Claws/Bio, expensive and leveling build for newbies.

[Sovera]

I'm rather pleased with this combo and despite not breaking any new grounds I felt like it can be of use in case of someone is looking for this particular combo.

 

I like it quite a bit because we get an early PbAoE which tides us over until 32 (something Super Strength definitely could use) while boasting of something I also really like which is short animations. No big wind-ups for two and a half seconds while we watch the mob we were targeting be killed by someone else.

 

It also boasts of a complete AoE chain that fits my second criteria of 'things I really like' which is not being forced to do single target attacks while surrounded by enemies since my AoEs are recharging. At end level I can Follow Up for the damage boost, then Spin, Shockwave and start again. Incidentally floating on top of mobs (instead of in the middle of them) allows us to do the whole AoE rotation including Spin and Shockwave (with Shockwave behaving like a PbAoE) without need for repositioning.

 

There is a lot of soft CC in the form of KD happening. Focus has a chance for it, Shockwave does it 100% of the time, Spin has a chance too.

 

It also exemps pretty well even down to Posi 1 since it still gets the full attack chain and the AoE. Unlike SS which boom, goes back to single targetting everything. Sad.

 

I also aimed at 40% defense to everything (except Fire/Cold since it's a rare combo in the end game, but scrounge a slot and finish the slotting in Strike if it matters to you) to let Barrier take care of the last 5%. Claw's low endurance and fast recharging costs plays well with this approach allowing to ignore Ageless.

 

Hasten is a fair bit off being perma but we hardly need it. Both Focus and Shockwave have a FF proc to speed things up but don't get too excited about them since the short CD plus short animation plus slotted recharge makes the chance of them proccing low. Still, we hit fast and lots of times so why not have them slotted?

 

Everything has been calculated (though there is always room for improvement). The general sloting + the Kismet + one use of Follow-up leaves the build at 90-95% hit chance against +3 which is where our first level shift leaves us. The Fury proc would have sat better in the aura, but I had no real place to slot the six Unrelenting Fury and not mess the other set bonus. As a compromise I placed it in Follow-Up which will always be used be it in in ST or AoE. ST rotation is Follow-Up, Slash, Focus and then play whack a mole to which of the three is back up. After level 32 and while our slotting is not firmly in place Shockwave can help with any gaps though it is more endurance expensive.

 

 

Downsides of the build? We don't get to crow about omfgdidyouseethatchunkofHPIjustdeletedoffthatboss!? and we do a *lot* of small hits which means we might need to hit something twice as much as someone who is doing slow ponderous crushing moves. This suits me though, I like doing small hits and not have huge wind-up moves that animation lock me in place.

 

Slash resistant mobs are noticeably slower to take down as well. Robots and Wolves from Council needs more hits.

 

 

This is what I am using.

Spoiler

This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Claws
Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Strike -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Hardened Carapace -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(7), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), GldArm-3defTpProc(9), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(11), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(27)
Level 2: Slash -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(46), Hct-Dam%(46), TchofDth-Dam%(47), TchofLadG-%Dam(47), AchHee-ResDeb%(48)
Level 4: Environmental Modification -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(17), Rct-Def/EndRdx(19)
Level 6: Spin -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(11), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Arm-Dam%(43)
Level 8: Follow Up -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), TchofDth-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), TchofDth-Dam%(23), GssSynFr--Build%(23)
Level 10: Adaptation
Level 12: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(37)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 16: Ablative Carapace -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(27), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(29), Prv-Heal/Rchg(29), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(31), Prv-Absorb%(31)
Level 18: Focus -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Apc-Acc/Rchg(33), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34)
Level 20: Evolving Armor -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(34), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(36)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Inexhaustible -- PrfShf-EndMod(A)
Level 28: DNA Siphon -- Erd-Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Rchg(36), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Shockwave -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury%(40), FrcFdb-Rechg%(40), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(40), KntCrs-Rechg/EndRdx(42)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(37), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(37), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(42), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(42), AdjTrg-Rchg(46)
Level 38: Genetic Contamination -- SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(A), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(43), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(43), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 41: Superior Conditioning -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 44: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Tough -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(48), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(49)
Level 49: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(49), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 1: Fury
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A), Clr-RunSpd(7)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(13)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Clr-EndRdx(A), Clr-RunSpd(15)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
Level 50: Born In Battle
Level 50: Invader
Level 50: Marshal
Level 50: High Pain Threshold
Level 10: Defensive Adaptation
Level 10: Efficient Adaptation
Level 10: Offensive Adaptation
Level 12: Afterburner
------------

 

 

Cheapo build.  No particular effort has been to patch all the holes since it's an interrim/leveling build.

