Is my build dominating viable?

[SampleText11]

Ok, so I started playing underrail with a psi build, because everyone recommended it, but after level 12 or so it got boring.
Thinking I got a good grasp of pve in this game i decided to make my own build, on normal.
It's a TF2 scout inspired build and it totally shreds normal mode, so much that i stopped playing it cause it was so boring.
I even killed every arena enemy within 1 turn (even the last guy).
Right now I'm in a limbo of starting new characters, playing them for ~6 hours and then restarting.
I thought if my build is so op on normal, it would be at least viable on dominating, but im not sure. Or maybe the hard stuff is right next to me (rn I'm in core city after doing foundry questline) and just should carry on, idk.
Here's the build. (Feats are not in order)
https://underrail.info/build/?FwUDCgMOAwd9AAAAPH0AUGMAAGh7Dx9aAB4ANwAAP1MrKSQ5QcKHGSjCj0fCsB5d4qG4A-KiowXfvw


It was also done on the legacy version, 1.1.1.6 if i recall correctly, cause i was afraid of the psi nerf would make my first build ass, and later forgot about switching back to newest version when starting this build.

[YoungCourier]

I'm not really that far into the game but I can give some advice:

1.dodge and evasion won't help long unless you really specialized on it.  It also unreliable at dominating due to enemy increased skill by 30%. Against just take it with a grain of salt, I mostly just put dodge at 40 and evasion at 50 for the feats. Shield Emitter and mobility is your best defense on dominating

2.im not sure about this but I drop skinner and gun nut,  the bonuses are negilible for it to work I usually just take grenadier and premeditation since it give more advantages.

3.maybe this just my personal taste but I up some effective throwing 125, chemistry 69,  and biology 70. Using chemistry and biology to craft items. And for better throwing precision

4.idk if this right but you don't have stealth and you have low con. Stealth help a lot on low con build. Mainly for alpha strike

5. Carry a long range gun,  either a pistol, smg, or even AR.  There a times when your enemy is out of your range and you need to kill them first.

Again just take this with a grain of salt as I never play shotgun build.

[SampleText11]

1.I agree that dodge and evasion are kinda bad and unreliable, but I guess it's really hard to balance something like that between it being completely op or total waste of points. Even though i spend points on evasion every level i still got hit quite a lot. I believe hit chance might be something between 30-40%.
2. I got skinner to get better evasion bonuses form siphoner leather armor but idk if it helped all that much, but I believe that shotgun builds are the best builds to include gun nut, mainly because their max dmg range is already quite big, especially on short vindicator I was using (58-235). If its about grenadier, short vindicator (55 degree spread) acts quite well as aoe attack with hopper shot (20 pellets), i regularly get triple kills on rathounds groups.
3. I agree that my build kinda lacks on crafting, but didn't really felt it on normal, got enough to craft jumping bean (+25% to evasion and dodge) but low dex made it a chore to fish for ingredients. Will probably pump crafting and throwing as you said.
4. With 10 agility, specced paranoia initiative, and root soda (+5) I have 33 initiative so i think its enough to act first 99% of the time, but crafting some stealth leather armor and getting cloaking device might be a good choice. Even with evasion being poop i still evade something so shields feel like they are ~40% more durable and overall better on this build.
I also always carry a pistol cause crippling strike (-2 strength) makes my hitchance drop to 10%, but then i can use hopper shot and have 20 shots trying to hit which results in ~88% chance to at least hit 1 shot, so i guess it's not required, but recommended. I will probably start carrying a hornet around for those snipers that i can't run up to.

Thanks for the response!

[Turbodevil]

No

3 con, no stealh, low initiative. Dodge / Evasion can work as defensive mechanics but they are gimped on DOMINATING, such low values would do very little to you. You will keep dying in one turn before doing anything.

At the very least get lots of stealth and defensive utilites. I was thinking flashbangs, molotovs, caltrops etc. You would need to invest into throwing skills. Maybe take Sure Step and spread poisoned caltrops?

Paranoia feat can bring you enough initiative to often (enough) have a first move.
EDIT: Did not notice specced Paranoia

Either way, damage will be ok but you lack defences badly. Stealth and utilities should give you enough active efences to survive.

[SampleText11]

Made this:(from lvl16 to 26 feats ware pretty much randomized cause nothing interesting remained)
https://underrail.info/build/?HgQDCgMQAwfCoMKJAAAAAGpMXwAAaMKCYFhaAAAAAAAAVBk5wrBTKShHwo_ChWEnwpckMcK1wqZ54qKjBeKypgrfvw
Any thoughts?
Is it at least hard viable?
v2:
https://underrail.info/build/?HgQDCgMQAwfCoGkAAAAAakxfAABowoJTV1oAAADCoAAAVBk5wrBTKShHwo_ChcKHJMKXYTHCtcKmeSvioqMF4rKmCt-_

[Turbodevil]

Should be even DOMINATING viable (if you know how to play DOMINATING that is ) after few tweaks:

- Shotguns have 5-6 str requirement

- You didn't pick some powerful shotgun feats: Leading shot, kneecap shot and fragmented chaos and pellet mayhem

Lower your Per, boost Str to 6 and Dex to 5, drop Power Management, Gun Nut, perfect scattering, and Nimble and pick the other feats, preferable early on.

