Which spec used for what?

[tjallred]

So I am having trouble deciding what spec to go with. I know Annihilation is all about the DoTs but I am unclear on what the others are all about. It looks like Carnage gives you an insane boost to speed but other than that I can't really tell what does what. Help?

[dragonfor]

So I am having trouble deciding what spec to go with. I know Annihilation is all about the DoTs but I am unclear on what the others are all about. It looks like Carnage gives you an insane boost to speed but other than that I can't really tell what does what. Help?

Are you planning to PvE or PvP?

[Hizoka]

Annihilation is best for everything.

 

 

Focus is for bad players who think criting for 5k once every 12 seconds is cool

 

Combat is for people who like gimping themselves and thinking they are better for doing less damage having less survivability and group utility.

[Hawaiianlion]

For pve anni is the best spec, its great dps and you wont immediately snap aggro from the tank since your damage ramps up instead of front loaded, the small heals you provide can also help out your group.

 

For pvp it depends on what you are doing...

 

If you are running a 4 man premade i find rage to be the better spec, its has crazy burst and really pressures enemy healers into healing several targets and draining their resources. You drop a 4-5k smash into several people on a void door or a novare hut it really puts the momentum in your teams favor, 20k worth of instant damage that needs to be healed through and easily confuses raid frame tunneling healers into who is actually being focussed. You have a healbot that should be spam dispelling you to prevent you from being snared/kited so you can stay on your targets and keep generating rage. Coordinate burst with another dps class and you will global people.

 

If you are solo q'ing you have two ways to go since without dispels your rage spec will be kited and rage starved. So as a pug'r, do you want to kill good healers and tanks? Or do you want to kill average/bad healers and all dps classes.

 

Carnage is the spec to kill good healers and drop tanks, you have a ranged root that also adds trauma, your vanish breaks snares, and your predation is amazing when used during a fight not just to sprint from one node to another, ravage roots your target, not to mention +15% passive run speed at all times. All this makes you damn near unkitable when played properly. With gore you tear straight through any armor. Its all single target though and your damage comes in quick bursts with gore ravage scream combos, so it can feel lacking when ravage is down, but nothing drops a healer faster. Bait their knockback, then drop your root chain combo into them. Get a full rage bar and pop berserk gore and then massacre spam to put out pressure during ravage cd.

 

Anni is the go to solo q duel spec. Any dps class aside from tank sin is an easy win, dot them up annihilate and laugh. However, you will never kill a good healer solo, they will kite and cc you all day long while dispeling all your damage. You can pressure them into focusing on you and not healing their team, but you wont kill them if they are good. I have a valor 70+ valor sorc and merc healer toons and i can kite an anni mara all day if he is on me alone. Bad healers will drop to your pressure if you land your interrupt followed by a charge interrupt. It is an awesome spec and can really rack up pressure on people, but throw two decent healers on the enemy team that understands you are a priority to heal through and your dots will never stick.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Hawaiianlion

[enthrop]

So if I'm looking for a leveling spec on a PVP server, and will be doing WZs while leveling, annil sounds like a good bet? You said it was good for PVE, so for the heroics or FPs I'll be doing while leveling. But it also sounds *decent* for PVP, so I can use it for world pvp/ganking and WZs.

[pureeffinmetal]

Annihilation wins PVE no question.

 

And while Carnage and Rage may have some nice utility and other abilities, an Annihilation marauder is far from gimped in PVP.

 

I also find Annhilation the most fun to play. Rage is fun when you can build up smashes, but in between its pretty stupid.

 

Carnage too, is also fun when you line up Gore>Ravage>Scream. But besides that you're just button mashing Massacre until your fingers are numb.

 

Annihilation remains the most fluid and fun to play, imo.

[Yescek]

Annihilation wins PVE no question. Agreed

 

And while Carnage and Rage may have some nice utility and other abilities, an Annihilation marauder is far from gimped in PVP. Also, agreed

 

I also find Annhilation the most fun to play. Rage is fun when you can build up smashes, but in between its pretty stupid. Never played rage, so I don't know

 

Carnage too, is also fun when you line up Gore>Ravage>Scream. But besides that you're just button mashing Massacre until your fingers are numb. Not 100% incorrect, but fundamentally wrong. Yes, you WILL use Massacre a ****load. However, you can be just as useful by nailing a tank's feet to the floor so he can't rejoin the fight and prevent the cap. Or by debuffing and interrupting a healer, but not killing them, to keep them force starved.

 

Annihilation remains the most fluid and fun to play, imo. My opinion is Carnage, but we're all entitled to ours...........

 

Red text are my thoughts on what he said.

