So I'm FINALLY done with my NCR Cowboy playthrough, and I've decided to do an EW/House one this time, despite my VERY mixed feelings about House. While I'm redownloading the game in the hope of reducing the frequency of bugs and glitches, I've decided to do some brainstorming for the character build, and your input will be welcome.

Some notes on my playing style:

1) I do rely on VATS, not all the time but usually in situations which require more mastery of the mouse and the keyboard than I possess- close quarters, multple opponents, very fast-moving opponents etc.

2) I am not terribly concerned with how a weapon or a suit of armor looks, only how well it performs its intended function.

3) I want to design my build as much as possible but without unreasonable obsession over every skill point.

4) I tend to specialize narrowly in one weapons class rather than mix and match weapon skills governed by different and incompatible perks- unless I reach a situation when I have perk slots to fill and nothing practical to put in them.

5) I play non-hardcoe, Normal difficulty. I do not have Dead Money. (Yet).



Here's what I'm thinking so far.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L (starting, without implants and gear bonuses):

ST 4 (+1 Implant, +1 Power Armor, + 2 Weapons Handling= enough for any Energy weapon in the game)
PE 6
EN 7
CH 1
IN 6
AG 8
LK 8 (+1 Implant + 1 Naughty Nightwear = 10 LK for gambling purposes; for combat purposes the difference between LK9 and LK 10 is marginal)

Traits: Fast Shot + Built to Destroy

Perks:

2- Rapid Reload OR Intense Training OR Confirmed Bachelor
4- Educated
6- Comprehension
8- Strong Back
10- Finesse
12- Silent Running (for convenience mostly)
14- Better Criticals
16- Weapons Handling
18- Jury Rigging
20- Meltdown
22- Laser Commander
24- Vigilant Recycler
26- Pack Rat
28- Quick Draw
30- Math Wrath

Companion: ED-E, Full Maintelance Raul as soon as available

Weapons:

1) Sniper weapon: Fully modded Laser Rifle, YCS/186 as soon as available
2) Close quarters weapon: AER14 OR Laser RCW (to be decided later on based on combat experience).
3) Emergency weapon for extra tough opponents- Tri-Beam Laser Rifle OR Gatling Laser (to be decided later on based on combat experience).

Apparel:

1) 1st Recon beret
2) T51 or Remnants Power Armor as soon as available.




Points of doubt (this is where I would appreciate your input).

1) Even though we both know that Companions are mostly walking backpacks and perk providers, their combat skills do come in handy on occasion (especially during the semi-chaotic battle of the final quest). Is it wise to cut Charisma down to 1 in order to boost Luck and Agility?

2) Tri-Beam Laser rifle or Gatling laser? Tri-Beam is one of the most notoriously fragile weapons in the game; when used with max charge ammo it will degrade like crazy BUT with Jury Rigging it can be repaired with regular laser rifles (Fiends, here I come). The Gatling laser is THE most durable weapon in the game, although with max charge ammo it will also degrade pretty fast- and once it does degrade, its repair options are limited to Weapon Repair kits and the relatively rare Incinerators/ Flamers.

3) The big advantage of guns is being able to stealthily kill folks with silenced weapons. Which means it'll be much harder for me to, say, take out the guy taking away my weapons at The Fort without starting an all-out fight. I'm not sure if the grenade-in-pants trick will work in every case.

4) Is it a good idea to take Built to Destroy, considering the relative fragility of energy weapons and the condition-degrading effect of overcharge/max charge ammo?

Any thoughts? Comments? All help is welcome.

I rather have more strength than Weapon Handling; as you wouldn't be taking a Gatling Laser for sniping anyways.

More Strength only gives me extra 20lbs carrying capacity; with Strong Back, I already have more extra capacity than I could get for 2 ST points. Maybe if I decide to not use Gatling Laser at all, I could take Intense Training instead of Weapon Handling and use lighter armor or something... or I could put that extra point into maximizing Luck instead.

2 strength requirement for weapons vs 1 strength requirement for weapons plus 20lb seems like a clear cut to me.

I'm not sure why it seems like a clear cut to you.

Gatling laser requires ST 8. This can be achieved in one of the following three ways:

1) Straight ST 8. In order to do that I need to shave 2 ST points off other S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats, so it's 2 S.P.E.C.I.A.L points in exchange for a perk slot and 40lbs carrying capacity. But there aren't that many useful perks left to pick, are there? I mean, look at my list. What could I possibly add that would be worth a whopping two S.P.E.C.I.A.L points?

