Mara Carnage Spec Help

[BFBHitmarkers]

I am 55 Mara Carnage. On a training dummy on my ship I can maintain a steady 3k DPS through 5 minutes. When I get into an operation I have trouble keeping it above 2k DPS. Is there a special trick to keeping the DPS up? Should I be focusing bigger targets even when there are weak targets that must go down first and let the range take care of them? Any help/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[leeroyclarkson]

I will not presume to say you don’t know how to play your class, but since you asked in a way that makes it hard to answer you without sounding like I am talking down to you it will be hard. But I’m not trying too.

 

You should be able to do more than on a boss then a dummy, because even AOE will proc cloak of pain and that will be extra damage going to your target. Since you are 55 but have not told us your stats I will cover what you should be running as a carnage mara. At minimum 100 acc or you will be missing a lot of your hits. Hopefully you have finished Oricon and gotten at least all 66 gear so your strength should be 2600+. So that leaves getting as much power and surge after that as possible. (Ideally around 1000+ power and 72+ surge.) MK-9 kits with 66 augments really shows that you are serious to others, even though I know it’s pricey.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bcZhGMRRrorMIRZf.3

This is the build I run, but I am strictly running ops. If I was going to pvp, I change it a bit, but not much. My personal priority is Force Leap + Gore + Ravage + Force Scream, Battering Assault, Massacre, Assault, hopefully procs execute, and then Gore + Massacre x 2, Force Scream. Don’t get bogged down waiting for procs. A non crit force scream within a gore window is better than a crit outside of it, just throw in massacres and hope for the best. I don’t have time in most ops to sit and watch my proc bar, it’s usually always does it, sometimes it does and it sucks, but that’s chance for you. The two most important things as a carnage marauder is 1: NEVER let a gore sit unused, as soon as cooldown is off, it should be back up or it’s a huge dps waste, even if you are forced to fill it with dual saber throw or god forbid assault (yes, sometimes it happens in ops that have you running in and out a lot.) and 2: Never use ravage unless you have a gore window ready. It’s a HUGE dps loss. Otherwise scream, vicious throw, and massacre as often as your rage will allow, just remember to be ready with full rage when gore is about to come up again. Sometimes your rotation can off a little but it’s not worth letting stuff sit unused to line it back up. It will eventually get lined back up.

 

EDIT: Also there are two dummys you can buy for your ship, one is a training dummy and one is an operations dummy, the operations dummy has a much large defense to it, so you may be on the wrong one, there is an ops dummy on the fleet you can try too. Also, yes, its a waste for marauders to be on adds. (like TC adds) Melee dps should not be chasing things. If your ops leader has you assigned too, find a different group, We can half assed TANK for crying out loud if all of our defensive cooldowns are up. I have killed the last 4% of many a ops boss tanking it with undying rage as one of the last couple of people up. Now, if its melee add and they need you to half tank it, sure, but in that case all dps should be on the add along with you. (like enraged jealous male)

Edited October 16, 2013 by leeroyclarkson

[cxten]

I am 55 Mara Carnage. On a training dummy on my ship I can maintain a steady 3k DPS through 5 minutes. When I get into an operation I have trouble keeping it above 2k DPS. Is there a special trick to keeping the DPS up? Should I be focusing bigger targets even when there are weak targets that must go down first and let the range take care of them? Any help/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Things that account for dps on actual fights being different from dummy dps:

 

1) armor debuff and execute phases: increases your dps

2) aoe possibilities: increases your dps

3) unavoidable downtime: decreases your dps

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4) avoidable downtime: decreases your dps

5) sticking too much to your dummy rotation when you shouldn't: decreases your dps

5) messing up your dummy rotation in the heat of things: decreases your dps

 

1-2-3 mean that expected dps on a boss isn't the same as expected dps on the dummy. It'll be different for different bosses, because 2 and 3 will change from boss to boss. Check out torparse for marauders on the dummy and on different boss fights to get a sense of how your dps on the dummy should compare to dps on an actual boss fight. (Beware that, if there are adds, the top torparse numbers on that boss fight probably involve lots of aoe on those adds.)

 

Usually, however, you shouldn't lose a third of your dps.

 

4-5-6 must be the problem somehow.

 

For 4: Do you find yourself running around without a leap often? Try to realize when this is going to happen and save your saber throw for it. Don't waste your leap on an 11 meter run if you're going to need it in a moment for a 25 meter run. When something moves, do you have trouble keeping dps on it while moving? Practice circle strafing and dpsing while running. Do you often interrupt your ravage in actual fights? Work on realizing when this will be necessary and delaying ravage when it is.

 

For 5: Know when to use big hitters even outside gore. If you're about to have some downtime before your next gore, don't worry about using your force scream outside it or whatever.

 

It's usually terrible dps-wise to delay gore, but there are times e.g. right before multiple adds come out that you should. Then you'll get gore on the adds (appropriate aoe damage increases your dps). Essentially never delay the non-execute gore, though, as you'll just get a wasted execute proc. If you have execute procced, it's still usually bad to delay it (as then your next execute proc will likely be wasted, at least if there's no downtime!), but if you for some reason need gore up in a couple of seconds, you'll need to save the execute proc (as there won't be another gore window coming soon enough).

 

For 6: Your knowledge of your dummy rotation is essentially a pure "if everything goes right" knowledge. Boss fights require you to know how to stop and how to pick up again at any point, as well as doing your proper rotation while other stuff is going on. Both of these require practice. Notice when things are going wrong. Notice when you needlessly delay gore or some other key ability because you were thinking about some mechanic and didn't notice it. Notice when you waste an execute proc (before gore's cooldown is done). Work on keeping up your rotation while maintaining situational awareness.

 

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As to adds specifically:

You should be taking down adds when every dps needs to be on the adds, which is most of the time there are adds. Sometimes ranged can take them down themselves, but leaving adds up longer is extra damage on the raid. If the adds are going to be up for more time than the cooldown on force leap, you really shouldn't notice much of a dps loss.

 

If the adds are going to be up for less time than the cooldown on force leap, perhaps you can skip them. If you really can't, then leap one direction and use your saber throw and your force scream (once inside 10m) the other direction. If you need to saber throw the adds in this case, then saber throw while running to them and then leap back.