1.7.4 Insane Ogre Marauder Guide
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:15 am
Seems like I'm going through all of the Rogues here. I had planned on consulting a guide about building a Marauder...but the last Guide was made in 2014 and the talents weren't even the same, so I figured what the hell, I'd give it a shot. I'll go into some thoughts on this Marauder after the TL:DR and stuff. Here's my guy.
Build TL:DR
Class Talents
Technique/Dual techniques: 3/2/1/1-2
Technique/Duelist: 4/1/1/1
Technique/Throwing Knives: 4/3/1/1
Technique/Battle Tactics: 5/1/1/0
Technique/Bloodthirst: 5/5/1/5
Cunning/Dirty Fighting: 1/4/1/4
Technique/Combat Techniques: 1/1/3-5/5
Generic Talents
Race/Ogre: 1/5/1/5
Technique/Combat training: 5/1/1/5/0/0-1
Cunning/Survival: 1/1-5/1/0
Technique/Mobility: 1/1/2/4
Technique/Thuggery: 1/2/2/3
Technique/Conditioning: 2/2/1/0
Marauder Thoughts
I wasn't really sure what I would do with Marauder, or really what it would excel at when I started putting them together. Finally I had a break through, which is just to play a Marauder like a big beater. Hit as hard as you can, stack those Stormshields, and end the threat in 1 or 2 turns. Every threat. I went ahead and recorded it if anyone needs to see it, but the final battle ended in 1.5 turns (because my global speed was 157% and my attack speed was 0.77). The actual actions were dissipation rune on Argoniel, movement infusion to move to the south of them so I didn't one shot Aeryn, windblade for 21k which insta-killed Elandar, Rush Argoniel, and then Flurry her for the kill. Timer showed 6 of 7 turns left for Greater Weapon Focus, but only 3 of 5 turns left for Blinding Speed, so I figure I'd call it about 1.5 turns total.
This is also the only character I've had that I can remember in which I simply insta-killed every stair guardian. I wasn't even worried. So is the Marauder good at what it does? Yeah, it's real good. The techniques it has are very simple and do one or two things, disable stuff, and damage stuff. There's no controlled cleanse, no healing, terrible AoE, no resource replenishing, VERY little resist addatives...you just attack, and then attack more.
So what's the bad part? Marauders, at least this build is extremely gear dependent. If you have bad gear, every battle feels like pulling teeth and a potential death sentence. If you have decent gear, you become an absolute god. Now, every class gets better with gear of course, but this build is completely reliant on it. There's no poison like Rogues, no spells, no tentacle like Writhing One, no summons, really nothing but you, and the more damage, penetration, and crit multiplication you get, the more insane you become.
That as it is, I decided I would at least ensure I had one fantastic piece of gear, and I wanted to have a way to have a REAL AoE clearing ability, so I went with the classic combination of Windblade at 25 and Legacy of the Naloren at 42. Getting that trident was life changing. The power shift isn't linear, it's very, very abrupt. That is to say, if you manage to get the Bearscape or whatever spawned and you come out of there with some busted tier 5 two-hander at level 20 or so, you're going to have a very easy time. I got a whole lot of garage for gear up until the end, so things weren't exactly a cake walk for a while. 1-30 felt ok. 30-40 was absolutely brutal, 38 was where I caught my one death due to my typical impatience. From there I played a bit more cautiously to get the Naloren and after that everything was gravy. Anyway, here we go...
Index
1. Cheat sheet
2. Build rationale and analysis
3. Change log
Cheat Sheet
Stat distribution priority
Dex and Strength, then Cun. The remaining points I put into willpower just for the extra stamina.
Category Point Order
Infusion, Battle Tactics, Bloodthrist, Inscription.
Inscriptions/Runes
Movement, Dissipation, Shatter Afflictions, Stormshield, Stormshield.
Prodigies
Windblade at 25, Legacy of the Naloren at 42. I got the Writhing Ring of the Hunter and tried Steamroller in it just for fun. I'm not going to lie, it's a blast. Rush was one shotting everything so I was typically bouncing all over the screen at 100% damage. That said, I didn't want to finish the game with it because not everyone might come across it, so I deleted it after I had some chuckles.
Equipment priority
Physical Damage/Pen, STR/DEX, increase crit multiplier, resists. You don't really have any active defenses outside of Trained Reactions and your Stormshields, so getting resists up is extremely valuable.
Alchemist Quest priority
+2 generic, +2 class, +4% physical crit
I missed the class points quest!
