Solo Ranked Marauder Tips From Dirty-Sanchez, the 67th Best Marauder in Game

[milkandcereal]

As the title says, i'm pretty much a big deal. I wanted to share some tips with some of you who are struggling or new to the solo ranked arena. I have been playing SWTOR for about two years and marauder used to be my main until they destroyed carnage for grouped ranked, now I main a sorc but that's because I am bad. In today's meta the absolute best spec is Fury for a number of reasons:

1. Stun Immunity: Force crush gives stun immunity, which is huge because a lot of players will hard stun you on leap.
   
2. Instant Burst: Almost every ability is an instant with practically zero setup, you hit very hard very fast.
   
3. Furious Defense: 10% defense chance when you use furious strike
   

 

You can definitely be successful with other specs but fury is the most versatile and consistent, in matches where you aren't getting focused you should typically be aiming for the 1500-2k dps range. Here is a standard rotation for fury:

Leap > Force Crush > (Depending on your target and rage either Ravage to root/build rage or force choke then Raging Burst > Furious Strike > Force Scream

 

There is no standard rotation but that should always be the opener to get quick stun immunity (which is extremely important against bubble stun) and throw burst on a target right away, I typically will follow that with a hard stun, or hard stun before raging burst to build rage, predation should be saved for knockback roots or to stay on target with sorcs/mercs. There are a lot of sorcs in solo queue, these are your prey, you can and should lead your team into the fight to bait hard stuns and try to get the focus and then vanish when they throw some heavy dots on you to eat their damage. Proper use of cooldowns is very important, try to keep your pacify on cooldown and utilize intimidating roar to peel for your team.

 

Here are my utility choices:

Skillful -

Inexorable, Overwhelm, Brazen

 

Masterful -

Relentless, Defensive Roll (5% damage reduction on dots is really nice, some people prefer Phantom but I see no real advantage in longer vanishes, you aren't helping your team if you aren't in the fight)

 

Heroic -

Unbound, Blood Ward (This utility if used right will heal you for about 10-12k per round.)

 

Let me know if you any questions, these are just general tips, it's very hard to be specific with so many different possible scenarios in solo ranked.

[Krazyfuri]

Where does Frenzy+Berserk fall into on that rotation of yours?

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Wow... that mini Fury rotation really sucks...

 

For your absolute best burst you need quite a bit of setup actually...

 

Before the round starts at the 0s - 1s mark you want to pop Frenzy to get the most time out of it. Then you want to do this rotation.

 

Battering Assault > Obliterate > Berserk > Dual Saber Throw > Raging Burst > Force Crush > Furious Strike > Ravage > Force Scream

 

That's the best burst. because it gives you your Auto-crit Furious Strike early, and you get your 2% damage from Battering Assault early on. And Obliterate deals more damage than Force Charge FYI.

[Firolas]

Dont think it sucks..thats pretty harsh..

 

He's saying use force crush as soon as possible to get the cc immunity....

in your rotation you have 5 moves before you use it and you'll be cc'd/pushbacked/rooted before you even get to it.

[milkandcereal]

Where does Frenzy+Berserk fall into on that rotation of yours?

 

Like I said, there is no rotation it's pvp but that "opener" is essential to ensure you get the crucial starting burst needed to get your team a quick kill or force a barrier. Frenzy + Berserk are usually popped shortly after that opener to build rage and shockwave for the obliterate + raging burst + furious strike.

[milkandcereal]

Wow... that mini Fury rotation really sucks...

 

For your absolute best burst you need quite a bit of setup actually...

 

Before the round starts at the 0s - 1s mark you want to pop Frenzy to get the most time out of it. Then you want to do this rotation.

 

Battering Assault > Obliterate > Berserk > Dual Saber Throw > Raging Burst > Force Crush > Furious Strike > Ravage > Force Scream

 

That's the best burst. because it gives you your Auto-crit Furious Strike early, and you get your 2% damage from Battering Assault early on. And Obliterate deals more damage than Force Charge FYI.

