Whisperknife, why it's bad and how to fix it

Let's be honest here. Whisperknife is trash in Single Target. It's not an exaggeration, it's a fact. Even when playing most optimally I could, the difference was massive. Whisperknife doesn't even have 70% of Assassin's potential, the only times it shone so far was because of bugs.

And before anyone says "but whisperknife is very good in AoE, maybe that's where it's meant to be used?"

Well then, I say. Explain this:

This is just a Single Target damage source. Sure, you can use it on one enemy when there's mobs around, but which enemy save for a few irrelevant bosses that do spawn adds is worth using this on?

And this:

There's no use for such increases in AoE, enemies usually die in less than 5 seconds.

Aaaand this:

VP has only 200 magnitude as AoE while Shadowy's radius is too small compared to other choices so having decent magnitude if you use it in middle of a pack of mobs doesn't save it. Most of the time the area coverage of Blade Flurry, Smoke Bomb, Path of the Blade and Blitz is better by far. So realistically you are only using 1 paragon encounter for AoE. And don't start me on Killing Storm. This daily only works thanks to a bugged class feature allowing multiple procs of the mentioned class feature while Lurker's Assault is even worse daily than bard's Inspiration which is only useful again because of a bug that allows a player to remain in stealth while casting Blade Flurry thanks to a Feat this time.

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Now, let's get to the issues in Single Target.
1. Low magnitudes, high cooldowns, no other damage upkeep sources.
It might be a ranged class that can get Combat Advantage for free... but by no means is it a reason for gutting it out of damage. At-wills are utter trash for single target, as many were saying the only thing disheartening in Disheartening Strike is its damage. The initial magnitude is... just pathetic. 40 magnitude for a 0.9s cast time at-will with a non-stacking DoT that only refreshes its duration on another hit. And the DoT's magnitude is 75... total. Yes, if you'd let the 75 magnitude DoT reach its full duration, it does 75 magnitude total, not 75 magnitude every 2s for 10s.

The only viable daily would be Hateful Knives which provides 2000 magnitude + 200 magnitude - that can not critically strike - with a class feat.

Encounters:
VP: 200+715 magnitude, 8.4s cooldown at 18% recharge speed,
Impact shot, 585 magnitude, same cooldown,
Shadow Strike, 715 magnitude, 11.8s cooldown

Let's compare those with a fighter.
Encounters:
Bull Charge: 820 magnitude (using a class feature), 10.2s cooldown at 17% recharge speed
Anvil of Doom: 880/1260 magnitude, 15.3/11.9s cooldown (enhanced improves both magnitude and cooldown and is very easy to upkeep)
Commander's Strike: 780 magnitude, 15.3s cooldown

At-will Heavy Slash is a 175 magnitude with 0.7s cast time and 5% increase in damage,
Daily Mow Down has a base magnitude of 2100 and can be enhanced to do 2500 magnitude when affected by physical vulnerability source,

A fighter has easily 14340 of magnitude per minute with encounters alone while WK, counting in feat that reduces cooldowns by 2s on entering stealth, has only about 13000 magnitude *if* they don't get hit by DoTs

Then they get easily outclassed with at-will damage upkeep. Even bursts aren't their best because for a burst to be good, their own magnitudes should be. And a total of 7215 daily + mount + encounter magnitude + around 595 magnitude from at-wills in a timeframe of 10s is just not enough to beat 8360 encounter + daily + mount power + around 1225 at-will damage in exact same time frame of 10 seconds.

Shadow of Demise would help somewhat except fighter also gets more sources of damage and stats that are easier to upkeep. Current best setup includes 10% critical strike from a class feature, 10% combat advantage from full stamina, 20% damage from vengeance and 5% from at-will and debuffs enemy by 10% with commander's strike.

Now, what does rogue Whisperknife get?
2% combat advantage for free, 5% debuff from Shadow Strike, 5% debuff from disheartening strike, 20% from stealthed hits or 5% to ranged with gutterborn, 7.5% to ranged powers when within 20', 10% cunning ambusher after leaving stealth

While rogue gets around same damage due to one encounter being forced to be cast out of stealth, a fighter gets 18% more stats in total. And in a long run the fighter will be definitely better here.

2. Stealth generation/loss.
I have been saying that for a long time Master of Shadows should be base kit for rogue as even Assassin can struggle to generate stealth if enough DoTs fly around. Whisperknife's stealth generation is way beyond bad. Every hit counts. What I gave above was in absolutely best scenario where you don't get hit so you can actually get into stealth.

Without being able to use stealth rogue loses 10% buff from Cunning Ambusher, 1-10% if someone did pick Last Moments (Shady Preparations is much better in my opinion when combined with Dark Reimbursement and Return to Shadows, otherwise there is just not enough stealth generation. One With The Shadows is way too inconsistent while Hidden Attacks is straight up useless given most rogues want out of stealth ASAP to restart regeneration process and get Cunning Ambusher).

In Crown of Keldegonn (Master) I just wasn't able to generate stealth fast enough even with Tenacious Concealment to counter the DoT when Supports were spawned, therefore losing most of my class's abilities. The longest it took me to regenerate stealth was around 25 seconds - twice as long as is generated because I was constantly losing it in small chips after usage.

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Finally, let's get to fixes after seeing the issues:

1. Make Master of Shadows base kit. I know it creates the issue of a missing feature from Assassin but I'd already have a replacement that is straight to the point:

When your target is struck by an encounter power with a control effect and they are control immune, they take bonus 300 magnitude damage.

This would give Dazing Strike actual use since it has only 300 magnitude but low cooldown (seriously, no one uses it even for AoE) and make Deft Strike on par with other encounters in Assassin's repertoire and make a viable replacement for Lashing Blade which has a bonus effect that does not work once the character can achieve 90% Critical Severity,

2. Increase Shadow Strike debuff to 10%, yes it is to both projectile and physical - but Commanding Shot from ranger is 10% debuff overall.

3 Make Disheartening Strike actually good. I have 2 propositions for this:
- Increase initial magnitude to 120 and leave DoT at 75 magnitude but actually dealing 75 magnitude every 2 seconds,
- Increase DoT magnitude to 100 and let it stack up to 3 times while the debuff remains non-stacking.

4. Increase Impact Shot magnitude to 700.

These fixes are simple but important, I say that as a long time fan of the gameplay style of Whisperknife.