Rotation JSON

Updated October 18, 2026

The JSON is the complete description of an advanced rotation: everything the KRC text has, plus spell IDs, slot flags and profile settings. The builder shows it on the Text and JSON page, and KeyRota accepts it as a file (New — From file…, Import). The format is called keyrota-rotation, version 1. There is a JSON Schema to check it.

Example file#

The shortest useful rotation: Rupture at 5+ combo points when it isn't on the target, otherwise Mutilate.

{
  "format": "keyrota-rotation",
  "version": 1,
  "title": "Assassination: minimum",
  "specID": 259,
  "resources": ["PlayerHP", "TargetHP", "Energy", "Combo_Points"],
  "auras": [{"n": 1, "alias": "Rupture_DoT", "label": "Rupture on target [1943]", "spell": 1943}],
  "slots": [
    {"n": 2, "alias": "Rupture", "label": "Rupture", "spell": 1943},
    {"n": 4, "alias": "Mutilate", "label": "Mutilate", "spell": 1329}
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "use": "Rupture",
      "name": "Rupture",
      "when": [{"all": ["Combo_Points >= 70", "Rupture_DoT.down"], "comment": "5+ combo points, no bleed"}]
    },
    {"use": "Mutilate", "name": "Mutilate"}
  ]
}

Everything the file leaves out takes its default: slots show With a target and have no flags, the enemy counter is 8 yards, enemies in combat only. A rule without when always holds.

Top-level fields#

Any other field is an error, "unexpected field": typos are not swallowed. So don't add "$schema" to the file; attach the schema in your editor or validator.

Almost everywhere null may stand for a value; it means the same as leaving the field out.

format and version#

"format": "keyrota-rotation" and "version": 1 are required. If version is above 1, KeyRota refuses: "version 2 is newer than this KeyRota understands: update it". Without version: "version 1 required".

title#

A string without double quotes ". Line breaks become spaces. In KRC text it is rotation "…". A good place for the version: "Assassination v1.3".

specID#

The game's specialization ID. It decides the rotation's resources (when created in the builder) and the class and specialization in the Better Assistant profile. 0 means any specialization: the rotation works, but the Better Assistant profile won't build ("Choose a specialization: the Better Assistant profile needs it").

ignoreMainIcon#

true (default): KeyRota presses only by the rules; when none matches, it waits. false: it then presses the game's suggestion, like the Blizzard profile. The suggestion is the last resort after all the rules; it never overtakes a rule.

enemies#

"enemies": {"range": 8, "combatOnly": true}

The enemies condition reads this counter (see Enemies nearby). In the builder these are "Enemy counter radius, yards" and "Only enemies in combat" on the General page. The values also go into the Better Assistant profile.

notes and footer#

The rotation's description (notes) and the comments after the last rule (footer). A list of strings, or one string with \n. An empty string "" is a blank line in the text. Blank lines at the edges are dropped.

"notes": ["Based on a guide and top logs, patch 12.1", "", "v1.1: Envenom earlier on 4+ targets"]

In KRC text these are # … lines before the declarations. They don't affect how the rotation works.

resources#

Resource names in order: the first item is resource1, the second resource2, and so on. The number decides what the resource is; the name is only how you write it in conditions:

• resource1 is the player's health, resource2 the target's health;
• resource3 and on are the specialization's resources in the order of the specID table: for a rogue resource3 is energy, resource4 combo points.

"resources": ["PlayerHP", "TargetHP", "Energy", "Combo_Points"]

Use the standard names from the table: the builder shows them in plain words ("Player health", "Energy"), and other people and AI agents understand the conditions right away. null skips a number: ["PlayerHP", null, "Energy"] declares only resource1 and resource3. An undeclared resource can't be read: "resource2 is not declared".

All resources are percentages of the maximum, 0–100. How to turn combo points, energy and runes into percentages: Resources in Conditions.

auras#

Auras are your buffs and your debuffs on the target. Rotation aura n is aura n in the Better Assistant list.

