Introduction

 
For the first 20 levels of the game, the perks you want will far exceed the number you are allowed. The trick to my build is to build a supreme melee build, but have awesome sniping ability without spending any perks on sniping. By level 15 you will be an unstoppable machine, and can start allocating perks for your own customization. By level 29, you are done with character building, and by level 40 you can have 10 “fun” perks to put wherever you wish, or not use them at all. The one restriction on this build is to maximize what you can accomplish before you level up…in other words, get as much character building done with as little experience as possible. 
 
 

Operating Principles

 

1. Distribution of Damage 
2. Maximize Perk Efficiency 
3. Character Build, not experience.

 

Distribution of Damage:

 
There are basically two dangerous combat scenarios: 

• Multiple attackers 
• Super buff attacker

Typical builds do one or the other. For example, melee builds might rely on the super powerful Atom’s Judgement sledgehammer because it can deal high damage per hit. However, if you have 20 enemies, the high damage items won’t be able to hit them all in VATS, so you won’t gain all the VATS combat benefits (like 90% damage resistance). If you have a fast weapon that doesn’t take many action points, that is better for multiple attackers, but won’t be as good against a super buff attacker like a Mirelurk Queen. What I am proposing is a method of providing high damage attacks against multiple attackers. 
Here is the efficiency breakdown. If you have a weapon that gets 5 VATS attacks for 1,000 damage each, and you are facing 10 opponents with 100 Hit Points (HP) each, you are over damaging the first five by 900 damage per hit, then running out of Action Points (AP) for the final five opponents. Ideally, you would hit each opponent for 100 HP, for much less AP cost. That is where Melee attacks really shine. They allow for a much better distribution of damage, and with a stealth multiplier of 2.5, 4, or 10, they offer high destruction against super buff attackers. 
 
 

Range Attacks

 
You will need the much-maligned laser musket with 3+ crank capacitor. That will allow you to single shot kill a legendary long-range foe, in “Very Hard” mode, without spending a single perk. Around Level 15, the 3 crank capacitor may not cut it. Liberating the Castle will usually provide a 6-crank capacitor, which will kill most anything with one sneak attack headshot. Note that the “killshot” perk from MacCready is also useful. 
 
For a large damage weapon like the Laser Musket, the instigating is best, and two shot is also good. For most other weapons, Bleed and Poison are very good, at least up to level 20 or so. For example, a lowly .38 pipe gun that has the Bleed effect is a very capable weapon. Because the bleed effect stacks, convert the weapon to auto, so that as many shots as possible hit. The projectile damage will be really low, but the projectile damage doesn’t matter when each hit does 25 additional points of bleed damage. 
 
 

Melee Weapon Attacks

 
You are going to get Pickman’s blade very early. This weapon is fast, has a low VATS cost, and causes stealth and bleeding damage, as described above. Later you will get the Throatslicer. 
 
Perks are critical to the melee build, as are the Covert Operations skill books. For example, one of the first perks in my build is the Blitz perk, which gives melee attacks significant range. Also, because you are considered “stationary” while blitzing, you get all sorts of bonuses…stealth sneak attacks, Rooted (25% damage, and 25% damage resistance), etc. Blitzing from one opponent to another means you generally keep these bonuses throughout your VATS attacks, and with the low AP cost of Pickman’s Blade, you can get many attacks. Once you have Grim Reaper’s Sprint, your AP will be refilled frequently in VATS attacks. 
 
 

Damage Resistance

 
Damage Resistance is very helpful for melee builds. Rooted is a good bonus, but by far the most important damage mitigation is the Ballistic Weave, which at the most basic level provides an amazing 60 Damage Resistance. I typically apply the Ballistic Weave to Military Fatigues for the +2 to Agility (AP bonus), or the Army Fatigues/Dirty Army Fatigues/Baseball Uniform for the +1 Agility and +1 Strength bonus. I then get a Newsboy Cap. The +1 Charisma bonus doesn’t matter much, but the +30 Armor Resistance from the Ballistic Weave Level 1 is great. 
 
 

Perks

 
Note that Big League is the perk associated to Melee weapons, but it isn’t that useful until Rank 4. It is better to put your points in Strength, which has a 10% damage bonus instead of the 20% that Big League offers. However, Strength has other benefits (carry weight), and you want to max it out to 11 as soon as possible. If you have extra perks, go ahead, but the 20% damage increase per rank isn’t necessary because of the insane damage you’ll be doing. Similarly, don’t waste perks on Criticals, Computers, etc. The name of the game is to get the highly important perks, and boost Strength and Agility to top levels (prior to getting the Bobbleheads). 
 
The following ranks are based in order of importance. Thus, Blitz is should be taken as soon as available. Grim Reapers Spirit should only be taken if the more highly ranked perks are not available. 