+4 stats +3 Cun/Dex
Analysis and Rationale
The ole' "Ogre with Naloren" was something I had seen a bunch on the forums, and honestly with Marauder you just kinda want to kill stuff in one hit, so I figured what the hell, I'd go for it. Ogre also has some extremely valuable abilities like Writ Large, which means that after you obliterate whatever is around you, you can at least have some continued longevity if some other group decides to head on in for whatever reason. Now, there's a few things about Legacy of the Naloren that is somewhat important...moreso than just "my weapon does a bunch of damage." Getting a +0.3 to Combat Training and Combat Techniques is pretty good, but being able to get a 10 on your Exotic Weapon Master is bonkers. Even more insane, if you find a whip like say...the Skeletal Claw, you can have that stupidity apply to both your main and offhand weapons. If/When you find the Ring of the War Master (I will say, that seems to be one item I find in literally every playthrough) the class gets even more ridiculous, because it effects basically every single talent tree you have.
Could you go ICCTW? Yeah, that would probably be fine. If you wanted to stack Magic or Will Arcane Might or Superpower would probably be ok too. Flexible Combat would also be fine...but the sheer amount I used Windblade was worth the price of admission. I would say it ended around 98% of every encounter by itself. I just kinda stacked all of my abilities tumbled into the middle of whatever group, Windbladed, and everything died. What doesn't die is typically a flurry away from death if really needed. The Marauder REALLY benefits from having an AoE it can count on, and that's Windblade. It's not like it's ever going to miss, because you'll be putting up Perfect Strike before you swing it every time. The radius 4 is fairly ridiculous and our weapons do insane damage so...yeah like I said, it'll pretty much end every threat you come across. Now when you come across something that CAN survive it, like a corruptor ranboss with Bone Shield you do need to be looking to at least Dissipate the thing...or I mean you could just fan of knives it to get it off as well, but barring that or some crazy evasion, it'll elbow drop most of the game for you.
Let me give a special MVP award to Twist the Knife, also. You'll have a disarm pretty much all the time with Windblade or Lunge earlier in your career, and stun with Dual Strikes. As well there's always something that you probably have on your weapons as you move through the game. A poison, a slow, or numbing darkness, something. Twist the Knife is pretty amazing, because not only does it, you know, make your 3 turn disarm you just got last for 8 turns, while also canceling somethings evasion or heroism or something, or even cancelling Unstoppable. That's a big deal. It works for everything, so Silence, Slow...I even ended up getting 2 ranks of Lacerating Strikes from Rogue Escorts, and it'll extend those bleeds to the moon.
Weapon Choice
You'll probably be using daggers in the beginning, a two-hander/dagger mid game, and at level 42 you'll pull your 3 points out of Weapon Master to toss into Exotic Weapon Mastery, so make sure to keep them floating. The better you float, the more efficient you can get with this. I kept 1 point in daggers forever because I never expected to get something like Skeletal Claw, but then I snagged it in a Gorbat vault. That was about a 20% raw damage increase over my previous dagger.
Class Talents
Technique/Dual Techniques: 3/2/1/1-2
[3] Dual Strike: You'll be using this for a long, long time. 3 ranks gets you a potential 6 turn stun on a 6 turn cool down.
[2] Flurry: Flurry ends threats. You'll bring this into the late game for stuff that doesn't insta-die to windblade.
[1] Heartseeker: I really like 1 point in heartseeker. It does ok damage and it's got a decent 4 range. The Marauder really needs a way to move around the battle field besides Rush, so this does well for it.
[1-2] Whirlwind: So, whirlwind is pretty decent at what it does. You CAN use it for a short closer if you need, or you can use it to get into gaps and openings, and later it does well to maneuver into your best Windblade. I put 2 points into it since the Ring of the War Master bumped the 2nd point up to a 3 range, and that opened up a lot of options compared to the standard 2 range.
Technique/Dualist: 4/1/1/1
[4] Dual Weapon Mastery: 4 seems like a fine cut off, if I removed points from something I could see a 5 here.
[1] Tempo: Cool to get a little extra stamina. Nothing crazy.
[1] Feint: It's good when it's good, but a lot of the time it sat on my bar doing nothing.
[1] Lunge: I DO love my lunge, but we'll be using a lot of points elsewhere. Luckily, we have a couple of ways to disarm, and we have Twist the Knife to get some fantastic value out of lunge.
Technique/Throwing Knives: 4/3/1/1
[4] Throwing Knives: A great early crutch, some early range engagement, and good for later when we're quickdrawing knives at people. I won't lie to you though, once the build got rolling, probably around level 20 or so, I don't think I ever threw a normal knife again.
[3] Fan of Knives: Now THIS I used. Good for fodder clearing, but also good for getting rid of bone shields. Early it provides good damage, and in the late game it's still great for the bone shields.
[1] Precise Aim: For one point, it's good at what it does. We won't see it work as much as dedicated knife throwing builds though.
