Claws-- Scrapper or Brute?

I looked at the numbers on city of data and I noticed a big difference between the scrapper and brute version (damage scales, recharge times, etc.). So from people's experience, which version plays the best? Looks like the brute version has the higher damage scale, especially with Spin, but scrapper has a much shorter recharge. Also, what are some of their best DPS attack chains?

This debate has been done so many times..

There never seems to be a consensus.

Brute fans prefer brute, scrapper fans prefer scrapper. Big surprise.

Both have advantages.

If you like speed or generally prefer scrappers, go scrappers, otherwise, go brute.

Frankly, at the extreme ends of performance builds, I can't tell a difference. Maybe, at that level, the bottleneck might be my skill as a player more so than the build, but frankly, I'm far from incompetent, so I'd wager most folks would hit the same bottleneck, too, and if that's the case, the miniscule difference is pretty irrelevant.

Brute Claws was recognized immediately as a particularly powerful set for the class; especially with Fury factored in. In practice, I believe it and Scrapper are rougly equivalent, though I might be missing out on some key information. I'm not sure you'd see much of a difference either way.

I had a Claws Scrapper once upon a time, at level 50, and re-rolled as Spines since the attacks are so similar but it has Quills and the tier-9 doesn't do knockback. As a Brute, however, you'll be taunting everything you hit, which is a MAJOR bonus because things won't keep fleeing after you kill off all their friends.

As I understand it the Brute version of Claws is one of the top Brute sets because it actually hits Scrapper level damage with a high end build. The Scrapper version, not surprisingly, also hits Scrapper level damage ... so basically it's a case of which playstyle you prefer and how much you want to spend since I believe you do need a very high end build to get the Brute up to Scrapper levels. So pretty much the old standby: "Scrapper for max damage, Brute for better survivability," but with the added twist of "Brute for both if you don't mind spending a whole lot of inf and merits."

Personally, I'd go Brute if I was looking for a damage-based secondary like Fiery Aura or a resist based one, and possibly Scrapper if I was going with a defense based secondary. Scrapper Claws is very endurance efficient so it would be easier to take the Spiritual or Musculature Alpha on a Scrapper, but Brutes are better if using a squishy secondary like Fire or one that relies on resists.

If would choose by secondary.

If you're going to choose a Defense set like EA or SR, I think Scrapper would be a better choice overall.

If you're going to choose one of the resistance based sets, I think Brute has a nice advantage there.


Also, if you think you can go musculature, Scrapper will be a better choice.

Brute will level much faster with Claws than a scrapper will, especially in the early pre-SO levels.

It has a full attack chain by level 18, and has one of the better AoEs in the entire game available at level 6. (Not pure damage, but damage when you factor in how often you can use it)

I'd lean slightly towards brute on this one, but at high levels the difference between them is negligible.

The best single target chain last I checked was still Follow Up-Focus-Slash. But you need a LOT of recharge to pull it off.

Supposedly claws/fire brutes are really good in the aoe department, though I have never played one since I have my ss/fire brute. As mentioned scrappers will benefit more from follow up, musculature, and +dmg set bonuses and/or buffs. Personally I can't stand playing scrappers that aren't /SD and claws can't be paired with shields.

I don't play 50's so this is viewed from a levelling perspective, not kited out.

I rolled a Claws/Regen Scrapper few years back but quickly grew tired of him. The damage just seemed pathetic compared to my DM scrapper. Yeah, I had insane recharge but I had to as I was needing to spam multiple chains to put anything down. To me, it just felt like I was slashing at air. I shelved him after rolling a War Mace and just being wowed by the damage.

I recently rolled a Claws/Electric Brute though...

Much better experience levelling! Fury makes all the difference for me I feel. Giving Claws the damage it deserves right out of the gate.

They are both awesome in their own way. Take your pick, well built, they are just plain bad *****. Of course, I've heard CEBR is the way to go for complete awesome and win, but I've not done that yet.

/Homeslicerette is next, and that's what she is: Claws Elect Brute.