Anni & PvP

[Belpheghor]

Curious how the Anni spec is in PvP after 4.0? Are the bleed heals any good?

[Iserahn]

currently i'm pvping with all 3 specs trying to figure out what works best for me

 

for anni so far my conclussions are the following:

 

overall DPS is solid, Annihilate hits like a truck (over 15k and i'm my gear is still a mix of 204 and 208 pvp set) but the dots outside of Berserk feel lacking ,while in Berserk almost too strong, same goes with healing which againt without Berserk it's hard to notice (like 150-200 ticks on a 70k hp pool) and within Berserk is decent like 1k per tick

 

this is due to the crit chages, having dots autocrit with Berserk means that your crit chance is added to your damage and 35% crit chance is standard nowdays

 

overall the spec runs smoother and performs better compared to it's clunky 3.x versions, but still you are not up there with the traditional pvp powerhouses and you still need a healer to shine

[Maguhl]

Apart from that, i consider a 12s CD on Force rend with a uptime of 9 seconds... Not thought through. Maybe some one else has a other point of view.

[Vodrin]

The heals are still pretty mediocre. Damage is really good though. You can frequently just overwhelm a healer from full health to 0 without heal debuffs. Combining beserk with annihilate does give decent burst and pressure damage is pretty consistently good otherwise.

[teclado]

Fury > else. If I feel like ripping my hair out with frustration, I'll play anni. If I feel like occasionally getting off some serious damage and lighting people up, but often being completely shut down, I'll play carnage. If I feel like actually having fun, consistently bringing the pain, and rarely being shut down, I'll play fury.

[Pantheros]

All three specs work, fury is the most consistent and has some nice utlity but anni works just fine and puts a lot of pressure on healers that the burst specs can't. And yea with crit changes you get some very nice burst out of the spec that can really come out of nowhere and catch people by surprise. The self-healing aspect of anni is worthless and they've balanced our survivability around it but it is just completely ineffective. If they want to improve the spec for pvp that would be the place to do it. You can be successful with any of the disciplines, it really comes down to personal preference.

[ferreyrolajedi]

Im runing a full ranked gear watchmen. right now i drop all accuracy (still above 100), boost all critical and some alacrity, with half critical half mastery augments. Curious how other fellow watchmen are gearing and sutch.

[Vodrin]

Im runing a full ranked gear watchmen. right now i drop all accuracy (still above 100), boost all critical and some alacrity, with half critical half mastery augments. Curious how other fellow watchmen are gearing and sutch.

 

I've been doing something fairly similar on mine. Replaced all accuracy enhancements with crit. Running a mix of crit and alacrity augs (8 and 6 respectively) although I am experimenting with switching out alacrity for power. I also switch back and forth between watchman and combat as I find both fun. Even playing around with concentration a bit. Running with about 1560 bonus melee damage when I have the power augs in as I recall, with around 40% crit and 70% surge.

[ferreyrolajedi]

Yeah, i think i need to switch those mastery augments for power and a little more alacrity to be at 8%

my critical numbres are preatty much like yourse.

[Vodrin]

Yeah, i think i need to switch those mastery augments for power and a little more alacrity to be at 8%

my critical numbres are preatty much like yourse.

 

I think that mastery is probably the worst augment option right now with power, crit, and alacrity all being pretty close once you get to 40% crit.

[ferreyrolajedi]

so youre advice is that i change mastery for crit or power, or crit and alacrity, once i have 40% crit?

[Kornaker]

Could be cool to have another exp about anni/Watchman in pvp 4.0.

 

I use full power augment with full crit enhancement, like it was used in 3.0-3.3 but if someone has some tips, i have comms to test but afraid to take them all for nothing!

[Vodrin]

Could be cool to have another exp about anni/Watchman in pvp 4.0.

 

I use full power augment with full crit enhancement, like it was used in 3.0-3.3 but if someone has some tips, i have comms to test but afraid to take them all for nothing!

 

That is probably about as good a setup as anything out there, but mixing in some alacrity if your crit is over 40% may yield higher DPS (but potentially lower burst). We need more time with testing by the theorycrafters to know.

[Anbokr]

What alacrity % are people aiming for?

[sumquy]

i am really liking it in pvp. the survivablity and mobility are pretty good. the damage is excellent, since dot spread is the best defacto aoe in the game (if you're not using it at every opportunity, you are doing it wrong.) what it lacks most is good burst. i don't think that will change since it is parsing very impressively in pve. giving it more burst would push into op (and that is reserved strictly for powertechs ) Edited November 4, 2015 by sumquy

[VegasTheLost]

Being a DoT spec means no burst. So yeah burst and DoT at the same time won't happen.

[sumquy]

Being a DoT spec means no burst. So yeah burst and DoT at the same time won't happen.

 

not necessarily. cull is the hardest hitting back-to-back globals in the game. sleeper burst for the win.

