nebber

hiya all,

Thinking of transferring to freedom from victory to actually see some people in PVP zones. I built my fire/em tank prior to the pain of i14 and haven't kept up since. It's currently slotted for +hp and +recharge, though some of that +recharge is in LotG's in concealment pool.

Anywho, input on what to take would be appreciated.

Fire - everything but blazing aura, burn, and rise of the phoenix, right? or is aura/burn good for stalker inturrupting?

EM - barrage, build up, energy transfer, and total focus. Anything else? Bonesmasher too or just use barrage and save a power?

Pools - hasten/SS, CJ/SJ, swift/hurdle/stam, and ?
Epic - ? I hear something about fossilize being brokenly good?

Thanks.

me too!

RV = emptay. Sad.

I kill them all. Build up, throw spines, spine burst, ripper, throw spines.

Good idea. Guide updated to include "Procs for Fun and Profit" at the very end, any more procs I may have left off, let me know.

My former i7 Claws/SR guide has been updated for i11:

i11 claws/sr guide

and boy is it long.

4 issues later, I have finally updated my guide:

link to i11 guide!

The Stabby Frenzy: A Claws/Super Reflexes Guide, updated for i12.

Welcome. Do you like stabbing stuff? Do you like not being hit? Are you thinking of a Claws/SR? It's a fun build, not overpowered--but very rewarding. It will never be a PVP god build or a burst damage king. But, Claws/SR offers great, fast, consistent attack chains with great DPS that barely hurt your e-bar. Nice AOE options add much variety and options for facing all sorts of situations. It has a set-it-and-forget-it secondary. You're fast, you dodge, you stab, you win. And it's dead sexy the whole time.

Convinced? Welcome aboard. Just, for the love of all things holy, no more cat-women. Please.

Twitchy McStaby was my first toon from I1. I may have other loves but you always remember your first. Especially when your first stabs people in the face. It’s so endearing.

Let me start this off by saying the most important thing now: Claws/SR is one of the tightest builds in the game. Mostly because of SR. You're going to need every power from it--the most you want to pass up from it is one power. Add in a range of attractive Claws attacks you're going to want, the pool powers for traveling, and the ones to improve upon your secondary, and there's little wiggle room.

So, ready? Let's start with the…

CLAWS POWER REVIEW
---------------------------------

Swipe:
It's cute, but still not worth taking in my book. It's the weakest attack in the set. You're going to have an arsenal of quick-recharging single-target attacks, and you can have a workable chain without it by level 8. You can survive until then, right? If you have to take it, you're most likely going to want to respec out of it later. Remember, your build is going to be tight. A 2.3 brawl-index (0.84 DS) attack is easily skippable.

Strike:
Better than Swipe. A gut-stab animation I love, nice recharge, and the good ol' passing-the-time-while-my-other-attacks-recharge 2.7 brawl index (1.0 DS). Take it first.

Leveling slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, generally does fine without recharge or end-redx.
Late game slotting: Crushing Impact, Mako’s Bite, or Touch of Death sets.

Slash:
Better damage than Strike (3.7 brawl index/1.32 DS), good recharge, and a defense debuff? Sold. Take it. Now. What are you waiting for?

Leveling slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, recharge or end-redx to flavor.
Late game slotting: Crushing Impact, Mako’s bite, or Touch of Death sets.

Spin:
Nice point-black AOE, but damage is not ‘wow’, it’s more like ‘I am inclined to approve.’ Good if you are often wading in enemies, not so good for soloers until later in the game.

Leveling slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, recharge or end-redx to flavor.
Late game slotting mixed slotting: Cleaving Blow: acc/rech & acc/dmg, Multistrike: acc/dmg, dmg/rchg & dmg/end/rchg (78 acc, 95 dmg, 96 recharge, 21 end).

Follow Up:
Since ED hit way back when, this has become an attractive attack. You want it. The accuracy and damage buff is wonderful in the early levels, when training origins do nothing to help you. The use of it in the teens will be a bit awkward, but once you can devote four-slots-plus and SOs/IOs to it, it becomes gold. With good recharge you can stack it twice.

Leveling slotting: I like 2 acc, 1 end red, 3 recharge to double-stack it. There are many good combos, so long as you have an acc in it, anything between damage, recharge, end reduction, and to-hit buff is good. Of major popularity now is getting the Gaussian’s chance for build up in there, as it provides much better activation chances than having it in a toggle.
Late game slotting: I like membrane HO, 1 nucleolus HOs, Crushing Impact dmg/rchg and acc/dmg/end, and Mako’s acc/dmg/end/recharge. That gives 72 acc, 95 dmg, 39 end discount, 20 to-hit, and 77 recharge (I have global recharge bonuses to get it above the 95% recharge needed to double-stack it). Others like the 3 nucleolus, 2 membranes, and the Gaussian’s chance for buildup. So many good enhancements, and only a wee 6 slots… such a shame.

Confront:
If you take this, you are a fool. If you want aggro, stab someone in the face. If you want a room full of aggro, play a tank. In a pink dress. Pansy.

Slotting: Did you not just read the previous 2 lines?

Focus:
Indisputably the shining star of the claws set. 4.5 brawl index (1.6 DS), knocks down your target consistently, good range, and a base 6 second base recharge. It makes you happy. So very happy. Take it at 18 when it's available and never look back.

Leveling slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, recharge or end-redx to flavor.
Late game slotting: I like 1 nucleolus HO, Thunderstrike acc/dmg, acc/dmg/rech, dmg/end/recharge, 1 recharge IO, and Decimation: chance for buildup. I’m pounding that attack all the time and I’m pleased with how often I get a free buildup. 80 acc, 95 dmg, 83 recharge, 21 end.



Eviscerate:
You know, this one is difficult to decide on. It's good. It has a higher chance of getting a critical, and acts in a small cone, so you can hit multiple enemies with it. Best damage in the set at 4.7 BI (1.7 DS).

But… it's slow execution. In time it takes you to do the backflip and hit, you can do a Slash and a Strike for a total of 6.4 brawl index (2.3 DS) to a single target. If you get it, you only want to use it when you know it will hit multiple enemies, and in the time it takes to line up enemies for it you can continue on your stabbing frenzy. I’d say it’s the second most skippable behind swipe, especially for soloers. More valuable for big teams with big tightly packed mobs.

Leveling slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, recharge or end-redx to flavor.
Late game slotting: Cleaving Blow: acc/rech & acc/dmg, Multistrike: acc/dmg, dmg/rchg & dmg/end/rchg (78 acc, 95 dmg, 96 recharge, 21 end)


Shockwave:
A ranged cone that knocks back all the targets it hits. Damage is the same level as spin. Used well, it’s a wonderful damage mitigation tool and can get enemies lined up for more pain to come. Used poorly, you send baddies flying everywhere and if your leader is a tank or an AOE blaster, he may seriously look at the ‘kick’ button and ponder. Most people grow to like it, I know I did.

