1
Builds / Re: My attempt at a Shotgun + Claymore build
« on: November 26, 2024, 08:51:01 am »
Dismas, I think your post is a reply to the Versatility thread? I'll post the reply to your post here in that thread.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Pages: [1] 2
2
Builds / Re: Versattility build, common Questions
« on: November 26, 2024, 08:49:07 am »
Handguns need a lot of feats to work, and those feats have quite high perception requirements, like 10 Per for Sharpshooter or 11 Per for Scrutinous. With perception stat that high, Versatility is not needed at all, perception already provides a big bonus to Guns skill.
SMGs are quite perfect for Versatility, because max. 6 Per is required for the Suppressive Fire feat. The Suppressive Fire feat is usually comboed with the Opportunist feat for a free 15% damage bonus against organic targets for burst builds. Other than that, the only core feats that are required for SMGs is Spec Ops, which require 6 Agi, and Commando, which requires 80 Guns skill. In fact, in my own theorycrafting I would ditch Suppressive Fire as 15% damage is not really game changing (while Spec Ops is), and dump Per all the way to 3, thus saving valuable attribute points for other stats.
Reply to Dismas in the Shotgun + Claymore thread:
Versatility is good for weapons that do not have many feat requirements. For example, I've played sledgehammers too much to know that sledgehammers do not need any supporting feats at all. So a LMG/Miniguns build, which already has the strength required for sledgehammers, can use Versatility to be able to use sledgehammers. (But if your strength is already that high why not just invest skill points into melee and skip the feat point and specialization points) So, SMGs is another candidate, as it only requires 2 core feats, Spec Ops and Commando, of which Commando does not even have attribute requirements. The Stunner is another good candidate for Versatility, foregoing feats like Point Shot, and relying on extreme Dex investment to minimize its ap cost.
SMGs are quite perfect for Versatility, because max. 6 Per is required for the Suppressive Fire feat. The Suppressive Fire feat is usually comboed with the Opportunist feat for a free 15% damage bonus against organic targets for burst builds. Other than that, the only core feats that are required for SMGs is Spec Ops, which require 6 Agi, and Commando, which requires 80 Guns skill. In fact, in my own theorycrafting I would ditch Suppressive Fire as 15% damage is not really game changing (while Spec Ops is), and dump Per all the way to 3, thus saving valuable attribute points for other stats.
Reply to Dismas in the Shotgun + Claymore thread:
Versatility is good for weapons that do not have many feat requirements. For example, I've played sledgehammers too much to know that sledgehammers do not need any supporting feats at all. So a LMG/Miniguns build, which already has the strength required for sledgehammers, can use Versatility to be able to use sledgehammers. (But if your strength is already that high why not just invest skill points into melee and skip the feat point and specialization points) So, SMGs is another candidate, as it only requires 2 core feats, Spec Ops and Commando, of which Commando does not even have attribute requirements. The Stunner is another good candidate for Versatility, foregoing feats like Point Shot, and relying on extreme Dex investment to minimize its ap cost.
3
Builds / Re: Versattility build, common Questions
« on: November 25, 2024, 02:29:14 am »
Agree with Easyprey that Versatility is kind of a trap. First note of importance is that the Versatility feat alone provides only 60% of your highest weapon skill, and is generally not enough to provide a satisfactory experience in combat. Typically you have to equip the Commando Belt (+10%), and/or invest specialization points into Versatility (2% per point, up to 20%) to pump your non-base weapon skill high enough to be effective in combat.
Also, thanks to specialization points and Commando Belt, any versatility build only starts to come online at level 20 onwards. Before that, you would be stuck with your base weapon. For example, if you level Dex and melee skill, and use Versatility to increase your guns skill, you would probably be stuck using melee weapons for a good part of the game.
Also, weapon skill is only part of the equation. Feats and attribute requirements also determine whether your Versatilitied weapon can be effective or not. For example, in one of my past builds I max strength and melee skill, and used Versatility to provide good guns and heavy guns skill to use assault rifles and lmgs. With no investment into perception, I was not able to get powerful AR and LMG feats. Also, even with Versatility, I still had to invest 80 points into Guns and Heavy Guns each to fulfill the requirements for 2 AR/LMG feats that does not need perception.
Currently, the most successful Versatility build that I have seen is knives/SMGs. It involves over investment into Dex and melee skill, and minimizing investment into Per. The high Dex provides melee skill, crit chance and ap reduction for knives, and also ap reduction for SMGs. The only missing piece of the build is the low guns skill caused by low per, which is fixed through Versatility.
Have fun with your builds!
Also, thanks to specialization points and Commando Belt, any versatility build only starts to come online at level 20 onwards. Before that, you would be stuck with your base weapon. For example, if you level Dex and melee skill, and use Versatility to increase your guns skill, you would probably be stuck using melee weapons for a good part of the game.
Also, weapon skill is only part of the equation. Feats and attribute requirements also determine whether your Versatilitied weapon can be effective or not. For example, in one of my past builds I max strength and melee skill, and used Versatility to provide good guns and heavy guns skill to use assault rifles and lmgs. With no investment into perception, I was not able to get powerful AR and LMG feats. Also, even with Versatility, I still had to invest 80 points into Guns and Heavy Guns each to fulfill the requirements for 2 AR/LMG feats that does not need perception.
Currently, the most successful Versatility build that I have seen is knives/SMGs. It involves over investment into Dex and melee skill, and minimizing investment into Per. The high Dex provides melee skill, crit chance and ap reduction for knives, and also ap reduction for SMGs. The only missing piece of the build is the low guns skill caused by low per, which is fixed through Versatility.
Have fun with your builds!
4
Builds / Re: My attempt at a Shotgun + Claymore build
« on: November 25, 2024, 01:50:55 am »
No Leading Shot? That's a must have feat for shotguns, it nullifies mobs with high evasion.
Personally, the build feels at odds with itself. High intelligence and mechanics skill for crafting, but using a unique melee weapon. Massive dex investment and versatility, but using a gun that does not benefit from dexterity. Also both shotgun and sword are short range weapons, seems like they overlap a lot in use cases.
But if it works, it works!
PS: 55 points in TM is just a testament to how strong PTC is, lol.
Personally, the build feels at odds with itself. High intelligence and mechanics skill for crafting, but using a unique melee weapon. Massive dex investment and versatility, but using a gun that does not benefit from dexterity. Also both shotgun and sword are short range weapons, seems like they overlap a lot in use cases.
But if it works, it works!
PS: 55 points in TM is just a testament to how strong PTC is, lol.
5
Builds / Re: Are Guns+Heavy guns viable together?
« on: November 19, 2024, 04:04:38 am »
Yes! AR and LMGs/Miniguns go very well together, in fact, I'm currrently writing a guide on a build that utilises the 2 together.
ARs and heavy guns share many feats together:
While all of the above feats are sort of mandatory, Concentrated Fire is the crown jewel. It is THE ability that enables bosses/targets with high health to be taken down in 1 burst. And Concentrated Fire has a PER requirement of 8, so 8 would be the minimum PER for your build.
From my own experience playing AR and LMG builds, 8 PER is also enough to get through the game, so I would spend extra ability points on CON or AGI instead of PER.
Thanks to the sharing of feats between heavy guns and ARs, if you already have an LMG build, all you need to make the build viable for ARs is this one extra feat: Commando. Commando is THE defining AR feat, must have for AR builds. And it costs only 80 skill points and 1 feat point extra for an LMG build.
If you have an AR build and want to tack on heavy guns to it, it would unfortunately be more nauced. First, you have to have enough STR to use the heaviest heavy gun that you intend to use (e.g. 12 for refurbished GlaShaG-9). Then you have the feats exclusive to heavy guns:
Since you are playing a tin can build, Heavy Metal would be the most important feat for you, since it adds huge damage to LMGs/miniguns (but you can't have a LMG in one weapon slot and an AR in another weapon slot, you will have to choose one type to bring to each encounter.) Mag Dump comes second, Brute Aim would be good if you are putting points into Heavy Guns skill instead of relying on Guns synergy, Bullet Trance I tend to skip if pairing LMGs with other weapons like sledgehammers or ARs, since using other weapons tend to easily break Bullet Trance stacks. Finally, Gunner's High only heals your health and does not help offensively, so I tend to skip as well.
Enjoy your build!
ARs and heavy guns share many feats together:
- Suppressive Fire + Opportunist
- Full Auto
- Concentrated Fire
While all of the above feats are sort of mandatory, Concentrated Fire is the crown jewel. It is THE ability that enables bosses/targets with high health to be taken down in 1 burst. And Concentrated Fire has a PER requirement of 8, so 8 would be the minimum PER for your build.
From my own experience playing AR and LMG builds, 8 PER is also enough to get through the game, so I would spend extra ability points on CON or AGI instead of PER.
Thanks to the sharing of feats between heavy guns and ARs, if you already have an LMG build, all you need to make the build viable for ARs is this one extra feat: Commando. Commando is THE defining AR feat, must have for AR builds. And it costs only 80 skill points and 1 feat point extra for an LMG build.
If you have an AR build and want to tack on heavy guns to it, it would unfortunately be more nauced. First, you have to have enough STR to use the heaviest heavy gun that you intend to use (e.g. 12 for refurbished GlaShaG-9). Then you have the feats exclusive to heavy guns:
- Mag Dump
- Brute Aim
- Heavy Metal
- Bullet Trance
- Gunner's High
Since you are playing a tin can build, Heavy Metal would be the most important feat for you, since it adds huge damage to LMGs/miniguns (but you can't have a LMG in one weapon slot and an AR in another weapon slot, you will have to choose one type to bring to each encounter.) Mag Dump comes second, Brute Aim would be good if you are putting points into Heavy Guns skill instead of relying on Guns synergy, Bullet Trance I tend to skip if pairing LMGs with other weapons like sledgehammers or ARs, since using other weapons tend to easily break Bullet Trance stacks. Finally, Gunner's High only heals your health and does not help offensively, so I tend to skip as well.
Enjoy your build!
6
Builds / Re: SMG stealth build with Temporal Manipulation
« on: October 21, 2024, 02:44:45 am »
Attributes:
Perception too high, dex too low. SMG builds typically can make use of lesser accuracy and weapon skill, in return for the reduced ap cost to fire, granted by more dex.
Or, for maximum efficiency, drop perception to 6 just to satisfy Suppressive Fire, and pump Dex as high as possible. Then, maximize melee skill, and take the Versatilty feat (fully specced) to attain both high Guns skill and high ap cost reduction to fire.
Feats:
Three-Pointer doesnt pair well with such low dex and throwing skill.
No Increased Dexterity feat? The +2 to Str/Dex/Agi/Con/Per/Wil/Int is too valuable to pass up for any build.
Can drop Agi to 7, since Hit and Run requires only 7 agi. Put the excess ability point into Dex instead.
Otherwise, feats look pretty fitting for an SMG build.
Skills:
70 in Temporal Manipulation is enough for Stasis.
Merchantile also seems too high, cant remember what is the highest check though
Perception too high, dex too low. SMG builds typically can make use of lesser accuracy and weapon skill, in return for the reduced ap cost to fire, granted by more dex.
