Author Topic: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol  (Read 3466 times)

Guudere

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New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« on: July 31, 2021, 12:40:46 pm »
Hola.

I'm about to start my first playthrough of the game and I'm wondering if a Pistol + Thought Control build is something viable. I like the idea of a gunslinging mind controller with high persuasion, using guns to deal the damage and psi abilities for crowed control and support. I'd like to get the most out of the game as I can through having whatever skills or stats are required to open up as many options as possible. From reading about different builds, hybrid builds seem to suffer from stat and feat spread.

Is this idea doable? People tell me the game can get rough so I'm more interested in playing something functional than sticking strictly to the idea.

Thanks.

Turbodevil

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2021, 02:50:06 pm »
Should be doable, especially on normal/hard difficulties. Pistols have powerful alpha strike and special attacks but are weak when everything is on cooldown. They murder robots. Thought Control provides good defenses, crowd control and consistent damage.
I would suggest such distribution as baseline to your build:

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMMBgMGCgbCoAAAAAAAUAAAAAAAAAAAAMKgAAAAAAAAwrMrPxdZW8OSASo5IQXivYQF378

PQNY

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2021, 09:22:35 pm »
Try something like this

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMPBgMDCgZGAADCoAAAcAUFAAV4Gh8oBcKgAAAaOwBRKzkXPw0qJsORw5IhwqNbEcKFZMKzMSTfvw

A versatility build, specced versatility, gun-fu, no aimed shot or point shot, because of perception 3, but otherwise I think it should be good

Guudere

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2021, 03:28:52 pm »
Thanks for the suggestions. Gun-fu looks neat but I'd rather not be up close. Here's what I put together based on both of those build ideas.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMMBgMGCgbCoCwAAADCoEUARU8oeB4zPADCoAAAAEI_bSs5FwEmBSpbw5IhWQ8Rwr7CvMKzwoox4p6mAuKftgHioZoF4qK1AuK9hAXfvw

I'm unsure how much and where to invest in the crafting skills so I mainly just dumped left over points into them based off PQNY's set up. I maxed out Evasion with the idea of using an anti-melee shield. Everything else was based off of break point values from another guide or just guess work.

Valor

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2021, 03:46:15 pm »
Pistols provide huge benefits in melee, and should be planned to be played in such way those benefits are reaped as often as possible. Maybe you could consider another weapon type?

As for constructive criticism
What difficulty do you plan to play on?
What caliber of weapon do you plan to use?

Your perception is very low for pistol build. Might not be an issue on normal, but you will stuggle on hard/DOM
Premeditation should be taken asap.
Focusing on both pistol and NO as damage source seems redundant
If you plan to focus on NO as main damage source, tranquility is very important.
Unless you are going to lean hard into the psi side of things Psycho-neural optimization and Expanded psi capacitance are not very good feats.
Given you have (some) throwing, I assume you plan to throw a lot of grenades, grenadier is amazing feat.
If you will focus more on Psi combat over shooting, mental subversion helps vs tough enemies
Critical power, ambush and sharpshooter (10 PER req) are bread and butter for any ranged build that has stealth. Ambush gets some time getting used to and is kind of acquired taste.

Overall - Your build tries to do 2 things at once but will ultimately feel lacking in both regards. This will be sufficient on normal, but might not be enough on Hard (depending on player skill). Underrail generally rewards specialization over focusing on many things.

Guudere

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2021, 04:18:44 pm »
I also thought having low perception with guns was odd. The main points for the playstyle I'm looking for are pistols to do the damage, thought control to provide crowd control and support/defense, and I like picking locks and stealing shit from people. Social skills are also nice.  Everything else is put in there purely because I read somewhere that it's good to have it. I've seen people mention that grenades and traps are good so I put some points into those skills but could easily drop them completely for a better functioning, more focused build. Stealth is there for mostly the same reason but I assume having some measure of stealth is good for picking pockets.

Point being that I'm fully willing to throw out everything that isn't Guns, Thought Control, Lockpick, Pick Pocket, and Persuasion. I could also live with close range gunning with a pistol if that's how they are made most effective.

Valor

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2021, 04:35:44 pm »
In such case I would suggest dropping will (to 5 most likely, unless you decide to go psychkinesis see bellow) and finding a good balance between perception and dex depending on calibre you plan to use
https://stygiansoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Dexterity

Remember to take rapid reloader into account.

If you want to keep throwing then you can also max it, and using throwing knives as finishers (with Fatal throw and throwing glove for extra AP returns)

As for psi school I would heavily suggest using psychokinesis or temporal manipulation for support (or both)

Guudere

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Re: New Player Build Advice, Psi/Pistol
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2021, 10:02:50 pm »
I've already spent too much time thinking about builds rather than actually playing the game so I'll go in with all this in mind on normal and just see what happens.

Thanks for the input.