Leveling slotting: same ol’ 1-2 acc, 3 dmg, recharge or end-redx to flavor.
Late game: I’m a big fan of adding range to it over what the IO sets offer. I do 2 acc, 3 centrioles, and 1 recharge.


Single-Target vs AOEs
----------------------------

Claws has some solid AOE options (well, more specifically, 'multiple-target attacks'): A good-damage melee cone, a point-blank AOE, and a ranged cone.

Claws can let you be a sustainable single-target rapid-fire killer--this is one of the greatest advantages of the set. You want the attacks to have a solid single-target chain no matter what.

Your build is bound to be tight to work in what you need in SR, so delaying some attacks could be necessary as you grow. The AOEs provide fair damage but nothing spectacular. Eviscerate does better damage, but lining up melee cones is difficult, and you can be spending that time unloading a killer single-target chain. Though claws is endurance-friendly, using AOEs when they will only hit 2 or 3 enemies can take its toll.

Anyway, you have to answer this. Will you mostly solo or duo, maybe the occasional larger team? I would favor single-target attacks until later levels. For small spawns, I've found I can kill just as fast bouncing around with my single-target attack chain.

Will you spend your career in huge teams? Huge teams equal huge spawns. Huge spawns is where your AOEs will really pay off, and give you a good reward for the extra endurance you're using to execute the AOE attacks.

Huge teams also have the advantage of damage mitigation. If you are going to play in environment where there is constantly a tank to keep the aggro, or debuffs/buffs to keep you alive, you can forego some SR powers until later and your supplement pool (fighting, medicine – discussion later).

So, if you like big spawns and lots of friends, pick and chose what you will give up to gain your multiple-enemy attacks. If you free up one power to make room for an AOE attack, I suggest spin first. It's available at level 6, and it's easy to use (no lining up for the attack). If you free up two slots, you can chose eviscerate or shockwave. By 26, you will be able to guess which one will be better for you. Are you constantly facing enough enemies where a cone will hit more than one? Eviscerate. Are you constantly jumping back to be out of melee and firing off focus from a safe distance? Shockwave pairs well and give you another valuable knockdown.

And that brings us to:

The Great Single Target Attack Chain
---------------------------------

My i7 guide had the best single target attack chain ever conceived by mortals. It was followup, focus, slash, air superiority, repeat. Basically it was perma-knockdown of anything you were fighting with a nice sustained DPS. Not too long after however, perma-knockdown was nerfed to where you can’t re-knockdown most enemies in the getting back up animation. But, in substituting strike for air superiority, you still get the high DPS and I highly recommend this as a single-target staple while leveling:

Slash: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 end redx.
Strike: 1-2 acc, 3 damage
Follow Up: 2 acc, 3 recharge, 1 end redx
Focus: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 end redx.

This is the chain:

Follow Up -> Focus -> Slash -> Strike. Repeat. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.

What happens with this? You build momentum. In this chain of sweet fast-activating attacks, Follow Up lasts for the next 6 attacks. Follow Up buffs your first chain with essentially the equivalent of another damage SO, and a good to-hit buff. On the second run, and all subsequent cycles, Focus and Slash, two attacks with very respectable brawl indexes, have two stacked follow-ups buffing them. You've added the equivalent of two damage SOs to these two attacks. Take that, enhancement diversification! The to-hit buff also moves from 'good' to 'healthy'.

At the same time, Slash is a defense debuff. As the chain unfolds, you are buffing your accuracy and debuffing the enemies' defense. Your chain is made for hitting consistently, to the point where misses become surprising when they happen.

The endurance of this chain when you have an endurance reducer in each attack and Stamina is cheap. Seriously cheap. No kidding, with 2-3 toggles up, I can do it 10 times nonstop. Endurance will never be a reason to take a break, so you can keep the xp rolling in nonstop.


SR POWER REVIEW
----------------------------

This is more condensed than Claws, grouping like powers. And you're going to want all of them, so no need to debate the relative merits of individual powers. I'll discuss the one you're not going to take later.

Focused Fighting, Focused Senses, Evasion (the toggles):
Your basic defense. Early on, the endurance cost of two will hurt. Melee hits damage more, so keep fighting on and turn off senses when you don't need it. You want to make sure the first two are well-slotted by the time you hit SOs. The toggles provide 19.5% defense with 3 SOs each. You're taking a minion down to 30% to hit you, and bosses down to 45%. Thanks to the global defense (more accurately, enemy to-hit) changes with I7, these percentages will stay pretty consistent up to +5 enemies.

Agile, Dodge, Lucky (the passives):
Your supplemental defense. Since these don't offer as much base defense as the toggles, take them later, and slot them later. At 7.8% extra defense 3 SO'ed, combined with the toggles, you are taking minions down to a 22% chance of hitting, bosses to 38%. Very nice, and very noticeable.

Then, there is the matter of the damage resistance. Each passive gives you scaling damage resistance--a little when you hit yellow, and more when you hit red. My old builds, I went light on the passives, thinking them not valuable enough. I was so. very. wrong. When you have all three and you are in the red, what would have been a kill shot hits you for half the damage or less, and you live to stab more things in the face. And the difference between two and three passives is VERY noticeable. You need them all.

Practiced Brawler:
Best scrapper status protection. 2 recharge SOs + Quickness and it's perma. It can't be detoggled, and it doesn't cost endurance past firing it.

Quickness:
Some say it's skippable, but not from my angle. It helps your recharge everywhere, and the slow protection it provides is extremely valuable. When the Earth Thorn Caster drops quicksand and you run straight through it and stab him in the face, you'll thank me. The run speed buff is also great.

Elude:
Your god-mode. Though your defense is good on paper, in actual play you're going to get in a situation where the enemies have to-hit buffs, defense debuffs, or superior numbers. The extra defense Elude gives then will make the difference between victory and a faceplant. And don't forget the endurance buff, should you get sapped. Slot 3 recharge first, you don’t have to add defense for PVE (you’ll be at the defense soft-cap if you keep toggles up) but one or 2 can’t hurt if you have extra slots.


So yes. You want all of the SR powers. But in reality, you may have to forego one. So which one?

First choice: the AOE protection. You're not getting it until late anyway, and, with a few notable exceptions, AOEs hurt less than ranged and melee. With your SR supplement pool, you will have ways of recovering or lessening the AOE damage. Plus, a mere 3 levels from Evasion, you get Elude. If you find yourself in AOE hell that's too much to survive, you have a button out. IO slotting (see later) can also provide good AOE defense.

