The Survivalist
War. War never changes.
When atomic fire consumed the earth, those who survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, form new tribes.
You are one of those whose ancestors survived the end of the world, will you survive?
This is a build meant for surviving hardcore mode. It can still be played on normal but it would be a major disservice as hardcore mode is really fun.
S - 6 As a survivalist you'll want higher than average strength, I deliberately gimped my character's strength cause I knew I wasn't going to use weapons with a strength requirement above 6
P - 5 The average man or woman won't catch subtle things, but they aren't blind either. Average or below average is fine.
E - 6 You need to be tougher as a wastelander, being ready to take hits and keep on going.
C - 5 While you aren't exactly the most suave and charming individual, you aren't an antisocial freak. You need to know how to at least keep a business relationship with the traders.
I - 7 In order to survive in this world, you have to be quick witted and fairly smart. You're not a super genius, but you're pretty intelligent.
A - 6 While strength will help you kill things, you'll need to be able to run every now and then and with the medium armor you'll be wearing, a higher Agility would also be useful.
L - 5 You're living in a post apocalypse, radiation is in a lot of areas, crazy people wish to disembowel you while using your windpipe as a bong for their drugs, and the land is in the middle of a 3 way war... But you're alive, survived a gunshot to the head, and you have a lot of possibilities for work as a bounty hunter in his chaotic world... So you're not exactly blessed.... But you're not exactly damned.
Skills
Tagged:
Guns: Your main offensive tools, the better you are at using these the more accurate you'll be and the more damage you'll be doing.
Survival: Your main tool to combat the true dangers everything faces... Hunger, dehydration, sleep deprivation.
Melee: By keeping a backup weapon you'll never be in danger if you run low on ammo, and melee in New Vegas is so powerful. You can substitute this for unarmed if you so choose.
Untagged:
Sneak: this will be an important way for you to do a lot of damage to stronger opponents or avoid fights in general. It was not tagged purely cause you can only tag 3 skills in the beginning.
Repair: by repairing gear you not only have a way to keep weapons fully repaired without weapon repair kits, you also have a way to make a lot of more caps by selling full conditioned great loot.
Weapons
EARLY GAME
Lever Action Shotgun: It's pretty good for a shotgun. It uses one of the most plentiful ammo types for shotguns (given that almost every gang member, raider, or bounty hunter uses 20 gauges), has decent damage, and if you wish to buy it from the gun runners it is pretty cheap. You'll definitely be getting your money's worth with this shotgun.
Cowboy Repeater or La Longue Carbine: The Cowboy repeater is a great weapon for a majority of the game... Great damage, accurate, great weapon mods from the gun runners or Alexander, and it just looks cool. The unique version that you get via killing or pickpocketing from Corporal Sterling adds a scope, comes with an extended magazine upgrade, and has one of the lowest spreads of any weapon so even without aiming down the sight it is incredibly accurate.
.357 Magnum Revolver or Lucky: A decent revolver. Really good damage, but the reload time takes a little longer (not really a problem with a higher agility and rapid reload). Now Lucky I include in early game weaponry since you can get it within the first few hours of game play... you just need to put all your skill points into lockpicking and pump it up to 75 (or 65 if you have a locksmith magazine (or 55 with the comprehension perk and a magazine)), if you choose to do so you may use it to replace the base model, the high critical hit chance and damage bonus is really useful, though it is entirely up to you.
Chopper or Chance's Knife: Both are really good blades that have a high critical hit chance. Chopper is easier to get, only requiring to kill some viper gang members on the way of leaving Nippon, Chance's knife risks death thanks to the cazadors. It really just comes down do you want a meat cleaver or combat knife with permanent blood stain?
LATE GAME
Dinner Bell: This is my broomstick. It does so much damage, has some of the smallest spread of all the shotguns, and is a 12 gauge pump shotgun... It's kind of a requirement for a survivalist type character.
Ranger Sequoia: You feeling lucky? Well do you punk? (Yes I know it's not the same kind of gun... Just forget about that and enjoy the reference) A really powerful revolver, with a beautiful inscription on the gun barrel and grip, it's a lovely gun that is worth the long wait you need to go through to get it.