 

Scrapper (Claws Bio leveling).mbd

 

 

For leveling I recommend to take Swipe until level 18 and then respec out of it. I would also place an extra generic recharge IO in Spin (and the other attacks) at least until Hasten is picked otherwise there will be large gaps before we get all the slotting in place. I'm currently 31 and no longer have those big gaps between all the recharge set bonus and Hasten.

 

Buy a jetpack off the START vendor to use until Fly unlocks.

 

Edited July 7 by Sovera

[Sovera]

Slight update. Messed with things, lost some resistance, gained some recharge, picked up Slash for the -res, patched the (small) negative hole, threw the second ATO proc into the aura so it goes off on its own. Had to mule a Kinetic Combat *disgusted shudder*.

 

This one is definitely a level 50 build as Slash's longer cooldown only really fits in with all the recharge in place otherwise there will be big gaps. So the advice is still to level with Strike,  Focus and Follow-Up.

 

Did a Posi 1 and the build felt slow as molasses so shifted things around to get Hasten much earlier, but this is not strictly necessary as I just want to be extremely exemp friendly with this build (it's my favorite so far even if lacking the big oomph of my Rad Scrapper doing Fusion + Gaussian proc + Devastating Blow + Scrapper crit).

 

 

Spoiler

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1523&c=724&a=1448&f=HEX&dc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

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sovera

[Ashtaroth]

hero designer is not showing the last two slots in shockwave (i.e. 6 slots showing but only 4 are filled).  One slot is/shows lvl 40 and the other slot is/shows lvl 4???

 

Probably a bug with the viewer, but just in case what do you have in those last two slots?

 

Love the build btw, especially since you took flight.  I love to fly and so many builds now a days don't even have travel powers in them.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Ashtaroth
forgot to add info

[Sovera]

You might want to check that you have the latest Hero Designer from here.

 

I'm going to assume to mean the last iteration of the build, so Shockwave has the other three Superior Brute's Fury + Sudden Acceleration KB >KD + Force Feedback proc + Javelin's Volley acc/dmg/end/rech boosted to +5.

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sovera

[Ashtaroth]

On 12/5/2019 at 5:10 AM, Sovera said:

You might want to check that you have the latest Hero Designer from here.

 

I'm going to assume to mean the last iteration of the build, so Shockwave has the other three Superior Brute's Fury + Sudden Acceleration KB >KD + Force Feedback proc + Javelin's Volley acc/dmg/end/rech boosted to +5.

 

very helpful tyvm.  I was using Pine's hero designer (V2.21'ish) and it came out wrong lol.  I DL'd mid's and opened it and there it was.  Thank you again

[Sovera]

I have finished the build and slotted everything and etc. My last thoughts about it are:

 

- Perfect build. If I ever get a friend to join me and want to give them a first build to ease them into the game this will be it.

 

- Quick ST chain completed by level 18. This means it is available even if we exemp down to do Posi 1 for the weekly or to play with friends. No big gaps, no big waits.

 

- Very fast animations. As someone who was leveling a second Rad/ I abandoned it at level 35 because I could no longer stomach the 1.7, 2.3 and preposterous 2.9 animation times with my targets dying before I finished the animation, or whiffing, or doing the whole huge animation and not even having a Scrapper's crit to make me feel good about all that time spent locked in place.

