Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Tygrende]

Give me a build I can easily follow to roflstomp hard/oddity. Preferably without needing to mess around with a lot of traps and such.

Bonus points for it not being AR Tin can, but i'm also not ruling out AR Tin can if that's the most OP.

AR with stealth, grenadier, TM and a very liberal use of gas grenades. It's both the easiest to play and pretty much strongest build in the game too. Tin can requires more effort put into crafting and armor swapping and the added survivalability is not really worth getting into fights without stealth. It would be objectively superior to use metal on a case-by-case basis when you know it's optimal to use metal and stealth otherwise, but that requires a lot of meta knowledge. Just stealth, you will have a much easier time.

Then just throw gas grenades and start bursting at things that run through it, everything dies. Max concentrated fire spec as soon as possible. Throw damage/flash/emp nades when possible.

 

[ItsChon]

Give me a build I can easily follow to roflstomp hard/oddity. Preferably without needing to mess around with a lot of traps and such.

Bonus points for it not being AR Tin can, but i'm also not ruling out AR Tin can if that's the most OP.

Metathermic Tin Can Sledgehammer was fun and it gets really strong, though IDK if I'd call it OP. TC Sniper is fun, Metal Fist Combo monk is good. There are also a ton of really strong builds on the forums that are hyperoptimized too. Just depends on if you really want to play the most OP build (AR Tin Can) or something more specific.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Give me a build I can easily follow to roflstomp hard/oddity. Preferably without needing to mess around with a lot of traps and such.

Bonus points for it not being AR Tin can, but i'm also not ruling out AR Tin can if that's the most OP.

AR with stealth, grenadier, TM and a very liberal use of gas grenades. It's both the easiest to play and pretty much strongest build in the game too. Tin can requires more effort put into crafting and armor swapping and the added survivalability is not really worth getting into fights without stealth. It would be objectively superior to use metal on a case-by-case basis when you know it's optimal to use metal and stealth otherwise, but that requires a lot of meta knowledge. Just stealth, you will have a much easier time.

Then just throw gas grenades and start bursting at things that run through it, everything dies. Max concentrated fire spec as soon as possible. Throw damage/flash/emp nades when possible.

Do you have a link to a build guide? Or at least some stat/feat recommendations to start with?

Also, in a build like that, are you just crafting your own grenades?

 

[Tygrende]

Do you have a link to a build guide? Or at least some stat/feat recommendations to start with?

I have an old one that's designed for ironman, so it has more survivalability than necessary if you don't mind reloading once or twice. Feats not in order.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgcHB...WMBVOSkkrwodjAmFPwrXCiDvDjuKjsQXip6oD4qe0B9-_

You can lower CON at put more points into PER. You don't need conditioning and thick skull. You can also lower DEX if you're not gonna pick escape artist but I actually recommend getting it regardless, it's a life saver. Or quick itnkering if you don't want traps but it's one of the most OP things in the game period. You can also play it as is, you're going to melt everything slightly slower but be harder to kill, your choice.

The skill distribution is also very meta so I'd change it if you don't know the exact thresholds for everything.
Max guns
Get throwing to 123 effective (you get max hit chance at max range with grenades at that skill level)
30 base dodge is for escape artist
Max stealth
Hacking should go to 135 effective with all possible boosts, same for lockpicking, can be slightly lower as that much is only useful for one container each before Deep Caverns. Both of those containers have the same pretty useful item (biohazard suit), up to you
About 50-60ish pickpocket is amazing for all the money, ammo, drugs and XP you get from it.
Traps you can disregard completly if you don't like them, I like at least 40 for crawler bear traps.
Mechanics/electronics/tailoring you should be pumping pretty high, I don't have the exact numbers on hand at the moment but just keep pumping if you have seen anything you can't craft with. 70 bio so you can make the +2 INT drug that will increase all of your crafting, hacking and mercantile by a lot. Need 40 (or 60 if you want to make more) chemistry to make incendiary 8.6 ammo which is amazing because it can fear enemies.
35 MT for cryostasis alone because it's an on-demand guranteed incap, can't miss, can't be randomly resisted, life saver
As much TM as possible until you hit 166, that's when risk of contraction backfire hits the floor.
105 effective mercantile for best components from Hana.

