Selendis' Marauder Annihilation Guide 1.2

[ACtrooper]

I reposted from a reply and some addons in order to make my own post on forums in case no one reads my post. don't hate

 

My rotation as a level 50 marauder (full rakata/half warhero) *annihilation spec and builds below:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrR0RrfsZuuzZz.1 (My old tree) *lacked accuracy

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrRzRrfsZhMMZM.1 (recently made tree)

 

In honest truth, pvp builds for marauders are various due to multiple scenarios, such as when not to force charge head first towards an enemy or to not pop certain ability. Healers/Channeled-Ability dependent users are a group of people you may not want to charge head first in sometimes.

 

Charge

Charge is a skill that can also disrupt a user's/mob's/boss' ability. So it is essentially to make sure you can throw down that ability only to gain an advantage. I believe that charge should be used during an opponent’s channeled ability. This allows marauders to disrupt the user’s next ability with our disruption which shuts down two abilities quickly and disabling them from doing serious damage (or healing) to your marauder. (This gives reason to why you must spec to reduce your minimum force charge range) It is up to your discretion whether or not charging immediately is necessary or favorable for your marauder. When your opponent is running away from you, you might as well force charge to cut that gap away along with the fact that marauders destroy most people in melee range.

 

In huttball, charge is most favorable for us marauders who need to jump towards the goal line and also to disrupt others who may get the ball first but it is important to remember that interrupt are crucial to support our tanks and bring pressure to their healers, so use your charge wisely.

 

Unless the user does not depend on a channeled ability to function, charging first is favorable move to make first to build rage. (classes such as warriors and assassins)

 

 

*note that this is a general rotation and that it may vary depending on who you may versus in terms of player classes and boss abilities

 

 

PvP: imo rage spec is best due to aoe and numerous other perks but survivability will be less likely

 

annihilation build is dependent on dots and annihilate so the order of rupture and annihilate can vary. Many people prefer to rupture first then annihilate but I made to this build to incorporate ravage and my style of play.

 

frenzy->predation (run to objective faster) *popped at the start of wz

charge <-build rage for ds (please note the charge discussion above)

cloak of pain (can vary in rotation)

deadly saber/relic (deadly saber is important for more dps/bleed)

battering assault <-build rage for annihilation

annihilation

crippling slash (slows them down for rupture/ravage) *not always necessary if they do not run away

rupture (berserk heals only come from this ability) *can go before annihilate

ravage (a good player will be able to disrupt it or avoid it)

vicious throw (if opponent is low on health below 30%)

deadly throw (healers dread this ability)

*repeat back to charge

*throw down vicious slash if other abilities are in cd

*throw down force scream/vicious throw if you are not close enough to target and charge is on cd

 

Frenzy/Marauder Party Buffs should really go to only predation and berserk in my opinion. Bloodthirst is nice for extra damage, but I believe the extra heals from berserk and speed boost is more essential in pvp survivability and objectives. (opinions may vary)

 

*most important as I stress this from the bottom of my heart since it kills me so much from players… please buff yourself and your fellow teammates when you re-spawn

 

 

PvE: imo anni is best due to higher heals/fury generation/survivability/dps

 

Charge

Cloak of pain (this can vary in rotation location)

deadly saber/relic (note that popping relic and deadly saber at the same time could enable you to pull a bosses away from the tank which may not be favorable)

battering assault

annihilation

rupture (berserk heals come from this ability)

ravage

battering assault (deadly saber if cd is down) or basic attacks for more rage

vicious slash (if annihilation is not up yet) along with basic attacks

annihilation

rupture

 

if boss/mob is a healer -> deadly throw

if below 30% health -> vicious throw (use as much as possible when cd is up)

 

*repeat back up top of deadly saber or charge

*force scream if you are pushed back from target or are forced to be away from a certain distance

 

Frenzy/Marauder Party Buffs should go to berserk and bloodthirst. Extra dps from bloodthirst is needed when doing operations to beat the rage timer. Berserk helps ease the healers of their jobs slightly. Predation should only be used if you need to be running to a location such as SOA in Eternity Vault or when avoiding an aoe attack or certain death. (opinions may vary)

 

Defensive/Reduction Abilities:

Obfuscate -> throw down when they are doing hard hitting abilities or when engaging a player 1v1

Cloak of Pain -> advised to use after charge ability, placement can vary

Saber Ward -> when expecting a hard hit

Undying Rage -> my “oh ****” button or getting targeted by multiple players (used around 20% health or below)

Force Camoflage -> another "oh ****" button to avoid agro or to disable someone from casting a debuff or attack on you (helpful when avoiding a warrior's ravage or a high hitting ability)

 

Please remember that your rage will not always be high enough to do all abilities consecutively, hence it is wise to spec to gain more rage and also to do basic attacks to obtain more rage.

