Claws analysis for I8 (and i8 Claws/Regen build)
By
Bill Z Bubba,
Posted on: 2007-01-29 24:32 in Player Guides
Edit: This is v2 of the guide, based on roughly 3 days worth of feedback on two forums and some additional testing with respecs of a level 45 Claws/Regen scrapper. This is still not the final version of the guide (more testing to do on some specifics), but it is in much better shape due to excellent feedback from experienced players whose viewpoints differ from my personal viewpoints. As a result, this is a much more inclusive, all-in-one, flexible guide to suit various needs and playstyles.
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Many of the Claws-based scrapper guides are now out of date. One of the most popular Hero planners (SherkSilver's CoH/CoV Character Builder) has quite a few incorrect stats regarding some Claws attacks, which can be misleading. There is also some "conventional wisdom" prevalent on the Scrapper forums that is flatly incorrect and does a disservice to newbie scrappers who are considering Claws for their primary.
This guide is an analysis of the Claws primary that is up to date as of I8. I have regularly partnered with a Claws/Regen scrapper since retail launch, and seen what has worked well and poorly for her throughout multiple respecs and power/ED changes. I also have a level 43 Claws/Regen scrapper of my own, and I even recently rolled up another Claws/Regen newbie to play from 1-22 during the recent double exp weekend to verify some of my recommendations about getting to your first respec quickly and with the most fun factor. Although I will touch on /Regen here and there (and even include a recommended build progression through level 41 for an I8 Claws/Regen scrapper), It's important to note, however, that what I'm going to say about Claws itself is true for I8 regardless of your scrapper secondary.
Why Claws over any other Scrapper primary?
Claws is best-suited for PvE and is one of the strongest PvE primaries. The main reasons to choose Claws are:
<ul type="square">[*]The fastest "feel" in terms of fight mechanics. If you choose the right mix of powers especially in the early boring levels of 1-23, you will never be standing around waiting for a power to recharge while you are getting pounded. Instead, you will constantly rolling from one attack to the next without any gaps, and all of your attacks are fast.[*]One of the more visually interesting sets of attack animations. It's very visceral. You "feel" like Wolverine. And did I mention how fast it plays?[*]You never have a boring, predictable 4- or 5-attack chain sequence. You must be aware of your skillbar and which attacks are almost recharged so that you can queue them up effectively. You will not fall asleep playing Claws.[*]The Claws version of "Build Up" (called Follow Up)is a quick-firing, quick-recharging attack in and of itself. Not only does this mean no attack-chain gap while you're triggering your build-up, but because you can get it to recharge so quickly, you can keep the damage/accuracy buff effect constant throughout an entire long fight. Even if your Follow Up misses here and there, you only go for about 9 seconds without the buff being in effect. Granted, the damage/accuracy buff is much less than what Build Up gives you, but that's more than compensated for by the sheer length of time that this buff effectively lasts.[*]Claws is one of the only two scrapper primaries that has a ranged attack (Focus). Best of all, this fast-recharging and high-damage attack does knock-down and it does *not* immobilize the target like Spines' Impale does. This is important because pulling singles from a difficult group is an important skill for a scrapper, because we tend to be vulnerable to alpha strikes. Also, the knockdown is priceless for mitigating the incoming damage from tough Lieuts and Bosses.[*]Claws has two knockdown attacks in the set. We've already discussed Focus, but the other is Shockwave, which is underrated by many players because of its low damage-per-endurance efficiency. However, Shockwave is priceless at higher levels (35+) because it is a 90-degree cone with a 30-foot range that has a very strong knockdown quotient. You don't use this power for damage, you use it for crowd control and mitigating a tough alpha strike. You don't slot it for damage, but instead you slot it for recharge and accuracy so that you can reuse it every 7 seconds.[*]Although Claws is not *the* AOE scrapper set (that award goes to Spines), it still have very strong conditional AOE capabilities that are quite valuable if you regularly run around with medium-to-large groups. Even if you mostly solo or duo, the AOE attacks are conditionally useful at times, but you might choose to pick up the AOE attacks later in your build if you primarily solo/duo.[/list]
Why *NOT* Claws?
Claws is great for PvE, but is not the best-suited primary for PvP. Why? Because PvP is all about the alpha strike. Whomever does the most front-loaded damage generally wins, all other factors being equal. Claws is not a front-loaded damage set, but instead is a constant DPS set. Once you begin your attack, you are an implacable force and you never slow down. But you don't have a big alpha strike capability like, for example, the Broadsword primary does.