Also, in a build like that, are you just crafting your own grenades?

Not really worth the chem investment to craft the best damage nades when you can use electronics to craft the best plasma nades already, which deal more damage but in a slighter radius.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Do you have a link to a build guide? Or at least some stat/feat recommendations to start with?

I have an old one that's designed for ironman, so it has more survivalability than necessary if you don't mind reloading once or twice. Feats not in order.

https://underrail.info/build/?HgcHB...WMBVOSkkrwodjAmFPwrXCiDvDjuKjsQXip6oD4qe0B9-_

You can lower CON at put more points into PER. You don't need conditioning and thick skull. You can also lower DEX if you're not gonna pick escape artist but I actually recommend getting it regardless, it's a life saver. Or quick itnkering if you don't want traps but it's one of the most OP things in the game period. You can also play it as is, you're going to melt everything slightly slower but be harder to kill, your choice.

The skill distribution is also very meta so I'd change it if you don't know the exact thresholds for everything.
Max guns
Get throwing to 123 effective (you get max hit chance at max range with grenades at that skill level)
30 base dodge is for escape artist
Max stealth
Hacking should go to 135 effective with all possible boosts, same for lockpicking, can be slightly lower as that much is only useful for one container each before Deep Caverns. Both of those containers have the same pretty useful item (biohazard suit), up to you
About 50-60ish pickpocket is amazing for all the money, ammo, drugs and XP you get from it.
Traps you can disregard completly if you don't like them, I like at least 40 for crawler bear traps.
Mechanics/electronics/tailoring you should be pumping pretty high, I don't have the exact numbers on hand at the moment but just keep pumping if you have seen anything you can't craft with. 70 bio so you can make the +2 INT drug that will increase all of your crafting, hacking and mercantile by a lot. Need 40 (or 60 if you want to make more) chemistry to make incendiary 8.6 ammo which is amazing because it can fear enemies.
35 MT for cryostasis alone because it's an on-demand guranteed incap, can't miss, can't be randomly resisted, life saver
As much TM as possible until you hit 166, that's when risk of contraction backfire hits the floor.
105 effective mercantile for best components from Hana.

Also, in a build like that, are you just crafting your own grenades?

Not really worth the chem investment to craft the best damage nades when you can use electronics to craft the best plasma nades already, which deal more damage but in a slighter radius.

Gotcha

So I will probably drop dex to 3, drop con to 3, make perception 10, and int 7 for gunslinger.
I'll drop traps, and dodge, since i'm not getting escape artist with 3 dex.
I probably won't bother with metathermics, save those points for something else, as I already feel a little spread thin.

That'll get me a somewhat stripped down, more straightforward version of this build. It'll be a lot more glass-cannony, but that's ok I think. I expect I'll hit the F9 key on occasion.
I was a little surprised to see expertise. I guess I get the idea in that it'll add to every shot in a burst, but is the extra damage really significant?

 

[Trashos]

Well... you have got STR (ARs need STR) which makes metal armors a thing for you, but if your CON is 3, tanking goes out the window in most situations. So if you go CON 3, you are throwing away one of the advantages of AR builds.

SMGs do a similar job without any requirement for STR, so if you want to go glass cannon, I say go SMG instead. If you want to stick to ARs, pick an appropriate CON. (I can't help with an exact number unfortunately, I go pretty high CON for my tanks.)

EDIT: Oh, and Escape Artist... is pretty good!

 

[CHEMS]

Well... you have got STR (ARs need STR) which makes metal armors a thing for you, but if your CON is 3, tanking goes out the window in most situations. So if you go CON 3, you are throwing away one of the advantages of AR builds.

SMGs do a similar job without any requirement for STR, so if you want to go glass cannon, I say go SMG instead. If you want to stick to ARs, pick an appropriate CON. (I can't help with an exact number unfortunately, I go pretty high CON for my tanks.)

EDIT: Oh, and Escape Artist... is pretty good!

Incendiary rounds were pretty good when they only torched your targets, but now they do additional heavy damage from heat. A glass cannon steelcat build packing 8.6s should be really really strong now, specially if you go through the expertise route. You'd be looking at aditional 20 mechanic damage + 10-20 heat damage per round. Looking at action economy i see that a SMG build would be even stronger than AR build taking this extra damage in consideration...

