Build How-To: "The Ghoul" Build (Bloodied Revolver & Rifles based on the Fallout Prime Show)
I love the new Fallout show. All details, characters and stories simply fit perfectly into the Fallout world. And the success of the show confirms this. And this is precisely why many new players are now finding their way to Appalachia.
One of the best characters in the series is "The Ghoul", in my opinion. Since the first trailers were released, he has been the focus and fits perfectly into the series. The combination of wasteland hero and bounty hunter with the look of a cowboy makes him unique. And his choice of weapons further underlines the character. So I just had to make a build based.
The Ghul Revolver
Due to several web discussions, the revolver of the Ghoul shall be a modified version of the MTs255 Shotgun Revolver. You can find it for example here on Reddit. Or on Wikipedia.
This "The Ghoul" build plays a Pipe Revolver and a Lever Action Rifle. He plays bloodied with focus on critical hits to maximize damage to revolvers and rifles. The Pipe Revolver is not as powerful as the ghoul revolver from the show, but it most closely reflects a wasteland revolver and can be played with a supressor, which is a big advantage. The lever action rifle is also not 1:1 to the ghoul's weapon, as he plays an lever action shotgun, but shotguns are not particularly great in Fallout 76 due to their short range. The lever action rifle is also a common cowboy weapon and a good way to reflect the character.
By combining the perks for rifle shooter and gunslinger, you can constantly switch between revolver and rifle depending on the situation and do optimal damage with both.
Copyright: Kilter Films, Amazon MGM Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks
Outfit & Look
The Ghoul Char wears the West Coast Duster, which we currently get for free with Fallout 1st. Matching the West Coast cowboy hat, a blue bandana and the Vault 33 backpack to round off the reference to the series. Yes, actually Lucy is carrying the backpack. But I think the reference to the series fits and there is no saddlebag backpack in Fallout 76.
Unfortunately, there is no ghoul mask that you can wear with a cowboy hat. Therefore, the character unfortunately has to play as “smooth skin”. However, the game files actually contain the textures of a ghoul mask, so maybe it will actually be released.
Equipment
The Pipe Revolver is well suited for this build as it is the only revolver that can use a suppressor. The improvised wasteland look also fits well. I play the Pipe Revolver in Bloodied with the 2nd effect "Bullets explode for 20% Weapon Damage" and the 3rd perk "+15% Bonus V.A.T.S. Critical Charge". This combination allows for high base damage, as well as good additional damage of the explosion at a distance. The explosions of the bullets are always applied directly to the target, while a projectile can become weaker at a long distance. The 3rd perk is a good addition to improve the frequency of critical hits. With this combination you have a good damage value even with normal non-critical hits and with critical hits you usually have enough damage for a "one-shot kill". With a weapon with "+50% damage on critical hits" on the 2nd legendary effect, it is usually the case that the normal damage is too low and the critical damage is much higher than necessary. Works for auto weapons, but not in this case. I tested that too. I find the variant with Explo to be the most effective.
The lever action rifle is of course more powerful than the revolver and the precision is also slightly better. I also play the lever action in Bloodied with Explo on the 2nd legendary effect, as well as the 3rd effect "-25% action point cost". The third effect here means that you can kill significantly more enemies in VATS before the action point bar is used up and the VATS ends. You can only shoot in VATS if you have enough action points. However, you need the VATS for more damage and critical hits. Without VATS you do significantly less damage and waste ammunition.
Another advantage of this weapon combination is that both weapons use the same ammunition. Both the Pipe revolver and the lever action rifle use .45 (Ultracite) ammunition. Alternatively, you can both play with normal .45 ammunition. The hardened or calibrated receiver would be suitable as a receiver.
To bring the reference to the series back into the build, the character plays the Vault 33 underarmor. And to be honest, it's good. Since the focus of the build is on critical hits, it is ideal to get +2 luck from the underarmor.
The armor is a Secret Service armor with a jetpack mod on the chest piece, all pieces with Unyielding effect. The build should have the following additional effects on the armor:
- 3 parts with AP acceleration
- 1 part with HTD (harder to detect while sneaking)
- Weight reduction on weapons can never hurt either.
- Poison resistance is also helpful
- The first mod should be " Based " on all parts
- The 2nd mod for the body parts " ultra lightweight "
- I like to use the jetpack as a 2nd mod for the torso , but you can also use " dense " for daily operations with exploding enemies and the " asbestos-lined " mod for Earle (against the falling rocks ) .
The Secret Service armor is best armor (not power armor) in the game (taking into account availability and possibilities, as well as resistances) that you can buy in Vault 79 for gold from Regs (Secret Service).
The Vault 33 backpack is of course also included. The backpack is equipped with the Grocers Mod to replace the "Thru Hiker" perk under Agility and to allow the character to carry more food for buffs.
Skillset
Strength to 9:
travel pharmacy 3*, bandolier 2*, bear arms 1*, arms keeper 3*
(In order to be able to carry more loot, this can of course be varied except for bandolier / travel pharmacy.)
