Concerning tailoring, I had to drop hacking for it, and I do not regret it, most fight you can avoid with hacking, are anyway easy with the build.
It is good for multiples reasons :
First you'll be able to craft stronger tabi boots than what you can find in shops, but you'll be able to craft armor as well.
There is two choices, that I found for now :
-Antithermic Regenerative riot overcoat. (with supersteel sheet)
You can forget about stealth early to mid game (up to level 18), with grenadier you should succeed.
You'll be slower (around 3 square of movement), with proper positioning, it is usually enough to play with LOS. But especially with the Last update to riot gear, you'll be really resilient, you could still be oneshot, so you should still choose target smartly, but it's okay. Sturdy vest are okay as well.
-Black regenerative tactical vest (with or without supersteel sheet)
Here, you will play a Lot more with LOS and stealth. And if you choose to forget about super steel, you can still get 0% armor penalty with nimble.
Or forget about regenerative vest, take a Sturdy vest instead with supersteel.
Or choose to have regenerative plus supersteel and accept the armor penalty.
I'm in a current playthrough with a riot overcoat, and it work really well. I'm using a bit less caltrops (only for tougher fight) and a lot more molotov in wich I walk freely to lure ennemies in or force them to move around, taking a long way and wasting their AP.
I still carry around the rathound armor for the str bonus (sometimes, you want to bring a bit more loot home) or for stealth reason to set up caltrops.
Overall, however, I still think you can do without tailoring, but it really boost your defense mid game, and MP all game. Not a bad choice.
And there is phantom dancer as well that is good as well late game.
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Another big change in the build is the drop of Quick Tinkering, that is not that usefull anymore. Late game, I was not using it anymore, anyway.
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About psi empathy,
We're already a glass canon, 20% more hp on our small hp pool is not much and won't change the fact that we are weak anyway.
And TM is way too strong to go without it. Limited temporal increment and "haste" is really good.
Combined with grenadier and cooked shot, you have 1 CD on your AOE abilities... Well it's good.
However, I played with no psi on this character, and i'm sure it's okay.
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I'll try to updated my steam guide ASAP and give you my last build on the character builder.
What I like when playing this build is that you always have to think on tough fight, move well and use the right tool or skill for the right situation. It's even more the case with the addition of grenadier.
It can be a bit unforgiving early game, but mid to late game is really fun to play.
The "worst" thing about this build, IMO, is that it can be hard to beat the final boss as your usual tactic is not efficient. So drugs, plus mutagen solve, plus very good preparation is mandatory.
I'm searching for tactics to beat the final boss a bit easier. I have ideas with crafted high caliber smart AA sniper that you may use with adrenaline to meet the strength requirement.
And i'm trying something with ambush to get 100% critical on the boss with special bolts,
I'll keep you informed once testing is done.