[1] Quickdraw: So, all this has led to this. What does quickdraw do in a non-dedicated knife build? Eh, about 10% extra raw damage. So, the question is, would it be better to say, float 3 points in throwing knives, 1 point in fan of knives, and later on down the line rip them out and put them elsewhere? Maybe...
Cunning/Dirty Fighting: 1/4/1/4
[1] Dirty Fighting: It's good for a long time to make sure we land dual strike on something stun resistant. 1 point is all you need though. Interestlngly, you can twist the knife Dirty Fighting, so you can end up with like...7 turns of dirty fighting.
[4] Backstab: I like this because it's passive. It's just there, working quietly in the background. You're going to be throwing out so many disables and attacking so many times, it'll do it's thing.
[1] Blinding Powder: I floated some more points in here to see if I liked it. I didn't, even with Twist the Knife. I'd rather just be doing damage.
[4] Twist the Knife: The MVP of the tree in this build. This thing extended so many disarms, silences, stuns, slows, bleeds, etc that it was worth it's weight in gold. It was getting rid of heroisms, juggernauts, the occasional evasion if I could hit with it while evasion was up, and most importantly, unstoppable.
Technique/Battle Tactics: 5/1/1/0
[5] Greater Weapon Focus: I mean, it's GWF. It's fantastic, max it. Sadly when it says "another, similar strike" it's not actual the same strike. So, when Twist the Knife would proc GWF...God I wish it would extend the stuff ANOTHER 5 turns, but no such luck. Still, it's a boatload more damage.
[1] Step Up: I mean, it's fine. By the time this matters, you'll be killing 10 people at a time with Windblade, so it WILL proc more than likely...but then again, you'll have killed 10 people with Windblade, so you can probably just chill out and rest.
[1] Bleeding Edge: I think this is worth the point. The bleed is nice with all of the physical damage we'll be stacking, and if you have nothing else you can extend with Twist the Knife at the time, there's this. I know I talk about fights being over in 1 hit, but that's later in the game, so this will be valuable for quite some time.
Technique/Combat Techniques: 1/1/3-5/5
[1] Rush: Great opener.
[1] Precise Strikes: No.
[3-5] Perfect Strike: Fantastic, you'll use it in the beginning of literally every single fight. 3 points will max out your 6 turns when you get Naloren. I went for the full 5 because I literally pressed this button every single fight, and with the Ring of the War Master AND Naloren, you can actually get it up to 7 turns.
[5] Blinding Speed: More global speed is another easy max. Again, used every single combat.
Technique/Bloodthirst: 5/5/1/5
[5] Mortal Terror: More crit strike is good, but this actually does a bit more than that, even if this is a "kill everything in 1 or 2 hits" build. The reality is, if something DOES survive that first hit, it's probably dangerous, the fact that we can potentially be dazing it means that if it does get to act against us, it could be taking a 50% damage penalty along with the other Daze stuff, and that's pretty nice.
[5] Bloodbath: Just fantastic. The life regen is boosted by healing mod, which is nice, but the real benefit is the stamina regen and how LONG this lasts. Getting 14% more hit points is quite nice too. With windblade/flurry/Greater Weapon Focus/Quickdraw/etc you'll have a bunch of attacks, so you should be getting a bunch of crits to trigger this at least a few times.
[1] Blood Butcher: Meh...with all of the physical damage that you should be stacking, physical pen will kinda just naturally come, and we'll have Total Thuggery which will provide some pretty significant pen.
[5] Unstoppable: I'd like to say this is an "easy 5", the big issue with it was I couldn't reliably use it for it's intended purpose until way late in the game, and for Marauder it's a 1.0 instead of a 1.3 like berserker, so you can't even get to the 7 turn unstoppable until you get the Ring of the War Master or something similar. For that reason, I'd stick to 2 points for 4 turns worth for a while, and only use it for a "I need to survive to run away" button. The issue there is, the stamina cost is very extreme, so you need to go into a fight knowing that you might need to use it. Later on, when you have a mountain of stamina and a ridiculous global and attack speed sure, pop the thing and go ham.
Generic Talents
Race/Ogre: 1/1/3/1
[1] Ogric Wrath: It's pretty cool. More damage, some resists, and a duration that increases with STRENGTH. That's pretty cool. I was getting 12 turns of this thing at the end.
[5] Grisly Constitution: This is good pretty much all the time, but obviously the big benefit is using the two-handed weapons with one hand, which is the entire purpose of the build.
[1] Scar Scripted Flesh: Cool, but limited to once per turn.
[5] Writ Large: Even without taking the extra infusion this can give, 10 turns of double runes/infusions cooldown is legit. This will basically give us 4 Stormshields in every fight. It also allows us to position using a Movement infusion, and then more than likely have that infusion back up if something goes haywire and we need to get out.
