I have been playing a gunnery trooper up until now, but my kid talked me into trying Empire with them. I rolled a sith marauder.

 

I want to do decent group PvE damage and maintain some measure of solo survivability. Now, I'm one of those people who can't just read the the talent names and texts and be able to put it all together in my head, in order to come up with a clear picture. So...

 

What's the best tree to start putting points in, and what's the best build?

 

A few notes before answering:

- I do not PvP

- I am coordination challenged (passive or active skills desired)

 

I am currently sitting at level 10, with no clue where to put my first point.

Go up the Annihilation tree and invest in everything that doesn't look like an obviously-PvP-oriented talent.

 

Target build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#100dIbRrRzcGzZhrZh.1

 

Edit: If you are coordination challenged, I caution you on the Marauder AC as a choice in general unless you really like the style.

Edited January 9, 2012 by EasymodeX

First, I can't heal or tank worth mentioning, so DPS is the way to go for me, regardless of my deficit.

 

Second, after looking at your sample build, I think I am seeing what you were going for. By stating "taking everything that doesn't look pvp-ish" and comparing what you chose against that statement, I can now see what types of things are actually considered non-pvp, and that was one of my issues.

 

Thirdly, I think I might move the single point from Close Quarters to Cloak because I usually do not open with the leap. I save it for mid-battle leaps to mobs on other players (like the healer).

 

Seeing a complete build really helps, but I'd like to ask, does maintaining bleeds really yield a higher overall dps than burst, or does it take longer to kill things that way? Just making sure I understand the "why" behind this spec.

 

Thanks.

Thirdly, I think I might move the single point from Close Quarters to Cloak because I usually do not open with the leap. I save it for mid-battle leaps to mobs on other players (like the healer).

 

The first point is pretty significant, since 5m is short enough to step away from the target and use charge as an additional interrupt. You can also then use charge in general as a rage builder over Assault if you step away with good timing.

 

If you intend to play it more simply though, then yeah that point is optional. Probably keep it in mind later on in the game when you're more comfortable with the class.

 

 

does maintaining bleeds really yield a higher overall dps than burst, or does it take longer to kill things that way? Just making sure I understand the "why" behind this spec.

 

Edit: On burst: the Anni DoTs are 6s and ~9 seconds. Neither represent a massive loss of DPS if you 'waste' some of it on a target that's about to die (although you can optimize your targeting to minimize the wastage -- something to aim for).

 

As far as the why: Annihilation is stronger for solo PvE due to the self-heals and faster interrupts. The spec as a whole yields strong single target DPS in theory with no combat log. The other aspects (primarily Fury generation grouphealspam and interruptspamofdoom) are useful for group PvE.

 

 

Carn is decent after level 43 ... it's comparatively weak below 40. It's hands-down the simplest to play, but the solo PvE weakness sub-40 and the lack of group synergy for PvE make me not recommend it.

 

 

Rage is pretty good all around, but the rotations involved take more getting used to, since you cycle through moderate cooldowns some of the time, then have to switch gears to a different sequence some of the time. And, it doesn't have Annihilation's lolheals.

 

 

So overall I would say "just go Anni and then flip between that and Rage at level 45 based on what you want to mess with".

Edited January 9, 2012 by EasymodeX

I now use Jaesa after fitting her pretty good at lvl 50 using Rage. Still use Quinn too much. Carnage does suck below 40. It gets to be pretty good tho but I PvP too more than anything and Rage is perfect for it.