Recommended Character Builds (Starting Out, Ranger Difficulty)

[PhamTrinli]

Leader

4 COORDINATION
1 LUCK
4 AWARENESS
2 STRENGTH
3 SPEED
4 INTELLIGENCE
3 CHARISMA

AUTOMATIC WEAPONS, FIRST AID,
LEADERSHIP

---

Engineer

4
1
4
3
2
6
1

BIG GUNS, EXPLOSIVES
MECHANICS

---

Hacker

4
1
4
2
3
6
1

SMALL ARMS, NERD STUFF,
TOASTER REPAIR

---

Sniper

4
1
5
2
2
6
1

SNIPER RIFLES, LOCKPICKING,
SNEAKY ♥♥♥♥

---

Merchant

4
1
4
2
2
5
3

SMALL ARMS, KISS ASS,
BARTER

---

Crafter

4
2
4
2
2
6
1

AUTOMATIC WEAPONS, WEAPON MODDING,
ARMOR MODDING

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Notes

Make sure one of your two starting characters starts with Lockpicking 5 or 6 and the other one starts with nerd stuff 5. This will get you all the way through Colorado springs early game

Make sure you get your mechanics character and your kiss ass/barter character before leaving ranger HQ the first time.

Don't forget to hack enemy robots and turrets in combat

If you have to fight someone, always start it by shooting a crouched sniper "risky shot" or missile shot from peace mode to get a starting advantage in the fight.

You can easily take down scorpitron fights with nerd stuff 10

[bunny de fluff]

I actually listened to the guys who suggested the max charisma build. It was pretty good, but I think your build is not bad too.

[Commander Gorda]

Leader should have more
Charisma, 7-10 imo.

[Radiac]

Your team roster doesn't include anyone recommended for the two NPC slots. I usually use Lucia and Jodie in the long term (Kwon takes Jodie's slot until she's on her feet again). That being the case, I generally assume I'll let Lucia do the Barter, Small Arms, and Survival (and to some extent Weapon Modding, just for the Powder Packer perk), and Jodie does First Aid, Sniper, and Mechanic (and to some extent Animal Whisperer, though I dislike pets, because they get under foot and cannot be controlled in combat).

I recommend giving everyone on the team at least 1 level in First Aid, just so that everyone can heal everyone, including themselves. It's also good to have one person who ranks it up to 10, eventually.

I usually make a "seventh man" who takes ranks in Armor Modding, Weapon Modding, and Toaster Repair who mostly stays at the HQ and does crafting. Occasionally I'll take him to some cleared maps to open toasters.

If you're not doing Melee Weapons or Brawling as combat styles (and I personally avoid those myself, but I've heard they're not bad, just not my style) then you don't really need Strength or Speed and can safely start with both set to 1, and leave them that way indefinitely. There are a few good armor pieces that require higher Strength, and you might get some tangible benefit out of bumping speed up by 1 or 2 points, but those armors aren't anything totally required and the speed issue is also somewhat minor. You want your move rate to be some whole number of squares per action point. If bumping it up one gets you there, fine, but remember there are leg armor mods for that too.

Assuming you dump Strength and Speed, you can max almost everything else, so you need to pick one more dump stat, which is either going to be Luck, Charisma, or Intelligence, because EVERYONE needs Coordination and Awareness. Keeping high Intelligence effects your critical hits and skill points, which is why I keep it, and dump Luck. Charisma and Intelligence both benefit you in ways that are reliable and can be planned for, the benefits you get from high Luck are good, but happen at random, which makes them impossible to plan ahead for when in combat. Like, it's GOOD when you get a Lucky crit or whatever, but you can't ever plan on getting one in any one specific attack when you need it, so they're often overkill.

Oh, also the OP didn't mention and recommended Backgrounds or Quirks for any of the customs. I usually take Prospector on one of them just for the free money in the early game.

