Claws/Elec or Claws/WP?

I imagine WP is much more survivable and solo-able while Elec dishes out more damage. In my previous thread I saw a lot of recommendations for Claws/ and once I tried a character build I really began to like the idea. I'm just not sure what secondary to go with. All that's been recommended so far, from what I remember, was Claws/WP and Claws/Elec. Any other fun and INEXPENSIVE (my highest level is a 14 villain side...) secondaries to pair with Claws?

I'm having a similar issue.

I've been gone about a year and a half, and would definitely like to try claws.
WP is fun... but I already rode that train with a SS/WP, and want to try something different.

I've always wanted to try Electric Armor, but it had some issues in the past.... now with the heal in Energize, it looks like it might be worth leveling.


I looked for some guides, but didn't find any posted. What are some good builds?

Almost everything in either Claws and Electric look good. Any powers we should avoid?

It seems that claws pairs well with everything so I just don't know what to do! I've made a Claws/WP and a Claws/Elec and I'll try to play them both evenly until I can tell if I like one more than the other. I'm not sure what other secondaries may be enjoyable. But I'm not going to go for one that requires millions of infamy, since I don't have any to spare.

I love Electric Armor, but one drawback is that there is really nothing at all to skip - it leads to tight builds. You need your three Resist toggles, your pbaoe toggle adds damage, grounded is needed to negate knockback, Lightning Reflexes is a bomb power adding huge recharge, Energize keeps you alive, and Power Sink solves all your endurance problems. You could theoretically skip Power Surge, as you don't need god powers, but this one is better on Brutes than any other class, since it puts you at that beautiful 90% resist cap that you rarely approach otherwise.

Not only that, you are going to also want the fighting pool, since Tough is pretty key on resist-based armors.

Electric is fun, but it demands power choices.

Well i played a Claws/SR to 50 and it was my funnest Brute ever (i have about 4 brutes or so). Claws has fast animations and is not very taxing on endurance. SR is toggles and Passives. SR turns you into a monster when fighting enemies that do not have the dreaded AUTOHIT, but it is an all around great character from 1-50. Spin is a staple power in the early game due to its really reall nice damage.


Now to answer your main question: WP or Elec?
Well I would probably go with WP due to it not being a fully Resistance set. I am not a real fan of pure resistance. I love how Elec looks, but im not a fan of the set. I love Rise to the Challenge from WP! (just thought I'd add that in)

Since you said you dont have much cash, Id say WP since its the best alrounder. Elec is nice with resists but I feel a majority would pick WP.

Well in the 20+ villains I played , my Claws/Elec (L'Abattoir) was by far the most fun I had.
Great survivabilety solo, NO endurance troubles, and fast , real fast ...

And when you get to pick your Patron powers I would go for Mu Mastery for even more endurance gain and drain

Thanks Sharksbait! I've been wondering about this, and I've also been playing both those Brutes (among so many other alts lol). I essentially want a good Brute for team play, AoE situations, etc. Claws has sturdy AoE and Elec's Lightning Field only contributes to that. With high fury it pushes impressive numbers when added up (80 per tick at level 6 wasn't bad at all). It's just that everyone keeps telling me that WP is a better secondary.

I kind of get the impression they're just parroting what they've read on the forum though. I mean people in-game, not the people on here who recommend it. Most people here actually give informed responses! Sure, WP may be one of the best, if not THE best secondary, but I think that's generally for the purpose of soloing and end-game farming. I'm not making claws to solo, or to end game farm. I'm just making it to have fun!

I am currently running a claws/electrical armor brute up the ranks. It's been a rough ride but I made some mistakes; I should have taken my damage aura earlier. Once I got Energize things really smoothed out a lot, but you are still a resistance set with a long-recharge heal, so insps and IOs are pretty much par for the course. WP as you've seen is fire-and-forget and doesn't need IOs to stay upright all day long while leveling.

The combination of follow-up and fury and spin and a damage aura really makes you into a meatgrinder.