Hybrid Builds?

[dwaynegand]

I've put together a booklet of builds that I have planned. All builds I have planned will focus primarily on one of the following: criticals, increased attack speed, or as much damage as possible. Each page contains notes on one build, with the SPECIAL stats depending on whether or not I take Wild Wasteland or make an imbecile, the traits depending on whether or not I take Wild Wasteland, the endgame armor and weapons, and the necessary perks for each character.

Going over the build list pages, I have seen that certain builds don't have as many necessary perks as others do. The difference between a critical build using Guns and a critical build using shotguns is two extra perks needed for the shotgun build. Builds that do not focus on critical damage, instead focusing on maximum damage, such as through automatic weapons or Heavy Handed combat use less perks, though the heavy handed builds also pick up the perks for improving melee combat, while those using automatics have the perks that allows them to build better ammo. With these kinds of builds, I'd have to fill up the empty perk slots with other perks for improving the character, such as Confirmed Bachelor/Black Widow, Quick Draw, Strong Back, Burden to Bear, Rapid Reload, etc.

For example, the Minigun build uses the following perks: Bloody Mess, Hand Loader, Toughness (2), Silent Running, Chemist, Jury Rigging, Them's Good Eatin', Implant GRX (2), and Thought You Died. If not an imbecile, it also takes Pack Rat. That's only twelve perk slots filled up if not an imbecile, with thirteen slots remaining.

I've been hearing that a lot of players are making builds that use two combat styles, such as using ranged combat together with melee. Or melee with explosives. Etc. So I've been thinking that maybe it would be a better idea if I did the same rather than focusing on only one style per build, especially since some may feel impractical.

So I've been thinking that maybe certain styles could be combined, picking up perks that would benefit the second build. For example, a Minigun or Gatling laser build could also use explosives since both weapon types either inflict very low critical damage or cannot inflict critical hits. Any build not using criticals could also use explosives. Or a critical build using guns could also use either melee weapons or unarmed. I know that both the Cowboy and Grunt perks, for which I also have separate builds for, affect both guns and melee weapons, though the Cowboy perk requires inventment in Melee Weapons, while Grunt doesn't. I would think that Explosives wouldn't work on its own because it's impractical as you would just blow up everyone around you, even neutrals and companions.

I know from watching some videos on Youtube that Unarmed and Melee Weapons are much more powerful than in previous games, builds using them are even stronger than the early games in the franchise. However, getting perks to benefit skill in melee combat requires investment in both Melee Weapons and Unarmed. However, certain types of enemies are extremely dangerous to fight in melee combat range, such as the Deathclaws in the Courier's Mile, at high levels they can kill you in one hit regardless of how much health you have.

Pyromaniac affects weapons in Energy Weapons, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, and explosives, though some can deal better critical damage than others, while the Flamers are better for increased damage builds.

I tried this idea recently using an online character planner and found that while it is easy for a high intelligence character to maximize both their primary combat skill and a secondary combat skill, together with all of the non-combat skills including Sneak, Speech, Medicine, Locking, etc, especially when all skill books are read, but the same isn't true for an imbecile of low intelligence.

Certain builds use a lot of perk slots, especially those who use critical hits and take perks that affect light armor, including Light Touch, Travel Light, and Tunnel Runner. Voracious Reader, Comprehension, and Pack Rat are also used if not an imbecile. With those builds, combining them with another style might not be as effective if you can't pick up all the perks you need.

So how would I go about making an effective hybrid build? What are some effective combos? Do certain styles work better? Do I need to pick up perks that benefit both styles to make a hybrid truly effective? How do you make an effective hybrid if you are an imbecile?

[LCpl Nubcake]

New Vegas really follows the specialization route when it comes to builds, and this is evident by how many weapons specific perks there are. Examples would be the two bread-and-butter perks for the shotgun, "And Stay Back" (Chance of Knockdown) and "Shotgun Surgeon" (Ignore 10 DT). So the best way to go about it is to decide on weapon types you want to specialize in, and plan out your perks to support that play-style. Most of your damage is coming from pure Damage and DPS, snipers and sneak builds are usually the only ones dependent on crits. Ammunition-types mean you'll always find a way to damage something with guns. Everything is viable.

If you're worried about Melee/Unarmed being less effective against things like Deathclaws, knockdown is the answer. It's essentially stun-lock and is a death sentence for any enemy even Deathclaws. You can get knockdown from the Super Slam perk at Level 8, or learn the Ranger Takedown ability from Ranger Andy at Novac. There really is no way to go wrong in this game except blowing all your SPECIAL on Charisma.

[dwaynegand]

Maybe it is better to specialize in one combat skill and style rather than specialize in two.

[Uncle_J]

Originally posted by dwaynegand:

Maybe it is better to specialize in one combat skill and style rather than specialize in two.

This. I recently started the "Crit Build-ALL SKILLS 100-Energy/Explosives/Unarmed" By John from the Guides section. I'm quitting and starting a new save. This build is too compromised. He focuses on Unarmed early, but not fully. You can't specialize in three weapon types and have all of the perks for that weapon class and combat skill, even after omitting the VATS perks.

[LCpl Nubcake]

Oh yeah don't get me wrong, if you're able to fit enough perks into your build, you can be good at more than one weapon type (Guns and Melee Build, etc). You just have to plan out your perks accordingly. The long and short of my previous post is that there aren't many standalone perks that specifically synergizes different weapon types. You just have to pick the ones you'd like to be particularly good at. You will never come up short since you will always have options (e.g. ammunition types) and weapons can have properties that can pick up the slack.

[Uncle_J]

Agreed. Like someone said, Grunt and Cowboy cover guns and explosives and melee with Chance's knife. And many perks cover Melee and Unarmed. And some cover any build. (i'm just typing as i think).

[dwaynegand]

According to what read online recently. some poeple think pairing off Guns or Energy Weapons with Melee Weapons or Unarmed isn't a good idea because you'll likely use the ranged combat option too much and it feels like a waste of a combat skill. So maybe ranged combat with explosives would be better.

Getting the perks that focus on melee combat requires investment in both Unarmed and Melee Combat.

Also, I think that if a Stupid character uses the Skill Trait, it should help with giving more skill points in all skills.

I think that it would be difficult and impractical to use explosives on their own and am thinking that it would be better to use them as a secondary combat skill rather than a primary one.

Probably the only builds that could pick up the perks for improving a secondary combat skill would be those that don't focus on critical hits, such as automatics or heavy handed combat as they use up less perk slots.

[Razgriz / SkyAce]

Going guns + something else as a secondary combat skill to complement them is probably the easier way for an hybrid build to be successful. Guns are found nearly everywhere in the wasteland, their ammo is abundant and guns are not that expensive compared to other options of weapons.

Something like guns + explosives can work well together, since both focus on killing things from a specific distance. Think of the "Grunt", "Cowboy" or even "Commando" perks and come up with a playstyle that reflects those character acrchetypes.


Edit: sorry for the deletes, some issue here.