Perception to 10 (+5 Legendary PER):
Rifleman 3*, Expert Rifleman 3*, Master Rifleman 3*, Tank Killer 3*, Concentrated Fire 3*
(Concentrated Fire on 3* grants single shot rifles +20% hit chance and +3%, while it only grants 4% more hit chance for auto weapons, thats why in auto rifle builds 1* is fine)
Endurance on 4:
Radicool, Chem Fiend 3
(Because we want to give our Char a longer impact of his chems)
Copyright: Kilter Films, Amazon MGM Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks
Charisma to 7:
Strange In Numbers, Tenderizer 3, Inspirational 3
Intelligence to 10 (+5 Legendary INT):
Nerd Rage 3, Demolition Expert 5, Batteries Included 3
(Nerd Rage uses the optimal effects of low HP, Demolition Expert increases the damage for explosive bullets, batteries included is needed for my energy ammo on other builds (not needed in this build); the 15 intelligence also gives you more XP)
Agility at 10 (+5 Legendary AGI):
Sneak 1*, Covert Ops 3*, Gun-Fu 1*, Escape Artist, Gunslinger 3*, Expert-Gunslinger 3*, Master-Gunslinger 3*
(High Agility makes for better Sneak ability, so you're less likely to be spotted . Sneak, Escape Artist, Gun-Fu and Covert Ops are necessary for the build, and also gunslinger perks are essential)
Luck to 10 (+5 legendary LCK):
Starched Genes 2, Class Freak 3, Serendipidy 3, Critical Savvy 1, Better Criticals 3, Good with Salt 1
(High Luck is essential to land critical hits more often; Critical Savvy can be used on 3 too, I'm usingh "Good with salt" instead to prevent my food buffs from spoiling)
Legendary Perks
- Follow Through **** (Ranged damage from sneak attacks increases damage taken by the target by 40% for 10 seconds)
- Taking one for the Team **** (Enemies take 40% more damage when they attack you and you are in a team.) (Experience has shown that this legendary perk also stacks when you are hidden but the other team members are attacked, for example in events. )
- Legendary Perception**** (+5 WAH and +5 WAH skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Intelligence**** (+5 INT and +5 INT skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Agility**** (+5 MOV and +5 MOV skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Luck**** (+5 GLÜ and +5 GLÜ skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
By using legendary SPECIALs we can use more points in the skillset than was previously possible. The legendary SPECIALs supplement the points defined for the skillset in the loadout up to a maximum of 15 in the skillset. In addition, the points are applied but cannot be used for perks. For example, if you choose 12 WAH in the skillset and have legendary WAH at 4*, you still only get 15 points for perk cards, but you have 17 WAH in the Pipboy with the active SPECIALs.
Mutations
The mutations are decisive for the way of playing, the damage with critical hits, the intelligence, AP acceleration and much more. The right combination is therefore important.
- Eagle Eyes (-1 STR, +5 WAH, +75% Critical Damage )
- Adrenalreaction (+More weapon damage at low TP., -12 MAX TP)
- Marsupial (-1 INT, carry capacity, +jump height)
- Egghead (-1 AUS, -1 STR, +8 INT)
- Empathy (+8% damage taken, -33% team damage) (Means you take -25% damage since you are a team member yourself)
- Herd instinct (-2 SPECIAL alone, +3 SPECIAL when in a team) (so always play in a team)
- Herbivore (Eat vegetables with no disease with 2X benefit ) (Negates the effects of meat food)
- Speed Freak (+50% hunger/thirst while moving, movement speed +25, +reload)
- Bird Bones (decrease falling speed, -1 STR, +5 MOV)
Additionally I use:
- charged
- unstable isotope
Buffs
Our character is a herbivore, which doesn't suit the ghoul, but is important for critical hits and AP acceleration. Unfortunately, you have to make a break with the show here.
Since you can now get a Company Tea Machine from last season and the Atomic Shop, Company Tea is now no longer difficult to obtain and is the best choice for AP acceleration. Always get enough company tea and drink a cup of it once an hour, then you will be optimally provided with action point acceleration.
For more critical hit damage, I recommend Blight Soup for +187% critical damage for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can use sweet mutaberry tea, which lasts 60 minutes but is harder to make. Blight soup only requires some blight, water and wood.
Since our ghoul of course prefers to consume chems constantly, we should always have enough Overdrive and Psychotats with us. Overdrive provides +15% damage and +30% critical hits for 3 minutes (or 6 minutes with Chem Fiend), Psychotats provides +25% more damage over the same period. However, chems do not stack, so if you take 2 chems, only the last one taken will work.
Possible additional buffs include: Small Guns Bobbleheads (works for pistols and rifles), "Guns and Bullets 3" magazine (for more critical damage) and Ballistic Bock (+15% more ballistic damage & +15% condition cost).
Gameplay
BE15cf Pipe Revolver vs West Tek
BE25 Lever Action Rifle & BE15cf Pipe Revolver vs. West Tek
Conclusion
This build is certainly not a meta build like the Max Crit Command Build, but it's still a lot of fun. I like switching between a revolver and a rifle. Both have fantastic animations e.g. when reloading. This brings with it a lot of wasteland western feeling. By combining it with a bloodied build and critical hits, you also do reasonable damage and can deal with most enemies on your own. The build is also a refreshing ammo-saving alternative to a command build and can be easily created as a loadout.
How do you like the build? Would you like to explore Appalachia as a wasteland cowboy?
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