SWTOR 3.0 Annihilation Marauder DPS Guide by Stippling

SWTOR 3.0 Annihilation Marauder Guide written by Stippling of the Bastion.

Contents

• 1 Introduction to Annihilation
  • 1.1 Ratings
  • 1.2 Discipline Changes
  • 1.3 Marauder Passives
  • 1.4 Core Abilities
  • 1.5 Offensive Cooldowns
  • 1.6 Defensive Cooldowns
  • 1.7 Utilities
  • 1.8 Gear & Stats
• 2 Rotation
  • 2.1 Opener
  • 2.2 The Rotation Begins
  • 2.3 The Pseudo-Priority System
  • 2.4 Execute Range and Closer
  • 2.5 Maximizing Your Damage
  • 2.6 Sample Parse Analysis and Video
• 3 Raiding
  • 3.1 Tips & tricks
  • 3.2 Raid Encounters
• 4 About the Author

Introduction to Annihilation

Nothing is more personal than close quarters engagement. And while brutish villains may be satisfied by hastily crushing their foes with the quick killing blow, the Annihilation Marauder revels in toying with its prey, severing vital areas and savoring the slow, agonizing death of exsanguination. In and out the Annihilation Marauder goes, weaving and bobbing to and fro with their blades at dizzying close range, incising and puncturing flesh until their very life force begins to seep out of every orifice. The Annihilation Marauder is unsatisfied until he has bathed in the enemies blood, their perverse hungering satiated in the thrill of their foes demise.

Ratings

• Single Target DPS: 9
• AoE Damage: 5
• Group Utility: 8
• Rotation Difficulty: 8
• RNG Dependent: Minimal (Pulverize procs, passive rage generation)
• Burst: 4
• Sub 30% Talents or Buffs: Yes

Discipline Changes

Contemporary Annihilation is the product of a fundamental paradigm shift in its development. Gone are the days of rapidly expiring dots, RNG-based cooldown resets and surplus rage. And while Annihilation is far from perfect, the resulting rotation offers an interesting mix of DoT management and classic melee playstyle. While other classes and Disciplines may have skated under the radar, Annihilation received a bulk of changes fundamentally changing the dynamics of the Discipline. Below is a highlight reel of some of the major differences a 2.0 Annihilation Marauder will notice when transitioning into 3.0:

• New Ability! Force Rend.
• Rupture now lasts 12 seconds (up from 6 seconds), ticks every other second (from every second), and has no cooldown.
• Hemorrhage now has a 20% chance (down from 30%) to generate 1 rage from ticking bleeds with a 4 second internal cooldown (up from 1.5 seconds).
• Bloodlust (direct damage crits on bleeding targets generate 1 rage) now has an internal cooldown of 4 seconds (previously no cooldown).
• Juyo Mastery now increases critical chance of bleeds by 2% per stack of Juyo Form (down from 3%).
• Bleedout increases critical strike damage of bleed effects by 5% (down from 30%),
• Deep Wound increases the direct damage of Rupture by 5% (down from 30%).
• Agonizing Sabers (applying a bleed to the target reduces their damage dealt by 5%) converted to Blood Guard (bleeding damage reduces personal damage taken by 5%).
• Annihilator and Juyo form stacks now last for 30 seconds (up from 24 seconds).
• (Global Change) Bloodthirst now increases damage and healing by 10% (down from 15%) for 10 seconds (down from 15 seconds).
• (Global Change) Ravage now deals less damage and is on an 18 second cooldown.

Marauder Passives

Fury: Activating an attack that spends rage and defeating opponents builds Fury. When 30 stacks of Fury are built, you become Furious, enabling the use of Berserk, Predation, and Bloodthirst (Level 10). Enraged Slash: Vicious Slash, Sweeping Slash, Vicious Throw, Massacre, Annihilate, and Furious Strike refund 1 rage when used. Battering Assault beats down its target for 45 seconds. Beat Down targets take 5% more damage from melee attacks (Level 12). Short Fuse: Increases the amount of Fury built by 2 when activating abilities that consume rage, and reduces the cooldown of Frenzy by 30 seconds (Level 50).

Core Abilities

Before getting into the core abilities that define the rotation, it would be rather silly to ignore the fundamental ability that makes it all possible: Juyo Form. You’ll want to be in this form any time you are specializing in the Annihilation Discipline.

Juyo Form: Each melee attack grants you a stack of Juyo Form, increasing damage dealt by 1% per stack. Stacks up to 5 times (6 with Indefatigable Onslaught).

1. Juyo Mastery – Each stack of Juyo Form increases critical strike chance of bleed effects by 2%; 12% maximum (Level 28).
2. Indefatigable Onslaught – Juyo Form stacks up to 6 times (up from 5) (Level 48).
3. Swift Demise – Juyo Form builds stacks two at a time. (Level 59).

The attack abilities below are what define the Annihilation rotation. Note that Force Scream (FS) is absent because it is not part of the Annihilation rotation, but rather falls into the realm of “situational ranged attack”. The following abilities are listed (with base rage cost in []) in descending order of total damage contribution, from highest to lowest.

[4] Annihilate (AN): Annihilate is a direct melee attack, dealing energy damage between a primary and secondary hit. Annihilate is the cornerstone ability of the Discipline, providing not only the highest total damage output of any ability but also synergizing with other abilities to devastating effect. The core functionality of the ability is that it begins on a 12 second cooldown, and each use of AN grants you two stacks of Annihilator (to a maximum of 4 stacks). Each stack of Annihilator reduces the cooldown of your next AN by 1.5 seconds, essentially meaning that your first AN will have a 12 second cooldown, the second a 9 second CD, and the third and subsequent ANs will have a 6 second cooldown.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds. Annihilate causes the Assailable debuff, granting 7% internal and elemental damage increase for 45 seconds (Level 44).
2. Indefatigable Onslaught – Annihilator stacks up to 4 times (up from 3) (Level 48).
3. Swift Demise – Annihilate builds Annihilator stacks two at a time. Each use of Annihilate grants a Swift Demise stack (up to 3), reducing the rage cost of Force Rend by 1 per stack (Level 59).

