Dominating difficulty is impossible for melee.

[okorwa]

IT just is impossible for melee, too many problems for melee/unarmed. Plasma turrets, hordes of goliath beetles, depot a, its just too hard, and hard is way too easy. Imo you should just put in more enemies that are manageable instead of the impossible to handle for beginner gear low level char enemies, silent isle is almost impossible for example. Firearms are just too strong and make even dominating pretty easy, while unarmed and melee are useless, also psi is too strong, cryokinesis needs at least 2 tiles range nerf, it trivializes the game.

[MirddinEmris]

I finished Dominating with heavy sledg character. So, definitely not impossible. And considering that unarmed is stronger than sledgehammer, it's definitely possible for them. Not so sure about knives though.

Firearms are just too strong and make even dominating pretty easy

Try pistols then (ordinary, not chemical or energy). They are currently weakest weapon in the game if we don't count pure throwing.

[Fenix]

I'm before Deep Cavern with my unarmed build.
Definitely possible on Domonating.
Also my build is lacking Expose Weakness, and I still did it.

[Ragshak]

Fenix, could you share your build?

[Fenix]

7/16/8/3/3/3/6
Max dodge/evasion, Heavy Punch, Nimble, Opportunist, Paranoia, Recklesnss, Lightning Punches, Deflection, Cheap Shots, Fancy Footwork, Uncanny Dodge, Wrestling, Evasive Maneurs, Combo, Critical Power.
Possible max dodge is too much, 100 is enough and better max stealth instead.

[okorwa]

Its pretty nice to have such fast and nice replies, however i stand by my point, unarmed without stealth Has no place on dominating, i stopped playing melee in DC, the game was a reload fiesta especially around goliath beetles, to my surprise though, the 3 per build is easier to Play against those overpowered death stalkers than 14 per ar build with detection Googles, those things are not stealthy, theyre invisible, either you aoe/trap in choke or you die, i think detection should be changed completely, and rely more on a special type of Googles, than just be completely useless on max per chars. And i still consider psi to be goddamn broken. My psi bastard melts everything, runs fast, almost never dies, Has CC and different DMG types, while unarmed and hammer builds struggle everywhere. Imo combo should have at least a guaranteed daze and reduce enemy ap(or chance to hit?) Effect rather than being a pain and hard to Control substitute for heavy punch pneumatic proc. Also on my melee playthrough i Had to invest in psi to even get to deep caverns. Fortunately the psi abilities are almost free. A nice touch would be if FORCE EMISSION ignored dmg res and damaged with electric type, while dealing a minimum of 2% of enemy HP on proc. Because frankly nobody uses it due to being essentially worthless and psi consuming.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Because frankly nobody uses it due to being essentially worthless and psi consuming.

Force Emission isn't worthless. It's not something to expect should be your primary source of damage, but with a fairly high-Dex build where you can strike at least 8 times a turn it adds up nicely if you have a decent Psychokinesis score.  Throw out a TK Proxy (because it doubles it) and you're adding like 40-60+ damage a hit, which certainly does add up with a high number of hits.  No, FE isn't useless, though it's not a game-changer either. But it's a nice supplement to your damage.  *Would* be nice if it had a more favorable damage type though, or ignored resistances, as you say. But lead with Expose Weakness on targets with high mech resist - which is always what you should be doing anyway - and it still adds a nice little zing to your hits.

[harperfan7]

No.  My sledge juggernaut had an easy time through the game (though I stopped before emporium; that and DC would probably be pretty hard).  Very high DT/DR, hp, fort, and massive damage per hit is pretty good, turns out.

[Fenix]

My stealth sledgeman was fine too, also he was made before introducing Dominating.

[okorwa]

TheAverageGortsby did you play on dominating? Even on nie.al the force emission does almost nothing past a certain point where your feats add up on damage increases(contaminate from the claw, vile weaponry, taste for blood and expose weakness), i REALLY like puncher builds which i completed like 5 times and thats why i suggested making it enjoyable for dominating. I really felt sad when i Had to abuse grenade stunlock on average beetles because punching was uneffective.
harperfan7 can you post your build? Also was it on dominating? I have actually never tried the 95percent damage reduction build, but i'm going to, and im still having problems imagining a hammer build in depot a without stealth, i fundamentally dislike the way stealth is so abuseable with traps, at 25 skill i can place 30 mines and just destealth and as long as i dont get oneshot by cooked shot depot a becomes  cakewalk. I seriously would like to ser playthrough from the guy doing a no death(veteran rules) run. And my point stands, melee needs a bit of love, not much tho, and force emission needs a big buff while psi and w2c bullets need a nerf.

[TheAverageGortsby]

TheAverageGortsby did you play on dominating?

Yes, I linked the build elsewhere, let me go fetch it.

 http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMMCgMDCQYAHgDChwAAUGUnADzChcKFLV1gAMKHAAAAACtPJCcUIBYwKgcSBjwNRw

If I could go back and do it again, I'd take one more point out of Will and put it into Dex so that with +2Dex Junkyard Surprise and Super Soldier I could get 5AP attacks with pneumatic gloves, and I wouldn't need to carry the Eel Sandwich buff at all times to keep my attacks at 6AP instead of 7.

Oh, and hammer build works fine on Dominating in Depot A, but I'd encourage you to pick up QT before you go. The ability to dance in and out and land shots on the mutants while they're stuck in bear traps is a real life-saver.  If not that, then buy or craft a shaded helmet and drop flashbangs at your feet to keep from getting dogpiled. I farmed siphoners until I got leather over 60 quality, then used aluminized cloth with it and just threw molotovs like it was Mardi Gras but for fire. You can't tank those hits, especially if you stumble upon the two-headed mutant, so don't worry about wearing the heaviest possible armor there. Go with Siphoner/Mutant Dog leather, Grenadier, and QT.  Pocket full of explosives will see you through.

[harperfan7]

Yes, dominating.  Depot A wasn't hard at all.  Mark 3 or 4 frags really help.  However, I do sometimes use stealth gear with this character to set traps before certain encounters.  The real difficulty so far has always been lunatics; nothing kills you as fast as 2 dopplegangers at once.  Also emp attacks, ouch.  Facing multiple ranged enemies when surrounded is a huge pain and you may not be able to stay ahead.  I found DT to be generally more useful than the 95%, but of course it's better against snipers. 

[MirddinEmris]

@harperfan7

It seems you are using Balor's hammer and only it. A man after my own heart)

Kudos.

[harperfan7]

@harperfan7

It seems you are using Balor's hammer and only it. A man after my own heart)

Kudos.

At first I did it because I was going full juggernaut, but now I'm convinced it's just plain better than tichrome+shock + tabis.  The damage is phenomenal, especially on crits.

[Fenix]

The problem is these parts "used grenades", "used lot of traps".
When you use grenades - it's grenade build, not your hammer/psi/etc doing the work.
Same for traps.
I used traps for Beast quest, and besides that I'm only have 1 beartrap with me, and used it rare.

Traps and grenades are too powerful, don't know if it could be balanced, the only solution is self-restriction to use it.
I even regret I took QT for crossbowman.