One of Claws' strengths for PvE--it's knockback capabilities--is also a detriment in many players' opinions. Why? Because when a foe is knocked-back, they are moved out of AOE damage effects and every other meleer on the team has to chase after the knocked-down foe. When you're chasing after a foe, you're not doing damage, and pretty much everyone realizes that for a scrapper, your offense is your best defense.
I think this concern about knockback has merit if you plan to team often with other people, or you plan to partner often with a player whose build relies heavily on AOE damage. When I played my fire blaster alongside my wife's Claws/Regen scrapper, for example, she would often knock one mob (or an entire group) back just when I was lining up to spray my cone damage, for example, which was admittedly frustrating for me. I had to learn her attack rhythms to be able to guess when to best fire off my various AOE attacks.
If, however, you are primarily a solo artist (and Scrappers are the *best* solo artists on the Hero side, IMO), or if you regularly partner with another player who doesn't rely on AOE too much, then Claws is the best PvE primary if you like fast, entertaining gameplay.
If you enjoy playing a more controller-ish type of game, with holds and immobilizes, then again, Claws is probably not for you and there are better Scrapper primaries for you. But in my opinion, Scrappers in general are meant to be pure offense, for whom the maxim "the best defense is a good offense" truly applies. The consistent DPS and gapless attack chains, coupled with two excellent knockback powers for mitigation of bosses and alpha strikes, goes a *long* way towards improving your survivability.
Analysis of the powers
I'm going to present my analysis of the powers in the set in an unconventional way. Rather than a power-by-power breakdown and rating, I'm going to look at the synergistic groupings of powers in the set.
The must-haves and the worthless powers
The first important grouping is to determine the powers that are "must-haves" versus the powers you can safely skip without regret. Here's where I'm going to drop one bombshell that goes against the "conventional wisdom" you'll see repeated over and over on the Scrapper forum when people ask for help with their Claws/x scrapper build.
<ul type="square">[*]MUST-HAVE: Swipe (until level 26), Strike, Slash, Follow-up, Focus, Shockwave[*]CONDITIONALLY USEFUL: Spin, Eviscerate[*]BASICALLY WORTHLESS: Confront[/list]
Now let me explain the two choices in this list that I expect will be controversial: Swipe and Spin. Most people think Swipe is worthless, and many people like Spin a lot and would consider it a "must-have".
First let's discuss Swipe, about which pretty much everyone universally says "skip it". You have to remember that most of the experienced players listing builds are already in their high levels or at max level. Admittedly, Swipe is not of much use when you're 26+. However, I feel *strongly* that Swipe is absolutely priceless until at least after you pick up Focus, and even then it is still worth having until you can do your first respec at 24.
Once you can do your first respec at 24, I feel that the best replacement for Swipe is Spin. Note for a brand-new character, I very specifically don't recommend taking Spin earlier in the build, because I think Swipe gives you a lot more for your money during levels 1-23. The basic reason I recommend this course of action is because Spin's long 12-second recharge time means you'll have gaps in your attack chain all the way to level 24, when you have the first good opportunity to pick up Hasten (assuming you don't take Hasten->SS as your travel power), or even all the way up to level 26 when you can pick up Eviscerate if for some reason you don't take Hasten at all or take it much later than level 26.
So I'd like you to fix in your mind the relationship between Swipe and a gapless attack chain below level 24. Any other build that does not include Swipe in the early levels below 24 *will* have gaps in the attack chain unless you want to waste enhancement slots on brawl.
Some might argue that after you pick up Focus at 18 you essentially have a gapless attack chain without needing Swipe any more. But these folks would be wrong, because they're forgetting how many different mobs have powers that slow your attack rate. Granted, when you are not slowed, you can ignore the Swipe sitting on your hotbar. But the minute you are slowed, Swipe becomes the gap-filler in your attack chain.
The second big fallacy regarding swipe is that its damage efficiency is inferior to the rest of the set. This is *not* true. In terms of endurance efficiency (damage per point of endurance), the following attacks are all EQUAL: Strike, Swipe, Slash, Focus, and Spin (if you hit 3+ foes with it). (If you don't believe me, look up the relevant data on City of Data and do the math for yourself.) Yes, it's true that Swipe does *less* damage than Strike, Slash, or Focus and therefore it's easy to arrive at the flawed conclusion that it somehow lowers your average DPS. But what's wrong with this reasoning is the fact that without Swipe, you will have *gaps* in your attack chain before level 18. And when a gap happens, where you're doing nothing while waiting for some skill to recharge, you are putting out exactly 0 DPS. Therefore, using Swipe to fill that gap is greater than 0 DPS and therefore Swipe is contributing to a greater overall average DPS. It's really that simple.
