I'm slowly, real slowly, leveling my Marauder. I've been looking over things, and I gotta say that the Annihilation tree appeals to me. It's got a lot of things I like (bleed effects, for example) and it's caught my interest.

What I'm looking for is a few suggestions: What to do, what not to do, what talents to avoid and the like. Hell, even a whole build if you're generous. I'm not interested at all in PvP, and I plan on doing a lot of levelling with a friend if that helfs any.

Thanks in advance

This is the build I am planning on using to start. I'll tweek from there. I'm level 26 and so far, I'm pretty happy with it. From what I heard, this branch doesn't really take off until the mid 30's anyways. If that's truly the case, I'm gonna love it!

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIbRrorcGzZhGb.1

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100MIbRrR0fGzZRGb.1

this is the spec that I am currently following for pvp - would work really well for pve too

Subjugation instead of close quarters - less cd on both the interrup and the high miss chance IMO is more important than the gap closer, as you can always strafe back and then force leap back onto the target

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100MIbRrR0fGzZRGb.1

 

this is the spec that I am currently following for pvp - would work really well for pve too

 

Subjugation instead of close quarters - less cd on both the interrup and the high miss chance IMO is more important than the gap closer, as you can always strafe back and then force leap back onto the target

Why not beef up on Dual Wield Mastery?

Hey there,

If I'm going annihilation build. Should i be looking at critical first, or should I be going with the standard power, accuracy, surge, crit, alacrity? I've been seeing a lot of different opinions on this, but I'm really trying to get a definite answer. I have so much gear, and so many damn mods that I don't know what to do with. I'm mostly PVE, but I want to get into PVP once I hit 50. I'm trying to figure out the best way to gear myself up if I stay with this annihilation build.

All info is welcome.

Hey there,

 

If I'm going annihilation build. Should i be looking at critical first, or should I be going with the standard power, accuracy, surge, crit, alacrity?

At level 50 you want 110% accuracy, 30% crit, 90% surge, rest in power. I do not know if this is the meta gaming formula but it gives you a guideline of how much to get of each.

This is the Cookie Cutter PvE Annihilation Marauder build

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIbRrRMcGzZhGM.1

This is what I use for my PvP Annihilation Marauder.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrRrMMbGzZhGb.1

I noticed another build did not have the Quick Recovery talent. Personally I think it is a very important talent both of PvP and PvE. PvE it allows you to do my rotation which I will post and in PvP it allows you to spam Sweeping Slash for great cost effective fury management outside combat.

This is my rotation. My rotations assume you have Sweeping Slash and Quick Recovery.

- On normal 3-4 grey mobs I do:

Force Charge -> Smash -> Pommel Strike(First Grey dies) -> Rupture(With Seeping Wound) -> Savage Kick(Second grey dies) -> Ravage(Third Grey dies) -> Annihilate(If needed).

- On Strongs/Elites (Silver/Gold) I do:

Force Charge -> Deadly Saber midair -> Battering Assault -> Rupture(With Seeping Wound) -> Ravage -> Savage Kick(If its a strong/silver, if not skip) -> Annihilate -> Force Choke -> Repeat combo from Deadly Saber.

Most Strongs die once you get to Savage Kick, and for Elites you will want to add defensive cooldowns in between skills.

Why not beef up on Dual Wield Mastery?

I would, It factors into ALL of your dual sabre attacks.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIbRr****zZhGb.1

This is what i use over the "cookie cutter" mostly because i find so many more uses for phantom to 100% avoid scripted AOE events as opposed to just 30% avoid. PVE anyway and in PVP phantom pretty self explanitory.

At level 50 you want 110% accuracy, 30% crit, 90% surge, rest in power. I do not know if this is the meta gaming formula but it gives you a guideline of how much to get of each.

 

This is the Cookie Cutter PvE Annihilation Marauder build

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIbRrRMcGzZhGM.1

 

This is what I use for my PvP Annihilation Marauder.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100bIrRrMMbGzZhGb.1

 

I noticed another build did not have the Quick Recovery talent. Personally I think it is a very important talent both of PvP and PvE. PvE it allows you to do my rotation which I will post and in PvP it allows you to spam Sweeping Slash for great cost effective fury management outside combat.

 

This is my rotation. My rotations assume you have Sweeping Slash and Quick Recovery.

- On normal 3-4 grey mobs I do:

Force Charge -> Smash -> Pommel Strike(First Grey dies) -> Rupture(With Seeping Wound) -> Savage Kick(Second grey dies) -> Ravage(Third Grey dies) -> Annihilate(If needed).

 

- On Strongs/Elites (Silver/Gold) I do:

Force Charge -> Deadly Saber midair -> Battering Assault -> Rupture(With Seeping Wound) -> Ravage -> Savage Kick(If its a strong/silver, if not skip) -> Annihilate -> Force Choke -> Repeat combo from Deadly Saber.

 

Most Strongs die once you get to Savage Kick, and for Elites you will want to add defensive cooldowns in between skills.

Is this your same rotation for PvP?

This is my Annihilation level 50 build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100MIbRrRMcGzZhGb.1

Here is the reasoning behind some of my choices:

1. Cloak of Annihilation over Quick Recovery: You will rarely ever have rage problems thanks to Empowerment, Battering Assault and Enraged Charge, so the only real benefit of Quick Recovery is the cool down reduction on Smash. Unlike the Rage tree, I almost never find myself using Smash except to reveal stealthers or in certain AOE situations (but even then, your GCD and rage is probably better spent elsewhere). Also, because Retaliation is off the GCD, it's a great rage dump skill that brings your Cloak of Pain back sooner.

2. No Seeping Wound?: While the 30% slow on Rupture is a nice quality of life benefit, if you ever need to slow someone your 50% Crippling Slash does a better job for cheap (2 rage). Those 2 points come in handy up higher in the tree.

3. Subjugation over Ferocity or Phanton: Subjugation is your "healer killer" skill. Having a 6s Disruption is amazing for interrupting heals. The lowered cooldown on Obsfucate is also handy vs. other melee or PvE bosses.

4. Duel Wield Mastery over Cloak of Carnage: Again, rage is rarely the issue for Annihilation spec, so take the minor damage bonus from DWM.

5. Enraged Charge over Defensive Roll: This one is really a "pick 'em". On the whole, rage isn't an issue, but a large part of that is due to the extra rage gained every 12s from Force Charge (which can be used in every situation thanks for Close Quarters). Defensive Roll is great if you're getting hit with a lot of AOE, but that hasn't been my experience so I passed on it here.

Annihilation takes a lot of practice in PvP but I've found it to be my best DPS spec. I'm still learning how to manage my cooldowns, but I hit a new high of 409,000 on Huttball last night, which is much higher than I've ever done as Carnage or Rage. It also has the added benefit of ignoring armor with the DoT damage which comes in handy for high armor PvE bosses too.