Sorry for digging this out but those numbers are wrong. You cant have quick tinkering and 10/10/10 in those stats. Also that glass cannon sniper you suggested will have only 15 PE
There is no need to raise STR to 5 for snipers. You can leave it at 4 and use rathound barbeque to get a temporary +1 buff. In older game versions food buffs lasted for 5 minutes I believe so it was a bit tricky. They last 20 minutes now which is plenty and you only need to keep a few with you at any time (+ a couple extra for DC). It's also possible to do the same with only 3 STR if you use the unique Rathound Regalia (+1 STR) but it's a risky armor because of +200% fire damage you get. Ancient rathound boots/tabbis can help here. One thing that sucks about that armor is the 10% speed bonus doesn't stack with 10% tabi speed bonus or boot springs. I didn't realize this for a long time.
Also Blitz is not possible before level 24 unfortunatelly. Well it is, but than you'd have to postpone either Quick Tinkering or Thick Skull to level 24 and those are like MirddinEmris said more important.
Total # of statpoints at level 24 is 46 so you'll see it fits. 3/7/10/10/10/3/3. You're right about the glass cannon build though. Max possible PER would actually be 13 here, my bad.
If you go for Blitz I'd say it's easier to play an assault rifle/sniper build than with SMGs. You could dump DEX for a SMG build too but then you have to rely on weaker SMGs like 5mm. 11 AP assault rifle builds work very well with Blitz and adrenaline because of 33 AP burst.
With 50 AP you can either:
fire twice with the RR Spearhead sniper.
throw a grenade + burst once with a 11 AP AR (7.62 Hornet/RR 9mm Hornet/RR 8.6mm Chimera)
With 70 AP you can:
burst twice for 66 AP. Usually good for 2nd turn when you can use Blitz.
throw a grenade + fire two sniper shots. (usually good in dark areas when you're under adrenaline, but still have Aimed Shot cooldown (3rd turn). Molotov causes enough light for sniper Ambush.
With 35 AP (fatigue) you can still burst once or fire sniper once and use medicine.
Thick Skull is amazing indeed but I don't need to rely on it for permadeath. 6 CON + relatively full, strong shield + regnerative vest + Fast Metabolism is most of the times good enough to survive the stun consequences which are getting more frequent in later parts of the game. CON also passively buffs fortitude so unlike glass cannons you can resist stun more likely now and then.
Also in this case you don't have to invest 6 points in STR for ARs. 5 + barbeque is fine and you don't need to save an extra point with the regalia as you'll have 16 PER anyway in the end.
I call this guy Sniper Commando:
3 INT is a problem for crafting only early in the game. Thanks to Uncanny Dodge you can keep dodge relatively low and still be good in avoiding melee pretty well (you'll obliterate them with burst fire + Commando + Concentrated Fire anyway). This will save lots of skill points later when you stop investing in dodge. So leaving INT at 3 will pay off big late in the game when you actually have 16 PER and can still craft all the guns and special ammo (even 8.6mm rounds) IF you make use of player home crafting bonus and Junkyard Surprise. Crafting a shield with 150+ quality might not be possible with 3 INT but it's not a big deal, hard to find that quality components anyway. You can distribute skills something like this:
http://underrail.info.tm/?build=AwGloJgVhGGYQEZQDYloQxcYsWAqfbGEkFAFlivCWCrIoHYQckIaDbb8JW0isBFBZQAnORhN8TBEypMpEgBzAgA[edit]One small tip: In order to use Snipe you DON'T have to be hidden away from enemy. The only requirement is to be in stealth mode so even if the enemy is aware of you (red eye) you can still perform Snipe if he doesn't shoot at you (you'll be forced out of stealth mode regardless if you get hit or not) but thanks to 16 PER (good precision), Sprint and 10 AGI you can sometimes get away far enough for the enemy to waste all his MP and AP to close in. Even easier if the enemy is under suppression. Just remember that you need 10 AP to enter stealth and there is a small cooldown on it. So let's say you're under fatigue, have only 35 AP, are too far too have good burst precision, it might actually be a good idea to shoot once with the sniper, get distance and use those 11 AP left to go into stealth and hope the enemy will just try to reposition. Next turn it's Snipe time.
