Your favorite builds

[Spiked]

Its been some time since this game is released, and bunch of us completed it more then once, or twice, or three times or...you get the picture. So, of what combination of skills is your favorite?

 

Mine is without a doubt stealth+assault riffles. So I stealth my way through anything I can, but I also have AR when things get messy. Also, I like to use those silenced bullets for taking out guys in the distance silently. I also like to buy a couple of ranks in pistol tree, so I can line up a critical from cover, or take down two or more targets with chain shot, If I can't sneak past them, and sabotage gives you some nice things also. So all in all, I would probably split the remaining action points on those two skills.

 

Martial arts is a great addition to stealth+AR build too, since AR isn't reliable on close distances, especially when your playing on hard.

[razgriz_1400]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

[zkylon]

I love my stealth+tech specialist because i get brilliance and bonus to detection by cameras and easier lockpicking/etc. It was pretty hard against bosses at first but once i got chainshot combined with high levels of shadow operative (and brilliance to do it all over again :D), the battlefield becomes my playground

Edited June 20, 2010 by zkylon

[jdamien75]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

 

I haven't tried using G22 as my final handler, but I've heard you can get Sis to help you out at the very end if you pick Albatross to be your handler.

 

I'm doing my "kill everybody" play through right now, so Sis was executed & is only helping the fishes now.

[Enoch]

I love my stealth+tech specialist because i get brilliance and bonus to detection by cameras and easier lockpicking/etc. It was pretty hard against bosses at first but once i got chainshot combined with high levels of shadow operative (and brilliance to do it all over again :D), the battlefield becomes my playground

Yeah, you get a nice character if you drop the Melee from the standard "Spy" build and go with 7 ranks of Sabotage plus 10 ranks of Tech Aptitude (along with maxed Stealth and Pistols). Basically, earn basic Shadow Op and Chainshot, then go for Brilliance. Add in the Sabotage ranks when you think you're going to need the binary invis, then focus on topping out the Stealth and Pistols.

 

You've got to run like hell whenever a boss character tries to close to melee range, though.

[Darque]

I like my wall of death build -> Assault Rifle/Tech/Toughness.

 

You're not invulnerable, but you can just stand there and go headshot -> headshot -> headshot... until the area is clear

 

And if you get bored with that, instead of a ton of healing items, you can load up on a double ton of grenades.

[zkylon]

Yeah, you get a nice character if you drop the Melee from the standard "Spy" build and go with 7 ranks of Sabotage plus 10 ranks of Tech Aptitude (along with maxed Stealth and Pistols). Basically, earn basic Shadow Op and Chainshot, then go for Brilliance. Add in the Sabotage ranks when you think you're going to need the binary invis, then focus on topping out the Stealth and Pistols.

 

You've got to run like hell whenever a boss character tries to close to melee range, though.

With Chainshot on expert, bosses don't get the chance. Besides, if they try to melee you, just run, hide behind a column or something and Do Shadow Op. Use that time to cast () Brilliance and Brayko/Deng is done for. I found the Stealth/Tech Spec character to be better suited against bosses than my pure AR-Toughness build (in all fairness, i wasted more than a few points on Martial Arts and didn't get to max out Toughness or Technical Aptitude). Sure, three shots and you're dead but with high Toughness, heavy armor and Iron Will it's maybe ten shots at best. You still can't take that much damage with non-stealth builds.

[Azure79]

Stealth, Pistols, Martial Arts, with some in Toughness.

 

Sneak in, chain shot, flying knee to the face to any enemy left standing.

 

Every game should have a flying knee to the face move followed by a stomp option.

[edgarcuk]

My fave so far:

 

All stealth tree.

All pistol tree.

Sabotage tree up to breaking and entering master

Tech tree up to level 10 (weapon customisation)

Martial arts up to 5 (fury)

Toughness up to 10 (hard to kill)

A couple of Assault Rifles

None for SMG nor Shotguns

 

Since it's more a stealth/sabotage/ pistol build, I put tech tree because of brilliance, healing and endurance bonus, because of the stealth armor. Martial arts because is needed sometimes. Toughness for those helicopters and similar encounters, and to be able to take some damage.