Technique/Combat Training: 5/1/1/5/0-1/0
[5] Thick Skin: We need to be able to tank a shot if we have to, we also get the 0.3 Naloren benefit here, so lets go for as much damage reduction as we can get.
[1] Heavy Armor Training: 1 point for gauntlets and boots and stuff.
[1] Light Armor Training: 1 point for your robes that you'll end up in.
[5] Combat Accuracy: You want all of the accuracy you can get. Naloren's accuracy bonus is a bonus to it's base damage, pretty sweet.
[0-1] Dagger Mastery: If you get really lucky on your float, or find Skeletal Claw early, you can manage a 0 in both Weapons Mastery AND dagger mastery. I found Skeletal Claw super late, so I ended up with 1 point in it. I mean it's not terrible, you'll still be using Fan of Blades and you'll have Quickdraw, and you get a lot of value with that 1 point.
[0] Weapons Mastery: You need to float here. After you get the Naloren you'll never need this again.
Cunning/Survival: 1/1/1/0
[1] Heightened Senses: Just to get to...
[1] Device Mastery: I love it, but we're strapped for points.
[1] Track: So, normally I'd say just get it from a rogue, but getting lacerating strikes is amazing with this class. Your weapon damage will be so obscene that in the end you'll be making stuff bleed for like 2.6k a turn. And you can twist the knife it.
Technique/Mobility: 1/1/2/5
[1] Disengage: 1 point. I used it a few times, most of the time you'll have better options.
[1] Evasion: It was fine. 1 point just seemed like enough and we'll be using a lot of generics.
[2] Tumble: I've always loved this ability. It's instant, 2 points gets you a 3 range and an 8 turn cool down...it's just perfect for battlefield management or as a way to get into a position where you can movement infusion to nope out of there.
[4] Trained Reactions: This is our only passive defense, but luckily it does a pretty good job. This, a decent HP pool, buffed up Thick Skin and a few storm shields will make us pretty tanky.
Technique/Conditioning: 2/2/1/0
[2] Vitality: Considering we have no way to deal with wounds/disease/poison on our own, this is well warranted. In the beginning that regen allowed me to run a shatter afflictions, a movement, and a shield WITHOUT a heal or a regen in the lineup.
[2] Unflinching Resolve: I liked it. We don't get a lot of cleansing. And by "we don't get a lot" I mean...this is basically it. Stuns and Blindness are some of the most important so 2 points here.
[1] Daunting Presence: It's an ok passive. 1 point for diminishing returns.
Technique/Thuggery: 1/2/2/3
[1] Skullcracker: Kinda cool, a decent confuse and it can be extended with Twist the Knife. Also it gives you something to do if you get disarmed and can't cleanse it for some reason.
[2] Riot Born: Stun and Confusion resist, hell yeah. 2 points for diminishing returns. If you could squeeze in a 3, that's worth it too.
[2] Vicious Strikes: It's great, like I said we're just using a lot of generics here. If you end up with a huge amount of natural crit (I didn't) you can throw more here and less in...
[3] Total Thuggery: Total Thuggery is a bundle of really good stuff. Attack Speed, Crit Chance, and Physical resistant penetration all in one. It drains stamina, but your stamina regen should be pretty decent with a few pieces of gear and bloodbath. Points here to taste to get you closest to 100% crit rate, because it takes HEAVY diminishing returns after the first point.
Prodigies
Windblade: Beastly 4 radius AoE on a short cool down with a 4 turn disarm attached. Like I said, I used it pretty much every single time it was up. 0 stamina cost, tons of damage, a huge radius...it's just really good and the class has nothing like it.
Legend of the Naloren: It's a big two-handed weapon that gives us a busted amount of exotic weapon mastery, a 0.3 to two really good categories, and it's stats are really, really good. More important than that, it's your guaranteed piece of equipment that will turn you into a god. The moment I got it, my DPT went up 300%.
Inscriptions/Runes
Infusions
Movement: I use this on almost every character that isn't undead. In the early game it keeps you alive, and in the late game it's good because positioning will make you do a ton more damage and it's still good for keeping you alive.
Shatter Afflictions: Pretty necessary for getting rid of disarms/confuse/stuns/freeze etc until you can get those resists sky high.
Stormshield: Dual wielding these with Writ Large will turn you into a pretty decent tank.
Stormshield: More tankyness.
Dissipation: It's the only thing you have to deal with crazy magical sustains. Don't be afraid to use it on yourself too to cleanse yourself of a bunch of hexes or what not.
Changelog
1/21/22: Guide created.
Notes
There we go, finally a GD Marauder Guide. I never thought I'd find something that felt even more ridiculous than my Writhing One, but this guy takes the cake, and that's not even with fantastic insane-level gear. Do yourself a favor...make the character, leave your computer on over night with the character logged in...and hope that someone unlocks the bearscape/poosh, because getting a few decent pieces of gear early will really open things up. Or you know, donate yourself and make it happen.