Or, for maximum efficiency, drop perception to 6 just to satisfy Suppressive Fire, and pump Dex as high as possible. Then, maximize melee skill, and take the Versatilty feat (fully specced) to attain both high Guns skill and high ap cost reduction to fire.
Feats:
Three-Pointer doesnt pair well with such low dex and throwing skill.
No Increased Dexterity feat? The +2 to Str/Dex/Agi/Con/Per/Wil/Int is too valuable to pass up for any build.
Can drop Agi to 7, since Hit and Run requires only 7 agi. Put the excess ability point into Dex instead.
Otherwise, feats look pretty fitting for an SMG build.
Skills:
70 in Temporal Manipulation is enough for Stasis.
Merchantile also seems too high, cant remember what is the highest check though
7
Builds / Re: Need Advices on uncommon Build
« on: October 18, 2024, 05:19:32 am »
What do you mean Summon Doppelganger?
8
Builds / Re: Brains and brawn
« on: October 10, 2024, 01:55:05 pm »
Yes, but not for the reason that you think it is.
End game sledgehammers are still good against end game enemies (1 or 2 boinks = kill), the problem is the damage potential for sledgehammers have a rather low ceiling, due to the lack of feats and other non-equipment stuff supporting it.
Knives, gloves, and SMGs get AP reduction from dexterity, so as their damage per turn increases with equipment quality, the attacks they can make per turn is also increasing with their level, especially when their level grants ap reducing feats such as Lightning Punches or Spec Ops.
Assault Rifles get the Commando feat, essentially doubling their damage output per turn. LMGs and Miniguns benefit from Concentrated Fire feat, the Heavy Metal feat makes their damage scale with armor. Full Auto and Mag Dump allows assault rifles, lmgs and miniguns to do more attacks per turn.
Psi users have AOE abilities which make the damage scale with the number of enemies hit. Or crit on demand. Or AOE crit on demand, wow.
Grenade launchers' damage also scale with the number of enemies hit.
Compared to all the other weapon types above, sledgehammers don't have anything else to increase the number of attacks per turn. Even when equipping a tichrome hammer, lifting belt and tabi boots, the best you can do is 16ap attacks, which is 3 attacks per turn without adrenaline shot and PTC. Strength does not decrease the AP cost of sledgehammers.
The 2 sledegehammer feats don't add much to its damage potential either. Super Slam adds a not-significant amount, but its not game changing; Pummel costs 0 AP when specced, but does only half of your normal swing damage. But more importantly, both feats are on a 3 turn cooldown. I have made many sledgehammer builds which did not involve any sledgehammer feats, and it turned out just fine.
The problem comes in late game when the game starts to throw more and more enemies per encounter. Sledgehammer builds have a tougher time handling these bigger crowds, because no matter how big the crowds are, sledgehammers still only do 3 attacks per turn. I counter this by always having 10 CON in my builds, and typically Dodge and Evasion too, and also armor in some builds. These extra survivability allows for more turns of "3 attacks per turn", and win encounters through tenacity rather than pure firepower. Disclaimer: this strategy might not work on Dominating, I've always played on typically Hard, sometimes Normal difficulty.
End game sledgehammers are still good against end game enemies (1 or 2 boinks = kill), the problem is the damage potential for sledgehammers have a rather low ceiling, due to the lack of feats and other non-equipment stuff supporting it.
Knives, gloves, and SMGs get AP reduction from dexterity, so as their damage per turn increases with equipment quality, the attacks they can make per turn is also increasing with their level, especially when their level grants ap reducing feats such as Lightning Punches or Spec Ops.
Assault Rifles get the Commando feat, essentially doubling their damage output per turn. LMGs and Miniguns benefit from Concentrated Fire feat, the Heavy Metal feat makes their damage scale with armor. Full Auto and Mag Dump allows assault rifles, lmgs and miniguns to do more attacks per turn.
Psi users have AOE abilities which make the damage scale with the number of enemies hit. Or crit on demand. Or AOE crit on demand, wow.
Grenade launchers' damage also scale with the number of enemies hit.
Compared to all the other weapon types above, sledgehammers don't have anything else to increase the number of attacks per turn. Even when equipping a tichrome hammer, lifting belt and tabi boots, the best you can do is 16ap attacks, which is 3 attacks per turn without adrenaline shot and PTC. Strength does not decrease the AP cost of sledgehammers.
The 2 sledegehammer feats don't add much to its damage potential either. Super Slam adds a not-significant amount, but its not game changing; Pummel costs 0 AP when specced, but does only half of your normal swing damage. But more importantly, both feats are on a 3 turn cooldown. I have made many sledgehammer builds which did not involve any sledgehammer feats, and it turned out just fine.
The problem comes in late game when the game starts to throw more and more enemies per encounter. Sledgehammer builds have a tougher time handling these bigger crowds, because no matter how big the crowds are, sledgehammers still only do 3 attacks per turn. I counter this by always having 10 CON in my builds, and typically Dodge and Evasion too, and also armor in some builds. These extra survivability allows for more turns of "3 attacks per turn", and win encounters through tenacity rather than pure firepower. Disclaimer: this strategy might not work on Dominating, I've always played on typically Hard, sometimes Normal difficulty.
9
Builds / Re: Legionare Build (Throwing Spear Sword Shield Nimble)
« on: May 13, 2024, 02:12:39 am »
Sorry very late reply, just leaving my thoughts for future players to think upon...I have tried to theorycraft such a build for more than one year already, and I kept coming to the same conclusion, that it needs too much ability/feat/spec point investment to work.
Shield Feats:
Spear feat:
Sword feats:
And since swords are meant for crits, crit feats:
And since this build is a melee build, mobility is essential for melee, these feats will be very useful:
Other general survivability/QoL feats:
The number of feats listed above already number 23, while each character only gets a maximum of 17 feats (16 if you leave 1 feat for increased +2 stat)
Ability requirements:
This build needs ability points all over the place, very hard to build.
These different abilities are all fighting for specialization points:
So all in all, no
Shield Feats:
- Shield Arm
- Boarding Up
- Shield Bash
Spear feat:
- Spear Throw
- Iron Grip
Sword feats:
- Flurry
- Onslaught
- Parry
- Riposte
And since swords are meant for crits, crit feats:
- Recklessness
- Weaponsmith
- Cheap Shots
- Critical Power
- Survival Instincts
And since this build is a melee build, mobility is essential for melee, these feats will be very useful:
- Sprint
- Hit and Run
- Escape Artist
- Nimble - to reduce armor penalty for more movement points
- Body weight training - to reduce armor penalty for more movement points
- Armor sloping - to reduce the armor penalty of the steel plate that goes into the making of the riot gear shield
Other general survivability/QoL feats:
- Thick Skull - this build is stuck with riot gear, which is not the most invincible of armors. Getting stunned is most likely a death sentence.
- Sure feet - the acid from mutants and acid dogs will pool up around the character while fighting them as melee
- Ballistics - 3 DT is not much, but this build is stuck with an armor that can make full use of this feat
The number of feats listed above already number 23, while each character only gets a maximum of 17 feats (16 if you leave 1 feat for increased +2 stat)
Ability requirements:
- 11 strength for Iron Grip
- As much Dex as possible
- For Throwing skill for Spear Throw
- For crit chance for sword
- For Melee skill
- 6 Agi for Sprint, 7 Agi for Hit and Run, as much Agi as possible for movement points
- Con - melee build, stuck with an armor that does not offer impenetrable defences, any extra Con is welcome
- 6 Int for Weaponsmith
This build needs ability points all over the place, very hard to build.
These different abilities are all fighting for specialization points:
- Spear Throw - full 15 points to turn it into a low AP nuke
- Shield Bash - full 15 points to turn it into a 0-AP, free nuke every turn
- Critical Power + Cheap Shots: full 15 points into these 2 specializations turn critical hits into instant kills
- Not to mention other feats which could use spec points for further improvement
So all in all, no
10
Builds / Re: No crafting Sledgehammer AR/LMG versatility build – my sidearm is an LMG
« on: February 08, 2024, 09:11:12 am »Build explanation – Skills
This build has too many skill points thanks to a lack of investment into crafting skills.
| Guns 80 (280) | 80 base points needed for Commando feat. |
| Heavy Guns 80 (280) | 80 base points needed for Mag Dump feat. |
| Throwing 140 (125) | 110 effective throwing enables throwing grenades with 90% precision. |
| Melee 160 (350) | Of course, it is a melee build first and foremost. Guns scale skill off this skill thanks to Versatility. |
| Dodge 160 | Good passive defense throughout the game, this little dodge would not drop enemy hit chance to 10%, however, 30% reduction in hit chances is still 30%. Needed since this is a no crafting build, and mechanical defenses from looted/bought armor is underwhelming. Besides, this build has too many skill points, where better to dump them? |
| Evasion 160 | Good passive defense throughout the game, reduces damage from explosions too. Needed since this is a no crafting build, and mechanical defenses from looted/bought armor is underwhelming. Besides, this build has too many skill points; where better to dump them? |
| Stealth 160 | 100+ is my personal benchmark to be able to stealth effectively in all areas. However, this build has too many skill points, so stealth is a good place to dump them. |
| Biology 15 (16) | For Doctor feat. |
| Intimidation 160 (350) | A skill for dumping all those extra skill points. I paired it up with Yell since this build is also not feat-hungry, but did not use it much. |
| Mercantile 160 (173) | For unlocking end-game components to refurbish the guns with. 105 effective is enough, but this build has too many skill points. Dumping into Mercantile also allows buying those expensive jet skis at much lower prices. Details below. |
Build explanation – Feats
This build is not feat-hungry. Sledgehammers do not need any sledgehammer-specific feats to be good, only Expose Weakness for armored targets. Assault Rifles only need about 5, of which 3 have been excluded due to lack of Perception. LMGs and Miniguns need more feats than Assault Rifles, but a few have been excluded due to a lack of Perception, 1 is common with Assault Rifles, and other feats also excluded for other reasons. This build has a lot of space to fit in QoL feats.
