Thoughts on a Riot Gear Shield & Sword, pure melee build

[PanPannik]

Greetings. I have been playing for a while, mostly perception builds guided by aesthetics before crafting (AR and thought control Gray Army Spec Ops; chemical pistols and sniper with metathermics CAU armor), and aim to change that. Surely the answers will be of use for anyone looking for iterations of sword combat.

I have two intrigues: throwing feats and shield materials.

How would Three-pointer compare to Grenadier? Even though I used them each in separate runs, I'm not sure about the difference in terms of damage - or even utility. The latter, because as it is to be expected with swords; machines (and armoured things in general) will be a pain until crafting a good one with electricity or energy damage (or getting the Red Dragon as I intend to). In that sense, Grenadier can get more with EMP and blast (even MK V) grenades instead three-pointer. Earlier in the run, and with less skill points. Throwing knives are tempting, but well, they don't have the proper feats. What do experienced melee fighters or grenadiers say? Particularly with any sinergy of three-pointer and critical power.

In second place. Would a super steel shield or one of TiChrome be worth it despite the armor penalty; or giving my many sources of block, a burrower caparace would suffice? I haven't had the chance to test the damage of shield bash, vanity of my interest along the "role" side of Ripper and the 2 points added to intelligence. Although for this last aspect, I justify it as a base need for the many skills points required to craft e. g. a regenerative vest. And 1 for the Red Dragon.

As for the build itself, this has constitution invested for thick skull - since crawlers, coil spiders and psi users are going to be an issue. Brutality looks fun as cc, it's benefit from Death's Grin and the fact that I haven't tried it yet. The build shall pass on lockpicking. It focuses on hacking for lore, the large field of use and even joining CoreTech for the Scrambler will help. This is my first build with invested mercantile, it should have the cap that most make do.

Escape artist was nice to have with a fist build and temporal manipulation support I used previously (my first melee actually, aside from a wasted versatility feat used for a sporadic spear in the Assault Rifle one). Throwing nets and acid blobs can get you stuck for increased damage and following stuns. For sprint and the limited mobility of a still kind of heavy outfit, it looks interesting the chance of using infused cave hopper tabi boots, for the reduced cooldown. The armor penalty is too heavy to benefit from fancy footwork (and it would make it hurt even more whenever flurry misses its target). The long run is to see myself with Captain's Cutlass and Red Dragon, getting more out of Expedition content first. And the ocassional machete.

It is important to note that I'm playing in normal difficulty, so there's not so much min/maxed with the attributes. And I have more experience with tailoring than with mechanics. Maybe I can redirect there some skillpoints from traps. Someday I will think of something that gets to use the psi beetle benefits, perhaps a energy pistol user for the phaser and the sonocaster guns, but this build has kept me busy. It's very fun planning to this degree this character.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgcIBgoDBQcAwqAAwqAtPABpAABAW1pTY1wAAAAAVUtHKDljYQ1OwqrCjMKZBkvCjj7CgcKzXMKL4qWKAuKonAHisogF4rKJAuK2tQLitrYD378

[TheSidewalkSLAM]

IMO for Normal difficulty youll get much more mileage for your grenades just by crafting Mk IV-Vs and taking grenadier; most times a grenade of that tier (or a nail bomb if youre a Drone) thrown at a group will eliminate most units. Not having to pump throwing for 3P that way will also free up a lot of points; more than enough to get good lockpick and/or pickpocket at 8-10 Dex. I would also use those freed skill points to raise intimidation to 75 after moving 1 ability point from Will to Dex.
With escape artist and the kind of armor penalty you'll be at once youve got a shielded riot set I think the evasion investment is a waste, you can handle ranged attacks with a high-F shield and swap to a low-F shield against crossbows/burrowers/et al. If you arent planning to use caltrops I might swap sure step for a crafting feat to get more use out of 7 Int, probably ballistics or weaponsmith for your machetes before CC/RD. I also dont know how many enemies are valid for decapitate at level 30 in DC so you might take that earlier at the time you expect to get RD just to get more usage out of it.
Looks like a very fun build though, I ought to try this one after my current run.

