Rifleman build tips

[Mr.Viking.Jack]

wanna experience as much of the game as possible!
Anyone got any stat suggestions or tips ?.
I wanna be a 1 man hitman\rifleman/gun for hire type dude while experiencing as much of the games content as i can.

Ive heard charisma in this game is kinda meh as the checks you need to Get somewhere storywise have other ways of going about it.

[Silver the Shark]

Charisma is amazing if you plan on going with a companion or two most of the time. A Charisma of 10 confers a 50% damage resist and damage bonus to any companions, which is quite powerful. Don't underestimate it. As for stats, you can pretty much get away with anything in this game, as it's designed for most builds to be viable, even the "bad" ones.

Some caveats regarding stats though. If you want to use rifles effectively you need to be wary of their strength requirement. The highest of any rifle is 8 (the anti materiel rifle). If you plan on using it at all, I'd put it at least a 5 (+1 strength from implant, and -2 strength requirement from weapon handling perk).

Perception isn't really useful for anything other than dialogue checks and perk requirements. Put it at 6 along with Luck for the better criticals perk.

Endurance depends on whether you want to be sneaky or not. High for no, low for yes.

Charisma depends on companions as stated above, there's only one charisma dialogue check in the game and it doesn't really do anything speech can't do. Note companions tend to ♥♥♥♥ up your sneak attempts. Dump charisma points to a 1 if you plan on sneaking and tell any companions to ♥♥♥♥ right off.

As for intelligence, everyone and their mother says to max it out early for skill points. Personally I think that's a bad idea as I don't like characters that have mastery over everything. Even in your case you don't need to max it. In order to experience everything you only need to max one combat skill and all utility skills, you can leave all other combat skills alone. At least 4 is necessary for the Educated perk.

Agility depends on whether you want to use VATS and how fast you want to reload or switch weapons, it doesn't effect run speed at all.

Luck should go as high as possible for that sweet sweet crit chance. Making bank at any and all casinos is just a bonus.

[LSD]

Charisma's the joint-least useful stat, with Perception, both of which are infinitely less useful in this game than in 3 due to massive dev oversights.

Lots of people play with 1 Charisma. +5% companion DT and damage per point (and +2 Barter/Speech) is almost meaningless. Who wants their companion doing the killing? That's the player's job.
Perception, meanwhile, takes a lot of investment to have any meaningful impact on radar pip range (7+ at least, before they're basically on the other end of your gun barrel), and is rendered meaningless if you have ED-E along as a companion. Besides that, it's just +2 E.weapons/Lockpick. Yawn.

Either way, go nuts.
Even if you go default 5/10 SPECIAL and invest the remaining 5 points at random, you'll still max everything out at end-game and be nigh-unstoppable by mid-game.

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by LSD:

Charisma's the joint-least useful stat, with Perception, both of which are infinitely less useful in this game than in 3 due to massive dev oversights.

Lots of people play with 1 Charisma. +5% companion DT and damage per point (and +2 Barter/Speech) is almost meaningless. Who wants their companion doing the killing? That's the player's job.
Perception, meanwhile, takes a lot of investment to have any meaningful impact on radar pip range (7+ at least, before they're basically on the other end of your gun barrel), and is rendered meaningless if you have ED-E along as a companion. Besides that, it's just +2 E.weapons/Lockpick. Yawn.

Either way, go nuts.
Even if you go default 5/10 SPECIAL and invest the remaining 5 points at random, you'll still max everything out at end-game and be nigh-unstoppable by mid-game.

Perception itself isn't that great, but you do need a pretty high investment in it if you want the Sniper perk, which is pretty good imo. Gunplay isn't really all that great in this game at least for vanilla, so VATS is useful and the Sniper perk is great for VATS. Also makes sense to have high perception as a sniper/marksman from a roleplaying perspective, if you care about that.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Mr.Viking.Jack:

wanna experience as much of the game as possible!
Anyone got any stat suggestions or tips ?.
I wanna be a 1 man hitman\rifleman/gun for hire type dude while experiencing as much of the games content as i can.

