Sniper/Shotgun Build questions

[Argonaut]

I played to about level 20 with a sniper/shotgun character with a lot of psy and was having a blast but felt my build was very in-optimal and I had already wasted skill points and feats so I decided to start over and optimize it a little bit. I'll be using this character to finish my first playthrough but I have a few questions for the veterans out there.

Currently its looking like this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgUFCgULAwfChwAAAAAAUF9kAAB4eDxQeAAAfkYAAFgrASg5JDUZR1MpwrDClirCh34zS8KcCuKitQLip5YF4qeXA-KxlgTis6wB378

Now as far as combat goes I'm not sure about a few choices. I don't know if 10 agi for hit and run, blitz and sprint is better than getting 7 will for the op 4 turn walls from psychokinesis + stuns from electrokinesis and tk punch(action economy VS battlefield control really). Temporal is mainly for the haste buff and stasis while thermoD is for cryostasis and thermodynamic destabilization although I'm unsure if the damage will scale enough at only 3 will.

After that I'm mainly concerned with maxing or avoiding evasion. With my first character I had 40 points in it but felt like I could have avoided it completely as I had force user and with shooting spree and a crafted corsair + vindicator I could one shot something, grenade and turtle for enough time to get all my cooldowns back + restealth, after which there where usually few enough enemies that between TK punch, cryostasis, and electrokinesis with shooting spree I rarely took a hit. I did get destroyed by some of the grenadier/xbox enemies but the prior was solved by a powerful shield and the latter by becoming my primary targets. I'm very tempted to go for 3 con as I think the 2 extra stat points will help a lot as long as I can get past the early game but because I'm not going so heavy into psy this time and focusing more on guns and perception I'm not entirely sure I will have as much control over the battlefield.

I would also like to get the 'best' ending for this playthrough, and I've read you need a decent amount of persuasion for it but haven't seen any numbers thrown around.

Any advice?

[TheAverageGortsby]

So, you need the 5 Str for your shotguns, but 4 or 5 is generally a bad number for a stat to be at unless you have a specific reason to do so.  It's better to min/max a bit and pull that Dex and Con down to 3 each and free up 4 more points.  Then you could get 7 Will and still have Blitz, if you wanted.

I wouldn't get Blitz.  If you're willing to pick up psi as a support set, then I'd dump Agi entirely, in fact, because psi haste is so much better than Sprint and Hit and Run and Blitz combined.  Well, I might keep 6 Agi for Sprint if I had nowhere else to spend points, but I'd rather put those points into Int and Will if, like you, I wanted to have a good amount of Persuasion on tap (you want  to be able to buff up to a little over 100 effective skill to hit all the checks in-game).

If you were willing to do a little bit of gear shuffling and were willing to do your crafting back at home where you get your skill bonuses, then I'd think you'd do much better with a setup like this: http://underrail.info/build/?HgUHAwULBwjChyMAAAAAUE9LAEZfXyJHXwAtwqBGRgA8KwEoJFM1KcKwwpYqwod-M0vCnOKitQLfvw

This'll get you all your Mercantile thresholds and all your Persuasion thresholds, while also allowing you to pick up Grenadier and Quick Tinkering, both of which will allow you to control the battle field significantly (through more frequent grenades, obviously, but also through setting down traps mid-combat in case things start to get out of control), while also giving you just enough Psychokinesis to get the electricity trap, which is also really great for chokepoint control.  It also pulls back your overspending in Lockpicking and Hacking so you have a few more points to go around. This is a more min/maxed build than what you made, but it'll do everything if you're willing to juggle a few things here and there.  You can still make all your gear, your Mk IV grenades/traps, your Super Soldier Drug while fully buffed, and can make your everyday consumables without any buffs.  This is, to me, a very workable level of min/maxing.

edit: build link modified for new Character Builder URL