Phire's I5 Claws/Regen Guide To Survival Success
By
Blueeyed,
Posted on: 2006-02-03 17:38 in Player Guides
Phire's Audible Lifesaver
This audio download's under 200kb, located on my personal website. Get to hear a crappy recording of my voice! Best if right click on link, and do Save Target As...
With the changes of I5, i was able to respec and experiment with Moment of Glory. Originally, the plans was to skip out on it cuz it was a known debt collector, and i was just going to Phase Shift to recover with my regen character. There are moments in soloing AND teaming where you just cant seem to regen fast enough to even consider in surviving the situation. The effectiveness and the unpredicatibility of MoG became much more interesting than first thought of. In alot of situations where i was getting my [censored] handed, activating MoG in time seemed to pull me through improbable fighting conditions....maybe thats why its called Moment Of Glory, lol. And then sometimes, the power seemed useless and i got my [censored] handed to anyhow.
But the real problem was knowing when MoG was going to drop so i can cast PS. Two problems - alot of times you dont notice when MoG drops cuz it uses the same graphics and color the rest of your powers use too. The other problem is that when MoG drops, you have little health left and you cant recover it for another 15 seconds....meaning your dead in a hurry after it drops. And then it takes PS another 2-3 seconds to fully kick into effect.
The voice audible is 3min long (the length of MoG), and gives you a 1min heads up and also the proper time to activate Phaseshift, allowing you about 10secs before actual MoG crash, then the actual time of MoG crash. This is timed on the premise it'll take you 1 second to click on the MoG Audible file while MoG is activating ingame. Even if you dont have PS, you're given a 10 second heads up to get the hell out of dodge i guess...Also, when MoG drops, you'll wanna activate Instant Healing in about 10 seconds, cuz in about 15 seconds you are able to recover with PS up, and these dayz, PS doesnt last long...
Activating the MoG Audible Lifesaver file is best used with Windows Media Player, with On Top mode, accessible through your player options. Keep your player in compact or skin mode(with visualizations off to prevent video lag) so it doesnt obscure your view while playing. During the MoG animation of activation, quickly press play on the player and you can minimize the player or just continue fighting (it'll still run and sound off if completely minimized behind game) If turned on max, you'll hear it over most powers and some combat (didnt want to record it too loud), you may want to turn down your ingame sound some if you're having troubles hearing it amidst the battles sounds. If doubtful or nervous about application, do a test run of running MoG and MoG Audible Lifesaver w/o fighting - its neaty!
One quick thing with MoG usefulness...its a debt collector if its not slotted, or not slotted right. Dont be greedy and slot it with rechargers. Really, you shouldnt be putting yourself in situations where it requires this power consistently. And because of filling it with rechargers, you're gimping down its true strength....Defense! Ive got 3 green Defense SO's slotted in and with one click i turn into a bonified Super Reflex scrapper! When you get a chance, put in 3 resist damage enhancers too. These 50's scientists i solo'd easily w/o getting hit once, and i took my time fighting them. Ran a Kronos mission with others - team kept on getting massacred trying to clean up the map, but i survived quite well when hitting MoG, only got hit a couple times being attacked by 2 groups of Malta 51's...
Pictures
Soloing 50's at Lv45 w/MoG
Taking on Two lv50 Deathmages at Lv45, took down one and escaped barely alive 
note- This guide is actually for I6 and ED compliant...
1. why are you putting 3 end rdx in Integration and tough? overkill. the end cost is the same as the SR toggles, about .26. no need for end rdx anymore. maybe in issue 1 and 2, but not now after 2 big cuts in its cost.
2. MoG is base 71% resists. 1 Training Enhancement puts you at the res cap and you've got 3 SOs of resists in there. overkill. also, it is perfectly alright to use MoG when you're about to die. The power always set you to 25% of your max HP. You could have 1HP on your lvl 50 and after you hit MoG, you'll have 334. also, the resists in MoG are meaningless. i do advocate putting a single res enhancement in there to cap it but what you are left with is 75% resists and 25% health. in terms of the damage you take compared your Health bar, this is exactly the same as having full HP and zero resists. Also, make sure to warn people that MoG has no resists or defense to psy damage and that MoG has resists to toxic, but no defense.