 

Good luck with that tell me how it goes, I give you a 5% chance of not getting stunned plus wasting obliterate when you could potentially use it as another gap close is not wise.

[Aluvi]

I really really wish that the stun immunity activated on charge / obliterate. That would really make the build work so much better.

 

The preferred opener is Frenzy + Berserk > Charge > Raging Burst > Force Crush > Ravage (clip with .2 seconds left) > Furious Strike.

 

The problem is, as you say, getting stunned during that Raging Burst GCD, which can just screw up the whole thing, as the idea is to get Force Crush, Ravage, and Furious Strike into your Cascading Power window (5% more damage for 6 seconds after using Raging Burst).

 

That combo does hit incredibly hard though. The last tick of Force Crush hits less than a second before the last tick of Ravage, and Furious Strike hit's at the same time. If Force Crush crits (6K), last tick of Ravage crits (6-7K), and of course Furious Strike will crit (10-11K), you're looking at 20K + damage done in the blink of an eye. You can catch some people off guard with that. It pairs particularly well with a Powertech that can aoe stun for you at the start so that you don't get stunned during your Raging Burst GCD.

 

The rest of the rotation.. while "consistent" damage, does not come anywhere near the burst potential of this part. I found that reading Oofalong's rotation guide and really getting the muscle memory for the two part rotation down helped me a lot. Obviously you don't always get to do a perfect "rotation", but it does help immensely to know what "combos" to use when you aren't stunned.

 

The problem with Mara in Solo Ranked is that they lack self sufficiency. Specifically, they lack self heals, and their hard damage stop DCDs (force camo and Undying Rage) are far less valuable without a healer. With a healer they become extremely good, but using force camo and living for a few extra seconds in a game without heals just means that you will die immediately when your camo ends. Still quite useful as a DCD though, especially when you know big dps is coming - like when you hear an Assault Plastique about to blow up on you.

 

The top classes (sorc, PT, sin, and to a moderate extent, operative) all have a few things in common:

-Excellent mobility

-Excellent self or group off heals

-Decent defensive cooldowns

-Lots of control through stuns, CCs, knockbacks / roots.

-Damage that is hard to stop (ie, if a rotation is interrupted, it isn't a huge deal - they just continue where they left off when the stun ends).

-Damage Reduction while stunned.

 

Dot Spread Sins get the second best dps in the game, only exceeded by dot spread sorcs. They also have good control and 19 seconds of CC immunity, and the best "self heal" in the game, ala stealth out and heal2full. Add in great utility (taunts), CC, and you have a monster of a class. Deception gives up self heals and max damage for better burst and control.

 

Sorcs have excellent off heals and are all around the best "utility" to have on the team in solo ranked for a dps, while also typically topping the damage numbers. Their downfall is that they are squishy, but their very good mobility, "lulzbarrier", and self heals more than make up for that.

 

Vanguards have, in my opinion, some of the best defensive cooldowns in the game, and all around the best utility. Two great stuns, one of which is an aoe, outstanding burst and sustained single target dps, Taunts, a little bit of self healing. Outstanding mobility through a very low cooldown Hydraulic Override. Being a mid range class, they can kite melee or get up in the face of squishier classes. They do tend to be focused first because have no hard damage stops, (stealth, undying rage, heal2full juggs, barrier, etc), but they make up for it. Yes, they will likley be the first to die, but they are going to make you pay for it while they live.

 

Operatives I have less experience with, but roll, off heals, solid burst and control of the fight all make them very viable.They lack the DCDs of other classes, but they do have hard damage stops.

 

I've pretty much given up playing my Mara / Sent at this point, because it just isn't fun anymore. All 3 specs feel a little bit clunky at this point in pvp. We are the only true "pure" melee dps class. We don't provide taunts, we don't have the option to tank, we don't have the option to heal. Our DCDs are OK. With a healer they a probably better than a Juggs. Without a healer, juggs are the clear winners. Good burst, but not the highest in the game anymore. Snipers and vanguards are definitely the kings of single target burst dps now.

