Oh man, you are totally gonna hit level 50 by Saturday!! I absolutely love the Openclaw tree, it is so much fun once you get the rhythm down! Honestly, Rending Swipe is still totally fine for clearing mobs fast, even after the nerf, so definitely keep that in your rotation. For staying safe and saving a ton of gold on repair bills tho, you really need to prioritize Feral Fortitude first. It is seriously amazing for survivability and basically lets you ignore half the damage from mobs so you arent constantly chugging expensive health potions! I did my whole solo grind with a budget setup using the Logitech G203 Lightsync Wired Gaming Mouse 8000 DPI and it worked like a charm without breaking the bank. Just focus on those defensive passives and you will fly through the levels without dying once. You got this, good luck with the grind!!