'Wasteland 3': High Damage Critical Pistol Build

Pistols aren’t terribly popular in “Wasteland 3,” but the damage they can deal can reach absurd heights if players can get all of the right cards on the table.

When built correctly, pistols can deal as much damage as a sniper rifle without the AP and range restrictions. Here’s one high-damage pistol build that focuses heavily on buffing critical hit chance and damage output in “Wasteland 3.”

Stats, Skills and Perks

First, get a ranger with 4 Coordination and 10 Intelligence. This will give them as much critical hit chance early on and enough AP to fire off three pistol shots with enough left over for bonus actions. While leveling up, invest more points into Coordination for more AP, Awareness for bonus damage and Charisma for the extra Strike Rate bonus.

As for skills, get four points into Small Arms and then dump the rest into Animal Whisperer. Max out Small Arms and Leadership while leveling, then get Animal Whisperer to at least Level 7 for the Vengeful Bond perk, which offers a massive damage buff whenever an animal companion dips into critical health.

Get all of the abilities under the Small Arms line and use them whenever applicable.

Recommended Gear

Ideally, players should get the highest-damage pistol they can find within their level. Revolvers usually fit this bill, but they are quite expensive.

If players have one character with seven points into Weird Science, then they can open up a hidden cache in the Dining Room inside the Patriarch’s Palace that contains a Guardian pistol, which deals very high damage per shot. Later in the game, replace this with the Man Cannon.

For armor, use pieces that grant either increased critical hit chance or bonus Combat Speed.

Party Setup

The pistoleer will be the main damage dealer of the squad, and the rest of the members can fulfill support roles that help the main damage dealer do their job more efficiently.

Build the other rangers in ways that can buff teammates or debuff enemies. Snipers with the Mark Target ability or Technicians that can hack robots are great as support units. Make sure to level up other skills like First Aid, Weird Science or modder skills to help complement the rest of the squad.