Comprehensive Marauder Class Guide

[Duty]

Marauders: The Gift of Change Itself

Hello again readers! Welcome to the Marauder class guide. Current version is 1.0.0, for Warhammer release. This guide will be regularly updated as new information becomes available and Mythic patches the game. The spell icons may take a minute to load, so please be patient.

Herein you will find discussion and tips on how best to use the profane gifts bestowed on your Norseman by the Lord of Change himself, with a mostly RvR focus. The Marauder is a very fun class, and my personal preference for Melee DPS. In this guide you should expect explanations of what makes the Marauder unique and how to capitalize on those unique abilities. You will also learn about the different mastery paths of the Marauder, which other Destruction careers the Marauder has synergies with, and how best to gear and spend your Renown Points.

This guide will be for slightly experienced players and assumes the reader knows the basics of the game, as well as basic MMO terminology and acronyms.

For a basic guide dealing with all MDPS classes, refer to my guide titled The Melee DPS Survival Guide. In that guide you will find basic tips and strategies that pertain to all MDPS classes, including the Marauder. Please note that this guide is made to compliment my MDPS guide, so some things, such as "how to do best in a scenario battle," are left out due to already being covered.


Before we get started, here is a complete list of Marauder skills and abilities:
Action Abilities
Tactics
Morale Abilities
Renown Options

Why the Marauder?

So you're looking over the classes, you know you want to play a melee class and your guild is Destruction. Healers aren't your thing so you rule out the Disciple. Heavy armor is cool and all, but strapping on a shield and soaking up damage isn't too appealing. No, you want to do DAMAGE, and lots of it! You want to see your name in the kill spam and enemies trembling before you! You don't want to play a sneaky wuss like the Witch Elf, you want to play...

The Marauder!

Ok, ok, so maybe that isn't exactly what you were thinking. There are mechanics reasons that set the Marauder apart from tanks and Witch Elves, mechanics you'll learn to use to your advantage if you are to be successful.

Obviously the Marauder differs from tanks in that tanks are designed to soak up damage, to bring it upon themselves, whereas Marauders and Witch Elves are designed to do as much damage as possible. Tanks do have an offensive mastery path to them, and indeed Black Orcs can reach quite a high damage threshold. However, their damage potential will never reach that of either MDPS class. To make up for it, offensive minded tanks retain many of their defensive capabilities such as Guard and Hold the Line. Basically, if you want to do damage, but have some support skills, you may consider a tank. If you just want to do damage, keep reading.

Marauders have key differences from their Witch Elf cousins as well. Witch Elves will honestly out damage you on a single target...their specialty is assassinating a single target at a time. Marauders have some skills that greatly bridge this gap, and in my opinion exceed it to the point that I prefer them well over Witch Elves. First, the Marauder is much more capable of AoE damage, especially if he is a Monstrosity Marauder. This is quite significant, as Monstrosity's AoE power is quite strong. Second, the Marauder is much better at keeping up with runners. Although Agile Escape is a better escaping mechanism then Charge!, it can't be used to run down get-aways. There is also no equal to the Marauder's tentacle, which is significant in keeping up with kills as well as pulling people off walls and into zergs. Although it is minor, it is worthy of noting that Marauders have access to medium armor vs the Witch Elf's light armor, as well as much better anti-tank debuffs such as Pulverize.

So the reason to play a Marauder is the damage over a tank, and greater utility over a Witch Elf. Mastering the use of their detaunt, Charge, and the tentacle are the true keys to mastering the Marauder. Knowing how to use his AoE damage and great debuffs will be important depending on which mastery path you wish to take.

Commentary on Base Abilities

Core Skills:

Flee
Obtained at level 1
All classes get this ability. It's main use is of course escaping battle. Using Flee and then Charge!, in that order, will cause the effects to stack, giving you a huge runspeed increase.

Throw Axe
Obtained at level 1
3.75 damage per ap, 50 dps
Marauders have plenty of ways to catch runners, it should be rare you will use this skill. Unlike the tank version, it doesn't do a huge amount of damage when the opponent is almost dead.

Charge!
Obtained at level 10
This skill, more then any other, defines the "Brawler MDPS" type. Only White Lions and Marauders have it. It's main use is catching runners that use Flee, but it is also used as an escape. Using Flee then Charge!, in that order, will make the buffs stack and give you a sort of super speed.

Wave of Horror
Obtained at level 10
A very underestimated skill. This is a primary escape skill. If you need to get out of a situation, hit this then Flee/Charge.

Death Grip
Obtained at level 16
Due to immunities, you can only use this once every 30s on the same target. However, if you parry target A, you can disarm target B just the same.

Mutating Release
Obtained at level 18
All melee get a similar skill, and it's a godsend. Used to counter any rooting effect, or a snare if you really need to.

Terrible Embrace
Obtained at level 40
A skill unique to the Marauder. Use this to pull players into your zerg, off walls, or casters back to you when they root you. It's a shame that this skill is vulnerable to spell pushback, yet has a shorter range then most instant spells of casters. This can cause problems with kiting if they never let you within range in the first place. Please don't macro "Get Over Here!" to this...


Savagery Skills:

Rend
Obtained at level 2
Efficiency/DPS ratings coming after tooltip fix
Rend is the main damage ability for Savagery Marauders. Other Marauders will forsake it in favor of other skills. Each application restarts the "next tick" timer, so you'll do 0 damage with the DoT portion if you stack 3 in a row, until you wait 2 seconds for it to begin.

Corruption
Obtained at level 4
3.68 dmg/ap, 61.33 dps
A main Savagery debuff that they will want to keep on the focus target. Most Brutality and Monstrosity Marauders will not use this too much (although there are situations that call for it).

