Sweeping Strikes and Cleave Stackage

[ima_nerd]

While grinding in Desolace, I noticed that Sweeping Strikes and Cleave stacked! For those who don't know, Cleave hits target and nearby opponent for weapon damge plus X on your next melee swing. Sweeping Strikes is the 21 point talent in the Arms tree that casuses your next 5 melee swings to strike an additional nearby opponent. The thing with SS is that if I have it active, a Heroic strike doesnt hit both opponents, it merely hits the target then hits the nearby mob with a normal melee attack. Anywho, SS #1:



Now, that is essentially (depending on the weapon, obviously) ~480 (2 Cleave strikes and 1 SS strike) damage for 26 Rage. That's ~18.5 damage per rage point. In comparison, Heroic Strike is about ~3.9 damge per Rage point at it's current level. Throw in 4 chances to crit and you got yourself some crazy fast grinding. SS #2



Just thought I'd throw this out there to everyone who lays a Warrior or is planning on it. I'm not sure if this is working as intended or not but I sure hope it is.

Oodles of exp in about 7 seconds. SS #3:

[Kevin]

Yeah, it's a pretty standard grinding tactic to use those together. They used to let you hit 4 targets before one of the patches (or maybe that was beta). It's as you noticed crazy damage if the cleave and the sweeping strike both crit.

[bonemage]

I read in one of the Blue posts on the official forums was that they didn't intend for SS and cleave to stack, but haven't removed it due to the fact that they knew that warriors needed work. The information I've referred to is about 2 patches ago, so apparently they thought it was worth nerfing, but also worth keeping because at the time it was hitting 4 targets. It likely means that stacking will stay. However, it is a huge rage hog as it takes 50 rage to trigger SS and then a cleave. Still great rage burn after locking aggro, and it's actually one of the main tactics I considered in my Flurry/SS build.

[ima_nerd]

However, it is a huge rage hog as it takes 50 rage to trigger SS and then a cleave.
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It's really not that bad when you consider the overall cost. I just make sure I have ~20 Rage before charging into 2 mobs so I can immediatley pop SS and then hit Cleave on the 2nd swing. I haven't checked this, but if you still gained Rage from the SS hit on your main target while Cleaving that would be insane. You could easily Cleave all 4 attacks of your SS (after the first attack of course).

On a different note, have either of you fellas (or anyone for that matter) tried out a Fury grinding build? Bloodthirst looks mighty tasty with getiing a guaranteed crit Heroic Strike and a possible "double crit" if you genuinely crit on that first swing. I'm currently going MS and will try that out grinding first but I'm definitely wondering about a Fury Build.

Thanks.

[Artega]

I find MS+WW to be a more efficient method of killing multiple mobs than SS+Cleave. You'll kill your primary target MUCH faster, while weakening up to three other mobs at the same time.

Damage taken is usually less with this approach, but green-conned mobs are superior to yellow-conned mobs for XP grinding/farming, anyway.

[ima_nerd]

I find MS+WW to be a more efficient method of killing multiple mobs than SS+Cleave.  You'll kill your primary target MUCH faster, while weakening up to three other mobs at the same time.

Damage taken is usually less with this approach, but green-conned mobs are superior to yellow-conned mobs for XP grinding/farming, anyway.
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I just recently aquired Whirlwind. I remember when I was in my low 20s I couldn't wait for Whirlwind. Now that I have it, I rarely use it, if at all. I suppose I may use it once I start running SM with the common 3 mob pulls in there. Right now, I don't take more than 2 mobs at a time so SS or Cleave is much better.

[Artega]

I just recently aquired Whirlwind. I remember when I was in my low 20s I couldn't wait for Whirlwind. Now that I have it, I rarely use it, if at all. I suppose I may use it once I start running SM with the common 3 mob pulls in there. Right now, I don't take more than 2 mobs at a time so SS or Cleave is much better.
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WW is an instant attack with an automatic +3% chance to crit since it requires Berserker Stance. WW is superior to Cleave in every way, except for the fact that you'll never be able to combine it with Sweeping Strikes. Once you get Mortal Strike at lvl 40 or lvl 45, you'll find that SS+Cleave is generally going to be inferior to WW+MS for multi-mob maiming, especially if you're using the big, slow weapon that you SHOULD be using with MS :)

Cleave is actually closer to 25-28 Rage, not the advertised 20 Rage. Remember, Next Melee attacks rob you of the Rage the modified attack would have generated.