So enjoyed what I played a long time ago, but dropped due to life. Build help!

[MonthOLDpickle]

Level 1:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQMFBwUGBwcAAA8AAAAPAA8AAAAAAA8ADwAADwAAASs5

Final build:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMFBwUGCgoAAMKHAAAAwodubgAAAGkAaQDCh2QAVQAAASs5LAUqIxRmZ00pVyE

So I really didn't get very far in the game, is this good? Or points spread out too much?

Also should I start with more points into WILL, like 8 or 9? Stats max at 10 correct? So if I max WILL early (if I start at 9 per-say), what do I focus on next? Also I don't know much about all the skills and feats but this was my best judgment. Though I hear crafting armour is the best way to go. What would I use as a PSI dude? Yeah I know I got crossbow in there but I figured it be nice to have a fallback.

[TheAverageGortsby]

So I really didn't get very far in the game, is this good?

No.

Stats max at 10 at first level, but there's no limit to how many of your subsequent stat ups you put into a stat, so your base stat cap is actually 16, at level 24.  You don't *need* 16 Will for psi to work, but psi scales strongly off the stat, since there's very little gear, comparatively, for it to rely on.  I'd probably at least roll with 14 Will for a pure psi.

Your skill points aren't optimally placed, though with the upcoming expansion that won't be quite as damaging as it once was.  There's no need to go over 110 effective Persuasion in the base game; no need to get your Bio that high since the highest effective skill you'll need is 130 and you can get a skill boost from crafting in your house.  That much stealth is way overkill; with your Electronics score, you can craft a cloaking device, which can get you up to about 80 effective stealth; you can get by with 50-60 real points in Stealth and be just fine sneaking past just about everything, if you're careful.  There's no benefit to Hacking over 130 effective; no real benefit to Lockpicking over 100 effective (because you'll have food buffs and the Jackknife when you really need them).  No sense at all in going into Crossbows so deep with a lousy 6 Perception.

UnderRail rewards specialization, so just focus on doing one thing well.  Psi; guns; crossbows; melee.  Whatever.  Build your stats and skills to do that one thing really really well, then spend the rest of your points as you're able.  But do one thing really well, and make sure it's combat because you're going to fight a lot in UnderRail.

[harperfan7]

You can do a mostly pacifist run, however, if that's your thing.

[Tahoefox]

points spread out too much?

This really depends on what difficulty you're playing on. I think this build could work on easy (Although as TheAverageGortsby mentioned you may have over-invested in a few non-combat skills) but on higher difficulties you'll want to specialize a bit more.

6 Perception just isn't enough for Crossbows. Your hit chance will drop quite sharply as you progress and with their high AP cost you can't afford to miss, especially if you're using them as a fallback. Dropping crossbows and lowering Perception to 3 lets you start with 10 Will and opens up some skill points that you could use for more crafting skills or maybe take Metathermics. You might consider doing the same thing with Lockpicking and Dexterity to open up more points for Constitution which would qualify you for the Fast Metabolism and Stoicism feats.

I hear crafting armour is the best way to go. What would I use as a PSI dude?

Psionic tactical vest is really your best option. It reduces psi point costs by 10% and increases your psionic skills, in addition to stopping bullets pretty well. You'll probably want to take Nimble to reduce the armor penalty though.

[MonthOLDpickle]

So here is a level 1 build with no xbow....instead take three PSI abilities....or is three too much? Also I can get will to 10 @ level 1 while leaving rest at 5? Also should I max it to 16 or 14? What other stat should I work as secondary then?

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQUFBQUFCgUAAAAAAAAPDw8AAAAPAAAADw8PDwAAKywk

So what crafting armour, which skills and how much base)? Also I will be able to craft healing, drugs, food, and psi regens?


**Also working in that editor, what does it mean when a feat has strikethrough?


Here is what I ended up with: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQUFBQUFEAUAAAAAAAA3ZGQAAGlpAGkAwofCh8KHaQAAKywkBRQjPWdmIRwuCmgO

[TheAverageGortsby]

So here is a level 1 build with no xbow....instead take three PSI abilities....or is three too much? Also I can get will to 10 @ level 1 while leaving rest at 5? Also should I max it to 16 or 14? What other stat should I work as secondary then?