Touch of Rot
Obtained at level 9
Useful on any melee character, it will do significant damage whenever they use a melee ability. An average melee player will use 4-5 abilties in 10s provided he is in range. This makes this skill's potential very high. As Monstrosity you generally will forsake this skill except in 1v1 situations in favor of Flail. As Savagery you'll use it more often.

Tainted Claw
Obtained at level 12
4.1 d/ap, 82 dps
With the tactic that enhances this to a 75% healing debuff, it becomes the biggest debuff in the Savagery line. It's extremely useful and you'll always want to have it up on the assist target as it makes heals go to almost nothing.

Gut Ripper

Obtained at level 30
3.422 d/ap, 102.67 dps
(Icon links to the White Lion version, sorry about that) Not quite as useful as it first seems. Savagery notably lacks direct damage, so the crit part isn't really that good. Still, it's very useful to use every time it's up, and indeed should be used like such.


Brutality Skills:

Debilitate
Obtained at rank 3
6 d/ap, 100 dps
A strong snare mostly used to peel melee off ranged teammates and stop players using Flee to get away. It can not be consistently applied to the target, so it's use must be selective.

Impale
Obtained at rank 5
8.4 d/ap, 140 dps
The main damage move of Brutality. It does more damage then Flail due to part of Flail's damage coming from the offhand. You'll use this ability very often as a Brutality Marauder. You can circle strafe mobs in a tight circle and use this on them.

Convulsive Slashing
Obtained at rank 6
8.4 dmg/ap, 210 dps, 630 damage total
A main damage move of Brutality. This is the highest non-Morale dps move a Marauder has, except the situational Guillotine, and one you will use quite often. It's also useful for spell pushback on casters. You can move while using this, but you want to use this mostly on stationary targets so you don't break the channel due to facing the wrong way.

Touch of Instability
Obtained at level 14
Not as useful as the melee version, as many spells have a longer cast time and casters won't get as many spells off during the duration. Still, 2 spells makes it more efficient then Impale, and so in a 1v1 situation this spell is useful.

Pulverize
Obtained at level 25
4.5 d/ap, 120 dps
A tank player's nightmare. You should apply this to defensive tanks when behind them (so you can more easily apply it). It basically nullifies their block chance and hurts their parry as well. Used in conjunction with a nice Savagery Marauder and his 75% armor debuff, you can reduce a defensive tank to a Witch Hunter's mitigation range.


Monstrosity Skills:

Flail
Obtained at level 1
7 dmg/ap, 140 dps
Flail is the main direct damage move for Monstrosity Marauders. 210 damage is actually deceptive, as your offhand does not hit for full damage, so it hits for less then 90 base. Savagery Marauders will get more use out of Rend, and Brutality Marauders more use out of Impale.

Demolition
Obtained at level 7
4 d/ap, 80 dps
Your main leveling move. Once you obtain this you will want to gather mobs in packs of about 4 (while solo) and just spam this on them. At rank 40 it is still useful to Monstrosity Marauders when Wrecking Ball is on cooldown. You can also kite melee players just out of their range and spam this on them...but it's tricky to do.

Mouth of Tzeentch
Obtained at level 8
4 d/ap, 80 dps
Does the same damage as Demolition, but on a 10s CD. Use this to interrupt spell casters as Monstrosity or Savagery.

Ferocious Assault
Obtained at level 20
Brutality and Monstrosity Marauders will both get plenty of use out of this skill. Brutality Marauders should consider using it in conjunction with Mutated Aggressor for a huge spike damage boost. Monstrosity Marauders will use it as they run into a group to AoE things, giving them a survivability and damage boost.

Mutated Energy
Obtained at level 35
7 d/ap, 140 dps
A very evil skill. Disrupting a caster and knocking them down will allow you to catch up to them, and beat the snot out of them if you happen to be in range. It does more damage then Flail for a Monstrosity Marauder, although using it means you can not use Concussive Jolt on that player until the immunity wears off, and vice versa.

Commentary on Base Tactics

Warped Flesh
Obtained at level 11
A decent defensive tactic that is best used in 1v1 encounters due to the cooldown. Because of that cooldown it is not 65.5 less damage on each ability, but less. Against slow hitters like spell casters and tanks it can make quite a difference, as it can add up to being basically the same as a 262 heal every 3-5 seconds.

Jagged Edge
Obtained at level 13
Recommended over Warped Flesh for leveling. It doesn't stack with itself (but does with other bleed effects), so it's only moderately useful.

Subvert Strength
Obtained at level 15
The king of the Marauder tactics. Highly recommended for any build. It basically adds up to being about 12.5 extra AP per second, even while casting, as AP usually stops while your GCD is running.

Tzeentch's Warding
Obtained at level 17
Pure evil against Bright Wizards, and even has uses against other Elemental users such as Runepriests. Because it is so specific in it's resistance type, I'd take other more general tactics over it most of the time (Brush Off being the replacement here). Putting up an anti-BW tactic configuration you can switch to on the fly doesn't hurt however, and this most certainly would be part of it.

Brute Force
Obtained at level 19
A solid and strait forward offensive buff. Nothing bad to say about it, but other tactics probably synergy better. Still, if your build needs more offensive power, this is easily a good way to get it with only the defensive losses of dropping whatever it is replacing.

Brush Off
Obtained at level 21
Another solid tactic. Your main course for lunch is usually casters and they obviously don't want to be shark-bait. This helps keep them from turning the predator into prey.

Backlash
Obtained at level 23
Leave this one to the Chosen and Zealot. You should avoid taking hits, and there are much better ways for you to do your damage then attracting attention.

Flanking
Obtained at level 25
Always a tempting tactic to take. It's very solid and probably out damages Brute Force (will have to run some tests). Brutality Marauders are always tempted to take this, but as will be shown in the specs section, the tactics that synergy best are all "on-crit" effects, or effects that increase crit chance.