3. your end cost is wrong for shockwave, it's only 13 -not 26 . By the way, it's not lame. it's an incredibly useful huge cone of knockback(yes, that is useful) that you can use to put some serious aoe damage out with as well as combo with Focus to juggle a boss with knockdown. Knockback can be highly effect when used well. I completely disagree with your advice on this power.
4. same thing with Spin. it's only 13.52 end, not 'nearly 20'. i don't think you take enough care in telling people that they are giving up one of the main strengths of claws(aoe) by following your guide.
5. unless you PvP, i think you are really overslotted for acc. 1acc SO and the tohit bonus from FU is enough to give you good acc fighting +3s and 4s. If you didn't take FU, 2 acc would be good for that as well. both is a bit much. I'd probably go 1acc/1rchrg/1end where you go 2acc/1end.
6. your numbers for Follow Up are wrong too. The dmg buff is 37.5% and the tohit buff is around 20%, not 66% like Build Up. And it lasts for 10 seconds. also, while you can indeed stack FU for a couple attacks with your slotting and hasten, i personally find that the effort of setting that up and spamming FU every 5 seconds isn't worth it most of the time. Maybe if you're facing an AV and can just sit there and spam attacks, but in teams and solo when I tried this in the past i never felt right with it. this is more f a personal thing though, there's nothing wrong with the actual advice.
7. your dull pain advice is wrong too. that 1044 hp you get from DP is the heal it gives, not the boost to max HP. the most max HP you can get is about 800. check the guide in my sig. your slotting advice is correct.
8. i personally would not advise people to slot FH and health early on either. the benefit they give early on isn't nearly as high as if they put those slots in there attacks or other defensive powers like Recon, DP or Integration.
9. because of how little bonus comes from slotting heals in IH compared to recharges, i'd make a note to slot recharges first and then only slot heals later if they havethe room. the base for IH is 800%. 3 heals takes that to 1000%. not exactly great. but 3 recharges will bring the recharge time from 650 to 333. i'd rather get that recharge bonus first.
10. i think you stress taking tough to much. you don't have to take it and can make a regen quite effective without it. having tough does make you more effective than if you didn't take tough, but it is not a mandatory power.
i apologize if i come off like a jerk in any of that.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
Thanks for the guide. I am not following this closely, but you did give me some things to think about and that is always helpful.
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1. why are you putting 3 end rdx in Integration and tough? overkill. the end cost is the same as the SR toggles, about .26. no need for end rdx anymore. maybe in issue 1 and 2, but not now after 2 big cuts in its cost.
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I have tough on my 32 blaster, 50 scrappi, 35 and 28 troller.
It drains end big time and everytime I have tried to not have 2 SOs of End redux, I end up with end problems. (yes I have stamina.)
So I would keep 2 slots end redux..
some pretty big differences in opinions. I have a teen claw/regen I plan to play more come i7 so am starting to bone up more. I'd would love to see some feedback on this guide from others with claw/regen real experience as well.
thanks!
Agree with Stupid_Fanboy on a few things :
Particularly on Shockwave - when enemies are on their backside, they're doing 0 damage to you. That's a hell of a lot of mitigation for a power that also happens to do decent damage in a HUGE AoE as well.
Spin I can see ignoring. Claws makes a great single-target powerset. That said, don't ignore Spin just because it expensive and has a short range : it's the same as all other scrapper PBAoEs (other than Spine Burst). And players don't ignore those, do they?
It's a decent attack when used either to hold aggro, or to do damage to a lot of minions. You just have to do some positioning work, first, and thankfully, Claws is damn good at that.
I did Invincible Rularuu missions for my Claws/Regen's last two levels, and I don't think you need that much accuracy slotted. I got away with 1 in each attack, and Follow-Up (1acc/2dmg/3rech). After all, yellows do drop fairly commonly.
I'm also against Hasten - the endurance crash at the end is too dangerous even in the best of situations, and the benefits are minimal. Simply put, anything that would be killing you through 3heal/3rech Reconstruction will kill you through 3heal/3rech + hasten Reconstruction's animation. Meanwhile, things that normally wouldn't phase a scrapper become problematic when you drop toggles at a bad moment.
