» Fri Mar 11, 2016 4:31 am Here's a build I came up with that was challenging to play at lower levels, but once it hit its stride around level 15-20 it made the game ridiculously easy. One hit killing Legendary Deathclaws on Very Hard difficulty easy (at higher levels, of course...)...
I am not saying that I never once died, but by level 43ish you are doing 1000+ points of damage with a single sneak attack (more if you start your attack from further away). Even groups of enemies were no problem at all. Target the first guy in VATS, Jump in, kill him and as soon as you exit VATS, hold RB (or whatever triggers VATS on your system of choice) to go right back in and target the next one. Lather, rinse, repeat. It is from this tactic that the build gets its name. I am definitely looking forward to playing this build again once Survival mode comes around.
When I decided to try this build, I made a vow to never kill a single living enemy with anything but a melee weapon. And I kept the vow 100%. There were some high placed turrets and security lights that met their demise at the end of a smoking barrel, however. You may not know this, but it is very much possible to sneak up on turrets, and they are quite vulnerable to sneak attacks...
Please feel free to share any comments or feedback. Without further ado, I present to you:
Nightcrawler
Armor: Eventually used Heavy Combat Armor, but no matter what type of armor, always mod it to be Shadowed and Lighter (or eventually Ultra Light) Build. Stealth is everything for this build and those mods go a very long way towards offsetting the penalty to stealth you get from wearing heavier armor. Of course had ballistic weave army fatigues underneath and a ballistic weave fedora on my head.
Weapons: Started with whatever melee weapon I could get my hands on. Switchblade was nice for the speed and low VATS cost. As soon as I got to Diamond City, I purchased the Rockville Slugger from Moe Cronin in Diamond City and this carried me through quite nicely until I got enough levels to be able to grab Pickman's Blade (the gallery is not an easy place for low level melee builds). I never used another weapon once I got Pickman's. Nothing even comes close to the combination of stacking bleeding damage, high attack speed and low VATS cost. I also carried a single suppressed weapon (started with 10mm pistol, eventually ended up with Overseer's Guardian) for dealing with out-of-reach turrets and security lights, but (as stated above) never used it on a living opponent.
Other Equipment: Needed to lean on Buffout and Psycho a little bit in the early levels, but eventually had no need for any assistance other than a hit of Med-X every now and again against some of the tougher boss battles (like the Forged for example). Other than the armor and weapons above, my base loadout only included 5 doses of Med-X, 5 doses of Rad-X, 5 doses of RadAway, and however many Stimpacks I managed to accumulate since they weigh nothing. At one point I had more than 200 of the damn things. "Empty" weight was only 40-50 pounds.
Companion: None. Lone Wanderer is very good for this build and I can't stand Dogmeat. Nothing worse than him running in and setting off an entire room full of baddies when you are trying to be all super stealthy.
Stats: You will need to get at least the Strength and Charisma bobble heads as soon as you can since the build relies upon them. The "You Are Special" book you find in Sanctuary needs to be applied to Strength. Starting scores are:
- Strength: 3
- Perception: 3
- Endurance: 5
- Charisma: 3
- Intelligence: 4
- Agility: 9
- Luck: 1
Perks: There are a couple of perks in here that are not absolutely required for the build to work and can be switched out for whatever you want. (Lockpicking and Hacking are necessities in any build as far as I am concerned). These are:
- Aquaboy/Aquagirl 1: I like being able to swim across water as a shortcut.
- Local Leader 2: Because I was not interested in doing the settlement thing at all on this play through, I wanted to use Home Plate as a base and needed to be able to build crafting stations in there.
Here is the breakdown of what was taken at each level. The build goes up to 50, but to be honest, everything after level 43 is filler.
- ---
- Blitz 1
- Ninja 1
- Aquaboy/Aquagirl 1
- Sneak 1
- Sneak 2
- Big Leagues 1
- Big Leagues 2
- Locksmith 1
- Hacker 1
- Locksmith 2
- Sneak 3
- Hacker 2
- Charisma +1
- Big Leagues 3
- Ninja 2
- Charisma +1
- Local Leader 1
- Local Leader 2
- Armorer 1
- Armorer 2
- Locksmith 3
- Hacker 3
- Sneak 4
- Lone Wanderer 1
- Lone Wanderer 2
- Big Leagues 4
- Armorer 3
- Blitz 2
- Strength +1
- Strength +1
- Strength +1
- Ninja 3
- Strength +1
- Rooted 1
- Rooted 2
- Mister Sandman 1
- Sneak 5
- Armorer 4
- Lone Wanderer 3
- Mister Sandman 2
- Big Leagues 5
- Mister Sandman 3
- Toughness 1
- Toughness 2
- Toughness 3
- Toughness 4
- Toughness 5
- Action Boy/Girl 1
- Action Boy/Girl 2
The X0-1 with the Heavy Attack AP Arms deal and a Stunning Super Sledge, bought from Arturo, delivered from above by Jet Pack allows some serious stupidity. I have him with all 4 bash perks. Heads will roll, mWhahahaha.