Rend Asunder
Obtained at level 27
This tactic does increase the total damage Rend does. Although Rend isn't as great a move as it's equals in other spec paths (Impale and Flail), it is the main skill that Savagery is stuck to, and so Savagery Marauders will want to probably pick it up.

Riposte
Obtained at level 29
A poor tactic for most of the same reason as Backlash. An untested idea: combine this with the rank 1 morale "Confusing Movements," and perhaps stack Weapon Skill to make a 1v1 melee dueling Marauder.

Deeply Impaled
Obtained at level 31
A must have for Brutality Marauders. This is a perfect synergy with their other skills, and since they'll be using Impale a LOT anyways, it fits perfectly.

Feeding on Fear
Obtained at level 33
An excellent offensive tactic. It's drawback is of course painful, but 20% extra crit chance is golden...and helps proc itself. Brutality will love this, especially the ones that like to play crazy berserker types like myself. :D

Unending Horror
Obtained at level 35
Has good qualities, but I rarely find that the 5s duration on Wave of Horror is more then is needed. By then you're usually free or doomed anyways. It's my opinion that Wave of Horror is a terribly underestimated skill, and so this tactic will probably be a terribly underestimated one as well. I personally want to find some use for this in the future, but it seems to honestly be an unneeded tactic.

Widespread Demolition
Obtained at level 37
Some Monstrosity Marauders swear by this. Personally I find Wrecking Ball to be the source of most of a Monstrosity Marauder's damage and Demolition is just to push that last 10% of hp to empty. With that in mind I typically favor increased damage/defense tactics over WD, but it's hard to deny that missing that killing blow because they're out of range is frustrating.

Piercing Bite
Obtained at level 39
For Savagery this is obviously poor as you bypass 75% of an opponent's armor already. For Brutality you want to eat casters and so the crit synergy tactics normally outperform other setups. The main use for this would be as a switch-off against tanks. A defensive tank can rock 70% physical damage reduction pretty easily if he has a melee healer in his group. Since armor is on a non-logarithmic scale (it scales on a consistent path, 1 armor gives this much reduction), a 50% bypass would bring that tank down to 35% reduction...that's over double the damage you were doing before (30% of normal before, 65% of normal now). That can rock a tank's world.

Commentary on Base Morale

Sever Nerve
Obtained at level 8
Your main morale skill. Savagery and Brutality will be using this morale skill more then any other. It's a huge and sudden damage burst. It goes through skills such as Guard like they weren't even there. Note that it never gains or loses damage based on your attributes, and like any morale can not crit.

Force of Will
Obtained at level 12
Has it's uses, but is slightly weak for a morale. The strength won't match up to the damage of Sever Nerve, but the AP drain is good. You can use it as a sort of silence on healers if they're trying to heal a teammate of their's that is about to die. Using it as a silence when they're trying to heal themselves isn't quite as useful as just bursting them with Sever Nerve.

Confusing Movements
Obtained at level 16
For RvR Sever Nerve ourperforms it. However, an as yet untested idea is to combo it with the tactic "Riposte" and eat other MDPS alive.

Relentless Assault
Obtained at level 20
A decent morale if you are with a group that communicates well. AP will not regenerate if you are casting or your GCD is currently down, so you have to inform your teammates when you use this. Most of the time, however, Great Fang and Sever Nerve will be preferred over this, as WAR is often too fast paced to stop casting for 10s and regenerate AP.

Broad Swings
Obtained at level 24
Can be a great OUCH as Brutality. That ridiculous damage you already do now does it to the healer's friend. As a rank 3 morale it is quite costly, and often Great Fang/Sever Nerve are going to be needed some point earlier in the fight. Untested: Broad Swings comboing with AoE attacks to gain additional damage on each target.

Flames of Fate
Obtained at level 28
Because of the defensive nature of Monstrosity, this morale is useful for that spec (although you'll use Great Fang more often). Sever Nerve is a damage move and does more damage then this heals for, making it obviously superior in cases of single target damage.

Great Fang
Obtained at level 32
Bread and butter AoE morale. It's the Sever Nerve for Monstrosity Marauders, and in fact just takes Sever Nerve and does it in a cone. Definitely a must have for Monstrosity, and something to consider to enhance the arsenal of Savagery and Brutality.

Tzeentch's Reversal
Obtained at level 36
Lets take Sever Nerve, and make it heal for the damage it does! Because this is a rank 3 morale you won't see too much use out of it, but if you do happen to build that far, this is a battle changing skill as the title suggests.

Frenzied Slaughter
Obtained at level 40
I've played WAR for a good chunk of time, and I've built to a rank 4 morale maybe once or twice ever while seriously trying to win an RvR situation. You'll very rarely use a rank 4 morale. Still, if you choose to not spec into any other rank 4 morale (recommended unless you really have points to spare), this is what you're stuck with. It's not bad to be stuck with it either. It's an enormous damage boost, and screams at you to use your longer cooldowns as they'll be back up very quickly. Brutality running this, then Mutated Aggressor, then Ferocious Assault will likely have the most brutally painful Convulsive Slashing combo imaginable.

Choose Your Path: Masteries

Upon obtaining rank 11, players will be able to choose their mastery path, their specialty. All classes have three mastery paths, the Marauder's being Savagery, Brutality, and Monstrosity. For leveling stick with Monstrosity, it is capable of quickly defeating 4-5 mobs at a time with proper AoE combos. Once you are ready to RvR choose any of the three specs depending on your own preferences.

Basics of the Paths

Savagery: Savagery is the Marauder's debuff line. It boasts abilities that shatter tank defenses and ruin healing. This mastery path is best used to support other DPS, especially melee, kill targets more quickly and efficiently.

