So I want to run a high crit build that will also do a lot of sneaking. So I was wondering which combat skill would be better: Guns or Energy Weapons. Guns are more numerous, but almost all of the Energy Weapons have a high crit rate. So what do you think works better?

That depends on if you want to sneak or tank, guns have the benefit of silencers but the critical hits with ew give higher dam.

Going sneaky. I almost always play a tank, so I want to try the stealth route. The one gun that seems really awesome is the Gobi. Huge crit damage.

Ok, short version is if you're talking a longe range sniper type of sneaker then Guns has the best long range weapons hands down. The scopes make a huge difference when firing outside of VATS and the ammunition weighs a lot less in Hard Core mode.

If you're talking about an in close Professional perk style of sneaker you could go either way and not be hurting. You have the advantage in Guns of having silencers on pistols, smgs and even some rifles but a critical hit from Pew Pew can do a massive amount of damage.

As far as the Critical Multipliers on the weapons check the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_weapons and you'll see hunting/sniper rifles have basically the same multiplier as Energy Weapons and several of the hand guns actually beat their Energy Weapon counterparts. That said you can boost your critical chance higher with Laser Weapons than with guns.

One final consideration is that the "goo" piles left when you critically hit with a Plasma weapon doesn't diappear when zones reboot every 3 days so if you like going back to an area to farm critters or gang members it can be annoying to sort through which is the new and which is the old goo pile.

For long range, the only good scoped weapons are the Laser Rifle+++, Holorifle+++ and the YCS/186. For regular high crits, Energy Weapons>>>>>>>Guns.

Either way you go... If you use Lucy( the nightkin companion) can't remember if that's her name ATM or not lol, she gives a crit bonus and a stealth bonus when crouched. Also she has her own stealth boy everytime you crouch.

On the other side of things, you can boost your crit chance also by clothes and perks. I'd assume energy weapons would be a little more difficult because they are or seem very poor early on. Gauss rifle is your only true "sniper" and that might take a little time to get too.

Hey, Beans. If you're going guns/sniper, you don't need a high crit build. Your crits will come automatically since they'll all be sneak headshots. Unless you drastically modified the crit/headshot/sneak/damage multipliers you'd be wasting your investment in perks to improve crits on a guns/sniper. Now a energy high crit build is the only way to go energy. They generally have higher crit multipliers and with a lot of the weapons having fairly low dam/shot, min/maxing for a high crit rate is really rewarding. Then mod a scoped laser and go crazy. At least that's my two caps.

-Gunny

Thanks for the comments here guys!

@Silverjohn: Yep, but the Hunting Rifle, Sniper Rifle and Gobi are the only real high crit weapons. The high crit pistols are nice and all, but they lose out to the bigger caliber guns.

@Oreo - Thanks for reminding me of the lack of Sniping Energy Weapons! I normally go Energy and Guns, but this time I just want to use one.

@46ACP: So going for a sneak sniper - what kind of luck do you like to take? The Gobi is a rocking crit machine once you are no longer sneaking. I usually try to limit myself to one or two sneak shots an encounter. Keeps it more challenging and realistic.

Wasn't the Gobi's crit multiplier reduced from 5x to 2x?

For most weapons:

Guns have high crit damage.
Energy weapons have high crit multipliers.

I'm usually gimping myself on ST, EN and IN for other reasons so much that my luck is usually pretty high anyways. Most builds recently I've had to dump luck up to 9. On the bright side, it sure makes breaking the casinos easier. :hubbahubba: Hell, anyways, with gobi or cristine's you won't need much more than two sneak shots on most targets. If you got multiples, a sniper's just gonna go to ground and wait for another shot. Kinda boring that way, though.

-gunny.

God Knowledge right here. I snipe with my Holorifle and YCS.

Not to question a Diviner Gunny but unless they've changed things in the last month or two there's a difference between your Critical Attacks and your Sneak Attack Criticals. I can dig up the thread were some one tested this but basically there's Base Damage then the Critcal Chance to do the extra damage (usually but not always double the damage). After this there's the chance to double that combined damage with a sneak attack then another chance to double the damage by doing a head shot. Basically you can do 8 times the damage on a successful Critical Hit/Sneak Attack Critical/Head Shot but only 4 times the damage with a Regular Hit/Sneak Attack Critical/Head Shot.

You're not questioning me, I probably helped in that thread. :celebration: What I was saying to Beans was that a guns/sniper, when properly employed will almost always be getting sneak attack crits, which are automatic. That 8x damage that you get even if you have nothing at all boosting your crit chance is what the guns/sniper lives on. Well, not in my game. I modded out that stupid thing. But for everyone else. Now if you're talking regular crits, then yes, perk away. They work nicely with shotguns (not with slugs though). But snipers should *never* waste their time on crit chance perks or vats perks IMOHO. If you want to use them for secondary weapons, that's your choice, but there's plenty of good perks that will make your primary weapon more deadly that will also help your secondary weapon without wasting a perk just to help your backup weapon crit.

-Gunny out.

The Gobi still rocks for a number of reasons:
1. Damage: Regular Hit is 45, Crit Hit is 125 and a Crit Hit with Better Crits is 165. That beats a crit hit from the Brush Gun. And a regular hit from the AMR/YCS Gauss Rifle
2. Fires Fast
3. Scoped
4. Very Low Spread
5. Best Gun for VATS - low AP 24. No other gun can pump out as much damage for so low AP - if you factor in crits


Ehh, I thought sneak attacks always crit? Constant 8 times damage for a head shot. Which is why Gunny says you don't need luck.

Yeah, pretty much what he said. If your going for energy weapons, I would recommend a fully modded laser rifle for long range, a tri-beam laser rifle (or LAER) for long-mid range combat, tesla beaton prototype for long range, plasma caster is the best mid-short range, gatling laser is excellent jack of all trades.

With the Q35 and the right perks every other shot will crit and do enough damage to one shot a deathclaw, EW all the way.

Type in on YouTube the true potential of energy weapons.