Claws Of Power Best cats for beginners

If you only read one roster page in your first hour, read this one. It is the Chapter 1 six from the December 2025 “Who’s Your Main Cat?” post, plus the two habits from the developer’s design notes. Full names and aliases sit on the Cat list.

The starter trio (left picture)

Bacon Jack is the melee you spam because he is cheap, not because he is strong. Mid stats, fast summon. His long-term job is feeding the Jack Fusion Device. Beginners should still send him in waves, not as a drip.

A Qiang is the ranged carry. Sidewalk pebbles, hides behind allies, output hits hard, dies to a sneeze. He is why you need a body. If A Qiang is your first death every fight, the problem is the missing tank, not his pebble math.

Blue Fatty is that tank. Thick pool, solid attack, knockback nearly impossible. The post calls him A Qiang’s personal bodyguard. Put him in front. Do not park him behind Jacks.

Together they teach the game: cheap body, glass cannon, real wall. Getting Started is the lane habits that make the trio work.

The upgraded trio (right picture)

Xiao Fu is the first “this game is a tactics game” cat. Steel fork, wider melee, always knocks back. The developer warns you not to underrate him versus 4-cost Fatty — he wins those 1v1s. Mid HP, so he is not your only front. He is the shove that keeps Fatty from walking onto A Qiang.

Wu Ji is slingshot crowd-control: more pebble damage plus a short stun. Squishy and a bit pricey for the opening. He needs the Fatty-or-Ju body in front or he is a dead stat stick.

Big Ju is the sustain upgrade over Fatty. Health and attack cranked higher; fish smash; eats the fish to heal when low. When stage 30 turns into a grind, Ju is the beginner-friendly tank swap. Extra equipment slot on Big Orange as of August 23 makes him even more of a gear sponge.

Who to add as soon as they drop

• White — melee damage-reduction aura (March 17). If your front is Jacks + Xiao Fu, White is the aura they want. Patch White’s infinite dash (August 29) before you call him broken.
• A-Dai — added March 17, extra slot August 23. A beginner should gear him because the extra slot is free value, even before you master his kit (the trial note does not print a skill paragraph).
• Xuebao — cheaper by 1 cost after August 23. Curve-breaker for new accounts that still leak fish.

Skip Masashi until you can protect a teleport. Skip Chi Wulang until you can live until the 200% opener. Skip hidden Cook until you find the Chapter 1 corner — he is a bonus, not a tutorial requirement.

Beginner mistakes with “good” cats

• Fusing Jacks at 1 body. Hero scales with sacrifice count.
• Putting Midas Touch on A Qiang, who dies before gold matters. Put it on Ju / Fatty for Hard Mode later.
• Building a “legendary only” board. There are no official gemstone legendaries. The Chapter 1 six are the intended start.
• Ignoring knockback. Xiao Fu exists because Fatty is not enough against shove.

A first-week board

Jack + Fatty + A Qiang on the bar. Xiao Fu as soon as he unlocks. Ju when fights last long enough to need the eat-heal. Wu Ji when something must be stunned. White if you went melee-heavy. That is enough to reach the mid campaign and read How to Beat Level 30.

Tier opinions for later cats live on S-tier cats. A concrete sample list lives on Best starter deck.