EDIT: Please keep the PvP talk to a minimun, thank you <3

 

 

I´m going to put up a little "How to" on Anni dps. Here I go

 

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

This is the spec I'm using and the spec you should be using. Question me and I will explain every decision, but these ARE the best talents for Anni. Period.

 

EDIT: It's worth moving 2 points from Defensive Roll and putting them in force crit, since bleeds count as force attacks. However my healer friend told me that on the first boss in Eternity Vault, the damage reduction on me means he can spend more force and gcds casting dots. For me the talents are boss dependent, but for leveling I would reccomend Defensive Roll. (Last 2 levels trololol)

 

Let's start with the reasoning behind the rotation.

 

Your stuff has cooldowns, your job is to keep them on cooldown. At first place we have Deadly Saber. This spell hits incredibly hard. I'm getting crits well over 2k. Also it's not on global cooldown. How awesome is that?

 

Coming in at second place we have Rupture. This spell doesn't deal that much damage but it's cheap and better than Vicious Slash. With bleed ticks giving you rage this is still an awesome spell. A thing to note is that the cooldown might reset before the effect drops off in certain situations. DO NOT apply it too soon. You don't want to clip it.

 

In third place we have Annihilate. This is a sweet rage dump. Idiots on the forum are arguing about this being less rage-effective than 2x Vicious Slash, but they forget that it only takes up 1 gcd! Meaning we can stick another rage builder where the second Vicious Slash would have gone. This is great because it gives Anni much better rage generation than the other trees. With bleeds giving rage and more space to use rage builders we will have a huge rage income.

 

This is pretty much where the simple priotity list ends. You want to use Battering Assault whenever it's ready, without hitting the rage cap, therefore you need to think ahead a bit when it's about to come off it's cooldown. Normally you want to use the three part priority list while floating 8-10 rage. For me this means jumping between 8 and 10 by alternating between Assault and Vicious Slash. The reason you want to be floating this rage is that sometimes you will need to chain all the three abilities in the list right after eachother. (3+2+4 rage = 9) The only time you want to go below is when Battering Assault is about to be ready, then you want to be at 4 rage.

 

You probably noted that I haven't talked about Ravage yet. This ability deals sick damage, but not enough to warrant using it over one of the three listed. Since it's a three second channel you also can't use it willy nilly, because having to cancel it to interrupt with make a bab panda cry. Also there are phases when you need to be moving etc. As you get used to dpsing with Anni you will recognize that there are periods where all you do is alternate Assault/Vicious Slash. This is the time you want to use Ravage. It's great for filling these gaps. A typical engage for me will look like this:

 

Charge

Deadly Saber while in the air

Battering Assault first global on target

Rupture

Assault (sometimes bleeds proc enough so you don't need this)

Annihilate

Ravage

 

You will find lots of places to use ravage, so it will usually only have to be off cooldown for around 5 seconds before an opportunity appears.

 

I also haven't talked about Berserk. It's generally great to use it as soon as it's ready, but there are also times where you want to make sure you have it for certain phases. Such as the last 8% on the first boss in Eterity Vault hardmode. There Berserk + Cloak of Pain will mean you only need minimal healing

 

TL;DR

To sum it up Anni dps comes down to two aspects. Making sure you keep the top3 abilities on cooldown, and managing rage. Floating at 8-10 is the best way to go about it, while making sure you drop down to 4 when Battering Assault is about to be ready. Never delay a spender because you are starved, and never hit the cap. Berserk and Ravage are situational, but really good, use them whenever ready, but keep in mind that it might be wise to save them for certain burst windows.

 

THE TOP 3

1. Deadly Saber

2. Rupture

3. Annihilate

 

That's about it. Please respond in the thread if you have feedback or questions. You can also hit me up on

Twitter: @Fawxz0

Twitch tv: Fawxz (will be streaming in the coming weeks, right there will probably only be Starcraft 2 vods on there.)

 

of course you can also PM me on the SWTOR forums. Check out my guild at

regret-gaming.net

Edited January 6, 2012 by fawxz

I'm not even Annihilation spec, but read this just to do comparisons. I'm glad I did, because I learned something very important: Deadly Saber can be used while mid-leap.

 

Thank you for that

+1 to OP

 

That's pretty much the breakdown on how to play Annihilation tree.

