Carnage Marauder
Last Updated: 5/29/21
Table of Contents
Overview
About the Class
Carnage Marauder is the Marauder’s burst DPS class. It used to be among the most challenging specs in the game until 5.6 when the discipline was reworked to be more user friendly. Now it is a very straight forward discipline and intended to be the introductory discipline for newer players and for leveling, and its DPS output reflects that classification as it is typically the lowest parsing Marauder discipline. Despite that, Carnage can output strong DPS and is a valuable contribution to any operations team.
Role in Operations
Carnage DPS do not have any DoTs or ramp-up time for maximum DPS, so they can freely target swap as needed. As such, they are ideal for any DPS situation.
Utility and Mobility
Marauders bring a lot to the table in these areas. The Marauder offers Bloodthirst as arguably the best group buff increasing damage and healing by 10% for 10 seconds. For mobility, the Marauder can use Predation to increase team movement speed by 40% (can be buffed higher with a Utility) for 10 seconds. In addition, Marauders can use Force Camouflage as a semi-stealth ability. Marauders can also use Force Charge and Mad Dash to quickly move around.
Survivability
Marauders gain benefits to direct and AoE damage reduction through skills and Utilities, wear medium armor, and have several strong defensive cool-downs (Saber Ward, Force Camouflage, Undying Rage).
6.0 Impact on Discipline
Carnage DPS was the weakest of the Marauder DPS disciplines in 5.X and that appears likely to continue in 6.0. The discipline remains capable of good sustained DPS and very strong burst DPS, making it viable in all content.
The discipline got access to a great set bonus in Descent of the Fearless that provides some strong overall and ability-specific DPS buffs. The discipline also got access to an interesting mix of tactical items to let it flex in various ways to meet specific content challenges whether that is through higher sustained DPS or additional AoE capability.
Unfortunately, the developers short-changed Carnage in comparison to the other Marauder disciplines. Both other disciplines get a bigger benefit from the set bonus due to having DoTs tick that increase the chance of generating charges of Furious Power to buff an individual ability’s damage by 25% and apply a 10% overall damage buff for 10 seconds. They also received stronger tacticals for both sustained single target, burst and AoE DPS.
The BIS tactical as of 6.1 appears to be Fanged God Form, which shakes up the rotation significantly though in a way that greatly simplifies the rotation through introducing LOTS of Massacre spam.
Utilities
I usually take some combination of the following Utilities, though the optimal combination can change from fight to fight. As of 6.0, the tiers have been reorganized.
Skillfull Tier
You must take 3 to advanced to Masterful.
Brazen
Increases your damage reduction by 2%, and you build 2 Fury when attacked. This Fury building effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.
Brazen should always be taken as it provides a permanent damage reduction and increased Fury generation, which leads to more frequent Berserk use. Always take.
Cloak of Carnage
Increases the damage dealt by Cloak of Pain by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds.
This utility provides a sizable buff to Cloak of Pain damage and should be taken in any fights where it is useful.
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 2 seconds.
A useful utility on fights where Cloak of Pain will trigger frequently to further buff Rage generation.
Inexorable
You generate 4 Rage when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. Also, the cooldown of Unleash is reduced by 30 seconds.
Situational utility for fights with lots of physics effects (e.g., Underlurker) can lead to effectively unlimited Rage. Only take in those situations.
Path Carver
Sweeping Slash deals 25% more damage.
Usually not taken due to better benefits from other Skillful utilities. However, any situations with sustained AoE (e.g., Hive Queen Veteran Mode) could greatly benefit from this utility due to Sweeping Slash replacing Vicious Slash in the rotation.
Defensive Roll
Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%.
Another great mitigation utility that should always be taken. AoE damage is present in nearly every fight and I/E damage is unable to be mitigated except through utilities like these.
Masterful Tier
You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.
Relentless
Predation no longer requires or consumes Fury, but will go on cooldown for 30 seconds when activated.
This should always be taken for any fights where movement is relevant or where the 10% defense buff is helpful. Having to use Fury stacks to trigger Predation is a notable DPS loss by being unable to use Berserk instead. I pretty much always take this utility, though in some circumstances I might trade for another utility.
Expunging Camouflage
Force Camouflage removes all cleanseable effects when activated.
This utility provides Marauders a relatively short cooldown (45s) self-cleanse and should be taken for any fights with heavy hitting DoTs (e.g., Dread Council fight to self-cleanse Death Mark).
Cloak of Annihilation
Each use of Assault, Battering Assault, and Crippling Slash reduces the active cooldown of Cloak of Pain by 3 seconds.
Another utility that buffs Rebuke, this utility significantly reduces the cooldown of Cloak of Pain. In fights where Marauders take damage that procs Cloak of Pain, this utility can significantly increase DPS.
Undying
Increases the duration of Undying Rage by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.
The default duration for Undying Rage is 4 seconds, so this utility provides a 50% increase in duration. For any fights where those extra 2 seconds are meaningful for non-instant short duration high damage mechanics, it should be taken. However, most high damage mechanics are nearly instant, in which case the default 4 seconds is plenty. An example of a useful situation is in Master & Blaster encounter in Ravagers operation, if helping take stacks of Ion Cutter from Master the extra duration could be useful. Given the long cooldown I rarely take this utility.
Heroic Tier
A maximum of 3 utilities
Unbound
When Predation is applied or refreshed, it purges movement-impairing effects. Also, the movement speed bonus of Predation is increased by 30%.
This utility synergizes with Relentless to make Predation a very powerful movement utility. It isn’t beneficial on every fight and can be swapped for other utilities when not useful.
Brooding
Reduces the cooldown of Intimidating Roar by 15 seconds. Also, you build up to 30 Fury over the course of using Channel Hatred. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
Brooding is frequently taken for QoL purposes despite having no benefit after a fight starts. The optimal setup is to take it, use energy regen to get 30 stacks of Fury, then respec utilities to take another choice.
Interloper
Force Charge grants Interloper, allowing you to activate Force Charge a second time. Interloper lasts up to 7.5 seconds and is removed if Force Charge is reused. If Interloper is not utilized by the end of its duration, Force Charge is placed on a 7.5 second cooldown. Also, Force Charge now builds 2 Fury.
This utility is very situational utility for fights with lots of movement between adds (e.g., Draxus fight in Dread Fortress). Otherwise should not be taken.
Through Victory
Mad Dash can be used while immobilized, purges movement-impairing effects when activated, and deal 50% more damage. Also, the cooldown of Mad Dash is reduced by 10 seconds.
This utility is highly situational where roots are common and Mad Dash can be used. Mad Dash also has great potential to cheese high damage mechanics, so a lower cooldown could be helpful. Again, highly situational.
Ruthless Aggressor
Vicious Throw refunds 2 Rage when used on any targeted affected by your Obfuscate, regardless of remaining health. Also, activating Obfuscate grants Ruthless Aggressor, reducing the damage you take from Force and Tech attacks by 75% for 6 seconds.
I do not usually take this utility but it has some potential as a defensive cooldown in any instances where it can trigger.
Thirst for Rage
Bloodthirst generates 12 Rage when activated, and you heal for 1% of your maximum health whenever you activate an ability that consumes Rage.
I do not usually take this utility but it can be very useful for early energy generation if you can hit your raid buff on pull. If so, you can skip your leap and Battering Assault and move more quickly into damaging abilities.
Example Utility Build
Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.
Key Passives
Ataru Form
Utilize an acrobatic lightsaber form, increasing alacrity by 3%. Also, your successful melee attacks have a 20% to trigger a second strike that deals low weapon damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.
Ataru Form provides the 3% alacrity buff that makes Carnage gearing a little different than most other specs, and is in keeping with Carnage as a fast-playing discipline. It also provides for Ataru Form proccing to deal incremental damage. Maximizing procs of Ataru Form is important as most higher level passive abilities relate to how Ataru Form triggering buffs other abilities.
Ataru Savvy
Sweeping Slash triggers an Ataru Form strike on each enemy target it damages.
