claws/??

i really wanna give claws a shot but i'm torn on what secondary to pick. i know that /wp is nice. but i have a dm/ em/ and ss/ willpower brute. but that being said, i won't rule /wp out if it'll make for more fun. i was kinda thinking of a secondary with a nice damage aura since i know claws could run it well with it's low endurance usage.

so that leaves /elec, /fire, and /dark. dark is the more complicated one i know, and electric gives a nice recharge bonus, but fire with it's new changes seems tempting too.

anyone have experience with any of these?

Anything but SR!! I mean it. Unless you are a VERY seasoned player who likes BIG challenges. I'm keeping mine around, but only when I feel like busting hump. And He's 21 and a CHORE to play.

Claws/Elec looks great and works well. I loved mine, she was a great energiser bunny. No real weak points and excellent AOE from level 6. She's not a Top End "I'm gonna farm +4x8" build but she was a hell of a lot of fun, right from the off.

Makes mincemeat of Carnies and laughs at Mu, two enemy types my other Brutes (Dark/WP and Stone/Fire) despise.

My reservation with Claws/Fire would be the squishyness and the holes Fire has (knockback, End Drains & Psi). Claws isn't the best mitigating set going so it could be a struggle at times. The damage would be excellent though.

Claws/Elec and Claws/Fire would be my picks. Claws/Elec has a bit more "roundedness", with all their resists, but don't be fooled by them necessarily being *tougher* then Claws/Fire. The lack of a reliable self heal means that Elec can be put down just as fast as fire. What Elec *does* have over fire is pretty much unbeatable exotic resistances, and unlimited endurance.

That said, Fire has damage. Lots and lots of damage.

So in summary..

Claws/Elec- Well rounded defenses, unlimited endurance, a real Tier-9.
Claws/Fire- Damage juggernaut.

Claws/SR on a brute is an easier ride that it is on a scrapper for two reasons: more HP which means you get more out of the passive scaling resists, and evasion comes into the build a lot earlier.

Le Blanc, hit 22 and get SOs. It makes a world of difference. Snag tough and get the steadfast +3 defense slotted. The two together make things even better.

Keep on truckin. You'll be shocked at how just how good a soft-capped SR can be especially comparing it to how hard a ride it is early on.

Claws/DA is all kinds of silly fun. As long as you are comfortable with your health going back and forth like a yo-yo, it's great.

You have a beast of a self heal that recharges quickly, and you have a solid damage aura. So far mine is only 25, but man is it fun.

My suggestion: make two brutes. claw/whatever and then claw/wp.
Maybe three brutes.
. . .

I really like Claws/SR.
I'm level 24 and things have been going very well since 22.
Whats really handy is SR is a contained defense set. Which means, unlike WP for example, it doesn't matter how many enemies you are taking on, your equally protected.

I was rolling along in a team at 18-21, so i bumped my difficulty to +1/+3 for that group. When i was done, and SOed out, i've had no problem maintaining this difficulty.

SR is fairly precarious at this point, having about 25% def to all except aoe (20% to that).
But with just one small defense inspir my survivability skyrockets. Because of this, i find i just load up on defense inspirs from my most recent contact before going into solo missions or tanking scenarios.

Certainly this build is amazing at the softcap, which i can reach with two inspirs right now, and am only getting closer.

Quickness is also something to consider. Claws with +rech is amazing.

One can never have to many Claw/ Brutes.

additionally, my claws/fire is only level 28. but i am having a blast with it......i took "tough" early, and frankenslotted for high resists, so he isn't that fragile. I mostly team, and love seeing all the text lines in the box, "YOU have defeated -target-"

the only trouble i have had is with freakshow guys......they drain my endurance too fast

If you move, they'll follow, but yea, jumping into a spawn that's already pretty tight and dropping burn will cause all of those within its aoe radius to light up. Following it up with spin is gravy on top.

Now get really silly. Dive it, hit followup, fiery embrace, burn, spin, eviscerate and have blazing aura running while you're running at x8 difficulty.

It's so beautiful I'm almost tempted to make a claws/fa.

Edit... well, hit eviscerate if everything hasn't already died from burn/spin, that is.

oh yea, you will.

After many years of talking trash about FA, I am using the set again on my new FA/FM tank. His battle cry is "Stop or I'll die!" and I will be 6 slotting RotP.

No one likes EA still, eh?

My DM/EA was a fun ride up to 50.

Claws would be good with EA. Much like SR, when you get the def % up there, you can do some really stupid things. The Knock effects in Claws can help buy time when you want it as well. You'll never run out of end with Energy Absorbtion and the heal component is pretty nice. And you'll have one damn fine T9 too.

It's not as flashy a combo as some others, but it could be fun.

I've played every clawsa combo there is and i have found all of them to be fun. The different armor each work a little differently and take advantage of different strengths claws has as a set. The mitigation shockwave provides is great for more offensive sets but not as great for self buff sets like invul and wp. How you like to play will be the biggest factor in how you enjoy the set.