[PanPannik]

Thanks for the input. I've actually noticed that the build had a few too many points in hacking, so I corrected them for electronics to get high tier EMP grenades. You give a good insight for decapitate that I didn't consider, especially if I'm going to explore the savage lands north of the Black Sea.

One was timid of not investing in evasion despite seeing it not worth it for dominating runs, but yeah - a low frequency energy shield could protect the player against crossbows while the vest and a kevlar overcoat cushion enemy bullets. Maybe a blast cloth if grenades get too scary? Natives don't use explosives though

I put a hold on paranoia for the low perception to benefit detection, and the fact of being no longer sure if the extra initiative from it (or trigger happy for that matter) is worth the feat. More when one can plan the attacks with enter and throwing caltrops. Maybe it can get much more with Yell as a detector and defensive skill with the DG headwear intimidation bonus; expose weakness against high mechanical thresholds, fast metabolism for healing the receiving damage, or even one of the throwing knives feat with a utility belt if I were to keep the heavy throwing investment (hypothetically a regenerating vest covering for the action cost of health hypos and other medicines with the frequent Doctor's pouch). Also, alternatively to CoreTech in case of not having interest in hacking bots, Yell could get potential from Praetorian Lawgiver. Lastly, boarding up or Quick Pockets would be available too, probably to the lesser extent.

About reducing will, sounds good, although I don't know if it will lose much damage without Ripper. It's not the most optimal, yet I don't mind eating eel sandwiches for the extra point (but I wonder if it's enough for the dexterity check of Void at the Protectorate questline. I remember that in expedition there are some of a value of 10).

[Bruno]

Fun plan, but you play through all the game until level 26 with only 8 Dex as a sword fighter. Your melee skill will not be that impressive, so you will miss some times. Flurry, I think will be more of a death sentence than a helpful skill. But if you can incapacitate, stun, and tank a lot, sure it could work.

Personally I'd get Ripper and 10 Dex a lot earlier.

[hello7op]

I did a machete run a while ago and finish the game with it. I can give you some input.

+ Pump your main melee attribute up higher ( dex or str base on your reference ) , with only 8 dex until level 26 you probably won't hit anyone half of the time .

+ Taser will help you early game with high dodge enemy ( mostly dog and other melee enemy )

+ You don't need to put too many point in throwing, just put enough for three pointer (80 effective is enough for me most playthrough, but I am against picking throw feat on melee build anyway

+ Red dragon will come really late in the game, crafted machete probably better for you in the long run ( you need an electric machete for DC anyway )

+ If you use riot gear with shield, you won't have much MP, use infuse cave hopper boot or AP and MP buff from TM school ( I use both in my playthrough and I'm recommend it )

+ Thich skull may look good on paper, but when you get daze enemy still can pile up on you ( especially in dlc zone ), so I advise against it

+ You pick both ripper and critical power but only 10 dex investment, you have low hit chance and low crit chance what are you going to do.

+ You have 7 int may as well pick up crafting feat, at least get weaponsmith.

+ Brutality may sound good on paper but I don't think anyone need it. Ditch it if you can

That all I can say, you probably gonna struggle mid game if you still follow the original build.

[PanPannik]

Indeed, gameplay did make me reconsider some parts of this melee idea. Sure step also ended up being overshadowed when Juggernaut or Fast Metabolism had more to offer given the high armor penalty. Funnily enough, mid game was fine - Grenadier tends to do that. A big mistake was postponing Expose Weakness against bots and crabs in the DLC. Parry and TiChrome shield made me impervious to crawlers and natives though.

Giving up Thick Skull allows investing more dexterity, among other things.

[Tytyger]

as someone, who did 10 dex main combat stat with chete, can reccomend you few things.If you plan to do it i would drop riposte with parry and change place with str.Craft supersteel machete.Get tfb.Focus on shield block.If you want semitanking build get conditioning.It would be useful

[cypherusuh]

specifically for riot gear shield, I hated it because its very heavy and doesn't really do much. sledgehammer still could one-shot you, you can deal with knifer without the shield, it doesn't protect you from any ranged damage, too. investing on super steel is much better with the similar / lighter penalty.