| Conditioning | With 10 Con, condition provides 15% mechanical, cold and heat damage reduction. This damage reduction is applied after armor. Not great, but not insignificant either. Many claim this feat is useless, but personally I like this feat a lot, I won many encounters with only a sliver of health left, and would have died if not for this feat. Many feat points available for this build, why not. |
| Nimble | Used to reduce armor penalty, as movement points are crucial for a melee build. |
| Pack Rathound | This build already has a lot of carry capacity due to high Strength and Lifting Belt. Why not boost it further, since there are many spare feat points. |
| Versatility (10/10 spec) | Core of this build. Only with this feat are the guns listed above usable. |
| Doctor | QoL feat. When combined with Fast Metabolism, provides a lot of healing from healing items. |
| Fast Metabolism | QoL feat. When combined with Doctor, provides a lot of healing from healing items. |
| Thick Skull | All of my builds have 10 Con and Thick Skull. Getting stunned in this game is a death sentence, and I don't like using bullheads because my fights typically last longer than 3 turns, and crafting them requires fishing. |
| Yell | Dump feat. Too much Strength -> Intimidation skill benefits from Strength -> Yell benefits from Intimidation, may as well get it, no idea what else to take. |
| Dirty Kick | I love this feat on melee builds. Its a very good CC move that uses up no utility slot. Lasts 2 turns on human males, which occurs more often than not, because a huge chunk of enemies in the game are human males. Also, I always use this feat to cheese the arena. The arena consists of only human males for the gladiator fights, and a 2 turn stun is a guaranteed death sentence for all of them. |
| Expose Weakness (1/1 spec duration) | The only mandatory melee feat in this build. The big weakness for this build is the lack of armor penetration and electricity damage for hammers, and the lack of AP ammo for guns. Expose Weakness helps a lot, even with ranged weapons. In my playthrough I used Expose Weakness against Tchort before unloading on it with the N60 LMG. |
| Full-Auto (4/5 spec burst damage) | Core Assault Rifle/LMG/Minigun feat. No reason not to take this feat as this build has ample Strength, way higher than the requirement for this feat. Specialization points are invested into burst damage as it benefits both Assault Rlfles and LMGs. |
| Bullet Trance | One of the core LMG/Minigun feats, increases damage the longer the firefight goes. The 25% damage increase at max stacks is easily achieved for larger fights. In hindsight, maybe this feat is not really needed at all. The only time when this feat was of use in my playthrough was in the Magnar fight, when the N60 was used turn after turn after turn. In most other cases, I would get a kill or two with the LMG, then switch to using the hammer the next turn on some melee enemies, thus dropping the stack. If this feat is omitted, then 2 points into Will can be freed up to be placed into other attributes; a good alternative is to bring 4 Agi up to 6 Agi, qualifying the character for Sprint. The additional Agi can boost Dodge, Evasion, and Stealth further, and Sprint is useful in almost any situation. |
| Commando | Core Assault Rifle feat. Only 80 Guns skill points needed to unlock this feat, no reason not to. |
| Mag Dump | Core LMG/Minigun feat. Strength requirements easily satisfied, and only 80 Heavy Guns skill points needed to unlock this feat, no reason not to. |
| Increased Strength | Used to reach 18 Strength. |
| Body Weight Training | Used to reduce armor penalty, as movement points are crucial for a melee build. |
Excluded Feats
| Concentrated Fire, Suppressive Fire | These are great feats, but this build cannot afford to place any points into Perception, and have to exclude them unfortunately. |
| Heavy Metal | Non-crafted armors have underwhelming defenses when compared to crafted ones, it is not worth to trade all the dodge, evasion, stealth and movement points for heavy non-crafted armor. Without heavy armor, this feat is useless too, hence it is skipped in this build. |
| Gunner's High | LMGs/Miniguns are not used quite enough in this build to make use of this feat. This build can alternate between sledgehammer strikes and burst fire to save ammo on trash mobs/to tackle enemies that are more evasive and less dodgy. Besides, with Doctor + Fast Metabolism + Bioscrubber + Vathosphore Armor, even an advanced health hypo provides more healing than 10 stacks of Gunner's high, and that healing is instant, and does not succumb to a health threshold too. |
| Brute Aim | With Versatility, Guns now scale off the Melee skill, which scales off Strength. A higher modified Perception does not increase Guns skill for this build. |
Build explanation – Equipment
Weapons – explained above.
Headgear - Tchortist Bioscrubber
Very good Bio protection, bonus health, bonus healing, 0% armor penalty. The bio protection is great against toxic gas clouds and enemies in the Black Sea. This headgear, together with the Tchortist Vathosphore Armor/CAU armor, renders the character almost immune to Locusts, Heartbreaker Serpents, and Giant Weavers in the Black Sea.
Armor - Tchortist Vathosphore Armor, CAU armor, Galvanic Overcoat
Tchortist Vathosphore Armor is very useful in the Black Sea. Many of its denizens do Bio damage, hence Tchortist Bioscrubber + Tchortist Vathsphore Armor provides enough bio threshold, to be immune against Locusts unless crit, almost immune against Heartbreaker Serpents, almost immune against Giant Weavers too. The 38% mechanical resistance is useful against Strongmen and Handmaidens. The extra healing and health is always welcome, and Exsurge can remove an incapacitation or mental breakdown effect once every 10 turns. In my playthrough, I used this armor very much in the Black Sea.
However, in hindsight, CAU armor is even better than Tchortist Vathosphore Armor. CAU armor has the same bio threshold and even higher bio resistance than Tchortist Vathosphore Armor, it has 80% acid resistance compared to the Vathosphore Armor's 15%. CAU armor only has 25% mechanical resistance, but it is increased by 100% against melee attacks, meaning 50% mechanical resistance against melee attacks from spiders, Strongmen and Handmaidens. For all these extra advantages, CAU armor has 25% less armor penalty than Vathosphore Armor. With Nimble and Bodybuilding, CAU armor offers all these protections while standing at a final armor penalty of 5%. In hindsight, I could have just ignored the Vathosphore Armor completely; CAU armor is THE non-crafted unique armor for general use.
In my playthrough, apart from the two unique armors above, I used a randomly looted 1770 durability Galvanic Overcoat for general use where specific damage type protections, like bio or acid, are not needed. With Nimble, the character has 0% armor penalty when wearing this armor. Galvanic Overcoat is also worn when fighting against coil spiders.
Belt - Lifting Belt for most occasions, Bullet Strap Belt when choosing to use a Assault Rifle frequently. Large Waist Pack when hauling extra loot back to merchants.
Shoes - a durability 2400 ninja tabi boots bought from Constantine. Appeared as special merchandise, unlocked via Mercantile.
Energy shield emitter - a 1000+ capacity efficient low frequency shield emitter, bought from Constantine. Appeared as special merchandise, unlocked via Mercantile, after refreshing many, many, many times (Constantine sells shield emitter only half the time, and each time, only has 1 in stock as special merchandise. Had to refresh many times until an efficient one comes up).
Pros
- No crafting!
- Many excess skill points due to lack of investment into crafting skills
- Vast majority of loot can be skipped over, no need to check loot containers for crafting components
- With 18 Strength, Lifting Belt and Pack Rathound feat, this build spots a carry capacity of 360 while in combat gear. While in looting mode, swap equipment out with Rathound Regalia, Power Fist, and Large Waist Pack, and this build can carry up to 400 weight. This character frequently carry whole dungeons' worth of loot back to the merchants.
- Excellent healing economy. This build has too many bonuses to healing: Doctor, Fast Metabolism, Tchortist Bioscrubbber, and Tchortist Vathosphore Armor. My other characters, playing in Hard difficulty, has to stand around waiting for Health Hypo cooldowns in order to heal up; not this build.
- Healing Salves are perfect for this build, they can even be used in combat, as the Perception and Dexterity drawbacks do not affect this build. The weight (0.20), double that of an advanced health hypo (0.10), is not a concern due to the high carry capacity of this build. Raids of the Black Sea natives also provided so many healing salves that there is no more need to buy health hypos or bandages. In my playthrough, I brought about 200 healing salves into Deep Caverns, could not finish them all.
- Unlike other melee builds, entanglement does not turn this character into a sitting duck. This character can fire back with an LMG or Assault Rifle when entangled. This is especially important when facing spiders in the Black Sea.
Cons
- No crafting!
- No crafting of overpowered end-game metal armor that makes the character almost impervious to damage. Such a shame, since this build has all the Strength in the world to wear metal armor.
- No crafting of electroshock hammers. As noted above, the biggest counter to even the most powerful of hammers like Balor's Hammer is mechanical resistance, which enemies in the Compound have an abundance of. It is quite notable that my Paladin character, with an electroshock hammer and super steel armor, had an easier time in The Compound than this character (although it might to due to the difficulty selected, Paladin = Normal, this = Hard).
- No crafting of AP ammo. This build had an awful time with the N60 in The Compound due to the soldiers' mechanical resistance. The Concentrated Fire feat can overcome it through overwhelming damage, but this feat has to be excluded in this build. AP bullets are another solution, but the inability to craft AP ammo limits the character to using standard rounds. (Unless using Cheat Engine to constantly refresh merchants' stock, Fraser stocks about 30+ 7.62mm AP rounds each time and is good for this strategy.)
- As with versatility builds, the "side" skill that relies on Versatility is only usable from late-game onwards. In this case, the guns mentioned above are only usable from level 20+ onwards.
- You only have 3 perception, Tchorist bioscrubber reduces it by 2, and then further reduces detection by 50%. You will be stepping on every single trap in the game. Thankfully this build has enough Constitution to survive any trap, and enough bonus healing to quickly heal up the damage from any trap.
11
Builds / No crafting Sledgehammer AR/LMG versatility build – my sidearm is an LMG
« on: February 08, 2024, 09:10:18 am »
Build
https://underrail.info/build/?HhADBAoDBQVQUMKRAMKgwqDCoMKgAAAAAAAAAA8AAAAAAADCoMKgJGNQDQ4SFcKjScOhw54nCETCtnzin4QB4p-iBOK1rgrfvA
Overview
Among the various unique weapons in Underrail, in my opinion, sledgehammers, assault rifles, LMGs and Miniguns are exceptionally blessed. They have multiple powerful uniques that are good enough for end game, that are also not obtained at the end of the game. This build is crafted to take advantage of this.
And since there is no need to craft weapons, may as well bring it a step further, and do away with crafted armors, crafted medicines, crafted everything. Turning it into a no crafting build.
Played this on Hard Oddity and was smooth sailing the whole way, but gave up at Heavy Duty content as it was too hard for this build.
Weapon review
This build is first and foremost defined by its weapons. With 18 Strength this build can use every hammer/AR/LMG/Minigun in the game, Strength requirements be damned.
Weapon review - Sledgehammers
Sledgehammers will always need to be paired with Lifting Belt. 5 less AP for every hammer swing is too good to pass up.
Quake - if I had to select just 1 hammer for the whole game, this would be it.
Mindcracker – the hammer to enable the magical 16 AP hammer attacks with lifting belt and tabi boots, meaning 3 hammer attacks in a turn, every turn, even without buffs or consumables. However, Mindcracker is locked behind a hard combat encounter with numerous Azuridae Goliathus. In my playthrough, I only managed to get by this encounter after level 20, and by using the refurbished N60 Warthog to burst down the Goliathus and their Pseudo Spatial Projection stacks.
Also, Mindcracker's damage falls off late-game, in comparision to Barbaton and Balor's Hammer.
Barbaton – Excellent damage, even higher than quality 160 Steel Sledgehammer! Costs the same amount of AP per swing too! With Lifting Belt and Tabi Boots, it reduces down to 19 AP per swing, which unfortunately for me is an awkward value to work with. The attack rotation consists of 2 swings, left over 10 AP -> 3 swings -> 2 swings, left over 10 AP -> 3 swings, etc. I somehow always end up on the 2 swing turn when 3 swings are needed right in the moment. Also, when dazed, the character is left with only 35 AP and only able to do 1 swing.
On a side note, Barbaton would be a good hammer for a crit build, since it has increased critical chance and increased bonus critical damage. Not done in this build.
Balor's Hammer – I have seen the many legends of this hammer, but I am not keen on it, as it ties Rathound Regalia to the character's armor slot, thus denying the character valuable bio or acid protection that other armors offer. Moreover, the character has to constantly feed on rathound barbecues or bison milk; stocking these items, keep tracking of remaining stocks and their duration on the character is a hassle. Last but not least, it has a weight of 50. Together with Quake for destroying walls, these 2 hammers already occupy a weight of 75 in the character's inventory. That is easily more than half the carry capacity of 3 Str, no Pack Rathound, no Waistpack builds.