Build TL:DR
Class Talents
Technique/Dual techniques: 3/2/1/1-2
Technique/Duelist: 4/1/1/1
Technique/Throwing Knives: 4/3/1/1
Technique/Battle Tactics: 5/1/1/0
Technique/Bloodthirst: 5/5/1/5
Cunning/Dirty Fighting: 1/4/1/4
Technique/Combat Techniques: 1/1/3-5/5
Generic Talents
Race/Ogre: 1/5/1/5
Technique/Combat training: 5/1/1/5/0/0-1
Cunning/Survival: 1/1-5/1/0
Technique/Mobility: 1/1/2/4
Technique/Thuggery: 1/2/2/3
Technique/Conditioning: 2/2/1/0
Marauder Thoughts
I wasn't really sure what I would do with Marauder, or really what it would excel at when I started putting them together. Finally I had a break through, which is just to play a Marauder like a big beater. Hit as hard as you can, stack those Stormshields, and end the threat in 1 or 2 turns. Every threat. I went ahead and recorded it if anyone needs to see it, but the final battle ended in 1.5 turns (because my global speed was 157% and my attack speed was 0.77). The actual actions were dissipation rune on Argoniel, movement infusion to move to the south of them so I didn't one shot Aeryn, windblade for 21k which insta-killed Elandar, Rush Argoniel, and then Flurry her for the kill. Timer showed 6 of 7 turns left for Greater Weapon Focus, but only 3 of 5 turns left for Blinding Speed, so I figure I'd call it about 1.5 turns total.
This is also the only character I've had that I can remember in which I simply insta-killed every stair guardian. I wasn't even worried. So is the Marauder good at what it does? Yeah, it's real good. The techniques it has are very simple and do one or two things, disable stuff, and damage stuff. There's no controlled cleanse, no healing, terrible AoE, no resource replenishing, VERY little resist addatives...you just attack, and then attack more.
So what's the bad part? Marauders, at least this build is extremely gear dependent. If you have bad gear, every battle feels like pulling teeth and a potential death sentence. If you have decent gear, you become an absolute god. Now, every class gets better with gear of course, but this build is completely reliant on it. There's no poison like Rogues, no spells, no tentacle like Writhing One, no summons, really nothing but you, and the more damage, penetration, and crit multiplication you get, the more insane you become.
That as it is, I decided I would at least ensure I had one fantastic piece of gear, and I wanted to have a way to have a REAL AoE clearing ability, so I went with the classic combination of Windblade at 25 and Legacy of the Naloren at 42. Getting that trident was life changing. The power shift isn't linear, it's very, very abrupt. That is to say, if you manage to get the Bearscape or whatever spawned and you come out of there with some busted tier 5 two-hander at level 20 or so, you're going to have a very easy time. I got a whole lot of garage for gear up until the end, so things weren't exactly a cake walk for a while. 1-30 felt ok. 30-40 was absolutely brutal, 38 was where I caught my one death due to my typical impatience. From there I played a bit more cautiously to get the Naloren and after that everything was gravy. Anyway, here we go...
Index
1. Cheat sheet
2. Build rationale and analysis
3. Change log
Cheat Sheet
Stat distribution priority
Dex and Strength, then Cun. The remaining points I put into willpower just for the extra stamina.
Category Point Order
Infusion, Battle Tactics, Bloodthrist, Inscription.
Inscriptions/Runes
Movement, Dissipation, Shatter Afflictions, Stormshield, Stormshield.
Prodigies
Windblade at 25, Legacy of the Naloren at 42. I got the Writhing Ring of the Hunter and tried Steamroller in it just for fun. I'm not going to lie, it's a blast. Rush was one shotting everything so I was typically bouncing all over the screen at 100% damage. That said, I didn't want to finish the game with it because not everyone might come across it, so I deleted it after I had some chuckles.
Equipment priority
Physical Damage/Pen, STR/DEX, increase crit multiplier, resists. You don't really have any active defenses outside of Trained Reactions and your Stormshields, so getting resists up is extremely valuable.
Alchemist Quest priority
+2 generic, +2 class, +4% physical crit
I missed the class points quest!
