TridusSWTOR Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Hey all, I been a carnage marauder for a while and I wanted to change up to annihilation spec. I had a few questions though: 1. What rating or % do I need my Crit/Acc/Surge/Power? 2. Is there a proper rotation I can view that is a credible source in order to hit high end dps? Any extra suggestions to edge out higher numbers? 3. What bosses does annihilation spec really shine the most in? 4. If I wanted to swap between carnage and annihilation depending on boss fights, could that work? If so, any suggestions on cheap/simple stat swaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TamrielShax Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Hi , actually I have the same questions as you do, but I've been with my mara quite a lot of time so I can give you a bit of insight until we wait for a a more experienced anni marauder. First id like to say that I've always been carnage and Im transitioning to anni for ops. So. First your questions. 2. Is there a proper rotation I can view that is a credible source in order to hit high end dps? Any extra suggestions to edge out higher numbers? Berserk Deadly Saber Annihilate Rupture Vicious Throw Ravage Force Charge Vicious Slash Battering Assault or Assault This is in "theory" the priority list they recommend. The thing to "edge out" your numbers i could recommend is: Level up ALL your companions affection and finish all their quest. it will give you presence and additional bonus to crit and surge. Collect ALL relevant datacrons. Endurance, Strength and Willpower (yeah will power it will affect your force powered attacks) Once you know what spec to get min max it. That means, using augments and knowing exactly what stat to go for. 3. What bosses does annihilation spec really shine the most in? Annihilations shines on bosses with high mobility, because you dont have to be actually hitting the boss to keep doing damage (bleeds). Carnage has a lot of burst, but if you have to dodge an area or move you stop doing DPS. 4. If I wanted to swap between carnage and annihilation depending on boss fights, could that work? If so, any suggestions on cheap/simple stat swaps? I've been thinking about this myself. And I would welcome the insight regarding this matter. BUT i suspect that once you get into serious raiding (Hardmore and nightmare) you need to min max and decide for what stat you want to go. Carnage and Anni both have different prefered stats, so if you don't specialize in one of the talent trees you would gimp your damage. My question is: Theres a part in the rotation for anninhilation, that you have enough rage for everything but everything is on cooldown. What should you do or what abilities should you use? It's just my impression, but I can't seem to get the flow in the anni marauder. I just hate that you take so much time to "setup" for doing damage for annihilation. Carnage is burst on demand. Edited February 7, 2013 by TamrielShax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verfallen Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 The most blatant gear difference is Carnage has significantly more baseline accuracy, allowing you to use more surge in that spec. So expect to have to sacrifice a few of your surge enhencement for accuracy. Due to the Annihilator buff, you are actually better off DPS wise to have a boss that isn't moving too much. However the "burst" opening is not affected by it. A typical annihilation fight entrance is : -force charge -deadly saber in the air (its off GCD) -battering assault -rupture -annihilate (good chance of proccing rupture off cd) -ravage -(if off cd by annihilate) rupture After that, its mostly : you want to use annihilate on cd or nearly, and that cd to stay at 7,5 sec. Ideally you want to use rupture before it. Your rage generation is part of a proc, but you want to keep the charge/deadly saber linked. Somyou might think : Ok so I'll need to dump surge for similar results, and high mobility fight actually are an extra challenge to keep annihilator up? Whats the upside? 1st - survivability. You are going to be throwing significant healing party-wide with berserk, as well as on yourself. On my 4-man row, I do see impressive ammounts of heals in ops fights, for no real drop in dps. Also, the armoring BiS is the PvP vindicator armoring on 4 pieces since you'll be using force charge on cooldown. But make no mistake, anni is harder to play, for not much more results dps wise than carnage. I love the playstyle of it, however, and carnage bores me to tears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TridusSWTOR Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 The most blatant gear difference is Carnage has significantly more baseline accuracy, allowing you to use more surge in that spec. So expect to have to sacrifice a few of your surge enhencement for accuracy. Due to the Annihilator buff, you are actually better off DPS wise to have a boss that isn't moving too much. However the "burst" opening is not affected by it. A typical annihilation fight entrance is : -force charge -deadly saber in the air (its off GCD) -battering assault -rupture -annihilate (good chance of proccing rupture off cd) -ravage -(if off cd by annihilate) rupture After that, its mostly : you want to use annihilate on cd or nearly, and that cd to stay at 7,5 sec. Ideally you want to use rupture before it. Your rage generation is part of a proc, but you want to keep the charge/deadly saber linked. Somyou might think : Ok so I'll need to dump surge for similar results, and high mobility fight actually are an extra challenge to keep annihilator up? Whats the upside? 