Regardless, I tried it out once in The Compound. The unarmored lunatics outside The Compound takes but 1 hit each to kill, which is excellent, while each soldier inside The Compound takes 2 hits to kill, owing to their mechanical resistance. I could see this hammer as very good for lower level content, perhaps next time I would make more use of it.
Weapon review - Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles need to be paired with Bullet Strap Belt, as their high rates of fire empty the ARs' magazines very quickly. This becomes a problem when pairing an AR with a hammer in the other weapon slot, as both weapons are competing for the same belt slot.
In my playthrough, I used the K&H KH416 to great effect decimating the natives from the safety of my Devastator Jet Ski. Steyr-Auch was also very useful during the raid into Horticulture Center. More details below.
Refurbished AKX – Just an average assault rifle. On the plus side, it uses the most common 7.62mm ammo, and is easily obtained at mid game after the Free Drones or Protectorate questline. However, its combat stats are simply average: no extra burst shots, no bonus burst precision. Moreover, Its gimmick of infinite durability is not attractive to this build, since this build can already save on durability by switching to the hammer instead of the assault rifle.
Refurbished K&H KH416 – In my opinion the best assault rifle for this build. Decent damage (felt a bit lacking due to its caliber, just a bit), 10 shots per burst with Full Auto, has +10% Burst precision, and only uses 36 AP per burst. As long as the character has 1 AP saved from the previous turn, the character can still burst when even dazed. This assault rifle also faces no competition from LMG and Miniguns, as no LMGs/Miniguns use 5mm ammo. Last but not least, this assault rifle can be obtained fairly early, at the Black Crawler base fight with Gorsky.
Refurbished N16 – I forgot to obtain this during my playthrough, but it makes no difference for this build. It is simply inferior to the refurbished KH416: uses the same 5mm ammo, but less damage, less burst shots, less ammo capacity. N16 has higher critical damage bonus, but this build is not built for criticals. N16 also has a gimmick of improving the damage bonus of Concentrated Fire, but this build does not have Concentrated Fire. All in all, straight up inferior to KH416 for this build.
Refurbished NF F2500 – On paper, it makes an excellent assault rifle; good damage, 10 shots per burst, uses the most common 7.62mm ammo, even restores AP on shoot. I suppose Its minimal strength requirement of 4 is also a defining feature; not applicable for this build, but 3 strength builds can effectively use this assault rifle with a Rathound Regalia or Rathound Barbeque. However, among this list, it is obtained the latest in the game. In my playthrough I completed Expedition before heading to Deep Caverns, rendering this assault rifle useless even after obtaining it.
Refurbished Steyr-Auch – this is a hard assault rifle to love. In my opinion it has the best damage among the assault rifles in this list due to its high damage ceiling, it also has the best range, it uses the abundant 9mm ammo, which the only gun competing for it is the GlaShaG-9 (which has its own problems, explained below). Being very accessible, it is also the first gun in this list that I obtained in my playthrough. Upon using it though, its flaws are obvious: no extra burst rounds, only 7 rounds per burst with Full-Auto feel subpar after using the KH416. This assault rifle also uses 48 AP per burst, which is too high, leaving no AP for consumables or grenades. More importantly, the character will not be able to burst at all if dazed, even with 10 AP saved from the previous turn. Despite these flaws, it is still a servicable assault rifle, and still better than the AKX in my opinion if nothing else is available.
Weapon review - LMGs
The main advantage of pairing a hammer with an LMG is that LMGs have high ammo capacity, and does not need constant reloads (especially when alternating between melee and shooting in a single fight). Hence LMGs do not need to compete with Lifting Belt in the belt slot.
The main disadvantage is the lack of a single shot mode.
In my playthrough, the N60 was used to win the Magnar fight. It was also used when fighting serpents around Fetid Marsh, and fighting spiders all around Black Sea that loves to keep the character permanently rooted in place.
Refurbished Brno LMG – the only gun in this list that uses 8.6mm ammo. Decent damage, +5% burst precision, 30 AP cost means an attack rotation of 1 burst -> save up 10 AP -> 2 burst -> repeat without adrenaline shot. Shortest optimal range among all the guns in this list. Would have used it to expend 8.6mm ammo, but the entire game is over before I can finish expending all the other ammo types that were looted throughout the game.
Refurbished N60 Warthog – highly damaging LMG, no burst precision penalty unlike the MG3-42, lowest move and shoot penalty among the LMGs (but not by much). Uses the most common 7.62mm ammo. The biggest draw about this weapon has to be the damage; the lower bound is the same as the Brno at 38, but N60's upper bound is 72 while Brno's upper bound is only 44. The biggest drawback would have to be the strength requirement, which 2 higher than other LMGs, however, it is a non-issue for this build. I took this LMG as my main expenditure of 7.62ammo. Still can burst when dazed. With adrenaline shot, it can burst twice a turn.
Refurbished MG3-42 – uses 7.62mm same as N60, damage is lower than N60, more burst precision penalty than the N60. Balanced by being able to output far more bullets than the N60, since it has 5 innate extra shots per burst, and more importantly, it takes 25 AP for one burst. Implying that even without adrenaline shot, it can fire 2 bursts per turn, every turn, indefinitely. Tried it out once for Heavy Duty content at level 30, was disappointed with the damage. It was constantly hitting for 1xx damage per hit, sometimes dropping below 100, while the N60 was constantly hitting for 1xx damage per hit, sometimes going above 200.
Weapon review - Miniguns
With 18 Str, this build is well suited to handle miniguns, the biggest guns in Underrail with the highest strength requirements. However, in practice, miniguns do not gel with this build. Miniguns' wind up mechanic require constant firing in order to build up stacks, all stacks are dropped in any turn when the minigun is not used. This conflicts with the flexibility of this build to use melee or ranged depending on the situation, e.g. save ammo by using the hammer instead of a burst, or some enemies may have higher chance to be hit with melee weapons than ranged weapons.
Refurbished GlaShaG-9 – the only unique minigun, uses the common 9mm rounds. Tried it once and never used it again, for reasons mentioned above.
Weapon selection
After clearing the base game up to DC with sledgehammers, and looted every gun and ammo along the way, with the exception of Lunatic Mall and Gray Army Base, I had:
This is from memory, I didn't take note of the exact number of rounds I had, but the order of abundance from most to least is correct.
It would be folly to carry all these ammo and all those ARs/LMGs mentioned above on the character at all times, so weapons/ammos are selected for the mission at hand.
In my playthrough, I exclusively used hammers from level 1 until level 21, clearing through base Underrail only. South Underrail is much more melee friendly than Black Sea, with narrow corridors, tight corners, doors and vents available on almost every map. I did try out the N60 once, inside Lunatic Mall. On the second floor of the Lunatic Mall I managed to kill 5 lunatics with 1 N60 burst, that was exceptionally satisfying.
The Assault Rifles/LMGs came into play specifically for Expedition content. It is especially important for jet ski combat, since melee users cannot reach mobs on land when on a jet ski, and cannot reach mobs in/on the sea while on land. In anticipation of ranged jet ski combat, in my playthrough I bought a Devastator (the high Mercantile skill helped discounted the price to its lowest), immediately went over to Abandoned Waterway Facility to obtain and install BArm Large Jet Shocks for maximum stability on a jet ski (96%?). This turns the Devastator into a mobile shooting platform, and is terrific for skirmishes and raids against the denizens of the Black Sea.
Riding on a Devastator, I brought the refurbished KH416 and a Bullet Strap Belt to bear against the natives. I brought an Assault Rifle, as ARs are much accurate at range than LMGs. The KH416 was chosen as it uses 5mm ammo, and I wanted to conserve 7.62mm ammo for the N60 Warthog. The slightly lower damage on the KH416 was not an issue, as the natives do not sport much armor. It was so much easier than other runs that I had done on foot. Half of the natives are melee only, and cannot reach the Devastator at all; the Devastator provides good cover against crossbow users; balistae are the biggest threat, but easily dispatched with a KH416 burst or Fusion Cannon blast; the shamans protect themselves against the AR rounds with Pseudo-spatial Projection, but PSP cannot protect them against the Fusion Cannon. Even when dismounted, the melee natives are very susceptible to the AR burst fire. Skaedars, for example, take at least 3 hammer hits to take down, with chance to hit about 83%, but the KH416 takes but 1 burst, which is at 95% accuracy, to take one down.
Most notable is that one time the natives got bottlenecked on a bridge. One fusion cannon blast from the Devastator, and 10 were dead.
I brought the N60 Warthog against Magnar and all the natives in that one map, as the KH416 did not have enough firepower to win against Magnar. I also brought the 99 7.62mm W2C ammo that I looted throughout the game and used them against Magnar. With W2C ammo, the N60 took just one burst to burst down Magnar in his first phase. With W2C ammo, the N60 took 3 bursts to take down Magnar in his second phase.
I brought the refurbished Steyr-Auch, but without Bullet Strap Belt, to the Crimson Meadow Horticulture Center. I needed an accurate ranged attack to quickly dispatch locusts. Locusts can be scattered all around the character, and running after each of them with a hammer is too tiresome. Locusts die in 1 shot, so it makes no sense to bring an LMG either. The best candidate for this mission is also the KH416 assault rifle, as it has +10% precision, and uses 12 AP for 1 shot, hence taking out up to 4 locusts per turn. However, I had just expended 2000+ 5mm rounds for the natives, and 5mm rounds were running low. So, the Steyr-Auch is a close-second, also sporting +10% precision. 16 AP per shot means up to 3 locusts per turn, not bad. Last but not least, the Steyr-Auch has the highest range of all ARs, perfect for this mission.
I brought the N60 Warthog against spiders in LemCo, and in the spider cave. The spiders do not have much mechanical protection, and any gun will do, but I chose the N60 because 7.62mm is the most common ammo type that I had looted, and the N60 offers the most damage for each 7.62mm round. In the naval mines area I managed to kill 5 spiders with one N60 burst, that was another very satisfying moment.
I brought the N60 Warthog to Fetid Marsh to shoot down the Sea Wyrms. The N60 had enough damage that Sea Wyrms can be brought down in one burst. The locusts were a pain though, as I did not want to waste N60 bursts on them, so I ran after each of them with a hammer instead.
I used the N60 Warthog to fight Tchort. Used Expose Weakness against Tchort, and 2 N60 bursts were enough to win the fight. No solving the mutagen puzzle, no destroying mutagen tanks. The damage on the N60 is really good.
Build explanation – Attributes
....continued in the next post
https://underrail.info/build/?HhADBAoDBQVQUMKRAMKgwqDCoMKgAAAAAAAAAA8AAAAAAADCoMKgJGNQDQ4SFcKjScOhw54nCETCtnzin4QB4p-iBOK1rgrfvA
Overview
Among the various unique weapons in Underrail, in my opinion, sledgehammers, assault rifles, LMGs and Miniguns are exceptionally blessed. They have multiple powerful uniques that are good enough for end game, that are also not obtained at the end of the game. This build is crafted to take advantage of this.
