So I was planning on make an explorer/sneak build for my next play through to discover all locations and pick locks; however, I am split on which type of weapon to use, energy or pistol/1-handed guns?
S P E C I A L
5 7 5 1 9 8 5

Trait - good natured/small frame

So with my SPECIAL build like this I don't have to move around any points, just different perks in order to picked between the energy or guns. Perception is high so i can detect enemies further out while exploring.

Thanks in advance

If you want to go exploring, ditch both Energy Weapons and pistols. Get yourself a sniper rifle/anti-materiel rifle, son. You're going to want those heavy-hitting sneak crits real bad.

I would put Intelligence to 10 then put Perception down a bit, as the most common item in the wastes are hats with +1 PER.

Plus, when you start levelling up, dont try to build a jack of all trades, put your points soley in the skills you will use the most to start with. So for you, Sneak, Guns(or energy) & 3rd of your choice.

Hmmm, if I went guns I could do both 1handed pistol and sniper rifle/anti-mat with weapon handling and switch to a pistol when indoors. Energy weapons has some long range weapons also and lower STR req so I could pick a diff perk than weapon handling. Any thoughts?

Isn't it a waste to put anything to 10 with the implants? I like the dropping PER a point with all the hats around, could raise luck 1 for better crit chance. Need STR for weapons unless I go energy and END most recommend not dropping that so I have a little bit of health.

You could go with a Gauss Rifle, but they're hard to find early in the game. Sneak crits + scoped Hunting Rifle makes you fairly powerful early in the game and it only gets better after that.

I have found the bladed gauntlet to be a wonderful weapon to have hotkeyed for a sticky melee situation. I am an explorer and sometimes guns simply don't cut it.

Thanks, well looking at my current char (lvl6) and the explorer build I want to do, I can just combine the two and be more selective with my perks, like not taking Commando since I snipe outside VATs, probably don't need Sniper either. So i'll restart and combine the two builds. Will being a sniper/explorer be easier or harder than my run through as a melee/unarmed beast?

I would not suggest Energy Weapons or pistols either but simply stick with rifles.

They only energy weapon worth picking up as a long range weapon would be the YCS or Gauss. Both Weapon's Damage Calculations are bugged (at least in VATS) resulting in an overall lower damage than they should have. Depending on the Range you want to pick your opponents off I'd go with the Gobi Campaign Rifle for mid- to long range free Aiming. Anti Material Rifle "sounds" fine. But 8 Str and a crit Multiplier of just 1x (Instead 5 for the Gobi Campaign Rifle) and as far as I know the lack of HP Ammo would never make it my choice. I might be nice for a "1 Shot 1 Kill" free aim Situation. But usually whatever you'll kill in that Situation was never to worry about in the first place.

For Mid Range I'd stick with the Gobi Campaign Rifle (only 0.02 Spread and still a huge damage per shot in VATS). At least up to a point where you reach a decent gun skill. With 100 in Guns I'd use the Brush Gun which becomes a beast for all enemys you can get an 80%+ Headshot chance in VATS. if you have 135 AP, HP Ammo and Grim Reaper's Sprint plus all the Crit Enhancing Talents. Basically I don't see any reason in Using a Pistol at all since Rifles have higher DPS, Damage per Shot and Damage per AP. Sure - you can Skill 20% more Damage on sneak Attack Criticals. But even with that Perk you will still be way below the Damage of Brush Gun, Sniper Rifle or AMR on any Sneak Critical. Plus: DT hits Guns way harder than Rifles.

For some reason even on a very longe Range with 100 Stealth and no companions I could not manage to stay concealed using the Silenced Sniper Rifle. So for me there is not too much reason to use it.

just my 2 cents. SPECIAL looks okay - I don't see too much reason worrying about agi not hitting 10 since the 132 AP make no difference in VATS for the most important Guns. I agree on the max of 6 Perception though. If you have ED-E in the Party Markers will be visible on clipping range. The by far best Stealth/Sniper Headgear comes with +1 PER (and 5 Crit), there are glasses with 2 PER and the +1 from Unasagi. You might consider putting it somewhere else. If you'd put it in Luck you'll have 7% Crit from luck (if chosen) 3% Crit from Trait, 5 from Finesse and 5 from Headgear adding up to exactly 20% leaving you with the x5 Gobi Campaign Rifle Bonus at exactly 100% Crit Chance in free aim. But Endurance or even Agi should be fine, too.

Ratslayer would be your friend until you get Gobi.

I'd prefer getting the Trail Carbine from Andys Home and Modding it with a scope. Since it does twice the damage ratslayer does on a sneak crit and is viable in VATS, too. But Ratslayer is without Question a good weapon until Level 8 or 10.

Sniper Rifle with silencer is your best bet as a sneaker.


High damage with 5x crit and killing entire armies without anyone finding out.

Could you guys at least read the post before you respond to it? Maybe just the title? The whole "non-sniper" part?

The question here is: what do you WANT to use?

I hate Energy Weapons, so I'll tell you to go with Guns. I like having 9mm, 10mm, and 12.7mm pistols as well as 9mm and 12.7mm SMGs (actually, I prefer rifles, but whatever) as opposed to... a laser pistol and a plasma pistol. Since you're focusing on one-handed weapons, you might be better off ignoring Energy Weapons.

