Ultimate Specialization Guide

[ShoggothWhisperer]

Hey, I've written an exhaustive guide on every specialization and whether or not they are worth taking on a build. I wrote this because I feel that too many builds neglect their specialization points, which can turn a good build into a great build with the right specializations. This is targeted towards new players and old players, using my knowledge gained from 800+ hours playing Underrail.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D0h2BRsGJXLjO0Bj9KhjIoVLpzrUd349p9vUmcVzjNE/edit?usp=sharing


I would love to hear any discussion and comments on specializations, especially if I overlooked any good specialization combos or synergies. In the coming months I will be posting more guides similar to this for overlooked gameplay mechanics, and the next one is probably going to be about maximizing ability scores.

[aofangs]

Really cool guide, thanks for putting in the time for this.

[PaposikG6]

Generally looks good.
Some stuff i personally disagree:
- I wouldn't call Sharpshooter or Wrestling specs useless. Sharpshooter can be taken on top of Critical Power for sniper rifles and wrestling spec gives 100% chance to apply debuff which allows to proc opportunist non-stop and with all stacks of tackled it acts like stronger daze, removing 40 mp, 15 ap and reducing ranged hit chance by 35%.
- Marksman spec bonus is so miniscule it's rather useless and you almost certainly use nightvision goggles to remove darkness penalty and strafe allows to completely nullify move and shoot penalty for most crossbow types.

[Kekus Maximus]

Good stuff, but as Paposik said, wrestling spec is not that bad.You can apply debuff on multiple ranged enemies in a single turn, not only they will shoot and attack less, but they will also miss most of their shots if your build has decent evasion. It's not necessary to fully spec it, just 2 or 3 points are enough. The debuff can be refreshed with a single proc, spec reduses the amount of hits it takes to proc. And it stacks with all ranged acuraccy debuffs and penalties. Under the right conditions, a ranged enemy with low CTH is a burden to other enemies.

Also, why paranoia initiative in low priority, but trigger happy in useless? They are literally the same.

[Shoutaxeror]

Flurry's cooldown reduction is also top priority IMO, makes you vulnerable for fewer turns when you miss. Blade builds are way too much flurry dependant to be top notch.

[Kekus Maximus]

Flurry's cooldown reduction is also top priority IMO, makes you vulnerable for fewer turns when you miss. Blade builds are way too much flurry dependant to be top notch.

Flurry will fail eventually, so sword builds have a backup weapon. Flurry cost is way more important, cooldown comes later. In a normal turn, you can use flurry three times, with full spec it becomes five. A base cost of flurry activation is 35, if you missed a single swing, you just wasted 35 AP and now have 15. If it was specced, you would have 20 left - which is enough to use spear or hammer once, or a knife two or three times, or two meds without doctor belt, or taser together with throwing net.

[Shoutaxeror]

Flurry's cooldown reduction is also top priority IMO, makes you vulnerable for fewer turns when you miss. Blade builds are way too much flurry dependant to be top notch.

Flurry will fail eventually, so sword builds have a backup weapon. Flurry cost is way more important, cooldown comes later. In a normal turn, you can use flurry three times, with full spec it becomes five. A base cost of flurry activation is 35, if you missed a single swing, you just wasted 35 AP and now have 15. If it was specced, you would have 20 left - which is enough to use spear or hammer once, or a knife two or three times, or two meds without doctor belt, or taser together with throwing net.

I agree, didn't say flurry AP cost is less important than its cooldown reduction. The question is : if you play a blade build, what do you prioritize after the 5 spec in AP reduction? Cooldown reduction is "only" 2 points of specs, I find the ratio of investment/quality of life quite good, I might be wrong.

[Kekus Maximus]

Flurry's cooldown reduction is also top priority IMO, makes you vulnerable for fewer turns when you miss. Blade builds are way too much flurry dependant to be top notch.

Flurry will fail eventually, so sword builds have a backup weapon. Flurry cost is way more important, cooldown comes later. In a normal turn, you can use flurry three times, with full spec it becomes five. A base cost of flurry activation is 35, if you missed a single swing, you just wasted 35 AP and now have 15. If it was specced, you would have 20 left - which is enough to use spear or hammer once, or a knife two or three times, or two meds without doctor belt, or taser together with throwing net.