[3] Deadly Saber (DS): Deadly Saber is the primary bleeding effect of the Discipline, dealing the second highest total damage in your rotation. On a 12 second cooldown and off the global cooldown window, DS grants 3 stacks of Deadly Saber, causing your next three melee attacks to apply a stacking bleed on the target, where each stack increases damage dealt. DS is a Force attack which deals internal damage, ticking once upon activation and then every 3 seconds until expiration (0, 3, 6 seconds). Adding an additional stack to the target restarts the cycle (instantly reticking upon stack application). Due to being off the GCD, DS is often paired with Force Charge, as both are on a 12 second cooldown and in conjunction nets you a positive 1-2 rage.

1. Bleedout – Increases critical strike damage of bleed effects by 5% (Level 24).
2. Juyo Mastery – Each stack of Juyo Form increases critical strike chance of bleed effects by 2%; 12% maximum (Level 28).
3. Hungering – Bleed criticals heal you for 1% max health (Level 36).
4. Hemorrhage – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to generate 1 rage on a 4 second internal cooldown (Level 40).
5. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).
6. Pulverize – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to grant Pulverize, increasing damage of your next Dual Saber Throw by 100%. Can only occur every 18 seconds.
7. Blood Guard – Bleed effect ticks increase damage reduction by 5% for 3 seconds (Level 56).

3] Force Rend (FR): Force Rend is the “new blood” to the Annihilation Discipline, and functions as the long DoT akin to Sniper’s Corrosive Dart. FR is a 10m Force attack which deals internal damage, ticking once upon activation and then every 3 seconds until expiration, totaling out to 7 ticks (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 second intervals). When used correctly in conjunction with AN with full Annihilator stacks, FR should always be a rage-free cast. This is due to the Swift Demise talent granted at level 59.Note that, due to FR not being a melee attack, it will not apply a stack of DS to the target upon use. This mechanic can actually be beneficial, and serves to delay DS stack application, granting additional ticks of the ability (akin to the old hybrid Dotsmash spec in 2.0).

1. Hemorrhaging Smash – Smash spreads Force Rend to affected targets (Level 12).
2. Bleedout – Increases critical strike damage of bleed effects by 5% (Level 24).
3. Juyo Mastery – Each stack of Juyo Form increases critical strike chance of bleed effects by 2%; 12% maximum (Level 28).
4. Hungering – Bleed criticals heal you for 1% max health (Level 36).
5. Hemorrhage – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to generate 1 rage on a 4 second internal cooldown (Level 40).
6. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).
7. Pulverize – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to grant Pulverize, increasing damage of your next Dual Saber Throw by 100%. Can only occur every 18 seconds.
8. Blood Guard – Bleed effect ticks increase damage reduction by 5% for 3 seconds (Level 56).
9. Swift Demise – Each use of Annihilate grants a Swift Demise stack (up to 3), reducing the rage cost of Force Rend by 1 per stack (Level 59).

[2] Rupture (RU): Rupture is the medium duration bleed effect in the Annihilation Discipline. RU is a true hybrid ability analogous to the Discipline itself, having both direct melee component and a long DoT component. RU is a Melee attack which deals energy damage upon activation, and then deals internal damage every 2 seconds until expiration, totaling out to 6 ticks (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 second intervals).Note that the periodic damage of RU combined with the initial direct damage places its total damage contribution higher than Ravage, despite the separation implied by the subsequent sample parse.

1. Hemorrhaging Smash – Smash spreads Rupture to affected targets (Level 12).
2. Deep Wound – Increases direct damage of Rupture by 5% (Level 16).
3. Bleedout – Increases critical strike damage of bleed effects by 5% (Level 24).
4. Juyo Mastery – Each stack of Juyo Form increases critical strike chance of bleed effects by 2%; 12% maximum (Level 28).
5. Hungering – Bleed criticals heal you for 1% max health (Level 36).
6. Hemorrhage – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to generate 1 rage on a 4 second internal cooldown (Level 40).
7. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).
8. Pulverize – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to grant Pulverize, increasing damage of your next Dual Saber Throw by 100%. Can only occur every 18 seconds.
9. Blood Guard – Bleed effect ticks increase damage reduction by 5% for 3 seconds (Level 56).

Ravage (RV): Ravage is a 3-second channeled attack, dealing energy damage across 3 pairs of mainhand/offhand hits. The first two pairs occur early in the channel, while the third (and hardest) hit occurs approximately 2.6 seconds into the channel. Though Ravage received a nerf to overall damage post-3.0, the ability still accounts for a sizeable percentage of total damage in the Annihilation rotation, and at no rage cost to boot. The trick is finding room for it without allowing Rupture or Force Rend to fall off in the meantime, which is achieved by using Ravage directly after an AN strike.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

Dual Saber Throw (DST): Dual Saber Throw is a 30m conal ranged ability, hitting the target and up to 7 intervening enemies with a primary and secondary hit for energy damage. While this ability is fairly low on the totem pole for total damage, it functions as your hardest hitting filler and has no rage cost. You’ll get the max benefit from DST when it is modified by Pulverize, which doubles its damage output. Unfortunately, using Dual Saber Throw without a Pulverize proc can create a vicious cycle of proccing Pulverize while DST is on cooldown, effectively halving its damage output and making it exceedingly hard to realign without excessive delay. However, you’ll generally not want to delay it in the rotation, as doing a different filler can throw off the delicate rage allotment over the course of the fight. This, paired with the slight variance in rage generation due to Bloodlust and Hemorrhage, create the only RNG of the Discipline.Note that the Pulverize proc for DST only modifies the damage of the first target it hits. Additional targets hit by DST are unmodified and deal standard damage.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).
2. Pulverize – Bleed effect ticks have a 20% chance to grant Pulverize, increasing damage of your next Dual Saber Throw by 100%. Can only occur every 18 seconds.