Brutality: Brutality is the single target killing line. Marauders mastering this path will have the greatest single target damage the class has to offer. It is best for dealing with caster classes. It is strait forward and like the name suggests: brutal.

Monstrosity: Monstrosity is the AoE and survival line. Those choosing Monstrosity will be best utilized by getting into the middle of a pack of enemies and letting their club arm swing wildly. Monstrosity is also the best leveling spec, you can kill 4-5 mobs at a time when you get the hang of it.


Abilities Worth Getting

Not all abilities are created equal. What abilities and tactics are worth nabbing and which are a waste of points?

Savagery:

Scything Talons
Requires 3 Points in Savagery
A poor tactic. As is explained in my general MDPS guide under Gearing and Statistics, weapon skill isn't much worth it, and the initiative buff is not worth spending a point or taking a tactic slot.

Wave of Mutilation
Requires 5 Points in Savagery
Excellent skill. Many Monstrosity Marauders will spent the points to pick this up. Initiative debuffs are some of the best in the game, as they vastly increase your critical strike chance. Additionally, this skill has an AoE DoT.

Exhaustive Strikes
Requires 7 Points in Savagery
One of the best tactics you can get! If you ever have the points to spare, or are going dedicated Savagery, always pick this up. Being able to reduce your enemy AP pool to rubbish does anything from prevent them from healing to crippling their damage output.

Cutting Claw
Requires 9 Points in Savagery
A defining skill of the Savagery line. Tanks will dread you when you can bring their 70% physical damage mitigation down to a mere 17%ish...light armor range. What makes this even better is they can't parry or block it. Pick this skill up for sure.

Deadly Clutch
Requires 11 Points in Savagery
If you've gone this high up the Savagery tree, it's to get this tactic. It's the crown jewel and the defining ability of this spec. It reduces enemy healing to a near nothingness, making them easy for your DPS to demolish them.

Draining Swipe
Requires 13 Points in Savagery
A good skill, but not quite as path-defining as Cutting Claw, Deadly Clutch, or Exhaustive Strikes. However, it synergizes very well with Exhaustive Strikes, further making your opponent's AP pool worthless.

Lashing Power
Requires 15 Points in Savagery
Suffers from the rank 4 morale curse: you'll rarely use it in favor of a lower morale that is almost always up. Force of Will fits the Savagery theme, although it's a little redundant, and Tzeentch's Reversal has much of the same use as Lashing Power at a much lower cost. As Savagery though, you suffer the most from lack of direct damage, so Sever Nerve will probably be your mainstay anyways.

[Duty]

Brutality

Corrupted Edge
Requires 3 Points in Brutality
A good stat package, but there are much better tactics for Brutality Marauders. Strength is your primary damage attribute no matter your spec, and initiative is great to have if only to counter the initiative debuffs of other classes.

Guillotine
Requires 5 Points in Brutality
Brutality Marauder should always pick this up. It does more damage and is more AP efficient then Impale, it just requires the opponent to be under 50% health. Marauders specializing in the other paths will most likely not pick this up.

Growing Instability
Requires 7 Points in Brutality
A great tactic. Brutality Marauders should always pick this up, it provides you with massive damage boosts that can turn the tide of battle, especially when combined with other Marauder critical hit tactics.

Mutated Aggressor
Requires 9 Points in Brutality
Pick this up for sure! Your damage is overwhelming enough, but adding 25% more is just brutal.

Unstable Convulsions
Requires 11 Points in Brutality
I have mixed feelings about this one. It has many uses against healer classes, who you should be killing, but I feel there are better tactics out there. This high in Brutality you're a dedicated Brutality Marauder, and in that case the tactic packages recommended below just don't have room for this skill.

Wave of Terror
Requires 13 Points in Brutality
Great ability. Although it does the same damage as Impale and costs 5 more AP, it is worth using every time the cooldown is up. That's because of the morale drain. Keeping your enemy's morale low enough means healers can't use their big instant morale heal, and Shadow Warriors/Engineers can't use Point Blank. It makes these classes significantly easier to kill.

Forked Aggression
Requires 15 Points in Brutality
Like all rank 4 morales, it's a battle turner. Also like all rank 4 morales, you'll very rarely use it. Sever Nerve is more useful to a Brutality Marauder and is almost always available.


Monstrosity

Hulking Brute
Requires 3 Points in Monstrosity
Only dedicated Monstrosity Marauders will pick this up of course, but of the 3 stat packages in each line, this one is the best. Monstrosity Marauders are unique in that they'll stack toughness equally or even above Strength. Because of your AoE-heavy nature, you'll often be in the middle of a pack of enemies, and you need to make things as easy as you can for your healers.

Concussive Jolt
Requires 5 Points in Monstrosity
WOW! This is a great skill. Every spec line can benefit from this. Monstrosity Marauders should always pick this up, and Brutality/Savagery Marauders will have to think hard if they want to sacrifice points in their main lines to get it.

Insane Whispers
Requires 7 Points in Monstrosity
Recommend skipping. Thunderous Blow does the same thing and doesn't require the use of a tactic slot. You can combo Thunderous Blow and Insane Whispers to give your target +2s to casting time, but the true benefit is making melee vulnerable to pushback, which you only need +1s to do.

Thunderous Blow
Requires 9 Points in Monstrosity
This skill is deceptive. Most will glance over it and think nothing of it. But then check the duration and check the cooldown. You can keep it up all the time. It's main use is not on casters, but on melee. All those instant casts melee have now become 1s casts that are vulnerable to spell pushback! It's a real pain when you get hit with this.