And since there is no need to craft weapons, may as well bring it a step further, and do away with crafted armors, crafted medicines, crafted everything. Turning it into a no crafting build.
Played this on Hard Oddity and was smooth sailing the whole way, but gave up at Heavy Duty content as it was too hard for this build.
Weapon review
This build is first and foremost defined by its weapons. With 18 Strength this build can use every hammer/AR/LMG/Minigun in the game, Strength requirements be damned.
Weapon review - Sledgehammers
Sledgehammers will always need to be paired with Lifting Belt. 5 less AP for every hammer swing is too good to pass up.
Quake - if I had to select just 1 hammer for the whole game, this would be it.
- Accessible very early, can be obtained immediately after Depot A.
- Locked behind a difficult combat encounter with Gubbins and several Lurkers. However, the encounter has some narrow corridors, tight doorways and two separate groups, so cheese such as poison caltrops, bear traps, firebombing whole corridors, assassinating group by group, LOS abuse, etc. can be liberally applied to tackle this encounter, even at a low level.
- Great damage when obtained during level 10+, still decent damage even when reaching end-game.
- Good critical damage bonus that will be good for a critical build, although not done in this build.
- With Lifting Belt and Tabi Boots, Quake uses 17 AP per swing. The 17 AP cost per swing, while not as ideal as 16 AP, is still a comfortable value to work with. Without adrenaline shot, Quake can only make 2 hits in the first turn, however, from the second turn onwards, as long as there are APs leftover from the previous turn, Quake is still able to make 3 attacks per turn. With adrenaline shot, Quake is also able to make 4 attacks from the first turn onwards. Also, Quake is still able to make 2 attacks when dazed.
- Quake's Shockwave does decent AOE damage. Do not expect to kill whole groups by itself, however, it can be used to finish off low health enemies by attacking another enemy next to it.
- Quake can carry The Beast encounter by itself, thanks to its Shockwave ignoring mech DT and half the mech DR. The AOE damage is great since the Bladelings tend to clump up over time.
- Quake is also great for defense. The hammer itself has a 50% chance to daze upon hit, and Shockwave dazes (its description says it has a chance, but from my playthroughs it seems to be just 100%?) every enemy that it hits. Dazed enemies have less AP and much less movement points to attack the player with.
- Shockwave destroys walls and obstacles, thus saving on Charons to buy TNTs, and saving on carry capacity to carry TNTs around. Also no need to go back to civilization to replenish TNT stock after destroying a couple of walls; just replenish Quake's battery. This is a major factor why I will pick Quake as The One Hammer, and even if my character uses other hammers, I will still bring along Quake just to smash walls.
Mindcracker – the hammer to enable the magical 16 AP hammer attacks with lifting belt and tabi boots, meaning 3 hammer attacks in a turn, every turn, even without buffs or consumables. However, Mindcracker is locked behind a hard combat encounter with numerous Azuridae Goliathus. In my playthrough, I only managed to get by this encounter after level 20, and by using the refurbished N60 Warthog to burst down the Goliathus and their Pseudo Spatial Projection stacks.
Also, Mindcracker's damage falls off late-game, in comparision to Barbaton and Balor's Hammer.
Barbaton – Excellent damage, even higher than quality 160 Steel Sledgehammer! Costs the same amount of AP per swing too! With Lifting Belt and Tabi Boots, it reduces down to 19 AP per swing, which unfortunately for me is an awkward value to work with. The attack rotation consists of 2 swings, left over 10 AP -> 3 swings -> 2 swings, left over 10 AP -> 3 swings, etc. I somehow always end up on the 2 swing turn when 3 swings are needed right in the moment. Also, when dazed, the character is left with only 35 AP and only able to do 1 swing.
On a side note, Barbaton would be a good hammer for a crit build, since it has increased critical chance and increased bonus critical damage. Not done in this build.
Balor's Hammer – I have seen the many legends of this hammer, but I am not keen on it, as it ties Rathound Regalia to the character's armor slot, thus denying the character valuable bio or acid protection that other armors offer. Moreover, the character has to constantly feed on rathound barbecues or bison milk; stocking these items, keep tracking of remaining stocks and their duration on the character is a hassle. Last but not least, it has a weight of 50. Together with Quake for destroying walls, these 2 hammers already occupy a weight of 75 in the character's inventory. That is easily more than half the carry capacity of 3 Str, no Pack Rathound, no Waistpack builds.
Regardless, I tried it out once in The Compound. The unarmored lunatics outside The Compound takes but 1 hit each to kill, which is excellent, while each soldier inside The Compound takes 2 hits to kill, owing to their mechanical resistance. I could see this hammer as very good for lower level content, perhaps next time I would make more use of it.
Weapon review - Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles need to be paired with Bullet Strap Belt, as their high rates of fire empty the ARs' magazines very quickly. This becomes a problem when pairing an AR with a hammer in the other weapon slot, as both weapons are competing for the same belt slot.
In my playthrough, I used the K&H KH416 to great effect decimating the natives from the safety of my Devastator Jet Ski. Steyr-Auch was also very useful during the raid into Horticulture Center. More details below.
Refurbished AKX – Just an average assault rifle. On the plus side, it uses the most common 7.62mm ammo, and is easily obtained at mid game after the Free Drones or Protectorate questline. However, its combat stats are simply average: no extra burst shots, no bonus burst precision. Moreover, Its gimmick of infinite durability is not attractive to this build, since this build can already save on durability by switching to the hammer instead of the assault rifle.
Refurbished K&H KH416 – In my opinion the best assault rifle for this build. Decent damage (felt a bit lacking due to its caliber, just a bit), 10 shots per burst with Full Auto, has +10% Burst precision, and only uses 36 AP per burst. As long as the character has 1 AP saved from the previous turn, the character can still burst when even dazed. This assault rifle also faces no competition from LMG and Miniguns, as no LMGs/Miniguns use 5mm ammo. Last but not least, this assault rifle can be obtained fairly early, at the Black Crawler base fight with Gorsky.
Refurbished N16 – I forgot to obtain this during my playthrough, but it makes no difference for this build. It is simply inferior to the refurbished KH416: uses the same 5mm ammo, but less damage, less burst shots, less ammo capacity. N16 has higher critical damage bonus, but this build is not built for criticals. N16 also has a gimmick of improving the damage bonus of Concentrated Fire, but this build does not have Concentrated Fire. All in all, straight up inferior to KH416 for this build.
Refurbished NF F2500 – On paper, it makes an excellent assault rifle; good damage, 10 shots per burst, uses the most common 7.62mm ammo, even restores AP on shoot. I suppose Its minimal strength requirement of 4 is also a defining feature; not applicable for this build, but 3 strength builds can effectively use this assault rifle with a Rathound Regalia or Rathound Barbeque. However, among this list, it is obtained the latest in the game. In my playthrough I completed Expedition before heading to Deep Caverns, rendering this assault rifle useless even after obtaining it.
Refurbished Steyr-Auch – this is a hard assault rifle to love. In my opinion it has the best damage among the assault rifles in this list due to its high damage ceiling, it also has the best range, it uses the abundant 9mm ammo, which the only gun competing for it is the GlaShaG-9 (which has its own problems, explained below). Being very accessible, it is also the first gun in this list that I obtained in my playthrough. Upon using it though, its flaws are obvious: no extra burst rounds, only 7 rounds per burst with Full-Auto feel subpar after using the KH416. This assault rifle also uses 48 AP per burst, which is too high, leaving no AP for consumables or grenades. More importantly, the character will not be able to burst at all if dazed, even with 10 AP saved from the previous turn. Despite these flaws, it is still a servicable assault rifle, and still better than the AKX in my opinion if nothing else is available.
Weapon review - LMGs
The main advantage of pairing a hammer with an LMG is that LMGs have high ammo capacity, and does not need constant reloads (especially when alternating between melee and shooting in a single fight). Hence LMGs do not need to compete with Lifting Belt in the belt slot.
The main disadvantage is the lack of a single shot mode.
In my playthrough, the N60 was used to win the Magnar fight. It was also used when fighting serpents around Fetid Marsh, and fighting spiders all around Black Sea that loves to keep the character permanently rooted in place.
Refurbished Brno LMG – the only gun in this list that uses 8.6mm ammo. Decent damage, +5% burst precision, 30 AP cost means an attack rotation of 1 burst -> save up 10 AP -> 2 burst -> repeat without adrenaline shot. Shortest optimal range among all the guns in this list. Would have used it to expend 8.6mm ammo, but the entire game is over before I can finish expending all the other ammo types that were looted throughout the game.
Refurbished N60 Warthog – highly damaging LMG, no burst precision penalty unlike the MG3-42, lowest move and shoot penalty among the LMGs (but not by much). Uses the most common 7.62mm ammo. The biggest draw about this weapon has to be the damage; the lower bound is the same as the Brno at 38, but N60's upper bound is 72 while Brno's upper bound is only 44. The biggest drawback would have to be the strength requirement, which 2 higher than other LMGs, however, it is a non-issue for this build. I took this LMG as my main expenditure of 7.62ammo. Still can burst when dazed. With adrenaline shot, it can burst twice a turn.
Refurbished MG3-42 – uses 7.62mm same as N60, damage is lower than N60, more burst precision penalty than the N60. Balanced by being able to output far more bullets than the N60, since it has 5 innate extra shots per burst, and more importantly, it takes 25 AP for one burst. Implying that even without adrenaline shot, it can fire 2 bursts per turn, every turn, indefinitely. Tried it out once for Heavy Duty content at level 30, was disappointed with the damage. It was constantly hitting for 1xx damage per hit, sometimes dropping below 100, while the N60 was constantly hitting for 1xx damage per hit, sometimes going above 200.
Weapon review - Miniguns
With 18 Str, this build is well suited to handle miniguns, the biggest guns in Underrail with the highest strength requirements. However, in practice, miniguns do not gel with this build. Miniguns' wind up mechanic require constant firing in order to build up stacks, all stacks are dropped in any turn when the minigun is not used. This conflicts with the flexibility of this build to use melee or ranged depending on the situation, e.g. save ammo by using the hammer instead of a burst, or some enemies may have higher chance to be hit with melee weapons than ranged weapons.
Refurbished GlaShaG-9 – the only unique minigun, uses the common 9mm rounds. Tried it once and never used it again, for reasons mentioned above.
Weapon selection
After clearing the base game up to DC with sledgehammers, and looted every gun and ammo along the way, with the exception of Lunatic Mall and Gray Army Base, I had:
- ~2.8k 7.62mm rounds
- ~2.6k 9mm rounds
- ~2.5k 5mm rounds
- ~1.6k 8.6mm rounds
This is from memory, I didn't take note of the exact number of rounds I had, but the order of abundance from most to least is correct.
It would be folly to carry all these ammo and all those ARs/LMGs mentioned above on the character at all times, so weapons/ammos are selected for the mission at hand.
In my playthrough, I exclusively used hammers from level 1 until level 21, clearing through base Underrail only. South Underrail is much more melee friendly than Black Sea, with narrow corridors, tight corners, doors and vents available on almost every map. I did try out the N60 once, inside Lunatic Mall. On the second floor of the Lunatic Mall I managed to kill 5 lunatics with 1 N60 burst, that was exceptionally satisfying.