[razgriz_1400]

I'm still on my first playthrough but I'm using a stealth build with a high pistol rating because chainshot has saved my *** on several occasions in close quarters. Strangely my pistol is only for when I can't get close enough to use a melee takedown and I only have 5 points or so in martial arts. As for my secondary weapon, I bounce between the assault rifle and SMGs depending on if I'm in a wide open map (like most of the Saudi missions) or if I'm in a close quaters map (Lazo's yacht). I have maybe 3-4 points in SMG/Rifle and a couple points with sabotage, tech, and toughness. Also I feel like I'm a bit weird in that when I have the choice between G22 and VCI as my allies I usually pick the VCI because I feel I'm stealthy as hell on my own but if I've got a fight on my hands, I'd rather have SIE backing me up than Albatross: when the **** hits the fan a crazy chick with an M60 trumps a guy who sits in the shadows and observes, IMO. If one could have Sis as backup, I might change my mind, though.

 

I haven't tried using G22 as my final handler, but I've heard you can get Sis to help you out at the very end if you pick Albatross to be your handler.

 

I'm doing my "kill everybody" play through right now, so Sis was executed & is only helping the fishes now.

 

 

I know about Sis freeing you from the infirmary in the Alpha Protocol compound by reading spoilers. I meant having her fighting side-by-side with you. Despite her revolvers requiring her to reload every 10 seconds or so, she can really tear **** up in a hurry. Of course my "dream team" for an all-out fight is SIE, Heck, and Sis with me ghosting around and stabbing people in the neck while they're pinned down...

[jones092201]

max brilliance, stealth to shadow operative at 12 seconds, sabatoge high and pistols to chain shot 5 or 6 and you are unstopable, bosses become an absolute joke...also you can sneak past baddies without much trouble...you need nothing else though i do like to get martial arts up there because it is prerequiste for a bad ass spy

[mr insomniac]

Played the game twice now, just finished my second run 20 or so minutes ago. First game I kinda scattered my skill points around a bit, tech + sabotage + pistols + rifles + martial arts, because everything just sounded cool, heh. But I never really got good at anything. Second game I went pistols and martial arts with some sabotage and toughness thrown in. I missed the rifles, but only until I maxed out pistols.

 

Similar experience in both games. What can I say? Melee'ing the bad guys is fun. Awesome fun. Makes me wish Mike made some Bruce Lee noises once in a while. As others have said, knee-to-the-head + stomp = win. But things can get a bit difficult when closing range, or in a crowd. Of course that's where chainshot comes in.

 

All I've decided about my third run is that I'm gonna try a recruit. Played as a freelancer the first two games.

[macrocarl]

I finsished up my 1st playthrough as a Spy with 13 in Martial Arts, 13 in Pistols, 13 in Sealth, 2 in Sabotage (for the EMP pick locks ability which saved my ass a couple of times) and 3 in AR as my secondary weapon (mostly used AR for long rang attacks vs. helicopter and sniping from afar at low levels). I had to run around a lot vs. bosses but towards the end I could take out a room stealthy like with Shadow Operative....... Totally fun, never threw a grenade the whole game! Also totally dug knee to the face + pistol to the face (MA 13)

 

For my 2nd playthrough I was thinking more of an aggro free lance kill 'em real bad type wih these stats:

 

Martial Arts lvl 13 = 52 points

Pistols lvl 10 = 15 points

Sabotage lvl 6 = 24 points

Toughness lvl 5 = 20 points

Stealth lvl 3 = 18 points

Shot Gun lvl 7 = 35 points

Tech lvl 10 = 30 points

+3 points left over

 

I know the build is spread all over the place but I can't get rid of pistol and martial arts. They are too cool. Does anyone think I need to tweak the build? Am I over doing it in toughness? OR is shotgun or pistol too high? Thoughts?

[Spiked]

I don't know, shotgun+martial arts doesn't make much sense, they pretty much serve the same purpose. Just activate fury and you can kick some serious close-quarter ass in those couple for seconds, no need for shotgun. But it doesn't matter much, you can play the game any way you want, the build doesn't have to be, you know, optimal.

 

BTW, I just finished my Chuck Norris/Ninja playthough on hard, and it was awesome! Maxed out stealth, toughness, martial arts, and 10 points in technical aptitude(brilliance) and I was unstoppable. Boy, I beat the crap out of Brayko, Marburg, Deng, you name it. Definitely one of my favorite builds. Who needs guns anyway?

Edited June 27, 2010 by Spiked

[mr insomniac]

BTW, I just finished my Chuck Norris/Ninja playthough on hard, and it was awesome! Maxed out stealth, toughness, martial arts, and 10 points in technical aptitude(brilliance) and I was unstoppable. Boy, I beat the crap out of Brayko, Marburg, Deng, you name it. Definitely one of my favorite builds. Who needs guns anyway?

I am definitely trying this in my next game.

[macrocarl]

@ Prestidigitator

Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you? The 1st lvl of brilliance is at 8th lvl, no? Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

 

Also quick Q on tech and then I promise to stop hijacking this thread

 

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

[Spiked]

Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you?

 

It was the other way around, I beat the crap out of them, without much or any trouble. Epinephrine Spike + Iron Will + Fury, lets call this combo 'Steven special' for future references. For Marburg, I just incinerated his henchmen with grenades, and then gave him one Steven special and that was that. For Brayko, I gave him Steven special, then after he gets high I hide with shadow operative(so that he doesn't call his mobsters on me), while I'm hiding I use brilliance and then give him another Steven special after the effects of the coke wore off. Deng was the easies one, I just gave him one Steven special and that was that, he didn't even have time to react, he didn't even touch me.

 

Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

 

It was my 9th playthrough, and at that point I was really good at mini games so I didn't need any help, but I did have extra 10 points at the end that I didn't use for anything, so you could buy two ranks in sabotage if you want. Here is how my build looked in the end:

 

 

Technical aptitude is really important because of the better healing, more endurance and brilliance. On hard, you really have to rely on fury and iron will or your dead, so being able to reset their timers is important.

 

 

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

 

I guess its possible, but I didn't try it.

[macrocarl]

Thanks for the heads up on shotgun...... With your Chuck Norris build, you could hand to hand all the bosses and not get the #%^! beat out of you?

 

It was the other way around, I beat the crap out of them, without much or any trouble. Epinephrine Spike + Iron Will + Fury, lets call this combo 'Steven special' for future references. For Marburg, I just incinerated his henchmen with grenades, and then gave him one Steven special and that was that. For Brayko, I gave him Steven special, then after he gets high I hide with shadow operative(so that he doesn't call his mobsters on me), while I'm hiding I use brilliance and then give him another Steven special after the effects of the coke wore off. Deng was the easies one, I just gave him one Steven special and that was that, he didn't even have time to react, he didn't even touch me.

 

Did you have points in other places as well? I thought at least 2 in sabotage was really helpful against bombs and crazy locks.

 

It was my 9th playthrough, and at that point I was really good at mini games so I didn't need any help, but I did have extra 10 points at the end that I didn't use for anything, so you could buy two ranks in sabotage if you want. Here is how my build looked in the end:

 

 

Technical aptitude is really important because of the better healing, more endurance and brilliance. On hard, you really have to rely on fury and iron will or your dead, so being able to reset their timers is important.

 

 

Has anyone placed landmines right in front of Mike during any of the boss fights and light them off as a boss comes at them with a high enough tech score to not get blasted as well?

 

I guess its possible, but I didn't try it.

 

That's totally awesome. Thanks for the screen shot too........ I like 'The Steven Special'! hahah

[Luckmann]

After playing one Gun-Ho playthrough and two sneakerish, I do have to say that I prefer a Stealth/Sabotage/Pistol character. In the end, you're just sneaking left and right, running into rooms invisible and killing everyone, and throwing flashbangs and incendiary grenades left and right.

 

It's just amazing.

 

Whatever you do, don't underestimate flashbangs. It blinds all the enemies and apparently, that is what determines whether you can do covert attacks on them. A single flashbang can allow you to run into a room, or quickly dispose of up to 4 people, maybe more if you're lucky with the attacks (some are near-instant, others take longers).

 

Outright stabbing them is usually quicker than a non-lethal takedown.

[razgriz_1400]

One thing that I've noticed is that early on a stealth approach using a knife is more reliable/faster than waiting for the headshot with a pistol/AR until I can get the proper skill points invested in weapons skills.

[Sir Ulrich Von Lichenstien]

With my Field Agent/Spy playthrough that I am going to start soon. Am going for the 'Casual' look approach, attempting to do all the game with just the 'casual' gear on. I've seen a video where someone did about 60% of the game (last 2 missions and graybox finale), but am intending to try doing it all.

 

I've worked out that by level 20 I aim to have the following build.

Stealth - 15 (all boxes)

Pistol - 15 (all boxes)

Sabotage - 1

Technical Aptitude - 9

Martial Arts - 12

 

I've done 4 playthroughs so far and I do seem to notice that even when not having much stealth I've tended to play the game more sneaky than gung-ho. Only time I did the latter was with my Soldier playthrough. Who just went around shooting anyone and everyone.

 

Am wondering whether to move some of my points around for my Field Agent though maybe swapping some points from one of the higher ranked sections to more points in sabotage for extra hacking skills (seeing as my EMP carrying won't be as high due to casual wear).

[Spiked]

I did one playthrough roleplaying casual type of guy. Not taking things seriously, joking and flirting all the time, going on missions in casual clothing, thinking in a "kill or be killed" kind of way. So I would try to be sneaky, if I can, but if that fails, well thats just not that big of problem that shotgun and grenades can't solve. Yeah, that was fun. But playing like this on medium is about as hard as playing on hard difficulty with full armor, especially later on in the game.

 

After that, I did a playthough with a hard core professional, cool and concentrated on the mission, not ever taking human lives, going on the missions with full gear etc.

 

I just love roleplaying in this game.

[Scarvet]

My favorite build? No build.

I know I may sound like an ass, but after the "rough" ride with recruit I start to like the no skill build, well, from a challenging POV.

 

The most mindless is pistol/heck/tech with master awareness; allow you to know where all the enemies are and you while enjoying plenty of offensive, defensive and hacking bonus: great for speed playthrough just for the story.

[Guest]

After much trial and error, I think I've settled on a Field Agent/Spy build.

 

Stealth: 11

Pistol: 11

Sabotage: 2

Technical Aptitude: 10

Toughness: 3

Martial Arts: 9

 

The 12th points in stealth and pistol are just overkill and break the game (imo).

 

Not spending those AP there frees up other opportunities, such as 10 points in TA (which unlocks Brilliance so you can use Evasion and Shadow Operative more frequently and allows you to gather the data and save your ally during the assault on Brayko's mansion). It also unlocks Armor Customization, which provides an Endurance boost to Mike's clothing (which is nice because I rarely wear armor).

 

2 points in Sabotage makes minigames easier.

 

3 points in Toughness will boost Mike's health to 150 and improve Endurance recovery.

 

I was hesitant to shave so much off of Martial Arts, but honestly, because I try to use stealth take-downs as much as possible, I felt like I was spending points that never got used.

 

This build does require 238 AP. Normal game-play will account for 231 of those. You can pick up the other 7 via the email and intel perks, as well as Testing the Waters (should be able to get this with Mina before the Bug Al-Samad Airfield mission rather easily).

 

Mike only wears armor for boss fights (Stop Omen Deng, Assault on Brayko's Mansion, Intercept Marburg, etc). Generally, I try to equip his armor with Adrenaline Optimizer (reduced cool-down by 15%), Integrated Circuitry, and Reinforced Arm Guards (Weighted Arm Guards, if I can find them, since they are random loot only).

 

As for weapons, Hamilton pistols with Silencer (Mk 3 can be found for free in the Bug CIA Listening Post mission), Composite Pistol Grip, Featherweight Pistol Reflex Sight, and Customized Pistol Clip. I only use Tranquilizer darts (I like completing the game without killing anyone).

 

Lastly, I equip Mike with EMPs, Shock Mines, Flashbangs, First Aid Kits, and Epinephrine Spikes.

[Guest]

Okay, new favorite: Field Agent/Operative

 

Stealth: 12

Pistol: 14

Sabotage: 2

Technical Aptitude: 15

Toughness: 3

Martial Arts: 10

 

This is 231 AP (standard) + 14 AP from Testing the Waters, Variable Approach, Agent of Change, plus the email and dossier perks.

 

Mike forgoes armor entirely, but picks up quite a bit of endurance from the two Armor Customization bumps in Technical Aptitude and a ton more from perks (I had 150/150 Heath/Endurance respectively during End Game on my last play through).

 

The only money I spent was on intel, one pistol (Hamilton Duelist), a couple of weapon upgrades (Customized Pistol Clip & Customized Pistol Grip. Silencers are free and I opted not to go with a sight upgrade this time), and various gadgets (mostly EMP grenades). I ended the game with >$300k.

 

Master Brilliance probably breaks the game, but in my opinion, less so than Master Shadow Operative.