Valgraas Marauder needs HELP

[Protonic_Flux]

Ok, gotten to level 48 with my marauder and I am just disgusted. I cant advance any further. I'm more or less losing every fight. I have fantastic gear. The best that I can possibly craft for myself (almost all of it purple gear) And yet I am falling hard. I've pretty much decided at this point to leave the game completely but my guildmates think I should ask on the forums that I have to be doing something wrong. So here's my build. And my gear stats. So, throw me a clue if you got one....

 

 

Valgraas Sith Marauder

Str 983 Pre 231 Aim 52 Cunning 56 End 980 Wp 98

Health 12130 Armor rating 2890 Damage Reduction 21.75% Defense Chance 5.76%

Melee

Damage Pri 402-499 Sec 128-192 Bonus Damage 208.3 Accuracy 97.61% Crit Chance 18.42% Crit Mult 51%

Force

Bonus Damage 406.4 Bonus Healing 140.6 Accuracy 107.61% Crit Chance 25.24% Crit Mult 51% Act.Speed 5.63%

 

Carnage 31

 

2 Cloak of Carnage

3 Dual Weild Mastery

2 Defensive Forms

3 Narrowed Hatred

2 Defensive Roll

2 Execute

1 Ataru Form

2 Ataru Mastery

1 Blood Frenzy

2 Towering Rage

2 Enraged Assault

1 Gore

2 Rattling Voice

2 Overwhelm

3 Sever

1 Massacre

 

Rage 8

2 Ravager

3 Malice

2 Decimate

1/2 Brutality

 

Gear

Head- 555 armor 69 str 71 end 21 crit 27 alacrity

Chest- 555 armor 72 str 68 end 14 absorption 20 defensive

Hand- 347 armor 67 str 68 end 17 crit 27 alacrity

Wrist- 295 armor 56 str 37 end 5 crit

Waist- 236 armor 34 str 21 end

Legs- 555 armor 69 str 71 end 21 crit 27 alacrity

Feet- 347 armor 78 str 78 end 6 power 17 crit 27 alacrity

implant 1 50 str 42 end 18 accuracy 23 crit

implant 2 50 str 42 end 20 shield 20 power

Earpiiece- 58 str 47 end 25 accuracy 25 power

Relic 1 18 str 8 end

Relic 2 21 end

 

 

Lightsaber 1 - 194-291 damage 58 str 93 end 21 crit 388 force power 27 alacrity

Lightsaber 2 - 194-291 damage 58 str 93 end 21 crit 388 force pwoer 27 alacrity

[TheParab]

Hi there. So the issue I saw right off the bat were your sabers. I don't know if those are orange moddable weapons or not, but if they are orange, you need to change those mods. If they aren't moddable, then try to get DPS sabers. Both of your weapons have more END than STR. As a Marauder that should NEVER be the case in whatever mods you choose (except for Enhancement/Color Crystal because you can't choose STR with those). Push STR as much as you can. It's our primary stat. And while END is our secondary, push STR all the way.

[Protonic_Flux]

Hi there. So the issue I saw right off the bat were your sabers. I don't know if those are orange moddable weapons or not, but if they are orange, you need to change those mods. If they aren't moddable, then try to get DPS sabers. Both of your weapons have more END than STR. As a Marauder that should NEVER be the case in whatever mods you choose (except for Enhancement/Color Crystal because you can't choose STR with those). Push STR as much as you can. It's our primary stat. And while END is our secondary, push STR all the way.

 

Both of the Lightsabers are moddable. They are Dread Battlefield Commander Lightsaber and Primal Legion Lightsaber

 

Both have the following mods in them

Yellow/Orange Color Crystal (lvl 46 purple crystals) +31 End

Level 40 Hilt (Purple hilt) 32 Str 22 End

Level 38 Mod (blue mods) 26 str 15 end 4 crit rating

Level 48 Enh (Blue mods) 25 end 17 crit rating 27 alacrity Rating

 

Maybe they're a little old. But not too bad, are they?

