After a VERY lengthy leave from the game I've came back to try and pick up the pieces of my Marauder, love the class, wouldn't trade it for anything. In my leave it seems alot has changed, what i'm looking for is input from you guys on what spec is dishing out the most dps for the class in OP's? I'm currently gearing up so I've not got the best of stuff to DPS with; I am looking for what I should be when I begin running OP's.

After a VERY lengthy leave from the game I've came back to try and pick up the pieces of my Marauder, love the class, wouldn't trade it for anything. In my leave it seems alot has changed, what i'm looking for is input from you guys on what spec is dishing out the most dps for the class in OP's? I'm currently gearing up so I've not got the best of stuff to DPS with; I am looking for what I should be when I begin running OP's.

 

Carnage is good right now. It really depends... PvP or PvE

 

PvE:

Annihilation is good fore PvE because it allows longer stealth(yes mara has a fast use stealth) and a Major self heal. The "annil" tree has much more survivability than the Carnage tree.

 

PvP:

Carnage is easily the way to go. Carnage gives you a perma speed boost when using ataru form and also allows fast attacks that deal huge dmg. With a good healer on your team in PvP you will be a wrecker. Top score in healing, dmg, prob objectives. I am Carnage and it is really awsome! Try both when the free respec thing comes.

 

Rage:

It sucks. Don't do rage unless you wanna be a Dps juggernaut lol rage is terrible for marauder.

 

Have fun!

Carnage is good right now. It really depends... PvP or PvE

 

PvE:

Annihilation is good fore PvE because it allows longer stealth(yes mara has a fast use stealth) and a Major self heal. The "annil" tree has much more survivability than the Carnage tree.

 

The 2 second bonus to the duration of camouflage is by no means a deciding factor between which spec one should play in PvE.

 

Annihilation has more active survivability in the form of their burn crits healing you for 2% each time, and Zen healing the raid for 6% with about a 20-30% uptime.

 

Carnage has a lot of passive survivability by way of mitigation and a better Predation...

Rage:

It sucks. Don't do rage unless you wanna be a Dps juggernaut lol rage is terrible for marauder.

 

Have fun!

 

Maybe in ur case this can be. But in the right hands Rage is a terrific Killing-Machine and since 1.4 it is even easier to play than before. And i see rage maras outperforming rage juggs pretty often.

 

In a nutshell, ALL 3 specs are viable for all content and it depends just on ur playstyle. Each one of them may have their specific strenghts and weaknesses, for exampe issues like survivability when anni has the advantage or team utility where carnage outshines the others, but in the end all can get the job done.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Quangus

Maybe in ur case this can be. But in the right hands Rage is a terrific Killing-Machine and since 1.4 it is even easier to play than before. And i see rage maras outperforming rage juggs pretty often.

 

In a nutshell, ALL 3 specs are viable for all content and it depends just on ur playstyle. Each one of them may have their specific strenghts and weaknesses, for exampe issues like survivability when anni has the advantage or team utility where carnage outshines the others, but in the end all can get the job done.

 

Just because it's easier than before, that doesn't mean that it's comparable to Annihilation or Carnage.

Just because it's easier than before, that doesn't mean that it's comparable to Annihilation or Carnage.

 

 

It pulls big number. However its very much based on smash, so you get lots of damage for smashing near multiple opponents. If high single target dps are with you, its very good. But imo, carnage and annihilation are better when it comes to taking out key target.

It pulls big number. However its very much based on smash, so you get lots of damage for smashing near multiple opponents. If high single target dps are with you, its very good. But imo, carnage and annihilation are better when it comes to taking out key target.

 

Rage doesn't pull comparable numbers to Carnage and Annihilation hands down, that's why I don't recommend it to anyone outside of Lol-smashing PvP.

Rage doesn't pull comparable numbers to Carnage and Annihilation hands down, that's why I don't recommend it to anyone outside of Lol-smashing PvP.

 

Rage is very much viable. It's also more complicated for PVE and I would consider it an advanced spec for PVE and PVP.

 

Rage is a LoL-smash in a player who can make it work, otherwise, it sucks mad ballsac. I see soooooo many terribad Rage/Focus players it is not even funny.