Crushing Blows
Requires 11 Points in Monstrosity
If it were lower in the line, I'd recommend this for Savagery Marauders. For Monstrosity though, it's generally a waste of a tactic slot and mastery point. It doesn't fit the Monstrosity tree very well as Monstrosity is an AoE spec and this tactic is better for 1v1 battles then it is mass RvR. Some players may still want this tactic, and will have to decide to either take a point out of the Monstrosity line to pick it up, while replacing Brush Off or Warped Flesh, or they will not pick this up, keep both the above tactics, and have a full 15 points in Monstrosity.

Wrecking Ball
Requires 13 Points in Monstrosity
The defining ability of Monstrosity. Destroys legions of your enemies when you learn to use it correctly. It's basically Convulsive Slashing in AoE form.

Energy Ripple
Requires 15 Points in Monstrosity
If you manage to use this skill, it's devastating, like any rank 4 morale. The thing is: you'll likely never use it, as Great Fang is a rank 2 morale that provides the AoE damage a Monstrosity needs, and it'll be up 10 times as often.

Recommended Mastery Specs:

The following is a list of possible mastery configurations, an explanation for why this build was chosen, and, if applicable, some slight alternatives to each configuration.



Dedicated Savagery: 14-5/0/5-1 (click to see in calculator)

This build is a DPS support extraordinaire! With this build you'll make it much easier for your teammates to demolish the enemy.

Your main strategy will be keeping Corruption, Cutting Claw, and Deadly Clutch active on your group's main assist target, while using Debilitate to snare incoming melee. This makes healing on this enemy almost worthless, and gives physical attackers a significant damage boost, especially on tanks. Touch of Rot will go on about any melee-using target as it will cause significant damage to them. Touch of Instability may be placed on magic-using targets, although it's not as effective due to you having no points in Brutality. Warrior-Priests will hate to see you coming, as you can counter everything they do: lower their high armor, nullify their healing, make them take damage when using a melee attack, and make them take damage when using spells.

Savagery Marauders in a PUG will likely want to play much safer then is recommended in my Melee DPS guide. Due to having so many anti-tank abilities, and so many Warrior-Priest counters, Savagery Marauders will want to target tanks and WPs over casters, as it's safer to stay in your own group and beat on melee then it is to rush into a pack of casters.

Masteries:
14 Points in Savagery, picking up:
Wave of Mutilation
Exhaustive Strikes
Cutting Claw
Deadly Clutch
Draining Swipe
5 Points in Monstrosity, picking up:
Concussive Jolt

Tactics:

Subvert Strength
Exhaustive Strikes
Deadly Clutch
Rend Asunder

Rend Asunder has a wealth of replacements, but because Rend is your main damage move in Savagery, it is thought best to get as much use out of it as possible.


Morale:

Sever Nerve will be your mainstay, as Savagery notably lacks damage for itself in favor of support abilities. Force of Will is great to even further drain your opponents' AP pools. If you get to tier 3, Tzeentch's Reversal should help you survive even longer. You'll probably never use Frenzied Slaughter.

Sever Nerve
Force of Will
Tzeentch's Reversal
Frenzied Slaughter

Gear Stat Preference Order:

Resists
Armor
Strength
Toughness
Initiative (get at least 120 at rank 40 to better withstand Initiative debuffs)
Weapon Skill


Renown Preferences:

Strength, although Toughness is welcome as well. You may need some Initiative.
Consider:

Might I
Fortitude I
Impetus I
Opportunist I
Ideally at Renown Rank 80, have:
4 Might, 4 Fort, 3 Imp, 3 Opp
or
5 Might, 3 Fort, 2 Imp, 3 Opp, 2 in Tactic if you lack damage

Dedicated Brutality: 5-1/15-4/0 or 0/15-4/5-1 (click to view in calculator)

Brutality is about destroying an enemy as quickly as possible. Marauders employing this path will focus on overwhelming offense, at the cost of their defenses. You have to be very aware of your surroundings to avoid surprises with this spec: one wrong move means a very quick death for you.

The main focus of this spec is to play in accordance with my Melee DPS guide, and slaughter casters whenever you get the chance. Impale, Convulsive Slashing, Wave of Terror, and Guillotine will be your main offensive skills. Learning your combos to maximize damage is important. For PvE, you won't use Wave of Terror much, but it is important to use on healers and casters in RvR because you really want to prevent their first rank morale. Your main damage combo in RvR will be: Impale, Convulsive Slashing, Impale, Wave of Terror when your opponent is above 50% hit points. When below that threshold, Impale, Convulsive Slashing, Guillotine, Wave of Terror, spam Impale until Convulsive Slashing is available again. On tanks be sure to use Pulverize, it'll nullify their block chance and lower their parry chance.


Masteries:

15 in Brutality, picking up:
Guillotine
Growing Instability
Mutated Aggressor
Wave of Terror
5 Points in Savagery, picking up:
Wave of Mutilation
Alternatively, 5 Points in Monstrosity, picking up:
Concussive Jolt
Wave of Mutilation maximizes your crit chance, and this build is very crit dependent. Concussive Jolt could easily be preferred over WoM however, as it is the only way for a Brutality Marauder to interrupt a heal (only Savagery and Monstrosity get access to Mouth of Tzeentch.

Another alternative that I am personally against is dropping 2 points in Brutality, as well as dropping Wave of Terror, and going up to Exhaustive Strikes (as well as Wave of Mutilation) in Savagery. It would look like this in the calculator. This is a great idea, but Wave of Terror has an effect that is equally valuable to the Marauder: preventing morale abilities such as large heals and knockbacks. In addition, the 2 extra points in Brutality help to maximize the Marauder's damage, which is the whole point of the line. The strongest 1v1 Marauder could easily be 7-2/13-3/0 specced, but for RvR I'd recommend 5-1/15-4/0 or 0/15-4/5-1 more.


Tactics:

Deeply Impaled
Feeding On Fear
Growing Instability
Subvert Strength
Brute Force
Would also be nice to have, but the above tactics have the greatest synergy.