 

 

Gear Stats: (highest priority starts left to right)

Strength-> Power-> Accuracy (98%-100%)-> Crit->Surge

 

This can be debatable but this is how I currently see the priority as.

 

 

edit: I am currently studying more about accuracy but from what I have read 98%->100% accuracy is ideal currently which is a correction made thanks to the comments below and from other website forums.

 

source: http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Annihilation-Watchmen-Discussion

 

sry i don't remember my rotation as a low level marauder so I can only give out my 50's rotation >.< if I missed something…well I tried…

 

-Selendis,

 

Server:

Nadd’s Sarcophagus

 

edit: my tree is currently make to fit both pve and pvp for my style of play

1- two points in ravager would be recommended for PvE specs annihilation

2- points can be taken away from Narrowed Hatred once high enough accuracy is obtained for other stats such as:

a. Blurred Speed

b. Defensive Roll/Defensive Form

*this helps a lot simply due to unavoidable PvE/PvP aoe/dots

c. Ravager

Edited May 3, 2012 by ACtrooper
typo and errors

[ArchTyrian]

And whose butt did you pull the 103% accuracy number from? Where are the numbers to back this up? why is it bad to have 100% accuracy over 103%? Ill give you a hint ITS NOT lol anyways don't listen to this fool.

 

Edit.

Just looked at your spec and wow. 2/2 in Close quarters and 0/2 in blurred speed? .... Anyways Nice try but it's just.. bad.

Edited May 2, 2012 by ArchTyrian

[ACtrooper]

And whose butt did you pull the 103% accuracy number from? Where are the numbers to back this up? why is it bad to have 100% accuracy over 103%? Ill give you a hint ITS NOT lol anyways don't listen to this fool.

 

Edit.

Just looked at your spec and wow. 2/2 in Close quarters and 0/2 in blurred speed? .... Anyways Nice try but it's just.. bad.

 

I never said it was bad to have 100%, I simply believe that 103% is better from the past. No I do not have proof anymore, but if you have data to prove 100% is better than anything above please tell.

 

Its quite obvious my build tree will conflict with other experienced marauders but we do our builds to how we see fit.

 

You may believed I'm bad, but I spent effort to make this to help new marauders and non-experienced marauder who don't know what they are doing. Marauder who know what they are doing have to build their own tree to see how they deem fit for them and how they play since there are countless way to make a rotation and counters towards classes.

 

Calling me a fool without backup is not constructive at all. There are multiple ways to build one's tree and stats, I am simply building mine. Whether people take my advice/suggestion is up to them. If you want to help then post your guide or post some data to disprove me.

[Omophorus]

I never said it was bad to have 100%, I simply believe that 103% is better from the past. No I do not have proof anymore, but if you have data to prove 100% is better than anything above please tell.

 

Its quite obvious my build tree will conflict with other experienced marauders but we do our builds to how we see fit.

 

You may believed I'm bad, but I spent effort to make this to help new marauders and non-experienced marauder who don't know what they are doing. Marauder who know what they are doing have to build their own tree to see how they deem fit for them and how they play since there are countless way to make a rotation and counters towards classes.

 

Calling me a fool without backup is not constructive at all. There are multiple ways to build one's tree and stats, I am simply building mine. Whether people take my advice/suggestion is up to them. If you want to help then post your guide or post some data to disprove me.

 

So basically, there are 2 scenarios for Acc in PVP.

 

0 Defense Rating, which means you need 100% Special Acc (0 Acc, really, since Assault isn't important in the grand scheme of things) to clobber anyone.

 

450 Defense Rating, or thereabouts, which means you're stacking the crap out of Acc and at a serious disadvantage against anyone who isn't a tank, because you're not buffing other, more useful stats.