Force Charge (FC): The Marauder gap-closing ability, bringing you to an enemy within 30m on a 12 second cooldown. Force Charge is your secondary source of rage generation, FC generates 4 rage on use and is often paired with DS, as both are on a 12 second cooldown.

1. Close Quarters – Reduces minimum distance of Force Charge by 10m and reduces cooldown by 3 seconds (Level 20).
2. Enraged Charge – Force Charge generates 1 additional rage (Level 32).
3. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

Battering Assault (BA): Your primary source of rage generation, Battering Assault generates 6 rage on use and is on a 15 second cooldown. BA also Beats Down the target, increasing melee damage taken by 5% for 45 seconds.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

Assault (A): Your tertiary rage-generating ability, generating 2 rage on use. Assault often doubles as a filler ability when the sparseness of rage makes Vicious Slash counterproductive.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

[3] Vicious Slash (VS): Vicious Slash takes the backseat in 3.0, becoming a sparsely used filler when appropriate. The key to dealing damage successfully whilst maintaining more appropriate buffs and debuffs is knowing when you can afford to squeeze out VS and when it will be too costly to afford (in which case, an Assault is more appropriate). If you use VS and then you do not have enough rage to trigger your next few abilities, you’ll know you’ve made a mistake. Note that, in a standard dummy parse, it is exceptionally challenging to fit many VS hits into the rotation. This will become easier in raid situations, where rage is often more abundant.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

[3] Vicious Throw (VT): Vicious Throw is the Marauder’s sub-30%, “execute” ability, usable at a 10m range. Unlike previous iterations of the Discipline, current Annihilation suffers from minimal effectiveness in execute range due to its need to maintain multiple bleeds on the target and continue Annihilate usage while maintaining enough rage to function. VT essentially becomes a replacement for VS sub-30% and, depending on the health of the target, may only be usable a few times or even once before it dies.

1. Bloodlust – Direct damage criticals on bleeding targets grant 1 rage every 4 seconds (Level 44).

Offensive Cooldowns

Marauder offensive cooldowns are tied to Fury generation, each of which either building or consuming Fury to yield a damage bonus of some kind.

Berserk (BR): (Juyo Form) Consumes 30 stacks of Fury and causes your next 6 bleed ticks to automatically critically hit, each of which healing party members (NOT raid members) for 1% of their maximum HP (including yourself). This is the only Fury consuming ability that disables Fury generation while active. Bloodthirst (BT): Consumes 30 stacks of Fury and increases damage and healing of all raid members by 10% for 10 seconds. Bloodthirst has a 5 minute cooldown and applies a 5 minute Satiated debuff, preventing the re-application of BT for the duration. Frenzy (FZ): Instantly builds 30 stacks of Fury. Great to pair a BR and a BT, or two BR’s back to back. Also helps when the raid requires Predation to minimize DPS loss.

Defensive Cooldowns

Marauders have a wide array of survival abilities to protect them from the brutal raid mechanics that threaten them, all of which are off the global cooldown.

Predation: Consumes 30 stacks of Fury, increasing melee and ranged defense by 10% and increasing movement speed by 50% (80% with Unbound utility). Predation is a powerful defensive cooldown, limited only in its sharing of Fury stacks. As DPS, it is often a challenge to rationalize the use of Predation over Berserk. However, in certain encounters, Predation speed can not only improve mobility, but occasionally minimize the effects of raid encounters. More on Predation can be read in the Raiding section. Force Camouflage: Perhaps one of the most underrated abilities in the entire game, Force Camouflage turns you invisible, lowers your threat, increases your damage reduction by 50%, increases your movement speed by 30% (50% with Utilities), and self-cleanses (with Utilities), all on a 45 second cooldown. Due to Annihilation’s frequent usage of Force Charge as a 0m rage builder, Force Camouflage can be substituted as a gap-closing ability to great effect. Obfuscate: Lowers the target’s accuracy by 90% for 6 seconds on a 60 second cooldown. Though unusable on Operation bosses, Obfuscate is nevertheless a powerful cooldown when faced with deadly adds in boss fights. Cloak of Pain: Cloak of Pain reduces damage taken by 20% and lasts for 6 seconds. Each time the Marauder takes damage while Cloak is active, it deals energy damage to the attacker and refreshes its duration on a 1.5 second internal cooldown. Cloak lasts a maximum of 30 seconds and is on a 60s cooldown.Maintaining Cloak of Pain uptime is an essential skill in raid settings to support rage generation (Via Cloak of Rage) and to output small quantities of additional DPS. Cloak of Pain is best used in conjunction with persistent AoE damage (ex. Underlurker HM) and long ticking DoTs, so as to prolong its effects. Undying Rage: The ultimate panic button for Marauders on a 120s cooldown, Undying Rage reduces all incoming damage by 99% for 4 seconds, preventing all but the most powerful of hits and instant death mechanics from defeating you. At the end of the ability, Undying Rage halves your current HP, so it can be useful to make healers aware that you have used the ability to minimize wasting healing on you. Use this ability any time you perceive death is imminent. Saber Ward: Saber Ward is your defensive cooldown with the longest cooldown (180s). Saber Ward lasts for 12 seconds and comes with two components offering a wide range of protection. First, melee and ranged defenses are increased by 50%, halving the likelihood of an attack getting through. Second, 25% of Force and tech attack damage is instead absorbed by the ward.

