Mkay so.

A casters is only 42 ATK Clean, and a decent one is probably 54+?
If that's as high as she goes with her dex, couldn't I just get a 54 ATK Skanda AND have my ATT EQ's (4/6 Cape, 2 FS), and be about even with her, then?

young dexless man. as the lvl raises, weapon atk becomes greater than simple luk/dex stats.. and skandas become more and more obsolete vs higher atk claws like 60+ casters/craven/dragon sleeve.

depending on attack, a 54 skanda would be comparable to like a 56 or 57 caster.. this is asumming u both have the same kind of watk from cape and shoes and such, so only the claw is different.