 

The thing is.. Solo Ranked doesn't matter. There are 7 other players in each game. That means that your actions account for 12.5% of the total game outcome. And it's completely random who you get on your team... unless you are queueing up at specific times with friends to ensure that you get 3 other good players on your team, or worse, you are win trading with alts of players.

 

That isn't to say that the players on the top of the leaderboards aren't skillful. I'm sure they are. But their "skill" at knowing when to queue up for pvp, or having a schedule that lets them queue up in such a way that they get easy wins ala win trading or queue syncing, is much more beneficial than their actual influence in any given "random" solo ranked game.

 

Skyrush is a good example. Excellent player, but under 1600 rating because he just queues up and does his best, and refuses to queue sync.

 

Also Dirty.. I don't want to demean you here, but when you consider that there are quite a few top 50 sent/maras in the solo ranked leaderboard who have not even completed their full 10 games yet, top 67 (which seems like an arbitrary number, considering that you currently don't even HAVE a rating on your Mara/ Sent) does not carry any weight whatsoever. I don't blame you for playing a sorc, hell, I plan to play Vanguard until they fix some of the balance issues, but coming in here to "give advice" and acting like there isn't a problem with Mara/Sent in the current season solo ranked meta game when you don't even have a rating on yours for this season is asinine.

 

I can't help but think that this is just a very well done troll post.

[milkandcereal]

I really really wish that the stun immunity activated on charge / obliterate. That would really make the build work so much better.

 

The preferred opener is Frenzy + Berserk > Charge > Raging Burst > Force Crush > Ravage (clip with .2 seconds left) > Furious Strike.

 

The problem is, as you say, getting stunned during that Raging Burst GCD, which can just screw up the whole thing, as the idea is to get Force Crush, Ravage, and Furious Strike into your Cascading Power window (5% more damage for 6 seconds after using Raging Burst).

 

That combo does hit incredibly hard though. The last tick of Force Crush hits less than a second before the last tick of Ravage, and Furious Strike hit's at the same time. If Force Crush crits (6K), last tick of Ravage crits (6-7K), and of course Furious Strike will crit (10-11K), you're looking at 20K + damage done in the blink of an eye. You can catch some people off guard with that. It pairs particularly well with a Powertech that can aoe stun for you at the start so that you don't get stunned during your Raging Burst GCD.

 

The rest of the rotation.. while "consistent" damage, does not come anywhere near the burst potential of this part. I found that reading Oofalong's rotation guide and really getting the muscle memory for the two part rotation down helped me a lot. Obviously you don't always get to do a perfect "rotation", but it does help immensely to know what "combos" to use when you aren't stunned.

 

The problem with Mara in Solo Ranked is that they lack self sufficiency. Specifically, they lack self heals, and their hard damage stop DCDs (force camo and Undying Rage) are far less valuable without a healer. With a healer they become extremely good, but using force camo and living for a few extra seconds in a game without heals just means that you will die immediately when your camo ends. Still quite useful as a DCD though, especially when you know big dps is coming - like when you hear an Assault Plastique about to blow up on you.

 

The top classes (sorc, PT, sin, and to a moderate extent, operative) all have a few things in common:

-Excellent mobility

-Excellent self or group off heals

-Decent defensive cooldowns

-Lots of control through stuns, CCs, knockbacks / roots.

-Damage that is hard to stop (ie, if a rotation is interrupted, it isn't a huge deal - they just continue where they left off when the stun ends).

-Damage Reduction while stunned.

 

Dot Spread Sins get the second best dps in the game, only exceeded by dot spread sorcs. They also have good control and 19 seconds of CC immunity, and the best "self heal" in the game, ala stealth out and heal2full. Add in great utility (taunts), CC, and you have a monster of a class. Deception gives up self heals and max damage for better burst and control.

 

Sorcs have excellent off heals and are all around the best "utility" to have on the team in solo ranked for a dps, while also typically topping the damage numbers. Their downfall is that they are squishy, but their very good mobility, "lulzbarrier", and self heals more than make up for that.

