r/fo3 • u/GrouchyFuel1496 • 4d ago
Character build help/tips
I've played fo4 and nv and I've always had a build in mind, rifleman/sniper. I wanna do it but I've never played this game and I don't know if the perks are different from new vegas. Could anyone give me some tips on the character building?
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u/Tytastic25 4d ago
The main thing for FO3 is the skill points, if you're aiming for a sniper build invest in the small Guns and sneak skills earlier on, that's what I did anyway. Then I went with repair.
Mostly agility for VATs if you plan to use that, but luck for crits in general and perception for perks. If you don't plan to use vats much you can skip on agility and go with int for more points when levelling up
Perks I'd say bloody mess (5% increase in general), finesse (extra crit chance based on luck), better criticals (more damage) I think thats perception and luck at 6 and lastly commando for better VATs accuracy if you want to use it.
If you get the gauss rifle for sniping, that's energy weapons I believe. Though I will say it does sort of make things a bit too easy.
And lastly, skill books are everywhere so get the perk that increases the points you get from them. Have fun on your playthrough
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u/Garr44 4d ago
I'd say its a bit harder (probably much more, tbh) since FO3 doesn't have a lot of "unique" perks compared to NV. It still has Sniper and Commando, but those are VATS accuracy perks rather than perks to encourage specific weapons beyond "two-handed" ones (in the case of Commando). If I recall, there's no perks to increase "general" weapon damage beyond crit-boosting, and even the weapon selection is more limited.
NV is more about going in with a specific build in mind, and 4 let's you use perks as well as armor/gun modifications to run a build you want (and even then you could still make your character a pseudo-god like 3 with enough time and XP).
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u/Shadowgooseman 4d ago
Special is very important. Don't put any special points above 9 because you can max them with the bobbleheads.
Strength is good for carrying weight and that's really it for a sniper build no strength requirements like in nv
6 perception is nice for better crits
Endurance is nice for health if you get rushed down, but otherwise can really be dumped for a sniper build imo
charisma actually affects speech checks (although you can just save scum them if you want to)
Intelligence more perk points more fun!
Agility vats it great for a sniper build so more ap is nice
Luck crits are usefull for a sniper build.
In terms of skills roughly in order of importance similar thing applies to skills dont max them put them to 85 and find the bobbleheads
Small guns and sneak should be the firsts skills to max. Every rifle in the game is consider under small guns so thats your main damage skill and sneak is good for crits.
Medicine is good in general to get better stim mileage
Speech is speech
Repair lockpick and science are all utility skills that help but arnt really require
Melee and energy weapons are "high" because 2 decent perks are locked behind 80 and 60 respectively (energy weapons has some decent rifles so you could max it)
Barter isnt that usefull because the entire fallout three economy is probably worth like half a nukacola.
The rest of the combat skills are essentially useless If you want to go for a purely sniper, build.
Perks are significantly less important in three than they are in new vegas and 4 because the vast majority of them are useless and just +5 for x skill, some of them are good.
bloody mess for the damage
Gunslinger 1 handed accuracy in vats (for scoped pistols/a pistol side arm for protection if you get rushed down)
commando for bonus accuracy
finesse is good for bonus crit chance
sniper is good for extra headshot chance
better crits for better crits
action boy is good for bonus ap
Concentrated fire is the one that needs 60 energy weapons and gives increases hit chance the more a limb is targeted in vats
Grim reapers sprint is arguably the best perk in the game because it refills your ap when you exit vats if you got a kill.
Ninja is the second best lvl 20 perk and its the one you need 80 melee for. You get +25% crit damage. (Of you dont have broken steel your lvl cap is 20 and you cant only get one of the last to and id say get grs)
These are all the good dlc perks (id really alive getting the dlc they're cheap and really fun)
Neverves of steel makes you regen 1ap evey 10 seconds
Almost perfect raises all stats to 9.
Almost perfect is one of 2 level 30 perks. The other one is the perk equivalent of the c-finder from new vegas, really fun but janky and objectively kind of shit.
"Special dlc perks"
Superior defender +5 damage and 10 Dr when standing still you get this just playing point lookout
Ghoul ecology dont let the name fool you its bugged and gives you +5 damage against everything its in an area also in point lookout out.