You can strategize to minimize AOE damage as well. Charge into melee, and Nemesis will try to stab you with their guns rather than fire their AOEs. If there's only one AOE'er, he dies first.

So drop Lucky or Evasion? Evasion. Why? Even though it provides more AOE defense, you're better without it. First, it's a toggle, and it costs endurance. Second, the 3-passive scaling damage resistance is worlds better than the 2-passive. You may be hit by more AOEs, but they'll do less damage by the time you are in the yellow. And that's when it matters most. I tried life without both, and keeping Lucky is what I settled on.

Second choice: Elude. Late game, you can use IOs to get your defense to 45% all around, making elude a bit redundant in most PVE situations.


TRAVEL POWERS
-----------------------

Honestly, what you want. The prereqs can add “character” to your tight build. If you would like to play around with more knockdown options, air superiority leads to fly. Hasten is always welcome in any build for me, and leads to superspeed. Combat jumping gives a lil’ bit extra defense, which adds up, and leaves to superjump. And teleporting is… ummm… teleport.

Also, there is one other option: no travel power. Swift + Quickness + Sprint will get you to somewhere between the speed of base fly and 1-slotted fly. I've tried it, and it's workable. I just don't have the patience. But, if you really, really, want to squeeze in more AOEs or other pools, this can be a way to free up a power. Plus, it's a great way to accent a natural origin character.

SR SUPPLIMENT POOL
------------------------------

OK. So SR is good defense. The problem with defense is it's a dice-roll each time. You'll have battles where you emerge unscathed, and others where it seems everyone and their grandma gets free hits on you. Since running away and/or screaming 'heal plz' is very unbecoming of a scrapper, you could use a plan B. Two pools work great for this: medicine (aid self) and fighting (tough).

Aid Self will save your behind. When your defenses fail, the only thing that will keep you fighting is an HP boost. Slotted 3 heal, 2 interrupt, 1 recharge, with Quickness, you will have 40% of your hp returned every 13 seconds. This is teh ubarz. The biggest thing people normally have against medicine is the use of the tricorder. Your mutant werewolf isn't exactly going to be carrying this in his hip hair.

Tough 3-SOed will give you another 18% S/L resist, which will not keep you in the green much, but will keep you in the yellow longer and in the red a long, long time before you die, by stacking with your passive's scaling damage resistance. Enemies are going to have a hard time finishing you off, and if you have health 3-slotted and/or other IO regeneration bonuses, you will be extremely survivable at low levels of health. The tradeoff is it's another toggle, so you'll need more endurance management, but all-in-all, still a nice supplement. It can also hold one of the greatest IOs in the game: the Steadfast Protection resist/+3% global defense bonus.

FITNESS
-----------

You need it. Not only for Stamina letting you fight forever, but for the Swift + Quickness stack. This is unsuppressed movement, which lets you continue your stabbing frenzy uninterrupted as you bounce from one enemy to the next. As soon as one dies, I hit tab and F, and my next victim is immediately in front of my sharp stabby implements.

So that leaves Hurdle or Health. Health is better. 3-slotted for heals will help any build, and especially the ones with Tough. It also takes nice (expensive) IOs which improve your regeneration and recovery.
However, if movement ability is a concern, hurdle can make CJ/SJ faster and give you a lil’ bit of vertical help if you decided to go with just superspeed.

EPIC POOLS
---------------

Body Mastery – Nice choices in here and generally the first choice of your scrappy brethren across the city. Best for those committing to conserve power and elude to power the end-hungry focused accuracy. You can leisurely kill at distance by adding laser beam eyes to focus and shockwave. Nice stuff.

Dark Mastery – The favored choice for AOE kings and those who love them. Tentacles hold and damage and keep them lined up for AOEs. A hold and a blast round your options out nicely, and dark accuracy debuffs make your defense even better.

Weapons Mastery – lols. Focus keeps things in place better than web grenade. Tentacles keep enemies in place better for AOEs than caltrops. Shruikens only tickle and shockwave is worlds better than the exploding shruiken party trick.

Or… none. You can go back and add on any skipped SR and claws attacks that you want to play with.

SAMPLE BUILD
-------------------

01 - Strike
01 - Focused Fighting
02 - Slash
04 - Focused Senses
06 - Travel prereq or spin
08 - Follow Up
10 - Spin, travel prereq (if you didn’t get it at 6). If you are skipping/putting off spin, move swift to here and get dodge at 16 instead of later.
12 - Practiced Brawler
14 - Travel power
16 - Swift
18 - Focus
20 - Health (or Hurdle)
22 - Stamina
24 - Quickness
26 - Dodge
28 - Agile
30 - Stimulant (or box/kick, or eviscerate)
32 - Aid Self (or tough, or shockwave)
35 - Lucky
38 - Elude

Slotting:

You have 20 slots to add by the time you reach 22 and SOs. You can afford to 4-slot all your attacks, 3-slot your defense toggles, and 2-slot practiced brawler. Build your attacks up sooner, as more TO and DO aims will help you more early on than the sad amount of defense TOs and DOs give. But make sure your defenses have good slots by the time you hit 22.

In your 20s to mid 30s, finish 4-slotting your toggles (3 defense, 1 end reducer) and get your claw attacks to 5-slotted (1 aim, 3 damage, 1 end reducer/recharge). Get Stamina 3-slotted. And slot up your SR supplement pool.

Late 30s, 6-slot your big attacks with another aim, and finish 3-slotting your passives.

When you don't know what to do with your slots anymore, Quickness and Swift will happily take more run speeds for even more combat maneuverability.

PVP
----

Lol.

Don’t change your build to try to be more PVP effective.

That said, you can have some fun and be viable at PVP, but you will have a hard time getting the kill with the high percentage of runners who won't stay around for your 1 2 3 4 attack chain for long. Lots of players will have powers to get around your defense, so just take it in good humor, and maybe you can have some interesting duels.

IO OPTIONS
----------------

What’s to say really? The options are open wide for whatever you’d like to do. Good amounts of regen? More HP and recovery? Global recharge? Maxing out defense? Making your powers do more with the same amount or less slots? There’s no way I can cover it all.

What I can say is this: the best way to get good bonuses is stack a lot of the same thing. What do you have a lot of? Defense set slottable powers. Here’s what you get if you 6-slot these sets into 5 of your defense powers:

Serendipity: 20% regen, +3.75% hp, +15% acc, +5% AOE defense, +5% tox resist. This is a nice all around set, some regen helps in non aid-self builds, accuracy is always welcome, and an AOE defense supplement helps if you skipped lucky or evasion.

