Marauder woes

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Tyriran
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Joined: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:58 MST

Marauder woes

Post by Tyriran »

Hmmm.... no Marauder threads? We just can't have that. Surely there are a couple of Marauder mains around besides me.

Ok, on to the point. I've been playing Marauder since OB. I'm currently rank 19 (literally ranked right before I logged last night). I'm working on my renown rank, I've been pretty focus'd on questing over the weekend. (RR 13, almost 14 if I remember right.) I've stayed with Brutality as the main specc because I like to single target DPS. In PvE I find that AE'ing is only viable with a group, well, particularly having a healer around. So I don't do much AE'ing and Brutality I found that it eliminates incoming DPS which seems to be more beneficial when running most of the time without a healer.

My woes come in RvR. This may be in large part by being organized in the Scenario. 1v1 seems about even with any class, although tanks are my bane right now. However, I'm not dishing out the DPS that I've noticed many of the other DPS classes are. My main goal in a RvR situation is to locate a healer, any healer and obliterate them as fast as possible. In most cases I can kill one healer before their DPS can kill me. And typically I think I'm doing a good job but when I see the numbers I feel a little disheartened. Overall it just doesn't feel that killing that one healer is detrimental to the win/lose. Due to this I've considered going Monstrosity in an attempt to do as much damage to multiple targets and pray there healers have to sacrifice a few in order to save the others.

So, today I've reviewed any DPS thread that I can get on Marauders, and Brutality is in the mid-range from what I can tell. I've not seen any other numbers though. Most of the Marauders I've run into in scenarios are Monstrosity specc'd (AE), and they are a force to be reckoned with if clustered situations (such as up there by the artifact in the Mourkain scenario) or when there is a Magus around to use Rift and suck all the order into a big cluster. :)

Any other Marauder opinions out there? My buddies are telling me to stick with it, and I think I may... just want some other opinions to help solidify the decision. The other thing is that I see that there is a want for a Brutality Marauder on the RvR team(s). All opinions welcome (even if you're not a Marauder).


EDIT: And to set forth some numbers that I'm seeing. Last night running scenarios I noticed I am doing about 30k-45k less than the top 4 or 5. Like I'd push 17-25k, but I'm seeing DPS numbers as high as 75-80k. Wrong rotations? Focusing to much on going for the healers?
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Sicyn
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Sicyn »

I only played a Marauder to level 11....I liked it, but I liked my Sorc better.

Personally, I like the AOE spec. You're right, you're not going to take down a single target as quickly, but in those Scenarios/RvR situations where people are grouped together, you can do some serious damage.

If you played with a healer (I played with a friend who was a zealot) you feel invincible. You're outputting a ton of damage and stay alive...it's a fun combo. The Ekrund scenario was great for this...go to the Gate and plow through stacks of people with a healer up top...good times. :)
Famine
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Famine »

I'm a marauder....that's it I won't change it. The marauder Brutality spec is mid range early and mid game but end game is supposed to be one of the top MDPS classes in the game. I'm rank 26 (closing in on 27 but the realms are down!!!) and I think that Brutality has done jsut fine. I am often on top for MDPS in scenarios, PvE I can solo 8 mobs my level with ease, just need to use a potion sometimes.

As far as the monstrosity path goes, it's good for large crowds, but how often do you get a large enough crowd to where you can be of some major use, I mean let's face it, when fighting in WAR you have to kill quick or they will get healed. The hardest thing I've seen so far is that when I go in after a caster or a healer, I am the first target one everyone's list and most of the time I can get the character I'm going for, but, I die before I can get healed. It seems to me that the best stats to go into, IMHO and through my experience, will be Str, Wound, Tough. My str is over 700 at lvl 26, and my tough and wounds are both steady between 250 and 350. My end game gear will most likely be str and wound gear with tough talismans mostly.

I think that the marauder will play a key part in this game for many reasons. If you haven't noticed or accidently figured it out, you can run faster than a person on a mount. Hit flee, then charge and you will out run anyone in MT to the artifact, it works the same in T3 when you get to Tor Anroc. I rarely come close to out DPSing a sorc or BW, but I have no issues with beating out a magus, witch elf , white lion, squig herder, shadow warrior , arch-mage, engineer...I think you get the point.

In PQ's I've watched other marauders specced Monstrosity get less reward than I have with my single target DPS. In the time it takes to get all mobs to 3/4 hp with your monstrosity swings I can be on my second mobs dead and beating him to a bloody pulp.

All in all I think that the marauder is a weak early game character that will get better and better as we near 35+. I also think in open RvR we are much more useful although I've kinda stayed away from that since there is no real exp until you get a keep or objective. I'd rather take 15 mins to do a scen and get the 13-16k exp in 10-15 minutes.

