Guns and Drugs - Logan's Crit Build

Yep, we are still playing New Vegas. I can't stay away for too long because the urge to come back and shoot skirted slavers is always there. This time I decided to make a different character, focused on Guns. But the crit build stays on.

By the way, if you haven't seen my Energy Weapons Crit Build I go in depth about various aspects of the game other than the build itself, and tips/tricks on how to create your own build in regards to game balance. You may like it even more than this one.

The main thing about this build is Logan's Loophole, this means stopping at level 30, I talk more about this in a later section. It may not sound like a great idea to use this trait in Viva New Vegas (Logan's Loophole has been reworked and no longer provides the buff to all the items it used to, I think YUP does that) but I feel like it makes it a bit less broken but still very strong and worthy of a build centered around it.

I tried to give a narrative twist to the guide, since I wanted to make something more captivating and original, and with time I hope it gets to be a novel about this playthrough, with the technicalities of a build guide.

No points wasted in Intense Training, and since the build stops at level 30 we leave the skill maxing for another playthrough. Thus, Intelligence doesn't have to be top priority, but I still recommend rushing New Vegas for the implant at level 1, so as not to waste skill points.

Strength - 4
With consumables, specifically alcohol stacking, you can reach 10 strength with no issues, which means Strength becomes our second dump stat and is useful only for base carry weight.

Perception - 5
For Better Criticals we need 6 PE, and you'll get it with the implant. That's it, I can't make it lower or else i would.

Endurance - 7
7 EN means 7 stat implants which means 7 free SPECIAL points. I'd say that's enough of a reason, but 8 EN is also needed for the Implant GRX perk, it gives HP and points to Survival skill. Look, just put it to 7, really, trust me. In the end, you can put the Lonesome Road free SPECIAL point in Endurance to make it 8 and get the health regen implant, which is somewhat useful.

Charisma - 1
Good ol' dump stat. We don't need it and never will, all my homies hate Charisma in New Vegas.

Intelligence - 6
Skill points are not really that important in this build, and you can get away with a much lower IN if you want. I put it at 6+1(implant) for the Voracious Reader perk. If you don't want to use it then you can put at 3+1(implant) for Comprehension.

Agility - 9
With 9+1(implant) reloading weapons will be lightning fast, and we will take Rapid Reload (optional) on top of it. Agility also gives points to Guns which is our main combat skill, and starting with 6 or more gives us access to Light Touch as a level 2 perk.

Luck - 8
This is needed at max for crit chance. You can put the Lonesome Road perk in Luck instead of Endurance, and this makes getting the Lucky Shades redundant. In my opinion it's not worth it because licking the legion's ass for a bit is not that bad, but you do you.



SPECIAL at endgame

S - 7 (implant-1 + reinforced spine-2)
P - 7 (implant-1 + first recon beret-1)
E - 9 (implant-1 + Lonesome Road perk-1)
C - 1 (i would take the health regen instead of this implant)
I - 7 (implant-1)
A - 10 (implant-1)
L - 10 (implant-1 + lucky shades-1)

This time I chose to tag the immediately useful skills for my perk list. Guns is obvious, Repair is another obvious choice since 70 by level 6 is a bit steep. Survival is my next choice because we need 45 for Travel Light perk (not mandatory but big quality of life), plus I like to craft stuff at campfires.



Talking about traits, Logan's Loophole will be our best friend for this run.



When you read it like that you think ''well that sucks'' but stop right there my friend, because you may not know some stuff about this perk. First of all, it doesn't apply only to chems, but to EVERY CONSUMABLE IN THE EFFING GAME.
Stimpacks and super stimpacks in Hardcore mode? Check.
Them's good Eating already op sausages? Check.
Stealth boys? Check.
True Police Stories? Check.
Implant GRX? Check.
All kinds of buffing food? Check.
The list goes on and on, you get it.
(In Viva New Vegas some things stop being buffed by Logan's Loophole, esp. food I think, further testing needed. The trait remains strong as food items are borderline op by themselves.)

But wait, it doesn't stop here, it stacks with Chemist! You know Chemist the perk that doubles duration of chems? It actually doubles the duration of EVERYTHING, so you have 4x duration on every consumable in the game. Not bad. Nope, still doesn't stop here. (Same story for Chemist, reworked in Viva New Vegas and doesn't buff certain items)
Day tripper, challenge perk that gives 33% increase duration on chems. Yep, you guessed it. EVERY CONSUMABLE IS BUFFED and all these perks stack MULTIPLICATIVELY with each other. (Yep, they nerfed day tripper too.)

