My personal all around recommended build for solo/small squads

My personal build for trying to make an all around character on Scum. Explanations for why to take and not take certain skills and the benefits of doing so. This build has been made for my experience playing alone or as a duo. Playing in large groups might mean this build isn't as useful in all aspects, but check it out!

Please note that this is semi out dated with the new engineering and demolition skills. However the information for taking/not taking skills is still somewhat relevant

Intro

This guide is for what I personally do when making a new all around character on Scum. It is impossible to start the game and be good at everything so through my time playing I like to take these stats for many reasons and aim to be good at as much as possible in the end. At a glance some choices might seem unusual but below I will explain them all and how I feel each benefit.

These are the stats that I like to play with. The age doesn't necessarily matter, but you want to take the exact amount of stats that I have here. Yes, I'm afraid if you want to make the most, your going to have to settle for a small chest or sausage, this build is about getting the most out of your skills afterall.

The leftover 0.5 points can go into anything really, I usually use these so im not completely "flat"

I would like to note that it is very important that you have 3+ in all starting stats. This is so you can technically max everything, without 3 points your skills in that area cannot progress higher than certain points

Strength

So now when we hit next we can use up our points on our skills. First lets start with Strength.
Boxing This isnt the most useful skill of them all, but there is good reason to not use these points elsewhere. This is flexible and if you really wanted you could take these points in Melee weapons, but personally when you are equipped with nothing, a decent boxing skill makes tackling early puppets easy.

Rifles This one should be obvious. Rifles are used a lot when you have some decent gear and personally this isn't one you want to wait to level. Starting off on medium will be helpful and as you play you can level it up to the higher stages instead of just catching up.

Melee weapons As stated in Boxing this can be swapped. I do find that melee weapons can be too slow for puppets and would much rather stun one with constant punches than having to time my swings.

Handguns Now we are into the two point farming skills. Pistols are probably the easier guns to find but unless you have to you would probably rather a rifle when shooting players than a pistol. I don't find them to be that great at pvp at all really. The real use for them is taking out puppets and farming FP. While it does make noise, a simple one shot headshot is enough to kill one and having 0 skill in it means plenty of fame as you play. Set yourself up with a Deagle and sight for easy headshots and you can get points pretty fast while dealing with puppets fast too.

Archery Same logic applies here too. I love archery but still always set this to 0. While you will start off restricted as to what bows you can use it doesn't take long to level. At any skill even just the highest man made bow will one shot head shot a puppet with a wooden arrow. Find yourself a compound bow and adjust the draw weight with a toolbox and youll have yourself a sight to make this even easier. Making the arrows is easy and it is quiet while again, providing you with plenty of FP.

The main idea here is that while you search around for things to get yourself set up you can farm points easy with the things you are most likely going to find early. Even finding a rifle early, if you play alone or in small groups, you will probably want to save it until you get more gear anyways.

Constitution

Running As player who often plays alone or in groups of 2/3 I don't have a huge mass of cars sat in an over populated man made base to choose from. Running is probably the most used skills and I always love to have this at max. If you have never done it before I would hope like me, that if you try it, you will realise the difference it makes.

Endurance This skill is important, but this does level as you play probably more notably than running will. I put all my remaining points here, but if you play in big groups more likely to drive around a lot looking for fights, perhaps endurance will be of more value to you than running

Neither of these skills are good for farming FP and are just both good skills. Again, having 3+ starting points in this does mean should you play a lot, or the game releases and wipes don't happen, that you could eventually reach max running speed. A dream I would love to reach but probably never will.

Dexterity

This section is probably the most flexible out of the lot, hence why I put the most points here. All these skills are very useful and it is important to read them all instead of blindly following the image.

Thievery Right now I only have this at basic. You should always have this at least at basic because you never know if it could ever come in handy. However many players will find they want this with as many points as possible. This skill can take a very long while to level, and requires FP and materials to level as well. I only put it in basic personally for now because I'm pretty bad at lock picking to want to spend more points at it

Driving If you are not a big lock picking fan then feel free to max driving like I have. This means right of the bat being able to drive at a good speed and I think you also will not stall (not 100%). However please note that this skill I find can be easily leveled with some time. I have previously maxed thievery and put basic driving, while you will stall, if you drive around some nice easy roads for a while you can get yourself to a level where stalling is rare while also being left with a nice hefty help to your lockpicking. Only max this if you are certain you wont be trying much lockpicking

Stealth A very useful skill though some people may not notice it. You might be tempted to drop this skill for the others but I would argue this to be the hardest to level while making a huge impact. This will make you harder to be spotted and unless you play super peaceful hiding in a cave you are bound to run into puppets, players and mechs. I do not know the full ins and outs of what this skill does at every level, but to my knowledge I value it so I put points into it, as I can just level the others easier.

