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Event Build: Ash vs Evil Ghouls... and things! (FO4)

Tags: #Character Build Power Armor  #Character Build Melee  #Fallout 4 Build  #Character Build Daredevil  #Long-Chapper Build  #Event:Stranger Things 
  • November 12, 2017

    Down to the wire! Whew! *wipes brow of sweat and stuff!*

    For the Fallout Event Stranger Things, I decided to step out of my gameplay comfort zone. Away from calculating tactical Stealth.  From seriousness, Dogmeat, VATS, and Survival. Well, from smart playing! To the unknown zaniness that was one of my favorite movie characters growing up as a kid, Ash Williams from the Evil Dead series. So set your difficulty to Normal and Journey back with me to the cheesy awesome of the 1980s and 90s, where Boomsticks, Chainsaws and gory campy fun are guaranteed to make you smile and give you a good "groovy" vibe. I present to you... 

    Nikto! Nikto, Nikto, NIKTO!! That's what I should've said all that time ago. I should've paid attention to that wiseman, but I didn't. I was busy thinking about that sweet Medieval Sugar - if you know what I mean *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. Name's Ash, Ashley to my mom and to some Postman fellow, but who cares? No one. Why? Because, listen up!

    I. Screwed. Up.

    Big time. I'm the screwhead, not the primitive bozos I saved from Evil Ash and the Army of Darkness raised by the Necronomicon. See, I could've been home, but I couldn't remember a single stupid word. Nikto. Yeah, that's it. I sure remember it now.

    I woke up from my long - hundreds of years long - nap in the cave to find myself in a London that didn't look squat like where I came from or where I had been. A strange place, with people dressed like old time greasers and Suzie Homemakers and yet shot lazers and all that, all while drinking some pretty heavy blue stuff. Sorry, pal, I don't drink anything that has the name "Nuka" on it. Are you nuts? To top it off, they all had their robots in tow. Robots! Can you believe it? And here I was thinking I was the modern one. Hundreds of years in the future, 2077, someone told me. Holy shit.  I wandered the streets, getting strange looks from the Ozzie and Harriet and Fonzie clones. Perhaps it was the chainsaw attached to my hand. Perhaps it was my torn and bloody clothes. My good looks. Who knows? Ended up in some station or an airport where some hovering robot with an accent that would make a butler proud suddenly stops me.

    "Oh Sir! Master Nate! It is you! It is you! They told me that the Veterans would be here! I was surprised that they were not in the usual debriefing an recovery area considering the war was between America and China, but the details can all be sorted out later!"

    He seemed really excited and peppy, so I kept silent and decided to go with the flow on this.

    "And here you are! I say, Sir, a bit worse for wear with the war and all that. And frankly, not quite looking like yourself, but still, Sir. So glad to see you!"

    I blinked. "Huh?"  

    "I am here to take you home, the Mrs and little Shaun are waiting." The robot insisted.

    "Home?" I looked around, puzzled. Nope, confused as Hell. "This isn't home? The Mrs? Little Shaun?"

    "Oh dear me, no, Sir! The doctors told me there were injuries, though I did not suspect they would be this bad. No! Goodness gracious, no! Not here! Home, Sir, is in the Commonwealth." He declared proudly. I could swear the robot was smiling, if it had a mouth. It had three eyes, I think, on a round head and it was definitely hovering. A rock must have fallen on my head while I was asleep in that cave. "In a delightful little place called Sanctuary Hills! Do follow me, Sir. Don't you worry!" He started to hover away. "Good ol' Codsworth will see that you are seen safe to the Mrs and little Shaun. Come, come, come, can't be late for dinner..."

    Alright, alright, stop looking at me like I'm an asshole. Clearly I am not Nate, the war hero, father and husband to "the Mrs and Little Shaun", but the robot didn't know the difference, cleaned me up, bought me a plane ticket, and we were off. Must have had some screws loose. It was either that or I'd still be wandering the streets of London. And let me tell you, fortunate that I wasn't. Or not, depends on how you look at things. With my background, pretty much being still alive is the only thing I can look forward too. 

