Wasteland Wasteland 2 - Character Builds

[Lord Andre]

Just restarted the game to min-max my rangers based on the experience so far.

This is the OP build I stumbled upon and it is pretty OP from my experience so far: (playing on supreme jerk of course )

Coordonation (2) Luck(1) Awareness(6) Strength(4) Speed(6) Intelligence(8) Charisma(1)

Chance to evade 9% AP 8 Combat Initiative 14 Combat Speed 2.0

Assault or Sniper + Bashing Weapons

I managed to kill a Rail Nomad at lvl 1 (80hp) before his 3 buddies managed to kill me, had no problem with the toad (kept my medic as far as possible to avoid getting one shoted) and all in all pwned a lot of stuff that was giving me trouble before - like rabbits.

Here is what else I discovered with this build:

- coordonation can be dumped with no problem, 4% accuracy is 4 skill points that is one weapon mod away from getting back and those 4 skill points can go into Intelligence 8
- luck does not govern drops nor does it affect weapon jams, I have found so much better stuff this time around I'm beginning to think Awareness increases loot quality. As for weapon jams I get about 1 every 3 fights but I use melee for close range to conserve ammo.
- and last combat initiative seems pretty sweet and maybe better than AP, I'd rather get two turns before the bad guy gets one than have 12 AP in a single turn.


Also, protip: take the hand-cannon away from Jamal Rose and give her a shitty hunting rifle with some ammo, that way when she goes rogue she shoots from position instead of running into melee. Same strategy for Angela: always end the turn holding a long range weapon so if she goes rogue, she just shoots and keeps position.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Just restarted the game to min-max my rangers based on the experience so far.

This is the OP build I stumbled upon and it is pretty OP from my experience so far: (playing on supreme jerk of course )

Coordonation (2) Luck(1) Awareness(6) Strength(4) Speed(6) Intelligence(8) Charisma(1)

Chance to evade 9% AP 8 Combat Initiative 14 Combat Speed 2.0

Assault or Sniper + Bashing Weapons

I managed to kill a Rail Nomad at lvl 1 (80hp) before his 3 buddies managed to kill me, had no problem with the toad (kept my medic as far as possible to avoid getting one shoted) and all in all pwned a lot of stuff that was giving me trouble before - like rabbits.

Here is what else I discovered with this build:

- coordonation can be dumped with no problem, 4% accuracy is 4 skill points that is one weapon mod away from getting back and those 4 skill points can go into Intelligence 8
- luck does not govern drops nor does it affect weapon jams, I have found so much better stuff this time around I'm beginning to think Awareness increases loot quality. As for weapon jams I get about 1 every 3 fights but I use melee for close range to conserve ammo.
- and last combat initiative seems pretty sweet and maybe better than AP, I'd rather get two turns before the bad guy gets one than have 12 AP in a single turn.


Also, protip: take the hand-cannon away from Jamal Rose and give her a shitty hunting rifle with some ammo, that way when she goes rogue she shoots from position instead of running into melee. Same strategy for Angela: always end the turn holding a long range weapon so if she goes rogue, she just shoots and keeps position.

I'll have to experiment with the coordination reduction. You also lose evade and.. some other stuff - but, you might be right.

Here is my build for all four rangers, 9 ap - don't remember the other stats.:

6 Coordination
1 Luck
3 Strength
3 Awareness
4 Speed
8 Int
3 Charisma



Alternatively (but this will cause your NPCs to lose control more often, but you will have 10 ap):
8 Coordination
1 Luck
3 Strength
3 Awareness
4 Speed
8 Int
1 Charisma

 

[Greatness]

Coordination is definitely a viable dump stat. The only thing you're really getting from it is AP, which you can get elsewhere and which is inferior to initiative after around ~8-10 AP (depending on weapon type). The extra hit % isn't worth the points since the vast majority of your hit % comes from the weapon skill and other bonuses like crouch/leadership/highground/etc combine to make missing fairly rare. Initiative usually ends up giving more extra attacks than AP anyways, since it actually straight up gives you more turns every time carry over is higher than the enemies initiative.