The Assault Rifles/LMGs came into play specifically for Expedition content. It is especially important for jet ski combat, since melee users cannot reach mobs on land when on a jet ski, and cannot reach mobs in/on the sea while on land. In anticipation of ranged jet ski combat, in my playthrough I bought a Devastator (the high Mercantile skill helped discounted the price to its lowest), immediately went over to Abandoned Waterway Facility to obtain and install BArm Large Jet Shocks for maximum stability on a jet ski (96%?). This turns the Devastator into a mobile shooting platform, and is terrific for skirmishes and raids against the denizens of the Black Sea.
Riding on a Devastator, I brought the refurbished KH416 and a Bullet Strap Belt to bear against the natives. I brought an Assault Rifle, as ARs are much accurate at range than LMGs. The KH416 was chosen as it uses 5mm ammo, and I wanted to conserve 7.62mm ammo for the N60 Warthog. The slightly lower damage on the KH416 was not an issue, as the natives do not sport much armor. It was so much easier than other runs that I had done on foot. Half of the natives are melee only, and cannot reach the Devastator at all; the Devastator provides good cover against crossbow users; balistae are the biggest threat, but easily dispatched with a KH416 burst or Fusion Cannon blast; the shamans protect themselves against the AR rounds with Pseudo-spatial Projection, but PSP cannot protect them against the Fusion Cannon. Even when dismounted, the melee natives are very susceptible to the AR burst fire. Skaedars, for example, take at least 3 hammer hits to take down, with chance to hit about 83%, but the KH416 takes but 1 burst, which is at 95% accuracy, to take one down.
Most notable is that one time the natives got bottlenecked on a bridge. One fusion cannon blast from the Devastator, and 10 were dead.
I brought the N60 Warthog against Magnar and all the natives in that one map, as the KH416 did not have enough firepower to win against Magnar. I also brought the 99 7.62mm W2C ammo that I looted throughout the game and used them against Magnar. With W2C ammo, the N60 took just one burst to burst down Magnar in his first phase. With W2C ammo, the N60 took 3 bursts to take down Magnar in his second phase.
I brought the refurbished Steyr-Auch, but without Bullet Strap Belt, to the Crimson Meadow Horticulture Center. I needed an accurate ranged attack to quickly dispatch locusts. Locusts can be scattered all around the character, and running after each of them with a hammer is too tiresome. Locusts die in 1 shot, so it makes no sense to bring an LMG either. The best candidate for this mission is also the KH416 assault rifle, as it has +10% precision, and uses 12 AP for 1 shot, hence taking out up to 4 locusts per turn. However, I had just expended 2000+ 5mm rounds for the natives, and 5mm rounds were running low. So, the Steyr-Auch is a close-second, also sporting +10% precision. 16 AP per shot means up to 3 locusts per turn, not bad. Last but not least, the Steyr-Auch has the highest range of all ARs, perfect for this mission.
I brought the N60 Warthog against spiders in LemCo, and in the spider cave. The spiders do not have much mechanical protection, and any gun will do, but I chose the N60 because 7.62mm is the most common ammo type that I had looted, and the N60 offers the most damage for each 7.62mm round. In the naval mines area I managed to kill 5 spiders with one N60 burst, that was another very satisfying moment.
I brought the N60 Warthog to Fetid Marsh to shoot down the Sea Wyrms. The N60 had enough damage that Sea Wyrms can be brought down in one burst. The locusts were a pain though, as I did not want to waste N60 bursts on them, so I ran after each of them with a hammer instead.
I used the N60 Warthog to fight Tchort. Used Expose Weakness against Tchort, and 2 N60 bursts were enough to win the fight. No solving the mutagen puzzle, no destroying mutagen tanks. The damage on the N60 is really good.
Build explanation – Attributes
| 18 Str | The core stat of a hammer user. Start with 10, end with 18. |
| 3 Dex | Dump stat. Melee users could always use 7 Dex for the Escape Artist feat, but this build is an exception, since Versatility allows for ranged weapons to be used even when the character is immobilized. |
| 4 Agi | Dump stat. Supposed to be 3 Agi, but I have one extra ability point with nowhere to go, so I placed it in Agi to remove the skill point penalty for stealth skill. |
| 10 Con | All of my builds have 10 Con and Thick Skull. 10 Con offers a good amount of health not to die in 1 hit from all the bullshit that Underrail throws at you. Thick skull explained below. |
| 3 Per | Dump stat. Although Per is requirement for the very useful burst feats, Suppressive Fire and Concentrated Fire, there isn't enough abliity points to go around. |
| 5 Wil | For the Bullet Trance feat. |
| 5 Int | For Versatility and Expose Weakness feats. |
....continued in the next post
12
Builds / Re: 3 PER Shotgun Tank
« on: February 07, 2024, 04:09:21 am »
Thanks for the shout out! 
Really glorious build this is!
Really glorious build this is!
13
Builds / Re: Do i need a proper build to finish the game on normal?
« on: January 25, 2024, 01:09:24 pm »
More than doable for normal, bro
Some guy already beat dominating mode with nothing but a crowbar, so yeah, on Normal, pretty much anything works.
If build is bad, make it up with tactics, cheese and multiple armor sets tailored against different enemies.
But your build is not bad at all. Perception should have been lowered to 3, but a waste of 2 points isn't that bad for Normal mode.
11 Wil is doable on Normal, one of the Bloodpsican builds feature 11 wil only. Could always use more points for more psi spell damage though.
11 int is really good, you should invest more into crafting skills to make use of the synergy from intelligence. Electronics especially, to craft an excellent psi headband.
Some guy already beat dominating mode with nothing but a crowbar, so yeah, on Normal, pretty much anything works.
If build is bad, make it up with tactics, cheese and multiple armor sets tailored against different enemies.
But your build is not bad at all. Perception should have been lowered to 3, but a waste of 2 points isn't that bad for Normal mode.
11 Wil is doable on Normal, one of the Bloodpsican builds feature 11 wil only. Could always use more points for more psi spell damage though.
11 int is really good, you should invest more into crafting skills to make use of the synergy from intelligence. Electronics especially, to craft an excellent psi headband.
14
Builds / Re: Paladin - hammer, magic, metal armor
« on: January 10, 2024, 02:18:09 am »Pros
- Electroshock hammers are one of the most versatile weapons in Underrail, usable against every enemy in the game.
- Lots of stuns
- Electrokinesis, which is a long range stun. Pairing up with premeditation will negate its high AP cost.
- Electrokinetic Imprint
- Taser
- Sledgehammer's 10% chance to stun on hit
- Dirty Kick
- Great mobility
- With only 2% armor penalty, tabi boots, Sprint and PTC, this build can reach 120+ movement points.
- Great well-rounded survivability
- This build does not have the crazy high DR/DT of full tripled reinforced tungsten armor, cannot dodge/evade as well as an 1k dodge/evasion character decked out in siphoner leather armor, and does not have the 1k health pool (in hard mode!) of my 3 Per 18(+2) Con shotgunner. Yet, this char, having a bit of everything, has a bit of defences against every situation in the game:
- Maxed dodge/evasion + tabi boots + adrenaline shot grant decent dodge/evade chances
- 10 Con and a Sturdy vest inside the Super Steel Armor provides good maximum health
- Super Steel Armor with Tchortist Bioscrubber provide moderate protection against each of the most common damage types in the game
- This build does not have the crazy high DR/DT of full tripled reinforced tungsten armor, cannot dodge/evade as well as an 1k dodge/evasion character decked out in siphoner leather armor, and does not have the 1k health pool (in hard mode!) of my 3 Per 18(+2) Con shotgunner. Yet, this char, having a bit of everything, has a bit of defences against every situation in the game:
Cons
- No ranged offensive capability.
- This build is very skill point intensive, so much so that crafting skills are deferred until late game. Explained above.
- The poor Paladin only gets to wear shiny metal armor towards the end of the game, early and mid game will be running around in tac vests looted from random Lunatics or Lurkers.
- You only have 3 perception, Tchorist bioscrubber reduces it by 2, and then further reduces detection by 50%. You will be stepping on every single trap in the game.
- Entanglement turns the character into a sitting duck. The Paladin does not have any ranged offensive capability, and can only wait out the duration of the entanglement. To add insult to injury, dodge and evasion are reduced to 0 while entangled. Entanglement is the Achilles Heel of this build. The Escape Artist feat would definitely be taken on this build if it does not need to divert so many precious points from Strength.
- If entanglement is the Achilles Heel of this build, then Giant Weavers are this build's worst nightmare. Giant Weavers typically come in numbers no less than three, and they take turns webbing the character, so much so that the character is forever entangled.
- Getting trapped in a Coil Spider's web implies reloading a save.
- Pseudo-spatial projection and uncanny dodge are the perfect counters to this build. Jackknife can be used to counter these two abilities by quickly removing PSP or uncanny dodge stacks.
- Sea Wyrms are the bane of this build. The sledgehammer cannot reach them if the character is on land, this build has no ranged capability, metal armor only has 5 acid threshold. In my playthough I just stealthed past them especially in Fetid Marsh.
15
Builds / Paladin - hammer, magic, metal armor
« on: January 10, 2024, 02:17:38 am »
Build
https://underrail.info/build/?Hg8DBgoDAwYAfQDCoMKgwqBkAAAAAHh4AAB4AC0ARgAATSRjYQ0qK8KHORItRS8AYgjCtnxg4p-EAeKnggLfvg
Overview
Played this on Normal classic difficulty to try out Heavy Duty end game content.
What better to try out Heavy Duty content than withone of the new Heavy Duty weapon types, such as LMGs and Miniguns Psi hammer build. Add in metal armor. A paladin is born.
Hammer
The Paladin smites his enemies with his hammer of justice.
Being no stranger to magic, the Paladin magically enchants his hammer (with an electroshock generator) to dish out additional magic (electric) damage with each strike.
A crafted end-game TiChrome Shock Sledgehammer is the defining weapon of this build. A shock hammer is the most versatile of weapons; it can be used against every enemy in the game. The high damage per hit means that no enemy mech DT is going to reduce its mechanical damage to 0; any armored enemy, organic or robot, is likely vulnerable to electricity damage; the only enemy type immune to electricity damage, coil spiders, are squishy and easily smashed flat. Meanwhile, a TiChrome hammer, together with Lifting belt and Tabi boots, results in the magical 16 AP hammer attacks (how is this even less than a TiChrome spear), allowing the sledgehammer user to attack 3 times a turn, on the first turn, without any buffs. A TiChrome shock hammer is simply a reliable death delivery machine, dependable when unbuffed, and devastating when used with PTC and adrenaline shot.
However, due to how skill point intensive this build is, this character does not actually get to use a tichrome shock hammer until late game. Until level 20+, this character instead relies on the excellent uniques and non-uniques found around Underrail. Right after completing Depot A, the character can immediately travel to the Mindcracker area to obtain a random durability 1500+ hammer. The area can be traversed to by going to Foundry entrance, then east, north (fight 4 dogs, easy fight), north, north, climb down the rocks, north. There will be a crashed boat in the center of the map with 4 random hammers, and at least one will be of durability 1500+. This can be a steel sledgehammer, a tungsten sledgehammer, or if lucky, an electroshock sledgehammer. And this hammer is essentially free: no hard fights, no requirements, no need to spend charons to buy. Just don't pull out the hammer at the end of this map to avoid swarms of Azuridae Goliaths. In my playthrough, I obtained a durability 1680 tungsten sledgehammer.
