With World War 3 getting more likely by the day, you’re most likely freaking out. Don’t worry, it’s natural. Everyone has those same thoughts of what they’re going to do when their attempts to avoid conscription fail because too many people use bone spurs as an excuse. And when the bombs start dropping, then what?
You need a good build.
Having a good build can be the difference between surviving long after the earth becomes Fallout 5 and getting killed by fumbling a cigarette lighter Don Draper style. But builds are hard. With so many different things to consider, it can be daunting to even start planning your build. There are so many variations of stats, perks, weapons, gear, and skills that you have to calculate. It’s really easy to just get overwhelmed.
Don’t worry. Here are some tips to help you plan a build for our inevitable mutually assured destruction.
Tip 1: Figure Out What Kind of Survivor You Want to Be
Once the world falls there are a few different types of survivors you can choose to be. You can be a lone wanderer, raider, cowardly leech, bloodthirsty religious cult leader, merchant, Mormon, etc. You can be a bow-and-arrow stealth hunter, a well-armed survivalist who saw this coming a decade ago, you can even go for the OP sicko who continued watching Walking Dead past season six. Whatever you choose though is going to affect your build.
Not every build will work for every type of survivor, so you need to nail down just what kind of survivor you want to be. This will help make figuring out a build much easier. If you know that you want to be a pistol-shooting Twinkie hunter then that means you’re going to want to plan toward a build that will best utilize that skill set. If you choose a build that’s not compatible with your chosen survivor archetype then you’ll be killed faster than a finished movie at Warner Bros.
Tip 2: Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
One of the main reasons that it seems so daunting is due to the fear of getting it wrong. You want to make sure that you have a build that will ensure not just your survival but the swift and merciless death of any who oppose you. But the desire to get it right can cause you to overthink it so much you just curl up into a ball and let the nukes vaporize you. So while you need some idea of what kind of survivor you want to be, there’s lots of room to see what works. Experiment and find what works for you. You have to understand that everyone is starting from zero so you have time to try out different things. The wasteland will not be conquered in a day, it will at least take the same amount of time it takes for a Bethesda game to release.
Try out the Mad Max, attempt the Rick Grimes, go ahead and do the Jesse Plemmons in Civil War. Experimenting with different builds will help you determine what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing. You might think you enjoy being a lone wandering raider, indiscriminately attacking all you come across but if you put all your eggs into that basket and end up not liking it then you’re screwed. If you get stuck with a build you’re not fully into then you’ll go down faster than a Russian journalist who says something mildly critical of Putin. You have plenty of time before you need a locked-in build and even more before you need to min/max. Use the pre-nuke fighting and the post-nuke settling to experiment and you’ll be ruling the wasteland in no time.
Tip 3: Some Stats Are Universal
While each build is going to prioritize different stats, some are universal. If you want to make it in the nuclear wasteland that Earth becomes there are some things that you need to make sure you level up regardless of what build you end up pursuing. Strength and Stamina are at the top of the list. No matter what kind of survivor you choose to be, you have to have enough strength and stamina otherwise you’re dead meat. After all, how long do you expect to survive if you’re always over-encumbered. There won’t be 2-day delivery anymore, you’re going to have to carry everything everywhere you go. Even if you want to be a lightweight stealth Rogue, you still need to be strong enough and have enough stamina to comfortably carry your supplies and have room for more. The easiest kill anyone is gonna get is the person slowly dragging a duffle bag that’s too heavy.
Another stat you want to make sure that you work on no matter what is perception. It’s going to be a few decades before the radiated air mutates us enough that we start to see important items highlighted. A bonus is it will help your aim with weapons which you’ll also need no matter the build you go with.
And last but most important is charisma. You need to have good charisma no matter what. You will run into other survivors and being able to talk to them will be the difference between wasting valuable resources trying to kill them or simply moving on. Good charisma will also gain you potential companions to help you, and even die in your stead. Even if you want to be a one-person army, enough charisma is still important. It will get you into settlements, it will gain you allies that you can then turn on. Charisma is the difference between the leader of a band of raiders happily giving you some supplies or being forced into a 3-hour car chase that wastes all your supplies. Obviously which type of build you choose will determine just how much you level these stats but no matter what you have to work on them.
Tip 4: Gear is Important, But Skills Are More Important
The gear you have with you with be important, there’s no doubt about that. The weapons you have and the armor you wear will be what keeps you alive much of the time but the most important thing is your skills. When you’re planning your build don’t waste time thinking about the specific gear you’ll have, think about what skills to learn and become proficient in. If you have good aim and recoil control then it doesn’t matter what gun you use to shoot the people coming to steal your toilet paper. And don’t forget about cooking. You can’t rely on ramen and boxed mac n’ cheese anymore. You need to know how to properly cook anything you can find, whether that be animal or human meat. And sorry vegans but you can’t be picky anymore.
Your skills are going to take you further than your gear will. That’s just a fact. So make sure that’s what you focus on. You can plan your build and decide what kind of gear you’ll have out there but it’s no good if you don’t have basic survival skills. Remember, you can always get new gear, there’s always going to be some former Animal Crossing player for you to easily kill and steal their stuff but what good is that if you die trying to climb something? Become proficient in the proper skills and you’ll go far.
Tip 5: Have Fun
Don’t let the stress of build planning and the ever-present threat of death stop you from having fun. This is the end of the world, the thing we’ve all been waiting for since we realized the boomers messed up the world beyond repair and we retreated into a state of existential depression. Have fun out there, raid that pharmacy, throw that Molotov into the house of the racists who live across the street, eat the rich, literally eat them, we’ll need to resort to cannibalism sooner or later in the nuclear winter. This is your time to be who you want, take what you want, destroy what you want, and build what you want. And Preston Garvy won’t be there bothering you every two minutes so go out there and have a blast.
