Least used perks

[SickPuppy]

With the different play styles I'm wondering if there are perks you just never use. Might be good feedback for devs too, perk up the unpopular ones

 

I've left out weapon specific perks because that depends on what attribute you start with and also Charismatic Nature as that's

specifically for mp.

 

There's a 10 poll limit so I've just picked some random ones from each attribute. Please check Other and comment if not listed.

 

Multiple choice is active.

[SickPuppy]

Grease Monkey and Pack Mule for me, I never upgrade those. First week or 2 I'm on foot and mods for upgrading my inventory.

 

I forgot to add From The Shadows. Tried it at max but I'm still waking zeds, might be bugged but I ain't touching that perk for a while.

[Ghostlight]

Intersting poll, shame you couldn't include them all....so I will add the following....for Solo play, it would be completey different in Multiplayer, other than the "Perks I'd never put point in no matter what" set:

 

1) Perks I have never - and likely will never - put a point in, ever (those I marked with an * are Perks I consider utterly and completely useless in every shape or form)

Perception

- Dead Eye

- Demolitions Expert

- Javelin Master

- Lock Picking *

- Infiltrator

- Animal Tracker *

- Penetrator

Strength

- Skull Crusher

Fortitude

- Brawler

- Huntsman *

- Iron Gut *

- Rule 1 Cardio

Agility

- Archery

- Deep Cuts

- Flurry of Blows

- Hidden Strike

- From the Shadows

Intellect

- Electrocutioner

- Physician *

 

1) Perks I will likely put a single point in for a quick win but no more

Strength

- Masterchef

Fortitude

- Well Insulated

- Living off the Land

- Healing Factor

 

3) Perks I max out every time no matter what

Perception

- Lucky Looter

Strength

- Boomstick

- Pummel Pete

- Miner69er

- Motherlode

Fortitude

- Machine Gunner

Intellect

- Better Barter

- Daring Adventurer

 

4) Perks I probably max out every time depending on which schematics drop

Strength

- Pack Mule

Intellect

- Advanced Engineering

- Grease Monkey

[Sjustus548]

I'll list my choices for the worst perk under each tree.

 

PER- Animal Tracker. I can't see this being useful enough to put any points in to it.

STR- Pack Mule. Can easily use the mods to make this perk useless. Master Chef is a very close second.

FORT- Well Insulated. The different temperatures aren't a big enough threat to warrant using this perk.

AGI- Parkour. Hurting ourselves by falling hasn't ever been that big of an issue.

INT- Grease Monkey. We've found the schematics or just bought vehicles instead of using this perk. Much easier.

[Drawfox]

AGI- Parkour. Hurting ourselves by falling hasn't ever been that big of an issue.

 

I love the Parkour lvl3 skill, which let you jump 2 blocks high. lvl5 let you jump 3 BLOCKS HIGH. Its incredible fun, and helps a lot when escaping some zombies.

[Sjustus548]

I love the Parkour lvl3 skill, which let you jump 2 blocks high. lvl5 let you jump 3 BLOCKS HIGH. Its incredible fun, and helps a lot when escaping some zombies.

 

I never think about the uses of being able to jump 3 blocks high. You could use it as a way to get in your base so you don't have to have a weakness in your defenses that a door gives. Might be worth looking in to.

[Katitof]

Anything under agility, because it provides ZERO non combat related benefits.

[Laz Man]

I'll list my choices for the worst perk under each tree.

 

PER- Animal Tracker. I can't see this being useful enough to put any points in to it.

STR- Pack Mule. Can easily use the mods to make this perk useless. Master Chef is a very close second.

FORT- Well Insulated. The different temperatures aren't a big enough threat to warrant using this perk.

AGI- Parkour. Hurting ourselves by falling hasn't ever been that big of an issue.

INT- Grease Monkey. We've found the schematics or just bought vehicles instead of using this perk. Much easier.

 

Regarding well insulted, do you feel that way for all biomes? If your living in the forest for example, I can see where your coming from. 😂

[Fix]

1 point into iron gut has made me never get food poisoning across 4-5 characters, past that not needed.