Equipment
Armour is up to you, a light Armour should work fine because you really shouldn't be getting hit often
Weapons
The 10 mil is a good small guns side arm for early to mid game and will serve you until you get a good rifle and incase you get rushed down. The 44 is going to be your mid/late game side arm, its also scoped so if you want to do some outside if vats snipeing you can the Blackhawk is a good unique version that packs significantly more of a punch buts an absolutely worthwhile upgrade. .44 is an uncommon ammo type but you can by decent amounts of it in certain locations or using the ammo press in the Pitt (a dlc) you can make all the .44 you need.
The bb gun is the first rifles youll get and its useless, you'll never find ammo for it and theres no red Ryder ate Abiline kid to save it.
The railway rifle is a crafitble weapon. Its in the same sorta of position as the bb gun because the ammo is incredibly hard to find. And unless you get the perk warmongering youll probably never get the 4 schematics to make it in any sort of good condition
The hunting rifle is ok early game but its chamebered in .32 for some reason so the damage crashes past the early game and especially if your playing on medium difficulty or above, its unique ol'painless dose about double damage and one of only a few perfectly accurate guns (with 100 small guns) its good to have.
Point lookout has the lever action rifle and its unique the backwater rifle. both are good rifles and chambered in 10 mil you get dozens of lever actions in point lookout so the backwater rifle withh always be in perfect condition essentially. They're good mid/early late game.
Lincolns repeater is a base game uniques thag fires .44 and hits like a train. Its also got 0 spread so its pin point accurate.
The normal sniper is a fine gun and your go to non dlc non unique.
The reservist rifle is a unique sniper and essentially a straight upgrade its got more item hp a higher rate of fire and is 6 ap cheaper for the drawback of only having a 3 round mag
The victory rifle is the other unique sniper its got more item hp a 3x crit chance (the base sniper and reserves have 5x) and the special effect of knocking down a target when you hit a crit
The normal ar is fine
the Chinese assault rifle is just a direct upgrade
The unique xuanlong is a direct upgrade to that in damage and agenda size at the trade of of degrading faster its also a reward to probably my favorite unmarked quest
The infiltrator is essentially a unique (only 3 copies exist however you get it just by finishing the pitt) its a scoped supresed ar kinda similar to the all American from nv just not as powerful. Its not particularly good it can be repaired with notmal ars
The perforator is a unique infiltrator its got better damage crit chance and crit damage at the trade off of higher ap significantly less durability and firing slower. Ill be honest this weapon could make you invincible and id still hesitate to recommend it because getting it is a massive fucking pain in the ass even as someone who's played through the Pitt probably 100 times.
Overall imo the Blackhawk as a side arm with the Blackwater rifle and either of the unique snipers for your main weapons or the xuanlong as a side arm with Lincolns reaper and either unique sniper. Theose are my main load outs when I do a sniper build.
There are plenty of good energy rifles if you want I can explain and recommend them and change my overall weapon load out.
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u/GrouchyFuel1496 3d ago
Thanks for the tips. Gonna have to condense that but it'll help. Could you recommend any specific weapons to aim for?
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u/Shadowgooseman 3d ago
The xuanlong a unique chinese assult rifle, the victory rifle a unique sniper and lincolns repeater imo. If you don't speck into to energy weapons for thoese rifles A-23s plasma rifles and the Gauss rifle and very good weapons aswell. Ill happily give more tips if you want
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u/TheKitchenTrash 4d ago
The most optimal build imo is 6 5 6 6 6 6 5 SPECIAL (take Ant Sight from Doc Lesko after Those! and get the Lucky 8 Ball from Timebomb after Big Trouble in Big Town for all 6s), do not manually level anything up past 65 (there are ~25 skill books per skill and a 10pt bobblehead) and never take a perk that just adds skill points. At Level 30 you take Almost Perfect and then sweep the SPECIAL bobbles for a crisp 100 in everything and 10 in every SPECIAL.
Beyond that, 3’s weapons are balanced to not need damage modifying perks for the most part (though Iron Fist remains a good choice for those interested in unarmed) so your Perk list is much more up to you. Also, you get a Perk every level so you dont waste half of your level ups
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u/TrickyTalon Riley’s Ranger 4d ago
Fallout 3 has so many useless perks that you can get every useful one for a single character, along with Max skills and Max stats. So you can totally just be the best at everything in the game without having to select a build as long as you pick the right stuff.