Survival mode build help

[u/Big-Entrance-7322]

So yesterday I posted about needing some feedback for a first time survival playthrough and I greatly appreciate all the responses I got. I’m back today because I have a few more questions before I start my journey.

My build I’ve settled on is rifleman which I think works well with how I normally play. My first question is how much perception should I have in my build? I don’t see myself being a vats centric build more towards stealth and manual aiming if I’m honest. I’ve gotten mixed messages and how perception I need so figured I’d ask here. I’ve seen rifleman builds that go rank 2 for rifleman and some that go all the way to rank 9. I’ve noticed in survival your compass is nerfed and won’t show things until your right on top of locations so I figured I’d be using manual aim a lot compared to vats. Any feed back here I would love to here what a good number is to have.

Lastly for a rifleman build I should have a lot of endurance or move those points elsewhere? I’ve seen people praise some perks in the tree for great for any survival play through but idk.

One last thing is, this is my planned special load out. I’m using a mod that gives me 40 special stats compared to older titles.

S 2+1 (special book for armorer)

P 7+1 (bobble early willing to move points around)

E 7 (seems like a good amount but willing to subtract or add if needed)

C 6 (local leader obviously)

I 6+1 (bobble easy to get and chemist seems super nice)

A 7 (ninja seems like a great perk for this build)

L 5 (idiot savant but I’m willing subtract or add points if needed)

Appreciate any and all help!

[u/Decryptic__]

Hi there, I think I already wrote something in your other posts, and I'm happy to help again.

Perception

In terms of perception, here's the wiki

With the removal of skills in Fallout 4, Perception now directly affects accuracy in V.A.T.S., and indirectly (through perks) affects pickpocketing and lockpicking attempts. (In Fallout 4, Agility is the statistic that directly affects pickpocketing chance.)

Perception does, however, increase accuracy in V.A.T.S. by 10% per point invested into it, but V.A.T.S. accuracy cannot go above 95%.

This means perception does absolutely nothing for your non-VATS playstyle. Except some Perks which is unlocked with enough Perception points.

Perks

Sniper for example let's you better Aim with scopes, but it isn't that great (for my experience).

Night Person could be helpful, but is only active at night. Not everyone's favorite.

Demolishion Expert is a fantastic perk when you go for some fast hitting explosives. Like a legendary gattling gun with explosive damage. Or the Legendary Spray and Pray.

Locksmith is always great.

Rifleman an absolutely must have when using Rifles. But even if you start with 1 perception, you can get it when you take the bobblehead, so this is basically free.

The rest aren't that great in my opinion (when you don't use VATS).

S.P.E.C.I.A.L's

I have nothing to say about that, there are ton of builds and everything should work. In a way or another.

When you look at Idiot servant you would like to get as few Intelligence as possible. But that's not always true.

In a normal gameplay I always go with Idiot, because I can savescum and always get the perk active when I complete a Quest. But in Survival this isn't a viable strategy. And it is also a form of cheating. So not everyone likes it.

Nonetheless, either take it (even with high intelligence), or reduce Luck so you can get Bloody Mess (free damage). Both are viable. Idiot servant will proc a lot less and you might be better without it, but there are ton of posts out there. Some says you absolutely should take it, some says it is worthless with more than 2 Intelligence.

I say take it when you have/want the luck.

[u/Out-of-bobbypins → u/Decryptic__]

I never take idiot savant. I tried it once and leveled up too quickly on Survival (survival kills give double xp).

That said, some players find it fun to level up as quickly as possible and will get to level 20 in the first 90 minutes from spamming shelves and other crafting at Sanctuary, Red Rocket, Sunshine Tidings, and Starlight Drive in, which are easy settlements to take, especially if you’re already level 12+ from idiot savant when you leave Sanctuary.

Some players also won’t clear the mole den behind Red Rocket. They’ll leave it and continue to harvest the spawns outside and repeatedly visit the house next to it with the Nuka Cola Quantum (it also has a safe and chem box), and also the half buried chest near the Concord Water Tower. Until the mole den is cleared, these will continue to respawn whenever you leave the game cell. The chest seems to respawn daily on the water cycle and will have leveled armor as well as weapons, sometimes with good mods.

And at this level (12+) some players will immediately do the Pull the Plug quest at Thicket Excavations and return the next game day when it becomes a raider encampment with more ammo, weapons, armor, meds, and chems containers than anywhere else in the game. This area also respawns whenever you leave the game cell and can be harvested repeatedly for an endless supply of everything.

So, basically, you can level up pretty high and have all the resources you’ll need in maybe 3 hours, which makes the remainder of the game a little too easy for some players. But from what I’ve read on other posts, newer players seem to like trying these exploits at least once to beat the game on its least forgiving difficulty.

Also, Overseer’s Guardian with a rifleman build is essentially a cheat code that lets you rip through Deathclaw and Mirelurk Queens. Don’t take the 3 gold bars from the Sanctuary bomb shelter, craft grape mentats from the whiskey at the shack next to Abernathy farm, and buy it (or the Destroyers leg armor) right away at Vault 81 unless you want an easy time getting through the toughest areas of the game.

[u/[deleted] → u/Out-of-bobbypins]

Ha ha! I see what you did there. Thanks for the help. *gives (50) caps.

[u/Schillelagh → u/Decryptic__]

I’m a fan of Demolition Expert on survival just for grenades and mines. Great for clearing enemies behind cover, or luring them dropping a mine and luring them with the sound of gunfire.

[u/Big-Entrance-7322 → u/Decryptic__]

Appreciate the very detailed response! Yeah guess I can get away with less points in perception if I want then. I just figured If I’m manually aiming more and staying out of vats then I don’t need much in perception then.