Build Advice

Build Advice

Forget Fallout 2. Builds in this game are different.
Season	{{{season}}}
Status	wip
Completion	3%
Authors	Henry
This Chapter	Title Page
More Chapters	Title Page Build Advice: SPECIAL Build Advice: Traits Build Advice: Perks Build Advice: A Starting Explorer Build Advice: Universal Soldier Build Advice: True Sniper Build Advice: A Miner Build Advice: Crit Boxer
Notes	{{{notes}}}

This is meant to give concise, but detailed direction to newer players about character builds. Builds have a wide variety of options and many players have a Fallout 2 orientation to this subject which does not work well in this game. This is not Fallout 2 Online. So you'll need to be willing to unlearn/re-learn the facts about character builds.

Also many players are returning here, having once played FOnline: 2238 and thus have outdated ideas about builds. Notice in the chapter list, there are no "crafters". That's because almost any character can be a crafter, and get tons of xp that way too. In the old days, having one character dedicated to crafting was common. But today with no leveling cap, it makes more sense to use your regular combat characters for crafting. Or use your starting explorer character for crafting. Either way, there is no need anymore for a "crafting build".

One of the most important things you can do is to use one of the character planner tools (search Tools subforum) to plan a character in advance of registering any more. First though, find the Perks page, and realize there are leveling perks (the real perks) and there are Support Perks. Mainly, you need to read each of the pages regarding the leveling Perks. Your character will hopefully get 8 of those, and this becomes a character's most defining combination of qualities. Once you know the perks, and you hone in on the ones you want most, then use a planner tool to plan an ideal character prior to registration.

The following pages are meant to give you some guidance in planning the most ideal builds, including a few actual build examples you can use in-game.

SPECIAL

STRENGTH

The Strength requirement for weapons is often ignored in this game. That's because the penalty is easily offset by a higher gun skill, and any character can eventually get their weapon skill to 300 since there is no level cap. A sniper might intend to use a Laser Rifle, which has a ST requirement of 6. But experienced players will usually choose ST 1, even though they will suffer a 100-point penalty to Hit Chance. They simply keep leveling, and raise their Energy Weapons skill 100 points more to effectively get 4 SPECIAL points that way. Those points are needed in Luck anyway, for all snipers. Extreme snipers will get maximum gun skill, and benefit from a ST implant. Some use Buffout too, and a few even use Psycho.

Main Points:

ST 5 for standard explorers to allow the Adrenaline Rush perk.
ST 6 if you want to get the Stonewall perk.
Low ST does have Hit Chance penalty but this is offset by higher weapon skill (no level cap).
ST 1 for true snipers is not uncommon.
ST 10 is considered overkill even for a miner since Drugs are easily obtainable.
ST 7 is more standard for mining characters, who then get ST 10 from using both Buffout and Psycho.
ST 9 for the fastest miner who uses Jet, and Buffout and Psycho for ST 10.

PERCEPTION

High Perception is mandatory on a sniper, but for most general explorers, any lower PE works fine. Even PE 1 is okay on a non-sniper PvE explorer. There are some advantages to a PE 1 character:

Suffers no CH penalty from using Psycho and/or beer.
Is dropped into random encounters very close to NPCs, which is convenient for leveling.
Suffers no CH penalty from using Weak Healing Powders which he can craft on-the-fly while leveling.

ENDURANCE

Endurance is always 10. The competition between players forces a high priority on Hit Points, so any characters with lower than 10 are truly anomalous.

CHARISMA

Charisma is generally always 1 in this game. Exceptions include:

A taxi character whose intention is to travel with unusually large parties on the map.
Enough CH to meet some quest or dialogue requirement, of which there are few.
CH 3 in order to get 4 Companion followers, which is the maximum.

Even with CH 1, most character can get 2 companion followers, or 3 with Good Natured. If you do want to recruit and lead companion followers though, avoid the Loner trait.

INTELLIGENCE

A high Intelligence is rarely needed in this game, mainly since there is no level cap. IN 4 allows you to get most PvE quests and enables some dialogue options, but Mentats usually fixes that. When choosing a character's Intelligence, it's best to choose all of the other SPECIALs first, and see what's left over. Exceptions include:

IN 6 to get Swift Learner on a leveling character.
IN 10 combined with the Dismantler perk on a leveling build, might yield back the most resources.

AGILITY

A high Agility is important for all characters. As you likely know, AG directly effects how many AP you have. Now consider this: however many AP you have, it recharges to full from zero in the exact same time as everyone else's AP recharges to full from zero. Let that sink in. That means if you have 6 AP and your opponent has 12 AP, and you both burst each other using 6 AP each, then the following applies:

First, he can burst you again immediately.
Second, while you recharged 6 AP to burst again, he recharged 12 AP and can burst you twice again!

Thus AP is effectively your character's speed. For this reason, the veteran players here rarely register AG below 8. Here are a few hints about that:

AG 8 usually means it's planned for an AG implant and forever use of Nuka-Cola for AG 10.
AG 9 usually means it's planned for an AG implant, and to use both Buffout and Nuka-Cola for AG 10.
AG 9 might also mean it's planned for no AG implant, but to use only Nuka-Cola only and skip Buffout.
AG 10 probably means it's not planned for an AG implant at all, or likely any Buffout or Nuka-Cola.

The target AG is always 10. If you're just starting out as an all-round explorer, it is advised to register AG 10. Implants are tough to get, and their extremely high value likely means you will want to only implant extreme combat characters later anyway. Your lead-in character will usually not need them.

