Rakata Gear and Above Gearing Advice.

[Hatefrenzy]

Hello all,

 

I've been gearing up my Annihilation Marauder over the last 3 weeks to step into an empty dps slot in my guild, and I was looking for a critique of my gear/spec/modding etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated (though if we could keep this from devolving into another STR vs POWER argument, that would be great too ). I've looked through the forums, and through several other websites, but there is a lot of conflicting information, and Im hoping for some specific advice, tailored to my situation.

 

Here is my current setup: (my Talent spec is included in the link)

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/8811d701-6266-44c4-b83c-afaf7c89555f

 

Or for ease of use:

 

(below includes all 4 class buffs)

Strength: 1653

Power: 1057

 

Melee:

Damage (Pri): 908-1061

Damage (Sec): 92-138

Bonus Damage: 602

Accuracy: 99.50%

Critical Chance: 26.98%

Critical Multiplier: 73.64%

 

Force

Bonus Damage: 921

Accuracy: 109.50%

Critical Chance: 33.85%

Critical Multiplier 73.64

 

In this current setup I am maintaining roughly 1630 dps (according to SWTOR Combat Meters) on the training dummy, with all 4 class buffs and nothing else (As of yet I cannot run SWTOR Combat Meters in actual ops due to the pc lag it causes ).

 

Now, I know i need to replace my Offhand and Legs, I'm hoping to get lucky in EV HM this week (already cleared KP HM, got the helm), and i know that the armorings in my bracers/chest and boots arent ideal. I also realize my spec is not perfect, It was essentially my lvling spec and caters to all the pvp i did while lvling.

 

My "rotation" goes as such: (Juyo Form)

Force Leap with Deadly Saber> Battering assault> Rapture > Annihilate > Ravage

After that I use what ever comes up, prioritizing Annihilate, Rapture, Deadly saber and battering assault. I also throw in Force scream and Deadly Throw, if nothing else is available, and Rage is permitting, and Vicious Throw when it is open.

 

- So with that aside, where should I go from here in regards to stats/modding/augmenting/spec/rotation etc?

- Is Vicious Slash a move I should be incorporating into my rotation, and If so is Sii-Cho form superior to Juyo because of this? (or is the utility of Juyo Form + Berserk too good to pass up?)

- Should I continue to stack power, or do my crit/accuracy/surge need some more attention first?

- Are Force Scream and Deadly Throw viable moves?

 

Thank you very much in advanced

Edited July 19, 2012 by Hatefrenzy

[CrankyBuddha]

To maximize dps, you should definitely be using Vicious slash as your primary rage dump until you have 3 stacks of annihilator. This means you should spec 31-3-7 as well, taking the offhand thing in carnage, then malice, ravager, and brutality.

 

The reason for this is that Vicious Slash is very cost effective, and is actually the greatest Damage/GCD ability that Annihilation marauders have (ignoring Ravage because its channeled, and Vicious Throw because its only up 30% of the fight) until you have that 3 stack of annihilator.

 

I'm sure youve found instances in your rotation where you've had rage, and everything to spend it on is on cooldown. Thats when you want to use Vicious Slash. With the gear you have you should be into the 1700s easy as Anni.

 

Also in regards to Juyo form, you should in no circumstances EVER not be using it as annihilation. Honestly, its probably the best marauder form period because of the stacking damage bonus that alot of people forget about

 

Force Scream and Deadly throw really have no place in an anni rotation or priority, and if you start injecting vicious slash into you rotation you will realize that you dont need to use them as fillers. Vicious Throw or whatever the <30% one is called should be used on cooldown when it is available, since it does retarded damage and looks cool

Edited July 19, 2012 by CrankyBuddha
fixing typos because im an idiot

[Hatefrenzy]

To maximize dps, you should definitely be using Vicious slash as your primary rage dump until you have 3 stacks of annihilator. This means you should spec 31-3-7 as well, taking the offhand thing in carnage, then malice, ravager, and brutality.

 

The reason for this is that Vicious Slash is very cost effective, and is actually the greatest Damage/GCD ability that Annihilation marauders have (ignoring Ravage because its channeled, and Vicious Throw because its only up 30% of the fight) until you have that 3 stack of annihilator.

 

I'm sure youve found instances in your rotation where you've had rage, and everything to spend it on is on cooldown. Thats when you want to use Vicious Slash. With the gear you have you should be into the 1700s easy as Anni.