[Baramore]

Why do you have alacrity, shield, and absorption...you are not a tank that uses a shield and you are not a caster that needs alacrity to cast faster...you need to change that gear and get some crit, power, or surge...and what kind of rotation are you using...are you popping your defensive cooldowns? Are you using your healing companion and is his gear up to his level?

 

Also your build is ok until you get to the rage tree...you dont need Malice cuz ataru hits are weapon based damage now...Decimate either ever since they bumped the cost of smash to 3 rage...I wouldnt suggest brutality either since Massacre pretty much replaces vicious slash when you get it...Keep ravager and with the extra points you have go to the annihalation tree and get short fuse for a faster 30 stacks of fury and Enraged slash to help keep more rage.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Baramore
Missed something

[Witchdoctor]

IMO you should swap specs to Annihilation, greater survivability with a fairly simple rotation. There is also threads all over the shot explaining the basics of the spec so I won't get into it now.

 

If you are going to stay Carnage then learn to deal with mobs in the correct order, be careful on your pulls. Remember to interrupt anything that looks like its going to hurt. Use Obfuscate to prevent damage and ensuring cloak is used as soon as you start taking damage should make levelling easy enough.

 

*edit* I forgot to talk about companions, companions are your friends in this game. Make sure their gear is upto date and use them as off tanks when you need to. Unless you are using the healer then just make sure his gear is upto date and kill everything!

Edited May 26, 2012 by Witchdoctor

[TheParab]

Both of the Lightsabers are moddable. They are Dread Battlefield Commander Lightsaber and Primal Legion Lightsaber

 

Both have the following mods in them

Yellow/Orange Color Crystal (lvl 46 purple crystals) +31 End

Level 40 Hilt (Purple hilt) 32 Str 22 End

Level 38 Mod (blue mods) 26 str 15 end 4 crit rating

Level 48 Enh (Blue mods) 25 end 17 crit rating 27 alacrity Rating

 

Maybe they're a little old. But not too bad, are they?

 

Your hilt is one of your most important mods. You need to keep that as up to date as possible, especially with your level. This is what changes your damage rating. You can go from a rating of 104 to 120 if you throw in some lvl 47 purple mods. That's a pretty decent upgrade in itself right there that you will probably notice. I keep looking over some of your items and you have more END than STR (I don't have the specifics up right now, but I think it was your pants?). Like another poster said, no need for you to have alacrity at all. No shield/defensive stats either. Crit/Surge/Power. That's all you should have in addition to STR/END.

 

You are getting close to 50, and at that point, you will be running HM FPs with your guild I'm assuming. So you probably don't need to worry about getting all purple mods. But keep your hilts up to date. Run your dailies when you can in BEL and start working on getting your Rakata implants/ear piece. Make sure you pick the DPS items tho and stay far away from anything tank/caster related (IE: +Shield/Alacrity/Absorb).

[zxckakel]

^ what he said.

 

Aside from the fact that you're a carnage marauder, which is a burst type of damager. You don't need crit rating, focus on the stats "power" because your triggered ataru form can be oh so devastating with a constant high damage plus the fact that your instant crit force scream can wreck havoc.

 

If you're a carnage marauder, use malavai quinn or pierce. what is your rotation may i ask?

[KryloKillian]

Similar build to my marauder, and I had zero trouble.

 

The other guys are probably on to something with the gear, but honestly I don't think that's REALLY the problem (though update it).

 

Marauders have tons of survivability but NONE of it is passive. You need to use your defensive cooldowns every fight. They're on short enough CDs that you'll have them back in no time. Obfuscate the most powerful enemies whenever you can, use cloak of annihilation at every possible opportunity, turn on prededation (or bloodlust if you're feeling confident) whenever possible, saber ward if things still seem iffy, etc.

 

Further, don't neglect the use of your force kick, the one that damages rooted or snared enemies. Force leap into a group, targetting a normal, then force kick him then force smash and hilt strike another, you should be able to take out two enemies before they even have a chance to attack. Then obfuscate the last opponent and tear him apart.