 

[Trashos]

Inspired/Misguided by the recent conversations about tanking, I made the ill-advised decision to drop everything I am doing and start a tank/throwing build. A bit too masochistic for my tastes, but I thought it might give me further insight into tanking.

I reread Sheepherder's Titan build to get further ...misguidance, and off I went. I am not planning to reach CON 18 though, hopefully CON 16 will be enough. No psi. Just grenades, traps, and throwing knives. I am still undecided on whether to invest in Fatal Throw, and what specializations I am going to take.

I was proud to figure out the robot situation in Elwood's house. No tanking here, just mobility tactics:

Spoiler

Open door, throw grenade, close door, until traps are gone. Open the door, go around through the shafts, press enter, enter room through the shaft, EMP grenade, and then I have enough time to get the disk, gtfo, and close the door.

I am now in Depot A. Against robots I sometimes immobilize them with taser and attack them with shock knife. It sucks that there are no shock shurikens (and no throwing glove either) this early.

 

[Trashos]

By the Tchort, why are Sentry Bots able to get some damage through my 20 DT armor without crits?! Does the "Mechanical Damage modifier cannot drop below 90%" change affect DT too?

This is so so wrong. It feels like something out of... I am not going to say it. Tanking is even less satisfying now.

EDIT: My post is nonsense, issue resolved below.

 

[Tygrende]

By the Tchort, why are Sentry Bots able to get some damage through my 20 DT armor without crits?! Does the "Mechanical Damage modifier cannot drop below 90%" change affect DT too?

This is so so wrong. It feels like something out of... I am not going to say it. Tanking is even less satisfying now.

20 DT vs. guns as a dedicated tank, that's rookie numbers even in GMS. Just wearing kevlar tabis and balaclava is 12 DT. Even the most garbage reinforced panel vest you can loot from a garbage barrel is at least 9 DT. Even a weak, 30 quality panel/plate anti-rifle vest should be 30 DT. And you can find MUCH better than that if you're lucky, either from the lurker in the underpassages or by getting the GMS guard killed or buying/finding it in a container. And that's not even getting into crafting better with a kevlar overcoat. There's plenty of kevlar and ceramic plates to be bought at junkyard.

Get used to having and constantly upgrading an entire wardrobe. You're a barbie girl now.

 

[Trashos]

That's not the point, though. DT 7 (or thereabouts) used to be enough to stop any damage from sentry bots (bar crits). Now, DT 20 is not fully stopping damage. Can DT fully stop damage now?

 

[Tygrende]

That's not the point, though. DT 7 (or thereabouts) used to be enough to stop any damage from sentry bots (bar crits). Now, DT 20 is not fully stopping damage. Can DT fully stop damage now?

Nah, pretty much always dealt a little below or around 20 on regular attacks and way over on crits. And yes, DT can still reduce damage to 0.

Here's a genuine 0.1.4 screenshot I took just now:

 

[Trashos]

You are right! I was comparing tactical vest with metal armor without remembering that metal armor does not have increased DT against bullets. I haven't played metal for a while, and when I saw the damage my mind first went to recent mechanical damage changes. Damn.

 

[Tygrende]

Metal is really nothing special early on, the DR advantage is too low to matter at this point. The relatively low mech damage everything deals, combined with guns being pretty dangerous early without a shield makes an anti-rifle vest with its high DT the overall best tank armor in early game.

 

[Trashos]

Yeah, I didn't remember the lack of %increase in DT somehow. It is not that bad, though, there are fights that involve both bullets and dogs in Depot A, and I was able to do them without taking special preliminary measures for the dogs. I get a shield from the gambling house guard, but naturally it is not that good.

In this playthrough I got very crappy tactical vests from the drops, unfortunately (base DT 5 the best I got, the other two were 4s). So I decided to buy something instead.

 

[CHEMS]

I like going to Depot A with at least 60 hacking. Those turrets are a pain. Been through Depot A a million times and i still hate it, this dungeon can suck a fat one.

 

[CHEMS]

Also,

In this playthrough I got very crappy tactical vests from the drops, unfortunately (base DT 5 the best I got, the other two were 4s). So I decided to buy something instead.

