Melee Character

DwayneGAnd

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
This is the third and final character I discussed in an earlier thread on Tips for Newbies from a Former Newbie. This character focuses on fighting in melee combat rather than in long range combat. This playstyle is harder to do due to most of the opposition you face having guns. Still, when built properly, you can take on most enemies easily.

This is probably the weakest of the three character types you can make due to reduced range and the fact that even the most powerful unarmed and melee weapons don't deal as much damage as even the most powerful guns. Some enemies are just too dangerous to fight in melee combat as their weapons will probably tear you to shreds before you can get a hit in, even with the most powerful armor in the game. This means you need to choose your battles carefully and avoid combat when you must, taking a stealthy approach. No I don't mean investing into sneak and using stealth boys. I tried that and it didn't work, luckily I didn't save my game after investing a lot of points into sneak.

In Fallout 1, I find it easier to wear the robes in the cathedral and the military base so you can complete those objectives without getting your hands dirty. This means not enlisting the help of the followers of the apocalypse and having any npcs when you tackle those places due to certain enemies attacking you if you have any companions. I also didn't bother taking out the entire oil rig in Fallout 2 due to the turrets having armor penetrating ammo and they would likely kill me quickly. Therefore, I had to rely on using super stimpacks to kill the president and then using the keycard he drops to hack the turrets to take down Frank Horrigan.

With this type of build, you need more endurance, but not as much luck due to slayer making all your hits criticals. You'll also want max strength by the end of the game from getting implants and wearing power armor to maximize your damage. Finally, you'll want higher charisma as you'll find that talking your way out of combat to avoid fighting is to your benefit. In Fallout 2, this will also get you more NPC's. Bonus Move is more important than Action Boy because you'll need those extra movement points.

Here is how to build this character in Fallout 1:

S-6 (implant and power armor to get max strength for maximum damage)
P-5 (implant for Better Criticals)
E-7 (implant)
C-7 (bonus from wandering tinkerer)
I-9 (implant)
A-9 (implant)
L-5 (bonus from Chuck in Boneyard)

Traits: Gifted and Small Frame

Endgame Weapons: Super Sledge (ammo conservation purposes against weaker enemies) and Power Fist (primary weapon for stronger enemies.)

Perks: Awareness, Strong Back, Bonus Hth Attacks, Bonus Move (2), Better Criticals, Slayer

Fallout 2:

S-5 (module and advanced power armor)
P-5 (module for better criticals)
E-7
C-8 (mirror shades and module)
I-10 (I started with 10 because it's practically impossible to get into the Sierra Depot where the intelligence module is)
A-9 (bonus from EPA)
L-4 (get the nueroscan in NCR)

Endgame weapons: Super Sledge and Mega Power Fist

Perks: Awareness, Strong Back, Pack Rat, Bonus Move (2), Action Boy (2), Slayer, Better Criticals, Living Anatomy, Quick Pockets, Bonus Hth Attacks

Sulik used the .223 Pistol, Cassidy the Pulse Pistol, Vic the Gauss Rifle, and Marcus the Pulse Rifle.

Edit: I'm going to be playing through all four builds again seeing as how I made changes to my guide on the thread Tips for Newbies From A Former Newbie. Maybe this way I'll make my characters even better without feeling like I'm wasting stat points. Check back at a later date to see my results.
 
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For Fallout 1, here is how to set your SPECIAL if you want to get the recommended perks without having to use drugs for qualification, assuming you take both Gifted and Small Frame, as well as get the maximum amount of action points and as many skill points as possible, without using drugs:

S-6
P-7
E-min 5
C-everything else
I-9
A-9
L-5

For Fallout 2:

S-5
P-7
E-min 6
C-everything else
A-9
I-10 (NCR) or 9 (Hubologist)
L-4 (NCR) or 5 (Hubologist)
 
These build seriously dont make use of drugs/chemicals, thus it's pretty underutilized.

Dont use Small frame. The minus carryweight is a defining game style, ie if you dont suit that way, you will play the game seriously miserably. I hate the minus carryweight, thus I never choose this trait.

You can use Chem resistant so you can resist chems easier, and make playing with chems more convenient (or you can just reload). With this you can apply

---Psycho for increased damage resistant percentage. This is necessary to fight up close.

---Buffout for bonus to strength, agility, and endurance. The strength affect melee damage, too.

---Mentat is of slight use. Increase Perception make sure your sequence is higher, thus more chance to act double in a row than other enemies.

Thus Any lacking in stat can be buffed with chems.

Finessee trait affect too strongly on damage, thus I advise careful with choosing this trait. bonus critical is high, but better coupled with a high luck build. you MUST witness more crit happening to feel that the trade off is worth.

Heavy handed trade crit for melee damage which look better only on paper. This trait better goes with a high strength, low luck build. Heavy handed Fastshot Luck2 would be a very different route , suited for veteran familiar with the games. Not powergaming mind you, but different.