 

Animal Tracker - never

Well insulated - never

Lockpicking - never, just carry an auger lol

Huntsman - I havent, but could possibly see a benefit on a lower loot game setting

Physician - No point, first aid kits are good enough

 

 

From the Shadows...kind of wierd one, i felt benefits up to level 4, level 5 almost seems worse for some reason

 

Agility is good for clearing POI but thats about it. On the fence about archery when I tried it, its only good for ensuring you dont wake zeds since you can 1-shot most sleepers with steel arrows/bolts, but most of the time a silenced pistol wont wake any others unless they are right next to you.

 

Javelin Master - will skip this one if I play PER again, not worth it, unperked sledge was still more effective.

 

Some others like living off the land and grease monkey I skip if solo, if playing group sometimes will grab them at the start to skip bad RNG drops and respec out of it later.

[Guest]

Even in the desert or snow biomes, you only "need" well insulated if you insist on wearing some of the clothes with lower elemental protection (college jacket for speed, suit for Magnum Enforcer synergy, for example). And even then it won't be really necessary unless you just really hate to see the debuff icons on your hud.

[Orclover]

Lock Picking - Ok early on but gathering mechanical parts gets to be a chore when you burn 6-10 picks on a hard chest. Auger is end game safe opener, wish I had saved a point. It should only take iron ingots to make lockpicks, would make it worthwhile.

 

The Infiltrator - Mines are worthless, no exp for their kills. A magazine does everything you need this skill to do otherwise. Up mine damage/radius and add exp for their kills. Might make it worth it.

 

Pack Mule - pockets, usually you have pockets within the first few days. a few mods and this skill is worthless. If this perk ADDED another whole row on to your inventory however....

 

Master Chef - buried treasure quest cover what this skill does. No need for it.

 

Well Insulated - 0 reason for this skill on normal server settings.

 

Iron Gut - everybody is weaned on canned goods now, by the time we get stews the food poisoning mechanic is no longer scary. Still probably the most taken skill on this list by players.

 

Parkour - After hearing that other guy talk about jumping 3 squares...yea playing 3d gun-mario might be fun. Worth a look. Too bad its under Agility.

 

The Daring Adventurer - buddy is getting major rewards from quest with 5 points into this. So I cant bash it too much. I might run him through some tier V clear quest to see what he gets.

 

Grease Monkey - unless you are getting crap for loot drops then this becomes worthless very quickly. Fine for getting a bicycle in the first day or two though.

[Vintorez]

Olympic Swimmer, there's just not enough water in the game to warrant putting points in it unless you're specifically building some underwater base you have to swim into.

[Guest]

Olympic Swimmer, there's just not enough water in the game to warrant putting points in it unless you're specifically building some underwater base you have to swim into.

 

Pretty sure they took this one out. But yeah, that was easily the worst perk in A17.

[VenomsLust]

Pack Mule -- With pockets, this perk is rendered completely useless.

Grease Monkey -- Only useful if you're trying to get a vehicle early (I wouldn't blame you)... Once you have your Motorcycle, use the Fergitin' Elixir, and spend those points elsewhere.

Electrocutioner -- Slight irony, but I use the Stun Baton frequently in my SP games, but still can't justify spending perks into it.

 

To those saying they are 5/5 From The Shadows and still waking zeds... You guys are doing something wrong... at 5/5 I can practically tea-bag the zeds and they don't wake up... O.O

[Orclover]

 

To those saying they are 5/5 From The Shadows and still waking zeds... You guys are doing something wrong... at 5/5 I can practically tea-bag the zeds and they don't wake up... O.O

 

Something I noticed last night is that your over all "noise rating" affects gunshots and weapons, regardless of weather they are silenced. I have advanced muffled connections on every piece of armor now and I was sniping zeds without a silencer and zeds 10-15 blocks away were not waking up. I remember the devs saying something about the skill doing something like that back in A16 I think and dismissed it but it appears to affect even mods adjusting your noise rating. Get enough noise reduction and you can fire a shotgun off in a room while sneaking and nothing wakes up apparently. It was amusing at least.