I see a lot of people making mistakes in their build in regards to STR/SPD/INT. Remember to keep the total of those attributes as a multiple of 4! Those 3 stats are linked together, take the sum of all three and divide by 4 to see how many bonus AP's you get.

This makes intelligence and speed the most important stats. Compare for example:

Every 2 Coord + 2 Awareness = 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 1% Evade, +2% Hit Chance
Every 4 Speed =========== 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 4% Evade, +0.4 Combat Speed
Every 2 Str + 2 Speed ======= 1 Action Point, 1 Initiative, 2% Evade, +0.2% Combat Speed, +6 Base Con, +1 Con/Lvl, +24 Carry Weight, +2% Melee Crit Dmg

Since hit chance is so easy to get in many different ways, the other benefits far better IMO.

If you use the AP from STR/SPD/INT well you can end up with better combat stats while dumping coord than someone who didn't dump it. Just remember to keep at minimum 2 coord since you're forced to have at least 1, meaning that the 2nd point is the only time you get to spend 1 point for 1 AP.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Coordination is definitely a viable dump stat. The only thing you're really getting from it is AP, which you can get elsewhere and which is inferior to initiative after around ~8-10 AP (depending on weapon type). The extra hit % isn't worth the points since the vast majority of your hit % comes from the weapon skill and other bonuses like crouch/leadership/highground/etc combine to make missing fairly rare. Initiative usually ends up giving more extra attacks than AP anyways, since it actually straight up gives you more turns every time carry over is higher than the enemies initiative.

I see a lot of people making mistakes in their build in regards to STR/SPD/INT. Remember to keep the total of those attributes as a multiple of 4! Those 3 stats are linked together, take the sum of all three and divide by 4 to see how many bonus AP's you get.

This makes intelligence and speed the most important stats. Compare for example:

Every 2 Coord + 2 Awareness = 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 1% Evade, +2% Hit Chance
Every 4 Speed =========== 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 4% Evade, +0.4 Combat Speed
Every 2 Str + 2 Speed ======= 1 Action Point, 1 Initiative, 2% Evade, +0.2% Combat Speed, +6 Base Con, +1 Con/Lvl, +24 Carry Weight, +2% Melee Crit Dmg

Since hit chance is so easy to get in many different ways, the other benefits far better IMO.

If you use the AP from STR/SPD/INT well you can end up with better combat stats while dumping coord than someone who didn't dump it. Just remember to keep at minimum 2 coord since you're forced to have at least 1, meaning that the 2nd point is the only time you get to spend 1 point for 1 AP.

Oooh, I must go experiment now.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Coordination is definitely a viable dump stat. The only thing you're really getting from it is AP, which you can get elsewhere and which is inferior to initiative after around ~8-10 AP (depending on weapon type). The extra hit % isn't worth the points since the vast majority of your hit % comes from the weapon skill and other bonuses like crouch/leadership/highground/etc combine to make missing fairly rare. Initiative usually ends up giving more extra attacks than AP anyways, since it actually straight up gives you more turns every time carry over is higher than the enemies initiative.

I see a lot of people making mistakes in their build in regards to STR/SPD/INT. Remember to keep the total of those attributes as a multiple of 4! Those 3 stats are linked together, take the sum of all three and divide by 4 to see how many bonus AP's you get.

This makes intelligence and speed the most important stats. Compare for example:

Every 2 Coord + 2 Awareness = 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 1% Evade, +2% Hit Chance
Every 4 Speed =========== 1 Action Point, 2 Initiative, 4% Evade, +0.4 Combat Speed
Every 2 Str + 2 Speed ======= 1 Action Point, 1 Initiative, 2% Evade, +0.2% Combat Speed, +6 Base Con, +1 Con/Lvl, +24 Carry Weight, +2% Melee Crit Dmg

Since hit chance is so easy to get in many different ways, the other benefits far better IMO.

If you use the AP from STR/SPD/INT well you can end up with better combat stats while dumping coord than someone who didn't dump it. Just remember to keep at minimum 2 coord since you're forced to have at least 1, meaning that the 2nd point is the only time you get to spend 1 point for 1 AP.