Note: Let me be very clear, before continuing, that there are two levels of DPS. There's a per-attack DPS, and there's the average DPS over time generated by an attack chain. In any given attack chain, if you are queing up the highest per-attack DPS attacks first, *AND* you have no gaps in the chain at all, then you are generating the maximum average DPS. If, however, there are any gaps in your chain, then for the duration of that gap you are putting out 0 DPS and therefore the average DPS goes down.
Back to Swipe and its positive effect on average DPS through levels 1-23, you can trust me on this point because I recently verified it during the double exp weekend by rolling up a newbie Claws/Regen scrapper for testing and leveled her from 1 to 22 while periodically hopping over to the Test server to try out alternatives to Swipe. I don't care what any "experienced" scrapper might recollect from memory; it's a simple, verifiable fact that if Hasten is not in the picture, and if you are limiting yourself to 5 attacks (which is the most you can effectively slot up prior to level 26), you get the highest average DPS with this attack chain: Follow-up > Slash > Focus > Strike, with Swipe filling in the gaps and you always prioritizing FU first when it's ready, followed by whichever highest DPS attack is next-recharged.
Swipe, Strike, and Slash are your bread and butter damage attacks through level 18. If, on the other hand, you are trying to limp by with only Strike and Slash, or if you pick up a slower-recharging attack like Air Superiority (or Spin) instead of Swipe, you will have gaps in your attack chain and you will not put out nearly as much average DPS. The difference is noticeable, both in how fast you mow down entire groups and in how much damage you take doing so. I'm not talking from theory or from memory in this regard. I'm talking from direct empirical evidence from spending a weekend testing this concept.
Now let's talk about my other controversial choice: Spin. Many people like Spin and would consider it a "must-have" power and feel that it's quite logical to take Spin instead of Swipe even in the early 1-25 levels of a build. On the other hand, if you are primarily a soloist or team only in duos, you might not find nearly as much value in Spin in the early levels, if at all. I self-admittedly fall into the soloist/duoist camp, so I feel Spin is essentially worthless compared to Swipe in the early 1-25 levels. (But I have been convinced that even for a soloist/duoist it is worthwhile as a conditional attack to be added when you do your first respec at 24--more on that later.)
The reason that a soloist/duoist might find less value in Spin is quite simple. Its AOE radius is only 5 meters. That means it will hit *only* the mobs that are slightly outside direct melee range, relative to yourself. Due to AI changes over the years, however, it's fairly rare to get more than 2 mobs in melee range of yourself. if you are soloing or duoing in the early levels 1-25. Spin needs to hit at least 3 mobs to be as endurance-efficient as Strike, Swipe, Slash, and Focus. (Again, look at City of Data and do the math for yourself if you don't believe this simple fact.) Since as a soloist/duoist you won't have many opportunities to hit 3 or more mobs at once with Spin, therefore, it becomes only conditionally useful.
Conditionally useful attack are fine after level 25 or so by then you either have Hasten or you have enough enhancement slots to effectively add a 6th attack such as Eviscerate, so it becomes practical at that time to swap out Swipe for Spin, because Swipe is no longer needed to fill gaps in your attack chain. So you'll have Spin sitting there ready when it will be useful.
If you plan to group frequently with medium or large groups right from the get-go in your early levels, then you might find it worth losing out on some average DPS by *not* taking Swipe in the early levels, and taking Spin at 6 instead. You might find this a worthwhile tradeoff even though your attack chain will have some distinct gaps in it. If you solo and you want to move through these boring lower levels quickly, you will probably be happier with Swipe at first and taking Spin later during your first respec at 24. It's easy to forget how slowly those first levels seem to crawl by when you're actually trudging through them. I'll also note that if this is an alt character for you, you might feel really useless when sidekicked to high-level players if you don't take Swipe in the early levels. I routinely SK all of my newbies with my level 45 partner or my even higher level guildmates. With only Strike and Slash and FU and either Spin or Air Sup, I felt soooooooo useless. (I made my partner come over to test with me to try those other attack chain combos.) It was like I was standing around with my thumb up my rear end most of the time. It's amazing the difference that laying down all those Swipes and having totally gapless attack chains made me feel in those situations.
