Best Gear for Marauder

[skiibyrd]

I have a Marauder (Lvl 50) and he is current has an Annihilation Spec Build, and is in all Rakata Gear. My guild is PvE geared, and I am at the point where I will begin gearing in Black Hole/Campaign. What my question is, as a PvE Annihilation Spec marauder, what is the next gear I should be getting now that I have all Rakata. Also, if anyone knows any websites or sources that are useful in gearing a PvE marauder, that would really help out a lot too. I basically have been trying to gather this information, but have been getting very vauge and mixed results for what I should do from this point for gear.

[Slatronic]

Look in the marauder class section of the forums. Lots of good info in there about end game gearing.

[Datku]

Well what gear is open for debate. You are at the first stage...get full Rakata. Now fully Augment your Rakata. Be sure to do you daily/weekly missions for BH coms. Gear progression is basically rakata, Black hole, campaign, hazmat, then dread guard. Black hole being a "generic" version of Campaign and Hazmat the generic version of Dread Guard.

 

Now Bioware seems to have a different idea. They "suggest" that SM EC (Denova) can be done in columni gear since SM EC still only drops Rakata. So one would think their logic is that rakata then campaign but anyone who has done HM EC will tell you only Rakata gear is not going to cut it in HM EC. Even full augmented rakata is stretching it you really need to be picking up BH coms to get the BH gear or mods to run HM EC to get the campaign gear. Now once you either get campaign gear or full black hole geared augmented and customized you can head to HM TFB but pretty much everyone in the raid needs to be "61" gear level to defeat the bosses to get dread guard gear the current highest gear level.

 

Again another issue is that Bioware's itemization is well lets say really really bad. Like they locked a monkey in a room with a keyboard smeared with banana's and let the random pounding of keys decided how to itemize the gear. I don't know any class that can take the default Black Hole + gear and use the pieces to maximize their character. No you will buy more BH pieces to yank mods out of them than you will actually use. For Marauders they seem to think endurance and crit are most important. Part of the debate...crit vrs power for marauders where do you stand? Personally I stand on the pwr side of the debate and as such I pretty much remodded my gear from BH and Campaign to maximize power so that my dps was worthy for doing HM Terror from Beyond (1200-1800dps is what is expected from all dps in there).

 

Sadly even Dread Guard gear is the same as prior gears in which endurance and crit are favored over other stats which mean you will need multiple drops to yank mods out so you can actually craft a suit that is best for your class. If you are wanting to go the min/max route...yea you will need to get multiple pieces so you can swap out mods, enhancements and armoring. Or find a friendly crafters that can make 26 mods (gear level 61) or even buy 27 mods if your wealthy (gear lvl 63 mods). 27 mods expect to pay probably 2-8mil per (well for armoring and hilts/barrels for sure).

 

So short version:

 

HM EV/KP rakata gear is fine.

SM EC augmented rakata gear but the more Black Hole gear you have the easier the run.

HM EC: Augmented BH gear (you want the majority of your gear to have 61 gear level mods) and campaign gear.

SM TFB: Augmented Rakata is minimal for a tough run. The more 61 modded gear you have the better off.

HM TFB: Don't even think about it till your 100% 61 modded and augmented and even some 63 mods bought from crafters.

[skiibyrd]

see and what im struggling with is there are so many different types of Med. Armor... theres the Vindicator, WeaponMaster, Foestopper, and i think maybe even another one.. thats what I keep getting hung up on, and confusing me

[Arlon_Nabarlly]

see and what im struggling with is there are so many different types of Med. Armor... theres the Vindicator, WeaponMaster, Foestopper, and i think maybe even another one.. thats what I keep getting hung up on, and confusing me

 

You're choice as Marauder is pretty easy as only one set of each type has medium armor and you can't wear heavy armor. You want Weapon Masters for the set bonus set, but I can't remember which that is the offset, but my gut is Foestoppers, but whichever has medium armor is what you want.

 

Also if you're ever in doubt on other toons look at what the set bonus does, if it lists only moves that you don't have/use then it's probably not what you want.

[skiibyrd]

You're choice as Marauder is pretty easy as only one set of each type has medium armor and you can't wear heavy armor. You want Weapon Masters for the set bonus set, but I can't remember which that is the offset, but my gut is Foestoppers, but whichever has medium armor is what you want.

 

Also if you're ever in doubt on other toons look at what the set bonus does, if it lists only moves that you don't have/use then it's probably not what you want.

