More combo points is less optimal in terms of uptime per combo point, but it's more optimal in terms of uptime per energy. Ieatpaperbag from elitist jerks has this to say about it: "SnD does not need to be done with 5 combo points only and should always last long enough for you to build up the combo points for another SnD with at least a one finisher in between."

This guide seems to be more of a beginner's guide to not being terrible, focusing on the most important aspect--keep Slice and Dice up. I would imagine that in next week's more advanced guide, Chase will point out that maximizing your dps means dropping as many 5-point damaging finishers as possible, and just renewing SnD when it's about to drop with however many combo points you have at that moment (and also getting SnD up immediately after your first hit, for that matter).

I think this article is just concerned with "easiest way to do decent dps." Maybe in his article next week he'll say "so, yeah, that 5pt SnD you were doing? Stop that"

Really??? Did you not read or understand the article??

I'm not asking how to be a decent rogue. I'm asking how to do it optimally. That's why I'm getting clarification. If I wanted to know how to be not-terrible, I'd read what he said and not ask more in-depth questions.

Thank you for the real answers, those of you who helped :)

Currently: The BEST way to use SnD (that I know) is to use it when it runs out, however many CP you have. (And with 1 in the start of the fight to get it up immediately.)

Another thought I had: Isn't it best to only use 1 so that the most amount of SS CPs go to damaging finishers so your cooldowns end earlier? hmm.

"I'm not asking how to be a decent rogue. I'm asking how to do it optimally. That's why I'm getting clarification. If I wanted to know how to be not-terrible, I'd read what he said and not ask more in-depth questions."

We get that, now that you have actually clarified why you were asking. But you can understand why folks would get frustrated with you asking advanced questions on a basic combat rogue article, yes?

It seemed as if you didn't read the article for beginners and were complaining like a few others about how this is not optimal. Just giving you a head's up. :)

"Another thought I had: Isn't it best to only use 1 so that the most amount of SS CPs go to damaging finishers so your cooldowns end earlier? hmm."

Keep in mind that the more CP you spend on any finisher the more energy you get back (ok, the greater chance to get energy back). This offsets factors that encourage you to use it at a lower number of CP, though for combat I don't know to what extent. Another thing to consider is if you are in a position where you have 5 CP and can either refresh SnD as soon as it fades or get an Eviscerate off then refresh SnD a bit later with just one CP, you are sacrificing uptime on SnD, which as we all know is really quite bad.
While I don't know the exact numbers (I am mostly interested in optimizing sub), I would say it may be theoretically better to use SnD with sub-5 CP, though the difference would likely be pretty small.