    Apparently people in the future don't just drink nuclear material, they use it too. Just when I'm settled in this Sanctuary Hills, just when I'm getting some regular doses of sugar again -hey, she was cute- and, yeah, even kinda liking the kid a bit. Just when I was about to see a doctor for a new hand. Yep, a brand new one, top of the line, from Vault Tech themselves. Made my old S-mart back home look like a Medieval market! On account of me being a war, uh, hero - stop judging, dammit! Just when things were finally looking up for old Ash, after all the shit that's happened to me since I took a stupid trip with my sweetheart, Linda, to that damn cabin in the dark woods, because why would anything bad happen in a secluded cabin in the woods, the sons of bitches did it. They dropped the bombs.

    I remember running with all of Sanctuary Hills to what they were calling a Vault. Vault 111. I remember getting in just when the bomb blew and putting on some snazzy blue wetsuit, it looked like to me. Sugar looked great in it. We were then frozen. And... more sleeping.  I wake up, long enough to see some jerks kill Sugar and take Shaun. The kid wasn't mine, but I was going to raise him. I'm nice like that. Then more sleep. Two hundred and ten years of more sleep. Talk about sleeping in!

    Didn't know what to expect this time when I woke up. I laughed like a moron when I learned it was just like Medievel England all over again. Except Nuclear. And... worse. Commonwealth's even got themselves a new form of deadite.  Ghouls, they call them. And other nasty things. Shit that flies, tunneling molerats, cockroaches the size of dogs, giant lobsters, and even giant mutated lizards with horns!  So, time to strap a chainsaw to my old stump again. Time to loot - uh, shop - enough with the judging, dammit! - Superduper Mart for a boomstick. Why? Because I'm not a dickhead. There's a little boy out there who needs someone in the world. There are Commonwealth screwheads who need a hero. So I'll be that someone. I'll take it one day at a time, say my "groovies" and "hail to the king"s while I feed these creatures my boomstick! That sounds really gross. I didn't mean it like that, I swear! I can do this! With uh... science and stuff. Yeah, science.

    Nah, Ash, who are you kidding? It's going to be luck. All luck.

    I wasn't kidding when I said this was a departure from my last Fallout Playthrough, which was high Agility, high Perception, and all about VATS and Lone Wanderer. The safe road where I was barely seen and barely damaged. It wasn't the case with Ash, so bring your Stimpaks, you're gonna need them because this build is up close and personal with NO VATS. Red is for bobble heads and green is for Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. And, yes, all the little dots spell "E" for Evil. I couldn't help myself.  I knew going into this event, in trying to capture the essence of Ash Williams, that I would have to tap into his "intelligence" in a different way. He's not a smart scientist, though he has a degree in Chemistry. Bruce Campbell, the actor who has played Ash for decades, sums the character up really well with one sentence. 

    "a bad slow thinker and a good fast thinker" 

    So, for me, the way to go to convey this was Luck rather than Intelligence. And you guessed it, I headed straight for Idiot Savant, which allowed him to earn the XP he needed to level quickly without relying on Intelligence. To recapture Ash fully, however, I also knew I would need high strength. Not because he is particularly strong, but because I wanted to recreate his "stand and shoot" or "stand and chainsaw" combat style and I wanted to recreate the Deathcoaster from Army of Darkness to use in "S.P.E.C.I.A.L." situations (that was sooooo intended, hehehe). And to create Ash, the Deathcoaster's share of perks went into Luck and Strength. While Charisma was also relatively high, at six, seven if you decide to continue his adventures beyond level 35 and grab the Charisma bobblehead, I decided not to perk it. He's charming, especially enjoying the company of ladies, but can be, as Arthur, one of the Medieval screwheads from Army of Darkness put it, a "loud-mouthed braggart." With the early acquired Perception Bobblehead, Ash is able to just increase his Perception enough to perk Rifleman. Every other stat remained painfully at one. Who needs all that smart people stuff anyway, when you can kill things with chainsaws and boomsticks. Because who needs skills? When you have... Luck! 