 

My baby and first love is always Annihilation and I think that it is amazing. I love running Carnage for PVE, it is very fun. Rage is defiinitely, imo, more suitable for PVP, but but but it works in PVE very very well.

 

Player > Spec

Rage is very much viable. It's also more complicated for PVE and I would consider it an advanced spec for PVE and PVP.

 

Rage is a LoL-smash in a player who can make it work, otherwise, it sucks mad ballsac. I see soooooo many terribad Rage/Focus players it is not even funny.

 

My baby and first love is always Annihilation and I think that it is amazing. I love running Carnage for PVE, it is very fun. Rage is defiinitely, imo, more suitable for PVP, but but but it works in PVE very very well.

 

Player > Spec

 

I said comparable, not viable.

 

Ex: Deception Assassin's and Concealment Operatives are viable, but they're not comparable to other dps specs.

Edited November 12, 2012 by BlznSmri

Just because it's easier than before, that doesn't mean that it's comparable to Annihilation or Carnage.

 

I never said that rage is comparable to anni or carnage. And since were alrdy there, neither do i believe that anni and carnage are comparable to each other at all. If u however were just talking about numbers PVE only, than it is quite the opposite when the specs show comparable results. However anni is usually king here with carnage behind. And if done correctly, rage isnt much far behind lol... Just because its is famous for *u know alrdy what*, it doenst mean that the single target dps is crap. Thats far, far from the truth. The differences in my experience are so minimal but thats maybe because i like all 3 specs and show great enthusiasm whenever i play them So its basically what i said, all of them are in their own rights very unique but still viable for all content. Doesnt matter pvp or pve, all can get the job done. So for me its just a matter of taste in this class, its something sadly not all classes can say to themselves. And this is my advise to the OP too, learn them all, play them all and then stick with what u like, cant do much wrong there.

 

And i fully agree with Asirius: PLAYER >>>>>>>spec.

 

Always.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Quangus

Carnage and Annihilation are very close for end game PvE, with Annihilation pulling a little bit higher. Carnage has a lot more burst though, and a lot of end game PvE is burst heavy.

 

Rage is below them both, but still beats out any equally geared Sorcerer...

I switched from Annihilation to Carnage for HM TFB this past week and won;t be going back any time soon. The numbers are comparable on the dummy, but in a real world setting Carnage pulls ahead for me.

 

1. The Annihilator buff - It takes about 40 secs to fully stack and for you to reach max DPS. If you are off-target at the wrong time for any reason (boss jumps, Data Core dies, kiting radioactive puke, avoiding larvae) you lose the buff and need to wait another 40-ish secs to ramp back up.

 

2. Charge - This is a part of your regular rotation as Annihilation. There are quite a few fights where the boss repositions quickly and you lose out on DPS by holding this back to use as a gap closer.

 

EDIT: Also, it's easier to balance your stats for Carnage while gearing up to some degree. As Anni, you want 0 Crit, which means a lot of buying extra pieces and mod swapping. As Carnage you're aiming for 200~300-ish Crit which gives you a bit more leeway to use your drops "out of the box". The downside is that you only need ~100 Accuracy assuming 7% from talents, Ataru Form, and companion affection, where Anni wants to reach ~300 Surge and stack accuracy after that.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Pernicia

Carnage and Annihilation are very close for end game PvE, with Annihilation pulling a little bit higher.

 

I've heard a lot of back and forth about this with some saying that Carnage is pulling ahead now, and others that swear Annihilation is still tops. The thing is though that they're so close in terms of Effective DPS on boss fights (Carnage doing better on some and Anni doing better on others), and typically within 1-3% of each other on dummies that I'm of the opinion that it's really the player behind the character that matters.

I switched from Annihilation to Carnage for HM TFB this past week and won;t be going back any time soon. The numbers are comparable on the dummy, but in a real world setting Carnage pulls ahead for me.

 

1. The Annihilator buff - It takes about 40 secs to fully stack and for you to reach max DPS. If you are off-target at the wrong time for any reason (boss jumps, Data Core dies, kiting radioactive puke, avoiding larvae) you lose the buff and need to wait another 40-ish secs to ramp back up.