+4 stats +3 Cun/Dex
Analysis and Rationale
The ole' "Ogre with Naloren" was something I had seen a bunch on the forums, and honestly with Marauder you just kinda want to kill stuff in one hit, so I figured what the hell, I'd go for it. Ogre also has some extremely valuable abilities like Writ Large, which means that after you obliterate whatever is around you, you can at least have some continued longevity if some other group decides to head on in for whatever reason. Now, there's a few things about Legacy of the Naloren that is somewhat important...moreso than just "my weapon does a bunch of damage." Getting a +0.3 to Combat Training and Combat Techniques is pretty good, but being able to get a 10 on your Exotic Weapon Master is bonkers. Even more insane, if you find a whip like say...the Skeletal Claw, you can have that stupidity apply to both your main and offhand weapons. If/When you find the Ring of the War Master (I will say, that seems to be one item I find in literally every playthrough) the class gets even more ridiculous, because it effects basically every single talent tree you have.
Could you go ICCTW? Yeah, that would probably be fine. If you wanted to stack Magic or Will Arcane Might or Superpower would probably be ok too. Flexible Combat would also be fine...but the sheer amount I used Windblade was worth the price of admission. I would say it ended around 98% of every encounter by itself. I just kinda stacked all of my abilities tumbled into the middle of whatever group, Windbladed, and everything died. What doesn't die is typically a flurry away from death if really needed. The Marauder REALLY benefits from having an AoE it can count on, and that's Windblade. It's not like it's ever going to miss, because you'll be putting up Perfect Strike before you swing it every time. The radius 4 is fairly ridiculous and our weapons do insane damage so...yeah like I said, it'll pretty much end every threat you come across. Now when you come across something that CAN survive it, like a corruptor ranboss with Bone Shield you do need to be looking to at least Dissipate the thing...or I mean you could just fan of knives it to get it off as well, but barring that or some crazy evasion, it'll elbow drop most of the game for you.
Let me give a special MVP award to Twist the Knife, also. You'll have a disarm pretty much all the time with Windblade or Lunge earlier in your career, and stun with Dual Strikes. As well there's always something that you probably have on your weapons as you move through the game. A poison, a slow, or numbing darkness, something. Twist the Knife is pretty amazing, because not only does it, you know, make your 3 turn disarm you just got last for 8 turns, while also canceling somethings evasion or heroism or something, or even cancelling Unstoppable. That's a big deal. It works for everything, so Silence, Slow...I even ended up getting 2 ranks of Lacerating Strikes from Rogue Escorts, and it'll extend those bleeds to the moon.
Weapon Choice
You'll probably be using daggers in the beginning, a two-hander/dagger mid game, and at level 42 you'll pull your 3 points out of Weapon Master to toss into Exotic Weapon Mastery, so make sure to keep them floating. The better you float, the more efficient you can get with this. I kept 1 point in daggers forever because I never expected to get something like Skeletal Claw, but then I snagged it in a Gorbat vault. That was about a 20% raw damage increase over my previous dagger.
Class Talents
Technique/Dual Techniques: 3/2/1/1-2
[3] Dual Strike: You'll be using this for a long, long time. 3 ranks gets you a potential 6 turn stun on a 6 turn cool down.
[2] Flurry: Flurry ends threats. You'll bring this into the late game for stuff that doesn't insta-die to windblade.
[1] Heartseeker: I really like 1 point in heartseeker. It does ok damage and it's got a decent 4 range. The Marauder really needs a way to move around the battle field besides Rush, so this does well for it.
[1-2] Whirlwind: So, whirlwind is pretty decent at what it does. You CAN use it for a short closer if you need, or you can use it to get into gaps and openings, and later it does well to maneuver into your best Windblade. I put 2 points into it since the Ring of the War Master bumped the 2nd point up to a 3 range, and that opened up a lot of options compared to the standard 2 range.
Technique/Dualist: 4/1/1/1
[4] Dual Weapon Mastery: 4 seems like a fine cut off, if I removed points from something I could see a 5 here.
[1] Tempo: Cool to get a little extra stamina. Nothing crazy.
[1] Feint: It's good when it's good, but a lot of the time it sat on my bar doing nothing.
[1] Lunge: I DO love my lunge, but we'll be using a lot of points elsewhere. Luckily, we have a couple of ways to disarm, and we have Twist the Knife to get some fantastic value out of lunge.
Technique/Throwing Knives: 4/3/1/1
[4] Throwing Knives: A great early crutch, some early range engagement, and good for later when we're quickdrawing knives at people. I won't lie to you though, once the build got rolling, probably around level 20 or so, I don't think I ever threw a normal knife again.
[3] Fan of Knives: Now THIS I used. Good for fodder clearing, but also good for getting rid of bone shields. Early it provides good damage, and in the late game it's still great for the bone shields.
[1] Precise Aim: For one point, it's good at what it does. We won't see it work as much as dedicated knife throwing builds though.
[1] Quickdraw: So, all this has led to this. What does quickdraw do in a non-dedicated knife build? Eh, about 10% extra raw damage. So, the question is, would it be better to say, float 3 points in throwing knives, 1 point in fan of knives, and later on down the line rip them out and put them elsewhere? Maybe...
