Machete/shotgun temp psi support build ------need help!!

[TruthSeeker]

Hi there,

First off im a noob with some experience, 2 years ago I did a mele psy char, at lvl 8 I decided to wait for the expansion (I didnt know it would take that long lol).

I was unable to decide between shotgun and machete , with the new feat Versatility I decided to make a build around this.
then I saw a build on this forum spear + shotgun so I decided to give it a try with machete and my own flavor.

Now im level 6 and about to go to Junkyard get the drill main board and Im not sure about my build anymore mainly because I think I have encounter a bug with shotgun :

- My accuracy is never above 80%, I tried the sandbang in SWS Medical floor and with every other guns i get 95% (assault rifle , pistol, smg) but with my shotgun im stuck at 80%.

the shotgun I use is a crafted Tactical Sovereign with a foward grip (long barrel so I dont have accuracy penalty) and strength requirement is 5

Can anyone tell me if thats a bug or there is something i dont get here ?

My build :
               Level 6
   Str : 6
   Dex :11
   Agi  : 7
   Con: 5
   Per : 3
   Will : 3
   Int  : 6
--------------------------
skill :
gun : 0(38)
Throw : 15(23)
mele : 40(63)
dodge: 35(46)
Evasion: 40(53)
Stealth : 20(35)
Lockpick : 20(36)
Traps : 20 (36) For detection purpose
mechanics : 30(35)
Electro : 10
tailoring : 30
Psycho : 25 (force field)
temp manip : 35

----------------------------
current Feats: Nimble, Recklessness, versatility, flurry, Parry.

Im planning on taking those Core feats for the build, im not sure about the order i was planning to play and see and adjust a bit :

-Versatility
- Recklessness
- Nimble
- Flurry
- Parry
- Riposte  (i was not sure about this one maybe see I was about to wait and get the machete with 2 riposte that apparently you can get )
- Ripper    (now this one i cant get it without investing 2 points in will a mistake I made )
- Onslaught
- Cheap Shot
- Psycho-temporal Acceleration
------------------------------ defense and mobility
- Sprint  or  Fancy foot work
- Uncanny Dodge
- Evasive Maneuvers
------------------------------Shotgun feats
-  Leading Shot
-Sixth Shell 
-  Pellet Mayhem
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and today I realized im short on will to get ripper. And with that I have a lot of questions :

- Is this a big deal if i skip ripper and take cheap shot and critical power instead?

- Should i invest 2 point in will and further reduce my dex to get ripper ?? worth it or not. or instead put one point in strength to get decapitated and full auto for shot gun?

- Expose Weaknesses : I need to know if I dont take this and use shotgun to get through tough armor guy, is this smart or stupid ?

--  Pellet Mayhem : weaponsmith could be better with 5% crit at all time and not conditional with both machete and shot gun .
should I drop pellet mayhem?

- I feel shotguns are underwhelming right now at least at my lvl, of course I dont have any feats yet but are they good later on , right now I do more dmg with assault rifle they cost less ap and are more accurate (consider that I maybe have a bug with shotgun too, I need to know about this )

- My though process was I use flurry when I missed I switch to shotgun wait CD and go back to machete and so forth, is this build viable for normal difficulty or am I too spread out and should reconsider and restart?

Im open to any Idea and opinions  TY





   

[Diogo]

I have some build suggestions for you, which you can obviously adapt the way you prefer

sword/shotgun
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgYNCAUDBQYoNADCoMKgwo48AC4ALnBwVABgABkANwAAWiskwqPCsDEGwpbChxNLwozCmRLCjlzCs8KNQRptwp7CrcKdbOK1rgrit7AF378

Shotgun looks much better after taking the feats, especially leading shot, + try to vary the ammo according to enemy red = high armor, green = medium armor, yellow = low armor

sword/smg
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?HgcNBgYDBQZQNADCoMKHwoc8AC4ALnBwVABgABkANwAAUiskwqMxTwbCh8KMwpkSXMKNOUtJwrMVNxptwp7CrcKdbOKyiAXita4K378

The AP reduction that result from DEX works great with SMG, and MAYBE works better than shotgun for your build.

