Building an Effective Melee Character in Fallout 2

Atomic Postman

Atomic Postman

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I decided recently that I'd play through Fallout 2 again and try out something new.

I've never done a Melee build before.

How do I go about making an effective build? I don't want to be a total brute, I still want to be a clever adventurer travelling around and doing quests, able to use speech and charisma effectively, but I also want to bash people's skulls in true tribal fashion.

So I've got a couple questions.

1.How do I create an effective Melee build?
2.What are some good Melee weapons?
3.Should I have companions? If so which ones?
 
1. I would say a solid endurance/strength character would be a good place to start. Agility can't hurt either.
2. Mega Power Fist. It penetrates armor, and with the Slayer perk at endgame along with bonus HTH attacks, you'll be dealing out 4-6 critical hits per round depending on agility.
3. Maybe Cassidy for some long range help.
 
I almost always make h2h or melee characters. Strength isn't that important for these characters-- 4 or 5 Strength is plenty (you'll get power armor later). What matters is the skill level (Melee skill) to raise your chance to hit, Endurance and Agility (you need high HP and AP to close with enemies while they stand there shooting at you), and a good perk strategy. The defensive perks are good for these types of characters (Dodger, Toughness), and as you near the end of the game your ability to be successful against Enclave troops and Fire Geckos will mostly depend on taking the Slayer perk, so make sure you meet the requirements when the time comes.

For companions, you could have two different strategies-- all eggs in one basket, or strength through diversity. The melee fighter companions are Sulik, Goris, and all the dogs. On the other hand, you may want to pick up shooter npcs to balance your team. Just don't give companions shotguns or burst-fire weapons-- as a melee fighter you'll always be in the middle of all the enemies, and trigger-happy companions are more of a threat to you than any opponents.
 
You could just go with the builds suggested by the Nearly Ultimate Fallout 2 Walkthrough; they've served me well in every Fallout I've ever played.

For Melee builds, they reccomend one of the two following options:

Team brawler: A character devoted to Unarmed and Melee Weapons.
  • Initial stats: ST 5, PE 6, EN 4, CH 6, IN 7, AG 9, LK 4.
  • Developed stats: ST 10, PE 7, EN 4, CH 6, IN 8, AG 10, LK 6.
  • Traits: Small Frame, One Hander.
  • Tag skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech.
  • Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Bonus Move, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus HtH Attacks, level 18 Gain Agility, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Slayer.
  • Comments: Pick up Sulik and Cassidy. CH 6 is mostly for quest purposes; theoretically you could recruit Marcus or Goris, but I actually wouldn't. You need a quick trip to NCR around level 9 to meet the LK requirement of Better Criticals. You can move two points of CH to LK if you want, but LK ultimately isn't as important for an HtH character. The reason I choose Melee Weapons over Unarmed from the start is that it's a little better in the beginning, and there are many ways of raising Unarmed for free during the game, so that it's very easy to make the switch when the time comes.


Solo brawler: Same as above but with less CH. Not really an improvement, though, since you lose some quest features and mostly boost Luck in return (theoretically you could boost EN instead, but I just wouldn't bother).
  • Initial stats: ST 5, PE 6, EN 4, CH 1, IN 7, AG 10, LK 8.
  • Developed stats: ST 10, PE 7, EN 4, CH 1, IN 8, AG 10, LK 10.
  • Traits: Small Frame, One Hander.
  • Tag skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech.
  • Perk progression: Level 3 Awareness, level 6 Bonus Move, level 9 Better Criticals, level 12 Living Anatomy, level 15 Bonus HtH Attacks, level 18 Action Boy, level 21 Action Boy, level 24 Slayer.
  • Comments: See Solo sniper (but exchange the Super Sledge or Mega Power Fist for the Gauss Rifle, and you don't do the Mutate! thing).
 
Some of my fondest Fallout memories come from playthroughs with melee characters. I usually took Per's advice as a starting point and then sort of went my own way - which is something you should do too, it's your character after all.

I'd start out with at least 9 Agility, but 10 is even better, regardless of the fact that you can raise it (+1) during the game. Agility is probably the most important stat for a melee character: you'll always need to get close with your foes, unlike a gunslinger. That's why you should consider spending points on Bonus Move and Action Boy as well.

Endurance isn't as important as J_Fred makes it out to be. Neither is strength. There's enough armour in the game that will compensate a low Endurance, and Power Armour will raise your Strength considerably, so starting out with 4 or 5 is a decent choice.

As for weapons: the Ripper is good, but ultimately you'll want to use the Mega Power Fist for the reason J_Fred mentioned.
 
Looks like I don't know much about a melee build! I usually go the energy weapons route. I tend to play the same character in every Fallout.
 
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