2) ST 7 + Intense Training. To do that, you need to shave 1 ST point off other S.P.E.C.I.A.L AND use up a perk slot. An extra 20lbs of capacity is hardly worth a S.P.E.C.i.A.L point, especially to a character that has both Strong Back and Pack Rat.

3) ST6 + Weapons Training. You use up a single perk slot out of 15 for a practical equivalent of two S.P.E.C.I.A.L points. Missing out on some extra carrying capacity isn't a big deal, anyhow. My Cowboy character had ST 5 with implant, and did fine.


Or think of it this way. 2 ST points= 40lbs capacity. Strong Back= 50lbs capacity. Weapons training + Strong Back= 2ST+ 10lbs free. It's like taking Intense Training twice, putting both points into ST and earning a 10lbs bonus.

If you use VATS I advise against fast shot,
The Vigilant Recycler is only a good perk if taken at low levels, by high level getting ammo even for energy weapon shouldn't be a problem. You can make overcharged and maxed charged without any perk. With your high agility quick draw is rather pointless. The high strength energy weapons aren't very good so you may want to consider skipping weapon handling.
And the AER14 qualifies as and all around combat weapon, as its laser it can snipe a reasonably far distance despite having no scope. It fires quickly deals good damage and with laser commando it will critical a lot.

A good combo is the gauss rifle and the AER14 as they use the same type of ammo.

Interesting ideas

If the heavy weapons of the energy class are not so good, that means I only need 4 ST + implant for the YCS/186. So suppose I take Small Frame instead of Fast Shot (because let's face it, there's nothing else except maybe Good Natured); that's one extra S.P.E.C.I.A.L point which allows me to bring Luck up to 9 (perfect 10 with implant). Or, with power armor ST bonus in mind, I could even shave off another ST point and put it into... Charisma? Agility? Intelligence? Vigilant Recycler out, Weapon Handling out, Quick Draw out- what should I take instead to fill the perk slots?

P.S. Why, by the way, would Fast Shot not be good for VATS?

Well you could take toughness or two, sniper would improve your VATs accuracy for headshots Considering those damn wasps are probably among the deadliest creatures in the entire game Entomologist is worth considering.

I wouldn't shave off anything more from strength, it takes a while to get the power armor training perk and you don't want to short yourself to much on carrying capacity.
Strongback also requires at a minimum five strength, so four plus the implant would be an absolute minimum.



Quite simple, fast shot multiples the AP and accuracy by 0.8. This means the max to hit will usually end up being 76% instead of 95%. While the lower AP cost may let you get off an extra shot, your going to be missing more often and may have to settle for the body rather then taking a head shot.

S 6
P 7 (10 with hat and four eyes)
E 5
C 1
I 7 ( 8 with implant)
A 6
L 8 (10 with implant and intense training)

Traits
Four eyes (for maxing out your perception)
trigger discipline ( alot of the EWs cant ADS, so less spread is usefull, also increases vats accuracy)

Must have perks

Meltdown
Laser Commander
Better Criticals
Light Touch
Finesse
intense training (1)

Recommended armour:

Any light armor
1st recon beret
Any Glasses

Recommended Weapons:

Q-35 Matter Modulater
YCS- 186
Tri-Beam Laser Rifle
Pew Pew

Also try and get Raul as a companion quickly so you can use Max charge MF cells without worrying too much about your gun breaking.

You will get alot of critical hits with this build.

Energy weapons tend to be incredibly accurate the extra accuracy from trigger discipline would be meaningless.
He can't take light touch as his build is 1 to 30, meaning he doesn't have Dead Money, if he did he could just use the fully modded Holorifle and never look back

You clearly forgot about PAs, Implants and consumables. On top of it, why the hack do you need to meet Gatling Laser's Strength requirement anyways?

Those damn wasps don't have a lot of hit points, so Entomologist is not necessary, I find.


That's a good point. It also means that if I start with ST 4 or lower, I can't take Strong Back at level 8 as I won't get to the clinic by then yet. I suppose I could take Intense Training at lvl 2, bring base ST up to 5, then take Strong Back at 8 and leave myself the option of using Flamer.



True again

Come to think of it, I could indeed take perks which are helpful for VATS, but not just the accuracy ones. Three perk slots... Commando, Sniper, Grim Reaper's Sprint? (I think with my weapon choices not including one-handers, Commando would be more helpful than Sniper). Or should I take Action Boy or even Nerves of Steel instead of Sniper?

Why so dwell on VATS? Switch weapon is way better than handicapping your character.

Like I said, I find it difficult to handle certain situations without relying on VATS. I don't use it 100% of the time but most of my fights involving Cazadors, Nightstalkers or multiple opponents in close quarters are VATS fights.

