The Tier 80 PVP Specified DT

General comments on leveling:

As I was making this guide, The Dark Templar (DT) seemed a bit “numb” from levels 1-25, able to handle his own, but not much else. From level 25 to 45 you will notice that the Dark Templar (DT) starts to get its own strength, in this area you should be able to easily handle 3-4 mobs of your level or 2-3 mobs of a higher level than you. (This is with minimal downtime) From 45 to 65 the DT really gets strong; anything of your own level becomes a waste of time. Above 65 mobs, even 3-4 levels above, you’re a fair game hunter as long as you don’t take out too many. You will find that, more than other classes, the DT becomes very reliant on correctly placed feat points, even more so than actual equipment. The DT also appears to be a “late developer,” not really going strong until he was 65 or older.

Skill Points:

Bandage and quick heal I have at 500. This seems to work well with the HP boost between fights.

Recovery and fast recovery I also have at 500. Stamina is the main problem with DTs when leveling up solo. You might even consider taking 100 Bandage Points and 100 Quick Recovery points and putting them into Recovery and Quick Recovery.

I have 200 stamina and 200 running speed. Both were used until I bought a mount. For late game PvP, you might want to put 400-500 on the run speed. (You do NOT use sprint late game PvP, unless you’re happy to pop pots.)

The climb is 450 only due to a climb point on the Aztel Approach. (There’s a shortcut there that you have to scale in order to use it)

Hide has zero as this ability is not needed at all, in endgame PvP you want others to see you, to go after you instead of healers and nukers.

Perception has zero because I just didn’t have enough points to place here. If you’re going to use perception, you’ll need to be capped at 80 in order to use it effectively, and with a DT you can’t afford to.

Taunt has zero since this is not a PvE build.

I have 152 points left, however I am saving them in case there is an escalation point in a raid/group dungeon that has a 600 point requirement. If this turns out not to be a concern, it will move on to speed of execution.

The exploits:

trained feats

• Ruined touch5/5
• Ruined soul5/5
• Dark Hand5/5
• Devouring Blood Frenzy3/3
• The power of the devourer5/5
• Incinerate ether1/1
• Dispel Aether3/3
• dreadlord1/1
• Combo – Mind Destruction1/1
• The power of Hexer5/5
• touch of death5/5
• Combo – Destroy the mind1/1
• Unholy Strength5/5
• Dread Shadow1/1
• trained feats
• Devouring Touch5/5
• Spell – Arms Pact5/5
• Vigor Leech5/5
• Curse of Gwahlur5/5
• Aether Leech1/1
• Corrupted Weapon2/2
• approach of death1/1
• Improved Soul Pacts1/1
• Spell: Soul Barrier1/3
• Recovery5/5
• Improved frenzy stance2/5

General:

I had some reservations about putting points in this tree. As such I only put 5 in recovery, since the Regen is half decent for 5 points. The 2 points in the improved frenzy stance are “leftover” that I didn’t see a better place for. The rest of the tree seems mostly for defense with the exception of sustained Rage, which I didn’t have enough points to get. Remember this is a PvP build, NOT a PvE or raid build. In PvP, you’re not a primary target, healers and destroyers are, and as such, you can sometimes allow yourself to be in a frantic position to take down enemy healers and destroyers.

Description:

• Devouring Touch 5 points: This starting tree ability adds to your life.
• Pact of Arms 5 points: This, in my opinion, is the best Pact to apply for DPS.
• Vigor Leech 5 points: This is not an optional ability, the bane of a DT is stamina, and this stamina leech is a must for PvE and PvP. This also leads to Ether Leech.
• Talisman Mastery 0 points: I haven’t found a single decent talisman, and losing the shield doesn’t seem like smart.
• Curse of Gwahlur 5 points: Decent ability that gives you health, deals damage, and seems to work decently.
• Aether Leech 1 point: Just 1 point here is amazing for a mana leech. (Note that I have Soul Barrier)
• Corrupted Weapon: 2 points: A bit disappointed here as it doesn’t do much damage and doesn’t proc much, however I was forced to put down 2 points to get the subsequent soul barrier)
• Improved Dread Fury 0 points: I can’t even cast a basic buff from this because I’m getting an error that a more powerful spell is currently in effect. (Arms Pact) So there was no need to waste points here, I use Aura of Infusion which is awesome for survivability.
• Approach of Death 1 point: It only takes 1 point here, I do notice it from time to time, not a huge benefit though.
• Improved Martyrdom 0 points: I’m not a healer, although this does a nice boost to health, I didn’t want to spend the points on this.
• Improved Soul Pacts: 1 point: Awesome ability for only 1 point, supposed to increase the % proc of the pact itself.
• Soul Barrier 1 point: This is a controversial ability, when you cast this (Last 20 seconds) the damage is applied to your mana pool before your actual health pool. If you have time to cast it, it’s an amazing spell. The only bad thing is the cast time, if you get jumped you don’t have time to use it, however if your party is starting PvP this is a very nasty bonus. Note that I took both stuns in the other tree, using one of them buys me time to cast it in solo PvP, and popping a mana pot works wonders while under its effects.

Depravity:

• Ruined touch 5 points: Impressive feat adds DPS and procs decently.
• Ruined Soul 5 points: It basically makes Blighted touch an AOE; however, the other ability on the tree is useless.
• Crystallized ether 0 points: Total waste, the only time you use mana is to buff, even if you have Soul Barrier the shield will drop faster than this ability will replenish it, use a mana pot instead.
• Dark Hand 5 points: Basic DPS added to your melee weps.
• Devouring Blood Frenzy 3 points: Since I tend to frenzy prepare for PvP, I thought it was a decent 3 point investment. I haven’t noticed a significant difference so I may investigate this further in the future. It’s supposed to give you some health while in frenzy stance.
• Consumer Stronghold 0 points: I don’t do a defensive stance in PvP so this is a waste.
• Pact of Malacodor 0 points: Since he was already in a frenzy, he didn’t want to take a huge health hit to deal more damage.
• Power of the Devourer 5 points: DPS boost to an already powerful combo, I had no problem spending all 5 here.
• Dark charge 0 points: He originally had this feat, however you had to be very close and he just didn’t seem to have the time to use it in PvP. As a tank class, I’m chasing healers and casters, I can stun them. Even if I’m stuck chasing them, what good is a healer/nuker to the enemy team if they’re constantly running?
• Dispel Aether 3 points: I needed this to do double damage with ether incinerate. (Mana and HP)
• Incinerate ether 1 point: 1 point for double damage? Hell yes.
• Fel Soul 0 points: I have quite a few reservations about Sadism with a DT, PBAOE is only double digit damage when rendered, almost useless in fast paced PvP battles.
• Sadistic Glee 0 points: Another feat of sadism.
• Dreadlord 1 point: For 1 point you can’t complain about the combo cooldown reduction, even if it’s not a massive reduction.
• Malacodor’s Reaper 0 points: You need Pact of Malacodor for this.
• Mind Wrack 1 point: 1 point for a stun skill, awesome.
• Aether Harvest 0 points: I won’t waste 5 points for the small mana regen when using Mystical Bane.
• Hexer’s Might 5 points: Another feat that adds DPS to a powerful combo.
• Gore Demon 0 points: sadism feat
• Masochism 0 points: sadism feat
• Touch of Death 5 points: Impressive One Shot Launcher Skill (Combo)
• Air of Death 0 points: Decent ability, however you have to use Touch of death to activate it. TOD has too long a cooldown to justify this feat.
• Sadistic Revenge 0 points: Sadism feat.
• Mindbreaker 1 point: 1 dot for a more powerful stun, easy dot placement here. Note that the two stuns are on different cooldown timers.
• Unholy Strength 5 points: Increases the DPS of ALL combos.
• Drain Force 0 points: I wanted to place one here, but since I hunt healers and the caster’s strength doesn’t make sense to them.
• Ravenous Devourer 0 points: I didn’t have the preq for this.
• Dread Shadow 1 point: This was the biggest disappointment. Yes the ability works, however the pet appears for a very short time of 5-10 seconds. This should have been a 3 point feat at 10 seconds per point. Only 1 point, but almost useless.