Written by: Kay-Droma

The Medic uses their extensive medical knowledge to strike their opponent in a vital spot with a level XX attack…


Many people have commented on the medic boards that using a lower mark vital strike is effective for controlling your action use, and can save you action for other moves, while not completly removing the DPS we have from the vital line, which would happen if you simply did not use the move. I am one of these people, but this quick guide will tell you exactly how much action cost each vital strike is, the average damage of the strike, and how much damage you are getting out, for each point of action spent to vital strike. Warning – Number crunching Involved!

Note, all tests are done with NO VITAL DAMAGE MODS, and NO VITAL ACTION COST MODS. You can add them in yourself by simple math! :p The tests were done against an Elder Jedi with 6500 armours. I used a malovent razorknucker, 1050 dps, no elemental. Most of the damage numbers should not be taken literally, and are used to compare between the marks of vital strike.

Vital Strike Cooldown

4 seconds

Vital Strike Action Costs

Vital Strike Mark 1: 100
Vital Strike Mark 2: 400
Vital Strike Mark 3: 500
Vital Strike Mark 4: 1,100
Vital Strike Mark 5: 1,400
Vital Strike Mark 6: 1,700
Vital Strike Mark 7: 2,180

So as you can see, if you want to save action, chances are you should use a lower marked vital strike attack. However, this means you will do less damage. So which one should you choose?
Well, to decide, we can find out a variety of information.

Average Damage of the attack

Vital Strike Mark 1: 637
Vital Strike Mark 2: 759
Vital Strike Mark 3: 809
Vital Strike Mark 4: 1,090
Vital Strike Mark 5: 1,174
Vital Strike Mark 6: 1,337 (no joke)
Vital Strike Mark 7: 1,590

The average costs were what we except, the higher up you go the higher the damage. However, comparing vital strike mark 4, which uses nearly half as much action as mark 7, while only losing a third of the damage, you immediatly see you can gain some action points for only a small sacrifice in damage. This is where using a lower marked attack can be very worthwhile.

Damage from Strike in 1 minute (if you spammed it)

Vital Strike Mark 1: 9,555
Vital Strike Mark 2: 11,385
Vital Strike Mark 3: 12,135
Vital Strike Mark 4: 16,350
Vital Strike Mark 5: 17,610
Vital Strike Mark 6: 20,005
Vital Strike Mark 7: 23,850

This information does not include any offensive or any defensive rolls, so can not be taken literally, only used to compare between each strike. We can see that the damage really picks up at mark 4, so that could be good to use for constant dps, however mark 5′s relatively small increase of damage compared to mark 4 means it would not be worth using, as you would waste action, for little gain.

Finally, we can bring the data togther, and see how many points of damage you are doing to an opponent, per 1 point of action used with vital strike.

Damage given out per point of action used

Vital Strike Mark 1: 6.370
Vital Strike Mark 2: 1.897
Vital Strike Mark 3: 1.618
Vital Strike Mark 4: 0.991
Vital Strike Mark 5: 0.838
Vital Strike Mark 6: 0.786
Vital Strike Mark 7: 0.729

This result gives a very, very impressive return for mark 1. It also shows that lower mark attacks are much more efficient. This trend follows down all the way to mark 7.

So what does this data tell me? What attack would I use when?

Well the data is there for you to comprehend as you wish. But if you can’t be bothered with all that, I will write here basically what the data tells you which move is best in which situation, and why.

Lowest Action Cost possible: Vital Strike Mark 1. You can spam it freely knowing that its the most effiecient action/damage ratio, and the lowest cost.

Highest Damage in shortest amount of time: Vital Strike Mark 7. Highest action cost, but highest dps too.

I am a support medic and dueling, I want to try and damage my opponent: Here, mark 4 would probably be best. It has a respectable DPS, and an action cost which is not high enough to greatly hinder you.

I am a combat medic and dueling, I want to try and keep DPS pressure on my opponent while debuffing him, etc: Here, mark 2 or 3 would probably be best. Slightly less action cost than mark 4, but your debuffs should make up for that, and the lower cost will help you with your debuffs. If you have alot of debuffs, prehaps mark 1 would be better, to keep your action cost at a minimum.

I want to be l33t, which should I use?: Vital strike mark 6, with an average hit of 1337, you can’t go wrong.

I want to use the best vital strike possible for my playstyle…: Check the information, and you can see how much damage you want to sacrifice in order to get the action you need. Test different marks with different buffs in order to get the best you possibly can.

for reference:

Vital Strike Action Costs (with expertise)

Vital Strike Mark 1: 75
Vital Strike Mark 2: 300
Vital Strike Mark 3: 375
Vital Strike Mark 4: 875
Vital Strike Mark 5: 1050
Vital Strike Mark 6: 1275
Vital Strike Mark 7: 1635

Thanks to Gedjo, Viper-Can, A’pone and Inglor for the testing!