The Golden Rule: Endurance = Average DPS
So my comments about the relative value of Spin lead into this section. I'd like you to fix in your mind the equation that "Endurance = Average DPS". What I mean by this is that if you are always queuing up your hardest-hitting attacks first in a gapless chain, AND if those hardest-hitting attacks are the most endurance-efficient as possible, then you are putting out the most DPS over time of which you're capable. The key principle here is that you cannot just look at the raw orange damage numbers, nor at the per-attack DPS of any one attack; you must also examine the endurance cost of your attack chain over time.
Also essential to this concept is that in a long fight, you can come close to burning out all of your endurance in the early levels before you pick up either Stamina or Quick Recovery and fully slot them out, so getting the most bang for the buck with every point of endurance spent is crucial to *sustained* DPS throughout the fight. (As an aside, this is one reason that Regen is so useful as a PvE secondary--Quick Recovery is a much better version of Stamina, by a factor of 10:6.)
Using the baseline damage and endurance numbers for the various Claws attacks as listed on City of Data, here's the relative endurance-efficiency of the Claws attacks. The numbers are expressed in points of damage per point of endurance (DPE):
<ul type="square">[*]15.04 DPE: Swipe, Strike, Slash, Focus[*]12.03 DPE: Eviscerate (24.06 if you manage to nail 2 foes with it, 36.09 if you hit 3 foes, etc.)[*]6.84 DPE: Spin (13.68 if you hit 2 foes, or 20.52 if you hit 3 foes, etc.)[*]6.42 DPE: Follow Up[*]5.95 DPE: Shockwave (same DPE scaling as Spin and Eviscerate for hitting multiple foes)[/list]
From this list of relative DPE, you can see that you get the most bang for the buck when hitting single-targets from Swipe, Strike, Slash, and Focus, with Eviscerate coming in as a close second.
If you have 2 targets in close melee range, then Eviscerate is giving you the most bang for the buck. If you have 3 or more targets within an 8-foot range, then Spin comes into play and is probably giving you equal or more bang for the buck compared to Eviscerate, due to Spin's 360-degree radius.
On the face of these DPE numbers, it looks like Follow Up and Shockwave are relatively weak attacks (unless you can nail at least 5 foes with Shockwave each time), but the strength in FU and Shockwave lies not really in their damage, but in their utility effects. (This is why I don't recommend slotting either attack for much damage, instead preferring to slot them for a fast recharge.)
What's the moral of this section? That ultimately, the amount of endurance that you have to play around with determines how much force you can effectively exert over the course of a long fight. This is one reason for the popularity of /Regen as a scrapper secondary, and in particular is a strong match up for Claws. The Quick Recovery skill gives you 66% more endurance recovery to work with than Stamina give you.
Single-target chains versus AOE attacks
In my first draft of this guide, I made the heavy-handed comment that Claws should not be thought of as an AOE set at all, and that Spin was essentially worthless. My wife and I had given up on Spin on our scrappers long ago around I4 or I5. So admittedly, my strong comments were based on personal bias because we mostly solo or duo with each other and rarely spend time in larger teams.
The feedback to my first draft was full of excellent reasons and examples of why many players place high value in Spin and these same players *do* tend to think of Claws as a balanced single-target/AOE set.
I'd classify the various attacks in Claws in this manner:
<ul type="square">[*]Single-target: Swipe/Eviscerate, Strike, Slash, Focus[*]Buff (constant): Follow Up[*]Control/Mitigation: Shockwave, Focus, Confront[*]Pulling: Focus, Confront[*]Conditional AOE: Spin, Eviscerate, Shockwave[/list]
Notice that Focus does triple-duty as one of your strongest single-target attacks, a great pulling attack, and as one of your control/mitigation attacks. Eviscerate does double-duty as a strong single-target attack that gets sweeter if you can nail 2+ foes in its very short 5-foot cone, so it's kinda an AOE attack but I still primarily think of Eviscerate as a single-target attack with a high crit factor. Confront also does double-duty as control/mitigation or pulling, but it's overall the weakest power in the set and not worth fitting into many builds.
Shockwave also does double-duty, being just amazingly valuable as a mitigation against alpha strikes and the early stages of chewing through a big group (provided you slot it up for a fast recharge).
