A one-shot character build M2 2017 Overhaul

For those not familiar, this guide is a 'sequel' of sorts to my popular new vegas guide which you can find here http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=161304817 that said, let's get down to business shall we? Well, it took me a bit but I do believe that I've finally come up with a proper build that can last on survival right out the gate and while it put me to the test for a bit, after a few moments of tinkering I came out on top and I now no longer have any trouble whatsoever. First and foremost, I want to offer a warning, as was the case with my previous build, this is going to be a rather slow build-up, until you get the proper perks, weapons and strategies down you're likely to face a bit or a lot of trouble depending on your playstyle. This is made especially obvious by how much different fallout 4s combat system is compared to its predecessors (IE damage and other resistances have been completely overworked as far as I can tell). So there's really not much to be done at the start, you'll have poor equipment, poor armor and be facing foes that are twice as powerful as you are (if you play on survival difficulty from the start), ultimately it's going to solely come down to how you play as well as your luck for a while. But, as you level up and gain access to better equipment you can, with the proper perks, drop even a legendary death claw with a single use of VATS regardless of its healing ability.

Keep in mind that this build is based on a lot of sneaking, especially at the start. If you don't mind the slow and quiet playstyle, at least for a while, then this guide might help you out a bit. It is also subject to revision. The overall purpose of this build is to gain massive critical damage which can be done by maxing out the Better Criticals perk which will more then double your Critical damage, Critical Banker which allows you to store up to three consecutive critical strikes and collecting the small guns bobble head and all the Guns An Bullets Magazines which will add an additional 75% increase to overall ballistic critical damage. In conclusion that's a 225% increase to critical damage by the time your finished, now max out the Rifleman perk which will allow a unique penetrating shotgun to ignore roughly 60 to 70% of an enemies armor and dish out 80% More Overall damage on top of everything els and suddenly taking down that Legendary Death claw in a single VATS doesn't seem so far fetched does it?

S.P.E.C.I.A.L points

Unlike the previous fallout games, special points are a lot different here, no longer is "intelligence" the most important perk and neither is charisma completely useless, at least not if you want to actually set up a decent settlement at some point. I'd say most of them are fairly even now with the exception of perhaps luck and strength depending on your weapon preferences. Each special will start at one and you'll be given an additional twenty-one points to distribute among them. Thankfully however, you can put as many of your level up points into your specials as you want, in addition to this there are bobble heads for each one to find so make sure to avoid getting any of them to ten via this method. Here is what you'll want them to look like at the start along with the most important perks invovled with each.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L	Starting	Associated			Perks
Strength	6	Armorer	Rooted		Blacksmithing	Strong Back
Perception	3	Rifleman	Locksmith		Refractor
Endurance	4	Toughness	Life Giver
Charisma	3	Cap Collector	Local Leader
Intelligence	3	Medic	Gun Nut	Hacker	Science!	Nuclear Physicist
Agility	5				Ninja
Luck	4	Bloody Mess			Better Criticals	Critical Banker

Strength

Strength is vital to staving off the weight of ammo and weapons as companions will only be able to get you so far now that, in survival, their weight capacity has been reduced about as much as your own. The only exception to this rule would be a full sentry bot ADA whom is able to carry around 400+ pounds with the proper upgrades. The real issue with companions however, as I will bring up again in the perk section, is that they nullify the bonuses granted by Lone wanderer, which will make Rooted, the perk we're most after here in conjuction with strong back, far less effective.

Perception

This is important when it comes to V.A.T.S accuracy, but since scoring critical hits is no longer based on chance, VATS no longer has the same amount of importance that it once did, at least not in early game.

Endurance

This is a tough one, on survival difficulty the more hit points you have the better, but at the same time, at the beginning of the game when you are poorly equipped, the more powerful enemies are going to chew through you like rubber if you get in their way no matter how many hit points you might have. The only remedy to this would be if you happen to be using a well augmented suit of power armor. To make matters worse, most of the perks avaliable, at higher levels anyway, are pretty much useless. Make no mistake though, you'll be very squishy with a low endurance until you get the proper perks, but ask yourself this, would you rather take two more shots to die, or six more shots to down the gunner that's giving you so much trouble to begin with? The best Defense is a good offense, and bad situations can be fixed with drugs or power armor if not both.