Oooh, I must go experiment now.

I don't think I'll start over for this but what do you think about:

2 Coordination
1 Luck
3 Awareness
4 Str
8 Speed
8 Int
2 Charisma

Gives you the following:
9 ap
+2% to hit ranged
+1% to chance to crit
12 Combat Initiative
9% chance to evade
26 Con
2.2 Combat Speed
4 skill points per level
91 Carry weight
9 Con per level

In addition, the 4 Str would allow you wear heavier armor (some).

 

[Greatness]

2 Coordination
1 Luck
3 Awareness
4 Str
8 Speed
8 Int
2 Charisma
Gives you the following:
9 ap
+2% to hit ranged
+1% to chance to crit
12 Combat Initiative
9% chance to evade
26 Con
2.2 Combat Speed
4 skill points per level
91 Carry weight
9 Con per level
In addition, the 4 Str would allow you wear heavier armor (some).

It's good, pretty much optimal even IMO. Perhaps drop the extra point in cha for more awareness.

4,1,6,2,6,8,1 is very similar and still quite good.

Leaving STR at 2 is pretty viable. Like coord, the first point spent is more valuable than usual since you have the free initial point but it gets its bonuses on multiples of 2. Power Armor has no STR requirement anyways so you don't suffer all that much other than the HP pool.

2,1,4,2,8,10,1 might be best. Gets both "1pt wonders" from Coord/Str and the "2pt wonder" from 10 int and still has 9ap/13ini, not to mention INT is the only skill that isn't retroactive when being increased later on so starting out high is best. Just keep leveling awareness till the end of the game after that since it's the only thing that gets its full benefits in increments of 1.

 

[Anthony Davis]

2 Coordination
1 Luck
3 Awareness
4 Str
8 Speed
8 Int
2 Charisma
Gives you the following:
9 ap
+2% to hit ranged
+1% to chance to crit
12 Combat Initiative
9% chance to evade
26 Con
2.2 Combat Speed
4 skill points per level
91 Carry weight
9 Con per level
In addition, the 4 Str would allow you wear heavier armor (some).

It's good, pretty much optimal even IMO. Perhaps drop the extra point in cha for more awareness.

4,1,6,2,6,8,1 is very similar and still quite good.

Leaving STR at 2 is pretty viable. Like coord, the first point spent is more valuable than usual since you have the free initial point but it gets its bonuses on multiples of 2. Power Armor has no STR requirement anyways so you don't suffer all that much other than the HP pool.

2,1,4,2,8,10,1 might be best. Gets both "1pt wonders" from Coord/Str and the "2pt wonder" from 10 int and still has 9ap/13ini, not to mention INT is the only skill that isn't retroactive when being increased later on so starting out high is best. Just keep leveling awareness till the end of the game after that since it's the only thing that gets its full benefits in increments of 1.

I thought about 2 str, but even at 3 str I feel like I am always overloaded with the phat loots, also the rocket launchers at 15 pounds a piece and I'm pretty sure there is a Scorpitron in this game.

I only get skill points when I level up.

Is there a way to get attribute points?

 

[Greatness]

You get an extra attribute point every 10 levels. You can also get them from the animal whisperer skill, so long as your pet doesn't die. There's also items (charms) that can give additional attributes.

 

[Anthony Davis]

You get an extra attribute point every 10 levels. You can also get them from the animal whisperer skill, so long as your pet doesn't die.

Wow, I was sitting on attribute points and didn't even know it.

 

[toro]

You get an extra attribute point every 10 levels. You can also get them from the animal whisperer skill, so long as your pet doesn't die.

Wow, I was sitting on attribute points and didn't even know it.

The same. I was expecting to get some implants like in Fallout games but ...

Is there a level cap?

 

[toro]

"Is there a level cap?"

50 I think. I don't why there needs to be a cap in a game like this. if people want to waste their time running the WL for more xp more power to 'em.

Thank you.

