New Player Friendly Energy Weapon Builds

[IronworksManiac]

Hey, New player here. Been struggling in the early game and Im trying to work out a solid build for a laser gunslinger type. Any help and suggestions are much appreciated.

[IronworksManiac]

Here's the build I drafted up: https://underrail.info/build/?AQMKAwYKAwUPAAAAAA8ADw8AAA8PAAAAAAAADwAPJE8

[HulkOSaurus]

You don't need to keep Hacking, Lockpicking, Mechanics and Electronics maxed. Your agility is at it's lowest so putting points into Evasion won't produce optimal results... BUT it will reduce damage from explosives so you might want to keep some.

You don't need to max Social, as well. You might want to go with only one Social, but that is up to you in the end. I lean more heavily towards Mercantile.

I would put some small points into Pickpocket, Lockpicking and Traps. That will help you get your funds started as well as help you notice traps from the very beginning of the game - you are, after all, a new player to Underrail so being able to spot traps is a huge QoL improvement for you. After that I'd just slowly put points into both up until about 50. Your high Dex will further scale those up.   

Do not ignore Throwing and Chemistry - these two things alone can make some combat encounters a breeze. Do not ignore Tailoring, as well. In combination with the other Crafting skills it can give you armour with defences specific to an encounter. You won't need to max Throwing as it will scale off of your high Dex.

For starting feats I'd consider Pack Rathound and Aimed Shot.

[trashplayer]

 You do read up on the game and you try to optimize too. Good start.

1. Energy guns are reliant on crit, so get anything that gives crit chance. Read Expertise again.
2. Defence are not bad at all on normal difficulty but some focus is required for dividends. It might be limiting.
3. Stealth is a very effective engagement mechanism and also handy for quests. Can be boosted greatly by items.
4. 7 Int is a major feat breakpoint. Power Management and Practical Physicist stand out. Read High Technicalities again.
5. Hacking and Lockpicking are mostly QoL and level to breakpoints only later. Boosts for them exist in the game.
6. The other crafting skills give a lot of options too. Again, level to breakpoints only. Boosts for them exist in the game.
7. Check out all the combat utilities available to you. Grenades, tasers, meds... These can trivialize encounters difficult otherwise.

The wiki is a very good resource, even if not everything is up to date. Happpy gaming.

[IronworksManiac]

Thanks for the input guys, here is my updated build, I tried to be a little better rounded without becoming too weak in my focuses https://underrail.info/build/?AQMJAwUKAwcPCgAAAAAACgoFCgoPCgAAAAAACgAPAU8

[DerivativeZero]

Maybe this guide can also help you: https://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=5086.0

It details stats and feats for a critical build with energy weapons (mainly laser pistol) and what you can expect in terms of damage, gameplay etc. It's written for DOMINATING, which means that using it on lower difficulty should make for relaxed gameplay

The second post also gives a small mini guide allowing for a headstart in terms of getting a laser pistol before even going on the first quest given by Tanner. Using this gives you early easy cash on top of a laser pistol and can really take the edge off early gameplay difficulty.

If you play sneaky, a glass cannon build with survival instincts may be your thing, but I don't know whether you'd consider this new player friendly. The thing about laser pistols is, they only work with criticals and suck without them (i.e. doing normal damage), so speccing around critical power and survival instincts allows great damage potential.

Hope this helps!