 

I do like how just having a running auger out now makes heat/noise. Very appropriate.

[Vintorez]

Something I noticed last night is that your over all "noise rating" affects gunshots and weapons, regardless of weather they are silenced. I have advanced muffled connections on every piece of armor now and I was sniping zeds without a silencer and zeds 10-15 blocks away were not waking up. I remember the devs saying something about the skill doing something like that back in A16 I think and dismissed it but it appears to affect even mods adjusting your noise rating. Get enough noise reduction and you can fire a shotgun off in a room while sneaking and nothing wakes up apparently. It was amusing at least.

 

I do like how just having a running auger out now makes heat/noise. Very appropriate.

 

I think many people don't realize that stepping on trash makes a lot of noise, which to be fair isn't communicated clearly in the game.

[SickPuppy]

Looks like Well Insulated out in front just not getting any luv. There's just too many other better perks to get, saying that I read they're working on weather, so maybe it might come into play in later alpha.

 

 

Surprised Parkour isn't getting picked as much, I gave it a try in a17 and it's actually really useful.

 

I love the Parkour lvl3 skill, which let you jump 2 blocks high. lvl5 let you jump 3 BLOCKS HIGH. Its incredible fun, and helps a lot when escaping some zombies.

 

Agree with that. Especially on nightmare run.

 

 

...

Some others like living off the land and grease monkey I skip if solo, if playing group sometimes will grab them at the start to skip bad RNG drops and respec out of it later.

 

Yes some are more geared for mp, living off the land is nice but just not necessary in sp. Getting grease monkey then respec later seems a viable play, suppose you could also do that for Healing when you have access to crafting first aid supplies. I mean 1 health in 4 secs isn't going to save you in those oh sh** moments.

[SickPuppy]

Lock Picking - Ok early on but gathering mechanical parts gets to be a chore when you burn 6-10 picks on a hard chest. Auger is end game safe opener, wish I had saved a point. It should only take iron ingots to make lockpicks, would make it worthwhile.

 

The Infiltrator - Mines are worthless, no exp for their kills. A magazine does everything you need this skill to do otherwise. Up mine damage/radius and add exp for their kills. Might make it worth it.

 

Pack Mule - pockets, usually you have pockets within the first few days. a few mods and this skill is worthless. If this perk ADDED another whole row on to your inventory however....

 

Master Chef - buried treasure quest cover what this skill does. No need for it.

 

Well Insulated - 0 reason for this skill on normal server settings.

 

Iron Gut - everybody is weaned on canned goods now, by the time we get stews the food poisoning mechanic is no longer scary. Still probably the most taken skill on this list by players.

 

Parkour - After hearing that other guy talk about jumping 3 squares...yea playing 3d gun-mario might be fun. Worth a look. Too bad its under Agility.

 

The Daring Adventurer - buddy is getting major rewards from quest with 5 points into this. So I cant bash it too much. I might run him through some tier V clear quest to see what he gets.

 

Grease Monkey - unless you are getting crap for loot drops then this becomes worthless very quickly. Fine for getting a bicycle in the first day or two though.

 

Yes I gave Lock picking a go but it just didn't feel that useful early game survival wise. There's plenty of loot all around.

 

Infiltrator gives me a selection headache. On permadeath games it's almost a priority, friggin hate them land mines. Maybe respec once looted the book. Problem is I never get anything else under Perception so going down a whole attribute for one perk, meh.

 

I've heard good things about Daring Adventurer too, but I never have the points to go into it. If I do it goes into Better Barter because you have a whole list of items to choose from but only a few under Daring Adv, or maybe DA is guaranteed better loot?

[SickPuppy]

I think many people don't realize that stepping on trash makes a lot of noise, which to be fair isn't communicated clearly in the game.

 

...

To those saying they are 5/5 From The Shadows and still waking zeds... You guys are doing something wrong... at 5/5 I can practically tea-bag the zeds and they don't wake up... O.O

 

I raged quit a couple of games trying to go stealth. I just cannot get it to work, I mean is it 80% success rate for u guys? 100%?