The reason I like to categorize the Claws set in this manner is that it highlights one aspect of each power's relative worth that is not otherwise immediately obvious: double- or triple-duty attacks, in general, are more valuable than attacks that serve only one role. Think about it. This makes Eviscerate, Shockwave, and especially Focus all quite valuable. I think it's important to especially look at Eviscerate and Shockwave in this light because there are more than a few comments on the Scrapper forum that would make these seem like two of the least-desirable powers. For Eviscerate, especially, people tend to focus on its long animation time and overlook the fact that it comes with a significantly high chance to crit. It's also the highest DPE attack if you manage to nail even just 2 foes with it, and it's really not bad for DPE if you only hit one foe with it.
So for single-target damage chains, I'd personally put Eviscerate right up there with Focus in terms of priority.
Now, because Claws is not the preeminent AOE set (it's Spines that gets that honor), I'd recommend thinking of Claws as a single-target set with a few really good opportunistic AOEs for conditional use. The key here is to plan your builds with an eye towards creating a solid single-target attack chain, and only after you have got a strong single-target chain in place should you add the more conditional AOE attacks. Your bread and butter, especially in the early levels 1-25, is your single-target chain.
When you consider this philosophical approach and add it to the previously discussed fact that taking Spin too early creates an attack chain with gaps in it, I hope you'll agree that even though you *could* take Spin as early as level 6, you're better off waiting until level 24 (your first respec) to add it into your build. I also hope that you'll endeavor to find a place for both Eviscerate and Shockwave as soon as you possibly can after your bread-and-butter single-target attack chain is fleshed out.
What to replace Swipe with when you respec at 24 or pick up Eviscerate at 26?
Assuming you grab Hasten at 24 *and* respec after doing so (which I recommend), what is the best power to replace Swipe with? In the first draft of this guide, I voted strongly for Air Superiority at this point because of its synergy with Focus for boss control (2 knockdown/back powers in your single-target attack chain). The DPE of Air Sup is the same as for Strike, Slash, etc. (15.04 DPE), so not only are you getting amazing knockdown utility, but it's not lowering your average DPS either except by a small amount based on the virtual gap caused by the animation redraws when you switch between Air Sup and your Claw attacks.
The only drawback to using Air Sup in a Claws build is the redraw time when you switch back and forth between Air Sup and your Claws attacks. Therefore, I don't tend to use Air Sup except when it's really needed, which is against tough bosses who could otherwise really hurt me. In that case, I'll gladly trade the slight drop in average DPS for the fact that between Focus and Air Sup (and maybe even the occasional Shockwave) I can keep a boss on his back most of the time. If you don't want to "waste" Shockwaves on a boss, you can add an SO recharge to Air Sup and either that or Focus will always be available to knock him down/back again.
After assimilating and testing the feedback regarding my first draft of this guide, however, I now recommend taking Spin as your replacement for Swipe. (By moving Strike to level 1 and taking Spin at level 6.) Air Sup is still great to have, but in retrospect you can comfortably wait until level 35 to take Air Sup, because the really nasty bosses and dual bosses don't start cropping up until the mid- to late-30s anyway. So for levels 24-34, I'd have to agree that Spin is more situationally useful and can contribute to higher average DPS in long fits if you're good at herding foes, or if you're spending a lot of time in medium to large groups.
What's the best secondary for Claws?
Many of the Scrapper secondaries are good and solid. That said, I'll recommend /Regen every time as the perfect matchup for Claws. Why? The first item in the following list is the main reason. (The remaining items in the list are nice but they apply to any scrapper primary.)
<ul type="square">[*]Quick Recovery is priceless to a high-DPS scrapper, and Claws is *the* high-DPS scrapper set. If your attack chains are gapless, you will burn the endurance during a long fight faster than Stamina alone can keep up with (especially while you're still in the DO ranges).[*]The status protection from Integration is just all-around awesome. Nothing is more frustrating than being sleeped, stunned, disoriented, or knocked back. Integration is just priceless if you enjoy laughing at most mobs that make other meleers (or any archetype, really) very nervous. Seriously, you'll laugh in their faces as you shred Carnie Strongmen and Illusionists, just as one example.[*]You have only one toggle: Integration. This means less endurance drain and therefore longer sustained high DPS, and it means fewer toggles to deal with turning on again when dropped by a foe. Plus, the benefit that Integration provides isn't a critical life-or-death benefit during the periods you might fumble around getting it toggled on again, unlike some other toggles in the scrapper secondaries.[*]Reconstruction is among the best scrapper self-heals, mainly because you can get it to recharge extremely fast. Because you are not a front-loaded damage dealer, you will take more damage over time than some other scrapper primaries, so having a consistent, frequent rate of self-healing complements our DPS nature well.[*]Dull Pain is excellent for buffering yourself against the dreaded alpha strike, which is the bane of all scrappers. Don't laugh at an extra 500-700 HP going into a big alpha strike. Even with Shockwave helping to mitigate the incoming damage before you shred several minions or a strategic target like a Sapper, you'll be glad for the extra HP.[/list]
You'll notice I didn't even mention Fast Healing, or Instant Healing, or Resilience, all of which are useful powers from the /Regen secondary. They're nice and useful, but nothing stellar. Your survivability doesn't really come from being able to heal yourself or from damage resistance, but instead from your ability to dish out the constant DPS that never flags, coupled with some excellent knockback/knockdown abilities.