Grim Reaper's Sprint would be ideal for you if you use VATS against target saturation. Plasma weapons would have low AP requirement so you can go for Maths' Wrath + Plasma Spanz as well.

Plasma weapons typically have HIGHER AP requirements, and the Plasma Spaz perk doesn't mitigate them very well. For comparison, a Multiplas rifle has the AP cost of 35, or 32 with Plasma Spaz, while its laser equivalent, the Tri-Beam rifle, has the AP cost of 23. Plasma rifle AP cost is 30 (27 with Plasma Spaz) vs. Laser rifle's 18. For most laser weapons, Grim Reaper's Sprint restores enough AP for an extra shot, for most plasma weapons it won't be enough.

Plasma's sole advantage is higher DAM; in everything else- DPS, accuracy, ammo consumption, availability- it is inferior to laser weapons.

I am thinking of Plasma Caster and Defender, as well as Q-35

Fallout Wiki states that Plasma Caster has issues when firing in VATS.

Q35 AP cost is 28 (that'd be 25 or 26 with Plasma Spaz), which is reasonable for a plasma weapon but still inferior to AER14 with AP20 per shot. Q35 has higher DAM, but lower DPS and much lower accuracy, so on balance (and taking Laser Commander into account) AER14 is still preferable.

Now, Plasma Defender is a great little gun with few downsides, quick in VATS and available from level 8 or so. The only problem is that it matches poorly with the rest of my setup. It would have to be the only Plasma weapon, the only weapon to use EC ammo (everything else I plan to use works from MFC) and the only one-hander (meaning that it doesn't benefit from the Commando perk). I might use it until I get my hands on the AER14 or a Laser RCW, but I won't design my build around it.

To maximize your energy weapon potential you'll need to use a energy pistol at some point, set lasers for fun has two ranks one from using energy rifles for 25,000dmg and one for energy pistols for 16,000dmg.

IIRC, Plasma Caster's firing problem on occur with RoF upgrade, which is not much of a concern for you.


I personally not found for AER14 because of cell consumption.

Little maths, with Finesse, Better Critical and 1st Recon Beret:

AER14 (36+[36*1.5*0.55])/20=3.285/AP
Q-35 (40+[60*1.5*0.55])/28=3.19/AP

Are you making an EN build, or a Crit build?

You do not need a crit build to play on Normal with EN weapons, nor on VH mode.

I would say stick around to the Laser Rifle+, Q-35, Laser RCW+ Alien Blaster/YCS, and then work around what floats you. Pew Pew, while being high in damage, is horrible in ammo. I would also suggest trying to get these weapons in around here.

Tri-Beam Laser, Multiplasma, and Plasma Caster+ are good late game. Holorifle+ is only good if it's fully upgraded, provided you eventually get the DLC (I keep it as a trophy, more or less it's boring to use). Plasma Caster+ has somewhat improved in Vats, instead of shooting strait down, now it's just horribly inaccurate at mid to long range. This can be safely said about it normally. Still, like the RCW+ it helps with Cazedors, and it has a higher attack and DPS then most EN weapons.

Be very careful with Meltdown. I've nearly killed myself well almost a hundred times, and have actually disintegrated myself with the alien blaster or Plasma Caster/Multiplasma around or more a dozen times.

If you're relying on your perception and crit boosting (not needed), Take the crit Beret. As for your armor, it doesn't really matter. My personal preference is Power Armor, Gannon Family Tesla Armor works nice too.

As the above said, Set Lasers for fun requires Pistols as well as Rifles. Plasma Defender or Pew Pew will do quite fine for this.

The Plasma caster is not too great, but if you want it, I suggest leaving your strength at 6, get the implant, and wear Remnants PA (suitable for an EW build anyway). Also, take four eyes, get the lucky shades, and use the 1st recon beret. Also, I wouldn't suggest Meltdown, Silent Running (EW are not silent), or Quick Draw. Pack Rat (unless you're on hardcoe) and Math Wrath (Grim Reaper's sprint is better) are pretty underwhelming as well. Sniper and Action Boy are better VATS perks.

Is the Tesla Beaton Prototype thingy any good?

I would kill fast shot. Really not worth it. 20% Reduction in AP cost for a 20% accuracy penality. You will need commando/gunslinger to offset that 20% accuracy penality. Besides, once Grim Reapers comes along shots that hit are more important then number of shots. Lastly, Fast Shot gives at most 20 AP points. Jet gives 15. So pump some Jet in the tough fights. Drugs are good, ok.

Also, If you do decide to keep fast shot, then consider pumping guns to 60 and taking concentrated fire. A nice perk.

Tesla beaton and the Tesla Cannon feel underpowered. Get em and try them out for your own verification.