Also, I don't think you can silence the Energy pistols (or any energy weapon for that matter).

When they finally nerf sniper rifles people of this forum will be running like headless chickens beacuse all they seem to know is sniping. Here's a challenge for all teh experts, go play for an hour without a scope.

S P E C I A L
5 7 5 1 9 8 5

As a non-sniper I went energy weapons + explosives just for the fun of it. You kill deathclaws with multiplas, everything else with q-35 and neither of those has a scope.

You don't need Per at 7, Int at 9 is way too high for benefits (0.5 skill point a level is nothing...) and Agi doesn't improve all that much between 6 and 8 either.

My favourite build these days is:

S 5 -> 6
P 5 -> 6
E 7 -> 8
C 4
I 7 -> 8
A 5 -> 6
L 7 -> 9

I do intense training Luck at lvl2, implant all skils but charisma and also get DT implant. Tagging Energy Weapons, Science and Lockpick is best, if not Science for Vigilant Recycler, take Speech. Perk towards cricals (Finnese, Better Criticals) and general explosive/energy damage.

To each their own.

If I read 10 pieces of advice telling "go sniping, 5x critical dude" in a thread saying "non-spiper" I think I am allowed to make a comment on lameness of it.

One thing I forgot, for Traits, pick Fast Shot, you will want it with Energy Weapons. This allows you to go crazy with plasma. Those guns are made to be used that way.

S 5
P 8
E 8
C 2
I 5
A 8
L 4

Tag: Survival, Lockpick, Barter

Traits: Four Eyes

Perks: Hunter, Rad Child, Travel Light, Lead Belly, Strong Back, Long Haul, Pack Rat, Explorer(optional), Solar Powered, Night Person, Rad Absorb.

My two cents if you are considering hardcoe as well.

For what the OP is after. Look into using shotguns and lever action weapons. Make sure to grab both "shotgun surgeon" and "cowboy" perks.

If my math is correct the AMR is not the most powerful gun in the game. That honor goes to the Brush Gun loaded with SWC hand loads and stacked with the Cowboy perk. DAM rating of 108 with another 108 critical damage and a good ROF. Excessive overkill for anything that is not a deathclaw making the Trail Carbine a more reasonable choice for the rest of the enemies you'll face in the game.

The Shotgun Surgeon perk makes all the shotguns in the game go from svck to win in an instant. The Hunting Shotgun becomes the "swiss army knife" of the wasteland with that perk.

Cowboy doesn't boost Hunting Shotgun and Dinner Bell making it a lame perk while it could be legendary if it included a few more weapons (That Gun isn't included either contrary to public belief). Oh well. Shotgun Surgeon is fun for the most part but certainly not essential. Also Axes aren't covered by Cowboy, only combat knives and hatchets. And finally, to play shotguns make sure to grab Trigger Discipline not Fast Shot or spread will ruin your game.

Still, with Brush Gun and Shotgun Surgeon except a few corners here and there you will have to cut, you will be easily capable of dealing with almost all enemies.

Well if the Cowboy perk did boost those guns it would be overpowered. It does boost the lever action shotgun as expected making it alot more useful overall. If you are using shotguns and don't take the Shotgun Surgeon perk you're doing it wrong. There is just no good reason to use those guns as a primary, or secondary, weapon and ignore that perk.

Well, effect of -10 DT on average combat is minimal at best. Even if enemies are armored which typically isn't the case, you still want to crit them rather than bypass 10 DT of their armor, especially those late game enemies who have way more than 10.

Cowboy boosting damage of mid-tier weapons to almost match top-tier would be a way to let player use the wide variety of equipment throughout the game. But it lacks those few crucial mid-tier guns that actually matter a lot. 12ga shotguns being boosted by it with their variety of custom ammo would be great replacement for the hegemony of sniper rifles. But well, they don't get a boost here. Brush gun with custom ammo action can replace your typical sniper, but close up you don't really have much choice, neither of pistols stands up to the challenge and getting a shotgun here would be exactly what this perk needs to wrap your whole character around it. Lever-action isn't what you need, Dinner Bell is.

It'd be fun if done properly as a main character-defining perk the way for example Ninja or Pyromaniac perks define a character forcing player to pick perks and skills towards a certain end goal and construct a particular character in the end.

Let Cowboy boost That Gun, Knock Knock, Hunting Shotgun, Dinner Bell, Sawed-Off, Big Boomer and some other cowboy-ish guns that aren't on the list and I can go play a Cowboy knowing no freaking Cozadore or Deathclaw will come and [censored] me up my ****. Because those actually would have damage levels with the perk allowing me to deal with them as good as I would with standard equipment.

I simply feel they just failed to take this last final step with this perk to lift it to the very top tier of player's choices.

Say what? Bog standard hunting shotgun with both mods and the shotgun surgeon perk tears apart deathclaws when using the beanbag+slug combo. For heavily armored enemies shoot them in the face with beanbag rounds to knock them out and switch to slugs for the kill. Unless they cheat both Legate Lanius and the Legendary Deathclaw should be fairly easy to kill this way. Cowboy perk applied to the weapon would turn it into a super-gun plain and simple.

If Sneak is high used Silenced weapons or mod it silenced