Need opinions on my two builds (Semi-experienced)

[hyperstrike]

The first build is a Machete crit build that uses full TiChrome armor and has both temporal manipulation and metathermics. Temporal manipulation is there for all the amazing support abilities and metathermics is at 70 for exothermic aura. Exothermic aura doesn't scale with metathermics as it is fully % based. I need to know wether it's good or not seeing as most enemies will be caught up in it's AOE as this is a melee character.

Machete build link: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HggPAwUDBQcAIADCoAAAAFM8AELCoMKgGsKBwqAAAEZWAABYKCRFwpkrwo4GwowSS1zCjSopAMKzMMKHwp7CneKnvgrisogF378


The second build is a sniper/pistol/grenade build. I was wondering if as a veteran feat I should take increased perception or scrutinious or get both and sacrifice another feat. (Also, if any feat in here isn't as useful as another one please tell me so I can swap them before I start using the build)

Sniper build link: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgUHBgMPAwfCoFAAAAAAwqBPSgAAwqDCoFRLwqAAAAAAAABYATkXHjUkfjNLW8KFKDFZwrUWKcKewp3inJoF4qe-Ct-_


Thank you for reading this far.
Any criticism is welcome and appreciated.

[DerivativeZero]

Hi, couple of observations on the sniper build:

* for a grenade build, grenadier at lvl 28 is at point where i don't think you will need it anymore. Increasing crit chance might make indeed more sense. Maybe take grenadier instead of nimble or kneecap shot, because early on, sniper rifles suck and pistols too.

* Speccing aimed shot, not sure about that too, especially when it comes to sniper rifles, which do a lot of damage anyways.

* An alternative might be: take the PSI Haste feat and spec this four times. With Psycho-temp acceleration, you then get 72 AP, which is three shots with a Spearhead Sniper Rifle with Rapid Reloader. If you are deadset on the high AP sniper rifles, ok, but honestly you just overkill too few enemies with them. With Sniper/Aimed Shot/Crit Power/Blindsiding/Sharpshooter and a crafted Spearhead, you will delete any non-boss enemy from lvl 16+ onwards. At most you need W2C ammo.

* A more radical change to the build might be going CON 9 and survival instincts, for around 2/3 crit chance, but that requires really moving around a lot (less INT etc.) and comes with drawbacks.

* Doing metathermics (Thermodynamic destab.) might be useful to extend your Spearhead/Sniper Rifle damage to full groups; in that case Premeditation makes sense so as not to waste the AP for casting the spell.

Just a couple thoughts. There was a recent thread, where a veteran actually discussed a sniper build with AGI 10 and Blitz. Speccing Blitz and Psychotemp will allow you to fire Spearhead 4x in round 1, and 3x in round two. I don't think you can top that frequency.

[hyperstrike]

* for a grenade build, grenadier at lvl 28 is at point where i don't think you will need it anymore. Increasing crit chance might make indeed more sense. Maybe take grenadier instead of nimble or kneecap shot, because early on, sniper rifles suck and pistols too.

* Speccing aimed shot, not sure about that too, especially when it comes to sniper rifles, which do a lot of damage anyways.

* An alternative might be: take the PSI Haste feat and spec this four times. With Psycho-temp acceleration, you then get 72 AP, which is three shots with a Spearhead Sniper Rifle with Rapid Reloader. If you are deadset on the high AP sniper rifles, ok, but honestly you just overkill too few enemies with them. With Sniper/Aimed Shot/Crit Power/Blindsiding/Sharpshooter and a crafted Spearhead, you will delete any non-boss enemy from lvl 16+ onwards. At most you need W2C ammo.

* A more radical change to the build might be going CON 9 and survival instincts, for around 2/3 crit chance, but that requires really moving around a lot (less INT etc.) and comes with drawbacks.

* Doing metathermics (Thermodynamic destab.) might be useful to extend your Spearhead/Sniper Rifle damage to full groups; in that case Premeditation makes sense so as not to waste the AP for casting the spell.

Just a couple thoughts. There was a recent thread, where a veteran actually discussed a sniper build with AGI 10 and Blitz. Speccing Blitz and Psychotemp will allow you to fire Spearhead 4x in round 1, and 3x in round two. I don't think you can top that frequency.

First of all thank you for replying and second of all, I've seen threads about TM sniper builds but I still want to go with no psi. The reason for this is because I can already achieve a ridiculous amount of critical chance from goggles + stealth. Taking grenadier earlier seems like a great choice actually so I'm definitely doing that and I'll probably spec into something other than aimed shot depending on the damage I pull off with it. Also, I've seen the damage from the thermodynamic destabilization and it's really good, my only problem with it being the fact that to make it more viable I'd need premeditation, eliminating 1 feat from the list, whereas using grenades with grenadier gives you not only more damage types to choose from, but also area denial from caltrops and molotovs. Alternatively, I can use both grenades and metathermics, if I forget about MKVs and only make napalm, plasma and EMP grenades, which might be viable.

Once again, thank you for your insight. I'll definitely be looking at the order I get my perks in and since this is already a glass cannon anyways I might just get psi empathy.

PS: Forgot to click post and went on to edit the build so here it is: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgUHBgMPAwfCoEAAAAAAwqA_OgAAwqDCoC4kwqAAAEY3AABYATkXHjVbfisqS8KHM1nChSjCtTEpwp7CneKitAPiorUC4qe-Ct-_
I added psi empathy + premeditation + acceleration, enough temporal manipulation for contraction and put what was left into metathermics. With my effective throwing at 80, grenades will still be accurate and thus viable stun/CC options. I don't think I should squeeze blitz into here because the amount of AP I will have will be colossal (considering all my characters are adrenaline addicts).

[DerivativeZero]

You are welcome!

It's so much fun thinking about these builds. Didn't want to push you to take PSI for the character, but if you do, consider taking it from the get go. Force Field and Imprint are too great to pass up for battlefield control. Same for Electrokinesis. Psychokinesis 45 is all you need.

You get the points by removing some crafting. I don't think you will ever need effective 200 in mechanics or any of the crafting skills. If you have q150 components, 80% of the quality is required and sometimes a bit more for additional components. Destroyor has an awesome guide on steam on the thresholds. You'll get a bonus midgame that adds 15% to your skill in addition.

Speccing Premeditation cooldown is usually recommended for PSI (see AverageGortsby's classic guide here) but the Psi Cost reduction is unnecessary if you use PSI just for support. Better really spec the points into Psycho-Temp Acc. for the three shots with the Spearhead. And for PSI support speccing Premed. cooldown might not even be necessary. What do you need to cast premeditated during a fight in shorter order? These aren't big points, just food for thought if you have a plan how to play the character.

Mercantile (effective) 90 is also recommended to get better crafting inventories at merchants. The higher you skill crafting, the more you want to actually have access to crafting parts.

I agree on the Thermo D premed. thing. I actually played one Sniper without it and I find myself not using it because of the costs there. But I guess sniper is viable enough in both ways. Your build is also well set up to use laser pistols later on, they profit from high Crit Power a lot.

Depending on the difficulty you play on, the beginning might be a bit tedious, both with pistols and sniper rifles, as they both are not so great early on. Grenades and PSI helps a lot here.

Have fun!