Guns build?

[Torres, The Devourer]

Hey there fellas. I’m looking to start a survival play through with my main weapons being guns. Specifically, I would like to use lever action rifles (like the ones in far harbor), semi auto pistols, and revolvers. Got any tips for me?

[wtiger27]

Lots of choices. The Two Shot Western Revolver, would be one of the most powerful revolvers you can find in the game and also very rare. And any Instigating Legendary firearm is also another powerful one if you are planning on a stealth build and it can be equipped with a silencer.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

Lots of choices. The Two Shot Western Revolver, would be one of the most powerful revolvers you can find in the game and also very rare. And any Instigating Legendary firearm is also another powerful one if you are planning on a stealth build and it can be equipped with a silencer.

Alright, thank you!

Though something I forgot to mention: when starting up the play through, what special stats should I use?

[peppermint hollows]

Agility improves your stealth as well as having several stealth-related perks, like Sneak, Ninja, and Mister Sandman. So you'll want to invest in Agility if you want to sneak, and for your other SPECIAL stats it depends on what you want.

Charisma is always useful for caps but can also be used to avoid violence in several instances, which you might want to do in Survival especially early on. It also has settlement-related perks which are pretty useful for survival as well since settlements can act as safe points as well as generating useful resources like purified water. Endurance doesn't have many useful perks but increases your health. Perception is a must if you want to use VATS but isn't necessary, although you might want to meet the minimum for lockpicking or demolition expert (as far as I know demolition expert increases the damage done by the Explosives legendary effect. There are a couple of good weapons with the explosive effect that you can purchase from vendors).

Intelligence of course gives you greater XP gains which is always useful, it also has access to some very useful perks especially for survival. Chemist allows you to craft special chems at the respective station, as well as making chems last longer. Chems are useful in any difficulty but even more so in Survival. Gun nut is also probably something you might want for weapon crafting, especially to put suppressors on your guns, so you might want a minimum of at least 3 intelligence. Luck can be really strong as well but that depends on if you want to use VATS or not. Idiot Savant is useful if you're going to run with low intelligence to make up for the low XP gains. If you go for 3 INT to get Gun Nut, make sure to drink alcohol before turning in quests to reduce your intelligence to increase the odds of it triggering.

[Heimdall313]

Problem is you're putting points into Rifleman and Gunslinger, instead of just focusing on one, other problem is the Lever Gun is 45-70 ammo and its both obnoxiously rare and obnoxiously expensive. Same for the .44 Magnum, the rounds are rare and expensive, and nuclear material for the receiver upgrades is obnoxious.
No suppressor on the revolver, so its out the door on most stealth builds, which are favored in Survival. Semi auto pistol, Pipe Gun is the earliest / easiest suppressor to get (Gun Nut 2, or grab it off a drop). 10mm Pistol will probably carry the early and mid levels. Hunting Rifle is bolt-action (similar high damage, low fire rate rifle as lever action), Gun Nut 3 for Suppressor. Pretty reliable, gets stuff done, not too heavy on upgrade material or ammo. Scrapper perk helps.

I love revolvers and bolt action stuff, you can totally go through the game on it; Kellog's Pistol is pretty solid but the fight on Survival can get hairy; there is a raised bed nearby though. Ghouls can be BIG problems. Lots of weak, fast targets means you'll want to "git gud" on that 10mm. Deliverer is a solid 10mm upgrade you can get as well.
If you can get Bleeding on a Pipe Gun, that's actually really useful with the 48 round Drum mag, cheap ammo, and high fire rate with a comfortably low weight. Bleed damage does all the work, the bullet damage is insignificant.

Deliverer with good Agility works wonders in VATS.
Oh, and chems are awesome for Survival, Jet is life, Jet is love, press Jet to win, when in doubt, huff Jet. Need money? Make Jet. Chemist lets you cook antibiotics and such, quite useful. But seriously, get addicted to Jet.
I modded a .44 revolver down to .38, reduced damage a bit, its actually really useful. I just need to reduce the upgrade costs lol.

[The Inept European]

the most important question for SPECIAL stats is whether you will be using VATS mostly, or never, or nearly always.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

the most important question for SPECIAL stats is whether you will be using VATS mostly, or never, or nearly always.

I don't plan on using vats frequently. I usually just use it whenever I fell frustrated that I don't get a kill fast enough :P

So I do not plan on using it frequently, nor building my build around it.

[The Inept European]

Then that puts a low priority on AGI unless you want to have high Sneak or want the high AGI perks. Also low priority on PER

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

Then that puts a low priority on AGI unless you want to have high Sneak or want the high AGI perks. Also low priority on PER

got it, so I'd assume a good intelligence and strength score, and maybe some charisma to go with that?

[The Inept European]

Using no of minimal VATS also had a big effect on your weapon and weapon mod choices. There are a bunch of weapon mods that affect VATS cost and accuracy that you don't need. You can go the opposite way and get heavy powerful guns and rifles that have high ROF in free fire but lousy in VATS.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

snip

Originally posted by Heimdall313:

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Thanks for the advice btw, and to all the rest of you guys s that contributed to this thread

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

Using no of minimal VATS also had a big effect on your weapon and weapon mod choices. There are a bunch of weapon mods that affect VATS cost and accuracy that you don't need. You can go the opposite way and get heavy powerful guns and rifles that have high ROF in free fire but lousy in VATS.

got it. I wasn't planning on relying on vats, but should I? I think vats are supper cool but I don't want to rely on them

[The Inept European]

I guess don't worry too much about optimising for VATS until you see whether you want to be a big user of VATS or not.

[Torres, The Devourer]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

I guess don't worry too much about optimising for VATS until you see whether you want to be a big user of VATS or not.

Ok then! One last question. What special points should I put my points into?

[The Inept European]

That was your first question, wasn't it? XD

[The Inept European]

Also question: how are you going to get a lever action rifle from the get-go in Survival? Are you going to walk straight to Far Harbor?

I guess if you are focused on guns you want PER for the higher gun perks, some INT for Gun Nut. You probably do want some AGI for stealth, to keep range on your side or run away if it isn't , since you are going to be less good at melee.

Unless you have specific perks in mind that you want to get early, it does not matter that much. It's worth thinking about the first 5-10 perks you want to take, and start the game with sufficient SPECIAL to be able to get those.