This passive provides the only guaranteed way to proc Ataru Form.
Disembowel
Gore sunders the target for 45 seconds. Sundered targets have their armor rating reduced by 20%.
This passive provides a powerful debuff that is typical to most melee DPS disciplines. Due to its long duration, this buff should have full uptime on the target.
Execute
Dealing damage with an Ataru Form strike grants Execute, making your next Massacre or Devastating Blast deal 5% more damage.
This passive buffs Devastating Blast slightly. Since Devastating Blast should nearly always be used within a Ferocity window, this buff is further magnified due to Ferocity’s effects.
Blood Frenzy
When Execute is consumed by Force Scream or Devastating Blast, you build 1 Rage.
This passive causes Devastating Blast to require 3 Rage to activate but then it immediately refunds 1 Rage.
Towering Rage
Execute now additionally increases the critical chance of Force Scream and Devastating Blast by 100%.
This passive along with Slaughter are the two most important procs provided by Ataru Form procs by guaranteeing the next Devastating Blast is a crit.
Frenzied Sabers
Dealing damage with an Ataru Form strike increases your damage reduction and melee and ranged defense chance by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 10 seconds.
This passive provides up to a 6% damage reduction buff by Ataru Form procs, which is helpful to make Marauder a little tankier than other Marauder Disciplines.
Slaughter
Dealing damage with an Ataru Form strike triggers Slaughter, which finishes the cooldown on Vicious Throw and makes your next Vicious Throw usable on a target at any health level without consuming any Rage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds.
This passive is really helpful to make Vicious Throw usable during the pre-execute rotation. It has a lengthy cooldown on the proc so there is no rush to use it. As such, this leads to Vicious Throw being saved for Ferocity windows until reaching 30% boss health where Vicious Throw becomes usable on a regular cooldown.
Efficient Strikes
While Berserk is active, Massacre and Sweeping Slash consume 1 less Rage.
This passive makes Massacre extremely efficient as a spammable filler during Berserk. It normally costs 3 Rage, but refunds 1 Rage per the Enraged Slash passive and then costs 1 less Rage during Berserk. Thus Massacre costs 1 Rage during Berserk. As such, this leads to the rotation emphasizing Massacre spam during Berserk GCDs that do not overlap with Ferocity.
Fury
Activating an attack that spends focus and defeating opponents builds Fury. When 30 stacks of Fury are built, you become Furious, enabling the use of Berserk, Predation and Bloodthirst.
Fury is the unique Marauder resource that powers Berserk and Bloodthirst. The Relentless utility should always be taken whenever Predation is needed to ensure it does not consume Fury.
Enraged Slash
Vicious Slash, Sweeping Slash, Vicious Throw, Massacre, Annihilate, and Furious Strike refund 1 Rage when used. Also, Battering Assault beats down its target for 45 seconds. Beat Down targets take 5% more damage from melee attacks.
This passive causes a disconnect between the Rage required to activate the ability versus the Rage consumed by the ability. For example, Vicious Slash requires 3 Rage to be able to activate the ability but it will only use 2 Rage.
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.
This passive is helpful in that it effectively doubles the rate of generating Fury and the frequency of Berserk being available.
Gearing
Gearing Stat Allocation
Please see my Gearing Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR. Please also see my Alacrity Guide for a much more in-depth look at alacrity.
For Carnage Marauder, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Descent of the Fearless
Tactical: Fanged God Form
Amplifiers: Armor Penetration (sub-optimal but for use with other disciplines)
Mods: Unlettered Lethal Mods
Relics: Devastating Vengeance & Primeval Fatesealer (Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution for Dxun/PVP)
Stim: Proficient
Adrenal: Critical (Attack for Dxun only)
For Carnage Marauder, I allocate my tertiary stats as follows:
Accuracy: 1,585 - 1,630 (anything outside this approximate range and I usually try to re-optimize by swapping around enhancements and augments)
Alacrity: around 2,500 for a 1.3s GCD or another option is around 950 for a 1.4s GCD (if running the Zeal guild perk, around 1,500 for a 1.3s GCD)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None
Set Bonus
Descent of the Fearless
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Whenever you gain or use a Furious Power ability charge while in combat, your damage is increased by 10% for 10 seconds.
(6) Dealing damage has a 10% chance to build a Furious Power ability charge. Can only occur once every 5 seconds.
Analysis: The only set bonus that is BIS across multiple advanced classes, Descent of the Fearless is BIS for all Juggernaut and Marauder DPS disciplines. The set bonus should provide fairly high uptime on a straight 10% damage buff.
The major downside to this set bonus for Carnage versus other Marauder disciplines (and both Juggernaut DPS disciplines) is that it does not have any DoTs. Those extra ticks of damage significantly increase the chances of proccing additional charges of Furious Power. The slower rate of proccing results in fewer attacks buffed by 25% and less than full uptime of the 10% overall damage buff.
Impact on Rotation: Only use Furious Power charges to buff Gore or Dispatch and only during Ferocity windows. Devastating Blast is the highest damaging ability but is a force-based attack so is not eligible to be buffed except with The Prosecution tactical item. Gore and Vicious Throw are the new highest damage per activation so benefit from the buff the most.
When to Take: All situations. Descent of the Fearless is easily the BIS set bonus for all Sith Warrior disciplines.
Tactical Items
Fanged God Form
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Using Massacre adds Hyper stacks to you, increasing your critical chance by 10% and reducing the cost of your next Massacre by 1 Rage per stack. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 10 seconds or until an ability other than Massacre is used.
Analysis: Massacre is by far the most commonly used ability in the typical Carnage rotation. As such, having a consistent increase to critical chance of 10-30% is very helpful. The energy cost reduction for any consecutive uses should also enable a skilled player to avoid any use of a basic attack. In fact, once the Hyper stacks have reduced the ability cost to zero, the Enraged Slash passive ability (refunds 1 Rage) makes Massacre generate energy. Early testing of the updated rotation reflects that this additional energy generation can easily support use of unprocced Vicious Throw in the execute phase, which is a further DPS increase.
Another easily overlooked aspect of this tactical is that the critical chance buff from Hyper stacks is removed after using an ability other than Massacre, but this means that the first non-Massacre ability still receives the +10-30% critical chance buff! Ensuring that the rotation always uses this feature to buff Devastating Blast with +30% critical chance (and a comparable buff to critical hit damage) is a huge benefit.
When originally released in 6.0, off-GCD abilities served to remove the Hyper stacks but thankfully that was fixed in update 6.1.
Impact on Rotation: If using Fanged God Form, it is critical to string together as many uninterrupted chains of Massacre as possible to maximize the benefit of Hyper stacks.
First, let me provide credit where it is due. My good friend and guildmate Zaroaster / KhazadSanci was a valuable resource to point out how certain elements of the Fanged God Form rotation should work in 6.1 after the Hyper stack bug was fixed. He passed along some theorycrafting from Dantiko, Reshari and Luna analyzing key elements of the rotation. My initial testing indicate it is spot-on so it is largely produced below though with my own thinking and analysis around why it is ideal.
Absent Fanged God Form, the rotation would utilize Dual Saber Throw and even Ravage outside the Ferocity window. With Fanged God Form, the only ability used outside of Ferocity window is Battering Assault. This leads usually to an alternating cycle of 3 Massacre (for rotation cycles where Ferocity is buffed by Berserk to get a third charge and Battering Assault is used to generate energy) and a cycle of 5 Massacre (Ferocity only has 2 charges without Berserk and Battering Assault is still on cooldown or not needed). There will be a LOT of spam of Massacre, which is the toughest thing to get used to with Fanged God Form. That said, to a large degree it does simplify the rotation so in the long run should be preferred for its impact on the rotation as much as its damage buff.
See below for a 6.x Fanged God Form added to coincide with the weapon damage scaling fix implemented in 6.2.
When to Take: Recommended in all single target DPS situations.
The Prosecution
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
Devastating Blast is now affected by Furious Power.
