Advice for my Melee VATS build

[Dio Aloke]

I decided to try a melee character for the double XP weekend since I heard melee is OP.

I put together a build which you can see on the link:

https://www.falloutbuilds.com/fo76/planner/#Aw4FAAUHBwsBAQEANk8D9AEBsgEBeAPwAQNOAfcBA+QBAfUBAaMBAYQBAQ0B7gEDRgN5AwsDDwWzAQP2AQGkAQFXAXEBcwMiASQBGQLbAQMA

I'll add the full build in the reply.

**** NOW ****

The idea is to use mostly VATS for regular attacks & crits and ideally proc often enough that I'm doing crits a good part of the time. I'll go with Slugger (2 handed) since it has the most damage and because I'll be using VATS a lot I don't think speed matters much.

It's not a BLOODIED build since I'm not sure I can pull it off.

I put some Archer stuff to be my backup for hard to reach enemies. It's for ~flavor~ and completely optional. My main character is a sneaky sniper so I wanted something different.

Some perks I'm really not sure about:
WHITE KNIGHT affects Power Armor? I'll be weaing PA most of the time I think

[Dio Aloke]

STR 15 PER 6 END 1 CHA 6 INT 8 AGI 8 LUK 12

STRENGTH 15

Blocker x3 (melee DR)
Slugger/Expert/Master (2H)
Incisor x3 (ignore armor)
Martial Artist x3 (faster swings = more 'normal' attacks)
Pack Rat
Travelling Pharmacy x2 (taking more damage = need more stimpaks)

PERCEPTION 6

Archer/Expert/Master (Bow)
Bow Before Me 3 (ignore armor)

END 1

Chem Fiend (i'm thinking MedX/Psycho for tougher fights)

CHA 6

Field Surgeon (faster heals)
Lone Wanderer x3

INT 8

Armorer (so I can mod armor, I could switch on only for crafting)
First Aid x1 (should I get more?)
Makeshift Warrior x5
Power User (I'm always afraid I'll run out of power cores)

AGi 8

Action Girl x3 (more VATS attacks, helps with mobility)
Born Survivor (i'm a distracted person)
Thru-Hiker (I carry a lot of meat)
White Knight x3 (affects power armor?)

LUK 12

Bloody Mess x3
Four Leaf Clover x3 (faster crits)
Grim Reaper's Sprint x3 (more VATS attacks)
Psycopath x3 (more crits)

[cocopuffdogman]

You are awfully scared of dying. Imposter sheepsquatch is the only enemy that will mess you up bad. Get rid of power user. Fusion core is pretty common. White knight is for normal armour, power patcher (under INT) is what you want. Field surgeon is unnecessary. Bows are trash, why even bother? Use a handmade rifle instead.

Let's face it though, imposter/ sheepsquatch, scorched beast queen and wendigo colossus are the enemies where high level build are truly needed, and melee build is not effective against these three. For the longest time I run a bloodied melee build but now I go for a bloodied heavy gun build and use melee to conserve ammo.

[Stardustfire]

1: What kind of weapon do you want to use? asking because VATS and for example All Rise are not actualy friends. useing that with my PA 2H melee and getting the weekly 25 crit hits is a chore to say it very friendly. because max i can do 2 VATS Swings before Stamina says completly goodbye.

2: What you want with Armorer? because you use Power User i guess you want to use PA, than Power Smith is what you want.

@coco, sorry but pairing "Melee" with "not efficent" and using "Bloodied" in the same air with "high damage enemys" alltogether disqualifies youself. its like the bloodied users that cry because Radiation kills them instantly.
seriously you use a build that wants superlow HP and than say the Weapon choice is not efficent because you use it with a mechanic where a Fly Flap kills you?

[cocopuffdogman]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

@coco, sorry but pairing "Melee" with "not efficent" and using "Bloodied" in the same air with "high damage enemys" alltogether disqualifies youself. its like the bloodied users that cry because Radiation kills them instantly.
seriously you use a build that wants superlow HP and than say the Weapon choice is not efficent because you use it with a mechanic where a Fly Flap kills you?