A Gifted Melee or Unarmed build with Jinxed Luck 2 Strength 6/7 would be an extremely strange game for many veteran. Crit fails happen to EVERYONE, and thus strange effect never before seen will happen every other fight. guns dropped or exploded. melee weapons dropped, crit miss and lose next turn, etc...
 
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These build seriously dont make use of drugs/chemicals, thus it's pretty underutilized.

Dont use Small frame. The minus carryweight is a defining game style, ie if you dont suit that way, you will play the game seriously miserably. I hate the minus carryweight, thus I never choose this trait.

You can use Chem resistant so you can resist chems easier, and make playing with chems more convenient (or you can just reload). With this you can apply

---Psycho for increased damage resistant percentage. This is necessary to fight up close.

---Buffout for bonus to strength, agility, and endurance. The strength affect melee damage, too.

---Mentat is of slight use. Increase Perception make sure your sequence is higher, thus more chance to act double in a row than other enemies.

Thus Any lacking in stat can be buffed with chems.

Finessee trait affect too strongly on damage, thus I advise careful with choosing this trait. bonus critical is high, but better coupled with a high luck build. you MUST witness more crit happening to feel that the trade off is worth.

Heavy handed trade crit for melee damage which look better only on paper. This trait better goes with a high strength, low luck build. Heavy handed Fastshot Luck2 would be a very different route , suited for veteran familiar with the games. Not powergaming mind you, but different.

A Gifted Melee or Unarmed build with Jinxed Luck 2 Strength 6/7 would be an extremely strange game for many veteran. Crit fails happen to EVERYONE, and thus strange effect never before seen will happen every other fight. guns dropped or exploded. melee weapons dropped, crit miss and lose next turn, etc...

Seriously @laclongquan don't respond to Dwayn threads he produces more of them than a brahmin poops crap, Im sure If he wasn't banned already he soon will be for beeing a retard and for not paying attention to local netiquette.

As for the thread.. who in all seriusosness would consider a melee or unarmed build without Slayer perk. why post-apo-FPS 3D bethestards can't learn that Luck *ain't* a dump stat. Actually it's pretty damn important next to agility If You have Lk10 + Better Criticals + Sniper or Slayer than You don't roll critical falils because better ciriticals cause +20 to roll on the crit table. it's not a +20% to critical damage but rather a +20 to dice roll on a chance to determine the outcome which means, if you have 100% crit chance that you will get 0% chance for crit fail, marginal chance to miss, and 25% chace to instantly kill an oponent with any amount of damage regardless of enemy's health pool.
 
I am not a retard. And in case you haven't been paying attention, I haven't posted anything on this forum for quite a long time.
 
Slayer is nice and all but it's late game. you can consider Unarmed build without it as an early-middle game thing.
 
I decided to add the Super Cattle Prod to the endgame weapon list due to it dealing electric damage, which is what Frank Horrigan is vulnerable to.
 
I decided to add the Super Cattle Prod to the endgame weapon list due to it dealing electric damage, which is what Frank Horrigan is vulnerable to.

"you have critically hit frank horrigan for no damage"

"you have critically hit frank horrigan for no damage"

"you have critically hit frank horrigan for no damage"

"Frank Horrigan critically hit you, dealing 457 damage, killing you"
 
I beat Frank Horrigan Bare Handed LIVE with this build...

BUILD

St (7), P (10), End (10), Cha (10), Int (1), Ag (1), L (1)
JINXED + Heavy Handed
Doctor, Barter, Outdoorsman

PERKS
L3 Bonus HtH Damage, L6 Bonus HtH Damage, L9 Bonus HtH Damage, L12 HtH Evade, L15 Living Anatomy, L18 Bonus HtH Attacks, L21 Tag!

RULES
-Ironman only
-Fog of war ON, and set to "dark"/darkest
-Hard & Rough difficulty. All highlights off. Walk "normal". Fast/Effects player speed.
-Intelligence, Agility, and Luck MUST be set to one.
-Charisma MUST be ten
-MUST be Jinxed
-MUST be Heavy Handed
-MUST beat Frank Horrigan to death bare knuckle

Fallout Entertainment Industries
-MUST keep both item slots EMPTY at all times or GAME OVER
-No spamming on maps. MUST wait one full second.
-No moonwalking
-MUST have authority to warp. No warping behind enemy lines. GAME OVER
-No spamming while random encounters load. GAME OVER
-Reload after crash is ok...for now -No perk rollovers.
-Reloading if Highwayman disappears is a GAME OVER.
-Warp at your own risk. If it causes a game problem either get your game back on track without reloading, or GAME OVER.
-Failed warp zone spawn i.e. warped onto spaceship, inside a wall, blank screen, etc. is a GAME OVER.
-Any intentional use of sprite sharing is a GAME OVER*
-Record keyboard, and mouse clicks.


*If the game's A.I. sprite shares (i.e. Vault 15 & Slavers), you can use PipBoy to take advantage of it.

DOWNLOAD DATE & ORIGIN OF DOWNLOAD

Fallout 2 1.02.31 (Steam download) Fresh install on 4-25-21 SFALL 3.3a (Killaps) 4-25-21
 
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