Gift of the Ancients: +10% recovery, 12.5% fire resist, +8% max endurance increase, +12% Psi resistance, and +37.5% run speed. This is good for providing more endurance (if you are the kind who burns through it too quickly), some nice exotic resists, and make you even faster (like adding another unslotted swift/quickness).

Red Fortune: immob resist (meh), 6.25% fire/cold resist, 10% damage buff, 25% global recharge, and 12.5% ranged defense. The latter 3 are the winners, a good damage buff, great global recharge to help bring your good stuff back even quicker, and max out your ranged defense. A relatively cheap set, too. My fav.

Luck of the Gambler: 50% regen, 5.6% max HP, 45% accuracy, hold resistance (meh), 15.6% psi resist, and 32.5% global recharge. All in all, very “wow” but VERY expensive.

So pick one of the above, and then find other sets for your attacks and pools to get even more of what you like. But just remember, you can’t get the same bonus more than 5 times… so if you have 5 3% accuracy bonuses, if you get another 3% damage bonus from another set, you still won’t get past the 15% bonus. But if you get 5 3% bonuses and a 9% bonuses, you will have the 24% global accuracy.

I will mention 2 specific-ish endgame IO builds, as they are worth mentioning:

1) The ZOMG Defense Build

I can’t take credit for this one but it’s floating around on the boards with better information than I’m providing. It’s not horribly expensive compared to some endgame IO builds, but cost me in the neighborhood of 30-40mil.

This build gets you to or close to the 45% “soft cap” of defense. Downsides is it pretty much picks your power pools for you (fitness, leaping, fighting) and you’re more likely to have to slot for endurance management as you will be running 6 toggles. On the plus side, you could remove elude from your build and don’t have to retoggle after the crash.

You need the following slotted out fully for defense (3 SOs/IOs or set equivalents to get you 95%+ bonus):

All toggles (21.7% defense)
All passives (8.8% defense)
Combat jumping (2.95% defense)
Tough with the Steadfast protection global defense IO (3% defense)
Weave (5.9% defense)
For a total of 39.6% melee/ranged/AOE defense, leaving 5.4% needing to be covered in IOs.

Melee defense: 6-slotting Touch of Death in Strike and Slash each with give you another 6% melee defense, reaching the cap.

Ranged defense: 6-slotting Red Fortune in Focused Fighting, Focused Senses, and Evasion will get you 7.5% ranged defense, reaching the cap.

AOE Defense: Don’t sweat it if you don’t reach the soft cap on this one. 6-slotting detonation in Shockwave and Multi Strike in Spin or Eviscerate will net you another 3.8% AOE defense, getting you to 43.4%, close enough for superhero work.


2) The ZOMG Recharge Build

This is mine. I don’t care that claws is fast recharging to start, I want everything up again in the shortest time possible. This build can give permahasten, elude up 270s / down 90s, focus recharging in just over 2 seconds, spin in 4 seconds and stuff like slash back up in the time it takes to blink. Downside is you’re going to spend your grandmother’s inheritance to get it (200 mil-ish for the Gamblers alone, another 50mil or so to complete). Bet you wish you got on more Katie farms before that was fixed … sucker.

The idea is to get five 5% recharge bonuses, five luck of the gambler +7.5% global recharge speeds slotted, and hasten well-slotted for recharge. Any 10% recharge bonuses from purple sets would be gravy.

5% bonuses can be had relatively cheaply and easily with the following:

5-slotting Crushing Impact in Slash or Strike
6-slotting Efficacy Adapter in Stamina
5 slotting Adjusted Targeting in Focused Accuracy
5-slotting Red Fortune in any of your 3 toggles, 3 passives, or combat jumping.

My personal preference was Crushing Impact in Slash & Strike, Red Fortune in FF, FS, and Adjusted Targeting in Focused Accuracy.

I love it. I run around in a blind stabbing frenzy in Elude, and when it crashes I pop a blue and conserve power, spend about 90 seconds in a slightly reserved stabbing frenzy, then pop elude and repeat. With Elude and Conserve Power available overlapping each other, I don’t have to waste any slots on endurance reduction and stick with the holy trinity of aim, damage, and recharge. Amen.


PROCS FOR FUN AND PROFIT
-------------------------------------

Lastly, procs. You have lots of options with Claws/SR, and it’s not only for endgame builds--these can help you level. Here’s a list of procs you can add in and the respective advantages. You probably can’t fit and/or afford them all, so you’ll have to make some decisions as to what suits you best.

Gaussian’s Chance for Buildup: as mentioned earlier, this can be slotted into Follow Up or Focused Accuracy/Tactics. It gives a 5% chance of buildup, which is fairly often when you consider how often you use this attack. Much better in an Follow Up than in Focused Accuracy/Tactics, where it would go off randomly--on average once every 3 minutes--and possibly not even during a fighting moment.

Decimation Chance for Buildup: Same as above, but slotted into Focus (or an epic blast if you are inclined).

Steadfast Protection +3% global defense: Goes in Tough if you take it. Works even if Tough isn’t on, in case you need to save endurance through one less active toggle.

Force Feedback - Chance for recharge: Goes in Focus or Shockwave. I understand that it’s a guaranteed +100% recharge for 5 seconds when the knockdown/back attack hits, and that it keeps going if you land it again before the 5 seconds is up (continuing at 100%, not ever more). If you miss the 5-second time to refresh it, you are locked out of refreshing it for another 5 seconds and then the timer starts again. Source: link

Achilles Heel - Chance for Resistance Debuff: Goes in Slash, which you should be spamming fairly often. Has a chance to apply a -20% resistance debuff to your target, which is currently still broken and never expires once it lands on an enemy. Level with it now before they fix it!

Numina’s Convalescence +Regen/Recovery and Miracle +Recovery: will cost you a pretty penny, but when slotted in Health, boost your endurance recovery a significant degree, which is very helpful if you have a toggle-intensive build.

Performance Shifter: Chance for +End: The poor man’s recovery boost, slotted in Stamina, give a 20% chance to return 10 endurance. This chance is checked for every 10 seconds, so on average you should get a bonus 10 endurance once every 50 seconds. Not entirely reliable but a nice help when it goes off.

Extra damage procs: Various. In general, each category of attack (melee, PBAOE, targeted AOE) has one or more procs that give a 10-20% chance of doing minor to moderate extra damage. Purple sets for PBAOE, melee, and also ranged give a 33% chance of extra moderate damage (exotic too--fire or neg energy, very nice). These purples add considerable damage to any build, and even the non-purple damage procs still benefit claws as it has lots of quick activating, fast recharging attacks… meaning the inclusion of extra damage procs will up your long-term DPS.