Furthermore, later in the game, the low endurance will be off-set by equipment or simple level boost of hit points, rendering any amount of serious investment in this ultimately meaningless, those perks are better put elsewhere.

Charisma

Charisma serves a purpose outside of conversations, it also allows you to make supply lines for your settlements by getting the local leader perk, which greatly helps the growth of all your settlements and makes accessing your supplies easier. Investing in settlements "or" stores early in the game is not recommended, since anything you need, in terms of loot, can be obtained by enemies especially the far more abundant legendary ones you'll find on survival difficulty. The loot will over time start to weigh down on you, and storing them in sanctuary hills or other settlement workshops until you build a more fortified base is recommended, later on of course you will want to get the perk at your own pace.

Special note- Until your charisma is sufficently high enough persuasion attempts are always a gamble, fortunately there are plenty of ways to mitgate this just like in all previous fallout games. Mainly with attire that offers charisma bonuses, Agathy's dress or Reginald's suit, which both offer a charisma boost of 3, come to mind. There are also plenty of regular cloths and hats laying around that give a bonus of +2 and +1 respectively, combine this with mirrored shades, mentats and some boozes and you should find yourself with a reasonably high enough level of charisma to prevent any problems with speech challenges unless you get unlucky.

Thankfully, most speech challenges are inconsequential regardless and by the time you reach the ones that aren't, you'll have started putting points into charisma.

Intelligence

While not as important as it once was, Intelligence is still top-tier and will give you access to arguably the most important perks avaliable in addition to giving you more experience points for each action you take that awards them.

Agility

Due to the Ninja perk, increase in VATS and sneaking ability, this can still become one of the more important specials to level up at some point, but since most of your sneaking will consist of long-range assaults, you don't really need the extra boost, especially if you're vigiliant in finding the magazines which heighten your sneaking ability. You can also raise the amount of VATS points you have through food and chems, so you don't really need to worry about this either.

If sneaking inside, use mines on enemies you can't get around without alerting and hide behind a preferably more melee oriented companion like Strong if you have to while using a properly buffed combat shotgun. On the other hand, with Rooted and Lone wanderer you may not have to do much hiding at all either way.

Luck

Since we want to have access to Better Criticals and critical storage as early as possible, having luck at 4 will bring us relatively close to that goal without having to dump to many points into it in a drawn out grind. Especially when accounting for the bobblehead.

Perks

Here is where I'll be going into the most essential perks that you'll want to level up as soon as possible. Since there is no longer any level restriction in place unless you count 65,535, when you unlock them will ultimately be decided by you, if uncertain, I suggest you follow the order presented (which is designed for pure combat efficiency), but don't be afraid to branch off in accordance to your own playstyle or certain issues you're having. For example, if you're having issues with health, then choose either Toughness or Life Giver first. If you're having no trouble at all, then feel free to skip one of them to plop an extra point into locksmith, Science! or one of your Specials instead. Just make sure to adjust yourself to the guide as such. Anyway let's get started shall we.

!!!!!!!2017 Update- Perks are currently being changed around to accomodate a more defensive and damage resistant build, most of what you'll need has now been added, but more changes may come in the future.

Special note, Please see the quick overview section of the guide for a faster and easier to follow table without any personal input on my part.--- No longer up to date

X2= Perk level at that point ER go riflemanX2= Rifleman should be brought to level two when you put the perk in.

level 1

Rifleman

The very first and arguably most essential perk of the lot, you'll want to snag rifleman every time it unlocks until it's maxed. Initially, it's not likely you'll have a rifle by the time you level for the first time but it won't take long. As stated above, my build revolves around sneaking and tanking, which means using scoped non-automatic rifles and combat or double barrel shotguns (Yes this perk applies to them as well) for enemies that happen to get to close.