[PhamTrinli]

Originally posted by Radiac:

Your team roster doesn't include anyone recommended for the two NPC slots. I usually use Lucia and Jodie in the long term (Kwon takes Jodie's slot until she's on her feet again). That being the case, I generally assume I'll let Lucia do the Barter, Small Arms, and Survival (and to some extent Weapon Modding, just for the Powder Packer perk), and Jodie does First Aid, Sniper, and Mechanic (and to some extent Animal Whisperer, though I dislike pets, because they get under foot and cannot be controlled in combat).

I recommend giving everyone on the team at least 1 level in First Aid, just so that everyone can heal everyone, including themselves. It's also good to have one person who ranks it up to 10, eventually.

I usually make a "seventh man" who takes ranks in Armor Modding, Weapon Modding, and Toaster Repair who mostly stays at the HQ and does crafting. Occasionally I'll take him to some cleared maps to open toasters.

If you're not doing Melee Weapons or Brawling as combat styles (and I personally avoid those myself, but I've heard they're not bad, just not my style) then you don't really need Strength or Speed and can safely start with both set to 1, and leave them that way indefinitely. There are a few good armor pieces that require higher Strength, and you might get some tangible benefit out of bumping speed up by 1 or 2 points, but those armors aren't anything totally required and the speed issue is also somewhat minor. You want your move rate to be some whole number of squares per action point. If bumping it up one gets you there, fine, but remember there are leg armor mods for that too.

Assuming you dump Strength and Speed, you can max almost everything else, so you need to pick one more dump stat, which is either going to be Luck, Charisma, or Intelligence, because EVERYONE needs Coordination and Awareness. Keeping high Intelligence effects your critical hits and skill points, which is why I keep it, and dump Luck. Charisma and Intelligence both benefit you in ways that are reliable and can be planned for, the benefits you get from high Luck are good, but happen at random, which makes them impossible to plan ahead for when in combat. Like, it's GOOD when you get a Lucky crit or whatever, but you can't ever plan on getting one in any one specific attack when you need it, so they're often overkill.

Oh, also the OP didn't mention and recommended Backgrounds or Quirks for any of the customs. I usually take Prospector on one of them just for the free money in the early game.

1. It doesn't? I don't recommend anyone specific but you can retrain any NPC to be anything you want. The only thing that makes a difference on which NPC you take is not the skills they start with but their personalities as they will leave you or attack you if you plan on doing certain things or taking certain routes.

2. I try to give everyone a little strength as that is what determines HP gain in this game, and you do need at least some HP on Ranger diff or you will get one-shotted early on.

3. Reason for speed is on Medic and Hacker. It's nice for hacker to be able to run passed all enemies, to turrets and hack them first turn. And medic is obvious why they need speed, ofc.

[Radiac]

1. Fair point, but I prefer to just use those two NPCs I mentioned and work with them as they are. But that's just me. Also, respeccing costs Colorado bucks, so there's that.

2. You can put anything from a 1 to a 5 in Strength and you'll still get guys killed in one round before you can heal them, and armor worn is usually not a factor that saves anyone from that. I've done this game at every difficulty level (albeit before the DLCs came out) and dumped Strength on all but one guy every time. Combat is all about positioning, tactics, and using the weapons that suit those tactics best, in my opinion.

