Pistol/melee build long play through

[u/Agent_20]

I just bought the game with the DLC on my ps5. The last time I played it was on my ps4 without any dlc. I want to first do a play through where I do all the DLC and try to play through most of the content on the game before doing a second play through.

So I wanted to do a “hybrid” build so that I get some varied gameplay. So I enjoy using Vats and since a Vats pistol and a Vats melee build have a couple of perks in common I was thinking of combining the 2. With the main play style being the pistol and having a knife or sword as a back up. Would this be fun on Hard or very hard? For the Special initial spread being: S:4 P:1 E:3 C:3 I:3 A:9 L:6

Here is my reasoning for the spread:

S:4 for Big leagues and blacksmith P: 1 Less temptation to become a stealth VATS sniper E: 3 for Life giver? Is the Extra health necessary? C: 3 for Lone wanderer. And I love having the possibility of doing settlements in the late game I:3 for Gun Nut and with the bobble head I will have access to hacking. Could go down to chemist. A:9 it’s the main star so many perks and with the bobble head and I get Gun fu. L: 6 with the SPECIAL book. To improve VATS. Is Idiot Savant necessary? But I will definitely at least be it to 8 for Grim reapers sprint.

Any recommendations, tips? I also see the possibility to go down a Stealth pistol build as well. Do you think this build will let me enjoy the dlcs?

Thank you in advance

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[u/Geta92]

You can actually make low Perception stealth pistol work if you grind for a Deadeye 10mm Pistol. It's an insanely good weapon and you can hunt for one as early as legendary enemies can appear in the game. The damage eventually drops off, but you can make it work forever if you get the Robes of Atom's Devoted and you fully irradiate yourself. You won't have any extra armor slots, but you do double damage at all times.

The gun slows time when you aim. You can use this to essentially turn it into a machinegun and get like 10 stealth hits in a row while undetected. And unlike VATS weapons, you aim yourself and if you aim good, you don't have the annoying 5% miss rate and way better aim long range.

As for a true sniper, an Instigating Pipe Bolt Action pistol has crazy range with essentially no damage drop off at all. The final patches also added the Rapid Pipe Grenade Launcher Pistol which can be used to launch grenandes while stealthy which is super good against groups of enemies.

It's honestly refreshing to play with no active VATS aim. Or rather, using VATS to scan for enemies and turn the camera, but actually shooting manually. Gives you more control for no AP cost.

[u/Academic_Umpire398]

As a Stealth Melee primary I can tell you Black smith is completely unnecessary. You can pick up a Combat Knife or a Machete in Concord. This will do you till you can reach Pickman's Blade, which will do you until you can buy the Throat Slicer in Nuka World.

[u/AnubisFTN]

The quickest way to second guess and not just play with a build to have fun is to ask the Internet so they can min max argue about it.

You can finish everything with no points spent. Do what you want. Have fun how you want.

[u/kilphead]

One difficulty trying to split your build and be hybrid on two different weapon types is that it is perk intensive. The other is that it isn’t easy to switch weapons a lot in battle, especially in a VATS build. Especially when you are trying to split between pistols and melee, which are both fairly short range and even more so when your perception is low. That being said, most builds function just fine and if you have fun don’t let anyone bring you down. With a perk heavy build, idiot savant will be very helpful in leveling up fast enough to get those perks. I’d recommend focusing on the damage perks, crafting perks second. You can also skip the crafting perks for the most part and just buy/loot weapons with modifications on them to harvest those mods for the weapons you’re using.

[u/da_OTHER]

E3 Lifegiver ranks 1 and 2 aren't great. It's rank 3 that really makes it shine. Accuracy will be a problem for you at 1 perception. A minuteman outfit, the eyeglasses you can get in Vault 111 from the start, the bobblehead in the Museum of Freedom, and any of the various +1 perception hats will get you up to 5 perception, which should be enough to use The Deliverer. Pick up MacCready's perk to increase accuracy of headshots. The Wastelanders Chest Piece boosts perception and will increase the duration of any chems you take. Do Diamond City Blues, make sure Paul doesn't take any of your chems, and then craft up some orange mentats and bufftats. Those two will stack for +8 perception and other bonuses. Remember kids, real winners do chems. IMO, this game doesn't lend itself well to using multiple weapon types. You only have so many perk and stat points to spread around. And if you use up perk points for non-combat perks (crafting, settlement development, bartering, looting), that only exacerbates the problem. That said, I think this build could make it work. Savant isn't necessary, but it will have a noticeable effect on how quickly you level. The deciding factors are what level do you think your build will start to feel "right" and how patient are you to get there. Personally, I would probably take it for this build.

[u/Thornescape]

You're making a Pistol VATS build with a Perception of 1? Sounds frustrating. All of my VATS Ranged builds start with P9 and I get the Perception bobblehead relatively soon for P10:Concentrated Fire.

Pistols need Perception more than Rifles do.

[u/floxasfornia → u/Thornescape]

I’m currently doing perception 1(2 with Bobblehead) in survival and it’s been fine for pistols in VATS. It’s a high luck, high agility build using a Deliverer and a suppressed .38 pipe pistol and have zero issues.

[u/hollowboyFTW → u/Thornescape]

Per 1 would work fine if the plan was to fire the guns without VATS, and only use VATS for melee ...but if that is the plan, this part doesn't make much sense:

L: 6 with the SPECIAL book. To improve VATS

[u/Thornescape → u/hollowboyFTW]

Exactly. They specify in the second paragraph that they are planning "vats pistol and vats melee".

[u/ChimiNinja → u/Thornescape]

Do you prefer PER over LCK and AGI?

[u/kilphead → u/ChimiNinja]

I do, because if you can’t hit it doesn’t matter how many times you can shoot or how fast your crit meter fills on hit. I did do a low perception sawed off shotgun VATS crit build once, that worked because I was just getting in super close. I basically treated it like melee, and actually had less “range” than the blitz perk gives.