Author Topic: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol buil  (Read 18290 times)

redgoesfastfastfastfast

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DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol buil
« on: September 06, 2021, 09:05:35 am »
Ever wanted to clear every zone in the game with minimal use of items? This is the build you've been looking for!

WARNING: COMMENTS HAVE SPOILERS, BIG SPOILERS

Final build link for those who don't wanna read the thread:

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMQAwMDCghGLADCoB4AwqBVMhoAJk9UOF8AAMKgRgAASSbCoyssFsKRViplLg0RL07Ch8KzcsK4378

Pros:

High AoE damage, by around level 14 you should be able to do around 1k damage in AoE in just two turns.

High single target damage, before you acquire XAL you can probably do ~800 damage a turn by level 16 (Balor died in two turns even with 400% health modifier from DOMINATING) and over 1.5k afterwards.

Very low maintenance, you can clear nearly every zone with minimum use of items like drugs, grenades, bear traps and caltrops.
Note that despite me recommending grenades in practice you rarely need them since a thermoD into critical pyrokinesis will delete almost all groups.

Lots of crowd control options, you have access to freeze, fear and entanglement from your chemical pistols

Unresisted damage to nearly everything, the only exception is Nagas and those can't do anything against your mk3 EMP grenades and will get their resistance reduced by corrosive acid

Can pick and hack every lock due to high dexterity and int

Cons:

Lacks skill points until about level 7 unless you decide to drop or postpone hacking or lockpicking

No passive defenses besides shield, you will win fights by good use of cover, your weapons, psi abilities and utilities

Reliant on gear for stealth until late game

Low strength and the fact that you will usually be carrying a minimum of 24 lbs of ammo (equivalent to 100 vials for each pistol) will minimize the amount of loot you are able to haul

Build at level 5:

https://underrail.info/build/?BQMLAwMDCggAHgAjAAAeGxYaAAoAGwAIAAAeIwAAACbCoyssFt-_

At this point you have mk2 grenades + LTI and probably some random knife as your main offense, pyrokinesis exists but is currently too weak to be useful, you don't have enough points to max metathermics yet.

build at level 10:

https://underrail.info/build/?CgMMAwMDCggjHgA8AAAeLSEaAA8RNAAIAAA8IwAAIibCoyssFsKRVirfvw

By this point you should have a chemical pistol or three
(Blaine sells the parts for cryo relatively often and incendiary sometimes while Fixer always sells acid)
and are probably about to do Depot A, which will be a breeze due to mk4 grenades and cryo pistol cooked shot, you are also finally not running out of skill points.

While at this point your chemical pistol accuracy is relatively low that problem is minimal due to cooked shot + LTI as well as a taser.

build at level 16:

https://underrail.info/build/?EAMOAwMDCggjJwBaAAAeOCYaACY8VAAIAABaNwAARybCoyssFsKRViplLg3fvw

By this point the build is extremely powerful, you have all your zone clearing tools except stasis. With guaranteed critical pyrokinesis, thermoD and cooked shot removing evasion with entanglement you should be able to delete the majority of groups in two turns at most with minimal consumable and utility use.

Don't forget to join Oculus ASAP, due to your high INT you can make three q140 chemical pistols shortly after finishing Depot A

By now the build is basically finished, any future feats except Increased Dexterity and Advanced Psi Empathy are up to you.

Personal feat recommendations:
 
Escape Artist so you can use XAL is a good idea and definitely worth the 30 points in dodge, its also nice when your cooked shot hits you.

Quick Pockets is useful so you can switch utilities and pistols mid combat as well the extra utility slot (You will only have 2 without it due to advanced catalyzing belt)

My version of the finished build:

https://underrail.info/build/?HgMQAwMDCghGLADCoB4AwqBVMhoAJk9UOF8AAMKgRgAASSbCoyssFsKRViplLg0RL07Ch8KzcsK4378

Gear:

For headband I was usually equipping a -psi cost +critical damage uni psi headband, with a metathermics +pyrokinesis damage +critical damage to swap to for fights with big groups.

For body armor I wore rathound regalia (use cave hopper leather early on) until I could make a infused hopper leather armor for the extra movement points.

On your feet slot you should wear ninja tabis the whole game.

I made two shield emitters, a low frequency one for crossbowers and a high frequency one for gunners.

Belt should always be advanced catalyzing belt unless you need to haul something, the damage boost from it is massive.

When you acquire CAU armor use that with sea wyrm tabis for maximum acid resistance so you can use XAL without damaging yourself.