You obviously have never played a bloodied melee build, blocker, emergency protocol mod, dodgy, serendipity outside of PA makes bloodied build not easy to get killed. Dying was not the problem I was referring to. SQB spends most of the fight flying, now that people fight SQB outside of the nuke zone, SQB seems to land even less. To make it worse, SQB has a stun attack. Imposter sheepsquatch hit hard but its attack can be blocked, the game lagging is the biggest problem. Sheepsquatch has a stun attack. Wendigo colossus has that fear effect when you get close.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Dio Aloke:

The idea is to use mostly VATS for regular attacks & crits and ideally proc often enough that I'm doing crits a good part of the time. I'll go with Slugger (2 handed) since it has the most damage and because I'll be using VATS a lot I don't think speed matters much.

When it comes to melee the damage number on a weapon does not matter as much because it is all about the swing speed.

A mole miner gauntlet has less damage than a two hand weapon, but swings faster.

Also if you are going to be melee then you really might want to think about:
Vaccinated because mobs are going to touch you constantly.
Keep White Knight 3 if not using power armor.
Admantium Bones if not using power armor otherwise ranged mobs will break bones constantly.

Unless you have Fallout 1st, Packrat is kind of pointless. All it does is allow you to carry more junk than you can fit into your stash.

If you are going without power armor, then you might want to look at the Unarmed weapons like gauntlets. That allows you to put extra points somewhere else in strength like Barbarian.

Originally posted by cocopuffdogman:

Let's face it though, imposter/ sheepsquatch, scorched beast queen and wendigo colossus are the enemies where high level build are truly needed, and melee build is not effective against these three.

You obviously never played a melee. As a melee I can hit the SBQ for over 400 in the head with an AA Moleminer gauntlet without resorting to using a bloody or Junky build. Getting the idiots off the tents and fences so the SBQ will land is the hard part.

Encryptid is a joke one you have a set of Troubleshooter armor, it is literally better than power armor.

As for the wendigo colossus. Yeah it aint so bad in melee had one on me constantly while I soloed it (because the bloody people kept dying to the poison clouds.)

[Dio Aloke]

Thanks for the detailed answers, folks!

Originally posted by cocopuffdogman:

You are awfully scared of dying. Get rid of power user. Fusion core is pretty common. White knight is for normal armour, power patcher (under INT) is what you want. Field surgeon is unnecessary. Bows are trash, why even bother? Use a handmade rifle instead.

Yeah, I can probably do without so much protection. On my main I'm swimming in power cores. I honestly never had to repair any power armor so I'm not sure about Power Patcher. Fix It Good might be better?

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

1: What kind of weapon do you want to use? asking because VATS and for example All Rise are not actualy friends. useing that with my PA 2H melee and getting the weekly 25 crit hits is a chore to say it very friendly. because max i can do 2 VATS Swings before Stamina says completly goodbye.

2: What you want with Armorer? because you use Power User i guess you want to use PA, than Power Smith is what you want.

I'm not sure which weapons I'll use. I barely used melee on my first character so I don't know which weapons are good. I've been experimenting with 2H (a Sledgehammer, since I can't craft weapons of my own level) and I like it. But until now I've been using a Machete, cheaper VATS but no so much damage (I'm level 17 using a lvl 10 Machete so....).

And yeah, I can do max 2 swings and deplete my AP, but they regenerate quite fast. And once I get Grim Reaper's Sprint I think this won't be a problem any more.

There are a lot of things that affect VATS costs, but I honestly have no idea how it works. Just saw a Zero Vats build, but it seems it's behind the scenes, the game doesn't tell you 'this mod lowers AP costs'

I'll get rid of Armorer.

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

When it comes to melee the damage number on a weapon does not matter as much because it is all about the swing speed.

A mole miner gauntlet has less damage than a two hand weapon, but swings faster.

Also if you are going to be melee then you really might want to think about:
Vaccinated because mobs are going to touch you constantly.

Yeah, I was thinking about swing speed, but I think it doesn't matter as much if I'm constantly using VATS. Well... if the AP cost is lower I can do more attacks and increase the chance of triggering Four Leaf Clover I guess

I hadn't thought of Vaccinated.

****

So I think I'll get rid of the bow perks, Field Surgeon, Power User and White Knight for a total of 12 points. Suggestions for extra perks?

Maybe some PA heavy guns? I don't have space for increase HW damage, but Stabilized might be good.