Instant Healing, in particular, used to be *the* reason to take /Regen, but of course that was overpowered and long since nerfed into the ground. To the point that it's now considered an optional power by many folks. Despite this nerfing of Regen, it's *still* the strongest secondary for Claws, in my opinion, for the reasons stated.
So what about a recommended build already?
Here ya go. Three builds, actually: one for a newbie from 1-23, another for your first respec at 24, and another for a reslotting tweak at 41. I've recently tested the early portions (level 1-22) during the double exp weekend on a throwaway character. The first "newbie" build has been tweaked and honed to be fast and furious right from the get-go, which helps to alleviate the boredom of the early levels. Once you grab Hasten at 24, you'll want to do your first respec to trade Swipe for Spin, which is an extremely simple respec because you just move Strike to level 1 and take Spin at level 6 instead, and you can use exactly the same slots and enhancements in Spin that you used for Swipe. So you won't have to hassle with reslotting and buying different enhancements, etc.
Be aware, though, that after your first respec, you won't scale back nearly as nicely when exemplared. Your DPS below level 26 won't be nearly as good as when you had Swipe in your attack chain. If you plan to exemplar a lot (guild support, partner/friend with alt-itis, etc.), then you might want to consider keeping Swipe even past level 26.
Also note that if you hate the idea of dealing with respecs, you *could* just use the "1st respec" build right from level 1, or even the "reslotting" build right from level 1. The disadvantages of doing so, however, are that your first 25 levels will seem to crawl by, especially the first 17 levels before you get Focus. Also, if you opt to start right away with the "reslotting" build, your accuracy will be lower overall and you'll whiff more often, which will slow you down and seem more boring/frustrating. It's up to you. I think the fun-factor makes starting out with Swipe and doing the two respecs very worthwhile.
Some might argue that 2 accuracies per attack from levels 1-40 is overslotting for accuracy because of the to-hit buff from Follow Up, which equates roughly to 1 accuracy SO. I'll point out, however, that when you whiff your Follow Up attack, it means you've got roughly 10 seconds of "downtime" during which your attacks are all operating as if they had only one accuracy SO in them. Your mileage might vary, so it's your choice in this regard. If you believe that one accuracy SO is enough, then slot an End Rdx in place of the second accuracy and save yourself the hassle of the 2nd respec. Me? I *hate* whiffing an attack, so to me those 2 accuracy SOs are priceless until I can pick up Focused Accuracy at 41. Plus, I spend a lot of time with my newbies running around sidekicked to level 45+ players, so I'm always attacking red and purple (to me) bosses. That extra accuracy goes a long way in those situations.
Regarding travel powers and the fitness pool (especially my recommendation to take Swift at 10), there's a lot of leeway for personal preference. I highly value having both Combat Jumping and Swift as early as possible because it gives me all the battle and street-roving mobility I need. Also, since I spend a lot of time SKed to players who have Swift somewhere in their build, it helps me keep up without burning precious endurance from Sprint.
Also, I'm strongly predisposed to Super Jump. I've tried every travel power and SJ is just the most fun travel power besides being one of the fastest. Regardless, if you want to do something different with your 10, 12, and 14th level slots, by all means go ahead. You might prefer something like Stealth and Hasten and Super Speed in those slots, to give you total invisibility for soloing missions quickly (stealth-run to the boss and kill him, avoiding all the early mobs, etc.). However, there's a warning here to think about. In my recommended builds, you'll notice that the level 10, 12, and 14 slots all require only one enhancement slot each (the free slot). There's a reason for this, and the reason is to be able to slot up my bread and butter attacks faster. If you take different choices than I recommend, I would suggest that you try to keep them to 1-slot choices or your average DPS will suffer.