1. Blitz (both ranks) 
2. Armorer (4 out of 4 ranks) 
3. Ninja (1 out of 3 ranks) 
4. Lockpick (3 out of 4 ranks) 
5. Rooted (2 out of 3 ranks) 
6. Grim Reaper’s Sprint (all 3 ranks) 
7. Sneak (4 out of 5). Only ranks 1 and 4 are very important. Get rank 1 early, but you can delay the others until Rank 4 is available at level 23. Rank 1 is disproportionately useful, with a 20% increase. Additional ranks are only 10%, although rank 4 is also useful because it negates the running penalty. 
8. If no other perks are available, up your strength to 10. 
9. If strength is 10, get the strength bobblehead. 
10. If Strength is 10 and no other perks are available, increase Agility up to 10. 
11. If Agility is 10, get the Agility bobblehead.

 

Why not Max out these perks?

 

• Ninja: Your melee sneak attacks will be quite powerful with only one level. Plus, once you get Deacon’s Cloak and Dagger perk, sneak attacks will be even better. If you are already killing with only 1 hit, there is little value in a 2nd level. By Level 12, I can kill a Mirelurk Queen in 1-2 hits, on Very Hard mode. 
• Lockpick: The fourth level is only good for saving bobby pins, and you’ll have plenty of those. 
• Rooted: This rank isn’t available until level 43. By then, the disarm bonus it affords isn’t valuable because no one will be hitting you with melee weapons. 
• Sneak: Likewise, when the final rank, is available, it no longer has any use. Disappearing from enemies is worthless given your stealth build. 
• Action Boy/Girl: Not even on the list. You need level 18 Rank 2 to get even a 50% increase in AP regeneration. Instead, get Grim Reaper’s Sprint Level 19 Rank 2, which will give you a 25% chance per kill of instantly refilling all your action points. That is vastly superior to a higher AP regeneration rate.

 
 
 

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

 

28 Points

 

• Strength of 7 
• Perception of 3. You’ll boost it to 4 very early on, and that is all you need (for lockpicking). 
• Endurance of 1 (2 is okay as well…you can subtract 1 from Strength). 
• Charisma of 1. You’ll raise it to 3 (bobble head plus 1 perk) somewhere around level 30. You won’t need more because you can readily make Grape Mentats. 
• Intelligence of 1. You can raise it to 2 with a bobble head, but I don’t bother until it is convenient. 
• Agility 8. In Sanctuary Hills, use “Your Special” to raise it to 9. Put a perk point into Agility at some point, then get the bobblehead to increase it to a natural value of 11. 
• Luck of 7, but raise it to 8 using the bobblehead, early on.

 
 
 

Skill Magazines

 
Easily acquired US Covert Operations Manuals and SCAV! #2 are the skill magazines you need. See the Tasks below 
 
 

Bobble Heads

 
Don’t get Strength and Agility until those stats are maxed (10). The Bobbleheads will provide a rank of 11 for both of those stats. 
 
 

High Level Priorities

 

1. MacReady Killshot Perk 
2. Pickman’s Blade 
3. Explore to get the Mass Pike Interchange as a fast travel point 
4. Railroad and quests so Deacon is available, work on Boston After Dark and Mercer Safehouse, to unlock the Jackpot missions to secure DIA caches. Once the first cache quest is complete (you’ve returned to PAM and received the reward) it is critical that you talk to Tinker Tom. He’ll have some Armored clothing, which is great, AND you can start created your own Ballistic Weave. 
5. Swim from the Old North Church (Railroad HQ) to map the coast. Make sure to access: 
   • The Castle as a fast travel point (no need to enter the castle…just swim by it) 
   • Luck Bobblehead 
   • Warwick Homestead 
   • Poseidon Energy (enter the minute you turn level 18 and can pick Master locks…get the Endurance Bobblehead)
6. Get Bobbleheads 
7. Get Covert Operations magazines. Easy ones are found at: 
   • USAF Satellite Station Olivia 
   • National Guard Training Yard 
   • USS Constitution 
   • Federal ration stockpile

   Also, you’ll find one in the Switchboard, which should be done early in the game. 
   Revere Satellite Array is another location, but it is more difficult than the ones listed above. 
   Finally, Abandoned shack (Federal Surveillance Center K-21B has an easy one, once you can handle the radiation and wandering through the more difficult irradiated waste in the SW corner. 

8. Get Companion Perks: 
   • MacCready 
   • Deacon 
   • Preston Garvey

The rest of the companion perks aren’t that great. Strong and Cait have the next most useful, but I would rather have the Lone Wander perks. Those are 30% damage resistance and +100 carry weight at rank 2, (+25% damage at Rank 3) and are far superior to a 20% damage reduction when your HP are low. 
 
 

Detailed Tasks

 

Sanctuary Hills

 

• “You’re Special” +1 to Agility 
• High value items (cellar, roof stashes) 
• Build sinks or drinking fountains to heal health 
• Move the Drug Station and Cooking Station near the workbench. Create supplies of cooked food and Grape Mentats (once whiskey is found) as needed.

 

Red Rocket

 

• Get dog 
• Hard Hat on Ice chest by cooking station

 

Concord

 

1. Laser Musket and ammo 
2. Enter Museum and rescue settlers. Get Precision Bobble head, which allows Lockpicking. 
3. (Optional) Get Power Armor and complete “When Freedom Calls”, as the final fight will unfold when you step out of the museum anyway.