Analysis: Devastating Blast is the only force attack in the discipline’s kit of attack abilities, thus normally it is the only ability not eligible to be buffed by Furious Power. Since Devastating Blast is the highest damaging ability in the rotation, being able to buff it is a welcome change.
Sadly, this tactical is lackluster compared to the optimal sustained DPS tacticals for other disciplines. It does provide a noticeable DPS increase but its increase is solely based on being able to apply the same buff to a different ability, rather than applying extra damage directly, applying a DoT, or having an additional auto-crit or similar effect.
Impact on Rotation: Only use Furious Power to buff Devastating Blast, which itself should only ever be used during Ferocity.
When to Take: Only if not taking Fanged God Form. Andeddu’s Malevolence is a DPS loss overall and Tome of Unyielding Blades provides a very unimpressive AoE DPS increase, so neither are worth taking except for personal playstle reasons. The Prosecution could perhaps be preferable for PvP since it will make your Ferocity burst windows more powerful.
Andeddu’s Malevolence
Increased drop rate from operations.
Ferocity is always active but only gives 50% armor penetration.
Analysis: This tactical greatly simplifies the Carnage discipline though at the cost of removing what makes it unique via its low cooldown, low duration windows of massive DPS burst through 100% armor penetration. Applying a 50% buff all the time sounds like it should be a massive DPS increase, but sadly this is not the case.
Normally, nearly all uses of the discipline’s top damaging abilities are buffed by Ferocity to receive 100% armor penetration. Those abilities are Devastating Blast, Gore, Vicious Throw, and Ravage. Only a few uses of those abilities are ever used without the 100% armor penetration buff. The attacks that are not normally buffed are typically some basic attacks, Dual Saber Throw and lots of Massacre spam.
Changing the armor penetration buff to 50% all the time instead of 100% some of the time is a DPS loss because of the mix of abilities and how they are changed. The heaviest hitting abilities go from 100% more of the time to 50% all the time, which is a strict DPS loss. The remaining abilities get a sizable increase in their damage and overall use up more GCDs than a Ferocity window, but since their damage is so much lower the armor penetration buff just does not do enough to fully outweigh the loss in DPS relative to big hitting abilities.
Impact on Rotation: The discipline becomes a priority system to use high damage attacks on cooldown rather than delaying their use for Ferocity. Overall ability priority should follow the Ferocity priority list. Berserk should be utilized as soon as available.
When to Take: Recommended for players new to the discipline if they have difficulty properly managing abilities within Ferocity. If taking, it is highly recommended to try and stack armor penetration amplifiers on gear.
Tome of Unyielding Blades
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Smash causes your next Massacre to do damage to up to 8 enemies near the primary target.
Analysis: Massacre is very important to the Carnage discipline due to its maintenance of Juyo stacks and how it becomes an incredibly cheap filler during Berserk windows. It is not important for its damage as it does relatively little. Making it an AoE attack is nice but just does not add that much damage.
Impact on Rotation: N/A not recommended.
When to Take: N/A not recommended.
Amplifiers
Weapon Expertise or Armor Penetration
The discipline’s abilities all deal energy damage. The attacks are all weapon type damage attacks except for Devastating Blast that is a Force type attack. The discipline has no DoT-based damage.
Since Weapon Expertise buffs weapon attacks and all but 1 ability qualify, it provides by far the best increase to DPS. Armor Penetration provides the next best buff as it buffs every attack due to their kinetic/energy damage. However, since armor penetration increases damage through reducing enemy armor, its impact is limited.
If attempting to synergize a Descent of the Fearless set of gear between Sith Warrior DPS disciplines, Weapon Expertise or Armor Penetration are both good choices. Weapon Expertise will provide a slightly larger DPS increase on Carnage while Armor Penetration is stronger for most other Sith Warrior disciplines.
Key Abilities
Furious Power
Consumes all ability charges and applies Furious Power stacks to you. Each stack increases your next direct single target melee attack by 25% and is consumed whenever you deal damage with these attacks. Recharges 1 ability charge every 30 seconds.
A new offensive cooldown, it can be used in the opener to buff you heaviest hitting ability for +100% damage or used every ~30 seconds to buff an ability damage +25%. With the Descent of the Fearless set bonus, it also provides a +10% damage buff and can generate extra charges during combat.
Berserk (costs 30 Fury, no cooldown)
Requires and converts 30 stacks of Fury to enter a Berserk state, granting 30% alacrity. Lasts for 6 charges, with each attack consuming 1 charge. An additional stack of Ferocity is granted if Ferocity is used while Berserk is active.
Berserk is a unique off-GCD offensive cooldown to Marauders that provides different effects for each Marauder discipline. For Carnage, the 30% alacrity boost is per charge, with each of 6 charges being consumed by an ability. The buff to Ferocity means that Berserk should overlap with Ferocity as often as possible. See below for discussion on using Ferocity under rotation.
Ferocity (1 Rage, 12s cooldown)
Gain two stacks of Ferocity, lasting up to 10 seconds. Devastating Blast, Gore, Vicious Throw, Ravage, Massacre, Smash and Sweeping Slash all gain 100% armor penetration while Ferocity is active, and using any of these abilities consumes one stack of Ferocity.
Ferocity is the signature ability of Carnage Marauder. See more in depth discussion of Ferocity below. It should be used on cooldown except during down times.
Devastating Blast (3 Rage, 12s cooldown, range 10m)
Unleashes a powerful blast of Force energy at the target, dealing moderate energy damage. The blast stuns standard and weak enemies for 5 seconds.
A very powerful offensive ability, it can be buffed when Ataru Form procs to be a guaranteed critical hit. It’s cooldown is almost the same as Ferocity so should generally be used during Ferocity most of the time.
Gore (3 Rage, 15s cooldown, range 4m)
Spears the target with both lightsabers, dealing high weapon damage and hindering the target for 1.5 seconds, preventing the use of high mobility actions and escapes.
Gore is a recently added ability for Carnage dealing the highest base damage before buffs. It should be used on cooldown.
Massacre (3 Rage, no cooldown, range 4m)
Strikes the target with both weapons for low damage and automatically triggering an Ataru Form strike, bypassing Ataru Form’s rate limit. For 6 seconds after using Massacre, your Ataru Form has an extra 30% chance to be triggered.
Massacre replaces Vicious Slash as a spammable filler. It is very important to the Carnage rotation since it is the best method of proccing Ataru Form and gives a 6s / 4 GCD buff to Ataru Form’s chance. In addition, Massacre only costs 1 Rage during Berserk so is very energy efficient. Massacre will be used frequently in the Carnage rotation but should avoid using during Berserk when stronger abilities are available, while still ensuring it is used every 4 GCDs to maintain the Massacre buff.
Ravage (free, 18s cooldown, range 4m)
Performs a series of lightsaber attacks that deal moderate weapon damage.
Ravage is a free filler ability that deals strong damage and should be used on cooldown and preferably within the Ravage window if possible.
Vicious Throw (3 Rage, 10s cooldown, range 10m)
Throws the main-hand lightsaber at a target, dealing high energy damage. Only usable on targets at or below 30% max health.
Vicious Throw is a strong execute ability and can be utilized above 30% boss health via a utility or the Slaughter passive ability via an Ataru Form strike. Above 30%, the proc has a reasonably long duration so does not need to be used immediately. If possible, its use should be squeezed into a Berserk window.
Dual Saber Throw (free, 18s cooldown, ranged 30m)
Throws both lightsabers in a straight line towards the target, dealing moderate weapon damage to up to 8 enemies directly in front of you up to 30 meters away. Affected enemies are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds.
This ability is another free filler and when procced deals strong filler damage. Any time multiple enemies are present, make sure to position yourself so that the conal attack hits as many enemies as possible.
Cloak of Pain (free, 1 minute cooldown)
Reduces all damage taken by 20% and deals low energy damage to attackers. This effect cannot occur more than once every second. Lasts 10 seconds. Cloak of Pain refreshes to its full duration when attacked, but this effect cannot last more than 30 seconds in total.