[TruthSeeker]

Thank you for those build suggestions I appreciate
Do you know if I have a bug with the shotgun accuracy never above 80 % ?
I cant find the info on the wiki and no ones seems to talk about that on the forum either.

[Diogo]

Automatic firearms bursts usually consume more AP and have naturally reduced accuracy, as the shotgun is a naturally multi-shot weapon its max accuracy is reduced by not having a single shot mode, so the effectiveness of the shotgun is greatly affected by armor penetration and evasion, The choice of ammunition can vary damage from 0 to 300 (hypothetically) per shot according to the enemy, as the final damage is the sum of small fragments of damage that may or may not exceed armor and evasion value.

Yelow pellet= more hits less penetration> good for evasive and low armor enemies.
Green= it's a middle ground>good for groups and unspecialized defense enemies
Red= more penetration less hits>good for heavy armor enemies and robots
Tungsten= Good for everything since it causes daze / stun and has the highest armor penetration, in compensation it is very rare, heavy and expensive.

[Eximus]

Shotguns are particularly vulnerable to evasion. You have 3 perception and 38 effective guns skill... You will never reach 95% to hit with shotguns with this build, even against stunned and immobilized enemies until very late.

Your build is solid as melee, but versatility isnt going to make up for how inaccurate shotguns inherently are.

You absolutely -need- leading shot for this build. And ultimately, shotguns and melee really occupy the same range type, so my question is you're doing mechanical damage at close range, shotgun and sword both fill that role.

[Diogo]

Perception does not directly affect your chance to hit, but rather increases your ""ranged weapon skills"" ,  Versatility  is affected by the  number of the higher effective skill (60% to 80%), so PER is only needed to unlock specific feats, only STR or DEX along with skill specialization directly affect the secondary weapon's effectiveness and damage... 
If melee reaches 350+, Guns/Crossbow can reach 280+, even with 3 of PER.

[WhimsicalWhiskey]

Hi, I was the guy in that other thread that was asking about the same thing, doing sword/shotty. If it helps at all here's my differences at lvl 10 just passed the junkyard. Stats 11, 6, 3, 10, 3, 3, 6 (I went with a str/con setup, gonna be a tin can (old habits from my AR tin can die hard I guess). Skills 40 gun, 35 throw, 60 melee, 60 hack/lock, 20 traps, 60 much, 25 elec, 45 chem/tail, 30 Merc (decided I wouldn't go psi since I'm already spread out enough ). Feats so far are thick skull (benefits of being a beefy boi), versatility, sixth shell, flurry, leading shot, cheap shots, expose weakness (reckless is in my itinerary, party/riposte/ripper are obvious nono's for str, and pellet mayhem, while nice, isn't an essential perk and I think should be either a gap filler while working towards the req's for another perk or at the end. So far my thoughts on the build are that it's not this perfect thing, but most issues are from misperception. By that I mean don't treat the shotgun as a second primary weapon, it's a proxy for speccing into throwing and making grenades and getting the fancy grenades perks. Now if I were to compare and contrast the two of them grenades obviously cost less but have cooldowns so they're not gonna be spammed on one turn anyways. The shotgun burst is great though for deleting a target you can't get to. Skill point and perk point wise they're about the same. Shotguns and their shells cost and weigh more. In the end I'd say it's about even with maybe a 55/45 in favor of grenades. That said shotguns are cool, different, and a melee build is pretty much the only build this off shotty idea would work on (off for a crossbow/traps build is technically doable since you'd have your slots for grenades filled with special bolts, but then you'd just use the special bolts on the armored enemies that'd be the only enemies you'd want to tungsten shell. Not useless, just not nearly worth the investment on a very point hungry specialization).