 

Vanguards have, in my opinion, some of the best defensive cooldowns in the game, and all around the best utility. Two great stuns, one of which is an aoe, outstanding burst and sustained single target dps, Taunts, a little bit of self healing. Outstanding mobility through a very low cooldown Hydraulic Override. Being a mid range class, they can kite melee or get up in the face of squishier classes. They do tend to be focused first because have no hard damage stops, (stealth, undying rage, heal2full juggs, barrier, etc), but they make up for it. Yes, they will likley be the first to die, but they are going to make you pay for it while they live.

 

Operatives I have less experience with, but roll, off heals, solid burst and control of the fight all make them very viable.They lack the DCDs of other classes, but they do have hard damage stops.

 

I've pretty much given up playing my Mara / Sent at this point, because it just isn't fun anymore. All 3 specs feel a little bit clunky at this point in pvp. We are the only true "pure" melee dps class. We don't provide taunts, we don't have the option to tank, we don't have the option to heal. Our DCDs are OK. With a healer they a probably better than a Juggs. Without a healer, juggs are the clear winners. Good burst, but not the highest in the game anymore. Snipers and vanguards are definitely the kings of single target burst dps now.

 

The thing is.. Solo Ranked doesn't matter. There are 7 other players in each game. That means that your actions account for 12.5% of the total game outcome. And it's completely random who you get on your team... unless you are queueing up at specific times with friends to ensure that you get 3 other good players on your team, or worse, you are win trading with alts of players.

 

That isn't to say that the players on the top of the leaderboards aren't skillful. I'm sure they are. But their "skill" at knowing when to queue up for pvp, or having a schedule that lets them queue up in such a way that they get easy wins ala win trading or queue syncing, is much more beneficial than their actual influence in any given "random" solo ranked game.

 

Skyrush is a good example. Excellent player, but under 1600 rating because he just queues up and does his best, and refuses to queue sync.

 

Also Dirty.. I don't want to demean you here, but when you consider that there are quite a few top 50 sent/maras in the solo ranked leaderboard who have not even completed their full 10 games yet, top 67 (which seems like an arbitrary number, considering that you currently don't even HAVE a rating on your Mara/ Sent) does not carry any weight whatsoever. I don't blame you for playing a sorc, hell, I plan to play Vanguard until they fix some of the balance issues, but coming in here to "give advice" and acting like there isn't a problem with Mara/Sent in the current season solo ranked meta game when you don't even have a rating on yours for this season is asinine.

 

I can't help but think that this is just a very well done troll post.

I think it's important to master the priority system for the rotation but I have played nearly 200 solo games on my marauder and can tell you that the opening force crush is incredibly important to survivability. As of me typing this sentence I have moved up to #29 marauder, at least TRY to find me on the leaderboards before you call me out brah. When I made this post claiming to be 67th marauder it was very clearly sarcastic, especially as I go on to call myself bad for switching to sorc. I am not in here to complain about balance, there are plenty of threads for that, I am here to give advice to others, based off of MY experience, that are trying to improve their solo ranked performance.

[Skettitangles]

Dirty-Sanchez is legit and the advice shared is sound. Good tips and thank you for sharing them. Using this approach as an opener can give your team the upper hand by keeping you mobile and getting a solid burst out quickly on your target

[Aluvi]

I think it's important to master the priority system for the rotation but I have played nearly 200 solo games on my marauder and can tell you that the opening force crush is incredibly important to survivability. As of me typing this sentence I have moved up to #29 marauder, at least TRY to find me on the leaderboards before you call me out brah. When I made this post claiming to be 67th marauder it was very clearly sarcastic, especially as I go on to call myself bad for switching to sorc. I am not in here to complain about balance, there are plenty of threads for that, I am here to give advice to others, based off of MY experience, that are trying to improve their solo ranked performance.

 

Thats odd, when I search for you, you dont have a rating, but yeah I see you on there now.

[milkandcereal]

Thats odd, when I search for you, you dont have a rating, but yeah I see you on there now.

I accept your humble apology.