Cloak of Pain is a unique ability for Marauders that serves as both a defensive cooldown and provides a low level of reflect damage to attackers. It can be buffed in a variety of ways through utilities. Be aware of how it works and in which operations to use it (and when to do so), as skillful use of Cloak of Pain is a big part of reaching elite levels of DPS as a Marauder.
Force Charge (free, 15s cooldown, range 10-30m)
Jumps to a distant target, dealing low damage with the main-hand weapon, immobilizing the target for 2 seconds and interrupting the target’s current action. Builds 3 Rage.
Force Charge is the Sith Warrior (Juggernaut & Marauder) gap closer and also serves to generate Rage. It also functions as an interrupt. Use any time needed to get into melee range and generate Rage. It does very little damage so is not generally worth stepping outside of melee range to leap, except when an additional interrupt is needed.
Battering Assault (free, 15s cooldown, range 4m)
Strikes the target multiples times with both lightsabers, dealing low weapon damage and building 6 Rage.
Marauder’s main Rage building ability. Carnage uses on all its core abilities except Ravage and the filler Dual Saber Throw. As such, Battering Assault should generally be used on cooldown except when it will cap Rage. Battering Assault does not consume a stack of Ferocity, so using it during a Ferocity window will not cause rotational issues.
Assault (free, no cooldown, range 4m)
Inflicts low weapon damage with a series of quick melee attacks. Generates 2 Rage.
Assault should not be used very often unless Rage is really low.
Rotation
Rotation Priority System
The Carnage “rotation” can be divided into a couple of sections: opener, Ferocity window, and filler. After the opener, Carnage alternates between Ferocity window and filler. Berserk should be used on cooldown and only delayed in order to ensure Ferocity is affected by Berserk and so gains a 3rd stack. It should be noted that while a rotation can begin to emerge after extended play with Carnage , for practical purposes it is best to think of the discipline as a priority-based system.
6.0 NOTE - If you are using the Fanged God Form tactical as is recommended, please see the rotation below as it is a fixed opener and rotation. The priority theory is discussed below with modifications where applicable to the general discussion. I highly recommend reviewing it to understand WHY the rotation works as it does as outlined further below.
Dual Saber Throw is generally not used at all outside of the initial opener to pull the boss and Ravage is utilized in the Ferocity window (if not taking FGF) until sub-30% where it can be replaced with an unprocced Vicious Throw.
1. Use Ferocity on cooldown. This is the most important overall priority. Per the discussion on Ferocity below, ability damage is buffed by around 50%. It must absolutely be used on cooldown.
2. Use Berserk on cooldown except during Ferocity window. Berserk provides a third charge to Ferocity, which is a substantial DPS increase. Berserk provides 6 charges consumed by the next 6 abilities with an increased level of alacrity, during which time no Fury can be gained for the next Berserk. Since Ferocity has a cooldown of 12 s / 8 GCDs, this leaves a wide window for using Berserk well in advance of the next Ferocity. Delaying Berserk 1-2 GCDs is optimal if doing so will clip the next Ferocity. Since Ferocity will always affect 2 GCDs if not during Berserk , leaving 6 GCDs before the next Ferocity , this means so long as we never hit Berserk during Ferocity that it should always affect Ferocity and give us that invaluable third Ferocity charge.
To illustrate the thinking, let’s provide an example. Let’s say that Berserk becomes active after the 1st ability used during Ferocity. If we hit it then, we will use Berserk on the 2nd through 7th abilities after Ferocity. That will leave one GCD before Ferocity is off CD, leaving Ferocity with only 2 instead of 3 charges.
So, instead I delay Berserk 2 GCDs, using it immediately AFTER the first ability following Ferocity (probably Massacre). Then Berserk charges are consumed by the next 5 abilities, I can hit Ferocity, and then the first ability in the next Ferocity window is buffed by Berserk and we get three Ferocity charges!
3. Use Massacre every 4 GCDs. The Massacre buff is critical to maintain nearly 100% uptime since it provides free damage and triggers the two most important procs: Execute (which makes Devastating Blast a guaranteed crit) and Slaughter (makes Vicious Throw useable above 30% boss health). The only exception to this in my mind is that it is okay to delay Massacre 1 GCD to avoid using a Ferocity charge, as the difference in incremental DPS by using Devastating Blast < Vicious Throw < Gore < Ravage under a Ferocity charge versus Massacre is a DPS loss even if we lose 1 GCD of Ataru Form triggering.
3a. (If taking Fanged God Form tactical) Use Massacre exclusively outside of Ferocity except for Battering Assault for energy generation. The Fanged God Form's buffs to critical chance and energy cost when using Massacre applies Hyper stacks that are removed as soon as an active ability other than Massacre is used. This means it is very important to use Massacre nearly exclusively outside Ferocity to maximize its energy generation and critical benefits.
4. Use Devastating Blast in every Ferocity window. Devastating Blast should be buffed by Execute every time it comes off cooldown. Execute procs by Ataru Form (which should be happening nearly every GCD if Massacre is active) buff Devastating Blast damage by 5% and guarantee a critical hit. The combination of a guaranteed crit and the Ferocity buff makes it significantly better on average than every other ability.
As an example, in 5.10 Devastating Blast should regularly hit for ~25k during Ferocity while the next best abilities (either Vicious Throw or Gore, which are very similar in damage) did around half damage when not a critical hit and around 2-3k less damage even when they did crit.
This rule causes Devastating Blast to be delayed around 1 GCD to use during each Ferocity but I feel like this is a DPS gain versus ever using Devastating Blast outside of Ferocity. It also simplifies the thought process for other abilities since you only every need 1-2 more abilities saved for Ferocity since you know Devastating Blast will always take one slot.
5. Use nearly all Ferocity charges on abilities other than Massacre. Since Ferocity grants charges that have a 10 second duration (6 GCDs), there is never a good reason to use Massacre instead of Devastating Blast, Gore, Ravage or Vicious Throw. Massacre does significantly less damage than the others so it is a DPS loss to use during Ferocity. If Ferocity is activated and the big hitters are on cooldown for a GCD, use Assault or Dual Saber Throw (they will not consume Ferocity) and then use the big hitters. Devastating Blast in particular has a shorter cooldown than Ferocity so it should be available during every Ferocity window.
(If taking Fanged God Form tactical) Ravage was customarily used as a Ferocity-only ability prior to 6.0 and in some rotations even in 6.x. If you are running Fanged God Form, Ravage can be excluded entirely from the rotation. Where Ravage would ordinarily have a floating place in the Ferocity window under the old rotation, now you should use Massacre as the first ability in a Ferocity window. The rotation should ensure that Massacre has +30% critical chance due to the tactical buff and will be +2 Rage since it will be free due to the tactical buff but still refund 2 Rage. See the Ferocity Priority discussion below for more details.
6. (Without Fanged God Form tactical) Use Battering Assault on CD, preferably the GCD before Ferocity. I have this rule since (1) it is important to have available Rage to use your Ferocity charges quickly; and (2) Battering Assault has the same cooldown as Ferocity. Since Carnage is so free-flowing, I think anything possible to make Carnage feel more like a rotation than a priority system helps. I usually try to time my abilities so that I go Battering Assault < Massacre < Ferocity every time, since that ensures Massacre buff is active during Ferocity and that I have enough Rage during Ferocity as well.
(With Fanged God Form tactical) Use Battering Assault every other Ferocity. If running the Fanged God Form tactical, you can get away with using Battering Assault less often for energy and can increase DPS by using Massacre in that GCD. A typical rotation will use Battering Assault every other Ferocity. Since Battering Assault is not being used on cooldown, its place in the rotation is a little more flexible as long as it does not interrupt Massacre spam windows. The most efficient place will be right after a Ferocity window before beginning Massacre spam.