Bloodnap: A Bowie knife from Lonesome Road that is borderline broken... It does more damage and has a higher DPS than Chance's knife, has a high critical hit chance with bonus critical damage, and it gives +10 sneak... But this isn't like armor where it just adds 10 sneak and it doesn't count for the actual character... This actually counts towards leveling. If you need 10 points in sneak to get a perk, equip the knife before leveling up and it'll count as your character having +10 sneak.
Apparel
EARLY GAME
Reinforced Leather Armor: You can get this around the same time of recruiting Boone or just leaving NOVAC and heading north. It is a great armor set that'll help carry you for a few levels, and it looks just plain awesome on anyone.
Or if you choose to rush through Honest Hearts like I usually do...
Joshua Graham's Armor: One of the best looking pieces of armor in my opinion. It is light so you can move fast, has +3% to critical chance, and it looks like both armor and casual wear, it fits all scenarios! Though the one downside is that if you have this you more than likely have the late game gear that I will soon mention... So... It's more personal choice.
Desert Ranger Armor: This is a pretty decent armor. Lots of defense, but it counteracts that by being heavy and and not having any other benefits like NCR Veteran Combat Armor. It also has a good looking desert camo on it which matches the Mojave perfectly. If you feel you are too weak or want more buffs, Riot Gear and NCR Veteran Combat Armor are also valid options.
Quests and Roleplay
This is completely up to the player, not every survivalist is the same. Some are more harsh, the strong will live on the bones of the weak type... Some are more reserved, kind hearted, hoping to help as many people as possible.
No real quest is required unless you want the ranger sequoia and didn't want to wait till level 20+ to kill a veteran ranger, in which case the quest "Return to Sender" is a must where you must confront Chief Hanlon, but you have to side against him. He will get you to leave his office and after a short speech he will blow himself away. His revolver than becomes an item you can steal.
Combat
In battle you have three ways to play the situation out:
Dinner is served: Taking the dinner bell and with the perks "And Stay Back!" + "Shotgun Surgeon" you can keep tough enemies down without worry of them getting close if they are melee focused or they can't aim at you if they have ranged attacks.
Big iron on his hip: Be accurate with you sequoia to go for head shots, the large damage will make it so you won't have to worry about armor not being penetrated. And once their heads are crippled (if they aren't killed) they then can't aim at you properly, allowing you to dispose of them easily.
Blood in, blood out: Using Blood-Nap while sneaking to get your major sneak attack bonuses.
Recommend Perks
Educated: Free level ups in the long run, very useful
Hand loader: Giving you more shells and casings allowing you to make more effective ammo types? Please sir, can I have some more?
Pack rat: My precious.... I have gone on for great detail how this perk is amazing, get it... Now!
Camel of the Mojave: Water helps dehydration and heals 15% more, very useful.
Strong Back and Burden to Bear: +50 carrying capacity each? Yes please.
Cowboy: Since a majority of the weapons here are effected by it and it gives bonus damage to them, it is certainly worth the investment.
Other info
For more helpful tips and tricks for hardcore mode, check out my hardcore mode tips and tricks!
The Survivalist
War. War never changes.
When atomic fire consumed the earth, those who survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, form new tribes.
You are one of those whose ancestors survived the end of the world, will you survive?
This is a build meant for surviving hardcore mode. It can still be played on normal but it would be a major disservice as hardcore mode is really fun.
S - 6 As a survivalist you'll want higher than average strength, I deliberately gimped my character's strength cause I knew I wasn't going to use weapons with a strength requirement above 6
P - 5 The average man or woman won't catch subtle things, but they aren't blind either. Average or below average is fine.
E - 6 You need to be tougher as a wastelander, being ready to take hits and keep on going.
C - 5 While you aren't exactly the most suave and charming individual, you aren't an antisocial freak. You need to know how to at least keep a business relationship with the traders.
I - 7 In order to survive in this world, you have to be quick witted and fairly smart. You're not a super genius, but you're pretty intelligent.