 

On your talent tree, I assume you chose Subjugation over Seeping Wound for PvE as that Obfuscate would be more beneficial than Rupture's "slow"? If so that's fine, but if it's for PvP, I would swap for Seeping Wound as that a Marauder always needs to close the gap between him/her and their opponent.

Edited January 6, 2012 by BarcodeX

Thanks for putting this together I will be doing some napkin math on the stat priority for annihilation once I hit 50.

+1 to OP

 

That's pretty much the breakdown on how to play Annihilation tree.

 

On your talent tree, I assume you chose Subjugation over Seeping Wound for PvE as that Obfuscate would be more beneficial than Rupture's "slow"? If so that's fine, but if it's for PvP, I would swap for Seeping Wound as that a Marauder always needs to close the gap between him/her and their opponent.

 

Yes, I find the jump from 8 to 6 seconds in the interrupt to be very important. In raids there has been less interrupts than I expected, but for certain hardmode flashpoints it reduces the cooldown to a point where you can get every spell.

 

The slow is super nice in PvP yes!

 

I would actually like to see more interrupts in the raids. Since I played enhancement shaman in WoW I have always loved to stop casts

Thanks for putting this together I will be doing some napkin math on the stat priority for annihilation once I hit 50.

 

I was planning to do this, but I've decided I will wait for the combat log to get in. I look forward to hearing what you come up with:)

 

From what I've heard crit is really good, the conversion between rating and % is supposedly very high compared to power.

This is exactly what I've been doing lol. Even that "Deadly Saber in mid jump" bit. You can also point out that those are the basics of setting up your damage on a PVP target as well, except you have to add in your slow and trauma debuff moves where applicable.

I just have to ask, do you use force charge in combat as a rage builder?

I just have to ask, do you use force charge in combat as a rage builder?

 

I dont know whether the OP does, but I do.

 

Force Charge/deadly saber whilst in the air isnt just an opener, I hit it every time I can during a fight on a gold boss.

You should be saving Force Charge for use as a secondary interrupt. Anni shouldn't be rage starved enough to warrant superfluous charging.

 

Additionally some bosses and mobs have knockbacks and it's essential to be able to get back into the fray quickly.

 

BTW awesome post OP. Love anni spec. A lot of people will be flocking to it after they realize getting giant crits doesn't mean consistent DPS (*cough* Rage *cough*)

Edited January 6, 2012 by LordFungus

I dont know whether the OP does, but I do.

 

Force Charge/deadly saber whilst in the air isnt just an opener, I hit it every time I can during a fight on a gold boss.

 

+1 i noticed that using deadly sabre while in air is a great combo with rupture.

 

but tbh 90% of the time during mob fights i never use deadly sabre as it just doesnt seem worth while as i can easly take them down using battering assualt then ravage and if need be force choke to disrupt their spells/heals.

 

be more interested to hear a PvP guide as this is where marauder is finding it hard not PvE

You should be saving Force Charge for use as a secondary interrupt. Anni shouldn't be rage starved enough to warrant superfluous charging.

 

 

Its a great interupt, but its also a great set up with deadly saber for laying the next round of bleeds on.

 

Normally , on a gold, I would start off with charge/saber in air/battering assault then either ravage or annihilate, finally rupture, that would put all bleeds in place, then I'd force choke, this gives the bleeds time to tick whilst taking no damage, I use a dps companion too, so vette is still piling damage in, bu the time choke is done, my bleeds are finished, and charge/saber etc are all off cooldown, on 40+ level golds this is the point they start using channeled or cast damage, which the next round of charge/deadly saber etc handily interupts.

 

If you throw in an obfuscate as choke finishes, for most mission bosses, that will see you to the end of the fight with about half the time taking next to no damage at all.

I'm curious about the 2 points spent in Defensive Roll. Is aoe that much of a problem or would they not be better spent in enraged charge for an extra rage build?

Its a great interupt, but its also a great set up with deadly saber for laying the next round of bleeds on.

 

Normally , on a gold, I would start off with charge/saber in air/battering assault then either ravage or annihilate, finally rupture, that would put all bleeds in place, then I'd force choke, this gives the bleeds time to tick whilst taking no damage, I use a dps companion too, so vette is still piling damage in, bu the time choke is done, my bleeds are finished, and charge/saber etc are all off cooldown, on 40+ level golds this is the point they start using channeled or cast damage, which the next round of charge/deadly saber etc handily interupts.

 

If you throw in an obfuscate as choke finishes, for most mission bosses, that will see you to the end of the fight with about half the time taking next to no damage at all.