The next upgrade from this hammer is Quake: this is an excellent unique hammer that triggers an AOE shockwave on every hit. The shockwave does moderate damage, ignores mech DT and half of mech DR, and dazes enemies so that enemies have less AP to attack with when it becomes their turn. The shockwave also destroys rocks; so no need to purchase and carry around C4 to destroy rocks and other obstacles when adventuring around Underrail. Unfortunately, this hammer is locked behind a hard combat encounter with Gubbins at Upper Underrail. On the other hand, there are no other requirements to unlock this encounter; Gubbins can be tackled at any time after Depot A. I usually get the hammer from level 14 to level 16, depending on the cheese that I employ during the fight. After that, this hammer can essentially be used all the way until an end-game tichrome shock hammer is crafted.
Quake is so good that it alone will win The Beast fight, without any caltrops, bear traps or grenades, on Normal. On Hard a dozen bear traps and a couple of Mark III HE grenades looted from the nearby Ironheads and Lurkers are needed to avoid being pushed all the way to the end of the map with no more space to retreat to.
Magic
The Paladin has a variety of magic spells to aid in his quest. These magic spells are not his main method of slaying foes, but rather, augment his weapon and physical prowess in various ways.
With only 3 Wil, this build does not rely on psi abilities to do damage, but rather to provide CC or buffs. With 6 int, this build has a total of 5 innervation slots. The following psi abilities were chosen:
Psycho temporal contraction (with feat) is the bread and butter in this build, I used it almost every fight. As a melee build, this character is always in need of more movement points, and the extra 20 AP every turn means 1 extra hammer swing per turn. Although adrenaline shot also provided 20 AP per turn, I always used PTC first, because adrenaline shot has no movement point bonus, and adrenaline shot always resulted in fatigue at the end of 3 turns, versus PTC where it has a chance not to. In more hairy situations, I used PTC and adrenaline shot together for 90 AP every turn, equivalent to 5 hammer swings per turn, and it absolutely wrecked.
Stasis can be used to extend the 90AP PTC + Adrenaline shot streak by another one turn.
Electrokinetic Imprint is a low AP, low psi cost stun, useful against melee enemies in particular.
Electrokinesis is often paired with Premeditation for a 0 AP, long range stun.
In my playthrough, I innervated Limited Temporal Increment but did not use it much. In hindsight, I would have gotten more use out of Telekinetic grounding instead.
Armor
What is a knight without his armor? The Paladin deserves no less than a full suit of the most expensive metal armor.
Metal armor on a sledgehammer user is a bit of a contradiction in Underrail. Thematically it make sense for a high health character who is always in the forefront of danger to wear heavy armor for protection and become a tank in the process, but in Underrail, that heavy armor limits the movement points of the character. The heavier the armor, the less movement points the character has. The less movement points a melee user has, the less he can reach his enemies to hit them, thus lessening his ability to remove the danger. And sledgehammer users need all the movement points they can get. As such, I cheated a bit, and opted for a single plated Super Steel Armor. With fully specced Armor Sloping (2/2), a single plated Super Steel Armor has only 27% armor penalty. With 15% reduction from Nimble and 10% reduction from Body Weight Training, this character manages to reach only 2% armor penalty, while still displaying a metal armor as his avatar.
Yes, I said expensive metal armor, but I did not specify that it has 95% mechanical DR and 99% energy DR. My quality 171 super steel armor has 58%/21 mech, 32%/13 heat and 55%/14 energy. Not great, but this is still decent protection, and all for only 2% armor penalty, allowing the character to retain almost all his dodge, evasion, stealth and movement points. And I get to pretend to still be playing a metal armor build.
Here's the combat log of my Paladin tanking a Naga Protector for several turns. The super steel armor mech DR + conditioning feat helps mitigate a fair bit of melee damage. The evasion + armor helps with mitigating damage from the Naga's fusion cannon:
Build explanation: attributes
Build explanation: skills
The order of skill point investment is very tight for this build, as this build needs points for everything: offence, defense, crafting, psi, stealth! It is not possible to invest evenly into every needed skill every level up, especially when there are skills that demand full investment every level up (melee, dodge, evasion). Fortunately, sledgehammer users are blessed with good non crafted hammers that can simply be looted around Underrail, as explained above, so crafting skills can be prioritised last.
The priority of skill point allocation as follows, from highest to lowest:
This skill order implies that early and mid game has to be done entirely without crafting, but in return, the character can obtain all his psi abilities by level 12, and can stealth and throw stuff reasonably well from early-mid game onwards. In my playthrough, the only equipment that I crafted were the best in slot items (tichrome shock hammer, super steel armor, 1.5k capacity shield emitter).
Build explanation: feats
Build explanation: equipment
Weapon 1 – Random hammer looted around Underrail (early game), Quake (mid game), TiChrome Shock Hammer (end-game)
Weapon 2 – Jackknife
Used as a low AP attack to eat away Pseudo-spatial projection or uncanny dodge stacks if any enemy casted it.
Headgear – Tchortist Bioscrubber
Very good Bio protection, bonus health, bonus healing, 0% armor penalty. The bio protection is great against toxic gas clouds and enemies in the Black Sea (locusts, cough cough). This headgear and a super steel armor offers decent protection against a variety of combat encounters (except foes with acid damage), resulting in the character needing less armor sets to carry around and change into.
Armor – Sturdy Super Steel Armor
As explained above, a single plated Super Steel Armor for total 2% armor penalty. Super Steel Armor offers modest protection against mechanical, heat and energy damage. Sturdy vest was chosen over other vests primarily because it adds no additional armor penalty. Could have chosen insulated vest for protection against one more element (Tchortist Bioscrubber covers Bio, Super Steel Armor covers mech, heat and energy), but cold damage is rare, and the health bonus from Sturdy vest is not insignificant.
Belt – Lifting Belt
The only belt for sledgehammer users.
Footwear – Infused Greater Siphoner Tabi Boots
Infused greater siphoner tabi boots would be the best footwear for this build, due to the slow immunity, more heat and energy resistances to compliment the super steel armor, acid resistance which is lacking from the other armor pieces, and extra dodge and evasion higher than other tabi boots. Unfortunately I was too lazy to craft one during my playthrough and I ended the game with a black cloth tabi boots.
Energy Shield Emitter - 1.5k capacity shield emitter
With high electronics skill this character is able to craft a 1.5k capacity end-game shield emitter.
...continued in next post
https://underrail.info/build/?Hg8DBgoDAwYAfQDCoMKgwqBkAAAAAHh4AAB4AC0ARgAATSRjYQ0qK8KHORItRS8AYgjCtnxg4p-EAeKnggLfvg
Overview
Played this on Normal classic difficulty to try out Heavy Duty end game content.
What better to try out Heavy Duty content than with
Hammer
The Paladin smites his enemies with his hammer of justice.
Being no stranger to magic, the Paladin magically enchants his hammer (with an electroshock generator) to dish out additional magic (electric) damage with each strike.
A crafted end-game TiChrome Shock Sledgehammer is the defining weapon of this build. A shock hammer is the most versatile of weapons; it can be used against every enemy in the game. The high damage per hit means that no enemy mech DT is going to reduce its mechanical damage to 0; any armored enemy, organic or robot, is likely vulnerable to electricity damage; the only enemy type immune to electricity damage, coil spiders, are squishy and easily smashed flat. Meanwhile, a TiChrome hammer, together with Lifting belt and Tabi boots, results in the magical 16 AP hammer attacks (how is this even less than a TiChrome spear), allowing the sledgehammer user to attack 3 times a turn, on the first turn, without any buffs. A TiChrome shock hammer is simply a reliable death delivery machine, dependable when unbuffed, and devastating when used with PTC and adrenaline shot.
However, due to how skill point intensive this build is, this character does not actually get to use a tichrome shock hammer until late game. Until level 20+, this character instead relies on the excellent uniques and non-uniques found around Underrail. Right after completing Depot A, the character can immediately travel to the Mindcracker area to obtain a random durability 1500+ hammer. The area can be traversed to by going to Foundry entrance, then east, north (fight 4 dogs, easy fight), north, north, climb down the rocks, north. There will be a crashed boat in the center of the map with 4 random hammers, and at least one will be of durability 1500+. This can be a steel sledgehammer, a tungsten sledgehammer, or if lucky, an electroshock sledgehammer. And this hammer is essentially free: no hard fights, no requirements, no need to spend charons to buy. Just don't pull out the hammer at the end of this map to avoid swarms of Azuridae Goliaths. In my playthrough, I obtained a durability 1680 tungsten sledgehammer.
The next upgrade from this hammer is Quake: this is an excellent unique hammer that triggers an AOE shockwave on every hit. The shockwave does moderate damage, ignores mech DT and half of mech DR, and dazes enemies so that enemies have less AP to attack with when it becomes their turn. The shockwave also destroys rocks; so no need to purchase and carry around C4 to destroy rocks and other obstacles when adventuring around Underrail. Unfortunately, this hammer is locked behind a hard combat encounter with Gubbins at Upper Underrail. On the other hand, there are no other requirements to unlock this encounter; Gubbins can be tackled at any time after Depot A. I usually get the hammer from level 14 to level 16, depending on the cheese that I employ during the fight. After that, this hammer can essentially be used all the way until an end-game tichrome shock hammer is crafted.
Quake is so good that it alone will win The Beast fight, without any caltrops, bear traps or grenades, on Normal. On Hard a dozen bear traps and a couple of Mark III HE grenades looted from the nearby Ironheads and Lurkers are needed to avoid being pushed all the way to the end of the map with no more space to retreat to.
Magic
The Paladin has a variety of magic spells to aid in his quest. These magic spells are not his main method of slaying foes, but rather, augment his weapon and physical prowess in various ways.
With only 3 Wil, this build does not rely on psi abilities to do damage, but rather to provide CC or buffs. With 6 int, this build has a total of 5 innervation slots. The following psi abilities were chosen:
- Psycho Temporal Contraction (with feat)
- Stasis
- Electrokinetic Imprint
- Electrokinesis
- Limited Temporal Increment/Telekinetic grounding
Psycho temporal contraction (with feat) is the bread and butter in this build, I used it almost every fight. As a melee build, this character is always in need of more movement points, and the extra 20 AP every turn means 1 extra hammer swing per turn. Although adrenaline shot also provided 20 AP per turn, I always used PTC first, because adrenaline shot has no movement point bonus, and adrenaline shot always resulted in fatigue at the end of 3 turns, versus PTC where it has a chance not to. In more hairy situations, I used PTC and adrenaline shot together for 90 AP every turn, equivalent to 5 hammer swings per turn, and it absolutely wrecked.
Stasis can be used to extend the 90AP PTC + Adrenaline shot streak by another one turn.
Electrokinetic Imprint is a low AP, low psi cost stun, useful against melee enemies in particular.