Morale:

Sever Nerve will be what you use 90% of the time...it makes your overwhelming damage even more so. Remember it goes through Guard and other similar effects as if they weren't there.

Sever Nerve
Force of Will
Tzeentch's Reversal
Frenzied Slaughter

Gear Stat Preference Order:

Resists
Armor
Strength
Toughness
Initiative (you'll want at least 120 initiative at rank 40)
Weapon Skill


Renown Distribution:

Maximize Strength and Crit Chance, may need a small amount of initiative, Toughness is also nice to have.
Consider:

Might I
Impetus I
Opportunist I

Generally, Avoid this until you need it to get to the top tier and Opportunist:
Fortitude I
Do not pick up Assault, the weapon skill isn't worth it. Fortitude is more worth your points.

At Renown Rank 80 Ideally Have:
5 Might, 3 Fort, 3 Opp, 2 Imp, 2 in Tactic

Dedicated Monstrosity: 5-1/0/15-4 (click to view in calculator)

The AoE spec! Users of Monstrosity will delight at seeing an enemy coming through a door way or through any choke point. Personally I've landed 13 kills near simultaneously as Order tried to rush up a staircase in a keep. This build benefits greatly from having a healer or two, and a tank if available, to keep you alive as you cut a swathe of devastation through the Order zergs.

Your main moves will be Wave of Mutilation, Concussive Jolt, Wrecking Ball, Mouth of Tzeentch, and Demolition. If you have a Chosen with you, it's ideal he be Discord specced to pick up Quake. You won't be able to use Concussive Jolt and Quake on the same enemies, but it helps your timing when you don't have to use another GCD to stun your enemies.

Your main AoE damage combo will be: Wave of Mutilation to increase your crit chance, Concussive Jolt if you don't have a Chosen, Wrecking Ball, then spam Demolition, saving Mouth of Tzeentch to interrupt a heal. If you have enough Morale, use Great Fang after Wrecking Ball to devastate your enemies.

Single target situations you'll want to keep Thunderous Blow up on melee players to make them susceptible to pushback, as well as keeping Pulverize active on tank characters. Flail is your main damage move. Your AoE combo as listed above, exchanging Demolition for Flail/Thunderous Blow, is your best burst damage available.


Masteries:

15 in Monstrosity, picking up:

Hulking Brute
Concussive Jolt
Thunderous Blow
Wrecking Ball
5 in Savagery, picking up:

Wave of Mutilation
Alternatively:
14 in Monstrosity, picking up:

Hulking Brute
Concussive Jolt
Thunderous Blow
Crushing Blows
Wrecking Ball
Tactics:

Hulking Brute
Warped Flesh
Brush Off
Subvert Strength
Alternatives:
Drop Brush Off or Warped Flesh for:

Feeding on Fear
Drop Brush Off or Warped Flesh for:

Crushing Blows
Because you're going into the thick of the enemy, you want more defenses then the other specs. Don't worry, you'll still kill enemies very well while stacking defenses. If you have a good healing corps/tank to help you, consider using Feeding on Fear in place of one of the defensive tactics.

The Crushing Blows takes a point in Monstrosity, so in order to get it, a Monstrosity player will have to eat -1 point in the line, as well as replacing one of the above tactics. I consider it a great tactic for 1v1 fights, but I don't find it as valuable during the "do or die" quickness of large group combat.

Morale:

Great Fang will be your main AoE, and you'll use it more then any other morale. Tzeentch's Reversal is preferable to Broad Swings because Great Fang is already there for AoEs, and Reversal just adds some nice survivability. Flames of Fate is also there for lower tier survivability, but Sever Nerve could also be used just as easily.

Flames of Fate
or

Sever Nerve
Great Fang
Tzeentch's Reversal
Frenzied Slaughter

Gear Stat Preference Order:

Resists
Armor
Toughness
Strength
Initiative (get at least 120 at rank 40)
Weapon Skill


Renown Distribution:

Maximize Toughness and Strength, you may need some initiative.
Consider:

Fortitude I
Impetus I
Might I
Opportunist I
At Renown Rank 80, your renown distribution is ideally
3 Fort, 2 Impet, 5 Might, 3 Opp, 2 in a Tactic (click to view in calculator)

This concludes the Marauder Class Guide. It is my hope that readers become better players after reading the recommendations posted here. If you have any ideas, wish to debate (not flame, argue, or fight over it...debate over it) a point, or similar, feel free to post in this thread keeping the Special Rules in mind. Any inaccuracies, questions, or suggestions please feel free to send me a private message.

[Duty]

Changelog:

0.1.1 8/19/08- Release
0.2.1 8/20/08- Added "Commentary on Base Skills"
0.2.2 9/03/08- Added "Commentary on Base Tactics" and "Commentary on Base Morale"
0.2.3 9/13/08- Corrected some minor formatted errors that recently occurred
1.0.0 9/21/08- No Changes, called 1.0.0 for WAR's release


Future Plans for this Guide:

A blow for blow 1v1 section.
Lots of math to further optimize.
Ideal groups for each spec.
Quality Marauder RvR videos.
Comprehensive "What this skill counters" list.
"Untested Experiments" section.


Further Marauder Resources:
My general Melee DPS Guide
Warhammer Database
How Statistics Function
Chaos Starter Area Guide


Special Thanks
The usual:
You the readers!
My great guild, Bullies.
Garthilk for his help and for giving me a place to post all this.
Everyone that contributes to make this community better, especially the Marauder community.

[zoa]

Great guide, a lot of great information. Could probably include some leveling notes and such for Marauders just starting out.

