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Builds / Re: Which skills are near essential?
« on: March 24, 2022, 12:21:25 am »
I had a whole list of recommendations, cribbed from various guides, but it's almost certainly outdated now.
Still, guess it can't hurt to post. The magic of message forums lies in how a million other people always come running up to scream "NUH UH YOUR WRONG AND I'M RIGHT BECAUSE REASONS," and sometimes they actually have good reasons.
Anyhow, basic advice is to go to the Underrail build tool and do the following:
• Set level to 25, or 30 if you have DLC (remember to enable option: Expedition DLC).
• Reduce all abilities to 3.
• Plan out core feats for your build - adjust abilities and skills to meet their requirements.
• Allocate any remaining attribute points you have to spare. AGI can help in a lot of areas, STR in a few rarer instances but many equipment requirements. PER is kind of a waste by endgame for finding secrets, only boost it if you're going full Guns or Crossbows. WIL 7 is a minimum requirement for many psionic skill checks, assuming you don't max it for a psi build. DEX and INT can save you a lot of skill points in subterfuge and crafting respectively. CON has no real use beyond meeting feat requirements.
• Max your primary offensive skill (gun / crossbow / melee / throwing / psi).
• Decide how much Throwing skill you really need. 80 effective is the threshold where you can throw a grenade 3m with maximum 90% accuracy, just far enough to be out of the blast radius. You can get away with zero, if you're willing to abuse the F9 key horribly and only sling one flashbang per fight. Of course, if you have your heart set on slinging blades, max it as your main combat skill.
• Decide how much you want to hack and/or lockpick. General advice is 10 + (5 × LVL), and most builds with some DEX for initiative or Mechanics / Electronics for crafting will be able to get good results from relatively few points here. 0/0 is a challenge for masochists, especially on Dominating-Oddity. Other thresholds include:
- 130 Hacking to pass the hardest hacking test in the story. Note you can't use Haxxors etc. to boost this, because it's a dialogue option.
- 50 lockpicking to open all vents. Alternatively, 8 STR and a crowbar, though you won't be able to close them again.
- 130 lockpicking to pick all locks.
• Decide how much Stealth you need. Max if you're REALLY paranoid about getting seen, but remember you can get a decent amount from gear early on. 30 is probably the lowest you should stop at, and that's gravely risking getting autodetected anywhere past Depot A. 130 will let you avoid instant detection by anything that lacks True Sight, but don't forget your armor penalty! Divide that 130 by 100% minus the expected armor penalty of your endgame gear; with a 20% armor penalty you'll need 130/0.8 = 163 effective stealth to successfully stalk the Death Stalkers.
• Decide how much crafting you need. Far and away the hardest to plan in advance, as Stygian Software loves rebalancing these numbers in every new patch. Best advice is to dive into the wiki, look for whatever you plan to craft, and get the minimum effective skill for doing it. For a lot of crafts, though, quality matters, so be sure to factor in the skills needed to craft with Q140 (minimum) materials to ensure you can build your endgame gear. And always plan for 105 effective Mercantile, so you can actually access the high quality stuff.
• Allocate remaining skill points at your choosing, aiming for various thresholds.
- Pickpocketing: 32 to steal All-In, 38 to skip the kidnapping quest in Expedition, 91 to pickpocket some lore from Morde, and 122 to steal the Strange Medallion from Ethan.
- Traps: Beartraps require 0, and the Jackknife and Trapper's Belt are enough to set frag mines. Beyond that, 95 lets you deploy any trap, 165 lets you disarm any trap, and 185 lets you disarm and recover any trap.
- Persuasion: 45 to get SGS to help the Black Eels in the Junkyard War, 50 to rig the Gauntlet, 60 to solve the Rathound King quest peacefully, and 110 to pass the hardest check in the game (that can be passed).
- Intimidation: 75 to pass the hardest passable check in the base game, 100 to pass the hardest check in Expedition.
- Temporal Manipulation: 35 BASE (not effective) to use Limited Temporal Increment, 70 for Psycho-Temporal Contraction, and 85 for Stasis.
- Metathermics: 0 if you just want to snipe with Cryokinesis, 35 (BASE not effective) for Cryostasis, 40 for Cryokinetic Orb. Anything beyond that and you might as well go all-in and max it.
- Psychokinesis: 0 if you just want to work in an extra potential stun with Telekinetic Punch, 25 (BASE not effective) for Force Field, 30 for Electrokinesis, 40 for Disruptive Field, and 45 for Electrokinetic Imprint.
EDIT: Not sure how much longer I'll get to keep modifying this, so I guess I'd better start another section.
Anyhow, stuff I left out:
• When adjusting your abilities to meet core feats, be sure to max whichever ability you intend to pair with your primary DPS weapon. STR for sledgehammers or fists, DEX for knives or throwing, PER for guns or crossbows, and WIL for psi.
• If Ambush is one of your feats, you will want to max Stealth for the extra DPS.
• Yes, CON is useless except for meeting feat requirements. Given the feats it unlocks, though, it would be OP otherwise. Thick Skull is the only feat that actually makes hit points matter in Underrail, and you need 10 CON for that.
