stealth/sneak build

[Zepk0r]

hello,im looking for the best stealth/sneak build mainly gonna use guns and melee weapons though,and also looking for general stealth tips.

[yjzep]

No companions lol. The key to sneak in these games is not to want to be a sneak "assassin" to clear areas. Only kill what you need to to get the job done. SOme think stealth is all about assassinations, but in this game, it's more about combat avoidance. Just my opinion, I'm sure people make it work the other way.

[talgaby]

Get silent running and avoid bloody mess. That is the only essential thing.

After that, there are a few options…

Pistol build needs the perks gunslinger, professional, cowboy or grunt (depending on pistol), sniper. Highly recommended to go for the light-armour crit build with light touch, tunnel runner, travel light, finesse, better criticals.
Focus on AG and LU, use preferably a silenced gun (M1911 is the best in vanilla game), and assassin suit or Graham's SWAT vest.

Knife/machete build removes the guns perks (except cowboy/grunt which cover basic and combat knives, respectively) are replaces them by ninja, slayer, stonewall, super slam, piercing strike, unstoppable force, and possibly purifier. Add in the light armour ones from above. Needs a ton more perks, but after a while it outclasses all firearm builds in damaging power by a lot.
Focus on ST, LU, AG, use the same armour as above. Weapon should be Chance's knife and Blood-Nap, alternatively Knock-Knock or Blade of the East/West.
Alternatively alternatively you can throw out the knife-related stuff, switch perk to piercing strike, and use Love and Hate, then Fist of Rawr.

Sniper build… is the same one you can find everywhere with sniper builds.

[Zepk0r]

Originally posted by talgaby:

Get silent running and avoid bloody mess. That is the only essential thing.

After that, there are a few options…

Pistol build needs the perks gunslinger, professional, cowboy or grunt (depending on pistol), sniper. Highly recommended to go for the light-armour crit build with light touch, tunnel runner, travel light, finesse, better criticals.
Focus on AG and LU, use preferably a silenced gun (M1911 is the best in vanilla game), and assassin suit or Graham's SWAT vest.

Knife/machete build removes the guns perks (except cowboy/grunt which cover basic and combat knives, respectively) are replaces them by ninja, slayer, stonewall, super slam, piercing strike, unstoppable force, and possibly purifier. Add in the light armour ones from above. Needs a ton more perks, but after a while it outclasses all firearm builds in damaging power by a lot.
Focus on ST, LU, AG, use the same armour as above. Weapon should be Chance's knife and Blood-Nap, alternatively Knock-Knock or Blade of the East/West.
Alternatively alternatively you can throw out the knife-related stuff, switch perk to piercing strike, and use Love and Hate, then Fist of Rawr.

Sniper build… is the same one you can find everywhere with sniper builds.

okay thanks but how do i play early on without a silenced gun? and is INT important in those builds?

[talgaby]

INT with the DLC level cap of 50 is insignificant. Anything over 4 does it.

What do you mean, without a silenced gun? The Ruger is available from the start in Chet's shop, and it is silenced. With sneak crit head shots, even those .22 bullets hurt.
On top of that, the 10 mm N99 pistol has a silencer mod, and it is an early weapon. The 12.7 mm pistol is later game weapon, but it can be silenced too.

[Zepk0r]

Originally posted by talgaby:

INT with the DLC level cap of 50 is insignificant. Anything over 4 does it.

What do you mean, without a silenced gun? The Ruger is available from the start in Chet's shop, and it is silenced. With sneak crit head shots, even those .22 bullets hurt.
On top of that, the 10 mm N99 pistol has a silencer mod, and it is an early weapon. The 12.7 mm pistol is later game weapon, but it can be silenced too.

okay i havent played this game for a while so i forgot alot of things..but what do i do when im playing without a silenced gun like is it a big diffrence in terms of detecting me?

[yjzep]

Originally posted by eaRtH:

Originally posted by talgaby:

INT with the DLC level cap of 50 is insignificant. Anything over 4 does it.

What do you mean, without a silenced gun? The Ruger is available from the start in Chet's shop, and it is silenced. With sneak crit head shots, even those .22 bullets hurt.
On top of that, the 10 mm N99 pistol has a silencer mod, and it is an early weapon. The 12.7 mm pistol is later game weapon, but it can be silenced too.

okay i havent played this game for a while so i forgot alot of things..but what do i do when im playing without a silenced gun like is it a big diffrence in terms of detecting me?

obviously. You shoot, people hear it. Realism.

[Zepk0r]

Originally posted by yjzep:

Originally posted by eaRtH:

okay i havent played this game for a while so i forgot alot of things..but what do i do when im playing without a silenced gun like is it a big diffrence in terms of detecting me?

obviously. You shoot, people hear it. Realism.

yeah i know that but is it a BIG diffrence or just abit harder because i have heard that the AI in this game is quite stupid sometimes..

[yjzep]

Originally posted by eaRtH:

Originally posted by yjzep:

obviously. You shoot, people hear it. Realism.

yeah i know that but is it a BIG diffrence or just abit harder because i have heard that the AI in this game is quite stupid sometimes..

well if you put it that way....depends. Raiders 50 yards away wont come running. You wont be able to silently drop them tho. The stupid AI is more how you can kill a guy silently, his buddy will step on his body and not think "hey, my buddy is dead with a bullet in his head, maybe I should be on alert".

[Zepk0r]

Originally posted by yjzep:

Originally posted by eaRtH:

yeah i know that but is it a BIG diffrence or just abit harder because i have heard that the AI in this game is quite stupid sometimes..

well if you put it that way....depends. Raiders 50 yards away wont come running. You wont be able to silently drop them tho. The stupid AI is more how you can kill a guy silently, his buddy will step on his body and not think "hey, my buddy is dead with a bullet in his head, maybe I should be on alert".

okay thanks and when im starting a new game how should i invest in my special points so that i can use melee if i want and guns?

[talgaby]

5 - 6 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 6 - 8
Extra points to whereever you want.

[Zepk0r]

Originally posted by talgaby:

5 - 6 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 6 - 8
Extra points to whereever you want.

okay with this build i can use both melee and guns? and thanks again

[talgaby]

With that SPECIAL, you will be a pistol user sneaky assassin who keeps a knife as a backup weapon. Since both builds need a metric asston of perks for optimisation, you cannot use both. But if you dump all remaining points in INT, get educated at level 2, and make a pistol build with 100 melee skill, then your damage dealing capacity with the knife will still be really good… just not as godly as with the melee build.
If you really want to go crazy and not uncomfortable with cheesing the game, you can also get the Signature Armor and Signature Weapon mods. They give you bonuses for wearing the same attire and using the same weapon for long periods. If you go for the M1911 + Swat vest combo, all you need is to go straight to Zion from Goodsprings, get the stuff, and enjoy your super brokenly overpowered stuff for the rest of the game (disclaimer: it makes combat with vanilla enemies a joke).

[Dosbilliam, Boring but Practical]

Originally posted by talgaby:

If you really want to go crazy and not uncomfortable with cheesing the game, you can also get the Signature Armor and Signature Weapon mods.

(disclaimer: it makes combat with vanilla enemies a joke).

This is the case, but for me it's sort of in between; it makes the normal enemies incredibly easy, but it makes areas added by mods like A World of Pain and Deserter's Fortress playable because for some reason my stealth mechanics got nerfed...probably YUP. >:|