Fanboy, i do appreciate your feedback...
I did a little more testing to find out for myself, and most of your numbers i proved true, except with the MoG resist.
I cant prove or disprove the MoG resist number you have - havent tested for that, but ive no reason to disbelieve you. If it is accurate, i appreciate the information and will free up for recharges in the slotting instead...
I wasnt aware that MoG has no psy resist myself, but it is true. Though it has no resist, it does give extreme defense for it. 25% of your base health for MoG despite of your health situation is also correct. Using Dull Pain while under MoG increases your base health, which will increase your hp on the 25% adjustment (health base of 1044 to 2128 changes it from 334hp to 532hp under MoG)
You're right about Dull Pain. It gave me an 800hp max increase, and instantly healed for 1044.
Im aware of the redundancies you've pointed out - in accuracy and REC's. Then again, i dont have a problem hitting consistently despite what lvl im attacking, and i dont have endurance problems. There's no coincidence with the results. Stacking 2 ACC's is a standard with all my char's powers - really you can get away with 1acc with this build. But if you're not spamming F-U (which it does miss once in awhile even when 3slotted acc and focused acc), you'll be missing and your output over time drops. The thought with Claws as was stated in the guide, is to make each attack attempt successful. Im not interested in crunching out the numbers to find out the perfect optimal acc setting w/o redundancies. I see the results and they speak for themselves. There's nothing more annoying than missing +4 defense-buffed mobs when soloing...
As with the REC redundancies, you've got numbers im not sure of myself, but just as others has testified from their own experiences about running short on end, or heavy toggle drainage - i'll stick to my slotting of them. This way i can attack continuously for "extended fighting" w/o dealing with the blue bar.
Hasten - personally i dont have a problem with End Crashing. This is something i dont worry about, and never been in that problem. I would see that as a problem for a char who has Endurance problems. All the while, Hasten pulls Instant Healing, Reconstruction, and Dull Pain, and every other clickable you have much closer together...
The attack power selection is obviously subjective to your arch's objective and build intent. Ironically, i started out Claws with the serious intent on making her AoE/Cone-based attacker, but after seeing and using each power, how under-powered they are for the end usage, i reverted mostly to single target. Each one has long graphics, plus crap damage compared to other scrappers (unless you setup with F-U). Scrappers in general are not aoe artists(for good reason or they'd be gods) but very strong in concentrated, focused attacks. I keep it simple and focused. I understand your usage for Shockwave. Ive no room for a circumstantial attack power in my build - there's 4 being used continuously for maximum effectiveness.
I retested Follow-Up, and your damage info is sadly wrong. Sadly, because it doesnt do 37.5% - I'd be happy with that and im sure everyone would be using F-U w/o a doubt. And you're complaining about needing to spam F-U? That would equate to +75% damage on an F-U overlap! Its still 20% - here's my attack numbers with base, F-U, F-Ux2: Strike= 131/157/188, Focus= 222/257/307, Eviscerate= 230/274/319
They all hit just under 20%, with the exception of the last one for some reason(16%)
As for Tough, if you didnt have it in your power scheme as a Tank or Scrapper, im afraid a veteran would laugh at you for not having it. Nothing is mandatory(obviously you can choose what you want silly), but the point is made. Your response towards Tough is really self-revealing. Effectiveness is a matter of opinion, but generally when there's a power available that mitigates 23-25% of lethal/smash damage for you, common sense says that you'd make room for it. If you were a ranged attacker, i'd understand not taking it. Tanks and Scrappers happen to be melee attackers, and everyone knows that MOST of melee attacks performed by mobs are smash/lethal. So saying that Tough is not mandatory, but does make you more effective than not taking it, is really stepping on your own tongue. That was really a useless subject to be brought up. My guide is a guide, not a mandatory set of scrapper rules. Guess i should have clarified "Tough is a mandatory power, to prevent being laughed at by other scrappers" though
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I wasnt aware that MoG has no psy resist myself, but it is true. Though it has no resist, it does give extreme defense for it.
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Moment of Glory no longer (and, hasn't for several patches, now) had defense against Psychic attacks. Using it near a few Rikti Monkies is a sure way to get killed.