 

I've played Carnage since day 2 of EGA, went Annhilation for the month of February. To actually answer your questions, Annihilation provides the highest sustained DPS and provides you and any teammates in range with a small amount of healing. 1% per crit tick if I remember right. I find it to be best suited for any/all PvE, and for solo queue'ing for Warzones. You don't have to focus on any type of target, you can kill Tanks, DPS, and Healers just fine. You run into issues with a good to great healer on the other team who dispels your DoTs, though those that do are exceedingly rare due to most of the playerbase being lazy nerfmongers. Carnage provides slightly less burst than Rage, but much better sustained because it will burst much faster making it the middle ground in terms of straight damage. I feel like this spec provides the best OVERALL group utility due to it having two extra roots associated with it. Carnage Marauders will use Berserk MUCH less and Predation/Bloodthirst MUCH more than Annihilation or Rage because Annihilation and Rage rely on Berserk much more. Carnage will have a harder time killing targets with heavier armor as all of the main attacks are Weapon damage, Kinetic damage specifically. Annihilation and Carnage are both 100% single target DPS, though Carnage can switch targets on the fly with no penalty or need to ramp back up. Rage can be single target as well, but it's main burst (Buffed Smash) is an AoE attack. It is best suited for PvP in my opinion, and strictly for trash pulls in PvE which is also my opinion. It's sustained damage blows, but the burst is currently the best burst in the game owing to the fact that you can nail up to 5 people at once for 6k+ each.

 

I hope all of the above answers your questions.

[tjallred]

You guys rock, thanks for the info, I plan to be playing a lot of both PvE/PvP, I enjoy both. Something to mention though, I usually play with a friend and he is rolling a Jugg, what would be the best support roll? I feel like it might be carnage as the speed buff on predation helps the whole group right? Or am I reading it wrong? Quote from TorHead: Requires and converts 30 stacks of Fury to issue Predation to you and your party, increasing movement speed by 50% and melee and ranged defense by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds. So it gives Predation to everybody? is there a limit to it like range? Just going by this ability alone seems like I should go with Carnage.

[tjallred]

Also, I just hit level 20, just to throw that out there, I have not reached 50 on anything...

[Swarna]

Such closed-mindedness from some people. Annihilation is not the best at everything. It's the best for being an all-around Rambo, which is what the majority of players are gonna find most helpful in day-to-day solo-queuing/casual premades. In organized Ranked matches, the other 2 specs are gonna be very prominent in their usages. Both Carnage and Rage have superior peeling-melee-off-your-healers ability than Annihilation and better burst-on-demand capabilities just as examples.

 

That's the best thing about Marauders out of every other AC in the game. Every spec is viable and has a different usage. If you think otherwise, you've probably got a shallow perspective on Marauders overall (only play 1 spec, or maybe tried others for a very limited amount of time).

 

At level 20, I suggest you use Anni. You have Deadly Saber which really gets the ball on your damage output going. The perks for rolling Carnage (like Gore and improved Predation) are unattainable at level 20.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Swarna

[aRtFuL]

Carnage Marauders will use Berserk MUCH less and Predation/Bloodthirst MUCH more than Annihilation or Rage because Annihilation and Rage rely on Berserk much more.

 

Actually tbh I mainly use my fury for predation. Bloodthirst's cooldown is simply too long to be used in most situation unless it is a full-on 1v1, in combination with relics, and with no chance of someone joining in.

 

Also to note that after they fixed Ataru proc post 1.2, Berserk actually improved a lot for Carnage players. Though predation is probably still a fair bit more useful in most situations.

Edited May 2, 2012 by aRtFuL

[Brightbillatb]

I swear people who bash rage and think rage specs are solely reliant on smash are Rtards or have only fought Rtard rage specs. Should post a video of me ragin it up without using a single smash and still dominating.

 

@ topic

 

Try all the specs out and see what fits you, its all about your style of play and which build fits YOU. Personally I switch specs liek a fool averaging around 500k a week on respecs(im lowballing it by alot). Mainly rage tho, altho I do enjoy all of them.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Brightbillatb

[NerOTheUnloved]

i just wanted to throw my question into the mix here, i have been playing around with a mara, i like the whole dual wielding thing. After reading this it sounds like mara's are more dependent on your skill/knowledge with a spec to do good dps even in ops. is that true? i recently left a guild b/c i was being forced to play a spec with my assassin that i didnt know as well and therefore did less dps and was getting yelled at for it.

[Brightbillatb]

i just wanted to throw my question into the mix here, i have been playing around with a mara, i like the whole dual wielding thing. After reading this it sounds like mara's are more dependent on your skill/knowledge with a spec to do good dps even in ops. is that true? i recently left a guild b/c i was being forced to play a spec with my assassin that i didnt know as well and therefore did less dps and was getting yelled at for it.

 

It really is dependent on that. Experience and research would help u learn everything ur wanting to know.

[NerOTheUnloved]

yeah i have been reading a lot on mara's im just playing around now to find out what class i want to play for end game, at this point i have already been through EC on story and half way on hard so i will back burner my sin and lvl my mara and see which one i like more. thanx for the help