Fastest leveling spec for Marauder?

[swtorpeter]

Hi there,

 

Any advice on what the fastest leveling spec is for Marauder?

 

Im almost 10 so

[Sabbathius]

I went Annihilation and I'm a whirlwind of death with zero downtime. Pushing 40 now, no issues whatsoever.

 

Rage might be good, though from what I hear Rage doesn't really start to work until level 30+, while Annihilation is practically complete by level 20.

[ivaylo_krumov]

Depends on whether you are going to do PVE or PVP. Most say that the best tree for PVE is carnage and for PVP - annihilation. My personal favourite is the former. The Gore ability gives you 100% armor penetration and the Massacre... well it fully justifies its name and makes the very basic Assault comparable with Ravage in terms of DPS.

 

For more info check this sticky thread:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=72872

 

You may check this guide as well:

 

http://swtorhumanrelations.com/2012/01/18/sith-marauder-guide

[Neuromann]

I went Annihilation and I'm a whirlwind of death with zero downtime. Pushing 40 now, no issues whatsoever.

 

Rage might be good, though from what I hear Rage doesn't really start to work until level 30+, while Annihilation is practically complete by level 20.

 

Would I have to respec at around level 20 if I went Anni but chose to put 5 points in Carnage first?

 

I realize most Anni builds actually have 5-10 points in Carnage as well and I wasn't sure I wanted to go Anni so I did just that...

[Erzy]

Would I have to respec at around level 20 if I went Anni but chose to put 5 points in Carnage first?

 

I realize most Anni builds actually have 5-10 points in Carnage as well and I wasn't sure I wanted to go Anni so I did just that...

 

You don't have to, but it's nice to get deadly saber as soon as you can. The class comes together when you get the bleeds up.

[EasymodeX]

Sigh.

 

Look: for easiest PvE, you go Annihilation. Enraged Slash and Quick Recovery are pretty much the two most potent leveling talents.

 

After that, Deadly Saber is ridiculously better than Obliterate or Ataru Form. This will carry you through level 30.

 

At this point you can, if you want, switch to Rage for variety, since it becomes coherent as a spec by that point. Carnage is still ****ed.

 

 

At level 40, you have another decision point: Rage becomes complete at level 40, which makes it a reasonable option to switch to. If you didn't try Rage at level 30, you may reconsider it now. At level 40-43, you can also consider switching to Carnage, because it takes Massacre (and Enraged Slash) to make Carnage a competent spec.

[Stigas]

Annihilation is the top dog at 50 for both PvP and PvE. Make sure that, no matter what you do, you spend some time getting to know it. There's enough of a clusterf*ck for gear, dailies, commendations etc when you hit 50 to not have to also look like a bumbling idiot playing a spec for the first time.

[Neuromann]

I noticed there are naturally just a ton of marauder abilities and I'm trying to prioritize my binds accordingly.

 

Which are the main abilities that should be very easily accessible for Annihilation? Every time I get a new one I change my whole hotkey system around which is pretty inconvenient...

Edited February 2, 2012 by Neuromann

[Erzy]

Depends on your spec.

 

Anni you need jump, deadly saber, battering, rupture, assault, slash, smash, interupts..

[Neuromann]

Depends on your spec.

 

Anni you need jump, deadly saber, battering, rupture, assault, slash, smash, interupts..

 

I meant anni, yes thanks

[Neuromann]

Another question...after getting Deadly Saber should you go for 3/3 Dual Wield Mastery? That seems like a very important talent especially for leveling up? Unless someone can explain otherwise

[Stigas]

Another question...after getting Deadly Saber should you go for 3/3 Dual Wield Mastery? That seems like a very important talent especially for leveling up? Unless someone can explain otherwise

 

Offhand damage is pathetic. It's almost just vanity.

 

Go all the way up Annihilation. When you have a point-blank Force Leap it's essentially a second Battering Assault (rage builder) which is important.

 

Hybrid builds are really only worth considering, imo, when you're 50.

[Neuromann]

Offhand damage is pathetic. It's almost just vanity.

 

Go all the way up Annihilation. When you have a point-blank Force Leap it's essentially a second Battering Assault (rage builder) which is important.

 

Hybrid builds are really only worth considering, imo, when you're 50.

 

Ah, that's unfortunate...ugh I feel for you guys. Sounds like this class needs some love, especially in PvP. Seems like 'rauders are squishier than any other class while at the same FAR harder than any other class I've played.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Neuromann

[Stigas]

Ah, that's unfortunate...ugh I feel for you guys. Sounds like this class needs some love, especially in PvP. Seems like 'rauders are squishier than any other class while at the same FAR harder than any other class I've played.

 

Should check out STMP's stream (Gluten-Free-Gaming on Twitch I think). We're capable of being a destructive force in PvP. I wouldn't be too discouraged.

[EasymodeX]

The only ability you "DON'T" use as Annihilation is Force Scream.

 

Everything else, you'll be using. When you hit 40+ and pick up Annihilate, you can optionally move Retaliation to "rare use for burst".