Moral of the story? 20 minutes Stealth Boy. I have said enough.

Logan's Loophole keeps giving when you think that the enemies stats also stay locked at level 30, which means your perfect crit build will be much more devastating than your perfect crit build at level 50, simply because the enemies are weaker. This doesn't mean you'll see less of good weapons and crazy bosses, just that their health and damage doesn't scale up to level 50 while your damage stays the same since your Guns skill is always 100.

This trait is amazing, but if you want to change it you can respec traits in Old World Blues so you can get to 50 (I recommend playing with Logan's Loophole though, your level 30 build will be more focused and you'll waste less perk points picking stuff that doesn't matter.)

The second trait I want to pick is Built to Destroy, which is mandatory in all crit builds.

Here you can find a guide on how to get to New Vegas before level 2 to get that implant and start the game with 10 INT (if you put 9) so that you'll get 15 points every level up. I recommend doing it because it takes 15 mins, gives you a headstart in caps and the run will be much easier with more skill points to spend. Even with 6 INT it's worth doing it. Problem is Viva New Vegas disables the dlc items you get at the start, so it becomes a little harder getting those caps without gaining xp. You can still get the caps from looting Fiends and NCR killing each other. Or you could ignore this section and do whatever you want.

My favourite part. For this build you need just a few perks, the rest are entirely up to you in how you want to approach the game. If you want more quality of life or more damage, or you want roleplay perks, I leave the choice to you. Recommended perks are like this, the rest are up to you and how you want to build your cowboy.

Level - Perk - Requirement - Comment
02 - Light Touch - AG 6 REPAIR 45 - 5% flat crit chance on all weapons? Mandatory.
04 - Comprehension - IN 4 - Mandatory perk in any build, your skill books are beefier but most importantly your magazines are double in power, which means you have a lot more freedom with your skill points.
06 - Hand Loader - REPAIR 70 - A lot more damage with Guns, no reason not to take it.
08 - Rapid Reload - AG 5 GUNS 30 - MOAR RELOAD SPEED.
10 - Finesse - N/D - Crit chance. Must have.
12 - Travel light - SURVIVAL 45 - Moving faster is underrated. Everything becomes easier.
14 - Jury Rigging - REPAIR 90 - Best perk in the game IMHO. Money maker and quality of life. I take it before Chemist because I feel like it's immediately useful.
16 - Chemist - MEDICINE 60 - Have you read the part about Logan's Loophole? Yes? Then you don't need an explanation.
18 - Better Criticals - PE 6 LU 6 - Crit Damage. Must have.
20 - Them's Good Eating - SURVIVAL 55 - These things will heal thousands of HP, and quickly become your standard always on buff.
22 - Voracious Reader - IN 7 - You can craft magazines, including true police stories. It's pretty cool but not mandatory.
24 - Retention - IN 5 - Useful to get the True Police Stories magazine to last much longer.
26 - Pack Rat - IN 8 BARTER 70 - It's very recommended if you play with hardcore mode, it can save you 100+ on carry weight with this heavy consumable guns build.
28 - Strong Back - ST 5 EN 5 - Carry weight good.
30 - Burden to Bear - ST 6 EN 6 - More carry weight good.

You don't really need many perks to make the build work and you can get by with just the recommended perks.

Some good alternative options for the other perks are:
Implant GRX - Very good, perhaps too good. Makes the game boring in my opinion, and if I really want the slowmo I'll just use a turbo.
Bloody Mess - Gets old very soon.
Toughness (x2 is also good) - Defense is useful when wearing light armor but 2/15 of my perks for 6 DT is a bit steep.
And Stay Back and Shotgun Surgeon - If you take one might as well take the other, for shotgun specialists.
Cowboy - Cool RP perk but I don't think it's all that necessary.
Grunt - A bit more useful than Cowboy but still not necessary at all to destroy the game.
Quickdraw - If you want to shoot first often.

P.S. ♥♥♥♥ VATS Perks.

Get ''Lucky'' as soon as you can in Primm, it's the best weapon in the game. No seriously. Cheap ammo, easy to repair, hard to break, fast shooter, good crit, good damage, good crit chance, looks badass and sounds good. I don't even upgrade it to a 44 magnum revolver or hunting revolver, i just stick to Lucky the whole run.

Ranger sequoia is the other good revolver in the game, but I prefer to use Lucky since the Sequoia uses 45-70 like the Medicine Stick, which is far better for the same ammo. Use if for some reason you need a hard hitting cannon and can't use Medicine Stick or Brush Gun.