 

Ok, so even though there is like 4 sets of medium armor, there is really just 2 I should worry about: the weaponmaster or the foestoppers.... the foestoppers being the "step below" weaponmaster, or what do you mean by foestoppers is the "offset" of weaponmaster? Still trying to figure out how this works, its not as straight forward as gearing to this point.

[Omophorus]

When it comes to Black Hole gear, the shells are irrelevant, so the armor type is as well. You should be ripping the mods out and replacing your Rakata mods to keep set bonuses (neither PVE set bonus is stellar, but they are better than NOT having set bonuses).

 

Armorings should always be Might (68 Strength/49 Endurance), which until 1.5 (which will release Campaign armorings, all with the proper stats), means picking and choosing between the Pummeler and Foestopper sets of Black Hole gear. Because of the way both sets are itemized, it requires buying pieces from both sets to accumulate 5x Might Armorings.

 

The Pummeler MK-1 ear and implants are BIS from a DPS perspective, which means that between both sabers, head, body, hands, legs, and feet, you need to pick up 3 enhancements with Surge, and 4 with Accuracy (for Annihilation).

 

All mods should be 53 STR/32 END/41 X where X is Power or Crit Rating. All enhancements should be 27 END/41 X/57 Y, where X is Power or Crit Rating, and Y is Accuracy Rating or Surge Rating.

 

Ideally, you should use orange belt and bracers, with non-slot-bound Might armorings (25+) and 53/32/41X enhancements.

 

You should wind up with 123-329 Crit Rating (depending on mods/enhancements), 285 Accuracy Rating, 285 Surge Rating, and then as much Power from mods and enhancements as possible (basically anything not needed to maintain a value you are comfortable with between 123 and 329 Crit Rating should be Power).

 

Yes, you will see STR drop slightly from some Rakata slots, but the 53/32/41X mods are a net gain to DPS over the Rakata mods with higher STR and lower Power/Crit.

 

Edit: The "Weaponmaster" and "Vindicator" sets on the Black Hole vendor are Campaign gear, which can only be acquired by progressing in Explosive Conflict in Hard Mode, and cannot be purchased with Black Hole comms. The Vindicator set can be disregarded at present, because the set bonuses on its armorings are not useful to Marauder. After 1.5, it will be a similar situation to Pummeler vs. Foestopper, based on which piece from either set has the best Mod and Enhancement, as the appropriate armorings with the correct set bonuses will be buyable with Black Hole commendations directly.

Edited November 5, 2012 by Omophorus

[Taiketo]

There is only one set of medium armor. The rest are heavy.

 

Two sets if you count campaign and black hole, but you can't really choose between them.

 

However, I'd generally choose whatever piece has the best 3 modifications and rip them out and put them in something that I can use.

[skiibyrd]

Ok, so basically from this point it has nothing to do with the gear, just the mods/enhancements/ and armorings... more or less a giant puzzle to reach your ideal endgame stats, and i should just piece it together... so i may end up getting more than one of the same piece just to get a certain mod or enhancement?

[arkitip]

Ok, so basically from this point it has nothing to do with the gear, just the mods/enhancements/ and armorings... more or less a giant puzzle to reach your ideal endgame stats, and i should just piece it together... so i may end up getting more than one of the same piece just to get a certain mod or enhancement?

 

Correct.

The Black Hole Foestopper Boots in particular have the 53 str 41 pwr mod and 41 pwr 57 surge enhancement at the lowest cost.

 

The only thing to remember is that armorings are slot restricted except those that are crafted or are from the offhand. So you can only move a chest armoring to a chest piece, meaning you'll have to buy 1 piece with the right armoring for each slot 1st, then go back and buy the piece that actually has the mod/enhancement you want.

 

If you're feeling really frisky, you can get artifice and cybertech up to 400 and just buy a Black Hole piece and try to RE the modifications in it. Then you'll be able to itemize yourself however the hell you want right from the start. It'll cost you a small fortune in mats though.

[skiibyrd]

Which I have maxed out artifice, and i have treasure hunting and archeology.... so i should just get rid of one of them and get cybertech... i could definately look into that, i know it would be time consuming, but sounds like it may be worth it in the long run.

[Truescopes]

Well what gear is open for debate. You are at the first stage...get full Rakata. Now fully Augment your Rakata. Be sure to do you daily/weekly missions for BH coms. Gear progression is basically rakata, Black hole, campaign, hazmat, then dread guard. Black hole being a "generic" version of Campaign and Hazmat the generic version of Dread Guard.

