My ultimate character build

[Arkenholm]

Ok so my build is the most perfect build in the whole game ever period. Haha this is the best build that I could come up with drawing from all of my (extensive) experience in this game and according to my own play-style of course.

So I like to play a character that can pretty much do anything effectively (which entails having all stats to 100) as well as not having any penalties using ANY kind of weapon and finally, having the very best perks the game has to offer (sadly excluding implant GRX as this build currently exists). Without further ado.. Behold, Arkenholm! ultimate badass courier of the Mojave wasteland!

Ark's build

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SPECIAL:

STRENGTH: 6 +1(intense training, first perk) = 7 + 1 (after completing lonesome road) = 8 + weapon handling perk in order to master weapons of all strength levels.)

PERCEPTION: 5 + 1 (Implant) = 6

Perks: Sniper, Better Criticals

ENDURANCE: 5 + 1 (Implant) = 6

Perks: Toughness, Stonewall, strong back, Life giver. (Sadly no Implant GRX).

CHARISMA: 1 (♥♥♥♥ charisma.. did you know it only affects eligibility for a whopping two perks?! LAME! And the two perks it allows are lame as well! On the bright side we can reallocate all points from Charisma into more important things. Hence level 1 charisma...)

INTELLIGENCE: 9 + 1(Implant) = 10 (It's crucial to this build to get the Intelligence implant IMMEDIATELY before leveling once. I do this because I want to maximize the amount of skill points per level to my character. It's quite simple to do, only takes about an hour or less.)

AGILITY: 5 + 1(Implant) = 6

Perks: Sniper, Action boy,

LUCK: 9 + 1 (Implant) = 10 (Obviously for maximum chance of critical hits! With the added benefit of cleaning house in the casinos!)

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TRAITS & other perks

1) Built to destroy (For critical hit bonus, DUH!)
2) Skilled (Free skill points!!)
3) All unarmed moves obtained from NPC's in game.
4) Legion & BoS safehouse access.
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Now some facts about my personal gameplay:

I side with Caesar's Legion (TRUE TO CAESAR!) although I do this somewhat later in the game after I've done other quests that I would normally be exempt from if I were idolized by the Legion. I stay pretty much neutral to all major factions in the early stages of the game and slowly start to shift my allegiance to the most badass faction: The Legion.

Companions: ED-E (always) and I swap between Raul, Grandma-nightkin, Veronica and Rex.

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So tell me what you think! Improvements? Share with me! And tell me about your builds! Cheers fellow wasteland refugees!

[DoctorofMadness]

everything wrong with this build:

your focusing on every combat catagory, which is highly unlikely you will use all of them in combat.
you've forgotten that if you want to use this build in hardcore, why max out all your weapon skills if your ammo will weigh twice as much as the weapons themselves, then add 20+ lbs of armor, then add about 30 lbs of food&water

if playing hardcore mode, all of your companions drop like flies if you don't help them out greatly, or provide them with armor. it'd be better to just recruit them and have them stay in a safe area for a free perk tbh.

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by Senpai Kyoki:

everything wrong with this build:

your focusing on every combat catagory, which is highly unlikely you will use all of them in combat.

I do tend to switch between combat styles often. The goal isn't to use them all all the time, but to say "hey I'm gonna go do this quest and I think I'll use combat style X this time, and maybe the next quest I'll use combat style Y."

Originally posted by Senpai Kyoki:

you've forgotten that if you want to use this build in hardcore, why max out all your weapon skills if your ammo will weigh twice as much as the weapons themselves, then add 20+ lbs of armor, then add about 30 lbs of food&water

I ONLY play on hardcore mode. The beautiful thing about having a safe house (and companions for that matter) is you can use them to store your stuff so you don't have to carry every item, ammo grade and armour around with you at one time. Then it's as simple as switch out as you see fit.

Originally posted by Senpai Kyoki:

if playing hardcore mode, all of your companions drop like flies if you don't help them out greatly, or provide them with armor. it'd be better to just recruit them and have them stay in a safe area for a free perk tbh.

This isn't the case in my experience. My companions rarely die because I am able to kill the enemies before they kill my companions.

[DoctorofMadness]

oh, my companions always seem to die as fast as possible, so i usually take boone since he's the first guy i get and have him sit at the novac fast travel point, (and ED-E at primm). i usually roll with Raul though, and collect ED-E and make them sit at the vegas north gate, and use them as pack mules. I've never thought of giving my companions a weapon AND corresponding ammo, i thought they'd just waste it xD.

As for switching combat styles, that just seems to make it too easy. if your for example, using a sniper build, you shouldnt be able to suddenly whip out your fisticuffs and destroy people, but adapt to surroundings, play to how your build should have been played y'know.

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by Senpai Kyoki:

oh, my companions always seem to die as fast as possible, so i usually take boone since he's the first guy i get and have him sit at the novac fast travel point, (and ED-E at primm). i usually roll with Raul though, and collect ED-E and make them sit at the vegas north gate, and use them as pack mules. I've never thought of giving my companions a weapon AND corresponding ammo, i thought they'd just waste it xD.

Oh yeah I give my companions really good defensive armor as well! It's a great benefit in the long run.