[teclado]

This was actually really helpful to me. Thanks! I easily hitt 1250 dps on my half exhumed mara (more than once)...which is better than I had been doing for sure.

 

I wasn't too sure about the utilities at first. I'd been inclined to go with utils that help me stay on top of a target such as maiming reach and interceptor...but I guess with all of the root breakers that many other classes have, those are generally not super helpful.

 

I'd never really considered going with Blood Ward. I'd been going with undying, but in practice, I think I agree with you...Blood Ward can be kind of like a mini version of Enraged Defense.

 

Fury is just overall way less frustrating to play than carnage or anni, probably due to the CC immunity.

[milkandcereal]

This was actually really helpful to me. Thanks! I easily hitt 1250 dps on my half exhumed mara (more than once)...which is better than I had been doing for sure.

 

I wasn't too sure about the utilities at first. I'd been inclined to go with utils that help me stay on top of a target such as maiming reach and interceptor...but I guess with all of the root breakers that many other classes have, those are generally not super helpful.

 

I'd never really considered going with Blood Ward. I'd been going with undying, but in practice, I think I agree with you...Blood Ward can be kind of like a mini version of Enraged Defense.

 

Fury is just overall way less frustrating to play than carnage or anni, probably due to the CC immunity.

 

I am glad my advice was helpful, the utilities I chose are non-situational ones, meaning they work in any context. Where as the undying rage is only helpful if you use undying rage in that round, which is not always the case, but I have never gone a single round without using saber ward. Ultimately its personal preference, I am only trying to give a general example of what you should take, if you play better with different ones then go for it. BTW people it's much easier to find me on the leader boards now #Top5.

[Aradaanz]

What is your stat priority by chance? just hit 60 and need some tips

[teclado]

What is your stat priority by chance? just hit 60 and need some tips

I'd be interested to know this as well, pls?

 

I've been going 3-4 alacrity enhancements, 1 crit, rest power/surge, power augs.

[milkandcereal]

What is your stat priority by chance? just hit 60 and need some tips

For Fury in PVP alacrity is not helpful, you want at least 94.8% accuracy, all power/surge, and one crit mod as a sacrifice to RNGesus. The idea is to hit as hard as you can in the short period of time that a round lasts, alacrity and crit may be better stats for longer fights but we are talking about 2 minute battles mostly.

[teclado]

I'm actually really enjoying mara and sent again, so thanks! Also, looks like you are going to hit top 3. Congrats!

 

I now have zero alacrity, 1 crit mod, rest power surge. My crit chance is a little under 20%, accuracy is 94.15% with full exhumed, no DR pieces at all. I don't have most of my datacrons, and I don't know if there is some companion crit boost. If so, I probably don't have it. Why 94.8% accuracy?

 

What do you do in an arena if it is 4 dps vs 4 dps and the other team has 4 stealth? I'm guessing you don't want to just wait around to get jumped and globaled. I try to pop a DCD when I feel I am about to get hit (spidy sense), but it can be difficult to know when that is going to happen. Do you pretty much try to rush any comp? Do you ever try to hold back? Thanks a bunch!

Edited July 17, 2015 by teclado

[Aluvi]

For Fury in PVP alacrity is not helpful, you want at least 94.8% accuracy, all power/surge, and one crit mod as a sacrifice to RNGesus. The idea is to hit as hard as you can in the short period of time that a round lasts, alacrity and crit may be better stats for longer fights but we are talking about 2 minute battles mostly.

 

Alacrity is a straight up dps increase.. every % of it that you get is 1% more damage. When you consider that after 70% surge, you're looking at serious diminishing returns.. and the fact that the surge bonus will only apply to maybe 35-45% of your attacks anyway. I'm not saying stack it like crazy, but a few pieces can help a lot. Faster rotation is more dps, period, not to mention shorter cooldowns.

[MiaowZedong]

Alacrity is a straight up dps increase.. every % of it that you get is 1% more damage.

 

On average, when you just chain attacks, yes. In practice Alacrity only gives extra damage at the point where you get an extra GCD. If you get downtime before then, you're not getting any benefit from the Alacrity. For DPS in PvP, especially melee, chaining GCD of attacks without even small interruptions isn't something you can depend upon.