---

So, that’s the guide. Hope it’s enlightening, and hope to see more lil’ Twitchys out there stabbing away in the future. Cheers!

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you that had asked about which collections I have in my picture; they are as follows. (Not all are pictured)

McFarlane


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh Jay. No Danger Girl? Hottest pieces of plastic evar.

[ QUOTE ]
or extended fights, like an AV or GM, Dark Melee should have the highest DPS of all scrapper primaries. I used the following attack chain:

Shadow Punch -> Smite -> Midnight Grasp -> Shadow Punch -> Boxing -> Smite -> Shadow Punch -> Boxing -> Shadow Maul

Calculations were made assuming you activate Hasten (3 SO rchg), then Soul Drain (3 SO rchg) and hit 7 targets (78,4% damage bonus vs. even level). After that you cycle through the chain 3 times until Soul Drain bonus drops and 2 more cycles until you use Soul Drain again. All attacks have 3 SOs damage and no recharge enhancement is needed.

While Hasten is active you achieve a DPS of 6,96 BI/s. Compared to claws with 5,2 BI/s this is pretty high. Now count in that Hasten is only up 2/3rd of the time, your overall DPS drops to 6,19 BI/s (Edit: Calculated with the resulting attack chain and some gaps). Quickness is not required for this.

[/ QUOTE ]

This one, well, this is an extremely hypothetical attack chain. 7 targets huddled around the AV you're pounding on, in Soul Drain reach? Maybe on an 8-man team, but the minions won't be around by the second recharge. It would be amazing while it lasted, but extremely hard to set up. What is the dps if you only hit something realistic, like 3 targets?

Whoa. That's a lot of numbers.

The reason I put parry in the chain is I couldn't find another chain in the planner that allowed for a higher-damage attack to be cycled twice within the time it takes for headsplitter and disembowel to come back. Maybe a veteran BS'er can post a chain they use, and we can put that into the DPS calculations and see what the difference is.

As far as the accuracy competition, you're right. I completely forgot about the defense debuffs from the BS attacks. I recall hearing they are short-lived, so I imagine they will dissolve some during the 2-3 sec activation time attacks. It probably balances.

As far as the endurance, I think Claws still maintains an edge, due to slotting considerations. For pretty much all high-end characters attacks, 5 of your slots are spoken for (2 acc, 3 dmg). For the reduced recharge of claws attacks (helped alot by quickness if you're /SR), you can afford making the 6th slot an endurance redux. Broadswords will have a bit tougher decision, because the slower recharges will probably make them opt for recharge enhancements to improve DPS.

This is so vaguely theoretical at this point, I couldn't really claim it. I've just heard of so many BS/non-regens complaining they suck wind bad in extended fights. The attack chain planner I used for the BS calculations showed them hitting 0 endurance quicker than the claws.

So, at least we're not arguing whether or not claws is now the DPS king or not--we're all in agreement on that. Though, I'll be happy to recalculate the difference if we are offered a better BS chain for consideration.

You guys want to know something cool I just figured out?

For extended fights, like AVs or a boss with insane lethal protection, your DPS will be be better than a broadsword's. Even with BS's buildup.

I compared the Attack Chain of The Gods (dps: 5.2 BI/sec for the second and all subsequent runs) to broadsword's Headsplitter>Disembowel>Hack>Slash>Par ry. This chain gives 66.9 brawl index in 10 seconds with a buildup fired off, and 41.32 when it's not, which means you have to do 3 more cycles of the chain before buildup is back. Overall, this is 191 BI in 40 seconds, or 4.7 DPS.

Claws for the win!

Of course, these are rough numbers. Both were calculated with /SR, with quickness, and no hasten. What is not included in broadsword's favor is the increased critical chance on headsplitter, which would increase the DPS. But, in a real-game application, I think Claws would still come out on top, because the constant follow-up buff and slash debuff will make you land more hits than the BS scrapper. Also, unless they are /regen, the BS is going to be sucking wind after about 4 cycles (40 sec). The ACOTG can go 10 cycles (60 sec) with 2 toggles up.

Yay for Claws!

[ QUOTE ]
Great guide! I am enjoying my Claws/SR scrapper. I'm at 25 now and can definitely apply some of these tips. Really looking forward to trying the Attack Chain. I was wondering if you thought it would be any benefit to put a Defense Debuff in a slot for Slash and ToHit Buff in Follow-up? Perhaps as opposed to the EndRed. Not sure if that'd help if you've got Stamina 3-slotted.

[/ QUOTE ]

The exact debuff for slash, and how long it lasts, I've never been able to find. I've found with 2 aims in each attack and followup up, I rarely miss purples. My best guess? Probably like katana's attacks where it's 10%-ish and only lasts a few seconds. A defense debuff SO would only take that to 12%--not really getting you much further.

So, the e-reducer for the 6th slot is what I go for, since it just lets me keep up the holy chain for a ridiculously long time.

Same deal with Followup. To-hit buff is 10% according to Stupid Fanboy's table, and to-hit SO's only give 20%, so you're only gaining 2% to-hit with it.

Make no mistake, Followup is an endurance hog. 7.8 endurance fired off every 5.5 seconds can hurt the blue bar bad--it's the most endurance-expensive attack in the chain. Keep a endurance reducer in it for sure.

[ QUOTE ]
Your Attack Chain of the Gods is interesting as well. It means that, when desired, it doesn't matter if you choose between Swipe and Strike.

However, I'll be going Swipe for the sexiness value and adding it on the the end of the same single target chain, so hasten won't be a factor for me. The Dark Lord of Pinnacle can't be havin no glowing hands, dontcha know.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right on the new Swipe being sexier than the new Strike, so I won't scoff. If you are committed to having Air Superiority, then you have the 4th attack in the chain covered. If you want to substitute an AOE for Air Superiorty, though, you gots to keep the Strike.

As far as adding Swipe to the chain, you don't need to. Without Hasten on, and 3 green SOs in Follow Up, the gap between the 4th attack and Follow Up is seriously minor--in the neighborhood of half of a second. Hasten does close this gap completely... and that half-second is the difference between a boss getting a hit off between the knockdowns of Air Superiority and Focus.

Even without Hasten, the second Follow Up buff extends into Slash, but just barely. If you add Swipe in there, you lose the buff landing on your two strongest attacks in the chain. So all you are sacrificing without Hasten is the chance of the boss getting a swing at you. If you have the tools or teammates to handle that occassional hit, there's no problem with the mini-gap.

Try it out on test, I still use the same chain in the time when Hasten is down, and it's still uber in that it has the same great DPS and low endurance consumption.