 

- Early AoE with Spin. There is some whining about homogenization but to be perfectly honest here we need MORE homogenization, not less.  Telling someone to slog it to 32 to have their first AoE and in the meanwhile kill every enemy one at a time is only valid if the game does not have an exemp feature who then removes the powers. Every set should have an early AoE. This is an AoE game. Picking sets for theme or fun should be the thing, not do so because the damage type is resisted, not because of lack of AoE.

 

 

I'm going to do a Savage/Bio next to test it since both sets are so similar.

[crkohl]

Awesome build, Sovera. I have a Claws/DA Brute who sucks down end like no other, so the combo with /Bio is probably a blast to play. The fast animations really do make you feel Brute-like.

 

One thing I did want to nitpick if you don't mind...

 

On 11/27/2019 at 3:40 PM, Sovera said:

Why Brute instead of Scrapper? I want extra AoEs and Fury boosts their damage which a Scrapper's crit does not do (crits are only for primaries). I don't really find myself in a lot of scenarios where the Scrappers better ST damage matter to me, where I do spend 90% of my time in AoE situations.

 

Might not have been what you meant, but I wanted to mention that Scrappers indeed CAN crit with their Epic power pools as well. My DM/SD crits with Fire Ball quite often. I also think one major advantage Claws/* for Scrappers has is Follow Up. Scrappers benefit straight up more from Follow Up than Brutes as their damage baseline is higher. Both stacked Follow Up and Offensive Adaptation would boost a Claws Scrapper's damage to nutty levels. Also Follow Up is the perfect move for the Critical Strikes ATO proc, but that's more a preference thing.

 

Either way, love seeing Claws love on either AT as it's one of my favorite powersets. 

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, crkohl said:

Awesome build, Sovera. I have a Claws/DA Brute who sucks down end like no other, so the combo with /Bio is probably a blast to play. The fast animations really do make you feel Brute-like.

 

One thing I did want to nitpick if you don't mind...

 

 

Might not have been what you meant, but I wanted to mention that Scrappers indeed CAN crit with their Epic power pools as well. My DM/SD crits with Fire Ball quite often. I also think one major advantage Claws/* for Scrappers has is Follow Up. Scrappers benefit straight up more from Follow Up than Brutes as their damage baseline is higher. Both stacked Follow Up and Offensive Adaptation would boost a Claws Scrapper's damage to nutty levels. Also Follow Up is the perfect move for the Critical Strikes ATO proc, but that's more a preference thing.

 

Either way, love seeing Claws love on either AT as it's one of my favorite powersets. 

My bad then, thanks for the compliment and I'll correct that part. In the end I find myself using Lightning Fences so little that the gain in AoE is actually minimal since both get access to Ball Lightning. I suppose it is there for some extra oomph in solo play.

[showyodo]

This is amazing, I have been fiddling with builds since I found out about homecomming a week ago. Ive finally settled on Claw/Bio brute build today as I love the consistant fast attacks and the ability to solo most content. I will be making good use of the info provided here! Thanks

[Xenozoic]

Thanks

Edited November 27, 2020 by Xenozoic

[Aeroprism]

I was looking for a good Claw/Bio build.  I had that brut for... a long time now but the itch to play it was real.  

So I looked.  And looked.

 

And looked.

 

Page 11!!  2019!  Comes this magical, awesome build.

 

And of course, it's @Sovera.  My day is done.  Thanks again!

 

 

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, Aeroprism said:

I was looking for a good Claw/Bio build.  I had that brut for... a long time now but the itch to play it was real.  

So I looked.  And looked.

 

And looked.

 

Page 11!!  2019!  Comes this magical, awesome build.

 

And of course, it's @Sovera.  My day is done.  Thanks again!

 

 

*dusts the thread* Your enthusiasm is appreciated as usual 😄 I've cleaned the build since it was so old so use that instead. Claws does not need Lightning Fences + Lightning Ball since it can run Follow-Up + Shockwave + Spin with no gaps.

[Aeroprism]

21 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

 

*dusts the thread* Your enthusiasm is appreciated as usual 😄 I've cleaned the build since it was so old so use that instead. Claws does not need Lightning Fences + Lightning Ball since it can run Follow-Up + Shockwave + Spin with no gaps.