Considering that you need ~35 skills for maxed skill then we have:

INT 3 - skill increase of 2 per level -> total of 100 skill increases -> 2.8 maxed skills
INT 4-7 - skill increase of 3 per level -> total of 150 skill increases -> 4.2 maxed skills
INT 8-9 - skill increase of 4 per level -> total of 200 skill increases -> 5.7 maxed skills
INT 10 - skill increase of 5 per level -> total of 250 skill increases -> 7.15 maxed skils

This makes Intelligence the single most important attribute in the entire game. Nice attribute balancing.

Stupid question incoming: Is there any penalty to high Intelligence ?

 

[Phage]

Toro - the only penalty is whatever you miss out on from the other stats. As you've inferred though, it's pretty much far and away the best stat. Any character with less than 4 INT is actually unviable unless you're doing a challenge run or handicapping yourself.

This harkens back to Fallout 1 design flaws. Crazy how a full beta test and over a decade of hindsight and experience didn't solve any of this, lol.

 

[Volourn]

Wait. You think a complete moran should be 'viable'? L0LZ yeah, because the desert Rangers as a group would want to have a 1 INT basically braindead character under the employ. LMAO Still said, you could make a viable character like that but you'd just have to fcous on less skills most likely. Make them a melee tank specialist and they be a good buffer for your smarter/less healthy characters. But, it surely shou;dn't be ideal. 4 is perfect since it's 'slightly above the starting point'.

btw, Plenty of people played a low intelligence chaarcter in FO and it was very viable for them. Nice try, though, with your bullshit ignorance.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

People are complaining about min-max characters? I hear a well balanced game with viable characters will be coming out in a couple of months.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

Just restarted the game to min-max my rangers based on the experience so far.

This is the OP build I stumbled upon and it is pretty OP from my experience so far: (playing on supreme jerk of course )

Coordonation (2) Luck(1) Awareness(6) Strength(4) Speed(6) Intelligence(8) Charisma(1)

Chance to evade 9% AP 8 Combat Initiative 14 Combat Speed 2.0

Assault or Sniper + Bashing Weapons

I managed to kill a Rail Nomad at lvl 1 (80hp) before his 3 buddies managed to kill me, had no problem with the toad (kept my medic as far as possible to avoid getting one shoted) and all in all pwned a lot of stuff that was giving me trouble before - like rabbits.

Here is what else I discovered with this build:

- coordonation can be dumped with no problem, 4% accuracy is 4 skill points that is one weapon mod away from getting back and those 4 skill points can go into Intelligence 8
- luck does not govern drops nor does it affect weapon jams, I have found so much better stuff this time around I'm beginning to think Awareness increases loot quality. As for weapon jams I get about 1 every 3 fights but I use melee for close range to conserve ammo.
- and last combat initiative seems pretty sweet and maybe better than AP, I'd rather get two turns before the bad guy gets one than have 12 AP in a single turn.


Also, protip: take the hand-cannon away from Jamal Rose and give her a shitty hunting rifle with some ammo, that way when she goes rogue she shoots from position instead of running into melee. Same strategy for Angela: always end the turn holding a long range weapon so if she goes rogue, she just shoots and keeps position.

What are the skills you're taking with your builds? Probably depend on what NPC's you take I guess.

 

[Phage]

Plenty of people played a low intelligence chaarcter in FO and it was very viable for them. Nice try, though, with your bullshit ignorance.

I was referring to how some stats were complete utter dumps (charisma was actually useless), while others were godlike (agility was ridiculous)


You should report to your programmer that your reading comprehension subroutines need some updating.

 

[Volourn]

Charisma boosted several skills i, IIRC it gave you bonus npc splots, and give you some C&C as well. HOLY FUCK.

 

[Phage]

In Fallout 1 it did actual nothing other than slightly increased Speech + Barter. Everyone tagged Speech anyways and Barter was useless due to the game's busted economy.