 

Now Bioware seems to have a different idea. They "suggest" that SM EC (Denova) can be done in columni gear since SM EC still only drops Rakata. So one would think their logic is that rakata then campaign but anyone who has done HM EC will tell you only Rakata gear is not going to cut it in HM EC. Even full augmented rakata is stretching it you really need to be picking up BH coms to get the BH gear or mods to run HM EC to get the campaign gear. Now once you either get campaign gear or full black hole geared augmented and customized you can head to HM TFB but pretty much everyone in the raid needs to be "61" gear level to defeat the bosses to get dread guard gear the current highest gear level.

 

Again another issue is that Bioware's itemization is well lets say really really bad. Like they locked a monkey in a room with a keyboard smeared with banana's and let the random pounding of keys decided how to itemize the gear. I don't know any class that can take the default Black Hole + gear and use the pieces to maximize their character. No you will buy more BH pieces to yank mods out of them than you will actually use. For Marauders they seem to think endurance and crit are most important. Part of the debate...crit vrs power for marauders where do you stand? Personally I stand on the pwr side of the debate and as such I pretty much remodded my gear from BH and Campaign to maximize power so that my dps was worthy for doing HM Terror from Beyond (1200-1800dps is what is expected from all dps in there).

 

Sadly even Dread Guard gear is the same as prior gears in which endurance and crit are favored over other stats which mean you will need multiple drops to yank mods out so you can actually craft a suit that is best for your class. If you are wanting to go the min/max route...yea you will need to get multiple pieces so you can swap out mods, enhancements and armoring. Or find a friendly crafters that can make 26 mods (gear level 61) or even buy 27 mods if your wealthy (gear lvl 63 mods). 27 mods expect to pay probably 2-8mil per (well for armoring and hilts/barrels for sure).

 

So short version:

 

HM EV/KP rakata gear is fine.

SM EC augmented rakata gear but the more Black Hole gear you have the easier the run.

HM EC: Augmented BH gear (you want the majority of your gear to have 61 gear level mods) and campaign gear.

SM TFB: Augmented Rakata is minimal for a tough run. The more 61 modded gear you have the better off.

HM TFB: Don't even think about it till your 100% 61 modded and augmented and even some 63 mods bought from crafters.

 

Full rakata gear is more than enough for EC HM. When the content came out that's all we had and guilds cleared it just fine. Our guild cleared it with some people with quite a few columi pieces still.

[shadysaxplayer]

HM EV/KP rakata gear is fine.

SM EC augmented rakata gear but the more Black Hole gear you have the easier the run.

HM EC: Augmented BH gear (you want the majority of your gear to have 61 gear level mods) and campaign gear.

SM TFB: Augmented Rakata is minimal for a tough run. The more 61 modded gear you have the better off.

HM TFB: Don't even think about it till your 100% 61 modded and augmented and even some 63 mods bought from crafters.

 

Your estimations are a little high. SM EC only drops rakata, don't do it if youre already in BH. HM EC only drops 61 gear, so I would recommend at least 2 pieces of black hole. That's what I have ran it in and done it just fine. HM TFB, yeah you do want all 61 pretty much

[Omophorus]

HM EC is almost entirely a mechanics check. The DPS requirements are not all that onerous.

 

A person in mixed Columi and Rakata who can execute mechanics flawlessly is a bigger asset to winning than a guy in full Black Hole gear who can't.

[JymmyMorison]

Well what gear is open for debate. You are at the first stage...get full Rakata. Now fully Augment your Rakata. Be sure to do you daily/weekly missions for BH coms. Gear progression is basically rakata, Black hole, campaign, hazmat, then dread guard. Black hole being a "generic" version of Campaign and Hazmat the generic version of Dread Guard.

 

Now Bioware seems to have a different idea. They "suggest" that SM EC (Denova) can be done in columni gear since SM EC still only drops Rakata. So one would think their logic is that rakata then campaign but anyone who has done HM EC will tell you only Rakata gear is not going to cut it in HM EC. Even full augmented rakata is stretching it you really need to be picking up BH coms to get the BH gear or mods to run HM EC to get the campaign gear. Now once you either get campaign gear or full black hole geared augmented and customized you can head to HM TFB but pretty much everyone in the raid needs to be "61" gear level to defeat the bosses to get dread guard gear the current highest gear level.

 

Again another issue is that Bioware's itemization is well lets say really really bad. Like they locked a monkey in a room with a keyboard smeared with banana's and let the random pounding of keys decided how to itemize the gear. I don't know any class that can take the default Black Hole + gear and use the pieces to maximize their character. No you will buy more BH pieces to yank mods out of them than you will actually use. For Marauders they seem to think endurance and crit are most important. Part of the debate...crit vrs power for marauders where do you stand? Personally I stand on the pwr side of the debate and as such I pretty much remodded my gear from BH and Campaign to maximize power so that my dps was worthy for doing HM Terror from Beyond (1200-1800dps is what is expected from all dps in there).