I say anyone who likes the general basis of the marauder should absolutely play the character to at least 18+ before changing your mind (I know that's a long time but I mean it!!). Stay out of scenarios until your 15, 25, or 35 just because of your effectiveness in the games. You need to gear up then go scenario it out, my advice is to grind out influence in all sorts of pq's find the best items for influence and through the pq's.
EDIT: And to set forth some numbers that I'm seeing. Last night running scenarios I noticed I am doing about 30k-45k less than the top 4 or 5. Like I'd push 17-25k, but I'm seeing DPS numbers as high as 75-80k. Wrong rotations? Focusing to much on going for the healers?
stay close to your healers, defend the bauble/artifact, and just hang back until the fighting starts then sneak in behind someone and start doing serious dmg. The people pushing 75-80k are BW's and Sorc's more often than not so just put them out of your league because you'll never be able to beat em on a good game for them. I've had games where I'll get 30k and a sorc will get 90k and it seems unreal but it makes sense.
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Tyriran
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Tyriran »

Thanks for the input Famine. :) I don't think I'll change at all. I don't give up that easily. I hadn't been stacking as much str as a should at the time of the original post, but that's changing and I'm seeing a good bit of change along with it.
Famine
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Famine »

After looking at my gear that I'll be getting int he next few levels it seems my str will be dropping to closer to 600 but my wounds and tough will be jumping 100-200 each. so it seems that massing str is the way to go but your gear will build you up with more wounds and tough if you just get the influence and pq rewards.

some good T3 rewards for you, Chaos Ch 12 13 14, DE ch 12 (the axe in particular), and Greenie Ch 12 13 14. Make sure to get in some gunbad as well great loot in there for everyone especially marauders on accessories. I have all str and resists on my accessories so that my gear can be based towards all 3 stats.
We are the 4 Horsemen of the apocalypse.
ίππος χλωρός, θάνατος- Death
ίππος λευκός -Pestilence
ίππος μέλας-Famine
ίππος πυρρός-War

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Cleon
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Cleon »

Keep in mind, scenario damage means absolutely ziltch.

Most of the people with higher numbers, have them, because they are focusing on tank classes that are getting healed--in order to boost their damage numbers.

You'll notice most of those with higher numbers have very few kill-blows.

As a melee class, you must think strategically, rather than getting higher damage.

Chances are, if you have lower numbers and gave it your all, it's probably because you played much smarter than those with the greater digit.

Sometimes, when my numbers are low, I just look at my deathblows (usually between 10-15 per scenario), and I realize that I did an amazing job at picking targets.

Tactical players will outperform DPS hogs any day of the week.
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Zoruk
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Zoruk »

I was feeling the same way after doing a few scenarios and thought that my melee DPS was never going to come close to that of some of the others... till last night. We had a decent t2 scenario group and I dished out about 57K worth of dmg in just one run. What I've found for me that increased my dps by so much was that for the most part people would not try to attack me. The people were going for the casters/healers. So I took advantage of this and (I cant remember the name of the attack and too lazy to look it up) used that ability that requires you to basically stab someone in the back. So bam! A little weakening of the armor, decrease his run speed, throw on a DoT and stab the hell out of his back, and if he decided to attack me CIRCLES! I was literally running circles around people trying to stab them in the back and it actually worked.

So that worked for me anyway and I'm sure being in a well balanced guild group helped also ;)
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Famine »

Usually a good way to fight...is to not die...just my thought any way. As far as dmg meaning nothing. I usually dont just do super dmg vs tanks. I'm usually up in an order members face that has at most medium armor and i still avoid them. I like to go for shadow warriors (2-3 hit kills) and bright wizards (4-5 hits).

Cleon, killing blows could mean less than damage. It seems to me that usually the people with the highest KB are just finding them at low hp and stealign the KB from whoever worked the character down.

Impale is a great ability ill use flail and convulsive slashing until they try to run away then i snare them and start impaling and healers just cant out heal 400-500 dmg every second and a half to 2 seconds
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Brok
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Re: Marauder woes

Post by Brok »

DPS reports don't really mean effectiveness. For instance, on my magus I can toss an insta DoT on everyone and boost my overall DPS for teh scenario but it is much more effective to cast multiple DoTs on a single target (some DoTs are AOE).

This is because it is really trivial to outheal 'random" AOE damage. Unless a group is all AOE the random AOE damage groupmates take is easily overcome by a couple HoTs from a healer.

Finishing off opponents is what marauders do best of any class IMO. I think marauders should wait to enter battle, judiciously picking targets that are taking good damage. Then charge em and finish em off. This is because a Sorc may have to run when that witch hunter jumps em or a ironbreaker charges em and knocks em back. But marauders are left alone until they move to the frontlines, where they will get mass targeted since the enemy knows that they can dish out dps. But by moving up and back at the appropriate times they can finish targets and retreat before they can be mass targeted. Furthmore, I really like marauders who hang back and kill any witch hunters who attack healers (like when I am on Brok). A Marauder really devastates em.
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