Wasteland 3 has an incredibly diverse weapon arsenal for you to choose from, and it can daunting with all of the different types of combat characters that you can build right from the start. However, some builds are objectively stronger than others, and some can be paired with each other for exciting effects.
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If you're going to create the strongest party possible, you will need to know about the best builds and weapon types that the RPG Wasteland 3 has to offer. These are all of the best builds, in the order of their strength.
Pistol Build
Pistols aren't one of the most popular types of weapons in Wasteland 3, and it may seem as though this weapon type is only for beginning characters. However, pistols and revolvers are both a great options for a build since they use few action points and have relatively high accuracy.
Pistols are also common, so you will always have a new one ready when you level up. A pistol build is a good choice if you want to become a post-apocalyptic gunslinger. Pistols are categorized as small guns.
Flamethrower Build
Flamethrower builds aren't perfect by any means, but they do have their place in Wasteland 3, particularly while dealing with hoards of enemies. The reason for this is because a character with a flamethrower can set a whole group of enemies on fire to deal damage, provided that they're all nearby to each other.
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However, flamethrowers are heavy and use many action points, so you'll need to plan out your character specifically for flamethrowers if you want to use this weapon type efficiently. Flamethrowers are classified as big guns.
Assault Rifle Build
Assault rifles are diverse, but they are all similar in that they fire quickly and have average range. You will also deal an average amount of damage with assault rifles; overall, they're a very balanced weapon type.
Assault rifle builds are stable, and you can't go wrong with one; however, they can be quite basic in terms of skills and arguably boring to use. Luckily, you can have multiple squad members simultaneously, which adds variety to your combat experience and makes an assault rifle build more enticing.
Science Weapon Build
One of the most fun combat types in Wasteland 3 are science weapons because they come in lots of different shapes and sizes. The effects and damage dealt per science weapon vary a lot, which is what makes them so exciting.
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An example of a science weapon is the Shrink Ray, which makes the affected enemy deal less damage toward you and your party members. Overall, science weapons are extremely varied, but you can create a great build with them if you pair the correct weapons and perks together. Additionally, pairing a science build with a high-damage character creates a powerful combination.
Shotgun Build
Shotguns are an interesting weapon type because although they deal minimal damage, they're one of the best weapon types that you can use. Shotguns can hit multiple enemies at once, which makes them similar to flamethrowers. Although shotguns may not deal a lot of damage, you can still use them effectively as long as you make sure to unlock perks that focus on these weapons.
If you want to be skilled in defeating many enemies at once, then you should add a shotgun build to your party for maximum efficiency.
SMG Build
SMGs are perfect for fighting enemies up close, but they have their problems while fighting enemies that are far away, which makes them situational. However, since most combat situations take place up-close, an SMG build is not only viable but one of the best options for dealing damage.
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SMGs fire quickly and deal a lot of damage per turn while only using an average amount of action points. If you're looking for a high-damage automatic gun build, then look no further than an SMG build.
Brawling Build
Brawling is the unarmed version of an unarmed skill for Wasteland 3, and it's surprisingly one of the best damage types in the game. Dealing damage with brawling weapons requires no ammo, which is one of the main reasons that it's such a powerful build.
Not only do brawling weapons require no ammo to use, but they deal a lot of damage with the stronger brawling weapons in Wasteland 3; however you can only obtain them later in the game. Additionally, there aren't many unique brawling weapons in Wasteland 3, which is one of this build's disadvantages.
Heavy Guns Build
Heavy guns tend to deal more damage than other weapon types on average; however, they also require many action points to fire a single shot. Heavy guns are quite a diverse group since there are many different weapons that fall under this weapon type.
A heavy guns build generally focuses on automatic heavy weapons that deal massive amounts of damage, and the large damage dealt is what makes them so powerful since you can defeat many enemies in Wasteland 3 with a single hit from a heavy weapon.
Sniper Build
Similar to heavy guns, sniper rifles deal a ton of damage per shot, but they require a lot of action points to use, and their ammo is somewhat scarce throughout the Wasteland.
However, you're able to buy sniper rifle ammo at most vendors, which makes the ammo rarity a small problem at worst. The best reason to create a sniper build is because you can hit enemies from far away while still dealing a lot of damage, a job that's not possible with any other weapon type in Wasteland 3.
Melee Build
Melee weapons are very similar to brawling weapons because they don't require ammo to use; however, melee weapons are stronger overall because there's a greater variety of them, and there are more perks that focus on this weapon type.
Melee weapons come in multiple varieties; bladed and blunt. Picking which of these two weapons to focus on can be difficult; however, blunt is better for most situations since it deals more damage per hit on average. Bladed weapons are also a great choice for a build, especially if you have perks that benefit bladed melee weapons. The lack of need for ammo and large variety are the main reasons that melee weapons create the best builds in Wasteland 3, along with dealing a lot of damage.
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