"auras": [
  {"n": 1, "alias": "Garrote_DoT", "label": "Garrote on target [703]", "spell": 703},
  {"n": 2, "alias": "Rupture_DoT", "label": "Rupture on target [1943]", "spell": 1943}
]

The order in the list doesn't matter, n does. Numbers may have gaps, but for the Better Assistant profile the auras with IDs must go in a row from the first.

slots#

Slots are the rotation's buttons. Rotation slot n is slot n in Better Assistant.

show#

• "target": the slot is shown when you have a target. True for almost every attack.
• "combat": the slot is shown in combat even without a target. For healing and defensives: Crimson Vial must work when there's no target.

A slot is ready only when Better Assistant shows it. A "target" slot without a target isn't ready, and its rules are skipped.

Slot flags#

Flags say how to press a slot once its rule is chosen. In the builder they are the How to press switches.

Why O + Q and not just O: a button with O alone is pressed at once, mid-GCD, before the previous hit has landed. Vanish after Kingsbane with O alone would be pressed before Kingsbane's combo points arrive, and the Vanish rule (Combo_Points < 65) would check the old value. With Q the button waits for the end of the GCD.

Strict priority: an off-GCD rule lower in the list doesn't overtake a higher rule that is waiting for the GCD.

"slots": [
  {"n": 1, "alias": "Adrenaline_Rush", "label": "Adrenaline Rush (macro with Killing Spree)", "spell": 13750, "offGcd": true, "queue": true},
  {"n": 4, "alias": "Keep_It_Rolling", "label": "Keep It Rolling", "spell": 381989, "offGcd": true},
  {"n": 8, "alias": "Killing_Spree", "label": "Killing Spree", "spell": 51690, "channel": true},
  {"n": 11, "alias": "Crimson_Vial", "label": "Crimson Vial", "spell": 185311, "show": "combat"}
]

rules#

Rules in priority order: the first in the list is checked first.

when: groups and conditions#

{
  "use": "Garrote",
  "name": "Garrote",
  "note": ["Refresh in the pandemic window"],
  "when": [
    {"all": ["Garrote_DoT.down"], "comment": "no DoT"},
    {"all": ["Garrote_DoT.up", "Garrote_DoT.duration <= 30"], "comment": "30% or less left"}
  ]
}

One slot may appear in several rules: for example, Garrote from Stealth high in the list and ordinary Garrote upkeep lower down.

Conditions in JSON#

Each condition is a string in KRC syntax: Garrote_DoT.down, Rupture_DoT.duration <= 25, Kingsbane.cd <= 3, Combo_Points >= 70, enemies >= 2, target.distance <= 8, cd == 1. The full list is in Conditions.

• Refer by name (Garrote_DoT) or by number: buff1, slot3, resource4.
• and inside a string splits it into two conditions: "Combo_Points >= 70 and Energy >= 70" is two conditions, and both count toward the limit of 16.
• No # and no line breaks in a string.
• KeyRota's own engine reads the conditions, so the JSON and the text always mean the same.

Names#

A name (alias) is how auras, slots and resources are called in conditions and in use.

• The first character is a letter (any alphabet) or _; then letters, digits 0–9 and _. Cyrillic is fine; spaces, hyphens and dots are not: Fan_of_Knives, not Fan-of-Knives.
• A name is unique among all auras, slots and resources.
• Reserved: use, when, and, or, rotation, gcd, enemies, target, aoe, st, cd, defensives, ground_spells, movement, and names like buffN, slotN, resourceN.
• Keywords are lowercase only: use, or, .up. Use, OR and .UP are errors.

A name from the label. Without alias, KeyRota makes one from label: brackets and what's inside them are dropped, letters and digits stay, everything else becomes _. for example, "Garrote on target [703]" becomes Garrote_on_target. An empty or unusable name becomes Aura_N or Slot_N; a taken one gets _2, _3. If a rule refers to buffN or slotN missing from the lists, they are declared automatically as Aura_N and Slot_N.

Required fields and defaults#

Limits#

Exactly 16 groups of 16 conditions is fine; 17 is an error.

Errors#

A rotation with an error doesn't load at all: there is no partial execution. An error always names the place. In JSON it's a path: rules[3].when[1]: unknown name Foo (counting from zero). In the builder, "Rule 4, group 2: unknown name Foo" (counting from one). In KRC text, a line number.