    From the Luck tree, I focused on anything not having to do with VATS, with special early attention paid to Idiot Savant and Bloody Mess. Evil Dead movies are notorious for their gore and this playthrough did it justice, with parts of things (ghouls, bugs, whatnot) flying everywhere. Fortune Hunter and Scrounger augmented Ash's resourcefullness (who doesn't like extra caps and ammo?), while Better Criticals and Ricochet simulated his ability to get out of even the toughest of situations. 

    Strength and the minimum of Perception were used to provide crucial damage boosts to his weapons of choice. Focus early on on perking Big Leagues, Rooted, and Blacksmith so you can acquire Big League's disarming perks and the critical first rank of Blacksmith which allows you to mod Ash's weapon of choice to have an additional chance to disarm. The third rank of Rooted will also boost your chance to disarm, but at level 43, which was out of the scope for the build. It is certainly an option if you want to continue playing him beyond the level 35 cap. Later on, I focused on Pain Train and Big Guns to bring the Deathcoaster to life; Steady Aim, to help with the accuracy of one of the most inaccurate weapons in the game and Basher to allow Ash to cripple his opponents. Why? Because no fight is fair when you just have a Boomstick! and your opponent has a plasma rifle. The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington is no longer S-Mart's "top of the line" in 2287 Boston, which is why Rifleman from Perception was taken.

    If you want to carry Ash's playthrough beyond level 35, I'd recommend investing in the top-tier perks for Big Leagues, Steady Aim, Rooted, Pain Train, Bloody Mess, Better Criticals, and Ricochet, with the possibility of opening up Endurance's Toughness and possibly also Local Leader if you feel like settling down like a King in his Castle. 

    Boomstick!: A modded, sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. I stuck with the original one you can find in just outside of Sanctuary Hills and would mod it rather than toss it aside for better weapons, even to the point of downgrading a better shotgun so I could obtain the mod to attach to Boomstick!. Ash takes great pride in his formaly top of the line Remington, and this was reflected in the care of his weapon in the Commonwealth. With no ranks of Gunnut from Intelligence, I was limited to what I could do with the weapon and had to rely on found guns with the mods I needed. The only time I would recommend upgrading Boomstick! is if you happen to find a shotgun with a Legendary effect. Ones to look out for as your roam the Commonwealth as Ash are the Never-ending, the ones that do more damage to ghouls, and the Wounding. In my playthrough, I was never that lucky. In fact! I never once found a Legendary double-barrel shotgun. Not a single one. 

    The Harvester: This great legendary melee weapon, a ripper, from the Far Harbor dlc that simulates Ash's chainsaw hand and inflicts stagger damage. It is found at Echo Lake Lumber, guarded by, you guessed it, ghouls. Including the new-fangled glowing variety. It possesses an insane, almost game-breaking chance to stagger benefit. I was able to take down Deathclaws, Fog Crawlers, and Hermit Crabs with this thing, but it compensated for the weakness of Boomstick! (Don't tell Ash I said that, alright? Secret between you and me). Great roleplaying that you even equip it on the right hand, which is the hand Ash lost. I modded this weapon to have the curved blade, which increased the chance to disarm your opponent. Before you get the Harvester, you can obtain a Ripper from West Everett Estates in the Commonwealth across the waterway near Taffington Boathouse. There is a guaranteed spawn of one near the basement bunker on a table. Good luck! A lovely neighborhood that is guarded by a ton of Super Mutants and their puppy dogs. Their giant, ferocious, green puppy dogs with lots of teeth. 

    Other weapons: Big Jim, a wrench that does crippling damage, for early levels. A Fat man (found at the Robot junkyard Northeast of Sanctuary Hills) to help you get through West Everett Estates, supplemented with numerous Molotovs and Fragmentation grenades.

    Big Boomsticks!: The Railway gun and a Flamer to recreate the offensive power of the DeathCoaster. 