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As for Tough, if you didnt have it in your power scheme as a Tank or Scrapper, im afraid a veteran would laugh at you for not having it. Nothing is mandatory(obviously you can choose what you want silly), but the point is made. Your response towards Tough is really self-revealing. Effectiveness is a matter of opinion, but generally when there's a power available that mitigates 23-25% of lethal/smash damage for you, common sense says that you'd make room for it.
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Tough is base 11.25% resistance for S/L damage. Fully enhanced, this provides a mere 18% resistance. It's also completely useless against energy, negative energy, psi, fire, and cold damage.
If you're not taking it before 30, don't take it - from 40-50, as S/L damage takes a back seat to Energy, Negative, and Fire damage.
ok, i personally tested Tough this time. One was on a warhulk - he did 411, 332 w/o tough on. Thats a difference of 79damage that needn't be regen'd. Also tested other's attacks, and they all came out to be just under 20% damage mitigation. If you're in the middle of combat being melee'd by a bunch of mobs, that 20% absorption of their attacks REALLY makes a big difference, the heavier the damage to you.
Just did a test on a lv50 Deathmage - his Falchion Stab in 6second attack intervals did 281damage, 227 with Tough on. That doesnt even take to account the 115 additional negative damage being done. In 1minute's worth of this, this would equate to 2810damage to 2270damage with Tough on - a difference of 540 or 20%. The power makes attacks survivable when they have two damage-types. Now in the midst of a real battle, you have others wacking you, that difference would be much higher per minute - all of a sudden, that 20% damage mitigation looks much more attractive....
Someone's going to say, but that doesnt account get blasted by ranged attacks which is often-not smash/lethal. First of all, you dont attack from ranged in the first place, and the mob usually switches to melee attacks once in their melee range. In large groups, aggro is usually spread out to the whole group, unless you got a tank - so i dont know whats the deal. And if you are the tank or main aggro'r, wouldnt you be smart enuf to herd/aggro-pull them around a corner so they'll switch to smash/lethal attacks, like most tanks do?
The only other argument i can see is against AV's, alot who use non-lethal/smash attacks regardless. And how much fighting does AVs account for your char? Maybe 1-5%?
Just tested the usage of MoG against psi-attacks, and you're right. It gives no defense vs Psi. I swear ive used MoG against Psi-Babbage and was quite successful....
This is turning out to be quite a swirl of good information
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I understand your usage for Shockwave. Ive no room for a circumstantial attack power in my build - there's 4 being used continuously for maximum effectiveness.
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I totally understand. It is a purely stylistic choice. That doesn't make the power "LAME" however. I just think it's better to note that your playstyle doesn't use the power instead of saying the power is crap.
Also, shockwave and spin are most likely going to have their end costs tweaked in Issue 7. Would that make you look at them again?
Re: MOG.
as Blue already said, there is no defense to Psy in MoG. it was removed a few patches ago. Also, when you use DP under your HP always stays at the same % is was before you used it. that 532 it increases to is 25% of your DP buffed HP. and when DP wears off in MoG, the % also remains the same. so if you were at 140/1400, you'd drop to 100/1000.
Re: Follow UP.
I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I don't make numbers mistakes about Claws. i'm willing to bet money you didn't take into account the slots you have in your attacks when replying to me. I just tested tested this not 60s ago to get fresh numbers.
Strike is slotting with 3 greeen SOs giving 96.7% buff to damage. it does 110.76dmg.
since 1.967 = 110.76, then the base unslotted dmg of Strike is 56.31
when the buff from FU is running, Strike did 131.88 dmg, and increase of 21.12 dmg.
21.12 / 56.31 = 37.5%
all buffs run off the unslotted base damage.
Also, I don't like using follow up with the extreme level of overlap because I don't like having to use the power every 5 seconds. It's really more of a style choice, though I have attempted to test this in the past by running through missions on test to see how it affected my damage output. My conclusion was that it wasn't worth the trouble for me. Though as you say, with only 4 attacks, I can see why using FU asap is an attractive option.
Even though it's a 75% dmg buff when used that way, I find better use out of using my more "circumstantial" attacks in an effcient manner. I think Claws can make an excellent AoE damage dealer and I like to use it that way. I set groups up for spin and Shockwave and Eviscerate all the time. That's how I save endurance. THough again, this is a stylistic choice. I sometime prefer to just slug it out with my single target attacks too, neither playstyle is "worse".