Still, guess it can't hurt to post. The magic of message forums lies in how a million other people always come running up to scream "NUH UH YOUR WRONG AND I'M RIGHT BECAUSE REASONS," and sometimes they actually have good reasons.
Anyhow, basic advice is to go to the Underrail build tool and do the following:
• Set level to 25, or 30 if you have DLC (remember to enable option: Expedition DLC).
• Reduce all abilities to 3.
• Plan out core feats for your build - adjust abilities and skills to meet their requirements.
• Allocate any remaining attribute points you have to spare. AGI can help in a lot of areas, STR in a few rarer instances but many equipment requirements. PER is kind of a waste by endgame for finding secrets, only boost it if you're going full Guns or Crossbows. WIL 7 is a minimum requirement for many psionic skill checks, assuming you don't max it for a psi build. DEX and INT can save you a lot of skill points in subterfuge and crafting respectively. CON has no real use beyond meeting feat requirements.
• Max your primary offensive skill (gun / crossbow / melee / throwing / psi).
• Decide how much Throwing skill you really need. 80 effective is the threshold where you can throw a grenade 3m with maximum 90% accuracy, just far enough to be out of the blast radius. You can get away with zero, if you're willing to abuse the F9 key horribly and only sling one flashbang per fight. Of course, if you have your heart set on slinging blades, max it as your main combat skill.
• Decide how much you want to hack and/or lockpick. General advice is 10 + (5 × LVL), and most builds with some DEX for initiative or Mechanics / Electronics for crafting will be able to get good results from relatively few points here. 0/0 is a challenge for masochists, especially on Dominating-Oddity. Other thresholds include:
- 130 Hacking to pass the hardest hacking test in the story. Note you can't use Haxxors etc. to boost this, because it's a dialogue option.
- 50 lockpicking to open all vents. Alternatively, 8 STR and a crowbar, though you won't be able to close them again.
- 130 lockpicking to pick all locks.
• Decide how much Stealth you need. Max if you're REALLY paranoid about getting seen, but remember you can get a decent amount from gear early on. 30 is probably the lowest you should stop at, and that's gravely risking getting autodetected anywhere past Depot A. 130 will let you avoid instant detection by anything that lacks True Sight, but don't forget your armor penalty! Divide that 130 by 100% minus the expected armor penalty of your endgame gear; with a 20% armor penalty you'll need 130/0.8 = 163 effective stealth to successfully stalk the Death Stalkers.
• Decide how much crafting you need. Far and away the hardest to plan in advance, as Stygian Software loves rebalancing these numbers in every new patch. Best advice is to dive into the wiki, look for whatever you plan to craft, and get the minimum effective skill for doing it. For a lot of crafts, though, quality matters, so be sure to factor in the skills needed to craft with Q140 (minimum) materials to ensure you can build your endgame gear. And always plan for 105 effective Mercantile, so you can actually access the high quality stuff.
• Allocate remaining skill points at your choosing, aiming for various thresholds.
- Pickpocketing: 32 to steal All-In, 38 to skip the kidnapping quest in Expedition, 91 to pickpocket some lore from Morde, and 122 to steal the Strange Medallion from Ethan.
- Traps: Beartraps require 0, and the Jackknife and Trapper's Belt are enough to set frag mines. Beyond that, 95 lets you deploy any trap, 165 lets you disarm any trap, and 185 lets you disarm and recover any trap.
- Persuasion: 45 to get SGS to help the Black Eels in the Junkyard War, 50 to rig the Gauntlet, 60 to solve the Rathound King quest peacefully, and 110 to pass the hardest check in the game (that can be passed).
- Intimidation: 75 to pass the hardest passable check in the base game, 100 to pass the hardest check in Expedition.
- Temporal Manipulation: 35 BASE (not effective) to use Limited Temporal Increment, 70 for Psycho-Temporal Contraction, and 85 for Stasis.
- Metathermics: 0 if you just want to snipe with Cryokinesis, 35 (BASE not effective) for Cryostasis, 40 for Cryokinetic Orb. Anything beyond that and you might as well go all-in and max it.
- Psychokinesis: 0 if you just want to work in an extra potential stun with Telekinetic Punch, 25 (BASE not effective) for Force Field, 30 for Electrokinesis, 40 for Disruptive Field, and 45 for Electrokinetic Imprint.
EDIT: Not sure how much longer I'll get to keep modifying this, so I guess I'd better start another section.
Anyhow, stuff I left out:
• When adjusting your abilities to meet core feats, be sure to max whichever ability you intend to pair with your primary DPS weapon. STR for sledgehammers or fists, DEX for knives or throwing, PER for guns or crossbows, and WIL for psi.
• If Ambush is one of your feats, you will want to max Stealth for the extra DPS.
• Yes, CON is useless except for meeting feat requirements. Given the feats it unlocks, though, it would be OP otherwise. Thick Skull is the only feat that actually makes hit points matter in Underrail, and you need 10 CON for that.