What will be your first build in Expedition and why?

[harperfan7]

Also there are reasons to use riot gear with shields now, so you might consider that when building a new character.

I suppose you can't disclose that either?

Feat reasons.  And I should have said "better reasons".

[mattu]

Heh, I'm also intending a swordfighter with Temporal Manipulation. Seems to be a common choice. My next char (yeah I'm already planning the second playthrough), I'm thinking a shotgun/sniper character, also with TM.

My slasher is some similar to HarperFan's, although I intend to max STR and have 6 CON, some different emphasis, but many of the same feats. Oh man, I had forgotten Escape Artist. Maybe I can squeeze one more stat point to put in DEX. That would also open up Quick Tinkering . . .

So about riot armor + shield, it's clear that RA is getting some love, and I originally thought I wanted to play a sword and board character. But while sword and shield (or spear and shield) seem kind of cool, it's still just defense against melee attacks, right? IDK. Death stalkers are scary, sure, and having them go thud thud thud instead of stab stab stab would be cool, but there's a lot of other types of attacks that can kill you. And this character, if needed, could strap into full metal armor anyway.

Now if Riot Armor shields are getting changed so they help against ranged attacks, that's a whole nother story. I'm guessing not, though. I suppose those who know can't comment. I'll find out soon enough.

[harperfan7]

Let's just say that riot armor gets better at what it already does.

[mattu]

That's what I guessed, thanks for the confirm.

[harperfan7]

Well, since the new character builder is up, I can post my full build.

But instead, I'll post the ultimate "kill shit with swords" set-up. 

[mattu]

Oh man. So many good feats with swords. Which awesome thing do I want soonest?

So your killer build goes high DEX. I was thinking high STR. Obviously there's pluses to both--is there a strong reason you prefer high DEX?

Yeah, swords seem to want high crit. I was thinking to take Recklessness as a starting feat.

Was Riposte lots of fun? It seems kind of cool, but you have to take Parry to get it and it's another feat that only works if you're blocking melee. Still, if it's super fun, that's an argument for it.

Is it easy to get swords going from the beginning of the game? I thought it might take a while before you could get rolling with them. (Another playthrough where I'm hoping for an early TiChrome bar.)

Five. More. Days.

[TheAverageGortsby]

So your killer build goes high DEX. I was thinking high STR. Obviously there's pluses to both--is there a strong reason you prefer high DEX?

Is it easy to get swords going from the beginning of the game? I thought it might take a while before you could get rolling with them. (Another playthrough where I'm hoping for an early TiChrome bar.)

He's got Trigger Happy, so I have to assume it's the high initiative. That looks like 36 base initiative right there. Makes it a near-certainty that even if you walk around a corner unprepared and enemies see you, you're going to get to act first.

You should be able to buy a sword almost immediately, in SGS, and their damage-to-AP ratio is so good that you can do fine with them even before you get a single feat, in the earliest parts of the game - rathounds and the easier Lurkers, and such.  And Blaine pretty regularly has TiChrome even before returning the drill parts, so if you do the Eels questline ASAP you might find one or maybe even more TiChrome bars before you have to hit the Depot.

[harperfan7]

Oh man. So many good feats with swords. Which awesome thing do I want soonest?

So your killer build goes high DEX. I was thinking high STR. Obviously there's pluses to both--is there a strong reason you prefer high DEX?

Yeah, swords seem to want high crit. I was thinking to take Recklessness as a starting feat.

Was Riposte lots of fun? It seems kind of cool, but you have to take Parry to get it and it's another feat that only works if you're blocking melee. Still, if it's super fun, that's an argument for it.

Is it easy to get swords going from the beginning of the game? I thought it might take a while before you could get rolling with them. (Another playthrough where I'm hoping for an early TiChrome bar.)

Five. More. Days.

High str only increases your damage by like 1/7th or 1/8th at max level; not worth it.  The only other benefit is carry weight.  High dex gives you crit chance and initiative, as well as bonuses to many skills. 