7. (Advanced if not taking Fanged God Form) Use big hitting abilities outside Ferocity in certain circumstances. Per #5 above, we want to make sure every Ferocity charge (2-3 per Ferocity window) is used on Devastating Blast, Gore, Ravage, and Vicious Throw. Since per #4, we typically will use Devastating Blast for 1 of those slots each time, that leaves 1-2 slots for the remaining three abilities. Sometimes it is optimal to use one of these outside of Ferocity if it means delaying the ability another 12s / 8 GCDs until the next Ferocity. This is only optimal if using it early will not force you to use Massacre on a Ferocity charge.
For example, if coming out of Ferocity you have Ravage and Gore coming off cooldown prior to Ferocity and you will NOT have Berserk up prior to Ferocity, I would use Ravage during the filler phase. That gets Ravage on cooldown so it will be up sooner and can be used more often during the fight. Opportune Attack will take up one Ferocity charge and Gore the other, so we are good until the next Ferocity window.
(If taking Fanged God Form) You should only spam Massacre outside Ferocity windows so this rule does not apply.
8. Use Furious Power to buff abilities during Ferocity. We ideally want to use Furious Power to maintain as high uptime as possible on the +10% overall damage buff from the Descent of the Fearless set bonus. Also, we want to apply the Furious Power stacks to make sure the individual ability +25% damage is applied to abilities during Ferocity when they will already be hitting very hard.
Furious Power applies to all Carnage rotational abilities except Devastating Blast. As such it should be prioritized for Gore or Vicious Throw if possible but using it on Massacre during Ferocity is fine also. Any time multiple charges are available try to activate Furious Power leading into Ferocity so as many are consumed during its armor penetration buff as possible.
Opener (Fanged God Form) (# of Rage)
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(Pre-fight) Build 30 stacks of Fury - Having Berserk available in the opener is key to get a third charge of Ferocity as well as the alacrity buff to get as many attacks in the adrenal / raid buff / relic proc window.
Force Charge (3) - Gap closer and Rage generation
Battering Assault (9) - Used to build Rage.
Berserk OFF GCD
Furious Power OFF GCD - Used here to apply the Descent of the Fearless +10% damage buff and start using charges on the next 4 abilities (Massacre x3 and Vicious Throw).
Massacre (8) - Used before opening the burst window to apply the Massacre buff and proc Execute and Slaughter passives.
Frenzy OFF GCD
Bloodthirst OFF GCD
Adrenal OFF GCD
Ferocity (7) OFF GCD
Massacre (7) - Used here to get additional Hyper stacks and since it is free due to the energy cost savings from Hyper stacks and Berserk.
Vicious Throw (8) - Vicious Throw should be procced via Slaughter at this point. It deals heavy damage, has a buffed critical chance due to the Hyper stacks and is net positive to energy.
Devastating Blast (6) - Execute should have been procced by earlier uses of Massacre, making Devastating Blast an automatic crit. Devastating Blast does significantly more damage during Ferocity and while procced than any other ability, so if at all possible it should be used during the opening Ferocity and early enough that it will be off CD in the second Ferocity window.
Massacre (5) - Now that the Ferocity window is ended, we begin Massacre spam to take full advantage of Fanged God Form. This use is still buffed by Berserk and has 0 Hyper stacks.
Massacre (5) - Massacre spam, buffed by Berserk and 1 Hyper stack
Massacre (5) - Massacre spam, 2 Hyper stacks
Massacre (6) - Massacre spam, 3 Hyper stacks
Massacre (7) - Massacre spam, 3 Hyper stacks
Ferocity (6) - Used on cooldown
Gore (3) - High priority ability during Ferocity
Devastating Blast (1) - Highest damage ability and should be an auto-crit so used during each Ferocity window
Battering Assault (7) - Rage generation
(continue rotation beginning with Massacre x5 leading into Berserk / Ferocity window)
Note on Furious Power in Opener
It can be tough to predict exactly how often Furious Power stacks will be generated from Descent of the Fearless. I have intentionally omitted Furious Power from the opener except its initial application. Ideally Furious Power should be used immediately prior to Ferocity. See additional discussion on Furious Power below.
Note on Rage in Opener
This opener assumes no Rage generation through utility selection, which either require taking damage (Cloak of Rage), stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around (Inexorable), or using Bloodthirst (Thirst for Rage). It also assumes you begin at 0 Rage.
If the player has extra Rage entering the opener or can count on extra Rage from these utilities, it is a DPS increase to swap Gore and Vicious Throw in the opener so Gore is used during the first Ferocity window. It is difficult to use Gore in the first Ferocity window but is preferable due to dealing higher damage, applying an armor debuff, getting it on cooldown earlier and a slight chance that Vicious Throw may not proc.
Rotation (Fanged God Form) (# of Rage)
Rotation Overview
The normal rotation with Fanged God Form is fairly simple and only has 5 activated abilities and 2 off-GCD abilities prior to things like raid buffs, defensives, etc. The rotation is designed around the use of Ferocity on cooldown every 8 GCDs or 12 seconds prior to alacrity. In the first Berserk-Ferocity block, we get 3 abilities under Ferocity then 5 fillers, then the next non-Berserk Ferocity block we get 2 abilities under Ferocity then 6 fillers.
We want to use Devastating Blast as the last ability in each Ferocity window, alternate Vicious Throw and Gore for the second Ferocity window, and for every other Ferocity buffed by Berserk we use an extra Massacre.
Outside Ferocity we primarily spam Massacre five times. This repetition is critical due to how Fanged God Form works. Normally Massacre costs 2 Rage or 1 Rage when buffed by Berserk, so 5 uses of Massacre would cost between 5 and 10 Rage. Under Fanged God Form, using Massacre five consecutive times will cost 2 Rage normally and will generate 3 Rage if coming out of a Berserk-buffed Ferocity window.
For the Ferocity window without Berserk, we only have 7 abilities (2 under Ferocity + 5 Massacre spam) so using Battering Assault naturally fits in for Rage generation. We need that anyway since the non-Berserk rotation is net negative for Rage due to Gore and the Massacre spam.
We use Massacre as the extra ability during Berserk-buffed Ferocity and the first one in order since that makes it net positive for Rage and lets us carry over the +30% critical buff to Vicious Throw.
Lastly, we use Battering Assault coming out of the non-Berserk Ferocity window so that we have Rage for the Massacre spam. Also, that lets us line up 6 consecutive Massacres (5 then we hit Berserk + Ferocity and Massacre one more time) so the buffs line up to make the Ferocity window even stronger.
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Berserk OFF GCD (6) Used prior to every other Ferocity window
Ferocity OFF GCD (5) Used on cooldown
Massacre (6) Uses the third Ferocity charge during Berserk, this use carries over the Hyper stacks from a previous rotation's Massacre spam, so it has +30% critical and generates Rage
Vicious Throw (7) The rotation alternates between Vicious Throw and Gore in successive Ferocity windows. Vicious Throw deals heavy damage and generates Rage with the Slaughter passive proc
Devastating Blast (5) Highest damaging ability that should be an auto-crit due to the Execute passive proc and is used as the last ability in each Ferocity window. It is used last so that the +30% critical buff from Massacre spam Hyper stacks is applied to either Vicious Throw or Gore (which are not auto-crits) instead of Devastating Blast that should be an auto-crit
Massacre (4) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (4) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (5) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (6) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (7) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Ferocity OFF GCD (6) Used on cooldown
Gore (3) The rotation alternates between Vicious Throw and Gore in successive Ferocity windows. Gore deals heavy damage but uses 3 Rage so is much more expensive than Vicious Throw that generates 1 Rage
Devastating Blast (1) Biggest hitter, see above, using on cooldown
Battering Assault (7) We use here prior to Massacre spam for Rage generation. Since we used Gore instead of Vicious Throw during Ferocity and do not have Berserk partially applying to the the upcoming Massacre spam, we need the Rage generation here to avoid running dry
Massacre (5) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (4) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (4) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (5) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Massacre (6) Outside Ferocity windows and use of Battering Assault for Rage generation, we only use Massacre
Ataru Form
I want to briefly discuss the importance of Ataru Form and maintaining the Massacre buff. Ataru Form by default provides a 20% chance for each melee attack to trigger Ataru and deal additional weapon damage, and can potentially trigger every GCD. Massacre provides a buff of the same name that increases the chance of Ataru Form triggering by 30% (up to 50% total) for 6s / 4 GCDs.
