Building A Melee-Based Character

This guide will help you with the tips and tricks to building a strong up-close fighter in Fallout 3.  Playing F3 with a melee-based character is not easy, as you'll have to be able to soak up bullets, rockets, and grenades before even getting in range to hit back.  And when you hit, you better hit hard or you'll take a beating.

This guide was written based upon Fallout 3 without any of the add-ons, like Operation: Anchorage or Broken Steel.

Thanks to the wiki community at The Vault, which helped me build up a monster brawler.

Your attributes cannot go above 10 in any circumstance.  However, you might notice that I never tell you to pump an attribute up higher than 9.  This is because all attributes have an associated Bobblehead that permanently increases them by 1.  In some cases, there are multiple ways to permanently increase your stats, in which case you won't want to pump it up more than 8.

For a melee character, Endurance and Luck are extremely important in all cases, as they give you high health and a better chance for a critical attack, respectively.  Agility and Strength may also be of interest to you, depending on whether you're going to use melee weapons and/or VATS.

• Increasing Strength increases your melee skill, melee damage, and carrying capacity.
  
• Increasing Strength has no effect on your unarmed skill.

Strength is certainly a SPECIAL attribute worth looking at when building a melee character.  The biggest misconception is that Strength affects the unarmed skill; it doesn't.  Strength is only important if you plan to use melee weapons, in which case you'll want to raise it to 8 at character creation (there are two ways to permanently increase your Strength in The Capital Wasteland).  This will increase your melee skill, which allows you to do more damage with those weapons, and it also gives you a melee damage bonus of .5 HP per Strength point.

Carrying weight is also derived from Strength, which can play into whether or not you'll want to pump it up.  On one hand, you'll be able to go on longer treks through the Wasteland before having to sell off your excess gear.  On the other, you won't be carrying around a lot of guns, so you should have some spare carrying capacity anyway.

There aren't any perks that require Strength over 5.  If you're going to play as an unarmed character, you will want the Iron Fist perk, meaning that you should make sure that your Strength is at least 4.

• Keep it at 5.

Perception increases the Lockpick skill and gives you more warning of when enemies are around via the HUD.  Your mileage may vary on how useful the red markers are, but generally you'll know about your enemies before they know about you with a Perception of 5.

The Better Criticals perk, which gives you a 50% bonus to critical attack damage, is a wonderful perk to take.  It requires a Perception of 6.

• Pump it up to 9 at character creation.

You will die without a high Endurance, as it affects your base HP.  You gain an additional 20 HP for each point of Endurance, so by pumping it up to 9 at character creation you wind up with 40% more health than you would if you left it at 5.

Endurance also affects the unarmed skill, giving your punches more....uh, punch with each point.  You'll also be more resistant to radiation and poison, and be able to breathe longer underwater.

You will want to get the Toughness perk when it becomes available at level 6.  You'll need an Endurance of 5 to get it.

• Lower it and pick up some Charismatic gear.

Charisma is generally one of the least useful attributes.  It's helpful for speech checks, but a low Charisma can be overcome by drinking alcohol and wearing gear that increases it.  You'll generally know when you need to speech check people, since it's usually part of a quest, so you can prepare accordingly.

Depending on your preferences, there tends to be a few levels without any particularly useful perks.  You can take Intense Training to increase Charisma at those points.

There aren't any Charisma-based perks that you'll need, so you can safely ignore Charisma.

• Lower it to 3, maybe 4 if you don't feel like tracking down the skill books.
  

Intelligence is one attribute that many people assume should be high no matter what.  After all, it allows you to increase your skills faster by giving you more points at level up.  However, skills are pretty easy to increase if you're willing to put in the work.  There are skill books abound in the Capital Wasteland, as well as bobbleheads that automatically give you a ten-point boost to your skills.

Even if you're not interested in scouring the Wasteland for the books, keep in mind that you'll be ignoring Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives since you won't be using them.  So you can use what few points you do have and focus on those that affect your melee skills.

• At least 5 points, but completely dependent on your VATS use.

Each point of agility gives you an additional 2 points for VATS and 2 points to Sneak.  These are good bonuses to have, but you'll probably be better off leaving your Agility at 5 and seeking out the Bobblehead to get it up to 6.  Your total AP starts at 65, plus any Agility bonus. 

You'll want an agility of 6 because of the associated perks.  Unless you plan on wading right into your foes with no regard for stealth, you will absolutely want the Silent Running perk.  Silent running makes it much easier to sneak up on enemies.  Also, the Action Boy perk grants a whopping 25 VATS points, so a VATS user will want it.

• Pump it up to 8.

While Luck gives a small boost to all skills, you want it because each point of luck gives you an additional 1% chance to score a critical.  As part of the Big Trouble In Big Town questline, you can acquire the Lucky 8 Ball, which increases your Luck by 1 point as long as it's in your inventory.  You can also get another Lucky 8 Ball randomly from Megaton villagers if you save the town, but the odds on that are very unlikely.