 

Sadly even Dread Guard gear is the same as prior gears in which endurance and crit are favored over other stats which mean you will need multiple drops to yank mods out so you can actually craft a suit that is best for your class. If you are wanting to go the min/max route...yea you will need to get multiple pieces so you can swap out mods, enhancements and armoring. Or find a friendly crafters that can make 26 mods (gear level 61) or even buy 27 mods if your wealthy (gear lvl 63 mods). 27 mods expect to pay probably 2-8mil per (well for armoring and hilts/barrels for sure).

 

So short version:

 

HM EV/KP rakata gear is fine.

SM EC augmented rakata gear but the more Black Hole gear you have the easier the run.

HM EC: Augmented BH gear (you want the majority of your gear to have 61 gear level mods) and campaign gear.

SM TFB: Augmented Rakata is minimal for a tough run. The more 61 modded gear you have the better off.

HM TFB: Don't even think about it till your 100% 61 modded and augmented and even some 63 mods bought from crafters.

 

im calling ******** on that since tfb drops rakata in sm so the minimal is columi rakaa if you cant play the game not to mention augmented rakata, just shows how good you are at the game if you want ppl to play ops when they overgear them and the drops dont give anything usefull

[Pernicia]

im calling ******** on that since tfb drops rakata in sm so the minimal is columi rakaa if you cant play the game not to mention augmented rakata, just shows how good you are at the game if you want ppl to play ops when they overgear them and the drops dont give anything usefull

 

Yea, that list is almost entirely BS. We'd all be sitting around the fleet ogling Rakata gear if it were true since in every case he says that you need the gear that drops in an op in order to do it. The actual requirements are a lot lower and only HM TFB was designed to require augmented gear, though that doesn't hurt no matter what stage you're at. Also, NiM EV/KP have the exact same drops as HM and are fairly irrelevant when talking about gear progression.

 

Tier 0 (SM EV/KP): As long as you're in level 50 PvE purples (50-52 rating mods and/or 124-126 rating non-modable crafted) you're fine. Even a couple blue pieces aren't a big deal.

Tier 1 (HM EV/KP, SM EC/TFB): Columi (56 rating mods) is more than enough.

Tier 1.5 (NiM EV/KP): Mixed Columi/Rakata. You want to have ~1800 health buffed w/o stacking it in order to survive Soa's Ball Lightning.

Tier 2 (HM EC): Rakata (58 rating mods) is what you're aiming for, but the stock Enhancements are generally awful so you'll have a few 56's left over and that's fine. You should also have enough coms to get a couple BH pieces by now, though they're not necessary.

Tier 3 (HM TFB, NiM EC*): Campaign/BH (61 rating mods) fully augmented and at least mostly optimized.

 

*I have not tested NiM EC, but it is the same tier as HM TFB and so I'm assuming will require the same gear level.

[Datku]

You guys are funny. My "list" was a recommendation if you want to go in and clear the content and not pound a nail into a board with your little...well you know what. Sure you can go in and do even HM TFB in full columni if you wanted to...wither you would be successful is a different question. Hell I know a couple of guilds that have HM TFB on farm status now (both 8 man and 16 man) yet still can have issues in HM EC. In many ways EC is harder than TFB but the dps "requirements", tanking health/defenses etc for HM TFB is what makes it "helpful" to have BH/Campaign gear going into it. Heck have some real fun...go into HM TFB with everyone in recruit gear. Nothing is going to stop you from going inside with recruit gear...your success maybe hard fought but you can ata boy yourselves on the back afterwards.

 

Again my listing was what I have found to be the gear level for the most efficient and least painful makeup to succeed in the ops. If you want to go in under geared go for it...have fun....pat yourselves on your back to make yourself feel like you really accomplished something. I have found that many times an op that wipes over and over and over and over and over and over and over can be a bit frustrating so doing them at the exact gear level or under gear level is generally not a good idea for moral and success. Of course you can also go in a little under geared if the rest of your raid is well geared and willing to carry you through the content leading to thoughts that gear requirements are not as constrictive as other people think. Its nice to be carried through "tough" fights and can make people make comments like above about how "easy" it is regardless of gear. Most likely they have been carried through content by higher geared min/max's within their guilds.

