Advice for a Stealth/Sniper/SMG Build?

[PrincePetrichor]

This will be my third character, and the first one that hasn't been PSI focused. Let me know what you think, I'm sure it's flawed and I want to iron it out before investing the time. It'll be weird to not have LoC...

The idea is to primarily use Sniper Rifles and have SMG as a backup, while using Run & Gun + Sprint to escape melee situations if necessary. Set up traps if possible and also have good grenade throwing, hence investment in Throwing and Chemistry. Mechanics and Tailoring for weapon/armor crafting, but Electronics is meant for shields and cloaking devices.

Particularly, have I put too many points into Dodge/Evasion?
Should I put Kneecap Shot before Sprint?
And have I invested too heavily into Electronics?

I have only and inkling idea of what I'm doing   

https://underrail.info/build/?HgUGCgQLAwfCoDIAAFBQwpFpbjIywqBQUABQAAAAAAAAMgEZHTkCFjceS0nChX5T378

[TheAverageGortsby]

There's no sense at all in using SMGs with 6 Dex.  No point to it whatsoever.

You'd do much better to just dump Per, pump Dex, max melee, and take only enough Guns to get the perks you want, getting your effective skill from Versatility.  You'll have a higher Guns skill that way, and thus do more damage per shot with both your SMG and sniper rifle, and you'll shoot your SMG for like a third the AP cost, making it a viable secondary damage source.

If you're building a sniper without Snipe, then may as well drop Per to 6 (to keep Aimed Shot and thus Shooting Spree; may as well drop Kneecap shot), maybe drop Int to 3 (Gun Nut isn't really worth four stat points, and that appears to be your only crafting feat), and probably Agility to 6 since you're not using Blitz.  You'll still have plenty of stealth - especially if you take some of those excess points out of Mechanics and pump up Electronics and Tailoring just a touch and make a really nice stealth generator and stealth armor.  You'll still have plenty of skill points (you're overinvested in Lockpicking and Hacking, and 80 points in Dodge and Evasion aren't enough to much matter; since you don't have feats that use them, dump them to 0 and avoid damage the old fashioned way - by killing everyone first) to do everything you want.

[Ploluap]

Unless you wanna do the versality thing (which doesn't seem really good for sniper especially during early and midgame), i'd suggest you aim for at least 14 perception at lvl 24.

7 agi seems plenty enough  for your build, you can go up to 8 if you want uncanny dodge.

Also snipe is a good feat you should consider if you plan to mainly use sniper rifle. And pick shooting spree asap.

Pumping evasion instead of both dodge and evasion can be a good idea for conserving skill points and still having some passive defense (and maybe using some for a psi school like temporal manipulation, unless you really don't want any psi ability).

7 int is good even with just gun nut, it'll give you a ton of free skill points which is always nice. And some other crafting feats are nice too (skinner, power management... though not mandatory at all)

[ShoggothWhisperer]

Since you want to use snipers and smgs, its best to try to get perception as high as possible. If you can reach 18 per that's great, but aim for at least 14 per. You should drop agility to 8 if you aren't using blitz, or keep agility at 10 and add the blitz feat. You should drop con to 3 since the difference between 4 and 3 con is basically nothing, especially on hard and dominating. Having 40 base dodge gives you access to the uncanny dodge feat which you should definitely take, and I wouldn't recommend increasing base dodge past 40. If you are pumping evasion you should max it out, since evasion reduces the chance to get hit relative to the targets guns skill and also greatly reduces the damage from explosions. I would recommend 85 effective throwing skill, but you can have less if you fine with reloading more when a grenade misses. 120 effective skill for hacking and lockpicking is sufficient, since Huxkey boosts your hacking and lockpicking skill by 15 and lets you open every locked door. With 130 hacking you can reboot Iris, but you don't get any reward from this except for some lore. 130 effective mechanics skill will allow you to craft with any component found outside deep caverns, and you can craft with higher quality components at a workbench inside your house. Electronics should be at about 140 to craft a 1.5k+ energy shield, which will compensate for having 3 con. With slightly more investment in chemistry you reach 112 chem, which allows you to craft Mk 5 grenades. You should aim for 150 mercantile, since that allows you to pass every mercantile check and get access to high quality components. For Feats, I would recommend dropping hit and run, since it does nothing if you have over 25 mp and only procs on kills.
https://underrail.info/build/?HgUGCgMMAwfCoEgAAChgwoJaVTIyaXBaAFAAAAAAAAB4ATk7JgIWR0E3Sx5-STXCtcKFwqTioo0D4qeWAeKnvgrir70B378
Here is what your build may look like if you implement these changes.

[igetnorespect]

Disclaimer: I'm no veteran. But I did a bit of research.

I can tell what you're trying to do, it's just hard to do in this game. Like, perception is used for all ranged accuracy, but dexterity reduces AP cost of SMGs. You have to conform your build to the game mechanics, not what makes sense in real-life. Think of Underrail as an opinionated Excel spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet, there's no good general gunner build, or rather, such a build is always weaker than a dedicated 1-weapon build.

So for SMGs, it's much better to just pump DEX, and walk up closer to enemies before you burst them to death, than to have high PER. Veterans who play SMGs calculate an AP usage threshold ( dex + rapid reloader + ammo type on crafting), pump DEX enough to get the AP cost down to that desired level, to be able to burst a maximum amount of times per round.

However, I think if you make SMG your primary, and Sniper your occasional weapon, you can get. Snipers are so powerful, they don't need much hand-holding in terms of build. Perhaps (not sure, can a veteran confirm?) with just 6 PER, which you need on an SMG build to get Suppressive Fire (for Opportunist), and which unlocks Aimed Shot, you could keep using the sniper and used an aimed shot as your opener. If you're maxing Guns every level up, that might give enough accuracy at 6 PER to reliably hit enemies.

[Bruno]

If you want to use sniper as primary weapon and smg as backup, I'd not use Versatility, but have high perception. Accuracy and damage is much better like this.

Starting base stats: 5, 6, 6, 3, 10, 3, 4, with 3 points to spare. Put more in int if you like crafting, more in con if you like to live, or more in dex/agi if you want relevant traps or mobility feats.

5 str to use snipers
6 dex to save 1 ap/shot from all SMGs, and for general utility
6 agi for Spec Ops, Sprint, decent stealth etc
10+ per for Snipe, damage, accuracy etc
4 int not to suck completely at crafting, hacking etc. (Opinions may vary about this) I'd probably increase this to about 7 eventually.

Lots of Guns, Stealth, Traps, detection, silenced 5mm smg, sniper rifle, you are an assassin. Always plan a way out if you miss a sniper shot.