 

I've played most of the other classes and none of them require as much active defense, in my experience. If you aren't using your CDs on a Sniper or BH or Inq or whatever, you're usually pretty much, okay, most of the time. With a marauder that's just not the case.

[grayrest]

While everybody else is commenting on your gear, I suspect your problems are more gameplay related. You certainly don't need purple gear to complete the content. I'm on the Sentinel side at 46 and reading both forums so I don't know things like companion names. Without knowing what's going wrong, here are a couple general suggestions:

 

* Annihilation is the strongest spec. IMO Carnage is the weakest, I put in a level at 40 and felt really weak having leveled Focus (Rage). I switched to Watchman (Annihilation) for 41&42 and am back to Focus simply because I like it and I think it's faster for leveling. If you're struggling, I recommend respeccing. A typical Annihilation pull goes: companion attack, charge a different target, deadly saber in the air, Battering assault, rupture, assault/annihilate (gets third stack up), switch targets and Ravage. Your companion should finish off his target as your dots finish off your first and your Ravage finishes your second.

 

* Put effort into gearing up your companion. I've been trying to buy two token items per planet, one for myself and one for my companion. I'm using the melee dps companion (Kira for a JK) . She's about 90% as well geared as I am and can solo a strong mob, which is useful.

 

* If your companion's health is above your own, force camo and let your companion pick up aggro. They're expendable while you're not. Even better, they insta-heal when you mount.

 

* Cloak of Pain is your friend, you should be using it as often as it's available. For that matter, the cooldowns on most defensive abilities (choke, obfuscate, force camo, awe) are short enough that it's worth using one on every strong mob you fight if you're not going to be using Berserk.

 

* When fighting elites, jump in and do your initial setup, interrupt the first cast/channel, and force camo so your companion does some tanking. After a few seconds obfuscate so your companion lives to help you through the whole fight. When you pull aggro back off your companion, saber ward and cloak immediately. You should decide whether to Heroic Moment at this point for the 24s of ~90% damage reduction (that's 2 saber wards with cloak up the whole time). If/when you go below 10%, it's time to hit Undying Rage and your health pot. This whole sequence isn't particularly needed for Annihilation spec but I sometimes need to burn the whole set since my single target isn't that strong.

 

Hopefully that's somewhat helpful.

Edited May 27, 2012 by grayrest

[TheOneMorx]

Yep, change from Carnage to Annihilation. Carnage isn't well suited for solo play. I myself played Carnage until I hit 50 and I had some trouble beating some fights iirc. Then I respecced to Annihilation and now with good gear I can carve a path through almost anything.

 

This game is VERY gear dependent and you will notice that it becomes increasingly easier when you get top of the line gear.

 

As an example for Carnage vs. Annihilation: On Ilum there is some Champion mobs that I have no trouble beating with annihilation specc. I respecced to carnage and tried the same mob and was severely beaten. Admittedly my rotation probably sucked and I had zero practice with carnage but either way that specc is MUCH weaker in the solo-play department.

 

Annihilations selfheals from Hungering and when you pop Berserk doesn't seem like much but it add up to your survivability, especially if you add a good geared Quinn. Imo Marauder is the best solo-class in the game.

[HollowVamp]

yo. i do carnage for lowbie pvp. anni for max lvl pvp till you have the gear.

anything with alac or w/e stats you have. you wanna replace with power.power power power lol.

Now. gear quinn up for solo stuff, leap in, get your rage, ,massacre, gore, ravage, scream, **** dies, if elite, abuse berserk massacre with gore when off cd and scream when procs up.. same goes in pvp, but in this spec unless you have pocket heals you will die after a few kills. Annihilation spec makes leveling EZ mode, self heals, hard dots, decent high crits.

if you wanna try that spec, its charge, deadly sabers,battering assault, rupture,, keep those 2 dots going and fill in with ravage and vic. slash.

