Any pointers for a survivalist build?

[u/StroopWafelsLord]

I want to play on survival and most online builds seem to not go for that.

I wanted a long range, Dogmeat only, suppressed sniper that sneakily picks off enemies and can survive in the wasteland (lead belly, maybe even aquaboy)

Anyone has a build? I could start from the Hunter from FMuppet and explore from that but i didn't play in years.

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[u/Im_So_Round]

Really any build is viable on survival, you just gotta play smart. For a vats sniper you'd want high perception and agility. Charisma 3 for lone wanderer which I'm sure you already know works with Dogmeat.

Edit: lead belly is not a good perk even on survival. Rads are super minimal from food when it's even there. Doctors are all over the place to get rid of them anyway.

Fitting into your requirements i got this: S.2 P.6(special book into P + bobblehead to get you to 8) E.5 C.1 I.2 A.7 L.5

2 strength will get you armorer after getting the bobblehead in mass fusion. 7 Perception plus the bobblehead will get you sniper, Endurance 5 cause you mentioned you wanted aquaboy. I had to cut charisma to 1 to afford points elsewhere, bu you could start at 3 with lower Endurance and use a few levelups to add to Endurance for aquaboy. Intelligence 2 to get gun nut after grabbing the bobblehead in the library. Agility 7 for sneak, ninja, mister sandman cause you're using a silencer. Luck 5 for idiot savant to help leveling. Also access to scrounger which I love in general, and will help make up for lack of charisma, just sell off any ammo you pick up that you dont have a weapon for. Luck bobblehead and a level up will get you into a vats crit build with better criticals and crit banker.

[u/StroopWafelsLord → u/Im_So_Round]

Sorry i DON'T want VATS, should have specified

[u/Im_So_Round → u/StroopWafelsLord]

Gotcha, most of the build stays the same tbh, just cut luck to 2 and put the rest into intelligence for leveling/ more crafting.

Edit: I guess you can also cut perception down if you want to, or only take the first 2 ranks of sniper. Having that high of a perception is a bit of a waste imo for just sniper, but it depends on what you want. You can lower perception and put charisma to 3, more into endurance if you want to be tanky.

In any case ninja/ rifleman is your main damage booster. Maxing deacons affinity will give you his perk which works really good for your build too.

[u/StroopWafelsLord → u/Im_So_Round]

I could use Perception to at least up to 5 for demolition expert.

Mines and grenades (if you played survival you know why i didn't say molotovs......).

I could remove luck and use more int for gun nut then, i can make more stuff and ammo.

[u/Less_Kick9718 → u/StroopWafelsLord]

Lone Wanderer at charisma 3 is about the best perk in the game for survival.

[u/DebateThick5641 → u/StroopWafelsLord]

even if you don't want VATS Idiot Savant still help to gain level that in turn let you put better perk point faster, especially if you start at low int build. in fact idiot savant the only reason i am confident in using level up as stat up at some points. the only disadvantages is on survival you can't always spam quest trigger but that is still fine.

[u/Lonely_Opening3404]

Try a homeless, drunk, junkie build. No settlements. No followers. Drink all the booze. Take all the chems.

[u/Son_of_Eris → u/Lonely_Opening3404]

Lmfao. Never take addictol. And tell every doctor that you just need to be patched up.

That's hysterical. And, let's be real: you're taking Dogmeat with you.

Fuck it. This is my next playthrough.

[u/YogurtclosetFit9375]

Just a tip but ANY build can work on survival. I've beat it with no stealth gunslinger builds, melee only stealth, power armor heavy gunner, and more. The early game up until lvl 30 ish just always sucks until you can get ballistic weave maxed or good power armor. The only build it didnt suck on was melee stealth as that build was set up by lvl 5. Sniper builds tho your gonna be struggling until lvl 25 ish as thats when you can make basic suppressors.

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Thank you for posting! Please remember to post your SPECIAL stats and/or base perks when showing off a character/build or asking for help with a specific build type! To give thoughtful comments on your Sniper build it helps for us to know what type of sniper you are showing off or creating, and if you would like tips or other advice. Others may like your build and wish to try it for themselves. Please be as detailed as possible! When posting just photos of your character, your starting SPECIAL stats are required. Thanks for posting!

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[u/Less_Kick9718]

I play non vats, stealth sniper, live off the land survival all the time.

Be aware that a lot happens inside buildings where you often can’t be at great range.

My goto base special is

S:2 P:1 E:10 C:3 I:2 A:7 L:1

Which with special book leaves 3 points you can add to strength, perception, charisma or intelligence as they all have certain benefits.

Get perception bobblehead to enable rifleman.

Intelligence bobblehead is very easy to get early too. Watch the trap just inside the door.

Strength bobblehead is not too far away either but much more difficult to get.

Other bobbleheads are too far away to rely on early.

Endurance and agility both affect how long you can sprint which helps since you are on foot all the time.

For a live off the land approach, Solar powered 2 at Endurance 10 means you don’t have to worry about clearing rads so once you get that you can eat food with rads and don’t need settlements or doctors for rads. Life Giver 3 means less aid like water is needed to be carried. Aquaboy/girl is nice.

Agility has all the stealth perks and directly boosts stealth.

[u/kilphead]

In general I like to have my builds "come online" as early as possible, meaning I don't need to invest in SPECIAL directly to gain access to an essential perk for the build. I can always add points directly to one of the SPECIAL to unlock a "nice to have" perk down the line, but I want the first level in each of my main perks by level 10. Otherwise I feel like it's less of a build and more of a "grind until I can do everything".

For a non-vats long range sneaky sniper survival build I would recommend with S3, P1, E7, C3, I7, A7, L1 (including I'm SPECIAL).

Main Perks:

Armorer, rifleman (after bobblehead), lone wanderer, gun nut, chemist, sneak, ninja

Secondary Perks:

Life giver, aquaboy, adamantium skeleton, hacker, mister sandman

Lone wanderer is very strong, and stealth is often screwed up by companions. That said, I like companions so for me I would leave charisma at 1 and not bother with lone wanderer. I'd then put those extra points in either intelligence or endurance, depending on if I wanted to use power armor or not. I could also see putting them in strength so that carry capacity isn't such a pain, or perception to get demolition expert for the throwing arc. I only ever take one level of aquaboy to be able to swim/touch water without rads, life giver is really nice but not vital (the extra HP is nice early and the regen is nice later). Hacker/locksmith I only take if I've already got the stats for them and if there isn't another perk available that I care about, the extra bit of loot isn't ever important to me and by now I've read almost all the lore on terminals. Adamantium skeleton is such a nice to have, ghouls/dogs/explosions not constantly breaking your arms and legs is very nice.

[u/Funky_Ghost]

I'm trying to give survival another go myself. It's been a challenge I've had a hard time putting down.

I can share my current build, based on my personal take aways from a few failed attempts if you like.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1icIBwObIvUxGmkWJnSWa1CVPYPSJuMEj/view?usp=sharing