A discussion on a few melee builds

[WhimsicalWhiskey]

Hi I'm trying to make some builds and I'm having a hard time with melee due to sheer variety of options. The three ideas I've come to are sword (I saw a tanky tin can sword build that looked interesting), riot gear/shield spear with iron grip (some people seem to have issues with the build but I really like the aesthetic so I'd love to hear more on it), and high mobility light armor Spears with an emphasis on throwing them (this seems to be the preferred spear build). Either way, I'd love to hear thoughts on what people like and why so I can narrow this choice down.

[Fenix]

I did the first, and want to do the last.
The last will be very fun I think.
The first one was a bit on a suffering side.

What exactly do you want to know?

[eight]

** I'm not very good at this game and play on normal difficulty, no clue if any of this is relevant to higher difficulties **

I briefly tried a spear + shield character, using high strength and constitution, and the rest in dex/int. Absolute tank against melee enemies, but poor movement made ranged enemies difficult to deal with.

So I went with a dex version that I'm playing now. Currently level 21 and I'm having a blast with it. This is my build so far. Not sure if Hit and Run was really worth it. Also, I use sweep far less than I'd have hoped/expected, but I'd say it's still worth taking. IMO spears work well with stealth since they're silent. I like sneaking around and picking off small groups. Impale and Spear Throw can often one-shot enemies (crits with Spear Throw are awesome).
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?FQcPBwMDAwcAcwBzc3NaADcAKGlGAABkAAAAAAAAABkxXTnClQ0ABhLClMKsS-KdjQbfvw

[WhimsicalWhiskey]

Never even considered the sneaky spear thrower. Sounds like an awesome concept. In the end I went with a tanky machete user with a versatile alt into shotguns which after playing for a while feels like a sort of alt to using grenades with some pros and some cons by comparison but is definitely roughly about as good as going for explosives as an alt.

[cypherusuh]

I heard that sword is a bit bad due to how flurry and onslaught works and 1 miss could break your fun. Better check your IRL luck first, who know how many times you'll encounter that 5% on crucial times
As for shotgun, I think it's better if you main shotgun and use sword as alt, since shotty's perk is damn good. You could probably make due with Leading Shot only, since shotty's accuracy is pretty bad
I'd recommend just straight up throwing + grenade tbh. 50 throwing w/ three-pointer + grenadier is enough to gives some burst damage every now and then, and it's accurate enough for short throw

[Apostrophe]

For the sword, 2 points into Flurry specialization and 25 in Temporal reduce the CD to 1 round, so it's not so bad.

[Spoor]

Good topic! I have a few questions about spear and melee in general:
1- Can you melee tin-can at 95% AP, relying solely on sprint+Psycho-temporal Contraction?
I was disappointed to find out only Super steel can reliably be crafted with armor slopping, 99% of the time I just let enemies waste their AP coming to me anyway.

2- Which is better for Spear DEX or STR?
I've been theorycrafting hard for a couple days now and I'm leaning towards DEX.

3- Whats the lowest comfortable Health threshold with Metal armor you can play with in DOMINATING?
I found out you really don't need that much health when your armor and shield absorb all/most the damage (except those m@#@&f@#% psi).

4- Do you really need Premeditation if you only gonna use TM and maybe force field? is psi regeneration really tight even with booster?
I'm thinking of getting  Future Orientation too, but I don't know how the psi economy will look like once I have all the abilities in action.

[Apostrophe]

Good topic! I have a few questions about spear and melee in general:

1) Yes
2) Not sure, probably DEX
3) You are mostly safe with 30% hp through the game, it really depends on armor&shield and what you are fighting.
4) You don't need it but it is the best feat in the game. Place 45 points in Psychokinesis for stuns. Future orientation is a waste, all it does is give you 10 more AP total if the fight lasts 5-7 turns.

[Spoor]

Good topic! I have a few questions about spear and melee in general:

1) Yes
2) Not sure, probably DEX
3) You are mostly safe with 30% hp through the game, it really depends on armor&shield and what you are fighting.
4) You don't need it but it is the best feat in the game. Place 45 points in Psychokinesis for stuns. Future orientation is a waste, all it does is give you 10 more AP total if the fight lasts 5-7 turns.

3) I meant actual HP, was thinking if 3 con "melee" is feasible or not...in DOMINATING 
4) I could only see it if I'm going mostly or pure psi but if I'm mainly going to cast Psycho-temporal Contraction(no AP req.) and Limited Temporal Increment (5 AP..) then Premeditation wouldn't be that good..but then again I was planning to get stuns from Psychokinesis so I'll take it, I'm thinking in situations where I don't have any AP or "mana" this feat will come in handy. About Future orientation, can elaborate more? this feat+5 SP (only -1 cooldown) looks very good to me? cuz with Limited Temporal Increment (universal -1 cooldown) this feat will indirectly reduce cooldown of everything else not just for TM.

[Apostrophe]

3) I think you have a little more HP with 3 CON at 100% than 9 CON at 30%
4) You just don't have enough PSI to make it work, and no PSI gear (reduction costs, etc). You really don't have 35 PSI points to spend every other round, since you will probably burn everything at the start of the fight, also better things to do with 10 AP. Limited Temporal Increment is really useful in certain situations but you will not use it on every CD even without Future Orientation.

[Spoor]

3) I think you have a little more HP with 3 CON at 100% than 9 CON at 30%
4) You just don't have enough PSI to make it work, and no PSI gear (reduction costs, etc). You really don't have 35 PSI points to spend every other round, since you will probably burn everything at the start of the fight, also better things to do with 10 AP. Limited Temporal Increment is really useful in certain situations but you will not use it on every CD even without Future Orientation.

I see, that's make sense, I'll adjust accordingly for my next run, thanks.