 

So basically, Acc is useless in PVP, because Marauder is a terrible tank killer to start with (much better off killing enemy DPS or healers, and helping with tanks when necessary but otherwise leaving them to those whose attacks bypass defense rating).

 

Your build is all over the damn map. It might work for you, and power to you, but it's not anything I'd recommend to newbie 50 Marauders.

 

In my opinion, the skeleton of any Annihilation Marauder PVP build is this: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrRMRMfsZZM.1

 

You can add points on top of that as suit your play style, but that covers the most useful skills to get Annihilate, plus Ravager, which is far too good to pass up until BioWare nerfs Ravage.

 

I would say that the most useful things to add are Defensive Forms (plenty of Internal and Elemental damage floating around WZs, especially from the most commonly-used specs of various ACs), Dual Wield Mastery (free damage), Defensive Roll (AoE mitigation), Malice (DOT crit goodness), and Cloak of Carnage (IMO slightly less useful as Annihilation hardly lacks for Fury generation with normal rotation).

Edited May 2, 2012 by Omophorus

[ACtrooper]

So basically, there are 2 scenarios for Acc in PVP.

 

0 Defense Rating, which means you need 100% Special Acc (0 Acc, really, since Assault isn't important in the grand scheme of things) to clobber anyone.

 

450 Defense Rating, or thereabouts, which means you're stacking the crap out of Acc and at a serious disadvantage against anyone who isn't a tank, because you're not buffing other, more useful stats.

 

So basically, Acc is useless in PVP, because Marauder is a terrible tank killer to start with (much better off killing enemy DPS or healers, and helping with tanks when necessary but otherwise leaving them to those whose attacks bypass defense rating).

 

Your build is all over the damn map. It might work for you, and power to you, but it's not anything I'd recommend to newbie 50 Marauders.

 

In my opinion, the skeleton of any Annihilation Marauder PVP build is this: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrRMRMfsZZM.1

 

You can add points on top of that as suit your play style, but that covers the most useful skills to get Annihilate, plus Ravager, which is far too good to pass up until BioWare nerfs Ravage.

 

I would say that the most useful things to add are Defensive Forms (plenty of Internal and Elemental damage floating around WZs, especially from the most commonly-used specs of various ACs), Dual Wield Mastery (free damage), Defensive Roll (AoE mitigation), Malice (DOT crit goodness), and Cloak of Carnage (IMO slightly less useful as Annihilation hardly lacks for Fury generation with normal rotation).

 

Yeah I would agree that the two points in Ravager may be helpful in PvP for newer players, but I feel that marauders should not depend on this skill simply because more experienced/season players can simply disrupt it from finishing (cc, cloak, etc).

 

I rather marauder not get in the habit of ravage since it has a long channel as a first priority move or finisher but if it fits their playstyle it up to them.

 

Accuracy:

Chance that melee attacks will successfully hit the target. Accuracy over 100% reduces the target's defense.

 

I'm lost on how 100-103% accuracy would prove ineffective in PvP especially for melee class. From what I understand accuracy will enable us to land a hit the target with a higher percentage and also reduce a target's defensive ability/armor. So wouldn't accuracy help in destroying tank's armor and also help us land more shot on other classes such as sorc, warriors and etc...?

 

I believe accuracy is essential in marauders/melee classes but of course going over say the 105% may be too much to the point where it may be useless.

Edited May 2, 2012 by ACtrooper

[Akfourtys]

I feel that marauders should not depend on this skill simply because more experienced/season players can simply disrupt it from finishing (cc, cloak, etc).

as long as they waste their cc to shut ravage and fill resolve - its ok.

[ACtrooper]

as long as they waste their cc to shut ravage and fill resolve - its ok.

 

 

True, but there situations where they can simply cloak, throw grenade (no resolve for certain ones) or push you back for miles away.

 

Plus lets not forgot the hour long cc from operatives/scroundrels that can burn you down in three to fives shots if geared really well.

 

Ravage is the indicator to react where as annihilate/rupture is slightly more instant (giving less time to react).

 

Of course I'm not saying don't do ravage, I use ravage when I know they cannot escape without using an "oh ****" ability or are low on health.

 

And I have destroyed my fair share of inexperienced players who do not know how to react well to ravage.