I agree, didn't say flurry AP cost is less important than its cooldown reduction. The question is : if you play a blade build, what do you prioritize after the 5 spec in AP reduction? Cooldown reduction is "only" 2 points of specs, I find the ratio of investment/quality of life quite good, I might be wrong.

It depends on what the build is going for. Flurry cooldown improves damage consistency, but there are other things worth specialising in. I am doing silly swordspear build right now, and after flurry cost I will probably spec into sweep cooldown, or maybe hit and run, or quick tinkering cost if I manage to fit it in the build.

[ShoggothWhisperer]

Generally looks good.
Some stuff i personally disagree:
- I wouldn't call Sharpshooter or Wrestling specs useless. Sharpshooter can be taken on top of Critical Power for sniper rifles and wrestling spec gives 100% chance to apply debuff which allows to proc opportunist non-stop and with all stacks of tackled it acts like stronger daze, removing 40 mp, 15 ap and reducing ranged hit chance by 35%.
- Marksman spec bonus is so miniscule it's rather useless and you almost certainly use nightvision goggles to remove darkness penalty and strafe allows to completely nullify move and shoot penalty for most crossbow types.

Sharpshooter is useless because on a sniper build I’m putting 1 spec points into shooting spree shots, 4 points into shooting spree cooldown, and the remaining 10 points into critical power. I don’t have any remaining points to invest in sharpshooter, but even if I did, I would probably invest them into something else, like blitz max ap if I was a high agility sniper build, opportunist disabled targets if I frequently used traps or flashbangs, or psi related specs if I was a psi hybrid build. 
I value wrestling spec low because I only use it as a means to proc opportunist, and sometimes procing wrestling on the second punch instead of the first usually is a pretty small loss in damage. Usually I’ll kill an enemy before they get to 5 stacks, or I’ll use the incapacitation effect from cheap shots, a pneumatic hammer incapacition, or a combo stun if I want to prevent damage. If I’m a fist build I probably spend 1 point on expose weakness, 4 points on fancy footwork, and 3 on opportunist slowed targets, and the remainder on either blitz ap, recklessness/SI crit chance, bone breaker, critical power, psi specs if you’re a hybrid build, or any of the other niche options your build might benefit from.
Marksman is useful if for whatever reason you have low accuracy on your crossbow build, either from low per, versatility, or from yell. That being said, it does belong in the niche area instead of low priority.

[ShoggothWhisperer]

Good stuff, but as Paposik said, wrestling spec is not that bad.You can apply debuff on multiple ranged enemies in a single turn, not only they will shoot and attack less, but they will also miss most of their shots if your build has decent evasion. It's not necessary to fully spec it, just 2 or 3 points are enough. The debuff can be refreshed with a single proc, spec reduses the amount of hits it takes to proc. And it stacks with all ranged acuraccy debuffs and penalties. Under the right conditions, a ranged enemy with low CTH is a burden to other enemies.

Also, why paranoia initiative in low priority, but trigger happy in useless? They are literally the same.

Paranoia and trigger happy are not the same, since trigger happy requires 6 dexterity. The minimum initiative you can have with paranoia is 16 (5 base+3 agi+3 dex+ 5 paranoia), while the minimum initiative you can have with trigger happy is 21 (5 base+ 3 agi+6 dex+7 trigger happy). With root soda, those values are boosted to 21 and 26. The most important initiative check in the game is Carnifex, who has 29 initiative. You add 1-15 initiative at the start of combat, so assuming root soda, our paranoia build only has about a 3.33% chance of out speeding Carnifex, while the trigger happy build has about a 36.66% chance (I know the math is funky, I couldn’t be bothered to calculate the exact odds). There are builds out there that run 3 dex 3 agi, such as SI psi builds, and for them paranoia initiative is a low priority spec since it can dramatically increase the chances of winning initiative against high initiative targets. Twitch is also an option to boost initiative, but that either requires 50 bio, which some builds can’t afford, or getting extremely lucky with one of the doctor merchants.