 

I do almost exactly this except without charging unless they are casting. Depending on bleed procs I may also opt to VS a few times rather than Ravage but that's more personal taste erring on the side of mobility and flexibility. I hate cancelling Ravage to pop a defensive CD or move out of a fire droid.

I'm curious about the 2 points spent in Defensive Roll. Is aoe that much of a problem or would they not be better spent in enraged charge for an extra rage build?

 

Defensive roll is absolutely amazing in Flashpoints. I haven't done an Operation yet but I assume it applies there as well.

When it comes to AOE'ing mobs, do you do your typical smash and then single target them down or is sweeping slash worth spending the rage on?

 

Great work on the guide!

Edited January 6, 2012 by Drunkennoodles

Defensive roll is a great talent for operations, it will reduce the incoming damage by quite a lot for your healers. I don't use charge as a rage builder, since I want it ready for switching targets, which you do quite a lot in operations.

 

Also a weird note, Assault does more damage for me than Battering Assault. It swapped around when I got my 5th or 6th epic. The scaling seems a bit off :S

When it comes to AOE'ing mobs, do you do your typical smash and then single target them down or is sweeping slash worth spending the rage on?

 

Great work on the guide!

 

It's different in solo and groups.

 

When solo grinding I will apply the bleeds, but not use Annihilate or Vicious Slash. I just want the healing procs. Then I Smash and spam Sweeping Slash. It only costs 1 rage and does a fair bit of damage. The only tricky part about it is the awkward cone.

 

In groups, it depends on the rest of the group. If I have strong AoE classes with me, I will likely target down the stronger mobs one by one.

If the AoE is weak or the tank doesn't put out enough aggro for single target, I will apply the bleeds and then spam Sweeping Slash.

Bookmarked. Cheers for this. Handy stuff as I'm levelling Anni

my build is a little different...

 

I picked Phanton (tier 5 anni) instead Subjugation (tier4 anni) and Malice (tier 1 rage) instead Defensive Roll (tier 2 carn)

 

Why?

Because I popup force camo on aoe, it's 100% dmg reduction! and get 6%+ force crit, it mean, 6%+ bleed crit then my crit rate is very nice and I can get more self heals

my build is a little different...

 

I picked Phanton (tier 5 anni) instead Subjugation (tier4 anni) and Malice (tier 1 rage) instead Defensive Roll (tier 2 carn)

 

Why?

Because I popup force camo on aoe, it's 100% dmg reduction! and get 6%+ force crit, it mean, 6%+ bleed crit then my crit rate is very nice and I can get more self heals

 

Are you sure the 6% force crit affects bleeds?

 

As of right now there are no encounters in raids that spike aoe damage. Certainly no fights where 4 seconds of standing around and not doing damage direct is worth it. The enrage timers are pretty tight.

 

Can you tell me any raid encounter where you actually found the immune useful? Keep in mind this is a PvE discussion.

It has been stated that both rupture's ticks ans deadly saber's ticks are considered as force attack and, consequently, are affected by Malice.

 

This talent worth it so.

Yes. It's force attack.

 

Look the skill details:

 

SpellDamage: SpellType=>Force, StandardHealthPercentMin=>0.02, Slot=>None, Coefficient=>0.2, StandardHealthPercentMax=>0.02, DamageType=>Internal

 

 

And I see the force camo usefull in bosses like the hk47 adds phase when he mark, shot and vanish

I used carnage never had any really big problem, with leveling right now i'm lvl 39

but i just wan't to go to another tree. Could i keep continue with carnage or switch to yours?

Excellent guide which delineates almost entirely the manner in which I have been levelling my Marauder. The only, admittedly minor, question I would have regarding spec is the feasibility of trading out defensive roll for 2/3 in Malice. In terms of dps it would be a minor increase, and there is synergy with our self-heals from bleed crits, however I am uncertain as to the degree to which defensive roll is necessary at higher levels. Would you consider this 31/8/2 variant viable, or is defensive roll essential at 50?

 

One other very minor suggestion I would like to add is that in certain encounters where I anticipate greater initial rage expenditure, I switch the order of battering assault and deadly saber to front load rage. There is really no clear cut rule for this, it's rather intuitive, but in certain encounters it can be beneficial.

 

In any event, thanks for the constructive input and any feedback you could offer on the aforementioned would be greatly appreciated.

Edited January 6, 2012 by kinesjl