Originally posted by Senpai Kyoki:

As for switching combat styles, that just seems to make it too easy. if your for example, using a sniper build, you shouldnt be able to suddenly whip out your fisticuffs and destroy people, but adapt to surroundings, play to how your build should have been played y'know.

I hear ya man. I can be a bit of a perfectionist in some ways which I admit is not necessarily a good thing. Thanks for your input man! Game on!

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

The system in New Vegas is very forgiving, particularly with the absurdly high level cap. Sorry to cut you off at the knees, but it is really impossible to have a bad "build" in this game.

[Theodamus]

what about the possible strength boosts from perks from old world blues?

[DoctorofMadness]

Originally posted by Two Bears:

The system in New Vegas is very forgiving, particularly with the absurdly high level cap. Sorry to cut you off at the knees, but it is really impossible to have a bad "build" in this game.

i mean you can make a pistol-only challenge build, or melee only challenge build. but then it can just turn into a speech-heavy combat-low run pretty damn easily. not to mention there are some pretty strong pistols out there anyway

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by Two Bears:

The system in New Vegas is very forgiving, particularly with the absurdly high level cap. Sorry to cut you off at the knees, but it is really impossible to have a bad "build" in this game.

You see, thats the very reason I think Fallout 3 was FAR inferior to new vegas. You could literally and easily become a God in Fallout 3. New vegas doesn't give you everything, you have to make sacrifices in some areas. Granted, I agree that at level 50 you're gonna have to be a pretty good character at that point in some regard. But theres good character builds and then there's GREAT character builds. Like mine :)

[Theodamus]

Originally posted by Arkenholm:

Originally posted by Two Bears:

The system in New Vegas is very forgiving, particularly with the absurdly high level cap. Sorry to cut you off at the knees, but it is really impossible to have a bad "build" in this game.

You see, thats the very reason I think Fallout 3 was FAR inferior to new vegas. You could literally and easily become a God in Fallout 3. New vegas doesn't give you everything, you have to make sacrifices in some areas. Granted, I agree that at level 50 you're gonna have to be a pretty good character at that point in some regard. But theres good character builds and then there's GREAT character builds. Like mine :)

but the unnecessary strength points

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by 🌟 mattmoo ♥:

I've noticed a lot of people are under compulsion to come up with a perfect build, but you know, you don't have to be. I'm glad that you found something that works for you, nonetheless.

Yeah it's a fun challenge to take on, I suppose. Sure you don't have to be extremely utilitarian with your New Vegas character, that's an activity the most obsessed people tend to take on so I guess I include myself in that camp. I mean, after all, I've been playing this game since it's release in 2010! Lol

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by 🌟 mattmoo ♥:

but the unnecessary strength points

What was unnecessary about the points I allocated to ST?

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Originally posted by Arkenholm:

Originally posted by Two Bears:

The system in New Vegas is very forgiving, particularly with the absurdly high level cap. Sorry to cut you off at the knees, but it is really impossible to have a bad "build" in this game.

You see, thats the very reason I think Fallout 3 was FAR inferior to new vegas. You could literally and easily become a God in Fallout 3. New vegas doesn't give you everything, you have to make sacrifices in some areas. Granted, I agree that at level 50 you're gonna have to be a pretty good character at that point in some regard. But theres good character builds and then there's GREAT character builds. Like mine :)

By level 50 you'll have 100 in almost all skills regardless of INT anyway. So, yeah, builds are kind of pointless in New Vegas.

[Arkenholm]

Originally posted by 🌟 mattmoo ♥:

I didn't say that, I actually think 6 is a pretty good value for ST personally. I think what he means is you can start with 5 strength points, and still use all the weapons/have plenty of strength because of Old World Blues, which gives you 1-2 strength points free.

Oh I see. So it sounds like the best starting str value would be 6 and then you could use the intense training on endurance instead, as well as the lonesome road SPECIAL bonus and then you could get Implant GRX! cool thanks for the info

[Theodamus]

Originally posted by Arkenholm:

Originally posted by 🌟 mattmoo ♥:

but the unnecessary strength points

What was unnecessary about the points I allocated to ST?

you can get up to 8 with the points from old world blues.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Originally posted by 🌟 mattmoo ♥:

Originally posted by Two Bears:

By level 50 you'll have 100 in almost all skills regardless of INT anyway. So, yeah, builds are kind of pointless in New Vegas.

That is true, roleplaying games are a journey, not a striving thing where you've got to win.

Yeah, that's always true. In this case the point that I was trying to make is that builds are only relevant when specialization is required. One cannot master every skill, so picking the core skills and perks that compliment those skills is critical. This isn't the case in New Vegas. The system is such that the player has achieved the maximum value in virtually every skill by the time he hits the level cap, and as such is never required to select skills to specialize in. In fact, the player cannot do such a thing, as the system will continue feeding skill points each level that must be spent in order to continue the game.

As such, "check out my build" is kind of silly here as every Courier is a world-reknown surgeon, robotics expert, master hacker that can repair any piece of gear from any other piece of gear and happens to be both the world's greatest sniper and a kung-fu master by the time he hits level 50.