 

 

To address the accuracy portion, Narrowed Hatred can be taken off later for Blurred Speed when you achieve too much accuracy. I have achieved in obtaining black hole/campaign gear and also warhero gear to the point where I may have too much accuracy (above my 103%) since bioware puts accuracy in a chunk of marauder gear. Reducing the cd on force charge is good, but if a player knows how to conserve his force charge for certain timings I believe the 3 sec reduction isn't always necessary especially since we have multiple other utilities such as force cloak, predation, and movement imparing abilities. 2 points in Defensive Roll (better survivability esp in void star) would probably be a high priority for those who do mad aoe dps (bh, rage specs smashes, etc)

 

edit:

I realize that if a person was aiming for a PvE only spec, two points in ravager would be best simply due to the fact that most enemies will not interrupt/counter ravage as easily.

Edited May 2, 2012 by ACtrooper

[Foxcolt]

There's a lot of bad information in this guide

 

Good effort though.

[Omophorus]

Yeah I would agree that the two points in Ravager may be helpful in PvP for newer players, but I feel that marauders should not depend on this skill simply because more experienced/season players can simply disrupt it from finishing (cc, cloak, etc).

 

I rather marauder not get in the habit of ravage since it has a long channel as a first priority move or finisher but if it fits their playstyle it up to them.

 

Accuracy:

Chance that melee attacks will successfully hit the target. Accuracy over 100% reduces the target's defense.

 

I'm lost on how 100-103% accuracy would prove ineffective in PvP especially for melee class. From what I understand accuracy will enable us to land a hit the target with a higher percentage and also reduce a target's defensive ability/armor. So wouldn't accuracy help in destroying tank's armor and also help us land more shot on other classes such as sorc, warriors and etc...?

 

I believe accuracy is essential in marauders/melee classes but of course going over say the 105% may be too much to the point where it may be useless.

 

Everything is situational, but Ravage is a great psychological tool now. Before, the damage was too low for it to be an effective threat, but that's all changed since 1.2.

 

It leaves people with a dilemma - do they interrupt the big hit and fill up your resolve while you have high HP, or do they eat the damage and keep your resolve down for later? A split-second choice like that forces errors, which ups your ability to do the only thing you really can do as a Marauder (kill things).

 

If you're 1v1ing someone with an effective tool to stop your Ravage without touching your resolve, perhaps it's best to adjust tactics and not waste the GCDs, but if it's a wild melee, you can generally slip it in.

 

As for Accuracy, the ONLY attack that uses the basic Accuracy stat is Assault. Every other attack uses Special Accuracy, which is 10% higher. So with 0 Accuracy in gear, you're starting from 100% on every attack that really matters, and you only need an additional 5% (so 95% base Accuracy) to clear everyone but tanks' Defense Rating. Assault is a decent damage source in addition to being a rage generator, but a missed hit here and there is hardly the end of the world and it's not worth adding an extra 10% Acc in gear just to help that one skill.

 

While Accuracy does lower a target's defense past 100% effective Acc (accounting for Defense Rating), the impact relative to any other stat, such as Crit, Surge, Power, Expertise, etc. is so utterly minor that it's not worth preferring over those other options.

 

BioWare actually acknowledges this: if you look at War Hero gear, it has significantly less Accuracy (and a LOT more Surge) on it in comparison to Battlemaster. In fact, you comfortably sit right around 95% base Acc if you don't monkey with any mods and choose the Pummeler's earpiece.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Omophorus

[islander]

OP should stop wasting so many points in carnage.

[ACtrooper]

There's a lot of bad information in this guide

 

Good effort though.

 

 

): I tried, but this helps me learn and trade thoughts on stats and trees

[ACtrooper]

OP should stop wasting so many points in carnage.

 

The only thing I could see that can be wasted points in carnage atm is

 

1-narrowed hatred (can adjust due to amount of accuracy needed)

2-cloak of carnage (can live with or without depending on rage output)

 

* once you achieve certain accuracy goal, narrowed hatred can be reduce or you can simply hold it and buff yourself with other stats in armor.

