DX:HR character build ?'s

[Juan Carlo]

Invisibility is the most useful skill if you are playing on hard, and the most useful skill in the game whether you are combat or stealth. Other than that, though, I wasn't all that impressed with the available choices for upgrades. Most are of the "increase what you already can do by just a bit" variety or the "unlock areas you previously couldn't get to" variety (i.e. jump boost and lift weight increase skills), so for the most part how you play (i.e. lethal or non-lethal) will depend more on personal preference than it will be dictated by what skills you have. Invisibility is really the only skill that can drastically change the way you play.

I actually wouldn't advise putting any points in combat skills if you want to go the stealth route. For one, combat skills kind of suck (usually stealth is the easiest way through any situation anyway), but also because you can get through the game fine without them. I played a non-lethal, stealth, game on hard and managed fine. The Boss battles can be a pain, but they can all be dispatched with weapons and a bit of luck (and most boss fights have huge amounts of weapons lying around in the boss room, or just before it, so I wouldn't worry too much)--so don't worry too much about buying skills to fight bosses. By end game I had too many points to spare so I ended up buying the health upgrades, but that was it in terns of combat.

[Mistabashi]

Another thing I've just remembered - I recall the chemical and EMP resistance augs coming in handy quite a lot. Both open-up some new paths and the latter is extremely handy in one of the boss fights (it makes you immune to electrical damage).

[gwathdring]

I never got any of the cloaking or wall-hack style perks and I had fun with the stealth. I did get the ability to sprint/jump silently, but I never remembered to actually use it anyway. The Icarus + Stun blast was really fun to use. The double takedown was really nice for stealthy play. I never had enough tanqs or stun darts on me.

The two weapons I packed for anything other than resale was the revolver with every upgrade I could squeeze into it, and the pistol with same. The few times I had to use them, I was usually so screwed I ended up back where I started despite my resolve to keep going whether or not I ended up killing anybody. But shooting through doors, silently taking down cameras I didn't want to bother hacking and such made the pistol pretty useful. The revolver packed an incredible punch.

Now I wonder what the game feels like with all the fancy eye-sight and stealth augs ... it sounds like a totally different experience, but I'm not sure if I'd like it. There were some real challenges I came across that might not have been as interesting if I could have turned invisible.

[gwathdring]

Another thing I've just remembered - I recall the chemical and EMP resistance augs coming in handy quite a lot. Both open-up some new paths and the latter is extremely handy in one of the boss fights (it makes you immune to electrical damage).

I encountered so few electric problems before that fight, that I ignored the EMP upgrade. Loved the gas one, though.

[Juan Carlo]

Another note: especially if you are playing a stealth/non-lethal game, save every EMP grenade you find. There are a few drone fights that are really hard to do without an EMP (especially in instances where there are soldiers all over so you want to avoid spash damage which will nullify your non-lethal achievement).

[Revisor]

Since the game is really generous (too much IMO) with praxis points, there is no wrong build. You get pretty much everything by the end if you explore enough.

No need to start over; just press on with what you have and adjust your skills and tactics as you go.

[deathcarrot]

If anyone's going for the non-lethal achievement, make sure you don't kill anyone in the intro bit before you get your augs :)

[Hypernetic]

Double take-down is the business.

[DarkFenix]

I only found the cloaking to be almost never useful because the energy system is so badly done. I spent 95% of the game never going above one energy bar (which does conveniently make the energy capacity augs completely pointless).

As such the best augs are the passive enhancements like hacking, inventory size, double takedown. Also, non-combat augs like icarus and heavy lifting are good.

Most of the active augs just exhibit how awful the energy system is compared to DE1.

[elephant god]

I do have to agree with DarkFenix, I barely use energy bars (basically an item pun) to push above 1, because if i do, i have to worry about them like ammo. instead, i only upgraded reloading speed and wait in a corner until the next double takedown. considering this, i almost never use the cloak offensively, as you need at least two bars to cloak&takedown.

[Mistabashi]

I only found the cloaking to be almost never useful because the energy system is so badly done. I spent 95% of the game never going above one energy bar (which does conveniently make the energy capacity augs completely pointless).

As such the best augs are the passive enhancements like hacking, inventory size, double takedown. Also, non-combat augs like icarus and heavy lifting are good.

Most of the active augs just exhibit how awful the energy system is compared to DE1.

It took a while for me to 'get' the energy system, but it's actually not that bad. The thing is, you're supposed to only have one bar for most of the time - just enough to do a takedown or whatever but not enough that you can spam them without planning. When you come into a situation where you think you're going to need to use a certain aug, you need to plan ahead and top-up your energy pool with a protein bar (or whatever they are). By contrast, in DX1 I always had so many energy cells I could pretty much use augs whenever I wanted, so as far as balance goes it's not exactly a better system.

[neema_t]

I really need to play this game again, thanks for reminding me, everyone. I had pretty much every stealth and exploration upgrade but after the second boss I decided to carry a lethal weapon with me at all times which turned out to be a good idea. I can't really think of anything to add that hasn't been said. I don't think you'll ever encounter a situation you can't handle without specific upgrades, but you will regret not having exploration upgrades like Icarus, hacking, jumping and lifting. Oh but you can ignore the radar upgrade that shows where people are looking, that was useless.

[Zaboomafoozarg]

true. I forgot double takedown.

a double takedown is always the most silent takedown!