I don't have riposte yet.

You can persuade lucas to give you one at the start, or you can just buy one from him like I did.  I went to Blaine over a dozen times in the early game and I never saw a single tichrome bar; I had to wait until foundry.  That said, for flurry, you want a curved tungsten machete (assuming your crit chance is good, otherwise a straight tungsten), since it has a set AP cost.

 

[ciox]

Also there are reasons to use riot gear with shields now, so you might consider that when building a new character.

I suppose you can't disclose that either?

The expansion character builder should be available here https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=2753.0
Just check the DLC checkbox and search for "shield" in the feats area, that should tell you everything you need to know.

[Ploluap]

I have no idea, i need to get a feel of what swords, spears and shotguns can do first.

Spears seem a bit odd at first glance, i wonder if the "spear guard" thing is actually useful ?

[jubisloviu]

For me itll be spears and riot gear
I wanna see how a knightly jack can fare on the underrail
After fiddling around the builder i feel like i reached a decent build

Plus the jetski jousting sounds hilarious

[Ramen_os]

I'm going to build a pure psy build : I want to play a powerful mage with high stealth and good speech/lockpicking/hacking skills. Just in case, he will know how to throw grenades too. Hopefully, all new enemies are not psy 100% resistant

[mattu]

High str only increases your damage by like 1/7th or 1/8th at max level; not worth it.  The only other benefit is carry weight.  High dex gives you crit chance and initiative, as well as bonuses to many skills. 

If what I saw in that old old devlog is still correct, swords get a bonus of 7% per point of STR over 6. So, assuming 18 STR, (18 - 6) -> 12 x 7% -> 84% damage bonus. Almost double damage by end game.

Am I misunderstanding something? That's how I thought STR worked when I played a sledgehammer character too (the numbers were different with sledges of course).

Being able to wear metal armor is a nice option that high STR characters have.

That said, I agree with your other points about DEX. Crit chance is particularly significant. I see other pluses around fast attack speed. I guess I'm going to rethink.

You can persuade lucas to give you one at the start, or you can just buy one from him like I did.  I went to Blaine over a dozen times in the early game and I never saw a single tichrome bar; I had to wait until foundry.  That said, for flurry, you want a curved tungsten machete (assuming your crit chance is good, otherwise a straight tungsten), since it has a set AP cost.

Ah, that's great. Machetes from the get-go.

I'm not counting on an early TiChrome at all. I've had it happen, but I think it's pretty rare. I might semi-rush Foundry, though.

Thanks for the tip about Flurry. I like the image of a dude with a TiChrome machete in one hand and a tungsten one in the other.

Somewhere I heard there was a katana; did you find it? (definitely not asking for spoilers if you did, just if you did or not)

[harperfan7]

If what I saw in that old old devlog is still correct, swords get a bonus of 7% per point of STR over 6. So, assuming 18 STR, (18 - 6) -> 12 x 7% -> 84% damage bonus. Almost double damage by end game.

Am I misunderstanding something? That's how I thought STR worked when I played a sledgehammer character too (the numbers were different with sledges of course).

Somewhere I heard there was a katana; did you find it? (definitely not asking for spoilers if you did, just if you did or not)

That's what I thought about strength too, which is why I went with it over dex, but I was mistaken.



With end-game drugs, the strength guy could have 20 str and 9 dex, while the dex guy could have 20 dex and 13 str, so the effective top-end difference is even smaller than this.

There is a katana, but I haven't seen it.

Also, "fast attack speed"; machetes are not light weapons if that's what you were thinking.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Hopefully, all new enemies are not psy 100% resistant

There is no psi resistance in UnderRail, anywhere. The closest you get is damage type reduction (so if your enemy has an aluminized armor suit, your fire abilities will be less effective) and Fortitude/Resolve for resisting extra effects.  There is no psi resist stat anywhere.