I also completely disagree with you about Tough and about being laughed at. There is a big difference between necessary and efficiency. In fact, we already discussed this earlier. You like slotting way more accuracy than you need and putting too many end rdx in your toggles. It's not necessary to slot the way I said, because it's obvious that you can get by with other choices, but it's definitely not the most efficient choice. And I promise, I am not laughing at you for deciding to slot that way. All of that also applies to tough. I'm not stepping on my tongue or anything else like it. It is not a mandatory power. People who would laugh at me for not taking tough or at you for double slotting Acc in your attacks on top of using FU every 5 seconds are sad individuals.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
I read your F-Up number crunch. Thanx for the accurate information. Noway i could have found out the actual results w/o having to remove the damage slotting myself.
Did some tests with and without Hasten for Instant Healing, Reconstruction, and Dull Pain recovery time. Ok, this is on the premise that you have 3 green SO's in each power.
Reconstruction w/ 3green SO's: 37seconds
also w/ Hasten: 25 seconds
[change of 12 seconds]
Dull Pain: lasts for about 2min(120 seconds)
w/ 3 green SO's: 187seconds - offcycle difference of 67 seconds
also w/ Hasten: 155 seconds - offcycle difference of 35 seconds
[change of 32 seconds]
Instant Healing: lasts for a lousy 1 1/2min (90seconds)
w/ 3green SO's: 334 seconds - offcycle difference of 244 seconds
also w/ Hasten: 268 seconds - offcycle difference of 178 seconds
[change of 66 seconds]
Hope this helps out in making a decision to take Hasten or not
To Phire: Playstyle does have a major impact of power selection and slotting. And that is why I couldn't use that build as effectively as you could.
"Goodbye, Jean-Luc. I'm gonna miss you... you had such potential. But then again, all good things must come to an end..." -- Q
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I read your F-Up number crunch. Thanx for the accurate information. Noway i could have found out the actual results w/o having to remove the damage slotting myself.
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You don't actually have to remove the slots. Just look at the power in your enhancement screen. Hover with the mouse and write down the buff% for dmg. then, find a mob that isn't resisting your attacks and attack him. divide that dmg by 1+buff% and there ya go.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
all good info from all thanks! I searched but was surprised to not find any other ED compliant claw/regen guides out there which seems surprising as I thought this was a popular build.
I like to always find two guides so I have different opinions.
If anyone comes accross one appreciate it.
Thanks again Phire for this one!
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To start out with, you definitely want to get two attacks. When you get your first respec in, i would suggest in removing the filler attack. You dont want to get Spin as a temp filler attack, just doesnt do enough damage and uses up too much endurance for what its worth. The damage ouput is the same as Strike. Follow-Up is a great attack power to start with an attack - it offers a great ACC bonus and good damage bonus for any attacks for a shortbit (later discussed). You'll find its invaluable in being able to consistently hit harder enemies and bosses early on. Things will start to really shine for you early once you get Reconstruction and Dull Pain established. Everything just becomes more gravy as you get your Secondary powers in. Establishing your two lethal/smash resist powers will make you a very sturdy and depended-upon fighter in groups.
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I agree with almost everything you said, except skipping your PbAoE attack. Although the animation is realtively long, and the cost is high, you already explained the massive dmg output you can achieve with hasten + follow up (and eviscerate's animation is pretty long too IMO). Using spin then (properly slotted of course) would be your bread and butter for the huge mobs when you team. You work good not to scatter the enemies, but if you would pull a mob with focus, then run around a corner and let em clump up, get a nice Follow Up on them, and unload spin/eviscerate... happy results/dead mobs. Oh and you talked about spin's high end cost, I'd be amazed if a regen scrapper wouldn't have any end left from using his PbAoE attack...
Need a sturdy and efficient scrapper build that will easily solo Invincible missions?