    Clothing and regular armor: And I thank my fiance for this. He was the one who directed me towards the Green shirt and Combat boots. So what if you're Myrna's twin? It's the oufit that most looks like what Ash wears. If you decide to pursue the Railroad questline, you can also obtain Ballistic weave for it, but I didn't. I completed his look with just a standard Leather Chest piece (preferable a legendary one) because it actually resembles the holster he uses to carry Boomstick!. I avoided anything particularly bulky in the arms and opted for amor in the legs, prefering anything that caused incidiary or freezing damage, or disarming. The Wastelander's Chest Piece was used in early levels. His AR was never particularly high, topping off at around the 90s for DR and ER and a measily 10 for rad resist. A Hazman suit was used in Far Harbor when Ash wasn't cruising in his Deathcoaster. When Ash was romancing, he opted for a clean blue suit, a newspaper cap, and black-rimmed glasses because it makes him look smart and the new source of sugar seems to like smart. 

    Other things to carry: Extra ammo. Yao Guai roast, which boosts your melee damage, Stimpaks, Radaway, Squirrel Stew (boosts XP gain), grilled radstag for carry weight, grilled hermit crab for strength, Dirty Wastelanders, some alcohol, and addictol (just incase Ash gets a little carried away).

    Factions: Minutemen because it is the most direct way to help the weary and downtrodden "futuristic screwheads" from the Commonwealth and the Atom Cats because they are simply "Groovy".

    Affinity Perks: Piper's "Gift of Gab"(the XP gain goes well with Idiot Savant and a bowl of Squirrel Stew), Preston's "United we Stand" (ghouls tend to attack in packs), and in the late game Danse's "Know your Enemy" (so you can do more damage to non human enemies as you enter higher level gameplay). Unfortunately, Fire Support encountered a bug and I was not able to trigger the BoS questline. Lover's Embrace from Piper. 

    Comic Books Collector: Grognak the Barbarian, Tales of Junktown Jerky Vendor, Live and Love, Wasteland Survival Guide, Hot Rodder. 

    Follower: Piper, for her sugar, baby. She will be your follower in the early game until you obtain her affinity perk. Then move onto Preston briefly for his perk, then Danse's, and then finally return to Piper for the rest of the game. Equip her with the best combat rifle you can find, as she will be providing you with some much-needed ranged attack support, and the best either leather or combat armor gear you can find over the Minuteman outfit. I kept her newspaper cap on and when Ash was successful with romancing Piper, he gave her Nora's wedding ring as a token of his affection. The best part of the playthrough was when Ash achieved maximum affinity and romanced Piper. Guess where? The Superduper Mart, surrounded by a pile of ghouls and their numerous pieces.  

    Quests: Anything ghoul-related (Lexington's Superduper Mart, College Station in Cambridge, Cemetaries, Suffolk County Charter School, Diamond City Sewers, Croupe Manor, others), the Main quest, Far Harbor dlc and possibly Nuka world for those exotic "Painted ghouls", the Minutemen questline being sure to give the settlements the ability to survive and defend themselves, taking the Castle.

    Gameplay: I approached gameplay from several angles and surpsingly, there are quite a few options to explore when playing Ash. 

    The first was up close and personal with Boomstick!  I used Boomstick! for lower-leveled enemies, when I wanted to inflict bash damage, and when I wanted more mobile combat. We will be honest, is it the best gun in the game? No, not by a long stretch. I even made it worse by sawing off the barrel with glee. But I resisted the urge to upgrade to a combat shotgun and I actually enjoyed the thrill of the slower reload time and that you only get two bullets. The sound it makes is just great to listen too. Boomstick! Now to offset the slowness in reloading is where the bash function shines. No, it doesn't do a huge amount of damage, however, it can stagger your opponent, or even cripple your opponent with the Basher perks, giving Ash enough time to either reload or dodge the next attack. 

    I was surprised by how much I used explosives in this playthrough. In fact, I was also suprised by how much crafting I did, despite not benefitting from any perks in Armorer, Gunnut, and Science. I embraced the primitive in this build, the making something out of nothing and thinking fast on his feet, making molotovs to give him more ranged damage and scavenging for grenades. I also modded guns and amor that I found for settlers, to recreate Ash helping the Medieval village prepare for the Army of Darkness. 