[RodneyMcNeely]

i am really liking it in pvp. the survivablity and mobility are pretty good. the damage is excellent, since dot spread is the best defacto aoe in the game (if you're not using it at every opportunity, you are doing it wrong.) what it lacks most is good burst. i don't think that will change since it is parsing very impressively in pve. giving it more burst would push into op (and that is reserved strictly for powertechs )

Do you feel like you can adequately pressure healers?

 

And how do you feel the spec holds up against DPS Operatives/Scoundrels?

 

Thanks!

[Kornaker]

That is probably about as good a setup as anything out there, but mixing in some alacrity if your crit is over 40% may yield higher DPS (but potentially lower burst). We need more time with testing by the theorycrafters to know.

 

I tested yesterday to see, as when not min/max we have accuracy on some part, i switch these for Alacrity. I saw a good dps increase with 2enhancement without changing none augment, i came to 3% alacrity. When i tested with 3enhancement ( 4% Alacrity) i had a lot of burst lost due to only 64% crit dam and 35% crit chance.

 

I will maybe see if taking off some power augment for crit augment today.

 

With only 2enhancement with alacrity i had( approximatively, not IG atm):

3K Power( +- 100 something like that)

3.14% alacrity

36.40% crit chance

66,73% crit damage

101% accuracy

 

I have taken on a good healer i know from TOFN being fully geared, a good superCrit annihilate for 17K followed by a 10K crit finisher, burst wasn't so bad ( and i had all my god relic on).

 

Usually, my Cauterize and force rend it hard ( i saw force rend make some 4K tick).

Main problem i actually have is even if we don't necessary have some rage/focus problem healing debuff without rage/focus reduction cost a lot for me so i have some focus/rage problem after that, and you litteraly can't now take off the root on blade dance/ravage , the 2% damage reduction and 6%cc immun on saber ward, it too a needed for anni/Watchman spec.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Kornaker

[Vodrin]

Being a DoT spec means no burst. So yeah burst and DoT at the same time won't happen.

 

Spec actually has the best burst currently of any DoT spec. Beserk with fully stacked DoT's and an annihilate crit are not bad in the burst department.

[Chakkal]

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone already reached to a conclusion on the recommended stats for anni pvp?

Personally I have full critical enhancements and all alacrity augments (I am missing one atm). So fully buffed with stim I have:

 

40,00% Critical (1589)

70,35% Critical Multiplier

7,88% Alacrity (730)

Melee bonus damage: 1536,1

Force bonus damage: 2263,5

 

And for talents? What do you guys think? As for talents I usually use the more team friendly talents:

tier1:

Brazen

Unflinching Determination

Cloak of Rage

I am thinking of changing the Cloak of Rage for Overwhelm because since I mainly play pve I often use battering assault automatically when I shouldn't ,ending many times wasting the battering assault. So going for Overwhelm might solve me that problem and it would give more crowd control.

tier2:

Defensive roll

Relentless (to give people speed and 10% defense I also used for myself as a defensive cd in 1vs1)

tier3:

Unbound (since I use relentless)

Expunging camouflage (if I want to have a dot and other effects cleanser for better 1vs1)

or Through Victory (If I want to be better for team play specially in hutballs)

 

As for performance, I haven't noticed a big improvement going from full 208 with accuracy to full 208 with critical. Nor did I noticed a significant improvement between full 204 with old mastery augments and full 204 with new alacrity augments. Maybe I haven't played enough wz to see the improvements (I basically do the dailies and weekly in one day normally), or the improvements were so gradually that I haven't noticed them.

 

At the end of the warzones I am usually on the top 3 of my team and top 4/5 of the warzone (if I am not on guarding duty). However I never managed to get to those insane 2,5M to 3,2M that I have seen people do (even tough most of the time those are the kind of players that never do the tactics but are only concerned with damage).

 

Atm I think annihilation is very strong on 1vs1 against dps classes, with pt's being the most difficult to fight and snipers almost impossible to kill.

I usually can't kill healers, but I don't recall having a 1vs1 against a healer.

Also, once I ran to the same immortal jugg twice and on 1vs1 I couldn't even get near to defeat him. He destroyed me both times with relative ease. Was it my fault by playing badly against him? Or immortal juggs really that strong?

 

Finally I have to point out that I only play normal warzones and I always leave normal arenas and I don't like to play ranked because usually people just start with hating comments or blaming you for your team's failure and that kills the fun for me so I don't play them. Also, I don't know how skillful are the players that I play against so all my claims can be wrong because I might be just a lucky guy that gets bad players to fight against, which in turn makes me a bad one too.

[Kornaker]

I had same point like you, as Annihilation Mara/Watchman i'm usually better for pressure and i have no really chance against Jugg, for Sniper it´s a different way. By example it depends a lot when you encounter him. If it´s after he uses all his DcD, you just kill him fast. If he has everything to kite you, i go away cause he can do it for something like 1min30, and or i will be dead, or nearly, and after that if he has good managing of his DcD i only have a little 20sec to take him down, which is just impossible when you don't have DcD tu finish the fight, cause you used it before ( in the 1min30 he was kitting you as hell). And if the sniper is healed, seriously go AwAy.