The Better Criticals perk requires a Luck of 6.  Better criticals grants 50% more damage from critical hits, making you a complete monster when you get in range of your foes.

Skills are one of the easiest things to increase in Fallout 3.  There are numerous skill books lying around, each skill has a bobblehead that grants a ten-point boost, and there is equipment that increases just about everything.

For a melee-based character, you'll be ignoring every gun-related skill, allowing you to focus on those skills that you absolutely need.

Well, this might be the least surprising skill to focus on for a melee character.  The higher your skill, the more damage you'll dish out, and the less damage you'll take when blocking.  If you plan on getting the Ninja perk, then you should tag Melee.

In order to get the Ninja Perk, which you will most likely want, you need a Melee skill of 80.  The Ninja perk is useful for both unarmed and melee characters.  If you want that perk, you should invest in Melee regardless of whether you fight with or without weapons.

The other route for melee-based characters is unarmed.  There are several "unarmed weapons" in the game, like brass knuckles and the power fist, which makes Unarmed a viable combat option.  Like melee, you can block when unarmed, though blocking doesn't help against guns.

If your unarmed skill is at or above 70, you can - and should - pick up the Paralyzing Palm perk.

One thing is certain about being a melee character; you are going to take a lot of damage.  You'll definitely want to pump up Medicine, and find as many D.C. Journals of Internal Medicine that you can find.

The only Medicine-related perk of interest is Cyborg, which gives you 10% damage resistance.  You'll need a Medicine skill of 60 to get it.

Science is generally useful to hack computers.  However, it's primary interest to you is the Cyborg perk, which requires a Science skill of 60.

There is only one reason why you would need a high explosives score.  The shiskebab deals fire damage, which is amplified by the Pyromaniac perk.  Pyromaniac requires an Explosives skill of 60.  If you plan on specializing in melee, the Shishkebab coupled with the Pyromaniac perk is the best weapon that you can get.

A side-effect of soaking up bullets is that your gear is going to constantly need repairing.  While you don't absolutely have to increase Repair, it's worthwhile to invest your spare skill points into it, if only to keep your equipment in better shape.

Sneak will save your hide.  Unless you're the type of person who runs into battle, screaming out bloody murder, you'll want to get your sneak skill as high as you can get it to avoid taking unneccesary damage.

To overcome the limitations of close-in fighting, several of Fallout's perks give the brawlers a better chance of kicking ass.

Black Widow/Lady Killer lets you deal 10% more damage to members of the opposite sex.  Typically, you'll run into males so this benefits the ladies a bit more.  The extra damage will come in handy, especially in the early stages of the game when you'll need as much help as you can get.  The dialogue options that this perk grants are a nice bonus, but not very important in the grand scheme of things.

Since you've likely lowered your Intelligence, you will need to supplement the loss of skill points through reading books.  Comprehension gives you two points for every book read.  The perk can obtained at Level 2 (aka, right when you leave Vault 101), and will prove its worth as the game goes on.

For those choosing the path of the empty fist, this perk is very useful.  With three ranks, your unarmed attacks will do an extra 15 points of damage.  So either skip Iron Fist, or take 3 ranks in it.

Toughness grants you 10% damage reduction permanently.  You will certainly want this perk as soon as you can get it at level 6.

Finesse gives you a +5% chance to do a critical hit on an enemy, which is a very nice boost.  You should definitely take this perk.

You may find yourself without any particularly attractive perks to take at certain levels.  The 30 HP boost from Life Giver is not a bad choice for these situations, especially if you're finding yourself close to death quite a bit.  If HP is not a huge concern, this can be passed up for Intense Training.

At first, this might seem an odd perk to take.  However, the Shiskebab is a fire-based weapon, and its damage is increased by 50% by the Pyromaniac perk.  This makes it the most powerful melee weapon in the game.

Silent running will make your life much, much easier.  Enemies will rarely detect you, provided that you've been increasing Sneak as you've traveled through the Wasteland.

Cyborg grants you 10% damage resistance, which will be extremely useful in combat.  It does have a high requirements, but it's worth upping your Science and Medicine to get it.  Besides, Science and Medicine will certainly come in handy anyway.

This is a great perk to take, provided you use VATS extensively, as it gives you a huge 25 point AP boost.  If you're not a VATS user, however, skip it and take something else, like Intense Training or Life Giver.

You will absolutely want this perk, as it allows you to deal unholy damage with critical strikes.

Paralyzing Palm gives you about a 1:3 chance to disable your foe if you hit them in VATS with an unarmed attack.  If so, they fall over in a heap for 30 seconds, which is more than enough time to dispatch them.

Ninja grants you an extra 15% chance for a critical strike, and an extra 25% damage from a sneak critical hit with unarmed or melee attacks.  If you manage to sneak up on your enemy, which you probably will, you're just about guaranteed to kill them.

However, you'll need a very high melee skill to be eligible to take Ninja.  If you're an unarmed player, you'll still benefit from Ninja, but you'll have to also train up melee quite a bit.

