Need help with a balanced shotgun build. No psi.

[Guiar]

I have played underrail in the past and got stuck or frustrated and abandoned the game. Now i want to give it another shot and finally beat the game. (normal classic exp)

My plan is to play a balanced shotgun build with grenades to help. No psi. I intend to go with a critbuild after some levels. Crafting the gun/armor always seen the best option so i put a lot of points in mechanical/tailoring/biology. Enough lockpick for the omnitool in vents.

I plan to use a tactical vest to aid in survivability. i have planed the build until level 12 but i don't know what to do after that (in my best run i got stuck in the gray army compound and quit).

all the help and comments are appreciated.

:https://underrail.info/build/?DAUGBAUNAwdGOAAAAAA8QCcAAEYsAC8vAAAAAAAAPzFTwrAWAMKQwo_CmN-_

[Der Zooner]

I have created a build that runs similarly to how you describe and is fairly conventional.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgUFCwkHAwbCoAAAAMKgwqBQRTYAAGppEjJpAAAAAAAASzliwrAZwpYkK0fCjygxwpAfDsKxwqXCpuKgigXis6wF4rewBd-_

It originally used psi, but psi was easily removed and the build should still function just fine without it. I've left
plenty of skill points spare, to distribute into throwing as you see fit.
You could drop a point of Int and put it into Dex for the sake of getting grenadier without much of a problem, too.

The main feature of the build is low Perception, which would be a handicap without ignoring enemy evasion via Leading Shot and boosting damage output via Survival Instincts.

I know that some people can find it to be a pain to use Survival Instincts, but I find it makes the build quite versatile as you can choose to take a hit to your damage output in exchange for keeping your health bar full.
You'll get a fair deal of survivability out of 9 CON in Normal difficulty.

You mentioned going with a crit build, so if you follow this build, you can easily get over 80% crit chance with infused rathound armour, seeker goggles and focus stim.

As for getting stuck, the solution is to hard save often and avoid the few areas of the game that lock you out of being able to leave whenever you want until you are confident that you can clear them.
Off the top of my head, I can think of the JKK questline, the Praetorian questline, Zaman's lair, the Gray Army base and the Darkdwellers lair, there may be others.

If you're up for a challenge, I posted another shotgun build that has maxed out throwing skill with 18 Dex, making it very deadly with grenades. The build is powerful but also unconventional and is a bit slow to get going, especially without a degree of meta game knowledge. Still, I'll link it and if you're interested (I included a demo video), I am happy to discuss it.

https://stygiansoftware.com/forums/index.php?topic=8933.0

[Guiar]

So you think that a more agile build would serve me better. Looks fun. I imagine that starting stats are str 5 dex 5 agi 8 con 6 per 7 will 3 int 6. Pump agi to 10 and take blitz then put the rest in con until 9?

Is evasion and dodge worth? In the past i felt like theses skills didn't give enough for the points.

Do you recommend any gear for the early mid game? Like type of armor, boots, head gear, etc

Thanks for the help!

[Der Zooner]

It's been a while since I played the first build that I posted, but I remember that I started with survival instincts at level 1, requiring quite a weird starting stat spread. It was:
Str 4
Dex 5
Agi 9
Con 9
Per 5
Wil 3
Int 5
I played on Dominating, so I didn't expect to get a shotgun until at least level 4, hence the starting Str of 4.
Order of point allocation is Str, Agi, Per, Per, Int, Agi

High Agi makes dodge and evasion worth it, but I take them on all high Agi builds. If you're always staying below 30% health, you'd probably do fine just to ignore them and invest in other stuff. High Agi is also great for initiative and repositioning, which serves shotguns very well.

As for gear, I usually go with a psionic tacvest and siphoner leather armour, tabi boots and always seeker goggles up until completion of Depot A. The siphoner leather armour usually stays in use until I get access to infused leather, though the Rathound Regalia might get some use every so often too.

The build focuses on using pump-action shotguns, so a case could be made for going with 4 base Int considering how easy your core gear is to craft. You'd be able to then go for 9 Per and get Fragmented Chaos, which would make your critical hits even more powerful. There wouldn't be any space for getting Grenadier by dropping Int unless you drop it to 3, though.