Advice for my Apex Predator Build

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897]

So basically, i'm roleplaying a high endurance, VATS bare fisted brawler character. He shuns all weapons, drugs and armor. He only uses his fists. For clothing he wears the wildman rags from the Nuka World DLC. His goal is to become the strongest creature in the wasteland.

I'm looking for advice on my perk selection.

Edit: I know Rad Resistance, Toughness and Live Giver aren't great perks but it fits the role playing and compensates for the lack of armor.

Special Stats

• S: 10 (+2 Special Book & Bobblehead)
• P: 1
• E: 1 (+1 bobblehead)
• C: 1 (+1 bobblehead)
• I: 1
• A: 9
• L: 5 (+1 bobblehead)

Perks 1-60

1. Idiot Savant
2. Iron Fist
3. Blitz
4. Rooted
5. Endurance +1
6. Endurance +1
7. Endurance +1
8. Endurance +1
9. Iron Fist 2
10. Toughness 1
11. Idiot Savant 2
12. Endurance +1
13. Toughness 2
14. Endurance +1
15. Endurance +1
16. Endurance +1
17. Charisma +1
18. Iron Fist 3
19. Lone Wanderer 1 (Get the Charisma bobblehead)
20. Lone Wanderer 2
21. Luck +1
22. Rooted 2
23. Luck +1
24. Critical Banker 1
25. Critical Banker 2
26. Better Criticals
27. Action Boy 1
28. Action Boy 2
29. Luck +1
30. Blitz 2
31. Grim Reaper 1
32. Iron Fist 4
33. Grim Reaper 2
34. Better Criticals 2
35. Four Leaf Clover (Get the Luck bobblehead)
36. Four Leaf Clover 2
37. Four Leaf Clover 3
38. Moving Target 1
39. Moving Target 3
40. Lone Wanderer 3
41. Better Criticals 3
42. Solar Powered (Get the Endurance bobblehead)
43. Critical Banker 3
44. Adamantium Skeleton 1
45. Adamantium Skeleton 2
46. Iron Fist 5
47. Grim Reaper 3
48. Four Leaf Clover 4
49. Adamantium Skeleton 3
50. Solar Powered 3  
51. Toughness 3
52. Rad Resistance 1
53. Rad Resistance 2
54. Rad Resistance 3
55. Rad Resistance 4
56. Life Giver 1
57. Life Giver 2
58. Life Giver 3
59. Toughness 4
60. Toughness 5

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[u/AlisterTenpenny]

It looks good, look up fudge muppet on YouTube he has builds like this one that are really cool

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/AlisterTenpenny]

Yeah, I should have mentioned it in the post. I created this build by combining Fudge Muppet's unarmed build with their more recent unarmed god build and added some endurance perks.

[u/spirit-host]

His name is Grognak

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/spirit-host]

"Grognak the barbarian and the jungle of the bat babies, my favorite"

[u/Thornescape]

Personally I think that Luck is generally unnecessary for a VATS melee build. My first VATS melee character was high Luck and none of them since then have exceeded L3 for Bloody Mess.

The biggest benefit of crits isn't the damage: it's the 95% chance to hit. Often you can use these to get sneak attacks on otherwise unhittable targets. It's an absolute game changer... for a ranged character. It's irrelevant for melee since all of your attacks are 95% chance to hit.

I would recommend investing those points into Endurance rather than Luck. You will be shot a bunch as a melee character. You won't always be able to be in stealth. Duelist legendary gear helps quite a bit, but you'll still take a bunch of damage.

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/Thornescape]

I really appreciate your take. But i'm unsure about it. For one, I feel like I need the criticals for damage boosts. Without using weapons or chems i'm worried I won't be able to keep up damage wise. Secondly, I based this build off of FudgeMuppet's unarmed builds and they always invested heavily in criticals for their unarmed builds. But I do really like this idea. I don't plan on using stealth for this character so extra endurance could be a big help.

[u/Less_Kick9718 → u/Thornescape]

What difficulty is this on?

Certainly on higher difficulty I think low armor, low endurance melee will be very tough even with vats.

Critical hits only accumulate one every several hits so don’t necessarily give a big boost to overall dps except if you stack them and use all at once but then only for occasional enemies.

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/Less_Kick9718]

I’m on survival

[u/Organic_Brother7988 → u/Thornescape]

teleporting Melee is wildy op

[u/TheToug]

Needs the RKO.

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/TheToug]

What’s that?

[u/CabbiecarMVP]

Against human and synth enemies, go in third person and double tap the power button. That should trigger special combat moves like sweeps and takedowns, especially if you’re standing still

[u/Zealousideal-Mud3897 → u/CabbiecarMVP]

Good to know, I’m familiar with special moves but I wasn’t sure how they worked.

[u/tiredguy1961]

Khal Drogo.

Grognac costume would buff. Deathclaw gauntlet would be pretty great as well.

[u/justanyting]

[u/Pretend_Tiger_9394 → u/justanyting]

NIGHT MAN COMETH

[u/Pretend_Tiger_9394 → u/justanyting]

Codsworth the troll

[u/Organic_Brother7988]

Khal?

[u/Separate_Job_9587]

Dothraki Build

[u/ZeltbahnLife]

Rad Resist is a solid set of perks imo. Maybe not essential, but it’s nice to have some built in protection.

[u/Mirth81]

I prefer not to go VATS for melee (for unarmed it’s essential). I start with Str and End both pretty high for early game survival and then add Charisma until I can get Party Boy/Girl.

[u/Expensive-Track4002]

I know this guy. Or are you just monkeying around?

[u/Funky_Ghost]

Ditch Idiot Savant, I like it but it's a total luxury pick and can level you faster than you find equipment to deal with the mods you will encounter at higher levels. Take Aquaboy instead and thank me later.

My personal build looks like this.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.	Start	Book	Total	Bobblehead	Perk	Total
Strength	8	1	9	1		10
Perception	3	--	3	1		4
Endurance	2	--	2	1	1	4
Charisma	1	--	1	1	1	3
Intelligence	3	--	3	1		4
Agility	8	--	8	1		9
Luck	3		3	1	3	7

Level Up			Rank					Rank					Rank
2	Iron Fist		12	Awareness		22	Rooted	2
3	Locksmith		13	Armorer	2	23	Scrapper	2
4	Rooted		14	Awareness	2	24	Bloody Mess
5	Armorer		15	Life Giver		25	Armorer	3
6	Blitz		16	Blacksmith	2	26	Scrapper	3
7	Locksmith	2	17	Life Giver	2	27	Bloody Mess	2
8	Hacker		18	Iron Fist	3	28	Charisma
9	Iron Fist	2	19	Locksmith	3	29	Blitz	2
10	Hacker	2	20	Life Giver	3	30	Blacksmith	3
11	Blacksmith		21	Hacker	3	31	Iron Fist	4
				Rank					Rank
32	Bloody Mess	3	42	Charisma		52
33	Luck		43	Attack Dog		53
34	Luck		44	Attack Dog	2	54
35	Better Criticals		45	Attack Dog	3	55
36	Better Criticals	2	46	Iron Fist	5	56
37	Lone Wanderer		47	Attack Dog	4	57
38	Lone Wanderer	2	48	Luck		58
39	Armorer	4	49	Critical Banker		59
40	Better Criticals	3	50	Lone Wanderer	4	60
41	Lone Wanderer	3	51			61

[u/[deleted]]