 

2. Charge - This is a part of your regular rotation as Annihilation. There are quite a few fights where the boss repositions quickly and you lose out on DPS by holding this back to use as a gap closer.

 

EDIT: Also, it's easier to balance your stats for Carnage while gearing up to some degree. As Anni, you want 0 Crit, which means a lot of buying extra pieces and mod swapping. As Carnage you're aiming for 200~300-ish Crit which gives you a bit more leeway to use your drops "out of the box". The downside is that you only need ~100 Accuracy assuming 7% from talents, Ataru Form, and companion affection, where Anni wants to reach ~300 Surge and stack accuracy after that.

 

 

No way does Annihilation want to spec down to 0 crit rating. In fact, it parses slightly higher with 300ish crit than it does at a lower rating. For Carnage it doesn't really matter.

The biggest reason to go Annihilation is self healing + raid healing with berserk. Killing the boss is more important than optimizing DPS, and you don't do much DPS when you're lying face down.

 

Carnage is not very friendly for raiding with PUG. Beyond the common misconception that 'Annihilation is always better', the burst can become a huge issue for PUG tanks. Every '3000+ dps burst' requires a tank who can hold threat against it. For fights like Withering Horror HM (TFB first boss), pulling aggro will result in a wipe. The ramp up time for Annihilation can work in your favour.

 

Lastly, 0% crit is only viable for PvP Rage. Annihilation will want between 35%-40% crit buffed.

The biggest reason to go Annihilation is self healing + raid healing with berserk. Killing the boss is more important than optimizing DPS, and you don't do much DPS when you're lying face down.

 

Carnage is not very friendly for raiding with PUG. Beyond the common misconception that 'Annihilation is always better', the burst can become a huge issue for PUG tanks. Every '3000+ dps burst' requires a tank who can hold threat against it. For fights like Withering Horror HM (TFB first boss), pulling aggro will result in a wipe. The ramp up time for Annihilation can work in your favour.

 

Lastly, 0% crit is only viable for PvP Rage. Annihilation will want between 35%-40% crit buffed.

 

Not blowing your load in the first 10 seconds as carnage will work in your favor as well, and the Self healing from annihilation isn't exactly a game changer.

 

Also, I recommend just having 30% crit from gear (Strength and Rating) as Annihilation

Edited November 13, 2012 by BlznSmri

Not blowing your load in the first 10 seconds as carnage will work in your favor as well, and the Self healing from annihilation isn't exactly a game changer.

 

Also, I recommend just having 30% crit from gear (Strength and Rating) as Annihilation

 

I should clarify that : it is 35-40% force critical chance. Note that if you can get 6% from Malice in the Rage tree.

Not blowing your load in the first 10 seconds as carnage will work in your favor as well, and the Self healing from annihilation isn't exactly a game changer.

 

Also, I recommend just having 30% crit from gear (Strength and Rating) as Annihilation

 

Yeah the self-healing in Annihilation is a game changer. I'm able to complete Torvix in my PVP gear as Annihilation spec, don't think it would be possible to do it as Carnage or Rage.

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone solo'd Torvix as Carnage or Rage?

Not sure how big of a difference the imp daily is from pub daily. I solo the H4 in black hole as combat (aka Carnage) each and every single week. It is not that much harder.

 

Combat and Watchman both come very close together in terms of dps. The self healing does not make a difference in pve you have healers for a reason. In TFB you cant use zen as watchman in the last phase because you will kill your tank so your hurting yourself there.

 

There is a trade off for each spec watchman has the cushion of staying topped off on hp and consistent dot damage and carnage has the advantage of huge burst numbers.

Yeah the self-healing in Annihilation is a game changer. I'm able to complete Torvix in my PVP gear as Annihilation spec, don't think it would be possible to do it as Carnage or Rage.

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone solo'd Torvix as Carnage or Rage?

 

I have on my Combat Sentinel.

I have on my Combat Sentinel.

Likewise.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Aurojiin

Out of curiosity, has anyone solo'd Torvix as Carnage or Rage?

 

Yep, Carnage here.