Stealth Sniper (Quickest Path to max damage)

So this build is designed for players who like to clear entire camps without once being heard, let alone seen. This build pretends that V.A.T.S doesn’t even exist. Therefore, it is highly effective w/o the system but makes no effort to include it until well into late game. Below I list the perks chosen for the first 25 levels, some are definitely optional (Lone Wanderer most notably). Try to find a hunting or combat rifle asap and mod it extensively.

S P E C I A L

3 2 3 3 5 7 5

02: Idiot Savant (taken immediately for its huge leveling benefits)

03: Rifleman I (obvious)

04: Ninja I (x2.5 sneak attack dmg)

05: Sneak I (to avoid detection indoors mainly)

06: Gun Nut I (necessity for all tinkerers)

07: Lone Wanderer I (I like the extra carry weight and hate having a follower alerting the enemies)

08: Bloody Mess I (+5% dmg on everything with everything, sign me the fuck up)

09: Rifleman II

10: Sneak II

11: Idiot Savant II (potential x5 exp gain!)

12: Sneak III (this is when I really noticed a drop in detection)

13: Gun Nut II (yay mods!)

14: Bloody Mess II (+10% dmg)

15: Scrapper I (one of my favorite perks, gives you screws and other useful materials for gun mods whenever you break down enemy weapons at a workshop)

16: Ninja II (x3 sneak attack dmg)

17: Lone Wanderer II

18: Rifleman III

19: Armorer/Hacker/Medic/Cap Collector (just pick w/e’s missing from your life in the wastelands)

20: Same as above (I suggest either getting 2 armorer or 2 cap collector perks as you will either start buying things much easier or you will have much cooler armor)

21: Mister Sandman I (Boosts dmg from silenced weapons which you will get at level 25)

22: Mister Sandman II (+30% dmg)

23: +1 INT (an INT of 1-5 returns the most XP gain from idiot savant as per the link above, but the Science Perk lets you fully deck out your guns and the slight XP drop is worth it IMO)

24: Science! I (allows recon scope attachment to your sniper, lets you track enemies and watch all their movements at the same time so you can pick them off one by one)

25: Gun Nut III (lets you add a silencer to your sniper, giving you a 30% boost to dmg output!)

All in all this build seeks to maximize one’s damage output as quickly as possible while simultaneously lowering one’s likelyhood of being detected. At this point the player has come very close to achieving both goals and they can branch out into whatever other perks they desire before picking up more “stealth sniper” perks in higher levels.

Bobbleheads:

Almost all bobbleheads are useful but these 4 are particularily helpful for a stealthy sniper:

1. Sneak Bobblehead: 10% harder to detect
2. Intelligence Bobblehead: Can spare you a perk point at level 23 above
3. Luck Bobblehead: for access to the Better Criticals perk

Magazines:

1. Astoundingly Awesome Tales; The Starlet Sniper: 1 issue (+5% scoped weapon dmg)
2. Guns & Bullets: 10 issues (+5% critical dmg each)
3. US Covert Operations Manuals: 10 issues (each makes you “more difficult to detect while sneaking”)

Late Game Perks: These can be taken at any order you wish (level permitting) since they basically increase your damage to absurd amounts and you will by no means be struggling without any particular one.

26: Sneak IV

30: Mister Sandman III

31: Rifleman IV

31: Bloody Mess III (Save a perk between levels 27-30 so you can grab two perks at lvl 31)

33: Ninja III

38: Sneak V

40: Lone Wanderer III (+25% dmg when w/o a follower)

46: Rifleman V

Thanks for reading!

Original Link – Continuation of discussion