[Truescopes]

You guys are funny. My "list" was a recommendation if you want to go in and clear the content and not pound a nail into a board with your little...well you know what. Sure you can go in and do even HM TFB in full columni if you wanted to...wither you would be successful is a different question. Hell I know a couple of guilds that have HM TFB on farm status now (both 8 man and 16 man) yet still can have issues in HM EC. In many ways EC is harder than TFB but the dps "requirements", tanking health/defenses etc for HM TFB is what makes it "helpful" to have BH/Campaign gear going into it. Heck have some real fun...go into HM TFB with everyone in recruit gear. Nothing is going to stop you from going inside with recruit gear...your success maybe hard fought but you can ata boy yourselves on the back afterwards.

 

Again my listing was what I have found to be the gear level for the most efficient and least painful makeup to succeed in the ops. If you want to go in under geared go for it...have fun....pat yourselves on your back to make yourself feel like you really accomplished something. I have found that many times an op that wipes over and over and over and over and over and over and over can be a bit frustrating so doing them at the exact gear level or under gear level is generally not a good idea for moral and success. Of course you can also go in a little under geared if the rest of your raid is well geared and willing to carry you through the content leading to thoughts that gear requirements are not as constrictive as other people think. Its nice to be carried through "tough" fights and can make people make comments like above about how "easy" it is regardless of gear. Most likely they have been carried through content by higher geared min/max's within their guilds.

 

We're not suggesting they go in undergeared, we are suggesting we go in at the recommended gear level that bioware set for the operation. Which is Rakata without augments for EC HM. At that gear level the operation is easy once you understand the tactics. I honestly can't see how any guild that is able to clear TFB could have any problems with EC HM, all the guilds on our server that have, have had EC HM on farm since the first couple of weeks it came out. Obviously it's easier in higher levels of gear, but so is EV and KP.

[Datku]

Which is Rakata without augments for EC HM.

 

 

Wow I remember when EC first came out going in there on HM with full rakata no augments yet and slamming our heads against Toth and Zorn for 3 hours first day and another 2 hours or so the next day before 90% of our raid squad refused to go back in till everyone was minimally augmented. So we went back in augmented and got abused by Toth and Zorn yet again....enrage timers whole nine yards. Wasn't until several of us re-modded 61 mods/enhancements etc that we finally took them down. Tank fight was tough but doable. Maze was a dps race to kill probes fast enough to get out of minefield before enrage but most of the time that came down to path and how lucky we got but was a bit of a dps check to burn probes fast enough. Then getting to Kephess and being successful at burning the bombers down before they blew up (before they nerfed the fight and make the bombers last longer) let alone the Warrior + adds in the shield phases (even know a guild that couldn't get HM EC Kephess past 60% yet they clear HM TFB). Yea I want to see a guild clear HM EC in only un-augmented rakata with no BH pieces or mods. As I said I know some guild that clear TFB on farm now that can struggle in EC HM mainly Kephess fight. They can clear it but will take a few attempts while they one shot every HM fight in TFB and speed clear it. TFB just seems easier than EC and I know several guilds from my server that feel the same. Want to run HM TFB? Hell yeah!!! Want to run HM EC? Hell no!!!

[Truescopes]

Wow I remember when EC first came out going in there on HM with full rakata no augments yet and slamming our heads against Toth and Zorn for 3 hours first day and another 2 hours or so the next day before 90% of our raid squad refused to go back in till everyone was minimally augmented. So we went back in augmented and got abused by Toth and Zorn yet again....enrage timers whole nine yards. Wasn't until several of us re-modded 61 mods/enhancements etc that we finally took them down. Tank fight was tough but doable. Maze was a dps race to kill probes fast enough to get out of minefield before enrage but most of the time that came down to path and how lucky we got but was a bit of a dps check to burn probes fast enough. Then getting to Kephess and being successful at burning the bombers down before they blew up (before they nerfed the fight and make the bombers last longer) let alone the Warrior + adds in the shield phases (even know a guild that couldn't get HM EC Kephess past 60% yet they clear HM TFB). Yea I want to see a guild clear HM EC in only un-augmented rakata with no BH pieces or mods. As I said I know some guild that clear TFB on farm now that can struggle in EC HM mainly Kephess fight. They can clear it but will take a few attempts while they one shot every HM fight in TFB and speed clear it. TFB just seems easier than EC and I know several guilds from my server that feel the same. Want to run HM TFB? Hell yeah!!! Want to run HM EC? Hell no!!!

 

Just look back to when guilds cleared it at release like ours did, plenty of guilds cleared it in full rakata without augments. As I said earlier we even had a tank and a healer with half columi at the time. It's very mechanic heavy, but the gear requirement is actually quite low if you can follow those mechanics properly. Obviously any gear upgrades after that is just making it easier, but it's definitely able to be cleared in full rakata.