If you've been pumping up Stealth and Melee, it's a hard decision on whether you should take this or Ninja.  Both are amazing perks.  VATS gives you the advantage of being able to close the last dozen feet on your enemy without taking fire, making Grim Reaper's Sprint extremely valuable when you're facing off in tight spaces against groups of foes.

Sometimes the clothes do not make the man, but in Fallout 3 they certainly make a difference.

The Shiskebab is a very good melee weapon on its own, but when coupled with the pyromaniac perk, it becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game.  If you plan on using weapons, this is the one to get.

The Deathclaw Gauntlet is the ultimate "unarmed weapon."  If you look at its stats, it might not appear so fearsome.  It's damage looks to be equivalent to the Power Fist.  However, the Deathclaw Gauntlet ignores target defense.  This means that it will do as much damage to a mole rat as it will to a soldier wearing Enclave Power Armor.

Additionally, it increases your chance for a critical hit by 5x, and does an additional 150% damage whenever you perform a critical hit.  If you target an enemy with VATS (which increases your critical chance by 15%), there is a very high probability that they will get wiped out by this weapon.

Ok, primarily the Hockey Mask is great because it looks scary as hell.  But it also gives you five points to your unarmed skill.  If you run into Goalie Ledoux, as part of the Just For The Taste Of It quest, he has a unique variant that also gives you +25 AP.

The only downside to the Hockey Mask is that you cannot wear any other headgear with it, like sunglasses, helmets, or the Ghoul Mask.

This is given to you as a quest reward, and is probably a better fit for a melee character than Power Armor.  For one, it gives a +1 to Luck, increasing your odds of a critical strike and +5 AP for use with VATS.  It's also relatively low weight, has pretty good damage resistance, doesn't slow you down when wearing it, doesn't affect enemies detecting you in sneak, and can be repaired easily.

The Lucky Eight Ball can be obtained in Big Town.  While you carry it, you automatically receive +1 to Luck.  It's also possible that a resident of Megaton will give this to you if you save the town, but it's extremely unlikely.

A few tips for those who would bring a knife to a gun fight.

As a melee character, it's very hard to avoid damage outright.  However, with careful planning, strong equipment, and good use of VATS you can manage the amount of punishment that your soft, fleshy body will take.  
 
Firstly, it's imperative to take every opportunity to increase your natural Damage Resistance.  This can be done through perks, like Toughness and Cyborg, or as quest rewards, like Oasis or The Wasteland Survival Guide.  When going into a particularly nasty battle, you can give yourself a temporary boost by using Med-X.
 
Once you've outfitted your character to be able to take a beating, you should focus on your combat strategy.  The biggest hurdle that a melee character faces is closing the distance to an enemy that is filling you full of bullets.  This is why sneak is so important, and why the Silent Running perk absolutely necessary.  It makes getting right up to the enemy a lot easier, as well as allowing you to followup with a nasty critical hit.   You should also take advantage of VATS.  You can target an enemy in VATS when you're still a few yards away.  By targeting the enemy in VATS, which is an automatic hit, you'll instantly close the gap and not take any damage at all.

VATS is generally very useful, since you can attack without getting hit back, you can close the last few meters without taking damage, and there's a 15% higher chance for a critical strike.  Also, if you have the Paralyzing Palm perk, an unarmed attack has about a 30% of knocking down the enemy.

However, melee attacks cannot target body parts using VATS.  In some cases, you might want to knock the gun out of your foe's hands; you'll need to target the gun manually to disarm your foe.

You might be impressed by the stats of a Super Sledge.  After all, it deals a bunch of damage.  Small and quick weapons may do less damage per swing, but they swing much faster, allowing you to do significantly more damage in the same amount of time that it takes to swing that heavy sledgehammer once.

How in the name of all that's holy will you ever take down a Behemoth?  It's not an easy task, but it is possible.  Before you approach the Behemoth, make sure you save your game.  
 
Your best bet is to soften it up a bit by using the very obvious traps, like the artillery at Takoma Park, or enemies/NPCs.  Talon Company mercs, raiders, Regulators, and the Brotherhood of Steel tend to get the behemoths' attention, giving you some time to hide out and let them do a bit of damage to it.  Protip: if you free the behemoth at Evergreen Mills and lead it to Jury Street Metro, it will fight the other behemoth there.
 
You'll also want to fight the behemoth in a spot that has a wrecked building, or a similar structure that you can hide in where the behemoth can't fit.  GNR, for instance, has plenty of hideout spots.  This is where a stealthy approach comes in handy.  You can hide out, then sneak up on the behemoth to get a critical strike in.  If you're an unarmed specialist, and have the paralyzing palm attack, a full barrage of VATS strikes should knock the monster out, allowing you to tear it up with the Deathclaw Gauntlet.  Because that weapon ignores target defense, it will do pretty good damage to it.  If the Behemoth isn't knocked out, then go back into the building and hide again, waiting for it to drop its guard.