level 2

Lone wanderer

- Tihs perk combined with drugs, rooted and general armor can give you more resistance then even power armor and is vital given that survival no longer allows for saving outside of beds. Unfortunately to gain the benefits of this perk, be aware that you can no longer travel with companions. With that in mind, if you still wish to travel with npcs, feel free to do so, but remember what you are giving up in the process. In this case, I would recommend that during those moments where you are heading into a particularly nasty fight, dump them somewhere close by for a time.

level 3 One point into

Strength

It's important that we start on the path to getting Rooted as we'll want as much damage resistance as possible.

level 4

Gun Nut

- This perk will be one of the most important throughout your entire play through, but especially so in the beginning. The first thing you want to do is start adding scopes to your rifles as they become useless without them, it's going to be absolutely essential that you can both get the drop on your enemies from a distance and nail consecutive headshots on anything and everything you happen to be fighting from behind cover. The moment you unlock this I suggest you take immediate advantage. Short scopes work just fine, and the longer ones can actually be a hinderance if enemies get to close.

Level 5

Locksmith

Since the perception bobblehead is impossible to miss (found right after you meet Preston), you should be able to snag this. Locks are more abundant then computers allowing for more loot an additional retreat routes in otherwise tight buildings, I suggest you snag it here.

Level 6 one point into

Strength

Level 7 One point into

Strength

Level 8

Rooted

The next step to conquering the wasteland.

Level 9 One point into

intelligence

Level 10

RiflemanX2

Level 11

Luck

Level 12 One point into

Idiot Savant

Level 13

Intelligence

Level 14

Strong Back/LocksmithX2

Level 15-

Luck

Level 16

Armorer

Once you acquire this, you should immediately begin modifying your armor for max energy and damage resistance, or you can opt for explosive/fire resistance but honestly grenades and molotovs can be avoided. Still, it's up to you. Just don't worry about radiation, In less you're swimming way more then you should there's no good reason that you shouldn't have enough Radaway to get by in less you're just not exploring enough. As for the glowing Sea well.. use power armor.

Level 17

Hacker/Intelligence

Both of these perks are vital to gaining access to power armor, hacker because a few sets of power armor are blocked off behind unpickable locks. And intelligence in order to get to Nuclear Physicist an Science which will allow you to wear power armor longer and of course improve it respectively.

Level 18-19 one point to

Lone WanderX2

Level 20-

Charisma

Level 21- [hq]Charisma[/h1]

Level 22-

LocksmithX3

Go and get the Cryolator immediately! See weapons chapter for more information. If you already have LocksmithX3

Level 23-

RiflemanX3

Level 24-28 One point into

RootedX2

Intelligence

Charisma

Local Leader

We'll want to start working on our intelligence for Nuclear physicist (which means power armor) and Local leader simply so we can start building.

Level 29

Intelligence

Level 30

Intelligence

Level 31-32 One Point into

Intelligence

(level seventeen dependent) and then

Science!

or

Nuclear Physicist

(Depending on personal preference, both are equally as good. Nuclear physicist will let fusion cores last longer, but science is also important for power armor upgrades. The choice is yours)

Level 33- One Point into your choice of

Cap Collector/Local LeaderX2/Nuclear Physicist

Level 34-

Luck

Now that we're gaining reasonable defense, it's time for offense.

Level 35-

Better Criticals

The first step to conquering the wasteland in full

Level 36-

Critical Banker

Level 37-39

Strong Back(if needed)/Better CriticalsX2 Critical BankerX2

I am likely going to stop at level forty if not here. This build should really start coming together even as early as level 20 or lower, just be sure to max Better Criticals, Critical storage and Riflemen, those are your most important perks. But by now I doubt you need my guidance in the perk selection any longer, so let's move on to weapons.

Weapons & Armor

Unlike the prior fallout games, unique items operate on a different spectrum here, no longer can you trek to the same location to find that awesome Gobi scout sniper rifle, And what few quest related weapons there are either end up being very far into the game or not worthwhile compared to a well modified regular weapon. Personally I recommend that you use the following as soon as they become avaliable.