Cunning/Dirty Fighting: 1/4/1/4
[1] Dirty Fighting: It's good for a long time to make sure we land dual strike on something stun resistant. 1 point is all you need though. Interestlngly, you can twist the knife Dirty Fighting, so you can end up with like...7 turns of dirty fighting.
[4] Backstab: I like this because it's passive. It's just there, working quietly in the background. You're going to be throwing out so many disables and attacking so many times, it'll do it's thing.
[1] Blinding Powder: I floated some more points in here to see if I liked it. I didn't, even with Twist the Knife. I'd rather just be doing damage.
[4] Twist the Knife: The MVP of the tree in this build. This thing extended so many disarms, silences, stuns, slows, bleeds, etc that it was worth it's weight in gold. It was getting rid of heroisms, juggernauts, the occasional evasion if I could hit with it while evasion was up, and most importantly, unstoppable.
Technique/Battle Tactics: 5/1/1/0
[5] Greater Weapon Focus: I mean, it's GWF. It's fantastic, max it. Sadly when it says "another, similar strike" it's not actual the same strike. So, when Twist the Knife would proc GWF...God I wish it would extend the stuff ANOTHER 5 turns, but no such luck. Still, it's a boatload more damage.
[1] Step Up: I mean, it's fine. By the time this matters, you'll be killing 10 people at a time with Windblade, so it WILL proc more than likely...but then again, you'll have killed 10 people with Windblade, so you can probably just chill out and rest.
[1] Bleeding Edge: I think this is worth the point. The bleed is nice with all of the physical damage we'll be stacking, and if you have nothing else you can extend with Twist the Knife at the time, there's this. I know I talk about fights being over in 1 hit, but that's later in the game, so this will be valuable for quite some time.
Technique/Combat Techniques: 1/1/3-5/5
[1] Rush: Great opener.
[1] Precise Strikes: No.
[3-5] Perfect Strike: Fantastic, you'll use it in the beginning of literally every single fight. 3 points will max out your 6 turns when you get Naloren. I went for the full 5 because I literally pressed this button every single fight, and with the Ring of the War Master AND Naloren, you can actually get it up to 7 turns.
[5] Blinding Speed: More global speed is another easy max. Again, used every single combat.
Technique/Bloodthirst: 5/5/1/5
[5] Mortal Terror: More crit strike is good, but this actually does a bit more than that, even if this is a "kill everything in 1 or 2 hits" build. The reality is, if something DOES survive that first hit, it's probably dangerous, the fact that we can potentially be dazing it means that if it does get to act against us, it could be taking a 50% damage penalty along with the other Daze stuff, and that's pretty nice.
[5] Bloodbath: Just fantastic. The life regen is boosted by healing mod, which is nice, but the real benefit is the stamina regen and how LONG this lasts. Getting 14% more hit points is quite nice too. With windblade/flurry/Greater Weapon Focus/Quickdraw/etc you'll have a bunch of attacks, so you should be getting a bunch of crits to trigger this at least a few times.
[1] Blood Butcher: Meh...with all of the physical damage that you should be stacking, physical pen will kinda just naturally come, and we'll have Total Thuggery which will provide some pretty significant pen.
[5] Unstoppable: I'd like to say this is an "easy 5", the big issue with it was I couldn't reliably use it for it's intended purpose until way late in the game, and for Marauder it's a 1.0 instead of a 1.3 like berserker, so you can't even get to the 7 turn unstoppable until you get the Ring of the War Master or something similar. For that reason, I'd stick to 2 points for 4 turns worth for a while, and only use it for a "I need to survive to run away" button. The issue there is, the stamina cost is very extreme, so you need to go into a fight knowing that you might need to use it. Later on, when you have a mountain of stamina and a ridiculous global and attack speed sure, pop the thing and go ham.
Generic Talents
Race/Ogre: 1/1/3/1
[1] Ogric Wrath: It's pretty cool. More damage, some resists, and a duration that increases with STRENGTH. That's pretty cool. I was getting 12 turns of this thing at the end.
[5] Grisly Constitution: This is good pretty much all the time, but obviously the big benefit is using the two-handed weapons with one hand, which is the entire purpose of the build.
[1] Scar Scripted Flesh: Cool, but limited to once per turn.
[5] Writ Large: Even without taking the extra infusion this can give, 10 turns of double runes/infusions cooldown is legit. This will basically give us 4 Stormshields in every fight. It also allows us to position using a Movement infusion, and then more than likely have that infusion back up if something goes haywire and we need to get out.
Technique/Combat Training: 5/1/1/5/0-1/0
[5] Thick Skin: We need to be able to tank a shot if we have to, we also get the 0.3 Naloren benefit here, so lets go for as much damage reduction as we can get.