The final thing I might expect some people to argue with is my choice to slot both Follow Up and Shockwave with recharge and little to no damage. During levels 1-21, I recommend 2 accuracy and 2 recharge in Follow Up. When you can get SOs at level 22, switch to 1 accuracy, 1 recharge, and one damage. Why? To maintain a roughly 8-9 second recharge time on Follow Up, so that you can maintain the buff constantly throughout a long fight. Note that slotting 2 SO recharges in FU doesn't buy that much because it only drops the recharge time to 7 seconds. A 1- to 1.5 second theoretical stacking of the buff doesn't really equate to much in real world conditions. All you need is a recharge rate that is sufficiently shorter than 10 seconds so that you can keep the buff constant.
As for Shockwave slotting, you have some flexibility to deviate from my recommended slotting. I personally feel that it's MUCH more valuable to be able to fire off a Shockwave every 8 seconds early in a big fight than to do strong damage with it but only be able to fire it off every 12 seconds. Alternative slotting could be, for example, 1x accuracy, 2x range, 3x damage, because increasing the range to 42 feet greatly widens the cone and you can (reportedly) hit an entire large group easily this way.
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Newbie (1-23)
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Claw_Regen_Newbie
Level: 23
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Regeneration
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01) --> Swipe==> Acc(1)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)
01) --> Fast Healing==> Heal(1)
02) --> Slash==> Acc(2)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(11)
04) --> Reconstruction==> Rechg(4)Rechg(15)Rechg(15)
06) --> Strike==> Acc(6)Acc(7)Dmg(7)Dmg(11)
08) --> Follow Up==> Acc(8)Acc(9)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)
10) --> Swift==> Run(10)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Integration==> Heal(16)Heal(17)Heal(17)
18) --> Focus==> Acc(18)Acc(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(21)Dmg(21)
20) --> Quick Recovery==> EndMod(20)EndMod(23)EndMod(23)
22) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(22)
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First Respec (24-40)
Note: the order in which you take Resilience, Instant Healing, and Hurdle is completely flexible. Also, if you can find a power more worthwhile to you than Hurdle *and* which requires only one enhancement slot to be useful, feel free to take something else instead.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Claw_Regen_1st_Respec (at 24)
Level: 40
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Regeneration
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01) --> Strike==> Acc(1)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)Dmg(31)
01) --> Fast Healing==> Heal(1)
02) --> Slash==> Acc(2)Acc(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(11)Dmg(31)
04) --> Reconstruction==> Rechg(4)Rechg(15)Rechg(15)Heal(39)Heal(39)Heal(39)
06) --> Spin==> Acc(6)Acc(7)Dmg(7)Dmg(11)Dmg(33)
08) --> Follow Up==> Acc(8)Acc(9)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)Dmg(31)Dmg(33)
10) --> Swift==> Run(10)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Integration==> Heal(16)Heal(17)Heal(17)
18) --> Focus==> Acc(18)Acc(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(21)Dmg(21)
20) --> Quick Recovery==> EndMod(20)EndMod(23)EndMod(23)
22) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(22)Rechg(25)Rechg(25)Heal(40)Heal(40)Heal(40)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)Rechg(37)Rechg(37)
26) --> Eviscerate==> Acc(26)Acc(27)Dmg(27)Dmg(29)Dmg(29)
28) --> Resilience==> DmgRes(28)
30) --> Instant Healing==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Shockwave==> Acc(32)Acc(33)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)
35) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(35)Acc(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(37)
38) --> Hurdle==> Jump(38)
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Reslotting Tweak (41-50)
Note: The powers you take and the remaining slots you distribute from levels 43+ are completely flexible. I'd recommend taking Laser Beam Eyes and Energy Torrent as one of your two remaining power slots, but really, by level 42 you are fully loaded for bear in terms of Claws/Regen powers.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Claw_Regen_Reslotting (at 41)
Level: 42
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Regeneration
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01) --> Strike==> Acc(1)EndRdx(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)Dmg(31)
01) --> Fast Healing==> Heal(1)
02) --> Slash==> Acc(2)EndRdx(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(11)Dmg(31)
04) --> Reconstruction==> Rechg(4)Rechg(15)Rechg(15)Heal(39)Heal(39)Heal(39)