 

Drumlin Diner

 

• Talk to Trashcan Carla so she will be a travelling merchant in Sanctuary Hills and Drumlin Diner. 
• Resolve Trudy and Wolfgang conflict, so you have a good store available.

 

Goodneighbor

 

1. Make your way to Goodneighbor, while marking Beacon Hill, Pickman Gallery, and the Old North Church. 
2. Get MacReady

Follow published guides on how to max affinity and get the Killshot perk. Around affinity 250, go find the Mass Pike Interchange. Make sure you are there by about affinity 450 to complete the first chapter of “Long Road Ahead.” 
 

Old North Church

 

1. Get the railroad quest (you don’t have to do it yet) 
2. Swim from the Old North Church (Railroad HQ) to map the coast. Make sure to access: 
   • The Castle as a fast travel point (no need to enter the castle…just swim by it) 
   • Luck Bobblehead (allows Grim Reaper’s Sprint perk) 
   • Warwick Homestead 
   • Poseidon Energy (enter the minute you turn level 18 and can pick Master locks…get the Endurance Bobblehead)

 

MacReady

 
Do some of the other objectives (Ballistic Weave!), but make sure two things are accomplished before MacReady hits affinity of 750: 

1. Map Medtek so you can hop there when MacReady’s affinity allows. 
2. Finish the Railroad quest so that Deacon is available to be your companion the minute you get MacReady’s Killshot perk.

 

Ballistic Weave

 
I recommend prioritizing the Railroad quest soon so that the Ballistic Weave can be acquired. 
You have to infiltrate the Switchboard, get the synth package to Ticonderoga safe house, then set up the Mercer Safehouse. Once those are done, PAM will give you the Jackpot quest, where you get the Ballistic Weave. 
Bug alert: Make sure you talk to Tinker Tom immediately after completing the first Jackpot quest (PAM). 
 

Level 13

 
By the time Armorer Rank 2 is available, try to have Pickman’s Blade, Ballistic Weave, and be about done with MacReady. Also, Strength of 10 means get the Strength Bobblehead. Once you apply Ballistic Weave Mark II to clothes and a hat, you’ll have a whopping 90 Damage Resistance, which is probably twice what you already have from armor. 
 

Nuka World

 

1. Make sure you have Grape Mentats and about 6,000 caps before you begin. 
2. On the way, stop at the Lonely Chapel to get an easy Covert Ops magazine. 
3. Try to avoid the Gunners (hard!), or run through them into the station. Do the gauntlet, and get into the Nuka World Market. Keep Colter’s Power Armor…one of the best in the game AND you don’t need any additional perks to get upgrades. 
4. Purchase Throatslicer (using Grape Mentats) 
5. Get the Nuka World “Scav! Issue #2” Magazine at the Junkyard for +25% Knife damage.

Nothing else in Nuka World is important 
 
 

Other Character Building Features

 

• By level 15 or 16, you can have strength and Agility at 10, so go get those bobbleheads soon. You can start spending your perks on Big League (Melee), or fun stuff. 
• Level 18 is Master Lockpick, so go get the Endurance Bobblehead and the Covert Ops on the USS Constitution. 
• Castle: Quest to improve your laser musket. 
• Rex Goodman Rescue for the extra Charisma Suit (+3 Charisma instead of the normal +2). 
• Get Covert Operations magazines. Easy ones are found at: 
  1. USAF Satellite Station Olivia 
  2. National Guard Training Yard 
  3. Federal ration stockpile 
  4. USS Constitution (Requires Master Lock or working on the Constitution quest)
• Kill Swan for a piece of good armor…I recommend on top of the pinnicle roof, were you can snipe him from above. Note that on Very Hard mode, this will take over 500 38 rounds with a pipe rifle. Then again, what are you going to need ammo for anyway? 
• Get cheap but good armor (Destroyer’s Left Leg from Daisy, for example). Deb has Black Ops Right Shinguard and Chestpiece, which are a little more pricey, but I can get one of them early. I really prefer armor that speeds up my speed, especially since I spend so much time in sneak mode.

 
 
 

Conclusion: Level 20

 
At level 20, I am killing most everything in a single hit. Continue perk selection under the scheme previously outlined. Blitz Rank 2 and Big League Rank 4 are particularly useful. 
 

Weapons

 

• Throatslicer 
• 6 crank Laser Musket 
• Deliverer (rarely used)

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

 

• Strength: 11 
• Perception: 4 
• Endurance: 2 
• Charisma: 1 
• Intelligence: 1 
• Agility: 11 
• Luck: 8

Perks

 
(excluding Magazine Perks, except Covert Ops and Scav! #2) 

• Armorer (2) 
• Big Leagues (3) 
• Blitz 
• Covert Operations (7) 
• Grim Reaper’s Sprint (2) 
• Killshot 
• Locksmith (3) 
• Ninja 
• Rooted 
• SCAV! Bladed Bravado 
• Sneak

…And I have an extra perk to spend on whatever! I’ll either increase Sneak (Level 24 opens up the much needed Sneak Rank 4) or I’ll build up Charisma (and the bobblehead) so I can get Lone Wanderer once I’ve earned my 3 companion perks. 
 

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