 

Also in regards to Juyo form, you should in no circumstances EVER not be using it as annihilation. Honestly, its probably the best marauder form period because of the stacking damage bonus that alot of people forget about

 

Force Scream and Deadly throw really have no place in an anni rotation or priority, and if you start injecting vicious slash into you rotation you will realize that you dont need to use them as fillers. Vicious Throw or whatever the <30% one is called should be used on cooldown when it is available, since it does retarded damage and looks cool

 

Wow,

 

Thanks Cranky for the excellent response

 

I will definitely take all this on board and do some testing and practice to see how I go

 

Again, thanks for your advice, it is greatly appreciated

[DNGDangerous]

To maximize dps, you should definitely be using Vicious slash as your primary rage dump until you have 3 stacks of annihilator. This means you should spec 31-3-7 as well, taking the offhand thing in carnage, then malice, ravager, and brutality.

 

The reason for this is that Vicious Slash is very cost effective, and is actually the greatest Damage/GCD ability that Annihilation marauders have (ignoring Ravage because its channeled, and Vicious Throw because its only up 30% of the fight) until you have that 3 stack of annihilator.

 

I'm sure youve found instances in your rotation where you've had rage, and everything to spend it on is on cooldown. Thats when you want to use Vicious Slash. With the gear you have you should be into the 1700s easy as Anni.

 

To clairify- when he says primary rage dump, he means: when you have a point in time when you have 5+ rage, and the abilities you normally use frequently are on cooldown. (When, battering assault, ravage, annihilate, deadly saber, rupture, and vicious throw are all on cool down, and you have nothing to use other then assault).

 

The only reason I bring this up, is because I do see people spamming vicious slash in warzones on occassion instead of using rupture while in juyo form. While these instances are rare, their usual responce when I try to correct them is something along the lines of "Vicious Slash has a much better tool tip then rupture". Granted the only people who I have ever seen this happen is with people fresh to 50s pvp, I felt this is thread is a great place to comment on about this even though its really a PVE topic.

 

 

Also in regards to Juyo form, you should in no circumstances EVER not be using it as annihilation. Honestly, its probably the best marauder form period because of the stacking damage bonus that alot of people forget about

 

Force Scream and Deadly throw really have no place in an anni rotation or priority, and if you start injecting vicious slash into you rotation you will realize that you dont need to use them as fillers. Vicious Throw or whatever the <30% one is called should be used on cooldown when it is available, since it does retarded damage and looks cool

 

While Force Scream and Deadly throw are terrible skills for Annihilation spec marauders in PVE, it is important to keep them on your tool bars somewhere. There are random times that its nice to have a range type attack. As an example: I use these during minesweeper so that i dont leap into a red square.

[Hatefrenzy]

Thanks for the clarification DNGDangerous

 

Also, In regards to Accuracy, which is the important one? Melee or Force? And is it correct that it should be at 108%?

 

Thanks

[DNGDangerous]

in the melee page, under accuracy, there are actually 2 stats that are listed:

 

1) accuracy

and

2) special accuracy.

 

special accuracy is always your base accuracy +10%

 

(some math majors might say i listed that equation incorrectly so let me explain further)

 

Accuracy is used for only a few attacks, most notably "Assault". Special Accuracy is used for attacks that are SpecialAtk=X which for the most part is most of the attacks relivant to the Annihilation tree. Now, OPS bosses have a defence bonus of +10% approximatelly (I dont know the exact number of defence bonus that they have). It is important to note that means, in order for all of your Annihilates or ravages, you would need approximatelly 110% special Attack accuracy since both attacks are considered special attack.

 

With this in mind, that means you want your goal to be, regular accuracy to be at or near 100%, with it no higher then 105%. If you have accuracy at 100%, then everything but assault will have a special accuracy of 110%. The OPS boss will then bring the accuracy to 90% and special accuracy down to 100%.

 

Now that means you will miss some of your "Assault" attacks, but the damage on assault is nominal at best, and used purelly to generate rage. Your Bleeds, Annihilates, ravages, and vicious throws will make up the majority of your damage, and while you cant miss your Bleeds, you dont want to miss the other big hitters in your arsenal.

 

After reaching the 100% accuracy mark, you want to then invest into other stats. Thats why I wouldnt go past 105% accuracy. I personally favor stacking power/surge since you can auto crit your bleeds while in berserk. Stat allocation is of course matter of preferance. Since you cant have power and crit on the same mod/enhancment, I tend to neglect crit (for annihilation).

 

basically the types of mods or enhancments are as follows:

Power + Surge

Power + Accuracy

Crit + Surge

Crit + Accuracy

 

As for getting accuracy up, things that have high power tend to have high accuracy, so getting to 100% accuracy is actually fairly easy, and can be done with few pieces. The expensive part is ripping out and optimizing the over flow of accuracy.

 

hope this helps. take care and happy hunting.

[Hatefrenzy]

Wow,

 

Thank you DNGDangerous, I really appreciate all the advice