Ive heard charisma in this game is kinda meh as the checks you need to Get somewhere storywise have other ways of going about it.

rifles for sure lvl up guns. You can use more guns and get a multiplier bonus (2X i think at max 100).

not 100% fullproof but more recommendations (going on the assumption of rifles you mean gun rifles and not energy or plasma rifles plus you don't have DLC content, then i'll see what i can do):

for your special stats:

Strength
the most you'll need is i think 6 (with the perk skill to lower weapon weight requirements by 2 strength pts) to be able to carry an AMR anti matter rifle. You can always though max it out with things like drugs ant nectar steaks and power armor so strength isn't as requried (plus it only affects melee and unarmed and if you plan to have companions they can carry your ♥♥♥♥ up to 400 + your own carry weight limit). I'd say at least 4 strength + power armor T-4 for + 2 stength to be able to use the AMR (if you wanna use it)

Perception
while not all that well (since it mostly affects explosives energy weapons lockpick and enemy detection (which can be by passed with having ED-E and Boone as companions), i'd still say a 7 if you really wanna make a sniper build. If you can do without then i'd say you can avoid it entirely.

Endurance
mostly increases your rad resistances, health bar, and implants at the new vegas clinic (7 for all SPECIAL implants and 9 for the extra 2 for protection and health regeneration). You can avoid this

Charisma
Mostly a dump stat unless you wanna make a barter/speech build. Also if you wanna rely on companions then by all means max it out or at least set to 5 with party time mentats you can makeup the other 5 (or 4 + 1 implant at the NV clinic).

Intelligence
Oooo this is a tricky one. Mostly b/c it affects terminal hacking and science crafting. But it does affect the # of skill points you get each lvl up (+1/2 every 1 intelligence up to 5 extra at max 10). I'd say a 50/50 unless you wanna focus almost entirely on gunfights and speech checks.

Agility
i'd set that baby up to 10 if you wanna use VATS alot. If not you can do without. I'd highly recommend it since VATS do insane more accurate damage unless you wanna manually kill people without using it

Luck
I'd set it to 10 regardless b/c luck affects all other perk stats and crit shots. Not only that but if you have a max 10 luck you can pretty much clean out the casinos at blackjack tables in little to no hassle, earning a ton of caps as early as you can get to the New Vegas strip.


If i were you i'd take either the trigger discipline trait for 20% more accurate but slower and more VAT pt costly shots on weapons or the opposite fast shot trait and less AP costs but less accurate shots (though this can somewhat be countered with certain perk skills later on)

avoid the good natured trait which reduced gun perk skills when starting out.

invest in guns, sneak (if you wanna make a sniper or semi-stealth build), and speech if you wanna pass certain speech checks without much hassle. Barter can help too but speech is probably gonna help you bypass so much ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ else you go guns blazing. These are sorta the perk skills you wanna max out to lvl 100 since you'll be using them almost always (though speech you can get away with 90 then makeup for with magazines that give +10 since you won't need much speech past lvl 85 throughout the game).

Sneak and guns at 100=always good to have since it directly affects your weapons and extra sneak criticals (again if you wanna make a pseudo-sneak build).


Repair can come in handy to not only fix guns but also to craft your own ammunition. At lvl 50 you can craft weapon repair kits which help repair weapons/keep their conditions up which can be extremely useful if you don't wanna spend a ton of caps at repair vendors.

Lockpick is useful b/c it can help unlock safes, crates, or doors that hold unique guns behind them (like the lucky gun, the Gobi sniper rifle, etc.).
Medicine is a neutral area unless you wanna go in guns blazing.

These i'd set to maybe 75 with the exception of lockpick to 90 to be able to unlock any locked object (some require 100 but you can sorta bypass with magazine and skill books that permanently inc. your perk skills).



unarmed, energy weapons, melee, survival, and science are sorta unecessary if you wanna focus on rifles/guns 100%.


You can sorta get to 100 by setting certain skills to lvl 81, getting 3 skill books for each perk skill you wanna max, then the remaining 10 with a magazine.


If you plan on using rifles exclusively theres a couple of them in-game and some have unique variants or are unique:
-brush gun
-trail carbine
-assault carbine
-AMR (anti-matter rifle) just pretty much shreds everything even legendary creatures and deathclaws.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_weapons

[Mr.Viking.Jack]

Originally posted by (TF2SP) Cow Milk:

Originally posted by Mr.Viking.Jack:

wanna experience as much of the game as possible!
Anyone got any stat suggestions or tips ?.
I wanna be a 1 man hitman\rifleman/gun for hire type dude while experiencing as much of the games content as i can.