LUCK

Max Luck 10 is very important for snipers. When deciding what Luck your characters will have, consider which perks he will have. Some are crit-related, so high Luck is usually important. However, some builds make use of a more "sure thing" with crits, which is effective even with low Luck. Consider the options and know there are sometimes situations when the engine rolls against Luck more than once related to a single action. Depending on his role, your Luck 1 character might function just fine for a whole season. But a leg-shot specialist sniper, for example, will only be optimal with Luck 10.

Optional Traits

Fast Metabolism

Fast Metabolism is not popular. It cuts your drug duration in half to 15 minutes. Since most all serious characters use some drugs, this is highly inconvenient.

PLUS: Speeds up Healing Rate
MINUS: Cuts drug duration in half

Bruiser

Very few people use this Trait anymore because it slows you down too much. Half of the +4 to ST can be obtained by using Buffout, and 1 more ST from using Psycho. Yet, this Trait is still chosen by a few experienced people who like specialized pugilists.

PLUS: Bonus to HtH damage, and +4 to ST
MINUS: -2 AP! Ouch!

Small Frame

Almost every single hard-core PvP fighter in this game has Small Frame.

PLUS: +1 to Agility, thus you get one extra SPECIAL point for something else, like Luck maybe.
MINUS: Lowered Carry Weight, which simply doesn't matter much at all in most PvP fights.

One Hander

Very few people use One Hander because the benefit is so minor considering a character only needs a higher gun skill to get more Hit Chance, and NOT Having this Trait means no restriction on what gun you use.

PLUS: 20% boost to Hit Chance when using a one-handed weapon. Big deal.
MINUS: 40% penalty to Hit Chance when using two-handed weapons. Forget this one!

Finesse

This is a tricky one. If you want to cause a lot of crits, and don't need to do as much damage, then Finesse might be for you. If you're running with a team of friends who do serious damage, then okay. But if you're running solo, it's tougher to actually kill an opponent; you'll do more crits sometimes but you'll do less damage almost every time.

PLUS: 10% bonus to Critical Chance but see Finesse page for details.
MINUS: 30% bonus to target's DR but see Finesse page for details.

Kamikaze

Very few veterans use Kamikaze except on highly unusual characters. Armor Class only works when a character is running, and goes back down once he stops or walks. And these days most opponents have higher gun skills - many have 300, so an AC character is often not as successful as hoped. Then there's the painful penalty of a reduced DR.

PLUS: 40 point bonus to Armor Class
MINUS: 10 point penalty to Damage Resistance Ouch!

Heavy Handed

Heavy Handed is an awesome Trait for a pugilist. When combined with ST 10 and a Mega Power Fist, a fist-fighter will have amazing successes knocking down enemies. Opponents have to spend AP to stand up. Meanwhile, you knock them down again. Not the best choice for doing crits, but then again a knockdown is a crit. This Trait works the same even on a low Luck character.

PLUS: +2 to Unarmed damage, and you have a 'high chance to knock down your your opponents.
MINUS: -20 to Critical Hit tables

Fast Shot

PLUS: +5 damage to your attacks, and 1 less AP to single-shot guns and use Throwing.
MINUS: Unable to do any targeted attacks. So you cannot "aim eyes" or "aim head" etc

Bloody Mess

More violent death animations, and that is all.

Jinxed

Jinxed is a weird one. You cause more crit fails, but some of them are yours! Who wants a character prone to critical failures? Still, with a unique plan, you could run him through an enemy Town Control and maybe cause them some trouble. A Jinxed Sneak scout? Maybe...

Good Natured

Even with Charisma 1, Good Natured is perfect for anyone who wants 3 or 4 companion followers, instead of only 1 or 2.

PLUS: +50 Party Points
MINUS: Cannot have slaves.

Chem Reliant

At first you'd think this is bad. But the truth is, many characters have this Trait because it doubles the length of time your drugs work. Drugs are cheap, but it's far more convenient to have a whole hour on a round of drugs and not have to worry about carrying another round with you into combat. The addictions are permanent, but so what? That doesn't matter when you're logged out, and you're not going to play your Chem Reliant character without using another round of drugs anyway. And if your Chem Reliant character does want to clear his addictions, he can use a Drug Antidote.

PLUS: Drug durations are doubled. Usually that means 60 minutes instead of only 30.
MINUS: Drug addictions are semi-permanent, corrected by continued drug use, or with Drug Antidote.

Chem Resistant

Very few people use Chem Resistant for a few reasons. Drugs no longer cause addictions, unless you have Chem Reliant. Next is the painful penalty; we all need maximum healing benefits from using stims. This is basically a leftover Trait from 2238, from back when addictions meant more. Nowadays though, a character can use Drug Antidote to fix addictions, or just keep using the drugs their builds are meant to use.

PLUS: Immunity to drug addictions
MINUS: It cuts in half the Hit Points you get from using Healing drugs like Stimpaks.

Bonehead

Bonehead gives you better crit hit resistance. It does not reduce the chance your enemy has to do a crit on you, but it reduces that crit hit's affect on you. This benefit stacks with the Man of Steel perk. A lot of PvP fighters have this Trait.

PLUS: 10% boost to cri hit resistance (stacks with Man of Steel).
MINUS: -1 Intelligence so you lose a SPECIAL point, which is balanced with more levels.

Skilled

Skilled looked good in Fallout 2, but it's not good in this game, mainly since Perks are so importantm and nearly everyone else will have 8 of them. You cannot afford to have 25% less perks than your enemies in a game this brutal, and expect to remain combat-competitive. Plus, there is no leveling cap so more Skill Points are always available.

PLUS: 2 more Skill Points per level - big deal - seriously do not get this Trait
MINUS: You only get 6 perks instead of 8!

Loner

Loner is one of the important elements of a leveling build, leading to a Reroll.

PLUS: +10% XP whenever XP is earned
MINUS: Cannot have followers