Weapons

Deadeye Combat Sniper rifle This is a augmented combat rifle with a suppressed long barrel, a short recon scope (Or your preference) an a improved magazine that will slow time every time you use the scope like short-term jet. It blows away the hunting rifle and perhaps even the .50 Caliber in DPS during close quarters engagement and once you apply the aforementioned mods, it is the only rifle you'll need. You may suffer from a bit less sneak damage vs the .50 Cal, but it's a worthwhile trade off. If you feel differently however, you can still use the .50 Cal or carry both, one for your initial sneak strike and the other for when things go south. But you'll definately be needing strong back for that... You'll be needing it regardless.


A unique wounding Laser musket with a spread-shot barrel. The "Wounding" trait causes 25 bleeding damage to all enemy types including robots, And thus far I have not encountered anything able to resist it. To make things even better, the spread shot will allow each laser hit to stack a accumlative 25 damage, which can add up to two or even three-hundred damage per shot, that's a good precentage of even a behemoth's health. If you're lucky enough to find one of these, all you'll need to do is shoot an enemy in the chest a few times, regardless of what it might be be it a radscorpion, a legendary deathclaw or behemoth, And the bleeding damage will take care of the rest. Run around and repeat as necessary. It doesn't need to be a spread-shot musket however. A fast weapon will do just fine as well.



Lucky, Penetrating or Kneecapper Plasma Rifle- The bread and butter of this build, a unique Plasma rifle that ignores armor, increases critical damage or can blow the legs off even an enraged Fog crawler in combination with all the above perks, well, it may as well be firing mini-nukes. Slap it on and start blasting away at anything in sight and it will die very quickly. (a regular well modded Plasma Rifle will suffice as well).



Gamma gun- If you're going to max out Nuclear Physicist, and you should, then having a radiation weapon will put the perk to full use, these guns are light weight but unfortunately require a very high Science! skill to mod. Still it's worth hauling one around just the same, and they can be useful against enemies with no rad resistance such as raiders and some animals among other things.

Armor

Heavy Combat Armor One of the the best non-power armors avaliable that can be found early that isn't unique is heavy or regular combat armor. You can get this from gunners down south, but be warned, you'll have a hell of a fight on your hands if you choose this route. I suggest you upgrade it to offer maximum damage and energy resistance as soon as you can. Another easier route to get this armor or one of its variants is via Absalom in diamond city, http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Combat_armor_(Fallout_4) look here for more information.

Marine Combat Armor

This armor is very heavy, extremely so to the point it is on par with lower tier power armor unless you opt to use ultra-light builds, and is only avaliable to those with the Far Harbor DLC. However, if you can make it work, then I highly recommend it. Not only is it relatively easy to acquire if you know where to look (unless you want the recon set, but even if you don't I still recommend purchasing at least the chest piece as it has the sentinel effect) but it provides incredible defense against all damages including radation. I personally recommend getting the recon set, but to do this you'll need to acquire a ton of caps with high charisma & cap collector as all of them must be purchased. Your best bet is to farm water, make more then a dozen or so industrial grade purifers at Longfellows cabin and hull all the water with ADA if you opted out of lone wanderer (though you can always carry it in stacks by dropping it and holding z.


Contributed by Meoweomewo;3 Evil Tendencies edit:" It is possible for combat armor to rival that of even fully upgraded X01 power armor by use of ballistic weave combined with 800dt and sentinel on all pieces of your armor providing a 95% damage neglect whilst standing still. To put that in perspective, this is how you kill a behemoth with melee. Add in a sentinel weapon which further contributes 15% to a total of 150% with the Lone Wander and Rooted perks.

Works also like full cavalier set, which gives 95% damage neglect, while sprinting
(not damage resistance, but total damage null) and with a melee weapon of 15% damage neglect while sprinting for total god mode while sprinting. For each part is 15% x 6 (head, arms, bod, legs) + additional 15% from the cavalier weapon.
When doing so enemies will run from you saying "he/she is XXXXX bullet proof!.. This is XXXXX crazy im outta here!"
This is great for a melee build if one wishes to run after death claws at any level.
(Will be reworded for better clarity in future)


Power Armor- Any power armor short of the ones touted by raiders is recommended, as long as you upgrade it to the highest model avaliable as soon as possible (level up your armorer perk to do this) it'll serve you just fine. But the best one avaliable is the X-01, try to get your hands on this as soon as you can and remember Nuclear Physicist will really help here.

Food, Chems and other recommended items.

Food and Chems

The most important food and chems avaliable are going to be any that increase your AP number in some way so you can keep pounding legendaries with vats, this especially important when you consider that using weapons like the Combat shotgun requires a good chunk of AP. Use them in combination with chems that increase damage such as psycho.

Deathclaw steak- Normally this meat would be difficult to attain, but on survival difficulty, if you go to the right areas, you'll find Deathclaws a lot more common (though not necessarily abundant) each one can drop around two to three pieces of meat which can be cooked at any campfire to create the steak that gives +1 to Agility. The only real downside is that it weighs a pound each.

Mutt chops/Mutant hound chops- While neither of these meat types are useful for AP both are a good alternative to Stimpaks which you'll likely be short on at the beginning, I highly suggest you get used to carrying these around as much as you can until you have an abundance of food and health items. Found on Dogs and Mutant hounds that travel with super mutants cook at any campfire.

Mirelurk Egg Omelet Thankfully these eggs aren't that rare and only require dirty water to make the recipe. If you can't find any eggs though, I suggest looking in any area that is close to water, otherwise The minutemen Castle and Spectacle Island are abundant with them. Just be warned that both of these areas might be guarded by.. giant sea monsters, but no biggie right? Raises health by forty-five and AP by fifty. By far one of the better recipes for this build.

Cooked Softshell meat- Will raise your Action points by fifteen. It's really not that great considering the meat can actually be rarer then the aforementioned eggs, but it's better then nothing and like all of these meats so far is a good alternative to stimpak use. Warning- Softshell meat is required for cat cages.

Any type of Ice Cold Gwinnet So far I've only found a few of these, but if you manage to get them in abundance, each will increase your AP by thirty-five as well as give you a few special stat boost, it does drain intelligence by one point however.

Ultra Jet- Slows time and increases your action points by one-hundred, this is by far one of the best boost but it comes at the price of being highly addictive. in order to make it you'll need Bloodleaf, which can be found floating atop water, Fertilizer which is found in bags like cement (look in farms and certain minutemen settlements for an easier time of it or just buy it at junk vendors) regular jet which is usually found on or in raider settlements and plastic, which is fairly abundant. If you plan to use this, be careful of who you travel with and be sure to have a detox item on you such as a radscorpion egg omelet. Note- you will need chemist.

Quick Overview In need of updates

This Portion of the guide is exactly as its title would suggest, a quick easy to use listing that details the end game for my build, it should make referencing a bit easier for those of you who might be more inclined to follow your own route to reach it rather then use my recommended level selections.

Warning this portion of the guide is no longer up to date.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L Stats

S.P.E.C.I.A.L	Starting	Ending
Strength	3	6
Perception	4	7
Endurance	4	4
Charisma	4	6
Intelligence	4	9
Agility	5	7
Luck	4	6

Perk Progress

Perks	1 Point	2 Points	3 Points	4 Points	5 Points	Level Required
		Cap Collector				20
		Local Leader				14
			Better Criticals			40
			Critical Banker			43
			Nuclear Physicist			26
			Toughness			46
			Blacksmith			29
			Ninja			33
			Locksmith			18
			Hacker			21
				Science!		41
				Gun Nut		39
				Armorer!		39
					Rifleman	42

Level Progress

Level	Perk	Current Points
1	Rifleman	1
2	Toughness	1
3	Luck
4	Gun Nut	1
5	Locksmith	1
6	Agility	__
7	Luck	__
8	Better Criticals	1
9	Intelligence	__
10	Rifleman	2
11	Toughness	2
12	Charisma	__
13	Agility	__
14	Locksmith	2
15	Gun Nut	2
16	Armorer	1
17	Strength	__
18-19	Luck	__
20	Better Criticals	2
21	Locksmith	3
22	Rifleman	3
23-26	Intelligence or Nuclear Physicist	__ or 1
27	Charisma	__
28	Local Leader	1
29	Science! or Nuclear Physicist	-
30	Strength	__
31	Critical Banker	1
32	Critical Banker	2
33	Cap Collector or Toughness	2 or 3
34-37	Strength + Strong Back	__

8/1/2017 Updates More To Come...

Well, its certainly been a long wait for updates to this guide, (keep in mind this portion was written previously, the updates came before the specifed title date) but I wanted to give Bethseda as much time as possible to iron out any of the bugs in survival and eventually reach a firm decision on where they wanted to go with it. If you're a new player to survival, then there's a few things you should know. You'll no longer be able to quick save or save on demand, you are forced to use beds and exit saves in order to get by. Now, there are ways to circumvent this issue with mods or by simply backing up your saves, but I cannot rightly tailor this guide to such a playstyle. You're also no longer able to fast travel, so avoiding those deadly encounters with ease is no longer a viable option unless you go well out of your way. To make matters worse, how much you can carry is now drastically reduced, even with strong back and a full ten strength, you won't come anywhere near three-hundred capacity without lone wanderer and strength boosting items.

Because of this, my previous guide was no longer anywhere near as viable, it might of gotten you by, but it would be a very unpleasant and annoying experience as it did not rely on any real measure of raw defensive ability or concern with the newly introduced issues of strength. This has since been remedied. With Rooted, Lone wanderer and a full set of sentinel armor, it is possible to withstand enough to damage to fight even a Behemoth in melee. On top of that, I have kept a fine balance between this and the sneak ability which will allow your character to come out on top with high-powered rifles. But you're also able to tailor to your own playstyle just as you could with my previous guide for new vegas. You can do melee, heavy weapons or even explosives, it'll simply require a changing of rifleman to the appropiate perks.

Please be aware, that the grid portions of this guide, as has been mentioned through-out, have yet to be updated. I apologize for this inconvenience but I am not the one who originally added the grids, and I would like the guide to be fully updated an optimized before I change them or call on them to be changed. I will not be satisfied until I have thoroughly explored the DLC and finished testing my new character which, currently, is around level eighty with only a handful of deaths. Admittedly this, by itself, is certainly enough to suggest a viable build, the lack of fast travel or mods however is slowing me down significantly but progress is being made.

Other Perks to Consider

The only purpose of this guide is to turn your character into a power house, able to dish as good as it takes. But there are still a lot of perks avaliable that will remove or lessen inconvenience that you'll otherwise be forced to endure in full, and as such, I have decided to list a few.

A couple of things to keep in mind, first, you should consider based upon your *own* experience and difficulties, when and where you get these or if you want to at all, it's generally best to take a deter from the main principles of the guide only once you have a firm grip over the combat which you should fairly quickly. I will add a note when this portion is finished, until then, expect gradual updates.

Aquaboy

Initially a worthless perk, without being able to fast travel and having so many inconvenient and respawning raider or even gunner outpost in the main city hub, this can be a life saver. It will allow you to safely swim to numerous locations and avoid the brunt of annoying enemies or combat that you'd otherwise have to trudge through. While radaway is abundant enough to make one scratch his head about this, one has to consider that user used radaway in survival comes with significant and annoying debuffs of its own, ones that gradually worsen with continued use as well and lead into infections. All in all, this perk now has some serious merit to consider. Especially to those with the Far Harbor DLC.

SneakX3/5

I will be adding one point into this in the main portion of the guide, but reaching the third perk well... As already stated, mines are annoying. They frequently appear in random locations that make no logical sense and kill you instantly whenever you have the audacity to let your guard down to loot the nearest milk machine. And now that you're no longer able to save unless you use a bed, this is a fast track to ripping your own hair out if they become a problem. There is a common misconception that this perk only works in sneak mode, but three points into this will prevent mines and other traps from triggering whether you're sneaking or not. This essentially means that most traps may as well not even exist anymore. If that isn't a worthy consideration right there ontop of being able to sneak close enough to melee if you so choose, then I don't know what is.