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?AQUFBQUFCgUAAAAAAAAPDw8AAAAPAAAADw8PDwAAKywk

So what crafting armour, which skills and how much base)? Also I will be able to craft healing, drugs, food, and psi regens?


**Also working in that editor, what does it mean when a feat has strikethrough?


Here is what I ended up with: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQUFBQUFEAUAAAAAAAA3ZGQAAGlpAGkAwofCh8KHaQAAKywkBRQjPWdmIRwuCmgO

OK, this is a whole bunch of no.  First, the strikethrough means that you do not qualify for the feat at the level it is currently chosen at - move another feat to earlier in your feat progression and you'll be fine.

So, you're not using any weapons with that build, and your strength is too low for metal armor, so instead of leaving Str at 5, drop it to 3 and free up two stat points.

The only Dex-based skill you have is Lockpicking, so it's not worth using stat points in Dex.  Set Dex to 3 and take back those 2 points.

The only Agi-based skill you have is Stealth, so it's not worth using stat points in Agi.  Set Agi to 3 and take back those 2 points.

Now you have 6 more points to play with.  Put 5 of them in Int (because you have three crafting skills now, and I'm going to recommend you pick up the other two) and one of them in Con (because that'll let you take Fast Metabolism which is excellent).

Now you have a bunch of skill points that you can move around to get more skills.  End up with something more like this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYFEAoAAAAAAAA8UWgAAEtfFFBQS8KHwocyAEYrLCQFFCM9Z2YhHC4KaA4

That'll serve you much better.

EDIT: Oh, to get Fast Metabolism you can drop either Hypothermia or Cryogenic Induction.  Neither are very good, and certainly not as good as FM.  Of the two, I think CI is a little better than Hypothermia so if you want to keep one of those, I'd recommend that one.  Tiny Con debuffs don't really do anything useful.

OK, ANOTHER EDIT: I left way too many points in Persuasion with the first link.  Sorry.  Fixed.

RIGHT, LAST EDIT FOR THIS POST, HONEST, SCOUT'S HONOR: Good lord.  I blame the fact that I was in a car accident earlier today (I really was! Pity meeeee!) for the fact that I somehow didn't notice that you're building a Psychosis build without Psionic Mania.  That is absolutely not a good choice.  Either go Tranquility, or pick up Psionic Mania.  Of the feats you've chosen, I don't find the following very helpful for psi, so you might reconsider them: Hypothermia, Cryogenic Induction, Nimble, Doctor, Telekinetic Undulation.  I'd drop two of those at least and pick up Psionic Mania and Fast Metabolism.

[Bruno]

I blame the fact that I was in a car accident earlier today

I hope you are okay, and that nobody got hurt. Those accidents are not fun.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Oh man I hope you're okay.

Also I am having issues moving around feats on mobile. Currently at the doctor's >

[TheAverageGortsby]

I hope you are okay, and that nobody got hurt. Those accidents are not fun.

Got t-boned hard enough to snap my front axle and drive the tie rods into the engine compartment, so the car's toast.  Aside from some minor whiplash, I'm fine (old body doesn't roll with the hits like young body did!).  The people in the other car jumped out and fled the scene, so their car was probably stolen.  They must not have been hurt too badly, because they bounced lickety-split.  Ah, well.  That's what we pay insurance premiums for.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Also I am having issues moving around feats on mobile. Currently at the doctor's >

I took the liberty of redoing your feats as well, so this now isn't really "your build but optimized" as it is "a build I recommend for you."  As such, you should feel free to ignore this suggestion because it's not really considering what you like to do as you play.  That said:

You need Premeditation.  Any psi build without it is flat-out wrong.  Premeditation and Locus of Control are the two ultimate "I win" feat abilities for psi, and you should always make room for both of them.  I also stripped the feats I don't really think add much to psi.  I didn't explain before, but I'll offer an explanation below the link in case you care.

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwYFEAoAAAAAAABCUWgAAEtfFk9QX8KHwocxAEArUCgsFCplLj0hBWdm

Telekinetic Undulation: might be worthwhile for Tranquility, because then TK Proxy is only 5AP, but for Psychosis you don't have the luxury of hitting as many abilities per turn so you really will only proxy to double up your TK Punches and Implosions.  Also, daze isn't really terribly helpful.

