Source
r/fo76•
ZES_4

Need help. Why am I so fragile?

Question

I just got into this game early last month, but I am max level now. I’m dying near instantly.

I have the maximum amount of Strength and Endurance (15) which are often around the low to mid 20s due to drugs, alcohol and perks. I’m in full marine armor and all my perks are usually devoted to damage reduction and health. Also my melee attacks deal, like, less than 10% of an enemy’s health bar with all my Strength and a +30% damage to melee.

Is this normal? I like to be Tanky in a lot of games, but I’m just not feeling it with Fallout 76. Is this game much more artificially difficult than other Fallout games with bullet sponge enemies that deal an arbitrary amount of damage?

Posted Apr 17, 2021, 6:34 PM UTC

18
Thunderdrake3•

The solution to health is power armor with the "emergency protocalls" chest mod. Not only do power armor suits have higher base defense than non-powered armor, there's a secret blanket damage reduction for 7% per power armor piece. Emergency protocolls gives you 50% damage reduction when under 20% health.

If you want to do meaningful melee damage to enemies, you need a high-tier weapon fitted with armor piercing mods. Enemies have ridiculous amounts of armor at higher levels. Try the incisor perk and armor piercing melee mods to cut through it. You also probably want a legendary with instigating or power attack bonus legendary effects.

I'm not sure what you mean by "max level", I don't believe there is one. Do you mean level 50?

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1
ItsFoozz•

Please post your build in the OP.

4
rrshredthegnar•

I’m still wondering what “max level” is. I ran into a level 1900 the other day....

3
UndercoverHardwarema:fuzzy: Mr. Fuzzy•

I think in context, it means level 50, since all the weapons and armor stop leveling at that point. Twitch streamers with thousands of hours, are in the 1200-1500 range; 1900 is likely someone without a life, and higher than that is likely an exploit.

5
GladeusExMachina•

If you're facing enemies with a level of 70+, then they're gonna wreck you.

Either way, there are two forms of tanking - Power Armor, or doing so much damage that you just kill things before they do.

Power Armor is slightly costly to run, in terms of power cores and the weight to your inventory. Regardless, Ultracite, X-01, T51-B and T60 are fairly accomplishable to get a level 45 or 50 set of, and offer a much higher DR than foot armor. The 15 Strength is redundant to you, but the protection is noticeable.

As for damaging stuff faster, be on the lookout for Junkie weapons - legendary rolls that increase damage while you're effected by chems. Im not too sure of what legendary rolls you should be looking for on Marine Armor, though as long as you've got a manageable mutation, Mutant armor should be decent.

1
captainshmack•

First there is no max level! It sounds like your perk cards might be out of whack. I have 1 point in my endurance at level 350 and rarely die. Also the legendary effects in your armor are very important, I suggest a set of vanguards to start! Effects like 75% damage reduction while standing still stack and add hundreds of damage resistance. If you want to do melee, it's very possible! The only time it will hinder you is during boss events lurk the queen, so just have a spare rifle of heavy gun. Last, use perk cards that amplify melee builds. For example 1 have 12-14 rifle cards active at any given time. Good luck wastelander (:

1
Takenmyusernamewas•

Could be a lot of things, are you using level 50 gear or still rocking left overs? Did you mod your armor/what's your dr? Any perks to mitigate damage? Blocker? Serendipity? Ironclad? Barbarian? Are you spec'd for your weapons?

Need more info

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1
UndercoverHardwarema:fuzzy: Mr. Fuzzy•

Without getting into specifics, I'd say carry a vampire's weapon. Your strength being in the 20s, is not going to do much for melee.

I might get crap for this, but if you're doing a full health melee, you're going to need the carnivore mutation, and start collecting food. There are 7 foods that specifically buff melee damage, (glowing meat steak, mutant hound chops, mutton chops, yao guai ribs, mutant hound stew, mutton meat pie, and yao guai roast) and they all stack. The simple foods (the first 4 I listed) each give a 10% buff, that becomes 20% with carnivore, 25% with strange in numbers. The more complex ones (the last 3), give 15%, which doubles to 30%, and then 37.5%. That means up to 212.5% increase in weapon damage. Add deathclaw Wellington (+3 strength, doubles to 6, 7.5 with strange in numbers) and your weapon will do significantly more damage.

Not all melee weapons are considered equal. There aren't many 1 handed weapons with a good base damage. 2 handed weapons are typically slower. Unarmed is usually your best bet. You didn't say which perk cards you were using, so I'll just leave it at that.

I'm still not sure which chems stack, but I've figured out that psychobuff is the best for melee. If you have party boy/girl, vodka will help with survivability, while whiskey is best for damage. If you don't, the alcohol isn't going to do too much for you anyway.

This is my (Mr. indestructable) build. It's a little off, since nukesdragons didn't save my gear (various +1 strength armors, and a vampire dcg) mutations (pretty much all, except herbivore and plague Walker) , or legendary perks (maxed out legendary strength, maxed legendary endurance, master infiltrator, and what rads). https://nukesdragons.com/fallout76/perks?v=1&s=f2c457b&d=es2eg1ee2eh2se2sg2s52si2sj2lg2l71lu2lt2a12s72p70p10c62ce0i44a00&w=s92s42sm2sn2ss2if2iq2ii0ik0a72ao0ar2lm2c52&n=WhopperBigMac

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