How viable is a bow build?

[Polverrati]

Originally I was going for a VATS crit build with commando but since getting a chameleon leg I've just been stealth killing with a recurve bow constantly. Is it viable to just max out bow and stealth or am I better off sticking with full auto and vats crits?

[xpe]

Depends on your personal preference, what do you like most? The bow is powerful but when it comes to DPS, it falls behind obviously. If you want to participate in endgame fights, go for the commando build, you can always get the archer cards when you level up more and vice versa.

[Brian9824]

You could do both, and swap around. The bow build would work well with stealth, so you can swap in the bow perks in perception, and replace agility perks with more stealth based perks when you want to use bow.

Then swap out the stealth perks for stuff like adrenaline when you switch to automatics. The two builds are similar enough SPECIAL wise that you shouldn't have any issues, but it will take you a while to get all the skill cards needed.

[to infinity and beyond]

It's really not viable for late game play, though it can be fun to switch up a commando build.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2087291581

[Polverrati]

Thanks for the help, I'll focus on maxing out the commando build first and do the archery later for standard PVE content.

[The Infamous Cloaker]

Everything is viable
But not everything is optimal