 

necessary points: imo since it increases survivability and damage output

 

1-dual wield mastery

2-defensive form (reduce dots and elemental damage)

3-defensive curl (aoe frenzy in wz like voidstar and rage builds) (unavoidable aoe like Zorn and Toth EC)

Edited May 2, 2012 by ACtrooper

[Foxcolt]

): I tried, but this helps me learn and trade thoughts on stats and trees

 

Very true..there's a distinct lack of meaning full conversation about the class on these forums. Hoping this will at least spur some constructive posts.

[Carbonated]

Very true..there's a distinct lack of meaning full conversation about the class on these forums. Hoping this will at least spur some constructive posts.

 

thats because every fotm reroller comes in and makes their own thread about "what should I spec" "whats best for leveling" "what rotation do I use" etc.

[Omophorus]

The only thing I could see that can be wasted points in carnage atm is

 

1-narrowed hatred (can adjust due to amount of accuracy needed)

2-cloak of carnage (can live with or without depending on rage output)

 

* once you achieve certain accuracy goal, narrowed hatred can be reduce or you can simply hold it and buff yourself with other stats in armor.

 

necessary points: imo since it increases survivability and damage output

 

1-dual wield mastery

2-defensive form (reduce dots and elemental damage)

3-defensive curl (aoe frenzy in wz like voidstar and rage builds) (unavoidable aoe like Zorn and Toth EC)

 

Couple thoughts here...

 

1) Narrowed Hatred is never, EVER worth it for PVP. Battlemaster and War Hero gear both provide enough Acc to meet goals (and then some, in the case of BM...). The only way to remod out Acc without dropping ludicrous amounts of Expertise is to buy up additional BM pieces from other classes. These WZ comms are probably best converted to Ranked WZ comms or spent on WZ medpacks/adrenals instead.

 

If you're super-dedicated to remodding BM gear, I guess you could make a case for Narrowed Hatred, but you're also likely to be a dedicated enough PVPer that you'll be climbing to 70 Valor fast enough that you're better off buffering RWZ Comms for War Hero gear.

 

2) Cloak of Carnage is more useful than a lot of people give it credit for, however it's the sort of skill whose mileage varies wildly depending on the player. Uptime for Cloak of Carnage and frequency of rage starvation both play heavily into whether it's worth taking or not, so it's very much the sort of skill that each individual Marauder is going to have to play with and decide whether or not to keep using.

 

3) Defensive Roll is another YMMV skill, at least in PVP. I'd consider it nearly a necessity for higher-end PVE, but the only places in PVP warzones that tend to be awash with AOE spam are the areas immediately on top of objectives (doors in VS, panels in NC, middle turret on CW). In many cases, a Marauder is more impactful near-but-not-on those objectives taking out high-value targets like healers.

 

I'd never fault anyone for putting points in Defensive Roll, but I'd also not fault anyone for skipping it if they spend less time wading into the muck where the AOEs are heaviest.

[Thundergulch]

thats because every fotm reroller comes in and makes their own thread about "what should I spec" "whats best for leveling" "what rotation do I use" etc.

 

Totally agree, alot of people don't want to take the time to actually LEARN their character, they want to be told what to do and when to do it.... then they think they are pro.

 

[TetraCleric]

Annihilation should come after Rupture. Slow is more important than burst, and full DoT's are even more important.

[ACtrooper]

Annihilation should come after Rupture. Slow is more important than burst, and full DoT's are even more important.

 

That also works,that was my build incorporating ravage

 

but i can edit to fix that to as another method since i notice most people do this method also

 

rupture

annihilate

 

The order matters more in PvP but in PvE I believe this is not as much so.

 

But thanks for the input and useful information everyone. I will continu to edit this to make the ultimate guide for evryone or for myself

Edited May 3, 2012 by ACtrooper

[Luceus]

PvP: imo rage spec is best due to aoe and numerous other perks but survivability will be less likely

 

This is something that varies depending on your situation. I found as a solo queues, rage is nearly worthless and extremely not fun to play. You're essentially a grenade that runs into a crowd, does your smash and likely dies shortly after.

 

For solo queuing, I use Anni and it's much better due to the survivability factor. I do just as much damage (if not more) than when I had rage spec, and it's much easier to solo 1, 2 or sometimes 3 people charging at me guarding a turret alone.

 

I'm sure Rage is good if you roll with a premade and have a pocket healer though