Also worth noting is that every ability, with the exception of Devastating Blast and Vicious Throw, uses both lightsabers to hit the target (ranging from 2-5 attacks depending on the ability). This means the effective chance of Ataru Form triggering is significantly higher than 50% per GCD.
For most abilities that have 2 attacks per activation (hits with main lightsaber and off-hand lightsaber), that means without the Massacre buff the effective chance of triggering Ataru (and dealing extra damage) is 36% while having the Massacre buff increases the Ataru effective chance to 75%.
This discussion means it is highly important to maintain the Massacre buff with nearly 100% uptime. It deals a notable amount of free damage over the course of an encounter, and proccing Ataru nearly every GCD will help maximize the availability of Devastating Blast’s guaranteed critical chance via the Execute passive ability, as well as Vicious Throw via the Slaughter passive ability. Ataru also procs Frenzied Sabers and can maintain a permanent 6% DR and defense buff if procced regularly.
Ferocity
Ferocity is the signature ability for Carnage. It was also reworked in 5.6. Prior to 5.6, its buff had a fixed duration that was designed to allow 2 abilities to be used with its buff. Unfortunately, that penalized players with high latency. To achieve maximum DPS, players were forced to try and “clip” certain abilities like Dual Saber Throw and Vicious Throw where they were activated before Ferocity, which was used during the GCD after activation such that the damage still counted within the buff window. This enabled players with high skill (and low latency) to get a third ability to benefit from Ferocity.
That was all fixed in 5.6 such that Ferocity provides a fixed number of charges applying the 100% armor debuff. Ferocity grants TWO charges normally but THREE charges when under the effects of Berserk.
How powerful is the 100% armor penetration buff from Ferocity? Many operation bosses have around 40% overall damage resistance through armor, so normally attacks deal 60% damage. It is important to note the tooltips damage listing already incorporates this reduction, thus why you never see it absent any abilities that buff armor penetration. Side note - This also explains why attacks that have armor penetration or bypass damage resistance (e.g., attacks that deal internal/elemental damage) will deal significantly more damage than stated.
Carnage Marauder, like every other melee DPS class, applies a 20% armor debuff (Carnage applies it via Gore). Due to the diminishing returns on armor rating, a 20% reduction in armor rating doesn’t reduce the boss’s damage mitigation from 40% to 32% as one would expect, but only reduces it to about 35%. Thus, normal attacks (and damage listed on the tooltips) would ordinarily only be dealing 65% of the damage of which they are capable due to boss armor. Due to the armor penetration of Ferocity, attacks benefiting from the buff will deal 100% out of a normal 65%, which represents about a 54% damage increase. This represents an enormous damage increase and prioritizing the biggest hitting abilities in the Ferocity window is critical to maximizing DPS.
It is important to note that Battering Assault, Dual Saber Throw and Assault do NOT consume a Ferocity charge. As such, it is acceptable to use Battering Assault or Dual Saber Throw during Ferocity to keep them on CD without wasting the armor penetration buff on a lower damage ability. It’s also acceptable to spam Assault if you have insufficient Rage to use a heavy hitting ability, though try to avoid that at all times.
Use of Berserk
Berserk is really powerful for Carnage and makes it play super fast when played optimally. Prior to 5.6, Berserk provided an alacrity boost with a duration. After 5.6, Berserk was changed to generate 6 charges that apply the alacrity buff. What does this mean? It means that you will get the 30% alacrity buff on 6 abilities even if you do not have high APMs. However, the Berserk alacrity buff is only a DPS increase if you are clicking abilities as quickly as they come off CD under the alacrity buff. As such, it is important to keep clicking. For the most part, it is better to use sub-optimal abilities at high APMs rather than taking the time to use the “right” ability. That said, try to internalize the priority system so you can keep clicking and take advantage of Carnage’s amazing speed.
Use of Furious Power
Furious Power is a powerful off GCD ability added in 6.0 to the Sith Warrior disciplines (all Juggernaut and Marauder disciplines). The ability can naturally accumulate up to 4 charges and refreshes 1 charge every 30 seconds. Using the ability applies all available charges to stacks of Furious Power that are consumed individually as eligible abilities are activated. Each eligible ability consumes 1 Furious Power charge and its damage is increased by 25%. Furious Power can only apply to weapon attacks so Force attacks cannot be buffed by Furious Power.
Furious Power is significantly buffed by the Descent of the Fearless set bonus. The full six-piece set bonus provides two huge benefits to each discipline's DPS potential. First, each time a charge of Furious Power is generated or consumed the set bonus applies a buff that increases all damage by 10% for 10 seconds. Second, every time you deal damage you have a 10% chance to generate 1 charge of Furious Power with a 5 second cooldown on this benefit.
So how does this impact Carnage? We have two related but sometimes conflicting goals:
Keep as high uptime as possible on the overall +10% damage buff
Apply as many Furious Power charges as possible to high damage abilities instead of fillers
The Carnage discipline is designed around the Ferocity ability to provide high damage burst windows, so our strategy around Furious Power is centered on how it interacts with Ferocity since that is when we do most of our overall damage. Our default strategy to keep it simple would seem to be to simply use Furious Power together with Ferocity. Let's consider whether that makes sense as an optimal strategy, or at least close enough to optimal to make it preferable for its simplicity and ease to remember during a chaotic boss fight or PVP match.
Ferocity has a 12 second cooldown, so if we simply use Furious Power along with Ferocity there is a risk of losing some uptime on the 10% buff if we do not generate any charges during that time.
What are the chances of generating an additional charge within 10 seconds? Most Marauder abilities deal damage with the mainhand and off-hand so such attacks get two 10% rolls to proc the set bonus. In aggregate that means every attack that hits twice actually has a 19% chance to proc the set bonus. By my count each rotation block between uses of Ferocity will typically have around 14 separate instances of dealing damage so 14 rolls to proc the 10% set bonus. My rough math suggests that means we have nearly an 80% chance to proc a charge and refresh our 10 second timer on the +10% damage buff.
Keep in mind also that you will naturally get an additional charge every 30 seconds, meaning you will get up to 10 "bonus" seconds of +10% uptime as that timer ticks.
As for how to apply abilities to maximize the benefit of their +25% buff to individual abilities, using Furious Power together with Ferocity makes logical sense. Devastating Blast is the only rotational ability not eligible to be buffed by Furious Power but Vicious Throw, Gore and Massacre are all abilities used during Ferocity that can be buffed. We absolutely want to combine the 100% armor penetration of Ferocity with the +25% damage from Furious Power.
To summarize, the general strategy for Carnage Marauders is to use Furious Power with Ferocity whenever possible.
Here are a few more thoughts and tips around exceptions to the above rule:
During the opener we use Furious Power after Battering Assault but before Massacre and then Ferocity. We do that because we want to get the +10% buff applied almost immediately and since we have 4 charges of Furious Power we can use one prior to Ferocity on Massacre, use two charges on Massacre during Ferocity and Vicious Throw (or maybe Gore if we have extra Rage and can afford the swap) and then another use of Massacre after Ferocity. The key here is all abilities are buffed during Ferocity.
If we have multiple charges of Furious Power we may want to activate it a GCD prior to Ferocity. We can use 1 Furious Power charge during a normal Ferocity window and 2 charges during a Berserk-buffed Ferocity window. If we have an extra charge leading into that window, I would suggest activating Furious Power prior to the use of Massacre leading into Ferocity. The pre-Ferocity Massacre will have +30% critical buff from Hyper stacks and will likely deal more damage from the Furious Power buff than the post-Ferocity Massacre (or worse, Battering Assault) that will not have any Hyper stack buffs.