By now you probably realise that there is still work you need to put in to try to be good all around, and that was always going to be the case with how this game is made. Bare that in mind as we come to Intelligence.

Intelligence

The final section, at a glance some of you may question these choices but there is good reason for it all.

Awareness I really want to stress the importance of this skill. Scum has what I believe to be a very good way of handling what your player can see. It takes many things into account and awareness effects this. The higher this is the more likely you are to spot a player hiding in grass/bushes...etc and like rifles earlier, this is not a skill you want to hang around with to level. If you play on a normal server, PVP is bound to happen, even if you don't like to fight being able to see clearer is still going to be helpful.

Sniping So I am a big fan of sniping. I find that one well placed bullet is all it takes to steal a car, steal loot like guns, win a fight...etc. I've already mentioned I play alone or in small groups so I prefer to sit back and take my moments carefully. While I couldn't tell you everything this skill does, unless you don't plan on sniping, put points here. If you don't want to, camouflage would be where to spend your points instead. (though I do really recommend sniping)

Camouflage This skill is the opposite to awareness and is one factor into making your player less visible to others. This skill does level as you play but it can be slow. However I do value the other skills and so only have enough points left to put this to basic.

Survival Some of you will understand this choice, others may not. The reason I put this at 0 as you will earn so many fame points from doing pretty much anything if you start with 0 survival skill. Just making your first bag from your clothes will net you about 25. Chop a few trees into logs, into planks, into clubs, and you can get quite a few points from this. This skill will level fast if you take the time to get the most out of it. You will be restricted early on with some things, but you came here to try to be good at everything so trust me when I say your skill points are better spent elsewhere and take the time to level this manually. Look at it this way, once you've up'ed this skill you will be able to make everything just like other players who started with points in survival can. One big difference is that you will have other skills higher than them that they won't be able to level as fast.

Final comments

So the general idea here is that your most useful skills start of at a good level, while the fastest to level skills start lower as you can easily catch up and make a lot of FP in the progress. It will take time to be good at most things but that should be expected in this game.

My advice if you choose to do this is early on, make a bow (or find a compound bow) and take the time use the materials you find to make things. Don't rush nor expect to be geared up anytime soon, try to get yourself set up with a base and useful items before you start doing anything like running to the airbase back and forth all day. Rack up some fame points as you make things for yourself and your base, levelling up your survival as you do. Lock down some doors, garages, whatever you need. As you can't make bullets of the get go there's no need to rush to find every gun you can, level up that survival skill!

Unless your looking for a fight, keep a pistol/bow on you at all times. Take out any puppets you see to not only make searching and gathering easier but net you some good fame points.

NOTE

This is all my opinion, by no means do I think this is the best thing to do, but this is what I do. If only one or two people find this useful then it servers its purpose. This is the first guide I have made for anything, as I find myself explaining this to friends and others and how it has its benefits I thought why not see if It can help others. And to anyone who took the time to read this, thank you!

[Thumpkins]

Rukadore, that is correct. You need at least 3 points in the requisite stat (in this case, strength for archery) to get to the advanced skill. Medium is 2 points, and Basic is 1 point. Happily, you can increase this stat over time.

[Sirnight]

I believe you need 3 strength to improve your skill level. Its been a while though since ive played, alot has changed

[Rukadore]

My archery is at 100% of medium level. My strength is 2.5. Is strength what is keeping me from going to advanced archery?

[ThisOLman]

why Air Drops Locked, and for others there not?

[MojoJiggy]

great stuff!

[Sirnight]

I will update this when I get back into scum, or probably just make a new one and delete this

[Taaxi]

this all changes with the introduction of the Demolition and engineering

[ccvs Bomber]

Good

[qll]

good

[Sirnight]

I play on official servers and I cope just fine. The fame points are much more useful and you can just level the skill easy. Yeah you can't make bullets day 1 but if your playing solo or with maybe one person you probably won't need to make bullets as you wont have many guns.