This build is a modified version of my sniper — they are essentially the same in that they use guns as their primary weaponry, but you’ll soon see some important differences, like, you know… eating people.  I try to maximize skill points, so the SPECIAL is very simple as you can see.  It dawned on me the other day that there is essentially no reason to rush and get the intelligence implant at level one in Fallout: New Vegas.  This nagging desire to do so stems of course from Fallout 3, where putting your intelligence up to 10 was dumb since you would eventually find the intelligence bobblehead.

Assuming you don’t plan on getting all of the implants in Fallout: New Vegas, there is no reason not to bring your intelligence up to 10 right off the bat and save yourself the hassle.  Right, so here is the build which is followed by explanations of the important perks:

Traits:

• Built to Destroy
• Good Natured

Tag:

• Guns
• Repair
• Sneak

*Don’t read any skill books until comprehension is acquired

Optional perks are italicized, and this order is by no means required, you can mix things up if you wish. Any perk that requires a 6 in a SPECIAL stat will require an implant, but none of the necessary perks do.  This build is really quite versatile in terms of perks you can go with.

Cowboy
This perk is essentially the backbone of this build.  It gives a 25% boost to DAM with level action rifles and all revolvers.  This doesn’t sound like a huge benefit and there are a limited number of weapons which fit into this category.  These weapons, however, are some of the strongest and most accurate weapons in Fallout: New Vegas, making them deadly with this perk.  Here are the key weapons this build will want to eventually wield:

• Brush Gun
• Ranger Sequoia
• Cowboy Repeater/La Longue Repeater
• Lever-action Shotgun

The ammo for these guns can be hard to come by, so you will definitely want to experiment with making your own ammo.

Shotgun Surgeon
I include this perk on any gun character, but it’s especially important on our cowboy. Since the lever-action shotgun is both lever-action (boosted by “Cowboy”) and a shotgun it will be twice pumped with this combination of perks. Now it will not only tear through armor, but it will hit for added damage becoming a truly deadly close range weapon. Throw some slugs or magnum ammo in there, and well… you get the picture.

Rapid Reload/Quick Draw
The downside to revolvers and lever-action weaponry is that they are slow to reload, so crowd control can be tough. Both of these perks can help, but I would not recommend taking both. As rapid reload explains, you reload your weapons 25% faster. When it comes to Quick Draw, however, the trick is that each time you put away a weapon for another weapon and then re-draw the first weapon, it will be fully loaded. If you have your weapons carefully hot-keyed, you can simply flick through them to reload. The choice is up to you. It may be a good idea to save right before selecting the perk so you can experiment with both.

Cannibal
I have been waiting for ages to slap this on a build! The Cannibal perk is now more valuable than ever due to Fallout:New Vegas‘s hardcore mode, as eating flesh recovers health instantly rather than slowly as most other healing items do. It’s not recommended to dine on the fallen under-fire however, as the Cannibal animation takes a long time.

Eating 25 corpses unlocks bonus perk “Dine and Dash”, which allows you to strip human flesh and remains off corpses to eat later.  Human flesh fills you considerably, while also pumping you with radiation; human remains on the other hand do not irradiate you making them great food to have on hand.

Recently, a second bonus perk unlocked through cannibalization was discovered: Meat of Champions.  Basically if the player eats certain key NPCs, certain SPECIAL stats will receive a boost for 60 seconds.  To avoid spoilers I have included a link which explains it in full detail, but it is definitely worth getting for any cannibal!

How you distribute your implants is up to you, but this build can get 6 in total. As a general rule all my character get the DT implant since it’s extremely beneficial.  The remainder should probably go to where you want perks or additional fortification, i.e. endurance to boost HP and radiation resistance.

I hope this build is not only fun with the unique charm of eating people, and the mini-quests that comes with it, but also effective for using guns from any range.  With that, get out there and start eating your way through the wastes!