A - 6 While strength will help you kill things, you'll need to be able to run every now and then and with the medium armor you'll be wearing, a higher Agility would also be useful.
L - 5 You're living in a post apocalypse, radiation is in a lot of areas, crazy people wish to disembowel you while using your windpipe as a bong for their drugs, and the land is in the middle of a 3 way war... But you're alive, survived a gunshot to the head, and you have a lot of possibilities for work as a bounty hunter in his chaotic world... So you're not exactly blessed.... But you're not exactly damned.
Skills
Tagged:
Guns: Your main offensive tools, the better you are at using these the more accurate you'll be and the more damage you'll be doing.
Survival: Your main tool to combat the true dangers everything faces... Hunger, dehydration, sleep deprivation.
Melee: By keeping a backup weapon you'll never be in danger if you run low on ammo, and melee in New Vegas is so powerful. You can substitute this for unarmed if you so choose.
Untagged:
Sneak: this will be an important way for you to do a lot of damage to stronger opponents or avoid fights in general. It was not tagged purely cause you can only tag 3 skills in the beginning.
Repair: by repairing gear you not only have a way to keep weapons fully repaired without weapon repair kits, you also have a way to make a lot of more caps by selling full conditioned great loot.
Weapons
EARLY GAME
Lever Action Shotgun: It's pretty good for a shotgun. It uses one of the most plentiful ammo types for shotguns (given that almost every gang member, raider, or bounty hunter uses 20 gauges), has decent damage, and if you wish to buy it from the gun runners it is pretty cheap. You'll definitely be getting your money's worth with this shotgun.
Cowboy Repeater or La Longue Carbine: The Cowboy repeater is a great weapon for a majority of the game... Great damage, accurate, great weapon mods from the gun runners or Alexander, and it just looks cool. The unique version that you get via killing or pickpocketing from Corporal Sterling adds a scope, comes with an extended magazine upgrade, and has one of the lowest spreads of any weapon so even without aiming down the sight it is incredibly accurate.
.357 Magnum Revolver or Lucky: A decent revolver. Really good damage, but the reload time takes a little longer (not really a problem with a higher agility and rapid reload). Now Lucky I include in early game weaponry since you can get it within the first few hours of game play... you just need to put all your skill points into lockpicking and pump it up to 75 (or 65 if you have a locksmith magazine (or 55 with the comprehension perk and a magazine)), if you choose to do so you may use it to replace the base model, the high critical hit chance and damage bonus is really useful, though it is entirely up to you.
Chopper or Chance's Knife: Both are really good blades that have a high critical hit chance. Chopper is easier to get, only requiring to kill some viper gang members on the way of leaving Nippon, Chance's knife risks death thanks to the cazadors. It really just comes down do you want a meat cleaver or combat knife with permanent blood stain?
LATE GAME
Dinner Bell: This is my broomstick. It does so much damage, has some of the smallest spread of all the shotguns, and is a 12 gauge pump shotgun... It's kind of a requirement for a survivalist type character.
Ranger Sequoia: You feeling lucky? Well do you punk? (Yes I know it's not the same kind of gun... Just forget about that and enjoy the reference) A really powerful revolver, with a beautiful inscription on the gun barrel and grip, it's a lovely gun that is worth the long wait you need to go through to get it.
Bloodnap: A Bowie knife from Lonesome Road that is borderline broken... It does more damage and has a higher DPS than Chance's knife, has a high critical hit chance with bonus critical damage, and it gives +10 sneak... But this isn't like armor where it just adds 10 sneak and it doesn't count for the actual character... This actually counts towards leveling. If you need 10 points in sneak to get a perk, equip the knife before leveling up and it'll count as your character having +10 sneak.
Apparel
EARLY GAME
Reinforced Leather Armor: You can get this around the same time of recruiting Boone or just leaving NOVAC and heading north. It is a great armor set that'll help carry you for a few levels, and it looks just plain awesome on anyone.
Or if you choose to rush through Honest Hearts like I usually do...