Me personally, I chose Savagery for the most part, only because I played an MS warrior in WoW, so having a healing debuff being a must has been drilled into my head. 75% healing and 75% armor is plain amazing, I found that in group play whatever class I targeted for focus fire, went down regardless of healers counter focusing. I had a lot of fun with Savagery but at the same time, you REALLY notice the lack of damage compared to the single target of Brutality, and the AoE of Monstrosity.

I intend to play around with Monstrosity until release, but do you really think it's worth it with the rank 20 cap? I've been wondering whether I should just get the other classes to rank 10 with the RR gear and get to know them better to increase my effectiveness against them. Either way, just some food for thought and such.

As an extensive Marauder how did you find sieges to work for the class? As Savagery I felt pretty useless considering the number of people and how little 1 kill meant. They seem to cater to RDPS as it is, but as a Monstrosity Marauder did you find your contribution was enough to satisfy a MDPS in siege? Mostly for attacking, I found MDPS to be most weak in an attacking situation.

Anyways, I have to go, so I can't really go in-depth on the response, so once again great job, look forward to seeing you on Barak Varr :P

[Duty]

Originally Posted by zoa

Great guide, a lot of great information. Could probably include some leveling notes and such for Marauders just starting out.

Me personally, I chose Savagery for the most part, only because I played an MS warrior in WoW, so having a healing debuff being a must has been drilled into my head. 75% healing and 75% armor is plain amazing, I found that in group play whatever class I targeted for focus fire, went down regardless of healers counter focusing. I had a lot of fun with Savagery but at the same time, you REALLY notice the lack of damage compared to the single target of Brutality, and the AoE of Monstrosity.

I intend to play around with Monstrosity until release, but do you really think it's worth it with the rank 20 cap? I've been wondering whether I should just get the other classes to rank 10 with the RR gear and get to know them better to increase my effectiveness against them. Either way, just some food for thought and such.

As an extensive Marauder how did you find sieges to work for the class? As Savagery I felt pretty useless considering the number of people and how little 1 kill meant. They seem to cater to RDPS as it is, but as a Monstrosity Marauder did you find your contribution was enough to satisfy a MDPS in siege? Mostly for attacking, I found MDPS to be most weak in an attacking situation.

Anyways, I have to go, so I can't really go in-depth on the response, so once again great job, look forward to seeing you on Barak Varr :P

There are starter leveling guides being written by other people here on WHA, I'll include a link to the Chaos one (posted in the "Additional Resources" section in the after-post). Also, this guide is supposed to be a little more "advanced," and as noted assumes the player has basic knowledge of the game already.


Monstrosity is the best leveling spec, and I should probably include that. At rank 20 if you're just going to RvR though, I'd stick with Brutality as you can't get Wrecking Ball yet. Brutality has the strongest base abilities (non-mastery), and at rank 20 you only have 6 points to spend, so I'd go with that.


As far as sieges I'd say I'm VERY useful. You just have to pick your spots. As Monstrosity I'd hang around at gateways, doors, and staircases, AoEing the Order players as they came up. I've netted 13 kills in AoE combo before as Order was coming up the stairs in a Dark Elf keep, but I did have healing support.

As the other 2 specs it's going to depend. Savagery is going to be great on tanks trying to bust through doors or defend doors, especially if you have a class that can stun them in plain LoS while you all demolish them. It's more a teamwork spec no matter what you do. Brutality is going to suffer a bit, as it's more positional dependent and keeps don't have as much maneuvering room. Still, courtyards and popping out of posterns are where I'd hang out as Brutality, being careful to just pick them off one at a time without getting creamed.

[gilotto]

Thank you for writing up this guide!

there is one thing that keeps me wondering:
your links to wardb.com with the renown points spend all say 84 points spend but you can only spend 80 points as far as i know.

[chaotica15]

Which specc do you recommend for RvR?

[Khaade]

Very, very nice guide. I learned quite a bit and I tought I covered a lot of the angles while playing

Originally Posted by chaotica15

Which specc do you recommend for RvR?

All, in my opinion, are very viable specs. It just all depends on what you want to accomplish. I was pretty much set on Brutality (after personally testing the different specs a while back) but now Savagery (for destroying tank and disabling healers) and Monstrosity (go-go-gadget AoE) look devistating. I think it was that I was just missing something in how to use the abilities together to get the most out of it all. I must give a big 'Cheers' out to Duty for laying it out.

Heck, they say its not all the expensive to respec, so why not switch it up once and a while?

[[EC]Awe]

Awesome guide! Great work on this one, kudos to you!

I recently decided that I'm gonna play a Marauder and this will really help me out in-game.
Together with your Melee DPS guide it's very very useful to improve your playing. Every marauder should read it.

[Jostle]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this up for the community, and I'd like to further thank you in reaffirming my thoughts that savagery seemed badass. The only thing I'm a little worried about is whether I'll get any visible credit for my debuffs in PQs, Keep Sieges, and King Encounters. Does anyone know either way?

[SwedishChaos]

Awesome, may i request a similar guide regarding Chosen? i would kiss your feet

[Foofmonger]

Great guide Duty. Quick question. I see that the Monstro build you posted is Monstr/Savag, do you think a Monstr/Brut build would be effective? You'd lose Wave of Mutation, which is def a nice ability. But if you had another Monstro Mara with you, you'd still get the debuff on everyone, you'd just lose out on the dot. You'd also lose the scaling on touch of rot, which seems like a pretty nifty ability against other melee, and the scaling on corruption. (5 mastery points of scaling right?). You'd also have to drop either Hulking Brute (extra tough), or Crushing blows (25% for a morale drain, i'd probably drop this). You'd get Growing Instability in its place, which seems like a really nice ability if Monstro Marauders crit enough on their AoE attacks. You'd also get extra scaling (7 points worth), on your snare, and Pulverize, which seems nice if a tank decides to get up in your face.

