Power stacking vs Balanced Build for Carnage - My reasons

[Megatfx]

I used to be a big advocate of a minimum of 25% crit for Carnage Marauders. I now use my Rage gear setup as my Carnage gear setup:

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/5cd48d26-1023-401d-a166-527b62574fe8

 

Reasons behind Balanced Build:

Ravage and Massacre will crit more often providing a damage boost.

 

The reason why I disagree with that logic nowadays:

Bubblestun

Ravage being used more for control than damage

 

Now let me elaborate my thoughts a little more:

 

Every good Marauder should be doing his best to pop bubbles from ranged, but we all know that we're stunned a lot in a RWZ match due to bubblestun. When you're stunned, you can't use Massacre, but you'll find when you're not stunned Force Scream is up more. With Force Scream having autocrit, you want it to hit as hard as possible when you can ac tually do damage to force the healers to heal themselves versus their teammates OR assist your powertechs burst on a kill.

 

Ravage rarely gets a final tick in RWZ's. It's just a fact of marauder life nowadays, but what I use it for is it's best use, utility. Controlling healers from moving by chaining force charge into deadly throw into ravage (Just listing the roots not the other abilities pressed inbetween).

 

By going full power, you'll also be optimized for Rage as well and makes swapping between the two more fluid.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Megatfx

[skotish]

I used to be a big advocate of a minimum of 25% crit for Carnage Marauders. I now use my Rage gear setup as my Carnage gear setup:

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/5cd48d26-1023-401d-a166-527b62574fe8

 

Reasons behind Balanced Build:

Ravage and Massacre will crit more often providing a damage boost.

 

The reason why I disagree with that logic nowadays:

 

Bubblestun

Ravage being used more for control than damage

 

Now let me elaborate my thoughts a little more:

 

Every good Marauder should be doing his best to pop bubbles from ranged, but we all know that we're stunned a lot in a RWZ match due to bubblestun. When you're stunned, you can't use Massacre, but you'll find when you're not stunned Force Scream is up more. With Force Scream having autocrit, you want it to hit as hard as possible when you can ac tually do damage to force the healers to heal themselves versus their teammates OR assist your powertechs burst on a kill.

 

Ravage rarely gets a final tick in RWZ's. It's just a fact of marauder life nowadays, but what I use it for is it's best use, utility. Controlling healers from moving by chaining force charge into deadly throw into ravage (Just listing the roots not the other abilities pressed inbetween).

 

By going full power, you'll also be optimized for Rage as well and makes swapping between the two more fluid.

Am going back to my mara I went mostly might Augs so overkill Augs are the way to go now m8 ?

[Megatfx]

Am going back to my mara I went mostly might Augs so overkill Augs are the way to go now m8 ?

 

It's up to you, it's not that big of a difference. It boils down to two things:

 

1.2% crit or 5 more bonus damage.

 

Pick whichever one you like, I have both sets.

[IAmViiOLENT]

I used to be a big advocate of a minimum of 25% crit for Carnage Marauders. I now use my Rage gear setup as my Carnage gear setup:

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/5cd48d26-1023-401d-a166-527b62574fe8

 

Reasons behind Balanced Build:

Ravage and Massacre will crit more often providing a damage boost.

 

The reason why I disagree with that logic nowadays:

Bubblestun

Ravage being used more for control than damage

 

Now let me elaborate my thoughts a little more:

 

Every good Marauder should be doing his best to pop bubbles from ranged, but we all know that we're stunned a lot in a RWZ match due to bubblestun. When you're stunned, you can't use Massacre, but you'll find when you're not stunned Force Scream is up more. With Force Scream having autocrit, you want it to hit as hard as possible when you can ac tually do damage to force the healers to heal themselves versus their teammates OR assist your powertechs burst on a kill.

 

Ravage rarely gets a final tick in RWZ's. It's just a fact of marauder life nowadays, but what I use it for is it's best use, utility. Controlling healers from moving by chaining force charge into deadly throw into ravage (Just listing the roots not the other abilities pressed inbetween).

 

By going full power, you'll also be optimized for Rage as well and makes swapping between the two more fluid.

 

Yup, I've been running carnage like this and I've found it hilarious that people on my server have called me an idiot for doing it. I consistently run numbers in carnage that are near to comparable to smash, and the difference is this:

That smash spec is not going to outright kill a healer unless you have another DPS or two helping to focus. Carnage in full power can and will, and more importantly; it can control the healer and make it even easier for your team to dispatch them. Smash has a place in rated warzones and that is void star offense and hypergates. Carnage is by and far the most effective spec, because even though Smash may hit a lot of people for a big amount, it's not going to kill someone fast enough or hard enough to burst through a casted heal. Carnage does. Stop using ravage like it's your only option to kill, use it as a control or set up a stun lock on the enemy healer in conjunction with ravage.

 

Excellent points mega, Im happy to see a lot of my ideas and thoughts about it validated.

[Anishor]

Yar I'm starting to lean this way as well. Though I will miss the awesome masacre crit streams. Post 2.0 things won't be that different except I think you'll see people go full alacrity/power rather than surge.

[Xerain]

Yar I'm starting to lean this way as well. Though I will miss the awesome masacre crit streams. Post 2.0 things won't be that different except I think you'll see people go full alacrity/power rather than surge.

 

Maybe to like DR on Surge then put some alacrity there after. With carnage it shouldn't be too hard to hit 100% acc with 75% surge and go alacrity after that. I have a few surge pieces over currently so i'm at like 78.xx% and I know I can move a talent around to pull a piece of acc gear out and go surge even more, which will boost me to like 79%... I know for sure i could put that into alacrity.

 

 

And at this whole thread topic. No matter what you're going to eat the bubble stuns. You should learn to kite them off with melee abilities and then deadly throw to pop the bubble from a range. If the sorc pops the bubble on you it's a win win because you have more time on that bubble debuff to rip his face off. Know how much the bubbles will take, like 4500, and try to pace your moves till it's off. Battering Assault >Massacre> move back > deadly throw.