If we do not have a Furious Power charge available for Ferocity, wait to use Furious Power until the next Ferocity. If we do not have a charge then we can not use it for Ferocity. When we do get a charge from either natural regeneration or the set bonus proccing, that will re-start the window on our 10% damage buff already. As such, there is no need to hit Furious Power immediately and we can save it for the next Ferocity window. The RNG gods giveth and they taketh away.
Opener (as of 5.10 or without Fanged God Form)
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(Pre-fight) Build 30 stacks of Fury - Having Berserk available in the opener is key to get a third charge of Ferocity as well as the alacrity buff to get as many attacks in the adrenal / raid buff / relic proc window.
Force Charge - Gap closer
Berserk OFF GCD
Massacre - Used before opening the burst window to apply the Massacre buff. We use it before Battering Assault so that the ability's multiple attacks are highly likely to proc Execute and Slaughter, making Devastating Blast an auto-crit and Vicious Throw useable.
Battering Assault - Used to build Rage and to likely proc Execute and Devastating Blast.
Frenzy OFF GCD
Bloodthirst + Adrenal OFF GCD
Ferocity OFF GCD
Devastating Blast - Used here assuming Execute procced (so ability is glowing) making Devastating Blast an automatic crit. If Devastating Blast is not glowing, let it slide down the next 2 GCDs and use as soon as it procs. Devastating Blast does significantly more damage during Ferocity and while procced than any other ability, so if at all possible it should be used during the opening Ferocity and early enough that it will be off CD in the second Ferocity window.
Gore - Next priority for Ferocity assuming Devastating Blast was used as an auto-crit in the previous GCD.
Ravage - Next priority ability for Ferocity. It is likely that Vicious Throw would also be available by this slot due to previous abilities proccing Slaughter. Using Ravage here gets it on cooldown so it will be available sooner, while Vicious Throw can be delayed until the next Ferocity window without delaying its uptime. Since Slaughter can only be procced every 20 seconds but Vicious Throw's cooldown is only 10 seconds, that means we can safely delay a procced Vicious Throw 10 seconds (and in some cases slightly more) without any rotational issues or DPS loss.
Massacre - Now that the Ferocity window is ended, we immediately use Massacre to re-apply the Massacre buff. We may have lost the buff for 1 GCD during the Ferocity window. I view this as acceptable since using Massacre before Battering Assault gets us a highly likely chance to us Devastating Blast first and buffed in Ferocity, or at worst delaying it 1 GCD. Using Battering Assault -> Massacre -> Ferocity would maintain 100% uptime of Massacre but would likely delay Devastating Blast such that it will not be available in the next Ferocity window.
Dual Saber Throw - Massacre buff is active so we use Dual Saber Throw to generate Rage and deal damage.
Massacre - No open heavy hitters (we need to save Vicious Throw for Ferocity) so Massacre.
Battering Assault - Battering Assault should always be used 1-2 GCDs before Ferocity. It has an identical cooldown as Ferocity and using it shortly prior to Ferocity ensures you have Rage to immediately use heavy hitting abilities during Ferocity.
Ferocity - Used on cooldown.
Vicious Throw - We saved the Vicious Throw from the earlier Slaughter proc for this Ferocity window since Gore and Ravage are still both on cooldown.
Devastating Blast - Assuming we got the highly likely proc and were able to use Devstating Blast during the 1st or 2nd GCDs of the first Ferocity, it should be usable to consume the second Ferocity charge here.
Massacre - Used here to reapply Massacre buff after 4 GCDs.
(continue priority rotation)
Ferocity Priority (as of 5.10 or without Fanged God Form)
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Devastating Blast - Devastating Blast should be a guaranteed crit and using it during each Ferocity makes it by far the best damaging ability. If Gore and Vicious Throw crit they do around 90% of the damage, but if they do not crit they typically do around 50% or so of the damage.
Gore - Gore typically does around the same damage as Vicious Throw in my experience. I rank it above Vicious Throw because using it first will get it off cooldown faster and enable its more frequent use in a fight, whereas Vicious Throw can only be used once every 20 seconds due to its reliance on the Slaughter proc (if >30% boss health).
Vicious Throw (procced during/prior to previous Ferocity) - Vicious Throw does more damage than Ravage. If it procced during or prior to the previous Ferocity window (so at least 10 seconds ago) it needs to be prioritized to avoid delaying its use during the next Slaughter.
Ravage - Ravage does noticeably less damage then Devastating Blast, Gore or Vicious Throw. That said, it still does significantly more damage than Massacre so takes priority for Ferocity. Due to its long cooldown, delaying it for Ferocity is a DPS gain in most circumstances.
Vicious Throw (procced during or immediately before Ferocity) - If Vicious Throw is newly procced then it can be delayed for Ravage even though it typically does more damage. That is because it is locked by Slaughter for 20 seconds, so its delay for 1 Ferocity window will not typically reduce its uptime in a fight.
Massacre - Massacre should almost never be used during Ferocity so takes the lowest priority of all abilities that consume a Ferocity charge.
(note Battering Assault, Dual Saber Throw and Assault do not consume Ferocity charges)
Filler Priority (as of 5.10 or without Fanged God Form)
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------ONLY if you have “extra” abilities for next Ferocity window------
Vicious Throw
Ravage
Gore
Devastating Blast
------used if you need to save big hitters for next Ferocity window ------
Massacre (if needed to keep up Massacre buff)
Battering Assault (if its use will not cap Rage)
Massacre (if Berserk is active)
Dual Saber Throw
Massacre
Assault (if low on Rage)
Filler Discussion (as of 5.10 or without Fanged God Form)
Along with balancing ability use in Ferocity and building sufficient Fury to ensure Berserk can be used on cooldown while always buffing Ferocity, the overall hardest decision making process for Carnage is what to use for filler abilities. Ferocity has a 12s / 8 GCD cooldown and will either grant 2 or 3 charges. Battering Assault (with an identical cooldown to Ferocity) should always take up one filler slot to maximize Rage generation. Massacre also needs to be used twice per 8 GCD block (once every 4 GCDs) to ensure full uptime of the Massacre buff (which boosts Ataru form proc chance from 20% to 50%). That leaves between 2 and 3 filler slots available for choosing between high damage abilities and low damage fillers.
During the filler phase, a skilled player needs to be looking ahead to see which of the heavy hitting abilities (Devastating Blast, Gore, Ravage, Vicious Throw) will be available for Ferocity and whether Berserk will be available (it should be available every other Ferocity window). If you have more abilities than needed, then you should utilize the heavy hitters during filler slots. This gets them on cooldown so they will be available sooner, and as long as you have enough big hitters during Ferocity, then the increase in uptime of the abilities is optimal.
For example, if I exit a Ferocity window without Berserk, I know that I *should* have Berserk available before the next Ferocity. I need to ensure I have THREE big hitters available. If I look at the cooldowns and see that Devastating Blast, Gore, Ravage and Vicious Throw will all be available, I will use one of them during the filler phase to get it on cooldown. I will still have three big hitters to use up my Ferocity stacks so will not lose DPS. In that scenario, I would use Ravage during filler phase since (1) Vicious Throw’s Slaughter proc has a 20 second duration but Vicious Throw only has a 10s cooldown, so as long as the proc hasn’t been active prior to the previous Ferocity it is safe to delay; and (2) Massacre does less overall damage than Devastating Blast and Gore so using another would be a DPS loss relative to the Ferocity damage buff.
Defensive Abilities
Marauders have a strong arsenal of defensive cooldowns and abilities. Compared to the other Sith Warrior advanced class, the Sith Juggernaut, Marauders require a bit more skill to take full advantage of their defensive abilities. Nevertheless, when played well Marauders can mitigate significant damage and in many cases return damage to the enemy.
Cloak of Pain (1 minute cooldown) - Reduces all damage taken by 20% and deals energy damage to attackers. This effect cannot occur more than once every second. Lasts 10 seconds. Cloak of Pain refreshes to its full duration when attacked, but this effect cannot last more than 30 seconds in total.