Utilities

Marauder Utilities are not the worst of the lot, but are largely a collection of old perks in the various talent trees pre-3.0. This section is broken down into three parts: (1) description, (2) analysis, and (3) rating. The rating system is largely arbitrary, but takes into account not only functionality (which I designate at max the first 5 points) but usefulness in the current tier of content (which grants the second set of 5 points).

Note that the later section on Raiding will discuss Utility loadouts for each fight.

Skillful

Cloak of Carnage: Increases the damage dealt by Cloak of Pain by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds. Supplements Cloak of Pain upkeep and DPS potential. Great when paired with the other Cloak utilities. 7/10 Overwhelm: Ravage immobilizes the target for the duration of the ability. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10 Cloak of Rage: While Cloak of Pain is active, it generates 1 rage whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds. An amazing utility that, when utilized properly, can grant 10 additional rage over the course of its uptime. This means less Assaults and more powerful fillers like VT and VS. 10/10 Unyielding: You generate 4 rage when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. A situational utility that can be beneficial to compensate for the downtime that these impairment effects yield, though may end up wasted. 5/10 Defensive Forms: You build 2 Fury when attacked. The effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. Additionally, the effect of your lightsaber forms are improved when they are active:Juyo Form - Increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 5%. Great for quicker Fury generation and for damage reduction from internal/elemental damage. All around excellent utility. 10/10 Path Carver: Sweeping Slash deals 25% more damage. Useful for supplementing AoE attacks, though most AoE encounters call for Disciplines other than Annihilation. 5/10 Stagger: Increases the duration of Force Charge’s immobilize effect by 1 second. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10

Masterful

Interceptor: Force Charge, Force Rend, Devastating Blast, and Obliterate snare the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10 Cloak of Annihilation: Each use of Assault, Battering Assault, and Crippling Slash reduces the active cooldown of Cloak of Pain by 3 seconds. With the standard Annihilation rotation, this Utility has the potential to shave off at least 15 seconds of Cloak of Pains cooldown, giving it the potential of 75% uptime. 7/10 Defensive Forms: Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30%. Defensive Forms is amazing. Use it on any fight with any meaningful AoE damage going out. 8/10 Subjugation: Reduced the cooldown of Obfuscate by 15 seconds and Disruption by 2 seconds. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10 Strangulate: Reduces the cooldown of Force Choke by 15 seconds. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10 Displacement: Increases the range of Obfuscate by 6 meters and allows Cloak of Pain to be used while stunned. Situational at best, though popping Cloak of Pain while stunned could be beneficial on fights like Sword Squadron (Huge Grenades followed by Gravity Missile). 1/10 Phantom: Increases the duration of Force Camouflage by 2 seconds and further increases the movement speed bonus of Force Camouflage by 20. Further augments the gap-closing ability of Force Camouflage and adds a longer lasting defensive cooldown, especially useful in long moments of downtime. 9/10

Heroic

Unbound: When Predation is applied or refreshed, it purges movement-impairing effects. Additionally, the movement speed bonus of Predation is increased by 30%. Situational but incredibly powerful, will not only cleanse each raider’s movement speed reduction but also increase base speed to a blur. 6/10 Expunging Camouflage: Force Camouflage removes all cleansable effects when activated. A self-cleanse on a 45 second cooldown. What’s not to like? Situational but useful. 6/10 Relentless: Increases the duration of Undying Rage by 2 seconds. Arguably a PvP utility, as Undying Rage is often a panic button to survive an impending one shot. The extra 2 seconds rarely benefit PvE situations, though have its uses with Master and intervening the Overpowered Ion Cutter. 6/10 Inescapable: Crippling Slash consumes 2 less rage. In addition, using Crippling Slash against a target already slowed by your Crippling Slash immobilizes that target for 3 seconds. This immobilizing effect cannot be applied to the same target more than once every 10 seconds. Situational at best, useless in the current tier of content. 0/10 Undying: Reduces the cooldown of Undying Rage by 30 seconds. Obvious benefits are obvious. Helpful on fights where you frequent the brink of death. 7/10 Blood Guard: Getting attacked while Saber Ward is active heals you for 3% of your maximum health. This cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. Can be an incredibly powerful augment to the already strong Saber Ward. When timed with DoTs or persistent AoE, has the potential to heal you for 24% of your max HP, or 12k for a 50k HP Marauder. 7/10 Brooding: Reduces the cooldown of Intimidating Roar by 15 seconds. In addition, you build up to 30 Fury over the course of using Channel Hatred. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Outstanding way to build Fury out of combat without wasting Frenzy. Brooding can be cheesed by using it to gain 30 stacks of Fury and then resetting utilities to pick up something else. 10/10

Gear & Stats

Below are a series of guidelines for gearing up your Marauder. Note that I am not a math guy, and therefore have no formulas or spreadsheets to prove these gearing priorities. Instead, I speak from experience and practice, and what I’ve found to be generally most beneficial.

