Versatility build - Chemical pistol / Crossbow Build (expedition updated)

[Quidam Craft]

UPDATE - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1662842028
I started to update my guide on steam with expedition, still WIP but there is essential information.

I managed to beat the game with a very similar build on hard few mouth ago, and everything went really smoothly.

https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=3881.0

Depot A was piece of cake, foundry beasts was like a walk in the park, nevil and I against an army of bots was done in one go, arena was fairly easy (though with a lot of reload for the final encounter... But once I got the initiative, it was done in one go), DC itself was easy mushroom or army of bots could'nt wistand the powerfull acid entanglment combo + powerfull special bolt in the face.

Every fight was easy... Every but one. The final boss was a pain in the ass (mainly because that big blob bastard could not be snared) and that's the reason why I think this build was not able to finish the game on dominating, even if I'm quite sure it will bring me, even on dominating, in front of the final boss.

And then, come the expedition... And new ideas, and a new updated build i'm first trying on hard, and I hope I'll beat dominating with it.

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMIBwMOAwgjN8KgAADCoGQASwBGWl9fRloALQA3AAAtKxrCowFhFiLCkcKAL0wwS2oqJyTCpCbioaQF4qiICt-_

The whole thing is built around deadly snare + acidic entanglment from acid pistol. Giving access to critical hits with special bolts.
And to do the trick, we'll use pneumatic AA cyclon crossbow + acid pistol plus advanced catalyzing belt

But this only comes at level 14, and it has to be potent enough before hand. And as a matter of fact, it is.

I'll explain every choices made, and how to play the build. But trust me, you'll have a lot of fun playing that glass canon build.

Feat choices :
-Versatility : it's a core feat, used to be able to use both crossbow and acid pistol. Plus it will help early game against rathound, if you come across a knife.
-sure step : it's really important to pull the acid puddle + caltrops combo. With good poisoned caltrops, you can do a ton of damage on multiples target, regroup them thanks to AP reduction and kite them avoiding any melee attackers.
Plus it will cheese a lot depot A, Omega and some early fights. An overall good choice.
-aimed shot : Even if it seems obvious, maybe it's not needed. However, it's nice to have a powerfull attack on a solo target. It's nearly quality of life because most of the time you could "waste" a fragnade instead. Won't be that usefull early game, but late game will prove more usefull once you'll get a strong AA crossbow.
-marksman : well... You'll use a lot of special bolts, so... It's a no brainer. Plus, it will replace strafe feat, once you'll get the specialization for it.
-grenadier : here the big change. At first, one might think it's stupid to have grenadier since all your slots will be used by special bolts. But with the addition of temporal manipulation and a grenade every turn, well it's really potent.
Anyway, you'll have to prepare to every fight by choosing : the most suited special bolt, the most suited grenade and the most suited utility grenade (caltrops, flashbang, emp). And thanks to Quickpocket we'll get later, even with catalyzing belt, easy to get enough slots.
-cooked shot : well... Great feat. You'll be able to ignore targets evasion. You'll do AOE damage and snares. You'll multiply the chance to get acidic entanglement. You'll be able to spread acid over caltrops out of combat.
-bowyer : +35% critical damage on crossbow is a lot.
-Quick pockets : Not needed early game because you'll be using a utility belt. But at one point, you'll use an advanced catalazing belt, and you'll then need that third slot.
-Deadly Snare : everything revolve around this feat.
Once you'll have this, you'll be Deadly.
-Quick tinkering : almost everyone know it's a great feat. And if this build was not that dire on feats, i'll take it earlier.
It's both a defensive feat that allow road blocks especially combined with force field or electronic imprint.
And offensive one if used with a powerful mine you drop in front of targets, run, and then explode thanks to a grenade.
-Critical power : Well, I'll rename it Deadlier Snare.
-Elemental bolts : Let's rename it... Even Deadlier Snare.
-Premeditation : Will give a free action every five turn. Great utility to get a stun with electrokinesis, or a life saving forcefield.
-Pack Rathound : If I could, I'll get this earlier. 3 Str character are a pain in the ass for inventory management. This will help, and you'll need it to get to DC. However, it's quality of life and i'm sure one can do without it. But you'll get to carry less loot and less traps and grenades.
-Nimble : early game, you'll use the Rathound king armor suit, so armor penalty of 0. but you'll be happy to still have armor penalty of 0 with a Phantom Dancer armor or a regenerative tactical vest. But this will only be needed end game.
-Scrutinous : +7 crit chance, with good crit NVG you can reach 30% crit chance with your acid pistol. Very potent with cooked shot if you get an entanglement.
And why I'm not taking +2 perception one might ask... Well I'm not sure. The main issue is that perception do not bring extra damage with special bolts (only mechanical damages are affected by it), so the effect is not that great. It will bring damage on the acid pistol though, but I prefer the crit chance somewhat.
-Opportunist : Extra 30% damage on snared targets, for really really tough targets.