I enjoy the claws speed and damage output overtime, and that its an arch noone seems to use. She just turned 50 so i decided to use her last respec to fine-tune Kitty, and was surprised with the new results. Thought she was a pretty sturdy build before, now made more efficient and effective with the change of ED. The powers selected by level are generally effective at current use, with the exception of attacks. Im a serious stickler on attacks, how effective, how long, how draining they are. Unfortunately, i deem only 1/2 of the Claws attack to be efficiently effective - but thats all you need because of the recharge speed of each one. The build emphasizes accuracy, since Claws dont do as much damage per hit compared to other scrappers, you do attack more often to equalize that. And of course you need to hit to make that happen, so each successful attack counts if you feel damage-over-time output is important to you.
1. Strike (2acc, 1REC, 3damages)
1. Fast Healing (3 heals)
2. Reconstruction (3 heals, 3 recharges)
4. Quick Recovery (3 endurance)
6. Fitness - Swift (1 run)
8. Follow-Up (3 accs, 3 recharges)
10. Dull Pain (3 heals, 3 recharges)
12. Speed - Hasten (3 recharges)
14. Speed - Superspeed (1 run)
16. Integration (3 heals, 3 REC)
18. Focus (2accs, 1REC, 3 damages)
20. Concealment - Stealth (1 REC)
22. Fitness - Health (3 healths)
24. Fitness - Stamina (3 endurance)
26. Eviscerate (2 accs, 1 REC, 3 damages)
28. Instant Healing (3 heals, 3 recharges)
30. Resilience (3 damage resists)
32. Fighting - Boxing
35. Fighting - Tough (3 damage resists, 3 REC)
38. Concealment - Grant Invisibility (1 REC)
41. Body Mastery - Focused Accuracy (3 accbuff, 3 REC)
44. Concealment - Phase Shift (1 recharge)
47. Moment of Glory (3 defense, 3 damage resist)
49. Revive (1 recharge)
Starting Out:
To start out with, you definitely want to get two attacks. When you get your first respec in, i would suggest in removing the filler attack. You dont want to get Spin as a temp filler attack, just doesnt do enough damage and uses up too much endurance for what its worth. The damage ouput is the same as Strike. Follow-Up is a great attack power to start with an attack - it offers a great ACC bonus and good damage bonus for any attacks for a shortbit (later discussed). You'll find its invaluable in being able to consistently hit harder enemies and bosses early on. Things will start to really shine for you early once you get Reconstruction and Dull Pain established. Everything just becomes more gravy as you get your Secondary powers in. Establishing your two lethal/smash resist powers will make you a very sturdy and depended-upon fighter in groups. Getting MoG is a great icing on the cake, once deployed and used appropiately. Revive eliminates the need of Awakens, and may free up the burden of healers in heavy combat.
Skipped Powers Overview
Swipe: I generally skip most 1st attack powers cuz they only do minor damage, which in itself is not worth bothering to have. Its also an attack that takes 2.4 seconds - definitely not efficient and effective.
Slash: Another attack that takes 2.4 seconds - a moderately damaging attack that makes you yawn as you wait for its action to end.
Spin: Almost as slow as the other previous attacks, it doles out only low moderate damage, the same as Strike. Its only an 8' spherical aoe attack that costs a good 20 endurance points. You'll be surprised how many mobs you DONT attack with its short range in a heavy group.
Taunt: well, i dont need it - maybe someone would with a pvp setup, but i wouldnt pvp using a Claws scrapper anyhow, lol
Shockwave: ok, this power is absolutely LAME!!! It only uses 26points of endurance for a moderately damaging conal attack. But even worse, it performs a Knockback(and usually NOT a Knockdown). How more aggravating can it be for a melee scrapper to have a power that knocks away an opponent? EXTREMELY not efficient....
Applied Powers Overview
Strike: This is a favorite attack power. Small cost, quick action, quick recharge, moderate damage. Enhanced with the Follow-Up bonus, its damage very noticeable. Coupled with Follow-Up and Hasten, it only takes 3-4 to drop a yellow, thats under 10 seconds! A Crit with the F-U bonus does some awful damage. This attack is as efficient and effective as they come!
Fast Healing: This is a passive/auto-run power that gives you a minor trickle of healing. 3slot this when you're running out of slotting options. Or you can choose to slot this early for real aggressive play.