• Accuracy: Accuracy should always be your #1 priority with gearing. And while anything higher than 99.5% melee accuracy should be sufficient, you’ll want to shoot for as close to 100% as possible, which (with companion 1%) should be approximately 758-759 Accuracy Rating. Going over a bit isn’t going to matter as much as for other classes, as our offhand can still benefit from the extra chance to hit. In full 198 gear, you should be running 6 Initiative Enhancements and 1 Accuracy Augment, which should net you 772 Accuracy Rating.
• Power: Still the king of all damage modifiers. Power is almost always the preferred choice when gearing. Grab as much of it as able, i.e. pick unlettered Deft Mods.
• Critical Rating: Critical Rating continues to suffer in effectiveness for Annihilation Marauders. Not only did our critical bleed damage bonus drop from 30% to 5%, but our chance to generate Rage via bleeds is now gated via long internal cooldowns. Those conditions, paired with the diminished amount of Surge on gear resulting from increased Accuracy, make Critical Rating hard to justify. I recommend running anywhere from 0-180 Critical Rating. Critical Rating is best obtained via mods, and 180 rating can be attained through 2 Optimized Potent Mod 38s (198 gear).
• Surge Rating: A wonderful modifier to our damage via the auto crits of our bleeds, Surge Rating is more challenging to attain in this tier due to the high enhancement demands of Accuracy. Expect to use about two enhancements in early stages of gearing, which equates to approximately 240 Surge Rating in 198 gear. With full BiS enhancements, you’ll be able to add a third Surge enhancement at the expense of Accuracy, meaning 360 Surge Rating is ideal.
• Alacrity: Persistent Alacrity is finally useful for Marauders, though the difficulty in reaching Accuracy cap can make obtaining Alacrity challenging. Aim for 0-1 enhancements, which equates to approximately 120 Alacrity Rating in 198 gear.
• Augments: Strength or Power depending on personal preference, as most of the differences are minor enough and imperceptible outside of mathematics. May also need one Accuracy augment depending upon current ratings.
• Set Bonuses: (courtesy of Ardarell_Solo) Making the change between the old set bonuses and the new can be jarring, in particular for the 4-set differences. As a general rule, utilizing the 192/198 full 6 piece set bonus will offer the highest potential damage output, while utilizing the 186 full 4 piece set bonus and the 192/198 2 piece will offer the greatest average damage, offering more consistent numbers. As you convert your 192 pieces to 198, the differences become smaller, in which case you should fully transition to the new 6 piece.
• 186 Set bonuses
  • (2) Increases damage dealt by Ravage or Master Strike by 8%.
  • (4) Reduces the cooldown of Frenzy or Valorous Call by 15 seconds. Additionally, activating Berserk or Zen increases all damage dealt by 4% for 15 seconds.
• 192/198 Set Bonuses
  • (2) Battering Assault or Zealous Strike increases damage dealt by 2% for 15 seconds. Cannot occur more than once every 30 of seconds.
  • (4) Reduces the cooldown of Frenzy or Valorous Call by 15 seconds. Additionally, activating Berserk or Zen increases all damage dealt by 3% for 10 seconds.
  • (6) Activating Ravage or Master Strike will grant Weaponmaster’s/Challenger’s Critical Bonus making your next Vicious Throw, Furious Strike, and Annihilate or Dispatch, Concentrated Slice and Merciless Slash critically hit. This effect cannot occur more than once every minute.

Rotation

The Annihilation rotation consists of a 24-second (16 GCD) opener and then a repeatable 36-second (24 GCD) rotation, with some variation with regards to passive rage generation and execute range reprioritization.

Opener

The Annihilation opener is designed around maximizing bleed potential and setting the stage for the rest of the fight. First, let’s take a look at the opener and then we can analyze how it works:

0. (Precast) Channel Hatred – The first step is to precast Channel Hatred to build Fury stacks for the opener. This is done through the Brooding utility in the Heroic tier.

1. Force Charge + Deadly Saber – When the encounter begins, Force Charge in and use Deadly Saber midair. The FC will give you enough rage to use DS with one rage to spare.

2. Battering Assault – Despite the initial influx of rage, you will not have enough for any additional actions. Use Battering Assault to: (1) gain an additional 6 rage netting us 7 total, (2) add your first stack of DS to the target, (3) Beat Down the target (5% melee damage) for our next ability, and (4) activate our Level 60 2-set bonus for the incursion of damage we’re about to unload on the target.

3. Annihilate – Your first large hit on the target, which gets the ball rolling early on Annihilator stacks. This grants us our second stack of DS on the target and makes our bleeds do 7% more damage due to the Assailable debuff. Getting this up early maximizes your next bleed hits. Using AN before the next ability, Force Rend, also reduces FR’s cost by 1, without which, the opener would lack the rage required devoid of relying on the RNG of Hemorrhage and Bloodlust.

4. Force Rend – We prioritize FR for a couple reasons. First, FR tends to do more damage than Rupture, so we want that ticking quickly. Second, and perhaps most importantly, is that it delays the third stack of DS due to FR not being a melee attack. While this may seem counterintuitive, delaying DS application actually benefits us in that we receive an extra 2-stack hit we would have lost otherwise. Let’s take a look at the log and see it in action:

Notice that, in this opener, a stack of Berserk is being eaten up by a two stack of DS. While this may not seem ideal, it still crits for near as much as Force Rend and vastly more than Rupture (which eats up and wastes valuable Berserk stacks), thereby ensuring two ticks of Berserk goes to a higher value bleed. Also note that the above extrapolation of the combat log is not taken from the parse or video used in this guide.

5. Adrenal/Bloodthirst/Frenzy + Berserk INTO Rupture – Use your adrenal and these three abilities in the GCD following FR and leading into Rupture. Doing this allows for our RU hit to benefit from Bloodthirst and the % damage bonus from our 4-set. Using BT before BR also ensures that our critical bleed hits are utilized under the benefit of the damage bonus (not shown in the example above, but can occur depending on when BT is utilized in a fight).
Note that you may not always benefit from using Bloodthirst at the start of a fight. If that is the case, you can use Berserk/Frenzy/Adrenal and save the stacks of Fury until the GCD before you reapply Rupture and then use a second Berserk.
After that mess of ability spam, Rupture (our final bleed) is applied to the target, fully benefiting from all the perks of Beat Down, Assailable, our level 60 2-set, and our 4-set.

6. Ravage – Now that all three bleeds are running their course on the target, you have the opportunity to Ravage into some serious DPS potential. If Pulverize has not yet procced a damage boost on Dual Saber Throw, you are hoping that the three bleeds will do so over the duration of the channel.

8. Dual Saber Throw – Clip the last .4 seconds of Ravage with a Pulverize-modified DST. At this time our FC + DS comes off cooldown and our pseudo-priority system can ensue.