3. I have personally never found hacking robots to be terribly worthwhile as compared to just shooting at them. I always set up such that I try to make the enemy have to come to me, I almost never run anyone into them, if it can be avoided. Not for hacking robots, not for disabling generators. The generator is usually powering a turret, which I just shoot to destroy. Then I disable the generator after combat for XP. Medic has a perk that gives you added speed when a team member get's dropped, which makes a huge difference. And as I alluded to above, if you just want foot speed, there are leg armors and leg armor mods that give you that in bigger numbers than you'll get from adding a point to Speed. You can also take a Background, Sex Machine, which gives +0.2 movement. You are required to put at least a 1 in Speed, and doing so gives you a movement rate of 1.3 squares per Action Point, IIRC. If you have Spectrum Assault leg armor (+0.3 move rate) and a Personnel Drive mod (+0.4 move rate) for it, you get +0.7 to your move rate, for a total of exactly 2.0 movement. You want movement to be a whole number if you can do it, because of the way the game reckons action point costs to move. If you have a move rate of 1.9, and you want to move exactly 2 squares, it will cost you 2 AP, but you can also move three squares for 2 AP at that rate. If you have a movement rate of 2.0, it will only cost you 1 AP to move two squares and 2 AP gets you 4 squares, etc.. If your movement rate is 1.5, you can move 3 squares for every 2 AP spent, which is not terrible, but what all this boils down to is this: having a movement rate of 1.9 is really no better than a 1.5 in many cases, and as such the benefits of getting +0.1 from adding a point in Speed are really not noticeable, unless that 0.1 get's you from 1.9 to 2.0 or from 2.4 to 2.5, or something like that, after factoring in gear etc. I've never felt like I needed a move rate of more than 2.0 in all honesty, but my fighting style is based on the assumption that I'll generally not be any faster than that. I use two Snipers, a Big Gunner with an HMG modded for range, two Automatics guys with range-enhanced SMGs (38mm scope mod) and Lucia as the lone Shotgun/Pistoleer who rarely shoots, and virtually never moves closer to get a shot off, she just moves around to heal people and stay out of danger herself. If you want to get to a 2.0 wearing Commando Legs (which give only +0.2) , you might need a 2 or 3 in Speed by the time you get the Commando Legs armor piece out of armor crates, that's about as high as I'd go, and I'd always start with a 1 in Speed and go up from there as needed later, if at all.

[bunny de fluff]

I would recommend taking 3rangers and 3 companions instead of 4 rangers and 2 companions. You see more banter like that.

[Heau]

mechanics should go on a high mobility unit for the same rationale as you applied to nerd stuff. Run in and disable generators on T1. It's one of the reasons I personally value 1-2 melee unit so highly. I value mechanics far above nerd stuff for that matter. I have my brawler, melee, or dedicated medic (no weapon prof) run in and disable 2+ generators on T1 on many encounters.

Unlike Radiac, I also value armor modding not on a mule. The +10 armor perk is pretty decent if you play melee with max strength to soak damage, or even just giving strength to some mid range units. It will help them live enemy melee running into them if their armor is on pace with gear progression. I've even forced armor modding 10 before book on a 6 melee playthrough.

[Haglitm]

My recommendations to the team for something like this.

1) Leader. As weird at this sounds, I recommend giving them Automatic Weapons, First Aid, Leadership and Lockpicks. Because whoever is your leader should have super high Charisma, and since you pick locks so much, you may as well have your leader be a couple of levels ahead of everyone else.

And honestly? Since you look like you're going with a healing style of leader, I would actually just pump int so you start the game with 25% chances of critical heal, and then pump the rest of it into Charisma at the start so you can level faster. I'd rather have my leader start with something like :
1 Automatic Weapons, 5 leadership, 4 lockpick, 2 First Aid
If I'm going with a healing build because this means that my turn one is probably going to be a brain dead "start turn by using Rally, and then Demoralize anyone that I cannot kill on the first turn."

Having said all of THIS, I will say that someone once suggested trying the "killer" leader instead of a defensive one, and instead give them shotguns over Automatic Weapons, and I have to say, I agree with it. Leaders that have Small Arms instead of Automatic Weapons I find a bit more effective. Leaders with small arms can rally someone and for the cheap price of 2 Coordination, have enough to fire a shot at an enemy (or enemies with a shotgun). Automatic Weapons cannot do this because ARs are 4 AP, ditto for SMGs. Leaders with Pistols can build their gauge faster than anyone else with the 28% from Charisma and 5% from attacking. If you're willing to go with the Punk Lovers start. you can get a character with 37% strike rate. Which means that they can get 3 shots and get a full gauge. Which is pretty dang nice tbh.

