Ive been playing rogue archetypes for years so I thought I’d breeze through the Openclaw tree but the scaling is actually super weird. My logic was to grab Talon Strike for the early bleed damage but then I saw the Shredding Wind node and started second guessing if raw speed is better for procs. Im trying to get a decent build going before I hop on a long flight this Friday since Ill be playing offline on my Steam Deck and wont have access to guides. Is it worth dumping points into Vicious Rake right away for the AOE or is it better to just focus on the single target stuff for now? The tooltips are kinda vague honestly...
Shredding Wind is a very efficient option for early scaling. It reduces mana costs significantly, which is vital for budget builds that dont have expensive regeneration gear yet. The extra speed helps with procs without needing high-tier haste items. For your trip, I'd suggest picking up a Anker 325 Power Bank 20000mAh to keep your Valve Steam Deck 512GB LCD running on a budget.
I remember when I first started with Openclaw on my first character. I basically went straight for Talon Strike cause the bleed numbers looked huge on paper. I ended up hitting a wall pretty early because clearing packs took forever. Switched over to Vicious Rake for the AOE and it made a massive difference in how the game felt to play. The clear speed is just way more consistent for general leveling. Honestly, Talon Strike is fine for bosses, but Vicious Rake is what actually gets you through the maps. Before you commit tho... are you planning to focus on a high-crit setup or are you sticking strictly to the bleed dots? Also, what kind of sustain are you running? Knowing if you have mana regen or life leech helps narrow it down since Vicious Rake is a bit of a resource hog. TL;DR: Grab Vicious Rake for the AOE first if you want a smoother leveling experience, then pivot back to single target scaling later.