 

Oh?  You have that somewhere?

 

I had modified it just a bit, removing Afterburner in favor of Bio's T9. I know, it's a LOTG 7.5% less but that T9 looks fun.  

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, Aeroprism said:

 

Oh?  You have that somewhere?

 

I had modified it just a bit, removing Afterburner in favor of Bio's T9. I know, it's a LOTG 7.5% less but that T9 looks fun.  

 

Like I said, I cleaned the build (up above) so use that instead.

[Aeroprism]

Oh you fixed the original post.  Derp, my bad 🙂

 

Thanks!

 

[Aeroprism]

Holy molly you improved hasten by 30 seconds.

 

Level 24 has no power in that build so I moved boxing there and picked Parasitic Aura at 41 to test it.

[Sovera]

56 minutes ago, Aeroprism said:

Holy molly you improved hasten by 30 seconds.

 

Level 24 has no power in that build so I moved boxing there and picked Parasitic Aura at 41 to test it.

 

No, you have the FF procs turned on. And level 24 is Evasive maneuvers. Check you have the latest Mids.

[Aeroprism]

Riiiiight.

 

I wonder if I will ever stop being a noob at this.  

 

Yeah I was one version behind, thanks for that!!

 

Ok my jaw dropped when I saw Evasive Maneuvers' defense numbers.  It closed back when I saw the tiny character clause 😄

 

Still no Parasitic Aura.  Is it such a bad power?

 

[Sovera]

3 minutes ago, Aeroprism said:

Riiiiight.

 

I wonder if I will ever stop being a noob at this.  

 

Yeah I was one version behind, thanks for that!!

 

Ok my jaw dropped when I saw Evasive Maneuvers' defense numbers.  It closed back when I saw the tiny character clause 😄

 

Still no Parasitic Aura.  Is it such a bad power?

 

 

EvM's defense turns off when in combat so don't look at it toggled on to not be disappointed 😜 As for Parasitic, Sure, I personally never felt it stopped a death from happening, but if you're into Combat Jumping + Super Jump you can replace EvM for Parasitic.

[Aeroprism]

2 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

EvM's defense turns off when in combat so don't look at it toggled on to not be disappointed 😜 As for Parasitic, Sure, I personally never felt it stopped a death from happening, but if you're into Combat Jumping + Super Jump you can replace EvM for Parasitic.

 

Well, it's a power that gets better with more mobs around you so I figured it wasn't a panic button but more like, a button that will help you not to get to a point where you might need a panic button.

 

Won't know until I try it and respecs are cheap anyways.

[Aeroprism]

Ooooooooookay.  It's just a little bit insane how spending some 40 Millions on a good build to replace generic SOs can turn a great character into....

 

 

Seriously.   That spin damage. Wow.  Totally amazed.

[Bill Z Bubba]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:46 PM, Aeroprism said:

Seriously.   That spin damage. Wow.  Totally amazed.

 

Claws is good stuff. Except for stalker claws. Even Widow claws is awesome.

[Aeroprism]

1 hour ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

Claws is good stuff. Except for stalker claws. Even Widow claws is awesome.

 

Funny you should say that. Claws was my very very first CoH character back on early live but by then, I didn't understand the game and it wasn't as fleshed out as it is now so, I didn't enjoy it much.

 

This time, I enjoyed it SO MUCH I decided to check the Stalker version because I LOVE stalkers.  

 

And they I cried, internally.  (But those were manly tears).

 

No focus, no spin.  They sucked the fun out of claws.

 

 

So then, what would another AT-Combo be to utterly enjoy Claws?  Because i will want a second one for sure.

[Bill Z Bubba]

12 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

So then, what would another AT-Combo be to utterly enjoy Claws?  Because i will want a second one for sure.

 

So many options but the one I REALLY want I can't have: Claws/Shield Scrapper.

[Aeroprism]

6 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

So many options but the one I REALLY want I can't have: Claws/Shield Scrapper.

 

Agreed.

 

I'm thinking Rad/Claw tank.  What do you think?

 

Too clicky?