[ QUOTE ]
On the tricorder of doom versus tough: I'll consider the emote addition to a bind. As I mentioned the last time someone told me about that trick, I have no issues with Bill casting a spell to heal himself, but there's no way I could tolerate him pulling out a Star Trek handout.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you tried it out yet? Since you are one of the most vocal oppenents to the tricorder that I can think of, you should know it still does the be-ba-beep noise despite the other emote, and it's still in your hand when you're doing the substitute pose--it's just much less noticable when it's not glowing and you're toon isn't tapping away at it. Maybe giant gloves will mask it completely?

Claws/SR Guide for I7

Share and Enjoy.

Claws / Super Reflexes Guide for I7

So you're thinking of making a Claws/SR? You've heard about the I7 changes to Claws and Super Reflexes and this build finally looks appealing?

It's a fun build, not overpowered--but very rewarding. It will never be a PVP god build or a burst damage king. But, this build offers great, fast, consistent attack chains that barely hurt your e-bar, and probably the best overall damage per second in the long-run. It has a set-it-and-forget-it secondary. You're fast, you dodge, you stab, you win. And it's dead sexy the whole time.

So jump on board. Just, for the love of all things holy, no more cat-women. Please.

Twitchy McStaby was my first toon from I1. Despite the odds stacked against pre-I7 claws and the cries that SR doesn't compete with the other secondaries, I got him up to Elude. He was semi-retired since I2, and when I7 hit the test servers, I copied him many times over, and rebuilt, experimented, and am highly pleased with the results.

Let me start this off by saying the most important thing now: Claws/SR is one of the tightest builds in the game. Mostly because of SR. You're going to need every power from it--the most you want to pass up from it is one power. Add in a range of attractive Claws attacks you're going to want, the pool powers for traveling, and the ones to improve upon your secondary, and there's little wiggle room.

So, ready? Let's start with the…

CLAWS POWER REVIEW
---------------------------------

Swipe:
It's better in I7, but still not worth taking in my book. It's the weakest attack in the set. You're going to have an arsenal of quick-recharging single-target attacks, and you can have a workable chain without it by level 8. You can survive until then, right? If you have to take it, you're most likely going to want to respec out of it later. Remember, your build is going to be tight. A 1.9 brawl-index (0.7 DS) attack is easily skippable.

Strike:
Better than Swipe. New gut-stab animation, nice recharge, and the good ol' passing-the-time-while-my-other-attacks-recharge 2.7 brawl index (1.0 DS). Take it first.

Slash:
This just went from 'blah' to 'must have' when it got Strike's old animation. Better damage than Strike (3.7 brawl index/1.32 DS), good recharge, and a defense debuff? Sold. Take it. Now. What are you waiting for?

Spin:
See Single-target vs. AOE discussion below.

Follow Up:
Since ED hit, this became a lot more attractive. You want it. Thanks to the new Slash and Quickness from SR, it will allow the 'Attack Chain of the Gods' (see below). The accuracy and damage buff is wonderful in the early levels, when training origins do nothing to help you. The use of it in the teens will be a bit awkward, but once you can devote four-slots-plus and SOs to it, it becomes gold. Though it's only a 2.2 BI (0.8 DS) attack, it will help your other attacks significantly--this will be discussed later.

Confront:
If you take this, you are a fool. If you want aggro, stab someone in the face. If you want a room full of agro, play a tank. In a pink dress. Pansy.

Focus:
Indisputably the shining star of the claws set. 4.5 brawl index (1.64 DS), knocks down your target every single time it hits if they aren't knockdown-resistant, good range, and a base 6 second recharge. It makes you happy. So very happy. Take it at 18 when it's available and never look back.

Eviscerate:
You know, this one is difficult to decide on. It's good. It got a recharge and endurance discount with I7. It has a higher chance of getting a critical, and acts in a small cone, so you can hit multiple enemies with it. Best damage in the set at 4.7 BI (1.7 DS).

But… it's slow execution. In time it takes you to do the backflip and hit, you can do a Slash and a Strike for a total of 6.4 brawl index (2.3 DS) to a single target, so it's not worth using in an attack chain--especially since regular use of it will hurt your blue bar. If you get it, you only want to use it when you know it will hit multiple enemies. So it's an occasional power, making it more skippable.

Further discussion included in the Single-target vs AOE discussion below.

Shockwave:
A ranged cone that knocks all the targets it hits. Of the set, this is my least favorite behind Swipe. Again, an endurance and recharge discount was granted with I7, but it's still going to take a while to recharge, and is situational in use. I hear of the advantages of crowd control and herding enemies together for further AOEs, but in the builds where I have it, I forget it's there. Skippable.

Single-Target vs AOEs
----------------------------

Claws has some of the best AOE (well, more specifically, 'multiple-target attacks') options of any scrapper sets. A good-damage melee cone, a point-blank AOE, and a ranged cone.

Let me tell you this, you're going to want to be a sustainable single-target rapid-fire killer--this is one of the greatest advantages of the new claws. You want the attacks to make this chain no matter what.

So you are taking 4 claws powers for this (more on that later). Let's talk about the rest of your powers to 40. You're going to want the fitness pool (3 powers). You're going to want your travel power and its pre-req (2 powers). You're going to want at least 8 powers from SR. You're going to want 2 other pool powers to balance your secondary (fighting or medicine, discussed later), and probably one other pool power to give you a fighting edge (hasten or air superiority). We're already at 20 powers.

Now let's talk about the multiple-target attacks. Use Strike on a target. See how little damage that does? That's how much Spin and Shockwave do. Granted, it adds up. But you'll never be a fire-blaster of scrappers. Eviscerate does better damage, but lining up melee cones is difficult, and you can be spending that time unloading your single-target chain.

So which, if any, of the multiple-target attacks do you take? Is it really worth removing the powers to make you survivable to take them?

First, you have to answer this. Will you mostly solo or duo, maybe the occasional larger team? Stick to single-target. For small spawns, I've found I can kill just as fast bouncing around with my single-target attack chain.

Will you spend your career in huge teams? Huge teams equal huge spawns. Huge spawns is where your AOEs will really pay off, and give you a good reward for the extra endurance you're using to execute the AOE attacks.

Huge teams also have the advantage of damage mitigation. If you are going to play in environment where there is constantly a tank to keep the aggro, or debuffs/buffs to keep you alive, you can forego your SR-effectiveness-supplement pool (fighting, medicine – discussion later), and free up two powers. You can skip your 'fighting edge' pool power and have room for all three multiple-enemy attacks.