2) Engineer: I honestly think that whoever is your Explosives expert, should also level Sneaky ♥♥♥♥. Having rockets do 200% damage is without a doubt, the best use of Sneaky ♥♥♥♥ and rockets. Max int, and the rest of their stats really don't matter aside from maybe Coordination. Especially if you're going with Big Guns as their extra weapon, as a Sneak Attack rocket is probably all you need to handle about 70% of the battles in the game. It's also worth noting that in the early game, if you learn Mortar Blast, you can use Frozen Ferrets with Mortar Blast, and it actually will freeze literally anyone that's in the blast. Lowering everyone's AP by 4, which makes them basically not run anywhere useful, and they will probably die to the blast too. It's also a great way to use "rockets" in the early game without having to spend as much money on rockets before you get a good amount of money coming in. I should also add that I'd rather use Small Arms here too. Primarily because "Draw!" With rockets is insanely stupid.

3) Hacker: I make hackers Automatic Weapon users. I can agree with Radiac that generally you are better off shooting robots... However, that's where Automatic Weapon users come in. Instead, you use them to do this, as you can have your AR user use the Stormer Perk. They can fire a weapon, and then hack the target so they didn't actually lose any real AP for moving to get rid of the hacked robot. It should also be noted that if a robot is hacked as the last enemy, it automatically blows up. So if you can finish a fight fast enough with a hacked robot, you can just win without having to waste your time killing that robot. For 2 AP, you can kill someone. Seems really good in my eyes.

4) Sniper. To be honest, I'm playing SJ right now, and I decided to make a team without a sniper, and I have to say, while I think Snipers are pretty good, I think that in terms of team synergy, they are kinda problematic overall. The only good thing that they pair up with is Animal Whisperer, Weird Science (ish), and Sneaky ♥♥♥♥ (I guess they could lockpick). While I think that Sneak ♥♥♥♥ for the 300% bonus is really, really nice, that's just one enemy. I'd much rather use Explosives for Sneak Attack, because not only are you hitting more than 1 person with your sneak attack, but later on they are guaranteed critical hits. Personally, I'd save this spot for a "Brawler" potentially as well, as high charisma Brawlers are incredible for stunning enemies each turn. Picture a start of a fight where you sneak attack rocket and kill 3 - 4 enemies, and then 1 or 2 you stun, and then the last are immediately killed via the rest of your team. Turn 2 is just clean up at that point. Unfortunately, Snipers shoot so slowly that they can't build up gauge with strike like Brawlers. Note, I'm not calling snipers bad, I think they're kinda good, it's just they are in a weird spot, because you keep them so far away from fights that they generally can't use their skills too well. I think WS is best for them anyways, because weather you decide to use a Brawler or a Sniper, both use it remarkably well.

I agree with everything else like Pack Mules to save up on things that aren't needed immediately like Barter, and weapon / armor modding. Although, I will say I usually let companions handle Kiss Ass and Hard Ass instead of my rangers. That way, I can basically switch out companions as I feel like, but still have none of my abilities screwed with overall.

[bunny de fluff]

There is a weird science build I'm using now which totally kick ass. It builds around an armor set called chemtek armor set. That set has highest heal rate and poison resistance. What you do is make it a laser SMG guy, and mod that armor set with high element resistance, and slap healing items on them, they will hit so hard and go anywhere they want and will not die in ranger difficulty. Same thing cannot be said for any other build.

[Haglitm]

Yeah, Weird Science is a very bizarre skill that I think everyone can get use of.

