Is Nerd Commando's "Arbalist" Build still viable for Expedition?

[cowboy curtis]

This is my first playthrough and this build looked fun. I plan to go Oddity, and I noticed a lot of his new builds do not have Hacking and Lockpicking which I imagine would be a big problem.

Not sure how out of date it is though. Is there anything major I should change?



The build-
https://youtu.be/mz3oWx1J1Lk

[TheAverageGortsby]

Man I forgot that his voice is basically an acoustic weapon.  Hell is probably just eternity listening to NerdCommando narrate documentaries about flesh-eating swarm insects.

Anyway, that build would work fine.  Probably skip Trap Expert unless you just have nothing else at all you want.  Since you'll have some points to spare, might be worth putting 55 into Temporal Manipulation so you can self-buff, then get Psychotemporal Acceleration instead of TE.

Hacking and Lockpicking aren't necessary to get through the game, but you miss out on a lot of loot if you have neither.  Also, with low Strength scores, if you don't have lockpicking then you may not be able to benefit from all the air vent trickery that you can do so well as a stealthy xbow user.  Since they're in the build you linked to, probably keep at least one of them if not both.  You won't need to max them out - 100 effective skill is enough to pass 95-99% of all the checks in the game, especially once you add gear and food buffs to that.

[cowboy curtis]

Man I forgot that his voice is basically an acoustic weapon.  Hell is probably just eternity listening to NerdCommando narrate documentaries about flesh-eating swarm insects.

Anyway, that build would work fine.  Probably skip Trap Expert unless you just have nothing else at all you want.  Since you'll have some points to spare, might be worth putting 55 into Temporal Manipulation so you can self-buff, then get Psychotemporal Acceleration instead of TE.

Hacking and Lockpicking aren't necessary to get through the game, but you miss out on a lot of loot if you have neither.  Also, with low Strength scores, if you don't have lockpicking then you may not be able to benefit from all the air vent trickery that you can do so well as a stealthy xbow user.  Since they're in the build you linked to, probably keep at least one of them if not both.  You won't need to max them out - 100 effective skill is enough to pass 95-99% of all the checks in the game, especially once you add gear and food buffs to that.

Haha.

Well damn, seems like every build squeezes in some Temporal Manipulation; seems like a big deal to miss out on.

On a side note, is there anything vital I will get screwed over for not having persuasion?

[TheAverageGortsby]

is there anything vital I will get screwed over for not having persuasion?

No.  A few cases of somewhat better quest rewards, and a few situations where an easier - and usually less combat-oriented - solution is available if you can persuade someone/something.  What you miss out on is noticeable, but not vital.

[Vokial]

This is just my humble opinion, but I think lockpicking and hacking are very useful skills. I also can't stand the feeling of not being able to open doors and containers and missing out of stuff - even while already rich.
However it's generally a good thing to get them since you're playing on oddity. The above mentioned effective 93 sould suffice (so 100 with jackknife, 110 for Expedition with the lemurian suit).

[LeftHandManGary]

Same video I watched when I was looking up crossbow builds, lol.

I do wish someone on youtube would make some more current build guides. Nerd Commando is always the first one to show up, and some of his builds look a little wonky, to be honest. The fact that he often skips lockpicking and hacking makes me think he must be playing on classic difficulty.

Anyway, I followed a variant of the Arbalist build, and one thing I didn't do was grab Temporal Manipulation. If I was going to change one thing, that'd probably be it. Well, that and the fact that I left my Will at 4. It was there as penalty avoidance, but I never took a single social skill, so it was a total waste of a stat point. So in terms of advice, Temporal Manipulation is a good thing to pick up, and if you're not going to put any points in social, might as well set will to 3.

Not sure how the Will of 3 would effect TM, to be honest. Fairly new, myself.

@Gortsby

Now picture his voice reading tax law to you. That would be the true meaning of hell, lol.

[cowboy curtis]

Same video I watched when I was looking up crossbow builds, lol.

I do wish someone on youtube would make some more current build guides. Nerd Commando is always the first one to show up, and some of his builds look a little wonky, to be honest. The fact that he often skips lockpicking and hacking makes me think he must be playing on classic difficulty.

Anyway, I followed a variant of the Arbalist build, and one thing I didn't do was grab Temporal Manipulation. If I was going to change one thing, that'd probably be it. Well, that and the fact that I left my Will at 4.

Yeah, he has some good ideas but some of his choices I don't fully understand. I tried this build for a bit, loved / hated it, but eventually gave up. Just way too tedious with the quick tinkering nerf and very little crowd control.