Claws

 is one of Jonathan E. Reid's aggressive skills.

A close-range strike that will cut through all living creatures in front of you.

Skill description
"If you use your claws, you will see humans differently... like soft and tender meat."

As natural predators, Vampires have received some gifts from Mother Nature, like claws instead of fingernails. These natural weapons can easily cut through tissue, and are very useful for piercing a prey's arteries.

Strategy
Skill Synergies:


 * Blood Capacity (More blood means that Jonathan can use Claws more often.)
 * Coagulation (Freeze an enemy, leaving them vulnerable.)
 * Spring (Teleport into Claws range.)

Weapon Synergies:


 * Knives/Daggers (Drain Blood quickly.)
 * Stakes (Combo with Claws.)

Out of the three basic aggressive skills, Claws is the most straightforward, and it represents Melee damage. Whilst normal melee weapons do provide this kind of damage already, they cannot deal as much in a short period of time as Jonathan can with his claws. He lunges forwards to quickly strike an opponent. Whilst he does not leave himself vulnerable for very long, care must be taken to ensure that he actually hits the right target and does not find himself in between a rock and a hard place. It is easy to end up cornered if Claws is used too recklessly, so Dodging before or after using it is heavily recommended in order to reposition.

As with all skills that require Blood to use, Blood Capacity is a very worthwhile investment to allow for more frequent usage, alongside Big Thirst to get more absorption out of Bite. Because Claws leads to a very close quarters style of gameplay, skills and weapons that complement this playstyle are encouraged. Guns can be used to close the gap between an opponent and Jonathan as he approaches, although Spring is incredibly useful to combo it with. By teleporting up to a foe, they have no time to wear Jonathan down as he pursues them. Coagulation is also an option, as it is free and will keep a fleeing opponent in place to be Clawed.

Knives and Daggers allow fast refills of Blood when striking enemies with them, meaning Claws can be used on cooldown. However, stunning weapons should not be overlooked. Weaving between stuns and Claws can keep an opponent trapped in a vicious loop of pain, but keep in mind that close quarters is a dangerous place to be, especially on higher difficulties. Be prepared to Dodge at a moment's notice if things turn south.


 * Considering that you can upgrade a weapon to deal with the damage, this skill is not so useful, and unlike the weapon that consumes stamina, it costs blood, which is more important to be used with Autophagy to heal yourself. So unless you play the story mode, this is not recommended.

Related

 * Aggressive