Especially snipers don't mind it, as you can do something like build a coordination sniper, give them a Quick Mag on 1 weapon, and then the AP boosting trinket and then have them use Conal elemental weapons for their Sneaky ♥♥♥♥ attacks (so yeah, it's not completely true what I said earlier about Sneaky ♥♥♥♥ with Snipers only attacking 1, if you're willing to position yourself, you can OHKO 2 or 3 people like rockets at a much cheaper cost and not needing to bother with Rallies or needing assistance) and then Ambush spam with the rest of their AP. Heck, now that I think about it, the cone Sniper rifles could actually solve the problem of Sneak Attack Sniper vs. Explosives. It's definitely cheaper to use a Sniper Rifle to hit 2-3 enemies, and a Sniper with 13 AP (utility item) and a Quick Mag could actually snipe people and be completely and utterly self-sufficient from a distance and still Chain Ambush spam to mop up everyone else that's left around to move on player phase, thus eliminating the heaven-or-hell feel of Snipers when they sometimes don't kill the enemy(ies) they shoot.

You know, I think I might try that, a Sneaky ♥♥♥♥, Cone attacking Sniper with Weird Science.

[dejavu89]

this one (helped me) worked for me on supreme jerk :
Background - B Quirk - Q

Ghost (SMG/Leader) B- Goat Killer Q-Serial killer

C: 6 Leveling Up : 3-6: +4 COOR
L: 1 7-14: +8 INT
A: 1 15-23: +9 AW
S: 4 24+ : CHA
S: 1
I: 2
C: 6

Automatic Weapons (Ripper w/plasma convertion-32mm scope,Titanium barrel)
Weird Sience
Leadership

Raven (Sniper) B- Goat Killer Q - Deathwish

C: 10 3-6 : +4 INT
L: 1 7-15 : +9 AW
A: 1 16-24: +9 LUCK
S: 1
S: 1
I: 6
C: 1

Sniper Rifels (SR200 Argent Primary - Secondary - Neutron Projector)
[SR2000 - Titanium barrel,Razorlinkage,6 AP to attack magazine]
Sneaky Sh*t
Animal Whisper

Shadow (Assault) B - Goat Killer Q - Serial Killer

C: 10 3-7 : +5 INT
L: 1 8-16: +9 AW
A: 1 17-25: +9 CHA
S: 2
S: 1
I: 5
C: 1

Automatic Weapons (Ripper w/cold convertion-32mm scope,Titanium barrel)
Lockpicking
Mechanics

Doc (Heavy/RPG) B - Explodomaniac Q - Pyromaniac

C: 10 3-10: +8 INT
L: 1 11-12: + 2 STRENGHT
A: 1 13-21: +9 AW
S: 4 22-25: +4 STRENGHT
S: 2
I: 2
C: 1

Big guns (minigun/niddhog)
Explosives
Toasterrepair

Retrain Kwon as Assault build with Automatic Weapons,(PDW)Kiss A** and Hard A**

Retrain Lucia :

C: 10 3-7 : +7 Int
L: 1 10-18: + 9 AW
A: 1 19- : + LUCK
S: 4
S: 1
I: 3
C: 1

Small Arms (Guardian)
Survival
Barter at level 2
and maybe Nerd Stuff

start with smg and assault,keep the assault lockpicinkg high,dont upgrade anything else.
you do everything in colorado spring and surrounding area your lockpick member will be
at level 10 with skill book,at character level 6.
go to patriarch palace,stand front of him and take stairs on the left,look for a note
on the wall says "jason". go back to patriarch now take other set of stairs and
interact with computer and submit shift change,with "jacob jason".you will see where guard leaves from.
now go in there to the far right room,there is a level 10 safe, [quick save].
loot the safe till it gives you the Ripper. if not Ripper quickload,and again (or what ever weapon you want).
upgrade smg guy automaticw. skill up to 7 so he can use it. that will be a big help
through the Bizzare. after bizzare head back to HQ,upgrade your Kodiak to Radiation Level 2.
go on the world map go towards aspen but keep right,just above colorado springs there is a shed.
quick save. open it with lockpick 8 or survival 6 ,give the people proper burial,and loot till you
get SR2000 Sniper. (or quick load whatever you want). now go to massacre site. aim towards denver but go right.
ghost town will pop up,then abandoned mill,at abandoned mill just go straight down,no need level3
radiation. at massacre site in the cave dig up pdw and anoter weapon,if you quick save/quick load.
there is another hole next to cave again qucik save/ quick load.
now you should have 5/6 end game wapon very early,and you are unstoppable.
was not worring about nerd stuff hacking robots,as you can bring down everyone in the first turn.
mainly just for skill check.
buy chemtek armor in denver for smg guy for 2 action point,serial killer gives you 3,plus
automatic weapon level 10 perk another 3.
arrest victory so patriarch gives you the cluster bomb kodiak upgrade,which can also bring down a lot of enemies when he is in play.