Joshua Graham's Armor: One of the best looking pieces of armor in my opinion. It is light so you can move fast, has +3% to critical chance, and it looks like both armor and casual wear, it fits all scenarios! Though the one downside is that if you have this you more than likely have the late game gear that I will soon mention... So... It's more personal choice.
Desert Ranger Armor: This is a pretty decent armor. Lots of defense, but it counteracts that by being heavy and and not having any other benefits like NCR Veteran Combat Armor. It also has a good looking desert camo on it which matches the Mojave perfectly. If you feel you are too weak or want more buffs, Riot Gear and NCR Veteran Combat Armor are also valid options.
Quests and Roleplay
This is completely up to the player, not every survivalist is the same. Some are more harsh, the strong will live on the bones of the weak type... Some are more reserved, kind hearted, hoping to help as many people as possible.
No real quest is required unless you want the ranger sequoia and didn't want to wait till level 20+ to kill a veteran ranger, in which case the quest "Return to Sender" is a must where you must confront Chief Hanlon, but you have to side against him. He will get you to leave his office and after a short speech he will blow himself away. His revolver than becomes an item you can steal.
Combat
In battle you have three ways to play the situation out:
Dinner is served: Taking the dinner bell and with the perks "And Stay Back!" + "Shotgun Surgeon" you can keep tough enemies down without worry of them getting close if they are melee focused or they can't aim at you if they have ranged attacks.
Big iron on his hip: Be accurate with you sequoia to go for head shots, the large damage will make it so you won't have to worry about armor not being penetrated. And once their heads are crippled (if they aren't killed) they then can't aim at you properly, allowing you to dispose of them easily.
Blood in, blood out: Using Blood-Nap while sneaking to get your major sneak attack bonuses.
Recommend Perks
Educated: Free level ups in the long run, very useful
Hand loader: Giving you more shells and casings allowing you to make more effective ammo types? Please sir, can I have some more?
Pack rat: My precious.... I have gone on for great detail how this perk is amazing, get it... Now!
Camel of the Mojave: Water helps dehydration and heals 15% more, very useful.
Strong Back and Burden to Bear: +50 carrying capacity each? Yes please.
Cowboy: Since a majority of the weapons here are effected by it and it gives bonus damage to them, it is certainly worth the investment.
Other info
For more helpful tips and tricks for hardcore mode, check out my hardcore mode tips and tricks!
I might just use this build as my 1st hardcore mode playthrough, I just have a few questions.
What traits should I pick?
Also, What skills and perks should I prioritize at the beginning? ( I don't want a full guide just up to about level 10 or so.)
I might just use this build as my 1st hardcore mode playthrough, I just have a few questions.
What traits should I pick?
Also, What skills and perks should I prioritize at the beginning? ( I don't want a full guide just up to about level 10 or so.)
By the way you don't actually have to do Hanlons quest to get his gun... It doesn't work with every faction character but if you drop a bunch of dynamite (1 at a time) and shoot it the dynamite explodes and I did that to Hanlon with Boone in my party and he didn't complain or turn hostile or leave or anything AND I didn't lose ncr rep... So I got the Sequoia without doing the quest
By the way you don't actually have to do Hanlons quest to get his gun... It doesn't work with every faction character but if you drop a bunch of dynamite (1 at a time) and shoot it the dynamite explodes and I did that to Hanlon with Boone in my party and he didn't complain or turn hostile or leave or anything AND I didn't lose ncr rep... So I got the Sequoia without doing the quest
Not to nitpick, but you only need to get lockpicking up to 49 with mentats, a hat, and a locksmith reader with comprehension to get Lucky. I like this build.
Not to nitpick, but you only need to get lockpicking up to 49 with mentats, a hat, and a locksmith reader with comprehension to get Lucky. I like this build.
Fair enough, I was just trying to point out the bare minimum for the readers. On a mostly unrelated note, how did your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. build for New Vegas wind up in Fallout 4 tips & tricks?
Fair enough, I was just trying to point out the bare minimum for the readers. On a mostly unrelated note, how did your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. build for New Vegas wind up in Fallout 4 tips & tricks?