Tips for my SMG/Spec Ops build

[Gorycory]

I am following an SMG build by NerdCommando from YouTube. His Spec Ops build to be exact, I have already had a semi-completed play through as an Arbalist, but I got frustrated with relying on traps. So, I restarted and so far have enjoyed this Spec Ops build, until I hit Core City, for some reason now I am having a bit of trouble contending with certain group battles. My question basically is, am I supposed to be rolling around with a heavy damage SMG in one hand, and a 5mm low AP SMG in the other? That way in case a group of cans come at me I can be ready with heavy damage, or loads of green bullets to take them down? He was also very specific about his feats etc that he wanted me to take Ballistics. I'm the type of player that follows builds to a tee until I get a greater understanding and am able to theory craft myself. Any tips or tricks to get through this sudden onslaught of difficulty ramp concerning this particular build would be appreciated. I am currently playing on Oddity/Normal. I'm level 11, and TBH certain quests such as the Free Drones/Destroy the Elevator quest is really giving me a hard time. I was getting one shot by the can Snipers so I had to bail out of that one and hopefully level enough to be able to withstand their shots. Eh, perhaps it's just the difficulty ramp of certain builds to others, I noticed I was having a much harder time on my first play through with a stealth-centric build towards the end because of my not giving a fuck attitude, I wanted to go guns blazing and I quickly realized how that as an Arbalist I couldn't do that, I wanted my cake and to eat it too.

Sorry for rambling, and if you've made it through this wall of text I commend you.

TL;DR I want some tips/tricks/advice for refining my SMG Spec Ops build from level 11 onward.

P.S this forum has the most amazing verification questions.

[hilf]

I'm level 11, and TBH certain quests such as the Free Drones/Destroy the Elevator quest is really giving me a hard time.

Double your level.
SMGs are pretty strong but not that strong.
But even on higher level you'll get one shot by snipers. You need to kill them first, disable them or hide behind a corner.

You want 16 DEX eventually. Keep in mind food can give you +1 DEX so consider putting 15 points in DEX and 1 extra in PER. Don't forget to bring this food into final stages of the game.

Suppresive Fire, suprisingly, enables Opportunist. I'd take both of them.

Other than that just follow Nerd Commando's guide.

[Gorycory]

Man... see this is why I posted here, I didn't even think about hittin' up the DEX food. Thanks for the advice!

Ok, here's another question I crafted two 7.62mm Jaguars, is it better to have 5mm just because you can burst more? Or to have the 7.62mm and more damage but less bursting? That's what I am kind of confused on in the long run.

[rushblitz]

Even if you do not use stealth a silenced 5mm Jaguar with a another mod of your choice can be useful.  Lone sentries or patrols can be ambushed and taken out without alerting the entire compound as long as you take them down in one round.

[Anuovis]

I haven't completed the game yet but my build is sort of a mix between arbalist (traps) and spec-ops ninja (lots of stealth, smg). Level 20 now.
If you took the very useful SMG feats, it shouldn't be too hard  - Expertise, Spec Ops, maybe Suppressive fire.

I also noticed that snipers hit very hard but if you have a good energy shield and good armour, it's possible to survive at least some of the shots. I am usually wearing the overcoat that has 200% protection against bullets, it helps a lot in firefights. Energy shields are generally quite powerful, I find.

As for the guns, I think you should craft a couple and just experiment. I find the silenced 5mm smg very useful. It's more accurate compared to my 8.6mm and takes less AP to fire. Sometimes I attack an enemy with the 8.6 mm one and then finish them off with 5mm. The silenced one also helped me taking down some enemies quietly. It's also good against weak animals. The 5mm calibre is apparently weaker but it's not that weak to become useless in my case. Not sure what's the point of carrying two 7.62 mm guns, unless they have very different attachments. Everything obviously depends on your playstyle, crafting abilites and such.

I also noticed that good goggles help a lot. The purple ones give you bonus to burst attacks (all special attacks), right now I have a pair that gives +30%. If you add a smart module to your smg, that also gives you a boost to burst damage. Then there are red ones that add percentage to the critical hit chance and also a drug that increases your chance to score critical hits. If you combine those two for tougher fights, it might help. You can even craft guns that are aimed to score more critical hits.

Anyway, there seem to be a lot of synergies in the game that you can discover and experiment with.