So the spec would be 0/7+1/13+4

For some reason this came out as a wall of text, I didn't write it like this!

[Duty]

Originally Posted by gilotto

Thank you for writing up this guide!

there is one thing that keeps me wondering:
your links to wardb.com with the renown points spend all say 84 points spend but you can only spend 80 points as far as i know.

I just rechecked it, and I do indeed spend only 80 points in my builds. The calculators are new and show incorrect numbers spent sometimes. If you take a look at the mastery calcs I do in fact spend 25 points, but it will often show I have 6 or so more points available to spend.

That's a bug in the new calcs, but the builds are correct.

Originally Posted by chaotica15

Which specc do you recommend for RvR?

Any. The guide lays out what the different specs strengths are, and they're all very viable for RvR depending on what you want to do. For purely PvE leveling stick with Monstrosity, for low level RvR I'd stick with Brutality. For rank 40 RvR the sky is the limit.

Originally Posted by Jostle

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this up for the community, and I'd like to further thank you in reaffirming my thoughts that savagery seemed badass. The only thing I'm a little worried about is whether I'll get any visible credit for my debuffs in PQs, Keep Sieges, and King Encounters. Does anyone know either way?

If you mean renown, then I'm unsure. I don't think you earn extra renown for debuffing in a PUG, but in a group I believe you share renown so it wouldn't matter.

Originally Posted by SwedishChaos

Awesome, may i request a similar guide regarding Chosen? i would kiss your feet

Sorry, I honestly wouldn't feel as qualified writing one for the Chosen. I played the Chosen quite a bit, but I've played the Marauder a lot more, been extremely successful on the Marauder, and have tons of play time at rank 40 on the Marauder.

Originally Posted by Foofmonger

Great guide Duty. Quick question. I see that the Monstro build you posted is Monstr/Savag, do you think a Monstr/Brut build would be effective? You'd lose Wave of Mutation, which is def a nice ability. But if you had another Monstro Mara with you, you'd still get the debuff on everyone, you'd just lose out on the dot. You'd also lose the scaling on touch of rot, which seems like a pretty nifty ability against other melee, and the scaling on corruption. (5 mastery points of scaling right?). You'd also have to drop either Hulking Brute (extra tough), or Crushing blows (25% for a morale drain, i'd probably drop this). You'd get Growing Instability in its place, which seems like a really nice ability if Monstro Marauders crit enough on their AoE attacks. You'd also get extra scaling (7 points worth), on your snare, and Pulverize, which seems nice if a tank decides to get up in your face.

So the spec would be 0/7+1/13+4

For some reason this came out as a wall of text, I didn't write it like this!

A good idea Foof, but I wouldn't recommend it. First, you do lose scaling on your main attacks: Monstrosity, and gain scaling on attacks that really aren't used for their damage component: Debilitate, Pulverize, etc.

Growing Instability also takes up a tactics slot, which you'd have to replace Brush Off or Warped Flesh (I didn't pick up Crushing Blows in my original build...it doesn't fit what the Monstrosity build does imo...it's more a 1v1 tactic) with...I'd never get rid of Subvert Strength. This is not a huge deal, but it is a sacrifice of some defensive power.

The bigger deal is Wave of Mutilation vs Growing Instability, and I'd take Wave of Mutilation every time. Initiative debuffs are major. They've been toned down throughout beta, but it used to be you got a 90% or greater crit rating by using WoM. Obviously this isn't the case now, but it still adds quite a bit of damage (and adds damage to your whole group, not just you), as well as an AoE DoT. Someone would really have to do the Theoryhammering to be absolutely sure (I'm not sure the % crit WoM adds or I could do it myself), but from my experiences WoM is superior, doesn't take a tactics slot, and allows you to fully scale your Monstrosity abilities.

[HOROND]

Duty,

First i want to thank you for putting up this guide as it is very helpfull.

With that said, I have two questions that are not answered. One is about a skill and the other is about playstyle.

Now I notice you talked about how to spec your mara, however the question I have is if it is viable to change mutations in combat. Lets say apply a skill from one line, switch to another mutation and continue the fight from there. The animations look like they take a decent amount of time. What is your opinon on the subject.

The second is the level 40 skill we get (can not remeber the name) EDIT: terrible Embrace (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8410) but what it does is grab someone from 65 feet a way and drag them to you. Considering this is a zerg game, I would find it very fun to drag some cloth right into the middle of my zergs tank and then proceed to snar him and knock him down. Does that skill actualy work?

[Foofmonger]

Originally Posted by Duty

A good idea Foof, but I wouldn't recommend it. First, you do lose scaling on your main attacks: Monstrosity, and gain scaling on attacks that really aren't used for their damage component: Debilitate, Pulverize, etc.

Growing Instability also takes up a tactics slot, which you'd have to replace Brush Off or Warped Flesh (I didn't pick up Crushing Blows in my original build...it doesn't fit what the Monstrosity build does imo...it's more a 1v1 tactic) with...I'd never get rid of Subvert Strength. This is not a huge deal, but it is a sacrifice of some defensive power.

The bigger deal is Wave of Mutilation vs Growing Instability, and I'd take Wave of Mutilation every time. Initiative debuffs are major. They've been toned down throughout beta, but it used to be you got a 90% or greater crit rating by using WoM. Obviously this isn't the case now, but it still adds quite a bit of damage (and adds damage to your whole group, not just you), as well as an AoE DoT. Someone would really have to do the Theoryhammering to be absolutely sure (I'm not sure the % crit WoM adds or I could do it myself), but from my experiences WoM is superior, doesn't take a tactics slot, and allows you to fully scale your Monstrosity abilities.

Maybe if you end up playing a Monstro Marauder at rank 40, I can do this and just leech off your debuff.