 

Jugg is very something like impossible for me cause you take him down, he pop enraged defense, your DoT heal him to full and you can begin the 2life, but in this time, you only have 1life, he has 2, and trinket, so just leave. Only Carnage/Combat can beat them with some chance.

 

After, i don't very see why taking a lot of alacrity for the damage pressure and don't take down healer.

Just took 1accuracy for the 2% force resist chance sorc have, full crit enhancement and augment 43%crit and 73% surge, burst is good. You'll parse a bit lower but burst will be higher ( some 18K annihilate on 100% crit).

 

Will try too with full alacrity but i tested with just 6% and had very crap damage return has i was killing no one.

[Chakkal]

I had same point like you, as Annihilation Mara/Watchman i'm usually better for pressure and i have no really chance against Jugg, for Sniper it´s a different way. By example it depends a lot when you encounter him. If it´s after he uses all his DcD, you just kill him fast. If he has everything to kite you, i go away cause he can do it for something like 1min30, and or i will be dead, or nearly, and after that if he has good managing of his DcD i only have a little 20sec to take him down, which is just impossible when you don't have DcD tu finish the fight, cause you used it before ( in the 1min30 he was kitting you as hell). And if the sniper is healed, seriously go AwAy.

 

Jugg is very something like impossible for me cause you take him down, he pop enraged defense, your DoT heal him to full and you can begin the 2life, but in this time, you only have 1life, he has 2, and trinket, so just leave. Only Carnage/Combat can beat them with some chance.

 

After, i don't very see why taking a lot of alacrity for the damage pressure and don't take down healer.

Just took 1accuracy for the 2% force resist chance sorc have, full crit enhancement and augment 43%crit and 73% surge, burst is good. You'll parse a bit lower but burst will be higher ( some 18K annihilate on 100% crit).

 

Will try too with full alacrity but i tested with just 6% and had very crap damage return has i was killing no one.

 

Thanks for your reply.

And yes I agree with you on what you say about snipers, I usually do as you said, if they have their DcD available I run away (or if am pissed I try anyway) because I can't even touch him, but if I see he doesn't have his DcD than we do have a real shot at killing him.

As for juggs what you described is true, but if they are dps spec I can usually kill him. Its a close win and I have to use wz medpacks but a win nontheless. But tank juggs is what I was referring to, those kill me with ease without even using the enraged defense cd.

As for the stats I have I used all that alacrity because atm those were all the augments I had available and since I have been happy with my performance in wz's I haven't given it a second thought. When I did gave it a second thought I came here looking for opinions. And your suggestion about the stats seams worth trying. Thank your for your input.

 

I'll try to post more about my opinions about it. If someone else has any other suggestions feel free to discuss them.

[Overmind]

The heals are still pretty mediocre. Damage is really good though. You can frequently just overwhelm a healer from full health to 0 without heal debuffs. Combining beserk with annihilate does give decent burst and pressure damage is pretty consistently good otherwise.

You will never beat a healer 1v1 as Mara. Ever.

Also, any other class of equivalent skill will 95++% likely kill you.... even with all the defensive CD; you'll survive quite some if skilled, but you can't do much to kill others either.

 

Fury > else. If I feel like ripping my hair out with frustration, I'll play anni. If I feel like occasionally getting off some serious damage and lighting people up, but often being completely shut down, I'll play carnage. If I feel like actually having fun, consistently bringing the pain, and rarely being shut down, I'll play fury.

Care to elaborate ?

[teclado]

In other words, Carnage is susceptible to losing damage due to interruptions in the gore window. In order to achieve the high theoretical damage output, you need to not have too many gore windows interrupted. If you are playing solo, good luck with that. What would Carnage be if you just stopped using Gore altogether? Well, in practice, it's heading towards that extreme. There will be games in which you can tear into people without being interrupted too much. Most of the time, that will not be the case. I view Carnage like Arsenal Merc: it's awesome when you can free-cast, but it sucks when you can't. It's frequently one extreme or the other. Personally, I can't stand the lack of consistency.

 

I think that Annihilation is a little better than Carnage in 8v8 solo queue - at least you get some self heals (albeit weak). I've had fun with it. That doesn't mean that I would do solo ranked with it. In all dps arenas, you really do need that Fury CC immunity at the beginning if you want to be able to take somebody with you when you get focused. If you're playing 4dps vs 4dps arenas as Anni, it is very possible to die without doing much damage at all. I recall going against an Anni Marauder that I knew was a good player - he got globaled and did a few k damage. I'm just saying, that would never happen with Fury.

 

I play Anni a fair amount in 8v8. It's not terrible. I'll bust out Carnage every now and then, only to be further entrenched in my opinion that it is a terrible solo queue spec, just like Arsenal. Fury is much more consistent.

 

My opinion is that Fury is the best solo queue spec, Annihilation can be decent solo but is better on a team, Carnage is terrible solo but can be very good on a team. Fury doesn't have as high of a damage output ceiling.

Edited December 17, 2015 by teclado