[Ploluap]

looks awesome and well thought

Tell us how dominating went if you try it.

[Infiltrator]

Thanks for the guide man.

One, maybe stupid question - why are you putting points in the gun skill? Doesn't it make it obsolete unless you pass the versatility threshold?

And another thing, does the catalyzing belt have any synergy with crossbow? I don't see it unless you use acid bolts which are kinda bad imho. So if not, acid caltrops or repeated pistol attacks I guess?

[Shredded Cheddar]

The 35 gun skill is to unlock cooked shot. You could do the same thing on a sledge build with versatility - put 40 points in guns just to unlock full auto.

I agree on the catalyzing belt point - it seems kind of silly to use a flame pistol to increase the damage of your incendiary bolt, but the advanced one lowers AP cost on chem pistols so it could be  still worth. I usually carry several belts for different situations on most characters anyway... Underrail is easiest when role playing as batman.

[Quidam Craft]

Actually, the Advanced Catalyzing belt is really important in the build, not because of the damage, but because of the AP reduction on shots of 4. Combined with 8 dext and a powerfull crossbow.

[22 (Cost of Acid pistol shot with 8 dext) - 4 (Advanced catalyzing belt)]*1,5 (Cooked shot AP cost multiplier) = 27 AP
25 (AP cost of Zephyr Crossbow) - 4 (Pneumatic version) = 21 AP

27AP + 21 AP = 48 AP
Allowing you to Cooked shot + Special crossbow shot on the same turn.
So you aim for a group a bad guys. With Cooked shot, you multiply your chance of having a snare, since the 45% snare apply on each target.

And then, you eliminate the whole groupe thanks to a 100% critical chance on let's say, a MK3 Shock bolt.

One might say, you go with a cyclon Pneumatic Cyclon Crossbow and go to 17 AP with the crossbow shot, allowing the trick without the belt.
22 * 1.5 = 33
33 + 17 = 50
Works as well.

But I even prefer to combine both Cyclon Crossbow + Catalyzing belt to do :
18 AP on classic pistol shot + 17 AP on crossbow shot = 35 AP

35 AP means when Cooked shot is on CD, you can do a lot of stuff like taking a medecine for 10 AP, Using a lot of Psi abilities for 15 AP (Electrokinetic Imprint / Force field / etc).

35 AP also mean that you can still do that trick, even when Fatigue after an Adrenaline Rush.

Or it means that you can do the trick with the Specilization point into cooked shot to reduce AP cost.

***

But then ... I just realized yesterday that the Bolt Quiver belt exist (I missed it mainly because I was testing other things during the alpha), and it allow a lot of new combo.

With it, you can bring the Pneumatic Cyclon Crossbow to 14 AP cost.
And as you can see
14 + 14 + 22 (AP cost of a chemical pistol shot with 8 dext) = 50.

Then, you'll need the Specialization points into cooked shot to reduce the AP cost of cooked shot to 100%.

And magic, you just double your possible damage, and mostly you'll do a trick like this.

Turn A - Cooked shot, Crossbow shot, crossbow shot, move out of LOS
Turn B - As cooked shot will be on CD, you throw a grenade instead, and Crossbow shot two times.
Turn C - Cooked shot is available again ...

And so on.

but I have some more test to do to tweak this perfectly.

[Infiltrator]

The quiver also grants an extra slot, so you dont need pack rathound any more which is huge.