[milkandcereal]

I'm actually really enjoying mara and sent again, so thanks! Also, looks like you are going to hit top 3. Congrats!

 

I now have zero alacrity, 1 crit mod, rest power surge. My crit chance is a little under 20%, accuracy is 94.15% with full exhumed, no DR pieces at all. I don't have most of my datacrons, and I don't know if there is some companion crit boost. If so, I probably don't have it. Why 94.8% accuracy?

 

What do you do in an arena if it is 4 dps vs 4 dps and the other team has 4 stealth? I'm guessing you don't want to just wait around to get jumped and globaled. I try to pop a DCD when I feel I am about to get hit (spidy sense), but it can be difficult to know when that is going to happen. Do you pretty much try to rush any comp? Do you ever try to hold back? Thanks a bunch!

That's a tough situation, you typically have to depend on your team mates to help you out if you think you are the main target. I avoid pre-popping any defensive because a good team will just stay in stealth until it's run out. You should never get globaled, if you drop below 50% you need to break and vanish or undying. You want to be at 95% accuracy, that has been the established pvp mark for awhile I don't think anyone even remembers where it came from to be honest, some nerd doing math. Glad I could help!

[Aluvi]

On average, when you just chain attacks, yes. In practice Alacrity only gives extra damage at the point where you get an extra GCD. If you get downtime before then, you're not getting any benefit from the Alacrity. For DPS in PvP, especially melee, chaining GCD of attacks without even small interruptions isn't something you can depend upon.

 

Depends on the match. I don't disagree that its... small. I mean at best, after you get 95% accuracy and 70% surge, you're looking at the possibility of getting 3-4% alacrity from gear at very most. It does make fitting ravage + blast into your gore or ravage + furious strike into your cascading power windows a lot more feasible though. Also, the amount of surge you gain past 70% is pretty minimal, and considering only 40% of your attacks at most are going to be crits.. I mean 2-3% extra damage on 40% of your attacks isn't a lot.

[milkandcereal]

Depends on the match. I don't disagree that its... small. I mean at best, after you get 95% accuracy and 70% surge, you're looking at the possibility of getting 3-4% alacrity from gear at very most. It does make fitting ravage + blast into your gore or ravage + furious strike into your cascading power windows a lot more feasible though. Also, the amount of surge you gain past 70% is pretty minimal, and considering only 40% of your attacks at most are going to be crits.. I mean 2-3% extra damage on 40% of your attacks isn't a lot.

I think diminishing returns only applies to that 70-75% range, given the surge buff that Fury gets I think that at 89%+ it actually matters again. I will try to run some alacrity pieces and see how it goes but ultimately I don't think it's going to make or break anything in solo ranked, I have done 2k+ with all power/surge so the cap is pretty much the same.

[Aluvi]

I think diminishing returns only applies to that 70-75% range, given the surge buff that Fury gets I think that at 89%+ it actually matters again. I will try to run some alacrity pieces and see how it goes but ultimately I don't think it's going to make or break anything in solo ranked, I have done 2k+ with all power/surge so the cap is pretty much the same.

 

That seems like a weird way for DR to work. I mean yes, you get a static % from being Fury specced, and that portion is completely outside of DR, because it is added as a percentage, not a rating, and the % is added on top of your rating.

[Rechter]

I find carnage fun for the fast pace. I tried out fury, I also enjoyed it. The pvp stats seem to be the same from what your saying. Power/surge for carnage and fury? I hope so because thats the set I chose. I was seeing the same dps as either spec once I really got rolling. Both are fun so I will probly switch around to keep things spicy!

[Vodrin]

Fury is really the only spec that works in solo ranked right now, or at least works reasonably well. The CC immunity is just really good and allows you to take blood ward without risking becoming a CC pinata. Every once in a while I get to use battering assault on a target, have him get away, and then leap back to them and unleash my burst cycle. It makes me very happy when those stars align.