It's ok to have only 3 in strength for melee.
There are two approaches to melee - dex or str. The game will use str or dex (whichever is higher) to calculate your effective melee skill.
Str melee build will get bonus str damage - for example you will get 80% bonus str damage with a 15 str char using
Power Fist.
Dex melee build will not get any bonus str damage, but gain extra attack due to the reduced AP cost. Take a look at the
Action point cost reduction table, again using Power Fist as an example with lightning punch and tabi:
char w/ 3 dex need 13AP (16 base - 2 light punch -1 tabi) per punch = 50/13 = 3 punches per turn w/ 11AP left over
char w/ 10 dex need 10 AP per punch = 5 punches per turn
char w/ 16 dex need 7 AP per punch = 7 punches per turn w/ 1AP left over
You don't have enough base abilities to max both dex or str because you still need points for agi, wil, con, etc. So now it's your choice - str or dex melee, pick one.
Stealth is important because 1)you want alpha strike and 2)you don't want to waste precious MP+AP to get close to your enemies and 3)you don't have any ranged skill besides grenades. This is especially important in early game when you don't have access to infused Siphoner Leather tabi. Acidic entanglement or a throwing net will destroy you (whereas if you are playing range you can still shoot back).
For my dex build you'll want to start a fight with a punch under stealth, and fancy footwork will get you the MP needed to get to the next target. For Wildan's str build you'll want to do the same but now you'll use sprint for 30MP + 10MP from jumping bean for your first turn. Your high agi + tabi will provide enough MP for the turns after.
For a hard game my dex build has 470HP, but you need to be under 30% health for survival instinct so it's actually 141HP. Wildan's str build has 174HP. So yes, a melee build without stealth and without a great dodge and evasion is not a good idea.
Here are the revised builds so you'll be able to lockpick and hack:
Dex build - lost napalm grenades, drugs (Irongut, Aegis, Bullhead, Super Health Hypo, Regenerative Mixture, Super Soldier Drug) and ability to craft super high quality stuff.
Str build - lost all the drugs (no focus stim! no jumping bean!) and ability to craft super high quality stuff.
--- Edit 2018 MAR 08 for v1.0.3.20 due to request: ---
DEX brawler - no hack no lockpick versionDEX brawler - hack + lockpick versionAbilities at start
3/10/7/10/3/3/4
pump DEX to 13 ASAP, remaining points to INT
Skinner is optional, you can switch it w/:
Recklessness: more crit chance
Dirty kick: extra option to stun
Crippling strike: Free 150% hit once every turn
Three-pointer: 10% for grenade to crit
STR Psi Monk - no hack + lockpick versionSTR Psi Monk - hack + lockpick versionAbilities at start
10/10/6/3/3/3/5
pump 1 points to INT first, remaining to STR
Take Armor sloping when you can farm Super Steel so it's not fix at level 22
Wrestling is optional, you can switch it w/:
Dirty kick
Crippling strike
Psychostatic electricity - more crit chance
Critical power - more critical bonus damage but you should take this AFTER Cheap shots
*Remember infused Siphoner Leather tabi was nerfed as of ver 1.0.3 - make sure to check out the wiki so you'll pick the right tabi for you.
*Please note these builds are viable only up to hard difficulty. You are pretty much untouchable if you med up (adrenaline + jumping beans + boxing gloves buff) so getting hit is rare. However, dominating difficulty significantly nerfed dodge + evasion to the point where you can either:
A) Rush to max level ASAP using classic mode in order to max out effective dodge + evasion - which is super unfun, plus you can only reliably dodge/evade up to mid-late game. At late game enemies are still going to hit you.
B) Level up as normal so your effective dodge + evasion always lag behind npc offensive skill, so it's always a coin flip to see if you'll get hit.
Dominating melee will probably required a more defensive mindset (take feats like Conditioning, maybe reduce INT for WIL so you can take Stoicism). Dodge + evasion at this difficulty is just not worth it; you might as well take those skill points to chemistry for MK V grenades and/or to bio for those sweet meds.
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