There is a very good cheese you can do to get a good one straight out of the beggining of the game (as soon as you get access to junkyard, which is pretty early). Get yourself at least 5 poison caltrops and grenades, tier 1 grenade will do, you only need the noise. Go to the casino and open the curtain, but be careful to avoid being seen by the guards and the camera. Throw some caltrops in the room where the surveillance guy is. Then go outside, throw some caltroops at the doorstep and throw some more at the alley where the backdoor is. Chuck a grenade down there and the suckas will investigate, trampling around your caltrops. Do it 2 or 3 times and the the surveillance guy will die without aggro anyone. You can now loot his body for a decent tac vest, free shield and you can get the cash from his room. I do this every playthrough. Going into depot A with a shield makes things smoother, especially for you that is making a build that is about tanking stuff. This shield is easier to get than getting one from the protectorate prision. If you want a beefier tac vest, there's the ironhead group south of SGS, the bald guy has a heavy one most of the times.

 

[Trashos]

Yeah, CHEMS, I do that for the money in the guard's office anyway, and his shield too. The other ones I get are that of the stalker in the location east of Blaine (but this one is almost always crap), and the vest of the GMS guard. Usually one of the 3 is going to be decent or even good (DT9 the best I have ever gotten), but it happens sometimes that none of them is very good.

I had forgotten about the vest from the ironheads, good idea. I usually leave them for after the game opens up, but in cases where all my vests suck I should be going after them early.

 

[lukaszek]

i usually hope for light vest with nearly 40 sneak from iron heads

 

[CHEMS]

Yeah, it will fit your playstyle early on. The vest comes with a huge armor penalty, but i don't think you going for mobility or stealth, so go get it.

In other note, i'm not so rusty after all. Got bored playing the pistol build on hard, so i'll play a SMG one on DOM. Those refurbished guns are the shit, didn't craft any weapons after getting Wyatt's revolver. Also, what's with this void bolts i saw on the wiki? None of the savages had it when they attacked the island. Do they only spawn on hard or they only use it on their villages? Other question: is there anyway i can kill the SRO major for his smg without aggroing everyone? I want to get it but i don't want to join the drones, gotta love gun lube and Fraser's stock.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Well... you have got STR (ARs need STR) which makes metal armors a thing for you, but if your CON is 3, tanking goes out the window in most situations. So if you go CON 3, you are throwing away one of the advantages of AR builds.

SMGs do a similar job without any requirement for STR, so if you want to go glass cannon, I say go SMG instead. If you want to stick to ARs, pick an appropriate CON. (I can't help with an exact number unfortunately, I go pretty high CON for my tanks.)

EDIT: Oh, and Escape Artist... is pretty good!

Interesting point.

What would you recommend for starting stats then. We'll assume I will take escape artist I suppose, it does seem handy, the stats just feel spread a bit thin at that point. So would I not plan to get gun nut on this build?

 

[Trashos]

Corbin Dallas Multipass, for historical purposes I am describing the last AR build I played below. However, I recommend that you go with Tygrende's build instead. Your life is going to be much easier with Escape Artist (and Grenadier and Quick Tinkering!), my build was designed to fit a specific playstyle I had in mind.

Spoiler

STR 7-->9 DEX 3 AG 3 CON 9-->12 PER 10-->13 WILL 3 INT 5

1. Expertise/Opportunist
2. Suppresive Fire
4. (CON 9-->10) Thick Skull
6. Full Auto
8. (STR 7-->8) Psycho Temporal Acceleration (reqs. Psi Empathy)
10. Concentrated Fire
12. (STR --> 9) Ambush
14. Commando
16. (PER 10-->11) Critical Power
18. Quick Pockets
20. (CON 10-->11) Juggernaut
22. Conditioning
24. (CON 11-->12) Pack Rat
26. Temper Electricity
28. PER+2
30. Scrutinous

SKILLS

Spoiler

Guns +++
Throwing ~70
Stealth ~100
Hacking 130 with INT+2 drug
Lockpicking 100 with jacknife
Pickpocketing 70
Mech/Electr 135 with crafting bonus, adjust depending on materials)
Chem 112 with crafting bonus
Bio 80 with crafting bonus
Tailor 120 with crafting bonus
Temporal Manipulation 70 BASE
Mercantile 110 with belt and INT+2 drug, if you want to buy the Devastator cheap