Always carry a shotgun with you, even if it's not boosted by perks. Shotgun comes handy with cazadores, and it's fun to shoot at low level enemies blasting them to pieces. Early levels a caravan shotgun is perfectly fine. If you manage to get a lever action it's a decent upgrade, you can stick to it and use the Cowboy! perk or you can keep upgrading to hunting shotgun and eventually Dinner Bell which is objectively the best weapon in its category. Riot shotgun is useless without Shotgun Surgeon+And stay back!, but if you have both you can clear the whole game with it and you don't need a build or anything else for that matter.

You also need a long range weapon. My suggestion is to get the Ratslayer when you can since it's borderline op and you can clear lots of places early game with it. When the ratslayer becomes weak always keep a silenced sniper in your chest wherever you put your stuff, because you never know when you need to do some stealthy faction killing. Cowboy repeater is good in the beginning but difficult to repair. I suggest Hunting Rifle early if you can find one, try to do some nightstalker cave (there is one near mojave outpost) at level 4-5 with drugs and stuff, you should get it from the dungeon duffle bag. After using hunting rifle for a bit upgrade to trail carabine and then brush gun.

You can use whatever weapons you like, experiment with stuff and see what kills better. Sometimes I get violent and take out some machine gun, craft myself 200 or so projectiles and shoot up a gecko den or some. I used Paciencia to clear Quarry Junction and it works like a charm with a crit build and some sniping; it's also good for general use but gets surpassed by Medicine Stick.

Always use Hand Loader crafted ammo. For everything. Huge damage increase, huge quality of life because you can bring virtually infinte ammo with you on survival and the only thing that weighs is the Lead, which can be gotten from every bullet in the game so you won't have any problems getting enough.

1)Always breakdown ALL ammo you find, no exceptions
2)Craft 150-200 ammo HAND LOADER for each type of weapons you wanna use
3)Stash excess lead somewhere so it doesn't weigh you down
4)Recraft when needed

This way you are only limited by how many bullet cases you have for each type. You'll still have to go around and buy the ammo but you'll be a lot more flexible when it comes to using them. Also unlock the Great Khan armory because it's a very good source of ammo. Stock up on 45-70 when you see them because they're a pain to find.

I've never needed to use AP or HP ammo for anything really, still I recognize that they can be useful. Buy them if you want them for specific tasks (i.e. AP for deathclaws, HP for cazadores), but Hand Loaded ammo works perfectly fine. With drugs anything becomes manageable.

If you have Light Touch and Travel Light (or one of the two) just use any light armor you like. The best progression is Leather Armor -> Reinforced Leather Armor -> Gecko Backed Reinforced Leather Armor -> Graham's Armor -> Ulysses Duster. Also get 1st Recon Beret from Boone and never take it off. Lucky Shades you get a bit late in the game but you can live with 9 Luck. Or you just use whatever you want. Power Armor? Why not, just don't take the light armor perks. You trade critical chance for more survivability, which is wise. Playing hardcore - very hard I feel like enemies don't deal much damage even with light armor, so I max crit chance and damage.

With Viva New Vegas the very beginning is pretty hard on you. Goodsprings is not exactly loot city and you really feel like it's you and your 9mm against the world.

Even if you find loot, you can only bring 90 carry weight worth of stuff, which is very tight. Viva New Vegas is leaning a bit towards a JSawyer type of experience, and loot is less plentiful. Other than that, stats have been modified to make the game a bit more hardcore, such as with the carry weight.

The early game is pretty standard, varmint training with Sunny Smiles, gecko killing, graveyard bloatflying and all that stuff.


Ah ♥♥♥♥, here we go again...

I use the roulotte ruin at the Goospring Source as my early game house, for these reasons:
1 - Free water
2 - Free bed
3 - Free storage (the suitcase)
4 - Free campfire
5 - Workbenches are close by at the saloon in Goodsprings

The objective is to get going with gear and levels. You can follow the story and find pretty standard gear, or you can meta the game. Since I went to Freeside for the INT implant I unlocked the Gun Runners Shop and have a place where to sell stuff.

Pistols:
9mm -> 10mm -> Lucky ASAP
Rifles:
Varmint -> Service Rifle -> Cowboy Repeater -> Ratslayer ASAP
Shotguns:
Single Shotgun -> Caravan Shotgun

This guide is a work in progress and I don't play too often. Plus I am actually playing the game and writing the guide at the same time, making it much more than a mere build and more sort of a videogame novel, to create engagement and interest in the concept of the character. Thus, some parts may be incomplete until I have the time to fill them.

This is the second try I am doing with this build, this time on Viva New Vegas, and it's being rewritten practically from scratch.

Happy Trails