Most of the remainder of our opener is self-explanatory. We reuse FC + DS, then Assault for enough Rage for AN, then BA, and then reapply RU. Actions 14 and 15 are a pair of choices between filler. Due to the high rage cost of the start of our Rotation Cycle A (first 6 actions), I generally recommend using one VS and one Assault. Action 16 reapplies our FR and keeps it at 100% uptime.

The Rotation Begins

I generally prefer to think of Annihilation DPS in terms of Deadly Saber cycles, as they are smaller and simpler to digest than larger rotation windows.

From where we leave off in the opener, we arrive with both Force Charge, Deadly Saber, and Annihilate coming off cooldown. This is the one and only time in the rotation where we cannot activate Annihilate on cooldown, as delaying it one GCD allows us to “sync” our rotation for the remainder of the fight. Let’s take a look at the Rotation Cycle, a 36-second rotation which occurs directly after the above opener, and then we’ll discuss some of the key elements.

• As discussed previously, Action 1-2 contain the only break to rule #1, which is activate Annihilate on cooldown. This one delay will align our rotation for the future. From that point forward, always activate Annihilate on cooldown. This is the number one priority and the core of making this rotation work.
• Action 3 is the first of two choices in the core part of the rotation. Note that you need a minimum of 6 rage to finish out the first FC + DS cycle, so you’d want a minimum of 7+ rage before even considering using VS in place of Assault.
• We’re always using Ravage directly after an AN. This is the only effective way to fit RV into the rotation without evading our higher-priority responsibilities.
• Action 15 is the second choice in the rotation, and generally needs to be an Assault unless you’re extremely lucky with RNG. This is due to needing a minimum of 9 rage in order to make it through the third FC + DS cycle (note that one of these is granted by FC, effectively requiring 8 rage to make it to Action 23).
• We’re using DST on cooldown at Actions 4 and 16 in the rotation. Use it regardless of Pulverize procs, though it will generally be up.

We will loop the Rotation Cycle from this point forward (i.e. go back to 1 after 24). So, after much delay, we have the perfect Annihilation rotation up and running. But what exactly makes it perfect?

Short of Battering Assault (which has the oddball 15 second cooldown), the entire Annihilation toolkit and their individuals cooldowns are divisible into a 36 second rotation window, or three cycles of FC+DS. If this seems abstract to you, then another way to look at it is by analyzing each ability, its cooldown, and how many should theoretically fit into the 36 second cycle.

36 seconds / 1.5 GCD = 24 GCDS per cycle

6 Annihilates (6 sec CD x 6 = 36)
3 Deadly Saber /Force Charge (12 sec CD x 3 = 36)
2 Force Rend (18 sec duration x 2 = 36)
2 Ravage (ea 3 sec channel = 2 GCDS per = 4 GCDS) (18 sec CD x 2 = 36)
3 Rupture (12 sec duration x 3 = 36)
2 Dual Saber Throws (18 sec cooldown x 2 = 36)
~2 Battering Assaults (15 sec cooldown x 2 = 30)

So, with considering each Ravage 2 GCDS, that leaves us with approximately 22 of our 24 actions filled up simply by utilizing abilities when they expire or come off cooldown. That leaves us with 2 Free GCDS (Assault/Vicious Slash/Vicious Throw) per 36 second cycle.

Due to the nature of the ramp up of Annihilate and its cooldown reduction, the rotation does not reflect this distribution until the completion of the opener. The Rotation Cycle not only uses AN on cooldown, but maintains all of our bleeds and keeps all of our melee attacks on cooldown. This information can be extremely invaluable in determining if one is overusing filler abilities, missing vital reapplications of bleed effects, or simply not maintaining a steady APM. Granted, the values in terms of time can greatly vary depending on Alacrity, but the conclusions drawn hold true regardless.

The Pseudo-Priority System

While it’s all fine and great to have the perfect rotation outlined for you, in a practical raid environment, you will rarely have 100% uptime to keep these cycles running smoothly. There is an undeniable benefit to utilizing a priority system in a rotation, in that it gives you guidelines to follow throughout a fight to know the difference between high value abilities and fillers. However, and in particular with DoT specs where one juggles numerous debuff durations and cooldowns, there often isn’t a huge swing periods outside of the opener where everything is available to you and you have to prioritize. Instead we succumb to a game of whac-a-mole, utilizing abilities and refreshing bleeds when they are available to us.

However, in order to play proactively instead of reactively, we can utilize these general guidelines which will serve to remind us over the course of a fight what’s most valuable.

1. Annihilate (for Swift Demise stacks)

2. Deadly Saber (± Force Charge)

3. Force Rend reapplication

4. Rupture reapplication

5. Ravage

6. (Pulverized) Dual Saber Throw

7. Vicious Throw (only with enough rage)

8. Vicious Slash (only with enough rage)

9. Battering Assault

10. Force Charge

11. Assault

Execute Range and Closer

Sub-30%, Vicious Slash becomes a thing of the past. Any time a rage-spending filler ability is to be used, it should always be Vicious Throw. VT is a powerful ability that, unfortunately does not have a great place in the Annihilation rotation. Use VT as often as you’d use VS, and don’t try to ignore using bleeds and other powerful abilities to get more VTs out, unless the enemy is about to die.

As one approaches the end of the life of a particular target, it’s important to understand the diminishing value of bleed effects which may not receive enough time to reach their apex before the enemy crumbles at your feet.

Let’s first take a look at Force Rend. For a solo parse situation, let’s assume you’re doing 4.5k dps (currently! not overall). That means sub 81k HP (4,500 x 18 seconds), the value of Force Rend is rapidly diminishing. Similarly with Rupture, sub 54k HP (4,500 x 12 seconds), the value of Rupture begins to degrade. I would recommend, as a general rule, to avoid bleed effects unless you believe you can get at least 50% uptime on them (9 seconds for FR, 6 seconds for RU). These points of bleed degradation are the rough points to which you should substitute bleeds for more Vicious Throws, more filler, etc. It’s largely a matter of intuition and practice, so get out there and practice!