Hypothermia/Cryogenic Induction: Even though Hypothermia can reduce target Fortitude (which in part scales with CON) your Psychokinesis score is so high that you'll almost never get your TK Punch stun resisted, and that's all you have to worry about (Electrokinesis stun can't be resisted unless the target takes 0 electricity damage).  CI, which potentially helpful, isn't going to see a whole lot of use for you because as Psychosis, your alpha strikes are going to be devastating.  No point debuffing a room full of corpses.

Doctor is strictly worse than Fast Metabolism, though the two do stack so there's no reason you couldn't take both if you felt like it.  Fast Metabolism also affects your Regen Vest heal, which is a really big deal on higher difficulty levels; doctor does not.  And as long as you loot them when you find them, you're going to have *so many* health hypos that you can stim up into bandaging range if you're badly hurt.

Mental Subversion: not useless, but most of the time you're going to be killing things so quickly that you don't have time to stack the debuff.  Also, with 16 Will and a Uni-Psi headband and a Psi Beetle Carapace tac vest, your effective Thought Control skill will be so high you clear resolve checks anyway.

Nimble: Sounds good, but only amounts to about 5 MP per turn - that's half a tile.  Mostly you'll be using stealth to get ideal positioning so you won't need to run far.  And when the expansion hits, you'll find Nimble even less attractive than it is now, trust me. (or don't! I'm not the boss of you).

+Paranoia: the stealth detection will be nice considering you have a fairly low Perception.  It sucks getting mauled by Crawlers and Lurkers just because you didn't see them in time.
+Premeditation: I'm serious, you need this.  Need it.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Thanks man, so much. I feel like if I play this and beat the game I can understand more and be able to do different stuff for a second playthrough.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Hate to bump this, but what would I use in terms of weapons? Well maybe one riot shield?

[TheAverageGortsby]

Hate to bump this, but what would I use in terms of weapons? Well maybe one riot shield?

Riot shield doesn't take up a weapon slot, it just prevents you from putting a two-handed weapon in the weapon slot.  Generally speaking, tac vest is going to be better for your low-str psi character because you don't have the str to wear the riot armor + shield without taking action point penalties.

I'd keep Jackknife in your off hand (unless you have nothing else you want in your main hand) and either Kohlmeier's Knife, Boxing Gloves, or the Power Fist in your main hand.  Switch to the Jackknife when you need the lockpick/traps boost.  If it takes you a while to get through the game and you pick up the expansion, you might find another weapon that interests you for your main hand, but in the base game, those are probably three of the most helpful weapons for a psi character to carry around equipped (unless you had put points into Dex and Guns and picked up the Gunslinger feat, in which case obviously you'd want a light pistol for the initiative boost).  You're not looking to do damage with what's in your hand, just get some sort of secondary benefit from it.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Thanks man. The last two feats, how are neurology (psi headband gives more points) and disassemble?

[TheAverageGortsby]

Thanks man. The last two feats, how are neurology (psi headband gives more points) and disassemble?

Disassemble - despite what it sounds like it should do - is really mostly just for getting more money out of the game.  On lower difficulty levels, it's not all that helpful.  Not only will you have a lot of money on lower difficulty settings, you won't often get things made of components that you a) want and b) don't already have of higher quality   (that's actually the main reason I suggested you go into Mercantile.  Some merchants have amazing inventory if you have enough Mercantile skill to unlock their special, hidden inventory - and that inventory usually contains amazing stuff for crafting).  It's not a bad feat, and I really do like it and use it for all my crafter characters, but I can't *recommend* it strongly.  If nothing else looks good, go ahead.

Neurology is pretty useful, especially since Psychosis can't get Meditation.  Once you've got a muffled psi headband and psi beetle armor, your psi costs will come down but until then, you'll be drinking those psi boosters like they're Capri Sun pouches and you're in a desert.  I'd slide neurology in around level 16-20 if possible; levels will come quite quickly until 12-14 or so, when the world opens up and things get a lot harder.  You'll appreciate having that extra depth for your psi pool when you're exploring UnderRail, and it may also remind you to go ahead and just craft whatever headband you can.  I went one game all the way to the end boss without realizing I never equipped headgear or boots for my character because nothing ever fell in my lap I wanted   Neurology isn't a must-have feat, but it's pretty useful in the base game.  It's a strong QoL feat.