1st - survivability. You are going to be throwing significant healing party-wide with berserk, as well as on yourself. On my 4-man row, I do see impressive ammounts of heals in ops fights, for no real drop in dps. Also, the armoring BiS is the PvP vindicator armoring on 4 pieces since you'll be using force charge on cooldown. But make no mistake, anni is harder to play, for not much more results dps wise than carnage. I love the playstyle of it, however, and carnage bores me to tears. Thanks for both of your feedbacks. I posted something I found really interesting in your suggestions. This is something I wouldn't of figured out until I played this spec for a while, so thanks for that. I do have to make enhancement adjustments to make up for the accuracy loss. Do you keep your crit rating at 150? or higher? Thanks for the rotation break down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planet_J Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) You can take the 3 pt accuracy talent in carnage and not touch your gear as well...that's how I switch on the fly end game. An optimal build accounts for that iirc. Edited February 7, 2013 by planet_J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verfallen Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 At 150 imo you still gain plenty from crit rating. However power heavy is still very intereting due to an efficient crit bonus on your bleed of 2% per juyo stack. So I keep mine around 300. If you want absolute BiS, ask a theorycrafter tough, which I'm not. This is player preferrence, without being illigical (CR eventually hit one heck of a DR curve) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omophorus Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Hey all, I been a carnage marauder for a while and I wanted to change up to annihilation spec. I had a few questions though: 1. What rating or % do I need my Crit/Acc/Surge/Power? 2. Is there a proper rotation I can view that is a credible source in order to hit high end dps? Any extra suggestions to edge out higher numbers? 3. What bosses does annihilation spec really shine the most in? 4. If I wanted to swap between carnage and annihilation depending on boss fights, could that work? If so, any suggestions on cheap/simple stat swaps? 1) You want 285/285 (BH) or 300/300 (DG) Accuracy/Surge for Annihilation. Crit, as with any normal DPS build, should be between 123 and 300ish, with virtually no significant change in overall DPS within that range (increased crit offsets lost power and vice versa). Anything that isn't being used to get 123-300 Crit rating should go into power. 2) Already covered. The biggest thing to do to increase DPS is to make every effort to use Deadly Saber and Annihilate to the CD. Don't use Ravage if it will delay either of those abilities. Don't spend Rage if it will leave you short when either is available to use. The priority listed in the 2nd post is basically correct, but there's a little finesse to resource management that you pick up quickly. 3) Any fights with no breaks in uptime. If Annihilator stacks fall off, you take a significant DPS penalty. It takes, at minimum, 22.5 seconds (15 GCDs) to return to peak DPS once the Annihilator buff is lost. Strategy tweaks can help improve your uptime, but there are certain fights (Warlord Kephess, Operator IX, Kephess the Undying, TFB especially) where it is almost unavoidable that you'll have Annihilator stacks drop off multiple times and, as a result, fare better with Carnage. 4) Yes, it is entirely possible and even advisable. It takes 3 main-slot swaps to properly itemize between Carnage and Annihilation. Between Ataru form and Narrowed Hatred (which you SHOULD take in any PVE Carnage build and not touch in any other build), you have 6% Accuracy to make up, which you can cover with 3 61+ Accuracy enhancements. It is okay, and in fact a good thing, to be slightly over 100% Accuracy as Carnage (~102% is optimal at current stat budget), so it doesn't get any more complicated than a simple 3 slot swap-out. Any fluctuations in Crit/Power to minimize BH comm cost (at 61 level) or Stab cost (for crafted 63s) will yield virtually no change in overall DPS so long as Crit doesn't go much past 300. Edited February 7, 2013 by Omophorus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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