Sneaky Crossbow + traps good enough alone or need other weapons?

[Infiltrator]

Hi guys. I wanted to make a stealth + crossbow + traps build, with light crafting and lockpick/hacking. I am not sure though if crossbows, sneaking and traps are versatile enough or I need something else. A tazer is something I'd take for sure, but not sure if I should maybe bump int, take versatile and get another weapon type.

I don't know what the main breakpoints for some of the skills, so please let me know if I should bump or lower them:

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?FAUHCAMMAwcAAG4AAG5uS0sAQWk8PAA8AAAAAAAAMiYBImvCgA84NUwwS8KF378

[TheAverageGortsby]

Crossbow's plenty versatile.  You'll rarely go wrong with a small investment in Melee for Dirty Kick (and maybe Expose Weakness, but only if you've got the skill points and feat slot just laying around looking for a home).  With that much stealth, you might also want to consider Ambush.

I think your chemistry might be a tiny bit high for that level.  If you bring it down to 50, then with your housing bonus you'll still be able to make MKIV grenades and mines.  And you won't get much (if any - I think you won't get any but I wouldn't bet the farm on that) Corrosive Acid by level 20.  And with that much Dex, if you're willing to carry around the Jackknife for when you need it (it's super light) you can pull 10 points out of lockpicking, too.  Then you'd just need 5 more points to get Dirty Kick, if you wanted it; I'd say take it from Stealth but YMMV.

Alternately, if you don't feel like a melee ability is all that desirable for you, you've got the stats for Grenadier, which is a freakishly potent ability.  All you'd need is 30 total points in Throwing for it.

[bati]

Generally speaking, crossbows plus traps should be fine but it might require a bit more preparation before starting combat now that quick tinkering is on a 5 (4 with spec) turn cool down, it used to be 2. Crossbow bulds are generally feat intensive so you can't squeeze in too many different playstyles. Grenadier is fantastic but keep in mind that grenades share utility slots on your belt with the special bolts.

[Infiltrator]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yeah I considered ambush, but I'm not sure how much time does the stars algin that an enemy is in light and I'm in dark (like the description is pretty vague, how much light/dark?).

I might consider dirty kick, but I'd have to sack some of my current perk choices for it (and ambush). Not sure if its worth it or what the weak links would be?

Also, I'd like to run grenades but Im not sure if I have the slots considering the special bolts I have to use? And I'm not sure about spec., blindsiding seems to be a consistent damage bonus to me regardless of what I use.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yeah I considered ambush, but I'm not sure how much time does the stars algin that an enemy is in light and I'm in dark (like the description is pretty vague, how much light/dark?).

Also, I'd like to run grenades but Im not sure if I have the slots considering the special bolts I have to use? And I'm not sure about spec., blindsiding seems to be a consistent damage bonus to me regardless of what I use.

Just remember, if you set a man on fire, he's always in bright light.    Seriously, though, incendiary grenades and flares.

If you have Quick Pockets and a Utility Belt, you'll have five slots.  If you keep a taser handy that's still enough for two special bolt types and two grenade types.  If you're willing to swap out what's on your belt to suit the encounter (which you should almost always see ahead of time because you're so sneaky) then that should probably be enough.  The ability to lay down enormous fields of fire and death can be quite helpful, especially against some of the more irritating enemies - Crawlers are easy to corral if you can afford to throw a bunch of incendiaries; robots are much easier when you can EMP fairly often; any battle at a chokepoint gets easier if you put down a gas grenade before things get hectic.  Still, as powerful as it is, Grenadier is only a "good to have" tier feat, not a "must-have" feat.  If you don't see it fitting in your build, no worries.

[bati]

Thing is, at the dex level he'll have for quick tinkering Grenadier would be a minimal investment with one of the best ROI in game (30 points and 1 feat for a massive increase in utility). If playing on normal or hard I'd even consider dropping one of crossbow feats in favour of it.

The feat is so disgustingly good that it should be an automatic pick for any char with 6 dex imo.

