Fallout Character Building » Discussions


Event Build: The Fisherman (FO4)

Tags: #Character Build Melee  #Fallout 4 Build  #Event: Arms & Artifacts 
  • Member
    February 16, 2018

    There is nothing left of the world I knew. It’s gone. My wife, my son and everything that I once knew has gone.

    There’s nothing for me in Sanctuary Hills anymore. I realise that as I look across from the ridge outside the Vault. Yes, the Vault. The place that was meant to be a new life, a fresh start. ‘A better life. Underground’, they said.

    They lied. 

    So there’s no reason for me to go back to Sanctuary now. My home, my family are gone. Hell, even that sycophantic old robot will have rusted away by now…

    You know the first thing I remember once I’d adjusted my eyes to the light of day? It was holidays that I had with my parents back when I was a kid. How we’d take the boat from the coast to travel up north. And about how we’d spend whole days just enjoying the sunshine, fishing from the pier. 

    Well, since this life has nothing for me know, perhaps it’s time to make a new life. Get away from this scorched and broken landscape. And start over in a place that holds better memories. It’s time to take a trip to Far Harbor…

     

    Simple and straightforward. No skill book, no bobbleheads...

     

    PREMISE 

    It’s always struck me as strange that the Sole Survivor emerges from the Vault with the certainty that his son is still alive. There’s actually no good reason for him to think that. He’s no idea how long he’d been cryogenically frozen – even if his son somehow survived whatever reason he’d been kidnapped for, he could have long since died of old age (since Codsworth tells you that you’ve been gone for over 200 years!)

     

    In this playthrough, the Sole Survivor wakes up with zero hope that his son could still be alive. He doesn’t even bother going to Sanctuary, but rather heads straight for Far Harbor. Yes, straight away! No going home. No Codsworth. No Dogmeat. Not even the SPECIAL book under the bed. Ignore anyone who tells you that cannot visit Far Harbor until you’ve met Nick Valentine. Not true. Ignore anyone who says you need to be a high level character. You don’t. You can go there at Level 1 (the enemies scale to the player) and you definitely don’t need to meet Nick, or ‘unlock’ the quest at the detective agency.

     

    This is a pure, 100% Far Harbor build. You go there straight from the Vault and once you get on the boat, it’s a one-way trip.

     

    Arriving in Far Harbor at Level 1... hell yeah 

     

    Travelling to Far Harbor at Level 1 

    There’s no magic formula here, just a long walk. Of course you’ve got to be careful – VERY careful. You’re still in your Vault suit, with just a security baton (It’s a melee only build) to stave off anything lurking in the bushes.

     

    So, take your time, and keep a keen eye out (go into VATS if you see anything suspicious, it’s easier to spot enemies that way). Stick to the very top of the map. You’ll keep getting a ‘you can’t go that way’ message, and that’s fine – it’s a reminder that you’re where you need to be. I saw the occasional mole rat or bloat fly to carefully avoid. There’s a small Gunner encampment about half way along the top of the map, but it’s easy enough to come inland a little way and skirt around.

     

    Eventually you’ll arrive at coastline. There’s a path made from wooden pallets (watch out for ghouls and run away from them) which takes you right out to the beach. Take a left and you can simply walk through the edge of the map. Keep going and eventually you’ll spot the Nakano residence in the distance. Go there and the quest ‘Far from home’ will trigger. You can then start talking about Kasumi with the Mr and Mrs Nakano, progress the quest and hop on the boat to Far Harbor…

     

     

    Introducing The Fish Catcher 

    The weapon of choice for this build is The Fish Catcher. The good news is that you can get it just as soon as you arrive in Far Harbor. It’s for sale at Allen Lee’s store right there on the pier, for around 450 caps. I was able to buy it straight way – you get 275 caps for standing around doing nothing whilst the Far Harbor residents fight off the gulpers. ‘Thanks for your help mainlander’. No problem – even though I did zilch, I’ll take the caps. And I’d picked up enough trash from the Vault and a few random loot stashes along the way (as well as picking the Nakano residence clean) to have enough junk to sell to make up the difference. Within a few minutes of arriving in Far Harbor, I had my Fish Catcher, plus a Green Fisherman’s outfit and hat. Then this build can get started.

     

    So what’s the deal with this weapon? Well, as well as a pretty decent amount of damage, it comes with a legendary effect that means that it costs 40% less AP in VATS. We’re going with a VATS-based build, with sky-high Agility. That means that we’re going to have a bundle of strikes in VATS anyway. With 40% less AP cost, it’s a frenzy of fish-hook cranium crushing.

     

    Additionally, we are perking

    • Big Leagues and Rooted for more damage,
    • Action Boy for more AP regeneration,
    • Sneak and Ninja for – well – sneaking and ninja’ing
    • Blitz for closing the gaps to enemies
    • Better Criticals for the finishing move

     

    Put that little lot together and you’re essentially a killing machine.

     

     

    The modus operandi here is sneaking around to size up opposition, and – once within Blitz range – launching a succession of savage attacks with the Fish Catcher. You need to be finishing enemies quickly (and you will) as you’re NOT wearing any armour. The last thing you need is to get into long drawn out fights, in fact you simply won’t survive anything more than a cursory scrape from a Mirelurk Razorclaw or Trapper.