So, if you like big spawns and lots of friends, pick and chose what you will give up to gain your multiple-enemy attacks. If you free up one power to make room for an AOE attack, I suggest spin first. It's available at level 6, and it's easy to use (no lining up for the attack). If you free up two slots, you can chose eviscerate or shockwave. By 26, you will be able to guess which one will be better for you. Are you constantly facing enough enemies where a cone will hit more than one? Eviscerate. Are you constantly jumping back to be out of melee and firing off focus from a safe distance? Shockwave will be better for you. Did you skip Air Superiority? Shockwave will give you another valuable knockdown.

For my final I7 build, I have none of the multiple-target attacks. I mostly solo or duo, and find that my single-target-attack-chain-o'-death still works well on larger teams.

And that brings us to:

The Single-Target Attack Chain of the Gods
-----------------------------------------------------

After an unspeakable amount of respecs, I settled on this gem. You will need Quickness for it to work.

Slash: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 end redx.
Air Superiority: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 end redx
Follow Up: 2 acc, 3 recharge, 1 end redx
Focus: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 end redx.

This is the chain:

Follow Up -> Focus -> Slash -> Air Superiority. Repeat.

What happens with this? You build momentum. In this chain of sweet fast-activating attacks, Follow Up lasts for the next 6 attacks. Follow Up buffs your first chain with essentially the equivalent of another damage SO, and a good to-hit buff. On the second run, and all subsequent cycles, Focus and Slash, two attacks with very respectable brawl indexes, have two stacked follow-ups buffing them. You've added the equivalent of two damage SOs to these two attacks. Take that, enhancement diversification! The to-hit buff also moves from 'good' to 'healthy'.

At the same time, Slash is a defense debuff. As the chain unfolds, you are buffing your accuracy and debuffing the enemies' defense. Your chain is made for hitting consistently, to the point where misses become surprising when they happen.

And finally, look at the pattern: attack -> knockdown attack -> attack -> knockdown attack. If it doesn't have knockdown resistance, what you are hitting is not hitting you. It's falling and getting up until it's dead. I can not stress how friggin awesome this is. Bosses will punch through your SR on a regular basis, and it will hurt. But with this, they are not hitting you.

The endurance of this chain when you have an endurance reducer in each attack and Stamina is cheap. Seriously cheap. No kidding, with 2 toggles up, I can do it 10 times nonstop. Endurance will never be a reason to take a break, so you can keep the xp rolling in nonstop during missions.

Now, the pool power considerations for this.

The chain, especially when your recharge SOs are white or yellow, will have a momentary pause between Air superiority and Follow Up. By the time you get back to Focus, your target will sometimes have time for one attack before his knockdown.

Hasten closes this gap completely. When it's up, a boss has zero chance to hit when your knockdown attacks hit. And with Quickness and 3 recharge SOs, Hasten will be up 2/3rds of the time.

And finally, Air Superiority. For the damage and activation time, Strike can be a substitute in this chain for Air Superiority. If you are forsaking Air Superiority for a more AOE-friendly build, then hopefully, you are on a big team (see above) and have damage mitigation. Then you don't have to worry about keeping up perma-knockdown. It also saves you the claws redraw after Air Superiority. However, if you are a soloist, there is no reason at all to skip Air Superiority.

SR POWER REVIEW
----------------------------

This is more condensed than Claws, grouping like powers. And you're going to want all of them, so no need to debate the relative merits of individual powers. I'll discuss the one you're not going to take later.

Focused Fighting, Focused Senses, Evasion (the toggles):
Your basic defense. Early on, the endurance cost of two will hurt. Melee hits damage more, so keep fighting on and turn off senses when you don't need it. You want to make sure the first two are well-slotted by the time you hit SOs. The toggles provide 19.5% defense with 3 SOs each. You're taking a minion down to 30% to hit you, and bosses down to 45%. Thanks to the new global defense (more accurately, enemy to-hit) changes with I7, these percentages will stay pretty consistent up to +5 enemies.

Agile, Dodge, Lucky (the passives):
Your supplemental defense. Since these don't offer as much base defense as the toggles, take them later, and slot them later. At 7.8% extra defense 3 SO'ed, combined with the toggles, you are taking minions down to a 22% chance of hitting, bosses to 38%. Very nice, and very noticeable.

Then, there is the matter of the damage resistance. Each passive gives you scaling damage resistance--a little when you hit yellow, and more when you hit red. My old builds, I went light on the passives, thinking them not valuable enough. I was so. very. wrong. When you have all three and you are in the red, what would have been a kill shot hits you for half the damage or less, and you live to stab more things in the face. And the difference between two and three passives is VERY noticeable. You need them all.

Practiced Brawler:
Best scrapper status protection. 2 recharge SOs + Quickness and it's perma. It can't be detoggled, and it doesn't cost endurance past firing it.

Quickness:
Some say it's skippable, but not from my angle. It's required for the Attack Chain of the Gods, and the slow protection it provides is extremely valuable. When the Earth Thorn Caster drops quicksand and you run straight through it and stab him in the face, you'll thank me. The run speed buff is also great, discussed in pool powers below.

Elude:
Your god-mode. Some say skippable now that the I7 defense buffs gets PVE enemies close to their accuracy floor, but that's in theory. In actual play, you're going to get in a situation where the enemies have to-hit buffs, defense debuffs, or superior numbers. The extra defense Elude gives then will make the difference between victory and a faceplant. And don't forget the endurance buff, should you get 'sapped'. Now with the icons blinking before the buff wears off, you can time your crash, making it even better. Come I7, you won't need defense in there, only recharge, just keep your toggles up while it's running and most everything will be at its defense floor. Only slot defense for PVPing.

So yes. You want all of the SR powers. But in reality, you're going to have to forego one. So which is the weakest link?

My answer: the AOE protection. You're not getting it until late anyway, and, with a few notable exceptions, AOEs hurt less than ranged and melee. With your SR supplement pool, you will have ways of recovering or lessening the AOE damage. Plus, a mere 3 levels from Evasion, you get Elude. If you find yourself in AOE hell that's too much to survive, you have a button out.

You can strategize to minimize AOE damage as well. Charge into melee, and Nemesis will try to stab you with their guns rather than fire their AOEs. If there's only one AOE'er, he dies first, juggled the whole time with your knockdown-happy chain.

So drop Lucky or Evasion? Evasion. Why? Even though it provides more AOE defense, you're better without it. First, it's a toggle, and it costs endurance. Second, the 3-passive scaling damage resistance is worlds better than the 2-passive. You may be hit by more AOEs, but they'll do less damage by the time you are in the yellow. And that's when it matters most. I tried life without both, and keeping Lucky is what I settled on.