[SampleText11]

I thought about using bbq in early game until i get rathound king suit to get the vindicator 5 str requirement with saving 1 point to put in per.
I also thought that by leveling perception and guns to max every level I won't really need leading shot but idk.
I think I will lower per by 2 to get the 5 dex along with leading shot, and get those feats that you mention. ( I was thinking that leading shot was a special attack lol)
With the googles, recklessness, focus stim, and chips i should have a ~50% crit chance (without including pellet mayhem) which is I think good for shotguns, cause on average i will have half the pellets critically hit.
Was also thinking about dropping str to 3 and get 1 more points in per cause i can get to 5 str with bbq and rathound regalia, but idk if carrying and constantly using food is worth a single per point.
v3:
https://underrail.info/build/?HgQFCgMOAwfCoGkAAAAAakxfAABowoJTV1oAAADCoAAAVBk5wrAewpbCj0fCmMKQK8KHKDHChWHCtXnCpuKiowXisqYK378
Thanks for the response!

[RewRatt]

Hey. I am doing a Survivalist Shotgun/AR playthrough, so have a look of what you can glean from that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xcjj5Wmkds&list=PLJIz8SEgMJ1rVhGRpwonRyyBoY1on_8wc

My observations about your build:
- You don't spec into Sixth Shell - 5 spec points in that will double it's effectiveness and it is really strong for shotguns.
- You took Leading Shot and Barrel Stare - they don't combo. Leading Shot is super strong on Dominating, forget Barrel Stare. Spec 3 points in Leading Shot for -80% Evasion. If you ask why you need so much reduction? Get Intimidated, then ask again 😆😁
- You took Fragmented Chaos, but not Improved Criticals (which double its effectiveness). Pellet Mayhem is questionable, as it will most often be +3-6% crit.
- Specced Paranoia. With Stealth, you will only have a few Initiative checks that matter, and you can get JKK jacket for +5 and Root Soda for another +5 and later Twitch for +8. So, not sure even Paranoia is worth it.
- Decommisioner. Shotguns don't struggle vs robots. We have 2 great Armor Piercing shots - 9p and 3p aka "Train Shot".

Hope this helps 😄 btw, get some long range weapons - AR or Sniper as secondary. Shotguns have very low reach and some enemies will frustrate the living hell out of you otherwise (looking at you, Snakes..)

[SampleText11]

Ok I came up with this:
v4: https://underrail.info/build/?HgQFCgMQAwXCoEwAAAAAUExfAAB3wpRTX2gAAADCoAAAVBk5wrAewpYmR8KYSyvCh8KIMcKFYcK1wqbCpOKxoAXis6wF4rewBd-_
Can someone tell me if gun nut is worth losing 2 per points? cause vindicator already has a high max dmg. So I think if there is a build that benefits from it the most, then it should be a shotgun build, but idk.
Thanks for the response!

[RewRatt]

Ok I came up with this:
v4: https://underrail.info/build/?HgQFCgMQAwXCoEwAAAAAUExfAAB3wpRTX2gAAADCoAAAVBk5wrAewpYmR8KYSyvCh8KIMcKFYcK1wqbCpOKxoAXis6wF4rewBd-_
Can someone tell me if gun nut is worth losing 2 per points? cause vindicator already has a high max dmg. So I think if there is a build that benefits from it the most, then it should be a shotgun build, but idk.
Thanks for the response!

Definetily not. Shotgun problem is minimum damage rolls, not maximum. Same for .44 Pistol 😄 You could say that you increase the range by 15%, but you will still get low rolls. Anyways - after a certain point, you will be blasting with enough crits to simply not care.

[Turbodevil]

Definetily not. Shotgun problem is minimum damage rolls, not maximum. Same for .44 Pistol 😄 You could say that you increase the range by 15%, but you will still get low rolls. Anyways - after a certain point, you will be blasting with enough crits to simply not care.

I completely disagree. Both shotguns and .44 roll damage many times per round, so total damage eventually gets evenly distributed. Even if that wasn't the case, having higher upper damage drastically increase the chance the bullet/pellet will do its job.

Now, is it worth it in this build? Probably not, per gives accuracy, damage and doesn't waste a feat, while int gives higher damage and more skill points. Would go for int if I was skill starved.

[RewRatt]

Definetily not. Shotgun problem is minimum damage rolls, not maximum. Same for .44 Pistol 😄 You could say that you increase the range by 15%, but you will still get low rolls. Anyways - after a certain point, you will be blasting with enough crits to simply not care.

I completely disagree. Both shotguns and .44 roll damage many times per round, so total damage eventually gets evenly distributed. Even if that wasn't the case, having higher upper damage drastically increase the chance the bullet/pellet will do its job.

Now, is it worth it in this build? Probably not, per gives accuracy, damage and doesn't waste a feat, while int gives higher damage and more skill points. Would go for int if I was skill starved.

An interesting point to disagree on 😆 Yes, you will Average it out, but fact remains - Minimum damage doesn't change. There are Feats that up the damage wholesale, and that will up Minimum too, so you will be more consistent. This is a Feat and requires 7INT which can be spent better in many places. Especially as end-game gear can be crafter with Hypercerebrix(+2INT) and home crafting bonuses. Fact is - I rarely if ever see any build take it for the reasons I mentioned.

while int gives higher damage and more skill points

INT doesn't give higher damage, unless you are playing Energy Pistols with High-Technicalities 😄 Weapon skill does.

[Turbodevil]

If damage averages out due to many hits, it doesn't matter what the spread is. Steel Cat SMG have consistent damage even though max damage is tripple of min.

Int route will give higher damage than Per route in OP scenario (as Gun Nut will net more damage than effective skill gain from 2 per)

As for why people don't take Gun Nut: Because it's weak. Best weapon to utilize it is .44 hamerrer pistol and the feat gives 12% more damage. That's the best case scenario, usually it's lower. For shotguns it's 10% more damage, nothing to go out of your way to get.

Still, if you have free feat but are starved on skill points...