[Quidam Craft]

I guess you mean quick pockets, but indeed you can manage without it now.

I replaced it with power management, but actually at level 12 there is a lot of possible choice to go with the mood of the playthrough.

[Fjodik]

Hey, thx a lot for such interesting build, will try it for my first playthroughout. I am not a big expert, so could you please advise the reasoning behind increasing psychokinesis to 45? Would the build work with only 25 for forcefield or without it completely? I need points for hacking.
What would you recommend for my first run ever oddity or classic? Thx
a lot.
One more question, does recent change to quick tinkering has some impact to the build?

[Quidam Craft]

You're welcome

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgMIBwMOAwgjN8KgAADCoGQASwAyWl9fRloAHgA3AAAtKxrCowFhFiLCkSnCgExqSyokMMKkJsK14qGkBeKoiAXisrsF378
(Updated version)

Concerning Psychokinesis at 45, it aim for electronic imprint. But you can just take 30 point to take electrokinesis (I will be usefull against some targets, plus it's a 100% chance stun). But it will really shine once you have premeditation.
Would it work without forcefield. I think, yes. It could. It work without any psi, on my first playthrough with it, I only took psi around level 22 along with premeditation, and I did not had much issue. But forcefield is really great to have.
 
Yes, recent changes to quick tinkering made me reconsider taking the trait or not, anyway, I'll take it a lot later. You already have a good way to root targets through a good acid pistol. Plus with grenadier / Temporal manipulation and Limited temporal increment, it's less needed early game.

If you want Hacking, there is multiples choices :
You can forgo Tailoring and play only with Rathound king armor or Chemical assault Unit Armor and Good bataclava / Tabi boots you can find among merchants.
(Just take enough to make molotovs)

You can forgo Evasion, and go for a more tanky way. You craft Antithermics/Blast Regenerative Riot armor with a good energy shield. With good tabi boots you will still be able to move 3 square away, wich will be enough in most cases to get around a corner.

You can also do without biology. You won't have access to good meds, good supply of crawler poison caltrops or the best endgame acid.

Also, a trick you can do. Since you will have High mechanics, you'll be able to craft a powerfull 12.7 caliber Sniper with a smart module and an AA scope.
You'll be able to use it without penalty if you use the rathound king armor (+1 STR) and rathound BBQ (+1 STR). And since you have enough in gun thanks to heavy Perception and Versatility, and Aimed shot, you can use it effectively. You will nearly never use it, but keep it somewhere. There is some targets that can not be snared (One in particular). and you'll be happy to do an attack with a lot of damages.

I've updated the build :
Added Power management at level 12 or 10 for defensive purposes, and also Quality of life with NVG and cloaking device.
Postponed Quick tinkering to late level. Feel free to replace with Pack rathound for more quality of life if you don't manage to deal with inventory management, even with the new lifter's belt.
Quick tinkering is not that usefull with that build. You can do without it, just take a lot of grenades instead !

Skills are not perfectly tuned, by the way (Concerning lockpicking and crafting), I'm finishing this run on hard to know perfectly where to go for dominating.

[Fjodik]

Thx for update, last question. When should I take the pill and start using TM?

[Quidam Craft]

You have two possibilities :

Once you've got grenadier, so that you'll be able to throw one grenade every turn, at least for the two first turns.
But you have to be confident that you'll manage with it, you'll be a glass canon by then. Buy every grenade and molotov you see, you'll need them when there is more than 3 targets. And against mutants, well it's mandatory to use them well.
That's what I usually do.

The second choice is once you have an energy shield. At that point, 20% less HP won't bother you. Anyway, you don't have much.

Don't forget to use caltrops to prepare tough battlefield, it will cheese most of the difficult fights. People stepping on Poison caltrops while on fire thanks to incendary grenades don't survive long.

[zion563]

Your build shows these-I know Psi empathy comes from taking the pill-what is Hunter?

[Quidam Craft]

Hunter is acquired during a certain series of quest, helping a bunch of hunters.

You can check the wiki if you want to be further spoiled

[zion563]

And you took the pill for Psi Empathy?

[Infiltrator]

Quick tunkering is now 25 ap, I dont think its worth it any more.