TRAVEL POWERS
-----------------------

Remember how I said this is a tight build? So you want a pool power where it's prerequisite will be helpful. Air Superiority, and Hasten, both great for the Attack Chain of the Gods, yield Superspeed and Flight. I really, really, really, suggest picking one of these, so you don't waste a power on the jumping / TP prereqs. You don't have room for them. Superspeed with one run speed SO, stacked with your quickness and swift, caps your run speed. This is what I chose.

I know these aren't everyone's favorite travel powers, but you have to make sacrifices somewhere, right? Work it into your concept before you start.

Also, there is one other option: no travel power. Swift + Quickness + Sprint will get you to somewhere between the speed of base fly and 1-slotted fly. I've tried it, and it's workable. I just don't have the patience. But, if you really, really, want to squeeze in more AOEs or other pools, this can be a way to free up a power. Plus, it's a great way to accent a natural origin character.

SR SUPPLIMENT POOL
------------------------------

OK. So SR is good defense. The problem with defense is it's a dice-roll each time. You'll have battles where you emerge unscathed, and others where it seems everyone and their grandma gets free hits on you. Since running away and/or screaming 'heal plz' is very unbecoming of a scrapper, you need a plan B. Two pools work great for this: medicine (aid self) and fighting (tough). I highly recommend medicine.

Aid Self WILL save your behind. When your defenses fail, the only thing that will keep you fighting is an HP boost. Slotted 3 heal, 2 interrupt, 1 recharge, with Quickness, you will have 40% of your hp returned every 13 seconds. This is teh ubarz.

The biggest thing people normally have against medicine is the use of the tricorder. Your mutant werewolf isn't exactly going to be carrying this in his hip hair.

Well? Can you live with it for the best supplemental protection for your set? How about if I told you there's a way to get rid of the tricorder animation?

/macro heal 'powexec_name aid self$$e flex1'

This will make a macro where if you press it twice very quickly, your tricorder grab will be replaced by you flexing while the green goodness flows over you.

Likewise,
/macro stim 'powexec_name stimulant$$e smack'
Creates a very comical situation where you slap your teammate and it awakens him from his hold/sleep/disorient.

Convinced?

OK. If you really, really, are against medicine for concept reasons, then, <sigh>, read on.

Tough 3-SOed will give you another 18% S/L resist, which will not keep you in the green much, but will keep you in the yellow longer and in the red a long, long time before you die, by stacking with your passive's scaling damage resistance. Enemies are going to have a hard time finishing you off, and if you have health 3-slotted, you will be extremely survivable at low levels of health. The tradeoff is it's another toggle, so you'll need more endurance management, but all-in-all, still a nice supplement.

FITNESS
-----------

You need it. Not only for Stamina letting you fight forever, but for the Swift + Quickness stack. This is unsuppressed movement, which lets you continue your Attack Chain of the Gods uninterrupted as you bounce from one enemy to the next. As soon as one dies, I hit tab and F, and my next victim is immediately in front of my sharp stabby implements.

So that leaves Hurdle or Health. Health is better. 3-slotted for heals will help any build, and especially the ones with Tough. However, if you pick superspeed for your travel power, you'll have a tougher choice--you'll want Hurdle for that bit more of vertical movement. This was my choice in the end.

OTHER POOLS
-------------------

Yes, there are other pools which give some defense. They aren't worth it. Your SR supplement pool is far more valuable than another measly 2 percent defense. So stay away from concealment and leadership unless you have a really good reason. And don't even look at the presence pool.

As I've mentioned several times, Air Superiority is king, and Hasten is a big help. Many naysayers will say that hasten is overkill on a Claws/SR, with Quickness and natural short recharge of claws powers. I say 'bah' to them. Bah! First, it makes the Attack Chain of the Gods gapless. Second, it brings Elude back somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 seconds faster. Third, Aid Self come back quicker for those 'I'm really getting pummeled' moments. Lastly, there will be times when you are decidedly staying out of melee and using focus to damage and keep something really mean and ugly away from you. Hasten will bring focus up fast enough to keep that mean and ugly on his backside most of the time.

EPIC POOLS
---------------

Can't really say. Twitch ain't there yet. But, by the time you reach 41, you should know what you want. For me, I actually am planning to go back and get the claw attacks I couldn't fit in yet. But, in a nutshell: I hear Dark mastery will make you an AOE damaging king, if you are already down that road. The others will give you some PVP advantages and some more ranged attacks to go nicely with Focus (and, if you have it, Shockwave).


SAMPLE BUILD
-------------------

01 - Strike
01 - Focused Fighting
02 - Slash
04 - Focused Senses
06 - Air Superiority (or spin)
08 - Follow Up
10 - Hasten (or spin)
12 - Practiced Brawler
14 - Super Speed (or Fly)
16 - Swift
18 - Focus
20 - Health (or Hurdle)
22 - Stamina
24 - Quickness
26 - Dodge
28 - Agile
30 - Stimulant (or box/kick, or eviscerate)
32 - Aid Self (or tough, or shockwave)
35 - Lucky
38 - Elude

Slotting:

You have 20 slots to add by the time you reach 22 and SOs. You can afford to 4-slot all your attacks, 3-slot your defense, and 2-slot practiced brawler. Build your attacks up sooner, as more TO and DO aims will help you more early on than the sad amount of defense TOs and DOs give. But make sure your defenses have good slots by the time you hit 22.

In your 20s to mid 30s, finish 4-slotting your toggles (3 defense, 1 end reducer) and get your claw attacks to 5-slotted (1 aim, 3 damage, 1 end reducer). Get Hasten and Stamina 3-slotted. And slot up your SR supplement pool.

Late 30s, 6-slot your big attacks with another aim, and finish 3-slotting your passives.

When you don't know what to do with your slots anymore, Quickness and Swift will happily take more run speeds for even more combat maneuverability.

PVP
----

The only time you should consider a PVP build is endgame. The things you will want to take to be more effective there (say, Eviscerate for the crits and semi-burst damage, Tactics stacked with Focused Senses to let you see stalkers, and recharge-based slotting on Focus and Eviscerate) will gimp your PVE level climb. Trust me, I did this. That said, you can have fun and be viable at PVP, but you won't really be godly and will have a hard time getting the kill with the high percentage of runners who won't stay around for your relatively low-powered chain of attacks. Lots of players will have powers to get around your defense, so just take it in good humor, and you can have some interesting duels.

THE END
----------

Hope this brings some light into the fun world of Claws/SR. If you see Twitchy McStaby on Victory, give me a claws-extended wave.

*edit 1 (5.19.2006) - added DS damage values to appease a certain Fanboy. For more info on these values and his great guide to scrapper attacks, see here.