Is this good at all or no? Lots of websites act like it’s not worth taking. It’s used 60% of the time in raids looks like.
It’s a filler talent to buff our filler builders. It’s one of the first talents that gets cut if you need to find a point for something else. You’ll probably find the recommendation of using or not to fall along ST versus AOE lines. AOE has 2 - 3 points we want to take in the top-right of the tree that are completely useless in ST. Merciless Claws is one of the talents that frequently gets cut to make room for those talents.
ST it only competes with tireless energy. So do you fell like you need 2/2 of tireless? If not Merciless claws is kind of the only thing you can take.
It has good synergy with Berserk + Berserk Frenzy and also Convoke. It’s a somewhat burst-oriented single-target pick with a bit of regular single-target and cleave value.
It was BIS on quite a few fights this tier due to damage amps, plus worth with Augmentation Evoker (cringe spec forcing talents).
It does very little to flesh out a build though due to its placement. Most build rich talents are deep in the tree and the middle of the tree is bloated with several lackluster talents, such as survival instincts and several Berserk amp nodes (good talents but very obvious taxes–Berserk and SI should be baseline, freeing those points for other build defining options).
It’s also on a choice node with Thrashing Claws:
Shred deals 5% increased damage against bleeding targets and Shred and [Brutal Slash / Swipe] apply the Bleed damage over time from Thrash.
If you’re a less advanced player, the automatic application of Thrash, saving the global, provides a decent way to maintain a bleed on the target, allowing almost guaranteed “on bleeding targets” bonuses.
As a standalone talent, it’s fine, but the versatility, availability, and relative options make the node overall very well designed. TWW is doing nothing to fix mid tier bloat or adjust late tier builds for more variety, so I expect this overall rating to be maintained into the expansion too.