Looking for Claws/WP Brute advice


Airhammer

 

Posted

I am looking to make a Claws/WP Brute. I am pretty good with WP as I have a WP tank and I am going with the Energy Mastery secondary.

I know ZERO about claws. What powers are must have? What is skippable ? What attack chain should I be looking for ?

Thanks in advance.


The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.

If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-

 

Posted

Actually I am hoping Bill shows up myself...


The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.

If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-

 

Posted

Definites: Spin, Focus, Spin, Follow-up and Spin.

Everything else is just icing on the cake. Strike and Swipe are too close to call with a slight advantage going to Strike in terms of performance and Swipe in terms of looks, you'll need one to work in your attack chain so whatever floats your boat. Taunt, depending on how you play you may or may not want it, it has its uses if you plan on tanking some, and it's great for slotting IO's for bonuses. That leaves the big T8 & 9, which are both nice options but most usually skip one or the other for many different reasons. Eviscerate does nice damage, but it's cone is VERY narrow and IMO the animation is retarded looking, especially for a hulking brute. Shockwave does ok damage, has a nice arc, but also has a huge KB attached to it which doesn't mesh that well with your /WP secondary but looks incredibly brutish.

Oh, did I mention you really want to get Spin? Yea, get that bad boy at 6 and everything else just makes you that much meaner.


 

Posted

For brutes, Follow Up is pretty optional, so don't feel you must be married to it. Definitely take Spin, Focus and Eviscerate. Spin alone will make you a death dispenser, and Eviscerate has a 90 degree cone so it's actually not that narrow. For WP, I'm not sure I'd take Shockwave, because you don't want to knock things out of RttC range, but then again belting a spawn into a handy wall never gets old.

Bottom line on claws for brutes is that it's a killing machine that starts getting good early and hits like a truck fulla concrete-filled nuns.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Airhammer View Post
I am looking to make a Claws/WP Brute. I am pretty good with WP as I have a WP tank and I am going with the Energy Mastery secondary.

I know ZERO about claws. What powers are must have? What is skippable ? What attack chain should I be looking for ?

Thanks in advance.
I view Claws as a set that begs for respecs.

When I start a new claws user, and I do it often because I love the low game with claws, I take Swipe, Strike, Slash, Spin and Followup.

Spin should never be skipped and should be taken the moment it is available. There's some math reasons behind this, but just take is gospel. Don't skip spin. If there's two foes in range and Spin is recharged, use it.

The Swipe/Strike thing was already covered. Later on in your character's life, you should feel free to drop one of them. If style is more important to you than DPS numbers, Swipe is probably the right choice. Unless you're a number cruncher in game, you probably won't notice Strike's slightly higher damage output.

Followup on a brute is an odd thing, and I've no doubt that some brute claws players will skip it, especially if they're getting +tohit from another source. However, the best attack chains will include it.

Eviscerate versus Shockwave. I'm not going there. This is what respecs are for. I used to hate Eviscerate because of its animation, but I use it these days because FU, Spin, Eviscerate, repeat is very good for farming. Shockwave's mitigation is freaking HUGE. Being able to open with SW turns enemy spawn alpha strikes into a barrage of tickling. Play with them both, respec out the one you like less... or keep them both and use them as the situation on the battlefield dictates.

Attack chains to shoot for:

Single target:
FU, Slash, Focus, repeat (This is the holy grail but the recharge needed to get there is freaking ridiculous at 313% total for followup)

FU, Slash, Focus, Strike (or Swipe,) repeat (This chain can have 2 chances for build up and 1 chance for damres debuff)

FU, Slash, Eviscerate, repeat (This chain can have 1 chance for buildup and 2 chances for dam-res debuff)

AoE:
Any, although my current farming chain as mentioned is FU, Spin, Eviscerate with Shockwave used to kill enemy alpha strikes


Be well, people of CoH.

 

Posted

i use ball lightning on my claws/fire for farming, being able to hit 16 targets is worth the redraw


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by MAD UMLAUTS View Post
i use ball lightning on my claws/fire for farming, being able to hit 16 targets is worth the redraw
O.O

Fireball also has a max target 16. NIIICE. Maybe it is time to use a secondary build for farming.


Be well, people of CoH.