Ive heard charisma in this game is kinda meh as the checks you need to Get somewhere storywise have other ways of going about it.

rifles for sure lvl up guns. You can use more guns and get a multiplier bonus (2X i think at max 100).

not 100% fullproof but more recommendations (going on the assumption of rifles you mean gun rifles and not energy or plasma rifles then i'll see what i can do):

for your special stats:

Strength
the most you'll need is i think 6 (with the perk skill to lower weapon weight requirements by 2 strength pts) to be able to carry an AMR anti matter rifle. You can always though max it out with things like drugs ant nectar steaks and power armor so strength isn't as requried (plus it only affects melee and unarmed and if you plan to have companions they can carry your ♥♥♥♥ up to 400 + your own carry weight limit). I'd say at least 4 strength + power armor T-4 for + 2 stength to be able to use the AMR (if you wanna use it)

Perception
while not all that well (since it mostly affects explosives energy weapons lockpick and enemy detection (which can be by passed with having ED-E and Boone as companions), i'd still say a 7 if you really wanna make a sniper build. If you can do without then i'd say you can avoid it entirely.

Endurance
mostly increases your rad resistances, health bar, and implants at the new vegas clinic (7 for all SPECIAL implants and 9 for the extra 2 for protection and health regeneration). You can avoid this

Charisma
Mostly a dump stat unless you wanna make a barter/speech build. Also if you wanna rely on companions then by all means max it out or at least set to 5 with party time mentats you can makeup the other 5 (or 4 + 1 implant at the NV clinic).

Intelligence
Oooo this is a tricky one. Mostly b/c it affects terminal hacking and science crafting. But it does affect the # of skill points you get each lvl up (+1/2 every 1 intelligence up to 5 extra at max 10). I'd say a 50/50 unless you wanna focus almost entirely on gunfights and speech checks.

Agility
i'd set that baby up to 10 if you wanna use VATS alot. If not you can do without. I'd highly recommend it since VATS do insane more accurate damage unless you wanna manually kill people without using it

Luck
I'd set it to 10 regardless b/c luck affects all other perk stats and crit shots. Not only that but if you have a max 10 luck you can pretty much clean out the casinos at blackjack tables in little to no hassle, earning a ton of caps as early as you can get to the New Vegas strip.


If i were you i'd take either the trigger discipline trait for 20% more accurate but slower and more VAT pt costly shots on weapons or the opposite fast shot trait and less AP costs but less accurate shots (though this can somewhat be countered with certain perk skills later on)

avoid the good natured trait which reduced gun perk skills when starting out.

invest in guns, sneak (if you wanna make a sniper or semi-stealth build), and speech if you wanna pass certain speech checks without much hassle. Barter can help too but speech is probably gonna help you bypass so much ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ else you go guns blazing. These are sorta the perk skills you wanna max out to lvl 100 since you'll be using them almost always (though speech you can get away with 90 then makeup for with magazines that give +10 since you won't need much speech past lvl 85 throughout the game).

Sneak and guns at 100=always good to have since it directly affects your weapons and extra sneak criticals (again if you wanna make a pseudo-sneak build).


Repair can come in handy to not only fix guns but also to craft your own ammunition. At lvl 50 you can craft weapon repair kits which help repair weapons/keep their conditions up which can be extremely useful if you don't wanna spend a ton of caps at repair vendors.

Lockpick is useful b/c it can help unlock safes, crates, or doors that hold unique guns behind them (like the lucky gun, the Gobi sniper rifle, etc.).
Medicine is a neutral area unless you wanna go in guns blazing.

These i'd set to maybe 75 with the exception of lockpick to 90 to be able to unlock any locked object (some require 100 but you can sorta bypass with magazine and skill books that permanently inc. your perk skills).



unarmed, energy weapons, melee, survival, and science are sorta unecessary if you wanna focus on rifles/guns 100%.


You can sorta get to 100 by setting certain skills to lvl 81, getting 3 skill books for each perk skill you wanna max, then the remaining 10 with a magazine.


If you plan on using rifles exclusively theres a couple of them in-game and some have unique variants or are unique:
-brush gun
-trail carbine
-assault carbine
-AMR (anti-matter rifle) just pretty much shreds everything even legendary creatures and deathclaws.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_weapons

jesus this is detailed!
THank you so much !