Reconstruction: This becomes a phenomenal insta-heal when slotted up. Early on, you'll learn to rely on it till you get more Secondary powers in. The recharge rate is rather fast for what its worth. Couple that with a few regen factors, and you're a hard case to take down.
Quick Recovery: This is a passive/auto-run power that gives you a minor trickle of endurance recovery. 3slot this when you feasibly can.
Fitness - Swift: It is rather important to be fleet-footed when a scrapper. It gives you an good edge coupled with sprint for retreating, pulling aggro off of support players, and general early travel w/o having a travel power at early lvs.. Unlike ranged attackers, it is important to be able to travel speedily through attacks and support, since those attacks are primarily melee and upclose only.
Follow-Up: Once, i respec'd it off cuz i heard other 'vet' players 'skipped it', and noticed a bad difference. This power can be invaluable in accuracy and in performing successful attacks on bosses and defense-buffed mobs (like sorcerers), especially in your early lvs. The accuracy and damage buff lasts for about 12 seconds, being able to perform about 4-5 attacks in that timeframe. The accuracy buff is comparable to Build-up, and the damage buff is 20% additional damage from the base of each attack.
With Hasten, you can perma-run these bonuses as long as you hit with Follow-Up. That is why i have 3 acc's to start off. With recharge slots, you will experience a double F-U bonus overlap for about 3 attacks worth!
This comes out to be +40% DAMAGE for the next 3 attacks. With everything slotted and running Hasten, you can constantly run with an "ACC buff and +20%damage for 5 seconds, and double ACC buff with +40% damage for 3 seconds....in consecutive intervals!" - now thats some serious damage output. Now if you crit during that 3 second F-U overlap, that's +180% instead of the usual +100% scrapper crit - now thats DAMAGE! This potential in acc and damage buff is not a fair change-out with another attack at most will do moderate damage. And people say Claws is gimp...
Dull Pain: This power doesnt seem to be as important as one may think. With tanking, it becomes pretty important, since it gives a tank a much greater health cushion. But it comes doubly important to a Regen'r since all the health regeneration is based upon set percentages, not set amounts. When you get 3 health slots in, it becomes phenomenal, a needed power to survive AV's. Kitty has 1338 health, and gets an additional 1044 health from Dull pain, nearly double the health. And this nearly doubles the gains of all your Health Regeneration powers!
Speed - Hasten: This power becomes more needed down the road for the recovery of your life-regenning Secondary abilities like Dull Pain and Instant Healing. Before ED, Dull Pain was perma and Instant Healing was a toggle. Now neither is perma, but Hasten can pull them closer at least.
You also wont need to put rechargers in your attacks, and put in REC instead, since you've got Hasten.
Speed - SuperSpeed: Im rather quite fond of this power. Though limited, it doubles as an effective combat power. You're able to zip right in a group of mobs, and target the sucker that needs to go down first, like a sapper. The problem with melee is the need of a close approach in order to initiate an attack. Using this power enables you to get the drop on the mobs instead of them aggroing off your approach.
Integration: Before ED, it was a powerful health regen power. Now it has been put in its place. Still a neccessary power as a status guard, it serves a health regenning toggle - not as strong as before...
Focus: Yay, a heavy-hitting power! Probably the best attack Claws has overall in application. It has a range of 40, has strong KnockDown ability, and does High damage. The action is quick, the recharge is great for its strength. A combination of Follow-Up, Strike, and Focus will be your bread and butter for the longest time. You can 1shot yellows and oranges if Critted. Critting with F-U running, you'll be doing noticeable damage, as you see the mob's health meter plummet fast.
Concealment - Stealth: Though Stealth is now weak by itself, coupled with SuperSpeed makes both powers effective to scout with. You become undetectable to most mobs upclose.
Fitness - Health: This is a passive/auto-run power that gives you a minor trickle of healing. 3slot this when you run out of slotting options, or slot it quickly if you like the comfort of additional health regen.
Fitness - Stamina: This is a passive/auto-run power that gives you a minor trickle of endurance recovery. 3slot this when feasibly can.
Eviscerate: This is the last of the attack powers, and the least to tell you the truth. Its damage is slightly better than Focus, sluggish action, decent recharge, and not too kind on the stamina. The plus side is that it does great in a tightly packed group and is prone to Crit plentifully. A combination of Focus and Eviscerate after a Follow-up will knock down any yellows and oranges.