 

these are the specs i roll with,

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bcZhGdRRrrdGzZM.1 - carnage

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIbRrRMfsZhZG00M.1 - anni

 

All in all this class is very powerful, arguably fotm atm

 

hopefully i helped a little bit. this is hands down my favorite class in the game(have one of each ac at 50)

 

just want to throw in, even with quinn geared and healing you, any hard or elite fights will still be close to death, if your struggling i would also recommend going anni, the self heals from berserk make a world of difference in solo play

Edited May 27, 2012 by HollowVamp

[arkzehhh]

^ what he said.

 

Aside from the fact that you're a carnage marauder, which is a burst type of damager. You don't need crit rating, focus on the stats "power" because your triggered ataru form can be oh so devastating with a constant high damage plus the fact that your instant crit force scream can wreck havoc.

 

If you're a carnage marauder, use malavai quinn or pierce. what is your rotation may i ask?

 

 

Dunno how anyone playing a Marauder of all classes, can humanly play bad / lose every fight ( the odd... well ok) but as much as u say?

Are you playing on a gameboy? And you sure it's a marauder and not some gimped class your playing? just doesnt make sense.... Quite a few of your stat's are off but still.... that aside.. seem's like lack of player 'skill' .

Edited May 27, 2012 by arkzehhh

[zxckakel]

^ first off, it is not me who is having troubles with this class. second, before you go on and criticize the OP he clearly admitted that he doesn't know what he's doing. So before you go post things like this, please do read more.

[Adwynyth]

Leave your spec alone till you fix your gear. Anni may have an advantage over carnage in solo play, but I just hit 50 with my latest carnage marauder, and didn't feel gimped at all. Took out fat boy at 47 with no problem.

 

Your sabers are your most important gear by far. Get the best hilts at your level that you can, might not guardian, and put heavy strength gear in every other slot on everything else.

 

You should never be more than 2 levels behind on your hilt, if even that.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Adwynyth

[Thundergulch]

Both of the Lightsabers are moddable. They are Dread Battlefield Commander Lightsaber and Primal Legion Lightsaber

 

Both have the following mods in them

 

Level 40 Hilt (Purple hilt) 32 Str 22 End

 

THIS is your main problem!

Upgrade your hilts ASAP!

 

The damage on your sabers at level 48 should be over 400 iirc

Change your hilts and you will notice a world of difference.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Thundergulch

[leeroyclarkson]

I leveled to 50 as a carnage mara and loved it, then I switched to Anni and that was a lot of fun too. I am basically anni now because since my server is dead I find solo'ing and queuing up for pvp alone, anni has more survivability. However, I firmly believe carnage has more time on target and more damage overall then anni.

 

Play what you like and your sabers are fine. Hell you could equip training sabers and kill something. I think your biggest problem is that I imagine that you are on Voss now. And there are a couple of storyline line and planet quest line mobs that are impossible to take down. Saek mor or whatever his name is, is one of the hardest single player bosses to kill for any class at that level.

 

I recommend running with Quinn, (even though I f'ing Loathe him) as carnage or going back and doing Hoth or Belsavis bonus series. I don't believe you have to go anni to beat the game. I loved carnage. I will say, learning some keybinding MADE this class for me. I used 1-6 anyways, I just got a 4 button mouse and used intelli-set Microsoft to set 2 of the buttons to ctrl and shift. Then used 1-6, shift 1-6 and ctrl 1-6. For 18 easy hotkeys. The problem with marauders in general is that we have so many things going on, its hard to get them all down. I usually lead off with obfuscate, then when that wears off, saber ward, then cloak of pain, then obfuscate again. Have your interrupt hotkeyed. At 48 til you get battlemaster gear, it becomes less how much damage can you do with your rotation and more managing your defensive cool downs. You are going to do damage no matter how bad your clicking is, but enemies can kill you a lot easier at lvl 48-50.

 

Stick with it, use the forums, there are 2 types of marauders, awful ones, easy to kill and damn near invincible ones. I am known on my server and people don't engage me unless its 3v1 or more.