In 2 it was essentially your 'companion limit' stat. I guess if you wanted a veritable army you could set it to 6+, but honestly, that sounds like far more of a liability than anything else. Most people who cared about efficiency just put Charisma to 2 or 4. On that same note, odd numbered charisma stats were wasted stat points. Another flaw that WL2 shares (INT does nothing except at certain thresholds)

There was no "C&C" due to low charisma in any Fallout other than maybe an NPC saying you're ugly.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So the game is out for two days and people already figured out how to break it horribly like the Fallouts? Nice.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Plugging this build for 1 ranger per party

Give him 1 point heavy weapons, 1 point blunt weapons and the rest in utility skills for the whole game

In combat he usually puts on the heaviest armor you have access to, wades forward as a bullet sponge and spams medkits on himself. If the battle is hard enough that you need a mortar or rocket to salvage it, he's your man to deliver it. Those weapons autohit but have poor range, so the shooter doesn't need accuracy but he does need to be tough enough to wade in close.

Out of combat he does a ton of your environmental interaction and carries all your stuff.

The 1 point in speed gives him 8 AP/turn, enough for 2 medkits/turn. It's rare that he's doing major damage so he can live with 7 initiative. The rest goes into charisma so he doesn't take an XP penalty on his healing, puzzle solving, dialogue options, what have you.

 

[Lord Andre]

What are the skills you're taking with your builds? Probably depend on what NPC's you take I guess.

Everything I need I put on my 4 rangers. I don't trust NPCs. And I don't take them with me unless they bring something interesting story wise. For example I dumped Rose after Ag Center. And I don't let them use their skills when mine would suffice. They ain't stealing my XP.

I always keep Perception on my leader and put points now and then. Some stuff doesn't pop up without it.
All the unlocking skills to open up any type of loot container.
Speech skills I keep more for larping since they seem pretty useless.
Then as I level up and have spare points I push Weaponsmithing and Leadership to 3 on my leader.
Around level 9 I guess, you can pretty much have 3 points in all your chosen skills and a spare pool for on the spot boosting.

I think it's important not to get locked in a mentality where your start skills are set in stone for the rest of the game. I find an awesome weapon, I give it to one of my guys with spare points and tag the appropriate skill.

Also, it's worth remembering that if you want to get that first sneak attack where all your rangers concentrate fire on one enemy you have to make sure every one is in range and preferably crouching. Assault and sniper are best suited for that kind of thing, so maybe all your rangers should have a point in one of these skills and a working weapon just for ambush purposes. Once combat begins you can switch to whatever you normally use. A fast enemy ain't so fast if he's dead before the combat starts. As my ranger Jayne says: "I'll kill a man in a fair fight. Or if I think he's gonna' start a fair fight..."

I haven't felt like ranting about character builds in a game for a long time. This Wasteland 2 actually deserves to be called a classic RPG. Good job Inxile, it's worth the money.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

I haven't felt like ranting about character builds in a game for a long time. This Wasteland 2 actually deserves to be called a classic RPG. Good job Inxile, it's worth the money.

 

[Phage]

Does anyone have any hard data or experience on Unarmed vs Blunt vs Melee? Are any of these even worth picking up? I was using an Unarmed strength girl in my squad who was pretty tank-like and usually picked up a kill while soaking up some hits. She seemed decent, but as the enemies started using more long-range weapons I felt like she was becoming more and more irrelevant.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Does anyone have any hard data or experience on Unarmed vs Blunt vs Melee? Are any of these even worth picking up? I was using an Unarmed strength girl in my squad who was pretty tank-like and usually picked up a kill while soaking up some hits. She seemed decent, but as the enemies started using more long-range weapons I felt like she was becoming more and more irrelevant.

You can use melee at later stages to annoy enemy snipers and rifle users, they usually abandon their cover and become easy pickings. Im using blades, don't know other. Blades are really great, they crit like mad(over 100 damage in 1 turn and bleed) but have low armor pierce. So I giving some energy weapon levels to your blade is adviced.
They need high STR, good armor and some speed. A slow melee is really useless here.

edit: for alternatives you can always melee with shotguns.

 

[bonescraper]

Plugging this build for 1 ranger per party

Give him 1 point heavy weapons, 1 point blunt weapons and the rest in utility skills for the whole game

Luck 1 and heavy weapons? I expect you to raegquit.

Heavy weapons are cool, but they can't be modded (you can't reduce the chance to jam) and they shoot only in bursts, so they jam way more often. And with 8 action points you'll waste a lot of time unjamming your weapons instead of shooting.