Fallout Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Huntsman (FO4)

Tags: #Motty Build  #Fallout 4 Build  #Character Build Sharpshooter  #Character Build Infiltrator 
  • Member
    August 5, 2016

    I’ve been loquacious in my love of the Far Harbor DLC. One of the very first things that caught my eye was the Hunter’s Hood and the Lever-Action Rifle. Finally, a great looking hood and unique feeling rifle for us to build with! These two new additions formed the basis for creating The Huntsman. A crack-shot rifleman, big game hunter and environmentalist of sorts. Note: this build relies heavy on FH, and as such I would recommend against trying to recreate it without the DLC.

    Backstory
    The Huntsman’s military specialty was advanced scouting, meaning he spent many weeks on his own in remote locations. Acquiring the skills required to live off the land was a necessity. This included hunting, gathering, trapping, fishing, cooking and wilderness medicine and survival. He grew fond of both the environment and even the animals he used to survive. Always careful to honor his kills, he became more than just an army asset, he became - The Huntsman.

    Special Notes
    S – 1
    P – 8 (Special book + Concord Bobblehead = 10)
    E – 5
    C – 4
    I – 1
    A – 8 (Bobblehead + Investment = 10)
    L – 1 (anytime you have an extra point to give, drop it here to improve your VATs refill. You could also add better criticals and critical banker perks later if you really want an extra kick)

    Perks
    Rifleman – boost rifle damage.

    Sniper – represents additional ability to focus. The "knock down" effect of rank 2 is amazing and often results in enemies being launched! (see video below). This can be really helpful against tough opponents, as you can knock them down and throw an explosive on them while recovering your AP.

    Penetrator – no game can hide from his clever eye.

    Concentrated Fire – additional damage in consecutive hits.

    Sneak – Representing the ability to stalk without being heard.

    Ninja – some additional sneak multiplier damage.

    Gun fu – taking down multiple targets with a sizable VATs pool.

    Lone Wanderer – a boy and his dog!

    Attack Dog – This is the first time I’ve perked this and boy was I missing out. Dogmeat becomes more than just a pack-mule combined with your extremely high level of VATs accuracy.

    Quick Hands – the one downside of the Lever Action Rifle is reload time, remedied with this useful perk.

    Aqua Boy – Many of the perks chosen later are for RP purposes, including the developed immunity to radiation in water. I like the idea of being able to use the environment as an ally. Additionally, exploring the depths became a fun side-track for my Hunter. This is especially useful in FH as you can jump in the water and the game registers you as RAD immune no matter where you are.

    Action boy – Refilling AP is both useful for VATs, and represents the ability to quickly recover breath from short sprints and track down prey with ease.

    Life Giver – I specifically have chosen an outfit for the look, leaving him a bit low on the damage resistance side of things. Offset this by increasing HP and HP refresh.

    Lead Belly – Completely useless, as you can cook food for free to achieve the same effect, I still add it here as another RP perk. Represents a developed immunity to Rads from his game.

    The Look
    Gear
    : Hunter’s Hood, Leather Armor, Road or Trapper’s leathers, or Hunter’s Pelt

    Weapons: Reba II, Old Reliable, Shotgun

    Faction: Minutemen, Far Harbor

    Followers: Dogmeat/Longfellow

    Home Base: Longfellow’s Cabin / Pine Crest Cave - Once you remove the current inhabitants, the cave and it's outdoor structures have a pretty nice Hunting Camp feel. You have to be careful of respawning, and I didn't trust leaving my stuff here. But as an RP option, it's pretty great. Use Longfellow's cabin and FH as your main hub.

    Bobbleheads: PER, AGI, LUCK

    Getting Started
    Load up on some basic armor and a rifle (there’s a sniper pipe rifle in Concord – take a left when facing the Museum, last house on the right, upstairs). Run a few missions and track down the Wasteland Survival Guides noted below in the RP section (Water Aerobics, Insect Repellent and Double Meat at minimum).

    Make your way to Salem (NE corner near The Museum of Witchcraft) and complete the mission for Barney to get Reba II, a unique Hunting Rifle that gives 50% bonus against Mirelurks and bugs. This is a great rifle early on, but actually will be quite handy as your go-to exterminator for the whole game. I was able to complete this pilgrimage at level 8 on “Normal”, but be ready to run a lot and use a lot of ammo.

    Far Harbor is available for exploration after completing the quest “Getting a Clue” (you might have to fast travel to trigger the FH quest). Head there as soon as you feel ready and follow the main FH quest with Longfellow to discover Acadia. Once there, play nice and talk to Dejen who will sell you Old Reliable for a mere 1000 caps (with some help from a grape mentats). Quite a steal for all that damage!