    The Ripper, later replaced by the Harvester, was saved for higher level enemies and when large crowds of feral ghouls proved overwhelming. When the Harvester was modded, it had a chance to disarm as well as stagger, make it an ideal weapon for enemies that out-gunned Ash. Always nice to see that high-damage gun just fly out of that Raider's or Synth's hands. It was also the ideal weapon against Deathclaws and the other large beasts of the common wealth. 

    And finally, we come to the gameplay tactic used for those S.P.E.C.I.A.L situations. One of my favorite moments in Army of Darkness is when Ash, using literally the stuff from the trunk of his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale and spare parts, creates the Deathcoaster, which proceeds to wreak havoc on the Armies of Evil Ash (granted, it is then destroyed, but again, we're not going to remind Ash that that happened, right? Right.). I wanted to recreate this glorious moment in battle for certain situations, including the literal taking of the Castle in Fallout 4. Since FO doesn't have ridable cars, I decided that Power Armor was the way to go to recreate this, along with the Pain Train perks. I also wanted a variety of damage styles; from melee to ranged, and damage that was done both ballistically and with energy in the form of fire to mimic the crazy things the Deathcoaster did in Army of Darkness

    As you can see, I used the Deathcoaster for the Castle. I also used it to rescue Nick Valentine, and will probably, when I continue playing this build, use it for Kellog and the Glowing Sea.  It was not a crutch, but a fun supplement to the build's playstyle. Yes, there are better paint jobs for the Power armor, but nothing is cooler than an Atom Cat. 

    And when all is said and done? I see Ash settling down, to finally have the Sugar he so deserves. Settle down and become King of his Castle. Until the next adventure in the Commonwealth calls... 

    Well, here you have it, my first Fallout Build and I can't say thank you enough to the wonderful crew at the Workshop, Fallout Character Building, and my usual sounding boards for providing me the support I needed to finish this build. Down to the wire again, but that's me, isn't it? Special nods to the Postman, Phil, Teineeva, Deebs, and the Lorc for putting up with me. Groovy. 

  • Member
    November 12, 2017
    Going to take a long look tomorrow. But first impression is...wicked awesome. Like a love note from the 80s.
  • November 12, 2017

    Drat, if anything, looking at this build and all the other builds people have posted are getting me really interested in participating in the builds corner myself, even though I've got my hands full already...

  • November 12, 2017

    Hail to the king, baby! :D

    Boy, this so damn groovy! Makes me want to binge watch the Evil Dead now. But lol, I dig the second pic. "I slept too long!" Hehehehe. I say this is the perfect recreation of Ash after sleeping too long and waking up in 2287. Just grab that chainsaw and rip the uglies into pieces and then make them kiss your boomstick! :D

  • November 12, 2017

    Mottyskills said: Going to take a long look tomorrow. But first impression is...wicked awesome. Like a love note from the 80s.

    Yeah, you know I had to go all 80s on it. 

     

  • November 12, 2017

    A Shadow Under the Moons said:

    Drat, if anything, looking at this build and all the other builds people have posted are getting me really interested in participating in the builds corner myself, even though I've got my hands full already...

    It's fun to build. It is like you are playing a story. :D

  • November 12, 2017

    The Lorc of Flowers said:

    Hail to the king, baby! :D

    Boy, this so damn groovy! Makes me want to binge watch the Evil Dead now. But lol, I dig the second pic. "I slept too long!" Hehehehe. I say this is the perfect recreation of Ash after sleeping too long and waking up in 2287. Just grab that chainsaw and rip the uglies into pieces and then make them kiss your boomstick! :D

    That's right! 

    I also loved not using VATS, if you know what I mean. It worked great for my Survival Playthrough, but I never realized how lousy my aim was in a shoot 'em up situations until I played Ash. Oh boy was it bad in the beginning. It's still bad, but it's better. 

  • November 12, 2017

    I had to leave a like just for the theme and the art! :D

  • November 12, 2017

    This is amazing Liss, and Hail to the King!

  • November 12, 2017

    Duvain said:

    I had to leave a like just for the theme and the art! :D

    Thanks, friend. Don't worry, got more Skyrim builds up my sleeve. :D