Looking at your closer in the context of a raid situation can become more tricky, as you now have to calculate it based upon current raid DPS, which can fluctuate greatly depending on intervening mechanics. Let’s pretend, for the sake of example, that the raid is currently doing 18k DPS (2 tanks doing 1250 DPS and 4 DPS doing 3875 DPS). Force Rend now begins to degrade at 324,000 HP and Rupture degrades at 216,000. That’s quite a bit more HP than that solo parse above!

While this is impossible to calculate in the heat of battle, a rough “intuition” of the time to kill should suffice in this priority swap. The more you run with your group, the stronger that intuition will mature. Just remember that the raid DPS will only grow over time, so that window will get larger and larger as you progress!

Maximizing Your Damage

While the above information are the core of the Annihilation rotation, here are some tips and tricks in order to push your DPS to the next level:

• Cycling Bleed Effects – Refresh Force Rend and Rupture as they’re falling off. Never refresh them early and don’t delay applying them for long. Though Annihilate and DS rank higher on the priority list, there should rarely be an occasion where one has them conflicting with bleed reapplication.
• Controlled Berserking – As a general rule, you’ll want Berserk active when your target has three stacks of DS active. The best way to do this is to trigger Berserk milliseconds before using the third melee attack to apply DS’s third stack. This will ensure that your Berserk will tick on max stacks of DS while augmenting that third-stack melee hit with your 4-set bonus. Make sure that, if pairing Berserk with Bloodthirst or an adrenal, you always activate Berserk last so the bleed crits are buffed by the additional damage modifiers. You’ll notice that, in the video below, Berserk activation becomes repetitive, in that it occurs in roughly the same spots in the rotation.
• Clipping Ravage – As in previous iterations of the ability, the Ravage channel occurs with four hits (two main hand two off) early in the channel and the last two (and hardest) hits occurring at approximately the 2.6 second mark. This leaves ~.4 seconds of dead air in the channel which can and should be clipped by your next ability. You’ll see this in the video when watching the channel bar, which will turn red and say “CANCELED” at the end of the channel. With practice, this is one of the best and most fundamental ways to squeeze damage out of an otherwise identical rotation. Keep in mind that alacrity can and will alter this time threshold, so ensure you’ve seen the final hit trigger prior to the clipping.

Sample Parse Analysis and Video

Note that the above parse is the combat log for the video posted below, and both the sample parse and the video serve as a proof of concept to the rotation outlined in this guide. Please note that this parse is far from perfect, as I make mistakes in over-estimating passive rage generation. However, the execute range is a fairly effective example of how to swap from a bleed-oriented rotation to a closer-style burn.

As for gear, I am still running the old 4-pc, a few 186 enhancements, and a mix of 192/198 otherwise. I imagine the damage totals of Ravage will drop with a full transition to the new 6-pc.

Raiding

Raiding is a different beast than dummy parsing. And while a player who can competently press buttons on a dummy has the potential to be a great player, if it does not translate into raids, then the practice is effectively useless and the player is a bad. Below are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of your raid experience, including specific raid boss advice.

Tips & tricks

• Berserk Healing 101 – Don’t underestimate the power of Berserk’s healing, as 6% max HP healing at frequent intervals can churn out quite a bit of heal-padding. Have your raid group adjust raid frames to maximize the impact of your healing, either by placing you with high value targets such as tanks and healers, by placing you with high damage-taking targets, or merely by placing you with the highest HP raid members to maximize the 1% heal amount.
• Use Predation Responsibly – Predation is a tricky ability in that it sacrifices raw DPS potential merely to aid players in surviving situations they often should be able to survive without. Be an active raid member, monitoring positions of all your fellow raiders. See a raider late to the Devastation cross telegraph on Underlurker? Use a Predation and stop a wipe. On the opposite end of the spectrum, don’t be that guy who blindly pops it without reason or out of habit, you’re only making yourself look like a fool and your DPS will never be optimal.
• Wear that Cloak of Pain Proudly! – It cannot be said enough that utilizing Cloak of Pain at the right time will vastly improve your raiding experience. Use it at times when you know it will get refreshed at maximum potential. If you’re rarely using Cloak of Pain, then you need to rethink your class choice.
• Use Defensives – You have some of the best defensive cooldowns in the game, so use them! Learn to predict the fight and rotate defensives accordingly. Short of Undying Rage and Obfuscate, there should never be a fight where a defensive remains untouched.

Raid Encounters

Despite the general consensus that true melee dps is completely useless for the current HM tier of content, it is apparent that Marauders CAN, with minor adjustments and extra care, do just as well as other classes. This section is broken down into three parts: (1) Boss, (2) analysis, and (3) rating. The rating system is largely arbitrary, but takes into account performance of the class, survivability, DPS output, and utility contribution.