    Hunting trappers becomes a favorite new past time, and soon enough this endeavor will produce the Hunter’s Hood for the signature look. Pine Crest Cave near Acadia is an almost guarantee to produce the hood. Since I was in a hurry to get him built – I was able to complete this look at level 14 on “Normal” without any trouble.

    If you’re feeling especially woodsy, don the Hunter’s Pelt outfit. But my preference was to crank up the difficulty to “Very Hard” and farm some leather armor looking for the legendary effects “exterminator,” “hunter’s,” “VATs Enhanced” or even “Lucky”. Combined with road or trapper leathers, this gives a great aesthetic to the build. Another option is a Chameleon piece, representing camouflage.

    Combat and Roleplay
    After a recent no-VATs play through, this felt completely unique and devastating. The combination of high Perception & Agility matched with sniper perks (Rifleman, Concentrated fire, Penetrator) and stealth perks (Sneak, Ninja, Quick hands, Gun fu) make for extreme VATs accuracy and duration. To me this represents the hyper-focused hunter perfectly. He is able to block out all non-essential stimuli to finish off his kill. I spent much of this play through trying to put myself in the position of a true hunter. As far as the morality of killing animals and loving the environment, The Hunstman believes that removing the irradiated distortions of species will help restore the environment back to a more “balanced” state. He views himself as a warrior for nature. Given this, how would he approach this harsh Wasteland?

    Here are a few RP notes I settled on:

    Track Down Wasteland Survival Guides – Consider the Perk Pilgrimages path

    1. Hunting in the Wastes - Sunshine Tidings
    2. Insect Repellent – Crater House
    3. Water Aerobics – Old Gullet Sinkhole
    4. Islander’s Almanac (FH) – 5% better VATs against animals (Brooke’s Head Lighthouse)

    Harder They Fall” trophy (Kill 5):

    1. Mirelurk Queens – Castle, Murkwater Construction Site, Northwood Ridge Quarry, Rite of Passage (Teddy Wright Quest)
    2. Behemoths - East of Sunshine Tidings, East of Vault 75, Swan’s Pond, East of Gunner’s Plaza.

    Help bring balance to the environment

    1. Wipe out as many overgrown abominations / irradiated creatures as possible
    2. Help Farmers restore land (settlements and “Push back the Fog” Trophy in FH).
    3. “Cleansing the Land” - Wipe out CoA (who are complicit in the Fog)

    Consumables

    1. Wolf Ribs – accuracy & night vision (check out timestamp 1:13 of the video below!)
    2. Mirelurk Jerky – 3+ PER, Poison Resist
    3. Fried Fog Crawler – help in rainy and foggy conditions

    Closing Notes
    I always like to offer a tip of the cap to builds that contribute to my enjoyment. Mason’s Domino was the first that I saw that really honed in on the full potential of VATs sniper play. The Fudge Muppets put together a “Hunter” build on their YouTube channel. I think it’s a little generic, personally. But alas, worth at least acknowledging its existence. And finally, the aforementioned Perk Pilgrimages compiled by PCTY are a great way to add immersion to any play through. Thanks! Check the “Motty Build” tag for all of my Fallout 4 builds.

  • Member
    August 5, 2016

    Looks good Motty! Any issues or problems or was it painless?

  • Member
    August 5, 2016

    Yeah thanks, just thoguht I'd mess around and repost this from my saved html and see what happens. A few minor issues but not really. I re-uploaded pictures from my computer so the images aren't attached to ning urls. Other than that I actually like the posting interface. It's more intuitive. 

  • August 5, 2016

    It looks good, Motty and I do like some aspects of the interface, but for very image-heavy builds or builds that require more formatting, tranferring them will be more of a challenge. 

    I did remember liking this build though. It was a fallout build that made me with they put bows in the game. 

  • Member
    August 5, 2016

    Motty Skills said:

    Yeah thanks, just thoguht I'd mess around and repost this from my saved html and see what happens. A few minor issues but not really. I re-uploaded pictures from my computer so the images aren't attached to ning urls. Other than that I actually like the posting interface. It's more intuitive. 

    Good to hear. It's strange how big builds are here, isn't it? Is it better or worse to have the entirety of the page dedicated to it?

  • Member
    August 6, 2016

    Phil - I think it makes it slight harder to engage with as a reader in this wide format. 

  • Member
    August 6, 2016

    Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Do you think it is maybe just because we aren't adapted to it yet? Or is there something we can do to make it better?

    It could be we need to get clever with the space. Because we do have so much extra space, wrapping text around images could becoe more important to draw the readers eye...? I think we have an opportunity to think outside the box here and re-examine how to present builds in this new age.

  • Member
    August 18, 2016

    Phil - sorry I never responded still getting used to checking two sites for now :)

    I do think wrapping and some of the stuff Lissette has been playing with is the way of the future.