[Clive Hawkins]

Some skills just work too beautifully together that they can't be ignored:

Brawling, Nerd Stuff, Animal Whisperer
Your Brawler is going to have the most movement and tankiness. Being able to run up and Hack any robot / Tame any enemy critter on the first turn is really nice. Combined with lot's of Charisma to Strike (AoE stun) 2-3 times per turn. He is the ultimate crowd controller. Cordite is amazing when respec'd into this role. Animal Whisper doesn't need to go past level 5 for a really long time, which get's Brawling to 10 for it's OP perk nice and quick.

Big Guns, Weird Science, Toaster Repair
Everyone knows this combo. Raises your Flamethrower damage to maximum. Slap a fire underbarrel onto an LMG later for more precision single target kills as a secondary weapon. Vic is a lot of fun with a Flamethrower.

Explosives, Sneaky ♥♥♥♥, Automatic Weapons
Open each battle with a Sneak Attack rocket which usually 1 shots 3-5 enemies. A lot of people like taking Small Guns for the level 7 perk for AP efficient reloading. I find Small Guns too weak when mopping up the enemy and using more than 1 rocket per battle is usually overkill anyways. I prefer an SMG with an explosive underbarrel to mow down remaining stragglers. This character also has high perception early on and ends up with like 30+ Perception. Usually my main character.

Mechanics, First Aid, Leadership
Such a great support character who always has something to do. Rally and Demoralize on Turn 1. Throw out as many mechanical robots on the field as possible. Heal anyone that gets hurt whether they be man or robit. So strong and never has to fire a single bullet. I usually respec Jodie into this role as having 4-5 Quick Slots on this character is amazing (Med Kit, Healing Dart, Repair Kit, Attack Robit, Defense Robit.)

Sniper Rifles, Combat Shooting, Hard Ass
The Death Wish sniper you know and love. Combat shooting is from a quest that unlocks a skill tree for +50% Crit Chance. Your Crit Chance will get close to 90% which will 1 shot almost everything. Kiss Ass is just for covering remaining skills. My second main character though Fishlips has very nice critical damage bonuses. Can take Survival early on and respec it to Combat Shooting once it unlocks.

Small Arms or Melee Weapons, Lockpicking, Kiss Ass
Lucia with Small Arms and her +5% strike background. Use Handguns until Strike meter is full, then a Shotgun to mow enemies and their cover down. Or a drunk Scotchmo (he gets a 50%ish boost to melee damage when drunk) donned in end game armor sets. I prefer Scotchmo on higher difficulties and evil play throughs of course.

Barter, Weapon Modding, Armor Modding
Leave this guy in base. Sell your wares to Ranger HQ in case there's an item you ever want to repurchase. Sometimes I just use a Save Game Editor to put these three skills on my main character so I don't have to keep switching a 7th character in and out.

Current evil play through party comp:
Brawling: Cordite
Melee: Scotchmo
Flame: Vic
Explosives: MC1
Support: MC2
Sniper: Fishlips

[Haglitm]

Small Arms + Explosives isn't just because of the Draw Perk. Opportunist is also amazing in the early game since a lot of Pistols only have 3 AP costs. This means that you can do something like

2 Pump Chump, and have enough AP to fire a rocket, and with a bit of pumping for Coordination, have enough to fire pistols after you fire your initial sneak attack Rocket all the while pumping charisma to have better strike gauge building. And shotguns are just amazing anyways, so you'll never be having damage problems if you have a shotgun and a rocket. Both are equally viable.