[1] Heavy Armor Training: 1 point for gauntlets and boots and stuff.
[1] Light Armor Training: 1 point for your robes that you'll end up in.
[5] Combat Accuracy: You want all of the accuracy you can get. Naloren's accuracy bonus is a bonus to it's base damage, pretty sweet.
[0-1] Dagger Mastery: If you get really lucky on your float, or find Skeletal Claw early, you can manage a 0 in both Weapons Mastery AND dagger mastery. I found Skeletal Claw super late, so I ended up with 1 point in it. I mean it's not terrible, you'll still be using Fan of Blades and you'll have Quickdraw, and you get a lot of value with that 1 point.
[0] Weapons Mastery: You need to float here. After you get the Naloren you'll never need this again.
Cunning/Survival: 1/1/1/0
[1] Heightened Senses: Just to get to...
[1] Device Mastery: I love it, but we're strapped for points.
[1] Track: So, normally I'd say just get it from a rogue, but getting lacerating strikes is amazing with this class. Your weapon damage will be so obscene that in the end you'll be making stuff bleed for like 2.6k a turn. And you can twist the knife it.
Technique/Mobility: 1/1/2/5
[1] Disengage: 1 point. I used it a few times, most of the time you'll have better options.
[1] Evasion: It was fine. 1 point just seemed like enough and we'll be using a lot of generics.
[2] Tumble: I've always loved this ability. It's instant, 2 points gets you a 3 range and an 8 turn cool down...it's just perfect for battlefield management or as a way to get into a position where you can movement infusion to nope out of there.
[4] Trained Reactions: This is our only passive defense, but luckily it does a pretty good job. This, a decent HP pool, buffed up Thick Skin and a few storm shields will make us pretty tanky.
Technique/Conditioning: 2/2/1/0
[2] Vitality: Considering we have no way to deal with wounds/disease/poison on our own, this is well warranted. In the beginning that regen allowed me to run a shatter afflictions, a movement, and a shield WITHOUT a heal or a regen in the lineup.
[2] Unflinching Resolve: I liked it. We don't get a lot of cleansing. And by "we don't get a lot" I mean...this is basically it. Stuns and Blindness are some of the most important so 2 points here.
[1] Daunting Presence: It's an ok passive. 1 point for diminishing returns.
Technique/Thuggery: 1/2/2/3
[1] Skullcracker: Kinda cool, a decent confuse and it can be extended with Twist the Knife. Also it gives you something to do if you get disarmed and can't cleanse it for some reason.
[2] Riot Born: Stun and Confusion resist, hell yeah. 2 points for diminishing returns. If you could squeeze in a 3, that's worth it too.
[2] Vicious Strikes: It's great, like I said we're just using a lot of generics here. If you end up with a huge amount of natural crit (I didn't) you can throw more here and less in...
[3] Total Thuggery: Total Thuggery is a bundle of really good stuff. Attack Speed, Crit Chance, and Physical resistant penetration all in one. It drains stamina, but your stamina regen should be pretty decent with a few pieces of gear and bloodbath. Points here to taste to get you closest to 100% crit rate, because it takes HEAVY diminishing returns after the first point.
Prodigies
Windblade: Beastly 4 radius AoE on a short cool down with a 4 turn disarm attached. Like I said, I used it pretty much every single time it was up. 0 stamina cost, tons of damage, a huge radius...it's just really good and the class has nothing like it.
Legend of the Naloren: It's a big two-handed weapon that gives us a busted amount of exotic weapon mastery, a 0.3 to two really good categories, and it's stats are really, really good. More important than that, it's your guaranteed piece of equipment that will turn you into a god. The moment I got it, my DPT went up 300%.
Inscriptions/Runes
Infusions
Movement: I use this on almost every character that isn't undead. In the early game it keeps you alive, and in the late game it's good because positioning will make you do a ton more damage and it's still good for keeping you alive.
Shatter Afflictions: Pretty necessary for getting rid of disarms/confuse/stuns/freeze etc until you can get those resists sky high.
Stormshield: Dual wielding these with Writ Large will turn you into a pretty decent tank.
Stormshield: More tankyness.
Dissipation: It's the only thing you have to deal with crazy magical sustains. Don't be afraid to use it on yourself too to cleanse yourself of a bunch of hexes or what not.
Changelog
1/21/22: Guide created.
Notes
There we go, finally a GD Marauder Guide. I never thought I'd find something that felt even more ridiculous than my Writhing One, but this guy takes the cake, and that's not even with fantastic insane-level gear. Do yourself a favor...make the character, leave your computer on over night with the character logged in...and hope that someone unlocks the bearscape/poosh, because getting a few decent pieces of gear early will really open things up. Or you know, donate yourself and make it happen.