[Mindless]

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?FAUHCAMMAwcAAG4AAG5uS0sAQWk8PAA8AAAAAAAAMiYBImvCgA84NUwwS8KF378

This build needs to be optimized. I see no Elemental Bolts feat - one of the most important feats. Why 5 STR? Concussive shots can be removed. Consider taking Temporal Manipulation school for cooldown mod and haste.
Feats you want to take - Strafe, Ambush(very good in Expansion, almost too good), Sprint, Nimble, Pack Rat

[Infiltrator]

Yeah I accidentally put 5 str when I meant 3.

This is my revision after the suggestions: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMHCAMPAwcAHsKgAADCoMKgS0EARmQ8MgA8AAAAAAAAMiYBfxYiMDg1TMKAagIPS8KFwrXfvw

I can't see how to fit psi abilities in all of this tbh.

[Mindless]

Yeah I accidentally put 5 str when I meant 3.

This is my revision after the suggestions: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMHCAMPAwcAHsKgAADCoMKgS0EARmQ8MgA8AAAAAAAAMiYBfxYiMDg1TMKAagIPS8KFwrXfvw

I can't see how to fit psi abilities in all of this tbh.

You need to drop(or lower) throwing/evasion and I put some points into biology, you need biology to extract acid (!) and craft useful medicines. And for TM you need only 55 points and 1 feat. Lower Mechanics to 90, Electronics at least to 100+, Tailoring either 80+ or 0.

P.S. Lol, you have 240 spare points O_O

[TheAverageGortsby]

As far as skills go, I might suggest something close to this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMHCAMPAwcAHsKgAADCoMKgS0EARmRuLUtaAAAANwAAVSYBfxYiMDg1TMKAagIPS8KFwrXfvw

With housing bonus, that'll let you craft good infused leather armor, really good shield generators, handy combat stims (focus stim is great stuff, really) all the way up to (with Under Pie and Hypercerebrix buff) Super Soldier Drug.  You'll be able to make your own crossbow and all the bolts you need.  And you'll still be able to make use of most TM powers.  If you really feel like you don't want Mercantile, you can do with less - but there's such great stuff available from the best vendors that if you're going to craft a bunch of things, it's hard to turn down that hidden inventory.

[破夜雷鸣]

Just make sure you take critical power And deadly snare,they are core feats for crossbow build,spend 10 specialization points in critical power, then try to rise your critical bonus as high as you can,bowyer、sharpshooter、critical bonus scope, with these things your critical bonus is almost 200%, and  you got critical power, so your effective critical bonus is 500%, boom. Other things don't matter at all.

[Infiltrator]

As far as skills go, I might suggest something close to this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMHCAMPAwcAHsKgAADCoMKgS0EARmRuLUtaAAAANwAAVSYBfxYiMDg1TMKAagIPS8KFwrXfvw

I meant in terms of feats, but I guess I dont need any psy ones for this.

Тhanks for the revision  TheAverageGortsby, I'll use that variation, and for the tips 破夜雷鸣, I wasnt sure what to spec in.

[TheAverageGortsby]

I meant in terms of feats, but I guess I dont need any psy ones for this.

Sorry about that, somehow missed that.

Future Orientation, if you can get 5 more points for TM.  Psychotemporal Acceleration, if not.

[Fewd]

As far as skills go, I might suggest something close to this: http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMHCAMPAwcAHsKgAADCoMKgS0EARmRuLUtaAAAANwAAVSYBfxYiMDg1TMKAagIPS8KFwrXfvw

Can you elaborate on why ambush is good now? Last time I played Underrail some times ago, it was generally regarded as a pretty bad feat. And now I see people saying it's good in expedition, why though?

Also, what is it you get from 55 temporal manipulation, some good spell or something?

Lots of good info in this thread for xbowers. Certainly helps in remembering how to put together a decent build.

[Infiltrator]

55 is required for the haste temporal ability, which doesn't cost any AP but gives you AP and MS for 2 turns.