And yeah, as it is nevada "everyone for themselfs" i figured eastwood type, if talking dont work, rifles does the trick! .
Really appriciate it !

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

TBH i'd get the DLC content to:
1. add more lvls
2. get more perk skills
3. more weapons.

Also the higher the lvl the more npcs spawn erm higher tier'd npcs (like legion soldiers and NCR guards in certain areas).

[Vyvyvn]

Don't need endurance or strength, High AGL, High PE and sneak is a bonus.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Vyvyn Von Cruxxe:

Don't need endurance or strength, High AGL, High PE and sneak is a bonus.

you don't really need perception overall.

max 6 b/c then you can get the sniper perk but if you don't plan on using VATS as much then agility and perception aren't really worth getting. Plus with perception it only affects energy weapons explosives and lockpick as well as revealing enemies (which can be by passed by having boone or ED-E as a companion or both.

rifle builds / sniper builds are sorta versatile enough that you don't really need to rely on VATS and it's slightly better if you don't b/c if you can land crit sneak headshots you can pretty much one shot kill anything that moves (cept probably some legendary creatures and certain enemies like the legionate and joshua grahmm).

it sorta the fun of using a pure non-VATS build with rifles which are longer ranged and are precise enough that you don't need to rely on VATS. Plus you got both limited mag sizes and energy costs are pretty insane (specially if you pick the trigger discipline trait to get even more accurate shots at cost of AP and firing speed).

[Vyvyvn]

Originally posted by (TF2SP) Cow Milk:

Originally posted by Vyvyn Von Cruxxe:

Don't need endurance or strength, High AGL, High PE and sneak is a bonus.

you don't really need perception

max 6 b/c then you can get the sniper perk but if you don't plan on using VATS as much then agility and perception aren't really worth getting. Plus with perception it only affects energy weapons explosives and lockpick as well as revealing enemies (which can be by passed by having boone or ED-E as a companion or both.

rifle builds / sniper builds are sorta versatile enough that you don't really need to rely on VATS and it's slightly better if you don't b/c if you can land crit sneak headshots you can pretty much one shot kill anything that moves (cept probably some legendary creatures and certain enemies like the legionate and joshua grahmm).

it sorta the fun of using a pure non-VATS build with rifles which are longer ranged and are precise enough that you don't need to rely on VATS.

The high PE is -for- the awareness. It's easier to be a rifleman when you have maximum range, Yis?

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Vyvyn Von Cruxxe:

Originally posted by (TF2SP) Cow Milk:

you don't really need perception

max 6 b/c then you can get the sniper perk but if you don't plan on using VATS as much then agility and perception aren't really worth getting. Plus with perception it only affects energy weapons explosives and lockpick as well as revealing enemies (which can be by passed by having boone or ED-E as a companion or both.

rifle builds / sniper builds are sorta versatile enough that you don't really need to rely on VATS and it's slightly better if you don't b/c if you can land crit sneak headshots you can pretty much one shot kill anything that moves (cept probably some legendary creatures and certain enemies like the legionate and joshua grahmm).

it sorta the fun of using a pure non-VATS build with rifles which are longer ranged and are precise enough that you don't need to rely on VATS.

The high PE is -for- the awareness. It's easier to be a rifleman when you have maximum range, Yis?

Originally posted by (TF2SP) Cow Milk:

you don't really need perception overall.

max 6 b/c then you can get the sniper perk but if you don't plan on using VATS as much then agility and perception aren't really worth getting. Plus with perception it only affects energy weapons explosives and lockpick as well as revealing enemies (which can be by passed by having boone or ED-E as a companion or both.

that and unless you mod the game FoV and distance you can see or lock onto something with VATS is pretty much irrelevant.
Doesn't really matter if you rely on stealth/sneak in order to land crit shots and crouch most of the time.

in which case then yeah i'd recommend agility to get some speed inc. perks to help you sneak faster/better

[Jack Jester]

INT 5 (Implant 6) is enough. With the perk "Educated" you can max out 10 skills ( INT 6+Educated=1050 points). Dont forgett the free skillbookpoints, 1100 Skillpoints (11 Skills-100%) should be no problem!

The truth is, you dont need more than 7-8 Skills.