06) --> Spin==> Acc(6)EndRdx(7)Dmg(7)Dmg(11)Dmg(33)
08) --> Follow Up==> Acc(8)EndRdx(9)Rechg(13)Rechg(13)Dmg(31)Dmg(33)
10) --> Swift==> Run(10)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Integration==> Heal(16)Heal(17)Heal(17)
18) --> Focus==> Acc(18)EndRdx(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(21)Dmg(21)
20) --> Quick Recovery==> EndMod(20)EndMod(23)EndMod(23)
22) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(22)Rechg(25)Rechg(25)Heal(40)Heal(40)Heal(40)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)Rechg(37)Rechg(37)
26) --> Eviscerate==> Acc(26)EndRdx(27)Dmg(27)Dmg(29)Dmg(29)
28) --> Instant Healing==> Rechg(28)
30) --> Resilience==> DmgRes(30)
32) --> Shockwave==> Acc(32)EndRdx(33)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)
35) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(35)EndRdx(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(37)
38) --> Hurdle==> Jump(38)
41) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(41)EndRdx(42)EndRdx(42)
Again, if the the three dots is swipe (i could not remember the name while at work) then I absolutely do not recommend that power. Strike is the term that should be applied to what I do support. Strike is good enough , any day, to replace swipe. I know what I am saying here. I grinded my claws/invul from 1-50 , no PL. Solo and in teams.
I also had spin in my toon and I will not complain about it. I ran mish's in Unyielding for the extra mobs and KB, cone attacks and Spin were great AoE's tools for me.
Once i hit 50 I respec'd OUT of Spin and took Hasten/SS --along with SJ-- intead to a) have dull pain up more often , b) to stack more of follow up (more IS better), c) to counter effects of slows, d) to have Focus available more often in PvP Zones (especially SC and RV) which is a problem for Doms and corruptors (since Shockwave recharges more often too).
Repeat Offenders forever !
Make all IO's available in Paragon Market! NCSoft, the chinese are making BIG money selling influence and other stuff in the game. Best way to stop them = make the paragon market a place to buy all IO's and perhaps other things as well.
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Again, if the the three dots is swipe (i could not remember the name while at work) then I absolutely do not recommend that power. Strike is the term that should be applied to what I do support. Strike is good enough , any day, to replace swipe. I know what I am saying here. I grinded my claws/invul from 1-50 , no PL. Solo and in teams.
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Again, this is an example of the "as I recall" syndrome. We forget how long and boring the grind through our TO and DO levels can be. Sure, Strike and no Swipe is "good enough", but from 1-24, having Swipe in there along with Strike, FU, Focus, and Slash makes those levels go a lot more fun.
This is what respecs are for. Use Swipe until 24 and you'll be happy you did. Then get rid of it at 24 (if you've picked up Hasten by then) or else get rid of it at 26 when you pick up Evis.
That said, some people will consider the occasional Spin "more fun" than a gapless attack chain with Swipe. YMMV.
I'd like to point out that secondary makes a difference in what attacks are 'best'. My claws/invuln no longer has Shockwave, and I picked up Spin again. Since Invuln gets so much of it's mitigation from Invinc (which requires enemies in melee) Shockwave is often counterproductive while Spin fits my secondary perfectly.
[ QUOTE ]
I'd like to point out that secondary makes a difference in what attacks are 'best'. My claws/invuln no longer has Shockwave, and I picked up Spin again. Since Invuln gets so much of it's mitigation from Invinc (which requires enemies in melee) Shockwave is often counterproductive while Spin fits my secondary perfectly.
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That's an excellent point. Thanks 
It should also be pointed out, that Claws got a nice upgrade in i7. Swipe, Strike, and ??? all three got a nice boost and are not the meh powers they used to be prior to mid i7. People recalling "back then" are recalling a much less desireable power. One that in fact would be beat by Air Superiority or Boxing, and perhaps even the dreaded Kick.
That said, I'm in the respec camp, take them early, respec out of at least one later. I would prefer to keep Strike in the respec I think.
Not really, Commando. At some point everyone, even Claws, has enough attacks to create a full chain no matter what they do and anything after that is either highly situational or unused. For Claws, if you take everything except Swipe, you have that. If you grab a useful power pool attack, then sometimes you'll even have Strike sit unused.
Too many attacks is just as bad as not enough attacks.
Also, Commando, Swipe is the 3 white dots. Strike is the one white dot.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