After my first playthrough I've decided to tackle the hardcoe mode. Now, my first character was a Guns/EW guy, so this time I want to take a completely different path and make some sort of hulking mutant-like slaughtering machine who can also use Guns to a certain extent. So far I came up with this:

Stats:
Strength - 9
Perception - 1
Endurance - 9
Charisma - 1
Intelligence - 4
Agility - 7
Luck - 9

I've set obvious (as I think) skills to 9 to max them out with implants later, 4 INT for Educated perk, Luck for critical chance and Agility for movement speed.

Perks:
Educated - to compensate the lack of skill points;
Comprehension - same as the above;
Toughness - the higher DT, the better;
Super Slam - or Stonewall, apart from those I'm not entirely sure what to pick at level 8;
Finesse - for critical chance;
Piercing Strike - negates 15 DT which is self-explanatory, but what a daunting (70) Unarmed requirement;
Purifier - again, not really sure if it's worth it;
Better criticals - for more critical damage;
Ninja - I didn't have sneaking in mind, but this is rather great perk, so stealth is an option;
Slayer - great perk, and if I take piercing strike, its requirements aren't so bad.
Overall 10 perks that I think are necessary for this type of char which leaves me 5 more to play with, and I've no idea what to choose.

I haven't yet thought about skills development but it will to some extent depend on perks' requirements. Major help needed here.

This is just a draft, so any thoughts, opinions and suggestions are welcome! This is a risky character, I believe, and it would be a shame for him/her to end up being unplayable at some point in the game.

If you're gonna be a brute then you shouldn't have Educated or Comprehension.
I know you'll be getting less skill points but hey, that's the point of action and consequence right?

Good point, but it's more of a roleplaying issue. I just have this notion that I'd otherwise get such small amount of skill points that this brute would be pushed about by the whole Mojave desert.

Then kick their faces in! >:D

I agree. A brute should get the low intelligence speech as well. If you wanted to play a serial killer that likes to murder people with his/her hands, that's one thing, but a brute is dumb, and wouldn't likely learn a lot of different things.
My next character will have an intelligence between 1 and 3, will side with Caesar, and will also be a brute. Leveling up will be interesting with so few points. It'll be like hardcoe, for leveling, where I have to pick and choose what skills to pursue, and what I have to sacrifice. Like science... probably a low agility on a brute too... at least mine.

Brutes don't have to be stupid. My own is INT 6 (partly for the skill points, partly to show that he has at least some intellect), but is also a terrifyingly fierce warrior.

Again, a roleplaying issue. I was questioning the viability of such character, but at this point I'm ready to say "screw it", roar with rage and just start the character according to my plan to see how it will turn out.



I agree, but I just want him to speak properly, and INT 4 is still pretty low. Also, how would such hulking mass of muscles got caught by Benny et alii? And a courier who's having trouble with basic English? Although kind of funny, wouldn't make much sense from a roleplaying point of view you try to champion so vigorously, I think.

On perks I would not worry about piercing strike, slayer, Ninja, Finese or Better Criticals. Ninja is bugged, it does not increase your crit rate by 15 points, instead it multiplies your current crit rate by 1.15. A very big difference. Most melee weapons have poor crit rates and crit damage - thats why I say skip Finese or Better Crits. Piercing Strike and Slayer are very good - but you need a high unarmed. You should be fine without them, but if you do go take unarmed then you might as well get paralyzing palm.

I decided for my second play-through to play a stupid brute who joins the legion. Here are the stats I chose:

Stats:
Strength - 9
Perception - 2
Endurance - 9
Charisma - 1
Intelligence - 1
Agility - 9
Luck - 9

You'll get 10 skill points each level (technically 10.5), which means you can max out at least three skills before you reach lvl 30. That's more than enough to make a formidable character. You won't have all the dialog options, and you won't be able to finish all the side quests, nor will you be able to finish the main quests in certain ways, but you should be able to kill anything that comes your way.

If you drop finesse, ninja and better crit, you should pick up the trait heavy handed. It lowers your crit chance but ups your normal damage for melee/unarmed. Since you'll have a str of 10 you'll be able to use and probably be usning the big boy weapons which pack a ton of dmg and don't really need a crit hit to be impactful.

My current character is actually a "brute" of sorts.

S P E C I A L9 4 9 3 2 8 5

Guy got shot in the head twice, it's only natural that there's some...damage.

Traits taken are Fast Shot and Kamikaze. So far my perks are Bloody Mess, Heave Ho!, Rapid Reload, and Strong Back. Not planned out, just whatever looks good. I'm concentrating on Guns, Explosives, and Survival. Money has actually been pretty tight since his charisma is pathetic, he has no barter skill, and he's not all that smart about picking up most types of loot for sale. That and his favorite weapon is the minigun...

Ah, thanks for the suggestions! Criticals are pretty important for a Guns/EW user, so I figured that it'd be the same for melee fights. Although that leaves me a lot more perks to choose from, and most of those are just for fun. So, I guess I'll have fun, then.