Instant Healing: Back in the day, you were almost undefeatable with this power as a toggle. During ED, the devs said regenr's complained this power had too much of an end drain. So they made it a long-cycle clickable. WHAT!? With Stamina, Quick Recovery, and IH slotted with 2 REC's, that was not an issue at all. In fact, they wanted to make a window of time where regen's were the most vulnerable. During heavy combat, you're loving it when its up, and you're hating it and fearing for your life when its down. Slot it with 3 health and 3 recharge w/ Hasten to close down the window of mortality.
Resilience: this is a passive/auto-run power that gives you resistance to lethal/smash/toxic. Its not a strong resist, but it stacks well with Tough and will help your health and regen more effective in melee combat.
Fighting - Boxing: a power not actively used, lol - just need to get to next power!
Fighting - Tough: this is a standard power for all melee archs to have. With 3slotted damage resist SO's, there is a 23% lethal/smash damage mitigation. Stack this with Resilience, Dull Pain and all the other health regen powers, you can see you become a seriously tough nut!
Concealment - Grant Invisibility: Really a stepping stone to Phase Shift, this power is a better benefit to others than Invisibility will to yourself
Body Mastery - Focused Accuracy: A great toggle to use to support the needed successful rate of your attacks as a Claws arch. Since there's only 1ACC plotted down in each attack, F-U and Focused Accuracy will enable to strike consistently. And if F-U doesnt land, this power will back up those attacks then...
Concealment - Phase Shift: The application of PS is self-explanatory, but it becomes much more effective when applied with Moment of Glory. The reason you want PS before MoG, is so when you use MOG you can use PS right before it drops, to save your hiney of course. Phase Shift gives you invulnerability for a shortwhile, long enough for you to recover from MoG.
Moment of Glory: I Love/Hate using this power when needed, which is very rare indeed. For 3 crazy minutes you turn into a high-resisting, Super Reflex Scrapper! This power will give you Extreme defense and High resists to all attacks, and endless endurance in exchange of 75% of your current health and no health regen.
Now most players says this power is a death sentence. But i think they dont bother to slot it up, thinking it suppose to act as an all-powerful act. Nor do they time the power, to use Phase Shift in conjuction after the power drops, which makes you naked and weak. Put in 3 Defense and 3 Damage resists to make it a highly effective last line of defense. DULL PAIN WILL boost up your overall health accordingly by percentage, but no other healing powers will save you while MoG is running.
You can perform and do some wonderful things, and you can surprisingly die unexpectantly too (you'll know how a SR scrapper or Blapper feels like, lol). Like Super Reflex, its almost a hit and miss application - most of the times you get missed alot, and sometimes you get hit alot and you see your red bar go down quickly. People also make the mistake of using it at the last minute before dying - realize it takes 75% of your remaining health before MoG applies, so you need to really plan ahead to use it effectively. More about
MoG, its application and time, and my MoG Droptime Audible, look at my next post.
Revive: Really, a good last power to have. Not many archs can self-rez themselves. Not needing an enemy to leech off, you simply self-rez yourself. The good thing is that you rez with almost full life, and 2/3rd's endurance w/o disorientation.
Hit Dull Pain immediately to help out the damage spread till you can get your toggles back up. Fast Healing, Health, and Resilience will also support you while you get the toggles going. But make sure the heat of the battle is not on you still, before rezzing....
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Final Remarks
Claws, like any other arch, is what you make out of it. Regeneration is still solid after ED, probably the least affected defense make-up. The devs have poked a couple holes in it, giving it a window of vulnerability while Instant Healing recycles itself. This is overcome by Fast Healing, Health, Resilience, Tough running while buffered with Dull Pain and Reconstruction popping up when needed. And if thats not enuf to mitigate damage to you, then activate MoG to survive till IH gets back up again.
Ive been able to solo +7mobs and +5 bosses at the height of this build's powers and cap out on xp a single person can accrue when soloing street mobs - thats not easy to do...
XP cap-out research and proof
All facts presented was personally researched by Phire ingame play...
orignally posted at
http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...opicID=1812743