Cloak of Pain can also be buffed by a variety of utilities:
Cloak of Carnage (Skillful utility) – Increases the damage dealt by Cloak of Pain by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds.
Cloak of Rage (Skillful utility) – While Cloak of Pain is active, it generates 1 Rage whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.
Subjugation (Masterful utility) - Cloak of Pain can be used while stunned.
Cloak of Annihilation (Masterful utility) - Each use of Assault, Battering Assault, and Crippling Slash reduces the active cooldown of Cloak of Pain by 3 seconds.
Cloak of Pain is a great defensive ability that also contributes damage if used optimally. Reducing damage taken by 20% is not enough to mitigate massive damage at high health but is amazing for sustained high damage phases (e.g., burn phase in Dread Council, etc.). I usually take Cloak of Carnage and Cloak of Rage for operations. Subjugation is situationally useful for fights with stun mechanics (e.g., Dismantler swipe in Draxus encounter). I do not recommend Cloak of Annihilation as its abilities are not used frequently enough to be that beneficial.
Saber Ward (3 minute cooldown) - Raises a lightsaber ward, increasing melee and ranged defenses by 50% and absorbing 25% of the damage taken from Force and Tech attacks. Lasts 12 seconds.
Saber Ward can be buffed by the Blood Ward Heroic utility. If taking the utility, activating Saber Ward grants immunity to stun, sleep, lift, and incapacitating effects for 6 seconds, and getting attacked while Saber Ward is active heals you for 3% of your maximum health. This healing effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Saber Ward is the Marauder's long duration / long cooldown big defensive ability. Marauders have a base defense chance of 5% assuming no gearing for Defense, so with Saber Ward active the defense chance is buffed to 55%. That level of defense chance is nice but is risky for mitigating high damage attacks if you fail to dodge. Fortunately, weapon attack mechanics tend to consist of multiple attacks so the defense buff is still helpful. The 25% reduction to Force/Tech damage taken is far more reliable to help mitigate damage mechanics in my opinion.
I rarely take the Blood Ward utility. The immunity to various effects could be situationally helpful for a few specific mechanics but the heal is unlikely to be useful outside of PvP.
Force Camouflage (45 second cooldown) - Obscures yourself with the Force, becoming difficult to detect, reducing your threat towards all enemies, reducing all damage taken by 50%, granting immunity to controlling effects, and increasing movement speed by 30%. Lasts 4 seconds. Dealing direct damage ends the effect prematurely.
Expunging Camouflage (Masterful utility) - Force Camouflage removes all cleansable effects when activated.
Phantom (Masterful utility) - Increases your movement speed by 15% and the movement speed bonus of Force Camouflage by 20%. Additionally, increases the duration of Force Camouflage by 2 seconds.
Hidden Savagery (Heroic utility) - While Force Camouflage is active, you gain a charge of Hidden Savagery every 0.5 seconds. Each charge of Hidden Savagery increases the damage dealt by your next melee attack by 4%. Stacks up to 12 charges and lasts for up to 6 seconds after exiting Force Camouflage.
Force Camouflage is a really great defensive ability but requires skill to use effectively. The threat drop effect is the only way for Marauders to drop aggro, which is nice. The self cleanse (with utility) is extremely useful for fights that require cleanses, especially if your team’s composition involves Powertechs or Snipers that cannot self cleanse.
The 50% reduction in damage taken for 4 seconds (6 with utility) is amazingly strong if used properly. The key to its use is timing Force Camouflage immediately prior to a predictable high damage mechanic and waiting to activate any attack abilities until after the damage goes out and is successfully mitigated.
I frequently take Expunging Camouflage for any fights where a self cleanse is useful. I may take Phantom for fights with predictable high damage mechanics to give me a little more margin for error when using it to mitigate damage.
Hidden Savagery is extremely situational and rarely useful as it changes Force Camouflage from a strong defensive ability and self-cleanse to a very specific offensive cooldown for downtime. The key to using Hidden Savagery is activating Force Camouflage during downtime or transition phases where you have 6 seconds of downtime. This lets you build 12 charges and buffs your first ability when re-engaging the boss by 48%. This is also frequently used in parsing to add more damage in the opener. I do not recommend Hidden Savagery as few fights have enough downtime to be useful and Force Camouflage is more useful as a self cleanse and defensive ability in my opinion.
Undying Rage (2:30 minute cooldown) - Reduces the damage you take by 99% for 6 seconds.
Undying Rage can be buffed by the Undying Masterful utility. The utility increases the duration of Undying Rage by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.
Undying Rage is a great ability to mitigate one hit kill mechanics. Unlike cheese abilities like Force Shroud or Saber Reflect (or Blade Blitz…), there are some abilities that Undying Rage will not mitigate since they deal so much damage that even taking 1% will still kill you. However, the majority of one hit kill mechanics can be mitigated with Undying Rage. It can also be really useful if a tank dies and you get aggro, since Undying Rage will give you just enough time taking no damage for a healer to get a battle rez out and a couple heals on the tank so they can grab the boss back.
I do not usually take Undying but may take it if I think there is a decent chance I could end up with aggro on a boss due to a tank death or pulling aggro. Absent that situation, I feel that the extra duration is not helpful since most big hitting mechanics last less than 4 seconds, and the cooldown reduction is not that helpful on most fights either.
Mad Dash (45 second cooldown) - Madly dash forward 20 meters, dealing weapon damage to enemies in your path and increasing your defense chance by 100% while blitzing. Cannot be used while immobilized or hindered.
Mad Dash can be buffed by the Through Victory Heroic utility. With the utility, Mad Dash can be used while immobilized, purges movement-impairing effects when activated, and deals 50% more damage. Additionally, the cooldown of Mad Dash is reduced by 10 seconds.
Mad Dash is a great mobility and defensive ability. It can be used to move around the map together with Force Charge and Predation, but it really shines as a defensive ability. Most damage mechanics can be mitigated through good timing of Mad Dash. However, timing it correctly can take some practice so be careful with it until you get comfortable with the timing for a given mechanic.
Obfuscate (1 minute cooldown, 4m range) - Obscures the target's vision, reducing its melee and ranged accuracy by 90% for 6 seconds. Cannot be used on Operation bosses. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.
Pacify can be buffed by various utilities:
Ruthless Aggressor (Heroic utility) - Vicious Throw refunds 2 Rage when used on a target affected by your Obfuscate and can be used on any target affected by your Obfuscate, regardless of remaining health. Additionally, activating Obfuscate grants Ruthless Aggressor, reducing the damage you take from Force and Tech attacks by 75% for 6 seconds.
Subjugation (Masterful utility) - Reduces the cooldown of Obfuscate by 15 seconds and increases its range by 6 meters. In addition, the cooldown of Disruption is reduced by 2 seconds, and Cloak of Pain can be used while stunned.
Obfuscate is a neat defensive cooldown that is primarily PvP oriented but with the Ruthless Aggressor utility it becomes a really powerful defensive cooldown. The big downside to this option is that operations bosses cannot be targeted by Obfuscate to activate the damage resistance. However, it could be useful on fights with adds that can be targeted by Obfuscate.
The Marauder can also take a variety of other utilities that help improve overall survivability:
Brazen (Skillful utility) - Increases your damage reduction by 2%
Defensive Roll (Skillful utility) - Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%.
I usually take both Brazen and Defensive Roll. Extra damage resistance is always helpful and internal/elemental damage resistance is particularly valuable since it is very uncommon.
The Marauder also has a variety of active and passive abilities that help improve overall survivability:
Frenzied Sabers (passive skill) - Dealing damage with an Ataru Form strike increases your damage reduction and melee and ranged defense chance by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 10 seconds.
Force Vigor (passive skill) - Increases damage reduction by 2%. In addition, Dual Saber Throw builds 2 Rage.
These passives give Combat very high uptime on +8% damage reduction and +6% melee/ranged defense chance. The defense chance is not very powerful but the +8% DR is really nice.