Some gamers like to play things safe. This is especially when it comes to unforgiving roguelike games — staying out of harm’s way has its benefits. Curse of the Dead Gods, being one of the most difficult of these games, potentially makes players feel like long-range is the only way to go. Those players haven’t seen the power of the claws yet.
The claws function in a similar fashion to the swords but do a bit less damage. The tradeoff is their charged attack dashes through enemies, evades their attacks, and deals a vicious critical hit. That kind of protection and mobility plays right into the hands of pro players, who have gravitated toward these weapons. This is a list of their favorite claws in the game.
8 Blunt Claws
Roguelikes often put up challenges that are just plain too hard for even the best players to overcome during their first time through. Risk of Rain 2 has great mods to help with this learning curve. In Curse of the Dead Gods, claws are the melee weapons that make melee weapons feel possible.
It’s no surprise that the introductory claw weapon is at the bottom of the list. To its credit, while it doesn’t do anything special, the damage is right in line with the rest of the claws and it makes for an excellent foray into critical damage and dashing around. These mechanics are the foundation of all claw weapons.
7 Venomous Fangs
Players in games like Hades like to see how fast they can complete the game. Curse of the Dead Gods has the difficulty amplified so high that most gamers will just settle for being alive at the end of it. The Venomous Fangs are a weapon for players that enjoy being slow and steady while also remaining in the thick of battle.
The Venomous Fangs do less base damage than any other claws in the game. The poison is a nice feature, but the signature element of the claws is the critical strike. This blend of damage over time and burst damage tries to be the best of both worlds, but it doesn’t really excel at either strategy. Players great at dodging around in the thick of battle might like these, but most others will look for the next best thing.
6 Steel-Tipped Talons
A thought-out build will always try to make all the moves make sense with each other. Just look at how synergy is important in a game like Loop Hero. Anything that doesn’t stack well can be better used for something else. The Steel-Tipped Talons will provide a small boost to damage, but it’s not the best to build on.
By completing a perfect dodge, all strikes are critical for the next few seconds. It doesn’t add to the critical strike damage for the charged attack because it’s already a critical strike. It also requires waiting for the enemies to attack first. That being said, it’s still a great amount of damage, especially against enemies with slow attacks that are easy to dodge.
5 Claws Of Evisceration
Bosses in Curse of the Dead Deads will push players to their limits. Even the toughest monsters in Risk of Rain 2 will be in awe of these vicious beasts. And there is nothing more frustrating than getting so close to beating one of these monstrosities, only to lose that last bit of health when the fight is almost over.
The Claws of Evisceration turn all hits into critical hits so long as the target is under 30% health. This bonus won’t be very obvious until you get into a boss fight. Then the closing moments, often the toughest part of the battle, flies by with relative ease.
4 Gambit, Xbeltz’aloc’s Gauntlet
Roguelikes, needing more playtesting than any other kind of game, go through tons of changes; just look at how far Hades has come along. You can probably assume that the enemies wish that the Gambit had been removed from the game for the sake of balance after facing it in combat.
It deals an extra hit on the charged strike. And yes, this extra hit is also a guaranteed critical hit. This works great for groups of two, but it also works well for single units that will take two attacks for each charged strike. Players that capitalize on damage and critical damage will want to make sure to get ahold of the Gambit.
3 Incandescent Claws
Unlocking equipment in a dungeon crawler sometimes feels like a new world opening up before your eyes. Loop Hero offers entire classes to unlock while Curse of the Dead Gods features extra weapon selections. However, sometimes instead of a new world, the same world just gets a whole lot better.
The Incandescent Claws deal substantially more base damage than any other claw and, what’s more, they tack on fire damage. Those who use the claws and love how the flow of battle goes should look to this weapon and no other. It simply makes the normal rotation do more damage, and that’s a wonderful thing.
2 Disembowler, Dread Claw
Nobody gets through a roguelike game without help. Curse of the Dead Gods has gold to spend and Risk of Rain 2 has the shrines to help out. Still, these perks are unreliable and can’t be counted on. For gamers that want to control their own destiny, there is the Disembowler.
In addition to the critical strikes from the charged hits, the Disembowler does two spin attacks when completing a finisher. This gives the claw a means of taking care of groups and individuals without having to sacrifice damage against either one. This makes it a reliable weapon regardless of what random encounters show up.
1 Warmonger Claws
This entry is not a surprise. Those who are showing off how to do the maximum amount of damage in the game are likely using the Warmonger. It increases damage by 3% per every one point in constitution. And there is, remarkably, no cap limit on how high this number can go.
It also incentivizes being tanky and hard to kill. The harder to kill, the more damage the claws do. By getting unlimited damage in this fashion, players are free to focus fully on survivability and know that any fortitude buff will also contribute to offensive firepower. There is some debate as to the best weapon in the game, but there is no debate on the best claws; the Warmonger has that distinction locked up.
NEXT: The 10 Best Roguelike Games, According To Metacritic