Temple of Sacrifice

Malaphar the Savage Ensure you have all your bleeds running on the boss before leaving the circle to clear your debuff. Time your debuff clearing to coincide with add spawning to minimize downtime. Attack them (Sweeping Slash) until your debuffs reset but don’t linger out of the circle for longer than one stack of the other debuff. Focus the majority of your attention on Malaphar and let ranged clean up the adds (Cleaving boss and adds with DST is great!). Typically not worth attempting to spread bleeds on adds unless they run through the boss first.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Path Carver, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Blood Ward, Brooding (can swap after channel for Undying but unneeded). 9/10 Sword Squadron Fantastic Annihilation fight. Get up all your bleeds on Unit 2 while Unit 1 is shielded so that they’re ticking as you swap back to 1. Angle your DST’s to hit both walkers when on Unit 1 where possible (basically have to be under Unit 1 to do so). Have your raid put you in the tank group to get more heals going on high value raid members. Pop BT at the start of the fight and, depending on DPS, you may have it again before the end. Avoid standing directly underneath a walker, especially when the orange Rolling Mines spawn. Keep strafing back and forth to quickly avoid Red Circles. Pop Camouflage for movement speed and for Huge Grenade damage reduction.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Carnage, Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Blood Ward, Brooding (can swap after channel for Undying). 10/10 The Underlurker Not the greatest Discipline for attacking the Lurkerlings, though if running 5 DPS and if damage allows, the Annihilation Marauder can greatly benefit the raid by tunneling the boss and spreading bleeds to the last Lurkerling in the DPS kill order. Liberal use of Predation can trivialize the encounters main mechanic (the AoE slow) both by temporarily cleansing the reduction effect but also increasing movement speed. If multiple melee are in your raid group, consider forgoing Berserk entirely and spamming Predation. With the persistent AoE damage, you can have near 100% Predation uptime without a huge DPS loss. Pop Cloak of Pain when Lurkerlings spawn.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Unyielding, Defensive Forms, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Unbound, Brooding (swap to Blood Ward after channel). 6/10 Revanite Commanders Due to the nature of the fight, the low HP of the mobs, and the quick target swapping, Annihilation is not ideal for this fight (though doable). Try Carnage or Fury instead and see if you get better AoE results.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Path Carver, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Blood Ward, Brooding (can swap after channel for Undying but not needed). 3/10 Revan Fight has not been substantially progressed by author. Future updates will provide more information. ?

The Ravagers

Sparky Avoid standing in front of Sparky. Primary focus should be on Sparky, but make sure every DST is at least hitting Sparky and one add. Spread existing Sparky bleeds onto adds as they periodically pass through the boss. Path Carver utility is primarily picked up for the post-boss kill cleanup, so don’t go spamming SS as Annihilation during the fight unless adds are out of control. Consider picking up the Unyielding utility if you’re bad at getting out of Rampage red circles.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Path Carver, Cloak of Annihilation, Phantom, Blood Ward, Brooding (can drop Brooding for Unyielding if needed). 9/10 Quartermaster Bulo Though Bulo can be challenging as a melee class due to high movement, Annihilation is definitely a great Discipline to choose and perhaps the only viable choice. Set your bleeds up for Mass Barrages so they tick while you run around with your head cut off. Don’t be afraid to use abilities like Force Choke and Force Scream when the boss is otherwise inaccessible. Clipping adds with DST can be a quick bandaid for tanks not properly dealing with adds, so as to ensure some are on you and all are not pounding a healer. Make sure you save a cooldown if you plan on trying this, however.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Carnage, Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Undying, Brooding (can replace Brooding with Unbound or Blood Ward). 7/10 Torque The high mobility of Torque theoretically lends itself to a DoT spec like Annihilation, but the frequent target swapping and low uptime on boss can make Annihilation difficult. I choose to run Carnage on this fight with significantly better results (4.3k DPS). Despite not running Anni on this fight, I feel its worth discussing, as this fight is said to be the melee killer and its not nearly as bad as the doom and gloom claims. Have the tanks hold Torque near the wall Deterrent Devices to allow for cleave damage. Focus on survival first, use Force Camo liberally as a survival tool and Undying as a panic button. Don’t be afraid to clean up Dangerous Fire Devices as you can easily hit them in melee range. Avoid eating Shoots Lasers hits unless a repair droid is out.Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Defensive Forms, Path Carver, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Undying, Brooding (can substitute Relentless or Unbound after channel). 4/10 Blaster and Master This fight requires virtually zero movement for the Annihilation Marauder and becomes a dummy parse in essence. Work with your tanks and fellow melee to find the perfect positioning (I recommend the four + signs on the floor in a diamond pattern) and be still and consistent. You’ll need to adjust phase two to the changes in circle (opposite the Blaster tank). Use Predation to aid ranged in moving to distant locations quickly.Otherwise, find some interesting music to listen to, drink your favorite beverage, and practice your rotation while the ranged DPS scramble to figure out which way is up. Unless you have two true melee DPS (ex. Mara and Jugg vs. Mara and PT), you’ll be camping Blaster the whole fight. Enjoy the reprieve from melee-eating mechanics. If you get really bored, see if you can do the whole fight with RP walk on.

Utility Loadout – Cloak of Rage, Unyielding, Defensive Forms, Defensive Roll, Phantom, Unbound, Brooding (drop Brooding for Relentless if aiding the tanks with Overpowered Ion Cutter). 10/10 Coratanni Fight has not been substantially progressed by author. Future updates will provide more information. ?

About the Author

I am Stippling, a diehard Marauder fan and the GM of <Failure>, an endgame progression guild on the Bastion server. Though I’ve had past experience with guide writing, my desire to write an Annihilation guide stemmed from the desire to do away with the stigma that Marauder are obsolete this tier due to punishing melee mechanics and overall Bounty Hunter superiority. With support and understanding from my guild, I undertook this project and hope it serves to aid you in your raiding experience as an Annihilation Marauder.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me via comments on this page or by private message on the official SWTOR Forums (I go by Stippling there as well). I want to thank Patchwork for giving me the courage and praise I needed to gain the confidence to write this guide, Oofalong for being a constant figurehead for the Marauder/Sentinel community, Ardarell-Solo for reviewing/critiquing the guide and educating me on concepts I had not before tested, Scarello for his endless supply of adrenals, Dauntless for reviewing my guide and providing insights, Ranek because he’s Ranek, and the rest of my guild <Failure> for supporting me through this venture. Without all of you, I probably would have sat on fleet running around in circles or sparking impromptu dance parties instead of using my time productively.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide!