Wasteland 3: Dominate The Wasteland With The Best Builds

Hey wasteland wanderers! Are you ready to conquer the frozen Colorado wasteland in Wasteland 3? Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a fresh recruit, crafting the perfect squad build is crucial for survival. This guide will dive deep into some of the most effective builds discussed on Reddit and beyond, helping you optimize your team for maximum mayhem and strategic domination. We'll explore various approaches, from devastating damage dealers to stalwart support characters, ensuring you're well-equipped to face any challenge the wasteland throws your way.

Understanding the Basics of Wasteland 3 Character Builds

Before we jump into specific builds, let's cover some fundamental principles that will help you understand the character creation and customization process in Wasteland 3. Understanding these basics will help you make informed decisions as you level up your squad and adapt to the ever-changing challenges of the game.

• Attributes: These are your character's core stats, influencing everything from combat prowess to skill proficiency. Key attributes include Coordination (action points), Luck (critical hit chance and more), Awareness (initiative and accuracy), Strength (melee damage and carrying capacity), Speed (movement and evasion), Intelligence (skill points), and Charisma (dialogue options and leadership abilities). Careful allocation of attribute points is essential for defining your character's role and maximizing their effectiveness.
• Skills: Skills determine your character's ability to perform specific actions, such as using weapons, healing allies, or hacking computers. There are numerous skills to choose from, each with its own unique benefits. Prioritize skills that complement your chosen build and playstyle. Some skills are more important for certain builds than others.
• Backgrounds: A character's background provides initial skill points and can offer unique dialogue options and interactions. Choose a background that aligns with your desired build and personality. Backgrounds offer minor, but sometimes useful, advantages.
• Perks: As your characters level up, they'll earn perks that grant passive bonuses and special abilities. Select perks that enhance your character's strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. Perks are an essential part of character progression and can significantly impact your build's overall effectiveness.

The Classic Combat Medic: Keeping Your Squad Alive

No Wasteland 3 squad is complete without a dedicated medic. This build focuses on keeping your team alive and kicking, ensuring they can withstand even the most brutal encounters. The Combat Medic excels at healing, reviving, and buffing allies, making them an invaluable asset in any firefight.

• Attributes: Prioritize Intelligence for more skill points, Coordination for more action points to use those skills and Awareness for initiative, ensuring your medic acts early in combat to heal injured allies. Some points in Luck for critical chance is also helpful.
• Skills: First Aid and Doctor are your bread and butter. Max these out to become a healing machine. Consider investing in Leadership to provide buffs to your team, further enhancing their survivability. Weapons skills are less important for this character but consider pistols for the utility or assault rifles for damage.
• Perks: Take perks that improve healing effectiveness, reduce skill cooldowns, and provide additional buffs to allies. Look for perks that grant bonus healing, increase action point recovery, or provide resistance to status effects.

This build is essential for any squad, especially on higher difficulty levels where survivability is paramount. A well-equipped and skilled Combat Medic can turn the tide of battle, keeping your team in the fight and ensuring victory.

The Sniper Assassin: Delivering Death from Afar

For those who prefer a more stealthy and strategic approach, the Sniper Assassin is a deadly force to be reckoned with. This build focuses on dealing massive damage from long range, eliminating key targets before they even have a chance to react. The Sniper Assassin excels at picking off enemies one by one, crippling their ranks and paving the way for your team to advance.

• Attributes: Maximize Awareness for initiative and accuracy. Invest in Coordination for more action points to take multiple shots per turn. Some Luck will make critical hits more frequent. Dump the rest.
• Skills: Sniper Rifles are your primary weapon. Max this skill to increase accuracy and critical hit chance. Sneaky Shit is also crucial for positioning yourself strategically and avoiding detection. Lockpicking is not a bad third skill since you'll need that on one of your characters anyway.
• Perks: Focus on perks that increase critical hit damage, improve accuracy, and provide bonuses for attacking from stealth. Look for perks that grant bonus damage against unaware targets or increase the range of your sniper rifle.

With the Sniper Assassin, the goal is to eliminate high-value targets before they can pose a threat to your team. This build requires careful planning and positioning, but the rewards are well worth the effort. A well-placed shot can instantly turn the tide of battle, leaving your enemies reeling and demoralized.

The Explosives Expert: Bringing the Boom

If you like things that go BOOM, then the Explosives Expert is the build for you. This build focuses on dealing massive area-of-effect damage, clearing out groups of enemies with well-placed explosives. The Explosives Expert excels at crowd control and can quickly turn a chaotic battlefield into a smoldering wasteland.

• Attributes: Coordination is key for throwing multiple explosives per turn. Awareness helps with initiative, ensuring you can set up your traps before the enemy gets too close. Intelligence gives you more skill points. You can probably dump the rest.
• Skills: Explosives are obviously your primary focus. Max this skill to increase damage and range. Mechanics is useful for disarming traps and crafting explosives. Survival can help you avoid environmental hazards and provide additional utility.
• Perks: Choose perks that increase explosive damage, expand the area of effect, and provide resistance to explosive damage (so you don't blow yourself up!). Look for perks that grant bonus damage against armored targets or provide additional utility, such as the ability to set traps.

The Explosives Expert is a powerful addition to any squad, capable of clearing out entire groups of enemies with ease. However, be careful not to get caught in your own explosions! Proper positioning and timing are crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of this build.

The Melee Brawler: Up Close and Personal

For those who prefer a more direct and aggressive approach, the Melee Brawler is a formidable force on the battlefield. This build focuses on dealing high damage up close, using melee weapons to tear through enemies. The Melee Brawler excels at engaging enemies head-on, drawing their fire and creating openings for your ranged attackers.

• Attributes: Maximize Strength for melee damage and carrying capacity. Invest in Speed for movement and evasion. Coordination can also be useful for additional action points.
• Skills: Melee Combat is your primary weapon skill. Max this to increase damage and accuracy. Armor Maintenance is crucial for staying alive in close combat. Toaster Repair? Sure, why not?
• Perks: Choose perks that increase melee damage, improve survivability, and provide additional mobility. Look for perks that grant bonus damage against stunned or knocked-down targets, or provide resistance to melee attacks.

The Melee Brawler is a durable and damage-dealing powerhouse, capable of taking on multiple enemies at once. This build requires a careful approach, as you'll need to get close to the enemy to deal damage. However, with the right skills and perks, the Melee Brawler can be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.

The Support Charisma Build: Buffing and Debuffing

While not a direct damage dealer, the Support Charisma build is crucial for enhancing your team's effectiveness and weakening your enemies. This build focuses on using skills like Leadership, Barter, and Hard Ass to buff your allies, debuff your enemies, and control the flow of combat. The Support Charisma build excels at manipulating the battlefield and ensuring your team has the advantage.

• Attributes: Maximize Charisma for dialogue options and leadership abilities. Invest in Intelligence for more skill points. Awareness helps with initiative so you can get the buffs up sooner.
• Skills: Leadership is your primary focus, providing buffs to your team and debuffs to your enemies. Barter can help you get better prices at vendors. Hard Ass is useful for intimidating enemies and resolving conflicts through dialogue.
• Perks: Choose perks that enhance your leadership abilities, improve your dialogue skills, and provide additional utility. Look for perks that grant bonus experience, increase your party's carrying capacity, or provide additional dialogue options.

The Support Charisma build is a versatile and valuable addition to any squad. While they may not be dealing direct damage, their ability to buff allies, debuff enemies, and control the battlefield can significantly increase your team's overall effectiveness. This build is especially useful in difficult encounters where strategic planning and resource management are crucial.

Final Thoughts: Experiment and Adapt!

Ultimately, the best Wasteland 3 build is the one that suits your playstyle and complements your team's composition. Don't be afraid to experiment with different builds, skills, and perks to find what works best for you. Remember to adapt your builds to the challenges you face, and don't be afraid to respec your characters if you're not happy with their current setup.

The wasteland is a dangerous place, but with the right squad and the right builds, you can conquer any challenge that comes your way. So, gear up, Ranger, and get ready to dominate the frozen wastes of Colorado!