Weapons should be obvious, an acid pistol, cryo pistol, incendiary pistol and XAL for tougher fights

Utilities should be taser + grenades early on and flashbangs + grenades until you get Quick Pockets, then use taser + grenades + flashbangs.

Closing words:

Overall this is probably the 2nd strongest build of the few dozen I have played, by level 20 I was able to clear almost every zone in non Expedition areas except Upper Underrail and two maps in the upper caves with many death stalkers.

Almost every zone including expedition ones were cleared (except the Upper and Lower caves, I didn't want to deal with death stalkers in open areas) and every hostile boss I could find was killed (Including Faceless Commander)
« Last Edit: March 14, 2022, 01:49:02 pm by xnmh »
Im working on maknig a guide for new players on DOMINATING. Help needed. Do not PM me.

redgoesfastfastfastfast

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2021, 09:06:05 am »
reserved in case I need to add something in the future
Im working on maknig a guide for new players on DOMINATING. Help needed. Do not PM me.

dddmemaybe

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2021, 04:31:37 am »
Great build with no waste. Aoe chem blast; metathermic blast; grenade blast; and covers utility factors like money, stealth and crafting well. Top-tier kill-the-whole group functionality. Can combat solo enemies well still with dirty kick and availablely, a taser. Go fast psi -and stasis included. Huge dex means you can go first decently oftenly with root soda in the arena as well which is pretty important.

YBS

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2021, 07:10:18 pm »
Quick question for the new kids in the class:  How hard is a chem pistol build to pull off with minimal game knowledge?
 It looks like it crutches on having a relatively deep understanding of damage types vs certain enemies as well as specific parts locations.
 Would most of us be better off starting with something else?

Tytyger

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2021, 01:33:23 am »
Quick question for the new kids in the class:  How hard is a chem pistol build to pull off with minimal game knowledge?
 It looks like it crutches on having a relatively deep understanding of damage types vs certain enemies as well as specific parts locations.
 Would most of us be better off starting with something else?
most enemies dont have any resist to its damage, except fire one so you can do it without any knowledge

YBS

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2021, 07:50:15 pm »
A couple more (probably dumb) questions, because I've seen this done on a few DOM builds, but why use versatility at all? 

Are we assuming that we'll want to use alternate weapons that drop by RNG? 

And why is melee the base skill when STR is on 3? 


Realizing now that it's for having access to multiple weapon types/ammos when you normally might not have the cash/availability of specific ammos, also light melee operates on dex even with 'low' damage from str thanks to weapon mods.  Correct me if I'm wrong but that's my best guess.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2021, 12:06:53 am by YBS »

AbramIsMyWaifu

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2021, 04:43:21 pm »
can this clear deep caverns?

Pranj

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2021, 10:52:12 am »
im running very similar build on dom. can you please share your specialization?

Tatterdemalian

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2022, 02:23:08 am »
Realizing now that it's for having access to multiple weapon types/ammos when you normally might not have the cash/availability of specific ammos, also light melee operates on dex even with 'low' damage from str thanks to weapon mods.  Correct me if I'm wrong but that's my best guess.
Actually it's probably because Melee is the only combat skill that scales off DEX, so Melee + Versatility lets you get reasonably high (200+) effective Gun skill without having to invest a single point (though this build does anyway because Execute), while also letting you get excellent effective Throwing, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, and Initiative, with little skill point investment. DOMINATING difficulty is all about making sure you get both the first and last shot, preferably simultaneously.

Note, another drawback is that, with 3 PER, you will absolutely not see s*** until you step in it. Obviously anyone who plays DOMINATING will know how to make their PER go up to eleven, but that requires late game drugs, and doesn't really help when the game decides to spawn BRANDON THE FRAGGING TRAPPER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ONLY LAND PATH TO JUNKYARD RIGHT AFTER YOU CLEAR GMS HALLELUJAH HOLY S***
« Last Edit: January 04, 2022, 02:34:45 am by Tatterdemalian »

redgoesfastfastfastfast

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2022, 01:47:20 pm »
Im back and ready to answer any questions about the build, if anyone has any.

PS. Image of (SPOILER) defeat and (SPOILER defeat) added to this comment, you need to login to see it.

EDIT: Images too big, im going to make a second comment.
Im working on maknig a guide for new players on DOMINATING. Help needed. Do not PM me.

redgoesfastfastfastfast

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol build
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2022, 01:48:22 pm »
Second comment to show (SPOILER) defeat
Im working on maknig a guide for new players on DOMINATING. Help needed. Do not PM me.

mewea

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Re: DOMINATING low maintenance Metathermics Chem Pistol buil
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2022, 11:13:40 am »
What spec points should I choose?