[Kllashaa]

My anni marauder pved from 40-50 with Quinn and would generally end fights between 90-100%. No downtime and plenty of rage and fury for the next fight. I could solo champions and finish at 100%.

 

The total time from spawn+healing was quicker with a healer companion, as the other companions just took too much damage during the fight (necessitating rest or dismiss/resummon afterwards) or had lousy target selection. Put Quinn in a suit of 40 pvp gear and you'll fly to 50.

[Neuromann]

My anni marauder pved from 40-50 with Quinn and would generally end fights between 90-100%. No downtime and plenty of rage and fury for the next fight. I could solo champions and finish at 100%.

 

The total time from spawn+healing was quicker with a healer companion, as the other companions just took too much damage during the fight (necessitating rest or dismiss/resummon afterwards) or had lousy target selection. Put Quinn in a suit of 40 pvp gear and you'll fly to 50.

 

PvP gear costs so much now at lvl 40...still suggest doing that? In theory it sounds nice but the time spent farming the commendations especially pre-40 would be a long time?

[Neuromann]

Offhand damage is pathetic. It's almost just vanity.

 

Go all the way up Annihilation. When you have a point-blank Force Leap it's essentially a second Battering Assault (rage builder) which is important.

 

Hybrid builds are really only worth considering, imo, when you're 50.

 

Ah, I was following a build that was only 1/2 Close Quarters...definitely get the point blank Force Charge?

[EasymodeX]

1/2 Close Quarters is for PvP where you can predict heals or otherwise "joust" the opponent -- 5m range is plenty short. 2/2 if you have poor prediction / reaction time / just want the raw convenience.

 

You "need" 2/2 Close Quarter for PvE raid builds where the boss hitboxes are SO****INGHUGE that you can't feasibly run out "5m away" to force charge back in.

[Thundergulch]

My anni marauder pved from 40-50 with Quinn and would generally end fights between 90-100%. No downtime and plenty of rage and fury for the next fight. I could solo champions and finish at 100%.

.

 

I've been saying this exact same thing for weeks now, but people think i'm trolling or lying.

It's good to see other people post like this.

[Kagato_Muyo]

1/2 Close Quarters is for PvP where you can predict heals or otherwise "joust" the opponent -- 5m range is plenty short. 2/2 if you have poor prediction / reaction time / just want the raw convenience.

 

You "need" 2/2 Close Quarter for PvE raid builds where the boss hitboxes are SO****INGHUGE that you can't feasibly run out "5m away" to force charge back in.

 

thank you for all the helpful insight to the Marauder spec, EasymodeX.

 

It's kind of sad that there's really one one good tree right now, Rage being a close second.

[Neuromann]

Thanks for the insight on this thread...going full anni now heh.

 

Really hope I don't regret choosing a Marauder as my first alt after having a geared out sorc in pvp. Marauders really get the short end of the stick it seems, even STMP dies a hell of a lot in WZ's, god only knows how bad it will be while trying to gear up in champ.

[Kricys]

40+ rage with a healer companion. Before that just play drunk and hope you don't remember much of it.

[Redorb]

Not sure why there's so much hate for carnage spec. I've used it for pve and pvp post 50 with pretty decent success at both.

 

As long as you manage your fury, buffs, relics and procs properly you are a DPS machine. I admit it takes a little while to get use to keeping an eye on your fury, rage, procs and managing threat/defensive cds at the same time, but once you do it can be pretty ridiculous.

 

Currently i've been using the champion crit/surge and champion power relics, and i almost always have one of those up during any given fight. Combine that with your 15% dmg buff and gore and you can put out some ridiculous numbers.

 

People have posted rotations for this build in other spots but I've found the rotations are very situational so instead ill just throw out a few good combinations and numbers. Also keep in mind my gear is a mix between champion, HM Drops and Columi, so while not too amazing is decent enough.

 

- Force scream by itself with the insta crit proc (which occurs very frequently) 2-4k

- Gore + Ravage can easily hit for 5-9k with crits(almost always 1-2 of the hits are crits)

- Battering Assault +Gore + Beserk + Massacre spam - 6 hits in about 10 seconds, each hit for 1-2k, then throw in the ataru form procs for 500-1000 dmg each hit.

 

There are more attacks but I'm too lazy to go into more detail

 

Also i admit that i have yet to try anni spec, i think i am going to respec and try it out tonight and see how it goes, it very well could be better but in the instances i've ran i have almost always been the highest dps of the group (as far as i could tell).

 

Anyway, All im trying to say here is that carnage is not all that bad and if you like getting big numbers its definitely worth a shot.

 

~Red

[Axcys]

Only reason to level anything but anni is if you want it to be more challenging. I don't think the others are that much slower at killing but the self healing in anni makes downtime a non issue and everything a joke to kill. You also don't have to use a healer pet with anni if you don't want to. Where as with the other specs 40-50 its pretty much required to have a healer pet if you don't want to sweat bullets every time you pull elites + others.