apply slow death strikes
3) Use swift strikes

PVE Leveling speccs

Lotus/general - snurl.com/n7hpp

Corruption/general - snurl.com/n7hr7
note: when close to lvl80 feel free to drop second wind for from the darkness

There haven't been any great changes to assassins. It safe to say that your experience and "feel" of this class will remain mostly unaffected in 1.5.

swagvault