Yes it is, and the damage is a good bit less well. All in all Spines is a better set than Claws, but that doesn't mean that you can't be succesful in SC or WB. If those zones are your focus then it won't matter much, one of our members racked up over 100k bounty in SC on a Claws/SR several months ago.
Thorizdin
Lords of the Dead
Old School Legends
I very highly doubt that Impale is 80'. Just going by PvP experience there. No Spine guy ever hit me THAT far away. In my opinion.. go Claws. Impale, if you really look at it, is not that good of a power. It takes forever to animate, takes even longer to actually stab the target, and in all honesty, I can count on one hand the amount of times a Spines Scrapper or Stalker has ever managed to kill me with Impale. At the very least, Focus has knockdown. And for those who say that Acrobatics is too common.. BS.
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
Angry Citizen craks me up. I love his discussions on the topic.
I have a spines stalker. My sg mate has a claws one. We're both built around tagging opponents with our ranged attacks while the corrupters following us scourge them out. Impale definitly has a much more significant range then focus. That said, focus is more easily spammable.
Both sets are quite good, and I don't think you can go all that wrong. It's primarily a matter of taste, go with whatever you prefer.
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I very highly doubt that Impale is 80'.
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I find it surprising too BUT not very hard to believe.
A week or two ago I was testing my 3 centrioled impale (should be about 128 feet with this #)'s max range vs. someone's psionic lance (150 feet)'s max range cuz I was hitting things from really far. The "Set As Waypoint" option was grayed out when I targetted her when we were both at max range, but It sure as hell looked like 15-30 feet apart if you ask me.
also, something else to consider...
with the admitted bug in placate, Impale's immob throws off the placate effect (targettable, not hidden) whereas Focus will not. since there is no ETA on this fix, i'd plan for it to be around for a while. also, the DoT effects placate in PvE. all in all, claws is faster animating with higher dps than spines, but lower burst dmg overall. however, for me at least, the icing on the cake at this point is the placate bug. i love my spines/regen stalker to death, and spines on a whole (3 toons that are spines/*), but right now, i'm advocating to go claws for less frustrating PvE and PvP experience in general.
Impale indeed has exactly 80 feet of range for its base and Focus has exactly 40 feet. This is both well documented and can be easily tested, which we did.
Both Claws and Spines can be used effectively, but claiming that Focus is better than Impale in PvP is about as unbelievable as seeing lots of squishies without KB protection. Maybe it happens that way on Pinnacle, but it certainly doesn't on Freedom.
Thorizdin
Lords of the Dead
Old School Legends
Focus is better PvE where knockdown is a way of life, but PvP there's no contest, Impale is a LOT better.
Impale has more damage and more range. The 1 second longer animation is really not a huge deal, and the immob, little bit of slow, -fly and chance for DoT make it better all around than claws, IMO.
But mainly the damage and range are what set it apart.
Spines would get my vote for tick/dot in the late game over the full lethal Focus. But if you only build for sirens or have no intention of grinding a stalker out beyond 30 I guess it doesnt really matter.
I have a 31 Claws/SR stalker who's very close to getting the SC time badge, and I love Focus almost more than my grandmother. I also have a 40 corruptor who's spent more time in Warburg than you can shake a horse-beating stick at.
Impale could have a 5 second animation time and do 1 damage, and I'd still say Impale is better just because of the immob.
-fly and the range on impale is frankly awesome, knockback won't bring that annoying flyer down to you to finish off
Go with Impale. The first Hero you knock out of flight and watch tumble out of the sky makes it all worth it.
You'll see more people that you'll want the -fly on than you will be able to use the knockdown from Focus on. The extra damage helps, a lot, as does the range. My claws stalker has a rough time in Siren's with anything that is scrapper or tank. I've managed to take a few scrappers here and there, but any half decent scrapper can escape, or put you down.
The extra animation time on Impale is a small price to pay for a much better power. As much as I would hate to say it, since there are so many spines scrappers and stalkers anyway, Spines will be the better choice. Claws is by far the worst stalker set in the game, and the most difficult to PvP with. It can be done, but not easily, and there are far more things you simply have no hope of taking on unless the player sucks, and suck really bad I mean.
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As much as I would hate to say it, since there are so many spines scrappers and stalkers anyway, Spines will be the better choice. Claws is by far the worst stalker set in the game, and the most difficult to PvP with.
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Pshhhh, MA would get my vote for the worst, because no ranged attacks and even worse as far as resisted damge types. That being said, I would say for Siren's call you can play either one, it really depends on the play style. As far as -leveling- a spines/ or a claws/.... claws is way easier, as with spines you will either have 1 attack until 18, or you'll have to take barbed swipe/spine burst, or you'll have to grab a pool power attack, and quite frankly, do you really want to have to take fly just for air superiority???
Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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Wow... didn't see that coming. Thanks for the confirmation Castle. Now run... run while you can!! I'll try to hold them off.
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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Wow... didn't see that coming. Thanks for the confirmation Castle. Now run... run while you can!! I'll try to hold them off.
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heheh. I don't think focus really needs a range increase because its already really good. I don't htink the problem with either set is impale or focus, i think for spines the problem is slow maturation, and for claws its that the damage is some what lackluster in higher levels. That being said i enjoy my spines and my claws stalks
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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He does still read the forums!!! 
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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I've just been schooled by Castle.
I stand corrected. 
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
Disclaimer: No, that does not imply an impending range reduction for impale or increase for Focus.
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I've just been schooled by Castle.
I stand corrected.
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It's okay AC... you still have Nin/Nin
Spines a much better set in Siren's because you get 2 GREAT attacks in Impale and in Ripper. Sometimes I just fly around looking for fliers to bring them down.
I love just using Impale dropping them then either finishing them off or I just fly off to find another to drop. It's very funny and fun.
Spines is an amazing set because of versatility whereas Claws completely relies on Focus.
Hope this helps 
i'd like to see energy blasts and focus get unresitable knockback...
ok and Hurl Boulder too 
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Unbelievably, Impale is 80' range.
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Well, its no more unbelievable than that focus has twice the range and 14% higher dpa than power burst, the best dpa attack in energy blast (and that's not counting criticals)
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Spines a much better set in Siren's because you get 2 GREAT attacks in Impale and in Ripper. Sometimes I just fly around looking for fliers to bring them down.
I love just using Impale dropping them then either finishing them off or I just fly off to find another to drop. It's very funny and fun.
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Hey, all right! Another practitioner of the great game, "Superhero Skeet"...
I'm thinking of making a stalker that will primarily be used for Siren's Call PvP (and maybe Warburg). I've already decided to pick a primary with a ranged attack, so Claws or Spines. However, I'm having a hard time choosing between the two sets.
Right now, it's all coming down to Impale versus Focus. According to the oh-so-reliable Prima guide, here's the data I have:
Impale: 8 second recharge, 80' range, ~2.5 second animation, high chance of extra DoT damage, -fly, -immobilize, slow, slight -recharge
Focus: ~6.5 second recharge, 40' range, ~1.5 second animation, knockdown
I'd like to be slightly less common in PvP, so I was thinking of taking Claws. But is the range of Focus really only 40'?
Troller-50(Earth/Rad) Fender-50(Rad/Rad) Scrap-50(Dark/Dark) Tank-40(Stone/Stone) Blaster-25(NRG/NRG) WS-32
Corruptor-40(AR/Rad) Stalker-40(MA/Regen) Brute-32(DM/EA) MM-30(Ninja/DM) Dom-26(Ice/Fire)