5/5/31 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200McZhMZcMfRrMkrfz.1 There's some waste in there, but it's unavoidable. Charge Mastery does literally nothing for us until patch, but will be useful then (though oddly identical to Recirculation in Deception, which we can also reach). I also don't really ever use Haunted Dreams, because I almost never cast Whirlwind. For a purely raid maxxed build, I'd probably take Sith Defiance or Corrupted Flesh for survivability, but they both kinda suck. One thing to note, our PvE set bonuses are EXTREMELY useful for dps builds. Even 1 extra force on our filler is a nice bennie, especially now with Raze being changed so that hitting the button isn't a total loss. The 4 piece bonus is huge, given that our Thrash already hits very hard. I'm pushing 50% Thrash crit unbuffed. No idea whether the set bonus lets us break the 50% cap or not.

I leveled to 50 with Deception for a couple reasons: faster stealth movement, higher stealth level and more frequent force cloak. Those three things together made questing a breeze, with a minimum of extra kills. Used Khem Val until 44ish, or whenever I got Xalek, and I usually run my dailies with him tanking. Never bothered with Talos except on Thanaton at 50. It's a great "running around" spec. I wouldn't raid with it though.

This is extremely unreliable. It works often enough in flashpoints, but operations are another matter. You won't likely get it to work on Soa, for instance.

It's anecdotal, but on the Infernal Council fight, the annihilation marauder from my standard hard mode group and I (madness) both take on a 49k hp mob. Since it's a solo fight that begins at the same time for both of us, I feel like it's a pretty good dps race comparison. I routinely kill my council member before he does. He's got insane burst and great sustained dps, but on a 1+ minute fight I pull ahead with dots. Typically I'm done first, then him, then a toss up between the other dps. The poor sniper always needs help; it's not a kind fight for him. My gut feeling is that Madness dps outshines Deception. I definitely feel the difference in operations, where mob hp is higher and fights last a little longer. Once you get a feel for the spec and how to properly hang your dots, it all comes together and makes for a really fun and unique class experience. Deception is just a WoW port, sad to say. I leveled with it, but I don't really feel like it's raid viable compared to Madness. The utility it gives you such as faster stealth movement just isn't helpful on an operation, and your range limitations become a major liability. If anyone needs help, it's Deception. Madness is fine. Honestly, Deception could go a long way just by having someone take a close look at Static Charges. It's pretty clear that they're just a stand in for combo points. Build 5, hit stuff hard. It's awfully simple. The problem is that there aren't enough ways to build them.

Regarding the Madness Assassin section... It's probably pointed out somewhere else, but I do want to mention that Force Lightning while under Recklessness is NOT a terrible skill for Madness spec. Currently, Recklessness allows every tick of Force Lightning to crit, causing considerable damage at higher gear ranges. It's a worthwhile use of a Recklessness charge, especially on movement intensive or positioning fights (Bonethrasher, Gharj, Soa, etc.) that don't allow you much time to find a perfect spot.