Yep, just a frontal lobe damage. I mean, why would you need brains if you have biceps the size of a child?



Yes, I think I'll go the same way. There aren't many essential perks for such character, and maybe this huge freedom of choice will make getting levels more exciting.

I highly suggest the Rad Child perk (lvl 4 survival 70 )

offers some amazing hp regen that scales w/ your lvl of radiation.
minor radiation poisoning: -1 END, +2 hp/sec
Advanced Radiation Poisoning: -2 END, -1 AGL, HP +4 every second
Critical radiation poisoning: -3 END, -2 AGL, -1 STR, HP +6 every second
Deadly radiation poisoning: -3 END, -2 AGL, -2 STR, HP +8 every second

Great for absorbing small arms fire when trying to "close the gap" as melee character.

If you can deal w/ the SPECIAL nerf, it is a great perk. Throw on some the brahmin skin outfit or wasteland settler fit (+1 agi, +1 end) and it offsets some of the negatives of minor/adv rad poisoning.

It is the perk of the moment for me .

Great suggestion! The problem of getting near a target when it can actually shoot at you was troubling me, and Rad Child seems like a perfect workaround. Thank you very much.

Yeah it really svcks getting shredded by the high ROF weapons as you run up to hit em with your super sledge. Usually I just run a minor to adv rad poisoning because past that I feel the effects are just to dramatic.

It takes a bit of char maintence, but what build doesn't? Keep in mind places to go irradiate yourself, should you choose to have all your rads removed by a doc or w/ radaway. You might want to watch how much you lvl medicine, because Radaway can take away too much radiation and then you lose your hp regen. Your looking for ways to stabilize your rads at a certain lvl.

On the downside this perk really takes the hardcoe out of hardcoe mode because your health is regenerating quite quickly.

Oh and rad child makes that nano bot healing implant a complete joke. :wink_smile:

I wouldn't discount better criticals quite yet, heavy handed reduces your critical bonus damage by 60%.
So a weapon that deals 80dmg and criticals for 80. Would deal 96dmg and critical for only 32.

Better Criticals would multiply the total by 1.5.

Another thing to keep in mind, while power armor slows you down it does absorb gunfire like no bodies business and then there is the The Tesla Power armor it classified as medium so with jury rigging it can be repaired with any medium armor and your just as fast wearing it as you are in combat armor. Not bad for 32DT.

No, it's a complete joke even without Rad Child.

Yeah, I never even cared about that implant on my first playthrough. Naturally, after considering Rad Child I thought that it'd be a great idea to combine the perk with the implant. So I looked up how fast does that thing regenerates health.

I'm mentally scarred.

Off-topic: Some small corrections to your signature - "400 percent more awesome! Also, Torgue doesn't make their guns out of freakin' wood!"

On the second thought, that's how Marcus says it, and by the looks of it, you're not quoting him. Feel free to disregard that correction.

Drop intelligence or the brute name for your role.
Really the only role you're playing then with intelligence above 1 while droping charisma and perception is a power gamer.

Or keep everything at 5 and raise strength to 8 endurance to 7 call yourself a raider leader, same effect you just don't milk the system for dump stats.

Other than that, tag melee and unarmed, with survival as as a third.

Bump weapons exclusively untill maxed around level 18.

Tactics, run and swing hard.

Learn the bonus moves from trainers.

Allways keep ranged foes lined up behind a melee one, they can't hit or target you as long as you are behind their buddy.
Sometimes they even shoot their buddies in the back, so placement and priority is key to a brute.

Maybe with high crit weapon, Build to Destroy and max out crit chance.

Or if Ninja is +15% instead of x1.15

Otherwise Heavy Hand+Blunt weapon is better.

With Unarmed it is more debatable, but only if you pass a Helm for 1st Recon Beret

Roleplaying was never a priority for me. Also, the game's roleplaying system itself isn't that flexible, and unless I personally imagine my character to be feral, if dumb, creature, not many things will indicate that he/she is a brute. There is no point in dropping intelligence to a minimum.

Plus, brutes aren't supposed to be mentally deficient. Yes, they are not the brightest crayons in the box, but they can at least speak correctly. Hell, intelligence of 4 is still pretty low.

And whatever does the role of a "power gamer" mean? Makes as much sense as "milking the system for dump stats". :stare:

Heavy Handed+Blunt+Better Criticals is still better, because better criticals multiplies the entire weapon damage not just the critical bonus.
You can't beat the math so stop trying. Oh Baby will deal 100dmg per swing[assuming you meet the minimum strength requirement] if you have heavy handed, its critical damage is only 16.
For a total of 116dmg. Better Criticals would make that 174 as it multiplies the entire weapon damage.

The damage increase I've noticed after a character takes better criticals gives me the impression of the entire weapon damage.

Sorry Better Crits only multiplies the crit damage. It is easy to see using Rat Slayer (High Crit Weapon) and the perk Living Anatamy. It does not boost the normal damage.