I’m looking for a build that can kill efficiently while still having an enjoyable time under the enemy radar. My main choice here is whether to go stealth melee or sniper, and I’m looking for your guys advice on that. And I have watched fudgemuppet builds, I’m just looking for advice from people who actually have played.
Stealth Build
I made a stealth-heavy build that I loooove. I understand that you want to go with either melee or sniper, but my advice is to build toward both! Your mileage may vary, but I had the most fun and least frustration (by far) when I had stealthy damage-dealing options at all ranges. This is because most of the explorable areas are built to favor close/mid range combat.
- (OPTIONAL) You’ll have a dramatically easier time in the long run if you nail down either the Idiot Savant perk (LUCK) or maximize your INT score prior to investing in any other perks. I’ll strongly recommend taking the Idiot Savant route if you plan on using V.A.T.S. I’ll go into detail further down. At any rate, you don’t need to spend your perks to survive in the early game and you’ll level up drastically more quickly for the entire game if you invest early, even if you don’t use any of the silly tricks that people are using to maximize returns on Idiot Savant.
- (BASIC) Get your AGI to at least 7 and use a silenced pistol for most jobs while you build Sneak, then Ninja, then Mr. Sandman, then Gunslinger. You now have a solid skill set to fall back on while you refine your abilities in specialized ranges.
- (OPTIONAL) Get your STR to at least 4 and drop two points in the Armorer perk (to give you access to shadowed armor) and fill out the Blacksmith perk (to give you significantly better melee weapons).
- (MELEE) Focus on melee next, since it’s relatively cheap and you’ll be able to use it a hell of a lot more often than sniping. Fill out the Big Leagues perk (STR) for better handheld weapon damage and Iron Fist (STR) if you plan on using worn weapons like knuckles or the Power Fist.
Now you’re ready to start your sniper training! It’s loads of fun to snipe, but you won’t have so many chances to do it that it would make sense as a primary build. Now that you have such a solid stealth base, though, you can afford to branch out! You’ll hit the PER stat hard for now.
(SNIPING 101) Build your PER stat to at least 8 and grab the Sniper, Night Person, and Rifleman perks. Make sure you’re using a suppressor even though it affects the range of your weapon, because the Sandman perk that you already have more than makes up for it with stealth bonus damage. If you are going the Idiot Savant route, I’d recommend finding a suppressor in the field as opposed to raising your INT and investing in Gun Nut, since Idiot Savant becomes less effective as your INT increases.
At this point you’ll want to have decided whether or not you’re building toward V.A.T.S. use. If so:
- (V.A.T.S. – MACCREADY) Take MacCready with you everywhere and make him fall in love with you for the affinity perk. Having a companion when you’re sneaking can be a drag, but if you’re going to use V.A.T.S. with guns, it’s absolutely worth it. Even if he alerts every single enemy the whole time he’s tagging along. Trust me.
- (V.A.T.S. – BASIC) Boost your LUCK stat to 9. If you’ve gone the Idiot Savant route, you already have 5 LUCK, minimum. All of the LUCK perks are utile, but for a V.A.T.S. build you’ll want at least Better Criticals, Four Leaf Clover, Critical Banker, Grim Reaper’s Sprint, and Mysterious Stranger. If you have all of those, you’d better use V.A.T.S. as often as you can.
- (V.A.T.S. – MELEE) Get AGI to 9 (you should already have 7 minimum) and fill out the Blitz perk. This concludes your melee stealth journey. Congratulations, you’re the best sneaky melee bastard in the Commonwealth!
- (V.A.T.S. – RANGED VS. MULTIPLE TARGETS) Put one more point in AGI and fill out Gun Fu and Action Boy/Girl.
- (V.A.T.S. – ULTIMATE SNIPING) Put two more points toward AGI and grab the Penetrator and Concentrated Fire perks.
CONGRATULATIONS, FRIENDO!
You’re now just about as sneaky and deadly as they come! Thanks for reading this long-ass post! Let me know if you find any really great sniping spots! My favorite right now is either the Revere Satellite Array or Libertalia. Happy hunting, you angel of death you!
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