I have taken some feats that enhance critical hits, I am assuming that I used a Chimera. It has been a while for this build, and I haven't checked the rifle details lately. STR goes to 9 for wearing tungsten armor without penalty, CON goes to 12 for the Tempered Electricity feat. Rest of points go to PER.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Corbin Dallas Multipass, for historical purposes I am describing the last AR build I played below. However, I recommend that you go with Tygrende's build instead. Your life is going to be much easier with Escape Artist (and Grenadier and Quick Tinkering!), my build was designed to fit a specific playstyle I had in mind.

Spoiler

STR 7-->9 DEX 3 AG 3 CON9-->12 PER 10-->13 WILL 3 INT 5

1. Expertise/Opportunist
2. Suppresive Fire
4. Thick Skull
6. Full Auto
8. Psycho Temporal Acceleration (reqs. Psi Empathy)
10. Concentrated Fire
12. Ambush
14. Commando
16. Critical Power
18. Quick Pockets
20. Juggernaut
22. Conditioning
24. Pack Rat
26. Temper Electricity
28. PER+2
30. Scrutinous

SKILLS

Spoiler

Guns +++
Throwing ~70
Stealth ~100
Hacking 130 with INT+2 drug
Lockpicking 100 with jacknife
Pickpocketing 70
Mech/Electr 135 with crafting bonus, adjust depending on materials)
Chem 112 with crafting bonus
Bio 80 with crafting bonus
Tailor 120 with crafting bonus
Temporal Manipulation 70 BASE
Mercantile 110 with belt and INT+2 drug, if you want to buy the Devastator cheap

I have taken some feats that enhance critical hits, I am assuming that I used a Chimera. It has been a while for this build, and I haven't checked the rifle details lately. STR goes to 9 for wearing tungsten armor without penalty, CON goes to 12 for the Tempered Electricity feat. Rest of points go to PER.

That's very helpful, thank you. It's hard to tell from the level 30 character sheet how to allocate starting stats, although I guess the perk order does give some clues. I see your build also didn't get int 7, just not worthwhile for the improvements to crafted guns with gun nut? I figured that was an easy pick, but maybe that's why my characters tend to suck lol.

 

[Trashos]

I updated my build with the order of ability increases every 4 levels. Like I mentioned, I am not recommending the build, but maybe you can use it to get ideas.

Gun Nut is OK, but not a feat I lose sleep over. ARs are not starving for damage anyway. Generally, I take Gun Nut if I am already going to have INT 7 for other reasons, but I do not go to INT 7 specifically for Gun Nut. So I would sacrifice a feat for Gun Nut, but not the ability points.

If I decided to redistribute ability points here, my priority would definitely be to increase DEX for the DEX feats. Gun Nut is way down the list of priorities.

 

[grumf]

Also,

In this playthrough I got very crappy tactical vests from the drops, unfortunately (base DT 5 the best I got, the other two were 4s). So I decided to buy something instead.

There is a very good cheese you can do to get a good one straight out of the beggining of the game (as soon as you get access to junkyard, which is pretty early). Get yourself at least 5 poison caltrops and grenades, tier 1 grenade will do, you only need the noise. Go to the casino and open the curtain, but be careful to avoid being seen by the guards and the camera. Throw some caltrops in the room where the surveillance guy is. Then go outside, throw some caltroops at the doorstep and throw some more at the alley where the backdoor is. Chuck a grenade down there and the suckas will investigate, trampling around your caltrops. Do it 2 or 3 times and the the surveillance guy will die without aggro anyone. You can now loot his body for a decent tac vest, free shield and you can get the cash from his room. I do this every playthrough. Going into depot A with a shield makes things smoother, especially for you that is making a build that is about tanking stuff. This shield is easier to get than getting one from the protectorate prision. If you want a beefier tac vest, there's the ironhead group south of SGS, the bald guy has a heavy one most of the times.

You can kill Mordre (fisherman on way to Newton) with a gas grenade, drops a sniper, SMG, high or medium shield and the best knife for early game melee characters.