JSON structure:

Conditions and declarations (the same as in KRC text):

The builder also reports "the group has no conditions" (an empty group), "no slot selected" and "quotes aren't allowed in the name".

KRC text#

KRC text is the same rotation as lines. The Text and JSON page shows it, and you can keep it as a .txt file. Text and JSON convert into each other without losing meaning.

rotation "Assassination: minimum"

buff1	Rupture_DoT = "Rupture on target [1943]"
slot2	Rupture = "Rupture"
slot4	Mutilate = "Mutilate"
resource1	PlayerHP
resource2	TargetHP
resource3	Energy
resource4	Combo_Points

use Rupture when  # Rupture
	Combo_Points >= 70 and Rupture_DoT.down  # 5+ combo points, no bleed

use Mutilate when  # Mutilate

Lines#

• # outside double quotes starts a comment up to the end of the line. Inside a "label", # is an ordinary character.
• Blank lines and comment-only lines are skipped: that's how descriptions and separators are written.
• Any other line is a declaration, use, or or a condition line. Otherwise it's a stray_line error: "line outside a rule: "…" (start prose with #)".
• Any spaces and tabs between parts. The canonical form uses a tab after buffN/slotN and at the start of condition lines.

Declarations#

Only before the first use:

rotation "Name"                    # optional, at most once
buff1	Garrote_DoT = "Garrote on target [703]"   # aura 1
slot1	Garrote = "Garrote"                         # slot 1
resource1	PlayerHP                               # resource 1

buffN and slotN are 1–12, resourceN 1–99. The quoted label may be empty: slot5 Filler = "". A declaration after the first use is a late_declaration error.

Rules#

use Rupture when  # Rupture
	Combo_Points >= 70 and Rupture_DoT.down  # no DoT
	or
	Combo_Points >= 70 and Rupture_DoT.up and Rupture_DoT.duration <= 30  # pandemic

• use Slot when opens a rule; a comment on that line is the action's name.
• Each condition line is one group (conditions joined with and). Groups are separated by a line with the single word or.
• A rule without condition lines has no conditions.
• Two condition lines in a row without or is a split_group error; or at the start, at the end or twice in a row is empty_group.

Text and JSON: how they map#

Blank lines at the edges of comment blocks are dropped; inside they stay as "".

Import and storage#

• KeyRota keeps the rotation inside the profile. Export in the main window saves the KeyRota profile (JSON) with its rotation; Import accepts a KeyRota profile and a bare rotation JSON.
• New — From file… accepts .txt with KRC text, rotation JSON and a KeyRota profile; New — From clipboard, the same from the clipboard.
• In the builder: Text and JSON — Paste or Open… replace the rotation; slots and auras with the same numbers keep their IDs, With a target / In combat and flags if the new version has none.
• A text rotation (without JSON) takes the slots' IDs and visibility from the Better Assistant profile already stored in the KeyRota profile, and the auras' IDs also from [703] marks in their labels.

The Better Assistant profile from JSON#

"Build from slots and auras" in the builder makes the Better Assistant profile string from the rotation JSON:

• 12 slots: slot N is slots[n = N].spell, shown by show. A slot without an ID stays empty.
• Auras in order from the first: auras[n = 1].spell, auras[n = 2].spell… An aura without an ID in the middle is an error.
• Class and specialization from specID.
• Enemy counter from enemies.range and enemies.combatOnly.
• If the KeyRota profile already holds a Better Assistant profile of the same specialization, its other settings and the matching slots and auras are kept.

In the game: /ba — Profile — paste — Apply.

JSON Schema#

The format's schema: keyrota-rotation.schema.json (draft 2020-12). It checks fields, types, ranges, queue without offGcd and the shape of condition strings. It doesn't check that n and names are unique, that names in conditions exist, or the limit of 16 after splitting strings at and : KeyRota does that on load.

To check a file:

npx ajv-cli validate --spec=draft2020 -s keyrota-rotation.schema.json -d my-rotation.json

Don't put a "$schema" field into a rotation file: KeyRota takes it for an unexpected field.