ScrapperX3

The perks required to max this are not something you should rush toward over defense or damage output, but I would absolutely recommend getting it at some point. It'll render things like screws, gears & aluminum very easy to get if you scrap the proper weapons and armor. Generally weapons with night scopes or other higher tier improvements, especially of institute variety though this also includes the simple pipe pistols which raiders drop constantly, yield the most. If you'd rather not lug these around, you can also simply buy the guns you want to scrap even from your own vendors. Either way, you won't be needing to hull typewriters, desk fans or other heavy junk items with the listed parts for very long.

[Evil Tendencies]

To all subscribers, I just wanted to let you know that further substantial changes may be on the way due to the upcoming buff to survival difficulty. I have not as of yet purchased the season pass because the forty-nine dollar price tag is ridiculous IMO but rest assured I will be getting the survival DLC, assuming it is a dlc at all.

That said, I doubt much will really need to change short of the way my current set-up treats strength (since ammo is going to have weight again). Just don't be surprised if you find information added or missing.

[jim]

Finally got a never ending laser musket, it instakills anything at the cost of all of your ammo no matter how much you load in. (I commented a while ago if you forgot, go further back in the comments)

[Evil Tendencies]

Not really, if you're going to be doing any sneak attacks they should be done at a long range with a suppressed combat rifle (If it's not suppressed you're going to be caught either way) where your sneaking ability will be irrelevant. The enemies will run toward you, but, depending on distance, you have plenty of time to maneuver yourself to a position where you wont be spotted. The same applies to being inside though to a lesser extent.

There are also to many magazines that increase your sneak skill for me to recommend wasting points in it, this build is meant to turn your character into a power house, as those below suggested, sneak is only important in the beginning and for roleplayers (and if you fall into the later then you can always go down your own route and change a few things up.) Remember this build is versatile, change Riflemen around with Heavy gunner, Demolition Expert or even Basher and you've got yourself and entire new set of weapons.

[Traver]

So uhm no points in the Sneak perk? Sneaking seems like a pretty essential part of the build...

[HeliGungir]

Seems like the Perks and the Quick Overview section could be combined. Add a paragraph or two above each table to explain the goals or reasoning behind the general perk order and the importance of specific perks.

[Evil Tendencies]

I appreciate the feedback guys, make sure to let others know about it for me!

[lmarrero4]

Great guide !! Thanks ET :)

[Gopher]

Jet is amazing period. Jet Psycho is the best! Not only slows down time, allowing you to land as many head shots with your shotgun as you want while dodging bullets or claws, it also gives you a major damage boost that lasts longer than the time dilation! Using this guide and my jet psycho, I was able to take out a Legendary Alpha Deathclaw all by myself at level 18 on Survival difficulty. Honestly, if anything, I'm considering downloading that mod that makes Survival even harder just because this guide makes sure you are set and ready for anything by level 20.

[Evil Tendencies]

@Field Marshal Sad Keanu Currently, the equipment section is full and out of characters, so in order to list any further recommendations I'd need to make another entry entirely. Now, while I'm not necessarily against that idea, originally when the guide was first made, I intended to make a strategy section, but ultimately decided against it under the rule of "Don't underestimate your audience". I believe the same might apply here. Like in my previous guide, what equipment you decide to use, to a certain extent, will eventually become moot, and trying to list everything that might be useful would just end up sounding long-winded.

The perks alone are enough to make this build come to life, and I believe most people are fully capable of handling themselves in the equipment department and should, at best, use my recommendations as a basic starting point. That said, I do appreciate the comment and perhaps I will add them later.

[Aluminum Elite Master]

If I were you, I'd add a few things to the chems/aid part:

Yao Guai Ribs and Med-X, if added to the Toughness perk, can basically turn you into a biological Iron Man without needing power armor. Combine those two things with the Toughness perks of this build, and you could potentially never need power armor at all.

Further, Jet is amazing for using semi-auto rifles... if you go Rifleman, Jet allows you to operate in fairly close quarters without needing VATS.

But if you do use VATS, then Nuka Cola Quantums (which are pretty rare) are super useful, along with Ice Cold Gwinnet (which you did mention).