Electrokinesis is often paired with Premeditation for a 0 AP, long range stun.
In my playthrough, I innervated Limited Temporal Increment but did not use it much. In hindsight, I would have gotten more use out of Telekinetic grounding instead.
Armor
What is a knight without his armor? The Paladin deserves no less than a full suit of the most expensive metal armor.
Metal armor on a sledgehammer user is a bit of a contradiction in Underrail. Thematically it make sense for a high health character who is always in the forefront of danger to wear heavy armor for protection and become a tank in the process, but in Underrail, that heavy armor limits the movement points of the character. The heavier the armor, the less movement points the character has. The less movement points a melee user has, the less he can reach his enemies to hit them, thus lessening his ability to remove the danger. And sledgehammer users need all the movement points they can get. As such, I cheated a bit, and opted for a single plated Super Steel Armor. With fully specced Armor Sloping (2/2), a single plated Super Steel Armor has only 27% armor penalty. With 15% reduction from Nimble and 10% reduction from Body Weight Training, this character manages to reach only 2% armor penalty, while still displaying a metal armor as his avatar.
Yes, I said expensive metal armor, but I did not specify that it has 95% mechanical DR and 99% energy DR. My quality 171 super steel armor has 58%/21 mech, 32%/13 heat and 55%/14 energy. Not great, but this is still decent protection, and all for only 2% armor penalty, allowing the character to retain almost all his dodge, evasion, stealth and movement points. And I get to pretend to still be playing a metal armor build.
Here's the combat log of my Paladin tanking a Naga Protector for several turns. The super steel armor mech DR + conditioning feat helps mitigate a fair bit of melee damage. The evasion + armor helps with mitigating damage from the Naga's fusion cannon:
Quote
Naga Protector hits Paladin for 91 mechanical damage.
Paladin resists 177 mechanical damage.
Naga Protector hits Paladin for 105 mechanical damage.
Paladin resists 206 mechanical damage.
Naga Protector hits Paladin for 124 mechanical damage.
Paladin resists 242 mechanical damage.
Naga Protector hits Paladin for 85 mechanical damage.
Paladin resists 168 mechanical damage.
Naga Protector critically hits Paladin for 106 damage (35 Energy 71 Electricity).
Paladin evades 181 damage (95 Energy 86 Electricity).
Paladin resists 43 energy damage.
Build explanation: attributes
| 17 Str | The core stat of a hammer user. Start the game with 9, end the game with 17. |
| 3 Dex | This build really needs the Escape Artist feat, but in order to do that, will have to sacrifice points from Str, thus gimping melee damage and hit chance. It is a massive pain to do without Escape Artist for this build, but will have to make do. |
| 6 Agi | For dodge, evasion, stealth, and the Sprint feat. Would have put more points into Agi for higher effective dodge/evasion/stealth, but alas, there are no more ability points left. |
| 10 Con | All of my builds have 10 Con and Thick Skull. 10 con offers a good amount of health not to die in 1 hit from all the bullshit that Underrail throws at you. Thick skull explained below. |
| 3 Per | Dump stat. Useless for this build. |
| 3 Wil | Dump stat. Useless for this build. |
| 6 Int | For armor sloping, to achieve 2% armor penalty while in metal armor. Rational explained above. |
Build explanation: skills
| Throwing 125 (112) | 110 effective throwing enables throwing grenades with 90% precision. |
| Melee 160 (336) | Of course, it is a melee build. |
| Dodge 160 (187) | Good passive defense throughout the game, this little dodge would not drop enemy hit chance to 10%, however, 30% reduction in hit chances is still 30%. |
| Evasion 160 (187) | Good passive defense throughout the game, reduces damage from explosions too. |
| Stealth 100 (116) | 100+ is my personal benchmark to be able to stealth effectively in all areas. |
| Mechanics 120 (140) | For crafting an end-game tichrome hammer and super steel armor. |
| Electronics 120 (140) | For crafting an end-game electroshock hammer and a 1.5k capacity energy shield. |
| Tailoring 120 (140) | For crafting an end-game super steel armor and tabi boots. |
| Psychokinesis 45 (47) | For Telekinetic Grounding (30), Electrokinesis (30), and Electrokinetic Imprint (45) |
| Temporal Manipulation 70 (66) | For Limited Temporal Increment (35), Psycho-temporal Contraction (55), and Stasis (70) |
| Merchantile 77(90) | For unlocking end-game components for crafting. Wear Large Waist Pack to reach 105, the highest necessary to unlock Efreitor Hanna. |
The order of skill point investment is very tight for this build, as this build needs points for everything: offence, defense, crafting, psi, stealth! It is not possible to invest evenly into every needed skill every level up, especially when there are skills that demand full investment every level up (melee, dodge, evasion). Fortunately, sledgehammer users are blessed with good non crafted hammers that can simply be looted around Underrail, as explained above, so crafting skills can be prioritised last.
The priority of skill point allocation as follows, from highest to lowest:
- Melee, dodge and evasion, full investment every level up
- Throwing, to reach 90% throwing precision as soon as possible
- Stealth, to reach around 100+ as soon as possible (100+ is my personal benchmark, can be higher or lower as you please)
- Psychokinesis, to reach 45 as soon as possible (Electrokinetic imprint has highest requirement, 45)
- Temporal manipulation, to reach 70 as soon as possible (Stasis has highest requirement, 70)
- Mercantile, to reach 105 effective with a Large Waist Pack as soon as possible. The benefit of investing into Mercantile first over crafting skills, is that once Constantine unlocks his special merchandise, a high quality tabi boots (durability 2200+ to 2400) can regularly be bought from him. I even managed to buy a 1k capacity energy shield emitter from him by refreshing his merchandise many, many, many, many times.
- Mechanics, electronics and tailoring to craft end game gear
This skill order implies that early and mid game has to be done entirely without crafting, but in return, the character can obtain all his psi abilities by level 12, and can stealth and throw stuff reasonably well from early-mid game onwards. In my playthrough, the only equipment that I crafted were the best in slot items (tichrome shock hammer, super steel armor, 1.5k capacity shield emitter).
Build explanation: feats
| Nimble | Used to achieve 2% total armor penalty while wearing Super Steel armor. Explained above. |
| Thick Skull | All of my builds have 10 Con and Thick Skull. Getting stunned in this game is a death sentence, and I don't like using bullheads because my fights typically last longer than 3 turns, and crafting them requires fishing. |
| Sure Step | A nice QoL feat that I take on my builds when I have feat points to spare. Caltrops is a very good tool that I abuse, and Sure Step saves me the headache from having to traverse my own caltrop filled corridor after winning a fight, or traversing through the caltrop corridor to chase down an enemy. Sure Feet also lets me survive Depot A, with its mutants spilling huge puddles of acid everywhere during and after a fight. |
| Dirty Kick | I love this feat on melee builds. Its a very good CC move that uses up no utility slot. Lasts 2 turns on human males, which occurs more often than not, because a huge chunk of enemies in the game are human males. Also, I always use this feat to cheese the arena. The arena consists of only human males for the gladiator fights, and a 2 turn stun is a guaranteed death sentence for all of them. |
| Premeditation | Pairs very well with Electrokinesis to become a 0-AP, long range stun for 1 turn. On other smaller fights where I knew I would not be using Electrokinesis or Stasis, I would use Premeditation on PTC to save some PSI points. |
| Psycho-temporal Acceleration | This feat was chosen as soon as it became available, it is too good. With this feat PTC becomes a mainstay of the build, used in almost every fight. |
| Sprint | A staple on melee builds. When situations call for it, I would use PTC and Sprint together. With 2% armor penalty, the movement points from tabi boots, PTC and Sprint, this character reaches well over 120+ movement points. |
| Expose Weakness | Only for very armored targets such as Dreadnaughts, Industrial Bots and Naga Protectors. Moderately armored targets such as heavy armor users, plasma sentries, and handmaidens do not need Expose Weakness at all. Even against Strongmen, this feat was not needed as the electricity damage from a electroshock hammer will decimate them. As such, this feat can be taken later in the game, and even postponing its acquisition to level 20+ is possible. |
| Pummel (5/5 spec in AP reduction) | A fully specced Pummel works like a free attack every 3 turns, and is great for finishing off foes with just a little health remaining. Pummel works best with electroshock hammers, as Pummel's 50% reduction in damage does not apply to the electricity damage. |
| Armor Sloping (2/2 spec) | Used to achieve 2% total armor penalty while wearing Super Steel armor. Explained above. |
| Quick Pockets | Lifting belt is mandatory for sledgehammer builds, but it does not provide any additional utility slots. For sledgehammer users, Quick Pockets is a good QoL feat, as the character can have 3 utility slots instead of 2. |
| Conditioning | With 10 Con, condition provides 15% mechanical, cold and heat damage reduction. This damage reduction is applied after armor. Not great, but not insignificant either. Many claim this feat is useless, but personally I like this feat a lot, I won many encounters with only a sliver of health left, and would have died if not for this feat. I only take Conditioning if there are spare feat points though. |
| Weaponsmith, Survival Instincts, Super Slam | There are the dump feats; this build does not rely on crits, so Weaponsmith and Survival Instincts are simply bonus damage from time to time. I took Super Slam at level 30 on my playthrough, but by then the game is already over. Should have swapped one of these feats for Fast Metabolism though. |
| Increased Strength | Necessary to reach 17 Str total. |
| Body Weight Training | Used to achieve 2% total armor penalty while wearing Super Steel armor. Explained above. |
Build explanation: equipment
Weapon 1 – Random hammer looted around Underrail (early game), Quake (mid game), TiChrome Shock Hammer (end-game)
Weapon 2 – Jackknife
Used as a low AP attack to eat away Pseudo-spatial projection or uncanny dodge stacks if any enemy casted it.
Headgear – Tchortist Bioscrubber
Very good Bio protection, bonus health, bonus healing, 0% armor penalty. The bio protection is great against toxic gas clouds and enemies in the Black Sea (locusts, cough cough). This headgear and a super steel armor offers decent protection against a variety of combat encounters (except foes with acid damage), resulting in the character needing less armor sets to carry around and change into.
Armor – Sturdy Super Steel Armor
As explained above, a single plated Super Steel Armor for total 2% armor penalty. Super Steel Armor offers modest protection against mechanical, heat and energy damage. Sturdy vest was chosen over other vests primarily because it adds no additional armor penalty. Could have chosen insulated vest for protection against one more element (Tchortist Bioscrubber covers Bio, Super Steel Armor covers mech, heat and energy), but cold damage is rare, and the health bonus from Sturdy vest is not insignificant.
Belt – Lifting Belt
The only belt for sledgehammer users.
Footwear – Infused Greater Siphoner Tabi Boots
Infused greater siphoner tabi boots would be the best footwear for this build, due to the slow immunity, more heat and energy resistances to compliment the super steel armor, acid resistance which is lacking from the other armor pieces, and extra dodge and evasion higher than other tabi boots. Unfortunately I was too lazy to craft one during my playthrough and I ended the game with a black cloth tabi boots.
Energy Shield Emitter - 1.5k capacity shield emitter
With high electronics skill this character is able to craft a 1.5k capacity end-game shield emitter.
...continued in next post
Pages: [1] 2