 

I have adv muffled mods

clear all debris

stay out of lights

crouch

5/5 from the shadows

light armor, padded armor, no armor....it's 50% success rate for me, it's just a lottery whether they wake or not.

[omegarte]

How many points I put into Grease Monkey, Master Chef and Pack Mule is entirely dependent on what schematics/loot I find.

[Weyrling]

I raged quit a couple of games trying to go stealth. I just cannot get it to work, I mean is it 80% success rate for u guys? 100%?

 

I have adv muffled mods

clear all debris

stay out of lights

crouch

5/5 from the shadows

light armor, padded armor, no armor....it's 50% success rate for me, it's just a lottery whether they wake or not.

Are you holding shift to move faster? Huge increase in noise.

Constantly moving? Noise will slowly increase to some threshold which depending on conditions may be too high.

Periodically stopping as I creep up I've got a 75-100% success rate, depending on the building in question.

The really annoying part is all those zombies hiding behind stuff that instantly alert the entire house if you dare rip the curtains.

[Orclover]

Yea the inch forward creep method for sneaking by tapping your forward key every few seconds can get you pretty close to zeds before they wake up. There are a lot of ninja tricks for going through a POI without any points in the skill. Generally I don't wake up anything any more unless I am firing a weapon too close to them. You can even stand and inch forward with some success or stand and jump and move just a bit to land on a higher block without alerting everybody with a bit of practice.

 

With time you will learn the in game noise ques that you made a noise, not just the noise meter on the screen but you will hear a can drop or paper rustle when you step on a trash block. Remember thats all they are in the game, just blocks with their own rules and events that happen when you touch them. Even metal/steel floor blocks I read a while back make more noise than say wooden ones. Stay on the carpet, axe the trash as you move, whatever it takes and you can stay really quiet even in full heavy armor.

 

Break out an idling auger or chainsaw however....

[White-Gandalf]

I think, the perk system - it's structure and distribution - is one of the better aspects of A18. It looks like a huge replay potential, for everything has it's uses, depending of environment and play style and the goddess of random. I had three beginnings so far and in every playthrough, i had different necessities purely out of the situation.

 

One time, i was desperately in need of packmule and well insulated, another time i spend not a single point in both of them. But needed iron gut because wanting to rely on meat while being hit multiple times by food poisoning, which was no deal at all in the first run, where i could do more looting.

 

The same goes for weapons: Whatever i find as the best weapons, i try to put into use.

 

In a certain way, that results in the same outcome as if the funpimps had kept the "Learning by Doing": Whatever i use most gets a skill point or two when leveling up. Thus, every run is somewhat (at times: hugely) different from others.

[Ghostlight]

The thing about Lockpicking....I never actually take Lockpicks with me as it takes up an inventory slot. However I do pick them up when on looting trips and use them when I get the chance....and they typically open safes successfully even with 0 points in the skill! Like 9 times out of 10 safes will open with only a couple of Lockpicks. And if not....I've got my trust Steel Pick.

[SickPuppy]

Seriously guys, I watch my detection meter at 7 with all the perks and mods, I'm inching forward tapping W, next step everything wakes up in the room and beyond. This happens in a lot of different pois. Maybe some rooms are ment to trigger no matter what, but meh I'm done with stealth build for the time being. Maybe till I get my hands on nvg.

 

 

I think, the perk system - it's structure and distribution - is one of the better aspects of A18. It looks like a huge replay potential, for everything has it's uses, depending of environment and play style and the goddess of random. I had three beginnings so far and in every playthrough, i had different necessities purely out of the situation.

 

...

 

Probably just my rigid play style but I find I'm always Str and Fort early game. Survival perks, gather resources and sledge takes care of everything early on. I dislike specific weapons under attributes though I find this really dampens my character build. I've barely touched the weapons under Perc and Int because I hardly ever go down those trees.

 

It's a shame, I watched some of Laz Mans videos and his use of hunting rifle on horde nights makes me wanna spec into them. But there's hardly anything I want to spec under Perc. I just wish weapons had their own tree, not so we can be all powerful with every weapon just free to spec into certain weapons.