     

    The Fish Catcher comes with one mod slot, and there’s only one modification for that slot – adding extra hooks to the end of the pole, hugely increasing the damage. You’ll need Blacksmith Level 2 to get that modification but it’s definitely worth it. Aim to get that by the time you can get the second level of the Blacksmith perk at Level 16. From this point forward, fully upgraded and perked, I was smashing it down on anything that crossed my path for shy of 300 points of damage.

     

    It also has a (I think) unique finishing move. You whack the enemies with vertical jab that embeds the hooks directly into the skull, and then jerk them face-first down onto the ground. It looks totally bad ass…

     

    Take that, and prepare to go down face first 

     

    GAMEPLAY / ROLEPLAY 

    This is a great build for roleplaying, and since you’re never going to Sanctuary, let alone Concord or Diamond City, it feels fresh and different. These were the gameplay elements that I worked into my playthrough

     

    • Mentioned already, but worth repeating for emphasis – you are going directly to Far Harbor straight from Vault 111. Aim to step onto the Nakano boat in your Vault suit with a security baton in your back pocket. Simply arriving in Far Harbor levels you up from Level 1, and you’ll likely get another Level from the initial ‘stave off the Gulpers’ quest. This build will level really quickly early on – you’ll get plenty of XP from the early quests, which are dead easy to complete, and – since you start at low-level – you’ll fly through the first ten levels.

     

    • The reason you are going to Far Harbor is because of good childhood memories. So your prevailing motivation is to be helpful. That means doing every quest that means helping people, and looking to complete them in the way which restores Far Harbor (as much as is possible) to being a place of peace and harmony. So keep your mitts off the nuclear button and be prepared to compromise your principles to save Dima’s ass…

     

     

    Easy for you to say that now, you lying murderer...

     

    • Take Longfellow as companion and curry favour with him for his perk. Once you get access to his cabin, unlock the workshop and start creating a settlement. Remember – you’re rebuilding a community from the wreckage, so get some settlers settled!

     

    • Unlock more settlements as you have opportunity – there are three more after Longfellow’s cabin, all unlocked through quests. Set up radio beacons, scrap everything and start building more settlements.

     

    • You are more or less a glass canon. You’re a fisherman, not a heavily-armoured war machine! Plan your attacks strategically – picking off isolated enemies and then retreating into stealth. If you must ‘rush’ a group of baddies, then look to hit the biggest dude with a critical from blitz-range, and quickly take out the stragglers.

     

    • Don’t be afraid to retreat – or even run away. You won’t be able to stand toe-to-toe and duke it out! Better to run away into the bushes (Fallout 4 enemies don’t pursue you very far) to let your AP bar fill up, before going back in to wreak havoc.

     

     

    Almost done in Far Harbor and 'Out of Time' is still in the quest log. (Also Mechanical Menace as, like an idiot I forgot to disable Automotron...doh!)

     

    So that’s pretty much it. Not the most original build ever, I will confess. But focussing purely on Far Harbor made it fresh and interesting. By the time I completed everything there was to do (every quest available on the island) I was at Level 27, with around 20 settlers across my 4 settlements, and about 16K in caps in my pocket. I guess I could grind up a few more levels by killing random mobs, but the character is pretty much ‘done’.

     

    It’s time to settle down, put down the Fish Catcher, pick up a fishing rod and while away the hours fishing off the end of the pier…

  • February 16, 2018

    Hehe, I suspected you could get to FH that way, but never tried it. 

    Fun build and neat way to experience the dlc. 

  • Member
    February 16, 2018

    YES! I would totally RP this build. Love Far Harbor and enjoy the focused perk allocation. Well Done!

  • Member
    February 16, 2018

    HELL YES MATE! I LOVE me some Far Harbor!!!! Such a great DLC and I just love how this build oozes Far Harbor from hook to hat! Another really great addition to the event builds! Nice job good sir!

  • Member
    February 17, 2018

    Man, I need to get  to far harbor. Had the DLC for over half a year and never went there. I will with my new event build. I think that this is one of the more unique builds in FO CB. Great job Paul!

  • February 18, 2018

    Damn, I actually really like this idea Paul, just heading off to Far Harbour, ignoring the rest of the game, it's a pretty interesting idea that's made better with what feels like a fairly simplistic gameplay. I might actually give this one a shot someday (need to figure out where I've put my copy of Fallout 4 first), to get through Far Harbour in what feels like a pretty fun way :D

  • Member
    February 18, 2018

    Dragonborn1921 said:

    Damn, I actually really like this idea Paul, just heading off to Far Harbour, ignoring the rest of the game, it's a pretty interesting idea that's made better with what feels like a fairly simplistic gameplay. I might actually give this one a shot someday (need to figure out where I've put my copy of Fallout 4 first), to get through Far Harbour in what feels like a pretty fun way :D

    Do it.

    Going there as an underpowered noob makes it feel really different to when you sidle over there at Level 30 with Nick in tow. It also feels really odd to completely avoid even visting Sanctuary.

    The only slight downside is that, without the skill book, your a SPECIAL point short. Honestly with this kind of pretty straight forward build, it didn't really matter.

  • Member
    February 24, 2018

    I had no idea you could go to Far Harbor without  doing Nicks mission first.  This changes EVERYTHING

  • Member
    February 26, 2018

    You've given me an idea for a new Settlement-based build (wont be this Event, but still). It will involve going basically straight to Far Harbor first, so thank you for helping me find this out!

  • February 26, 2018

    Another nice one from you Paul.  Good job!