A while back, I wrote a detailed post breaking down how Luck and VATS worked that a lot of people seemed to enjoy. I have also noticed that there have been lots of questions on how Onslaught as a mechanic worked, so I figured I would do the same for another topic that seems to mystify a lot of players. Personally, I prefer written guides as opposed to video guides, so I figured I'd be the change I want to see or whatever. As a general rule of thumb for my posts, I am quite wordy. You've been warned. And no, I do not use AI to write my posts. I don't know why, but I get asked that a lot... Anyways...
What is Onslaught?
Onslaught is a stackable buff that shows up on the bottom right of your interface (where you'd see stuff like chem buffs). It's the little targeting reticle icon with a number next to it. On its own, Onslaught has no inherent effect. You also have a cap of 0 stacks by default. However, sources of maximum Onslaught stacks provide different buffs per stack. To know the full effect of it, you need to look at ALL of your sources of Onslaught and put them together. You then take those individual per-stack buffs and multiply them by the number of stacks you'd have on average.
Neat! Why would I want to run it?
Well, for starters, there's a lot of damage you can get out of it. There's also some notable nice-to-have buffs like reload speed and even more damage to closer enemies. What's really cool is that each source of these stacks comes with a new buff that ALSO boosts what the other sources do. So, if I have 9 stacks that on their own grant me 5% damage per stack, taking a perk that grants me 1% reload speed per stack and 3 MORE stacks, I get a total of 12% reload speed from that perk AND an additional 15% damage from the additional max stacks.
Sounds great, but what's the catch?
The trick is you have to manage those stacks. By default, you build up Onslaught by hitting enemies: One stack per hit. This factors in multi-projectile weapons as well. So a shotgun blast that hits 4 times generates 4 stacks. However, each second, you lose one stack passively. You need to continually hit targets to build up those stacks. You don't start out at maximum potential and need to work your way up.
There is one exception, however. If you take the Gunslinger Master (GSM) perk, you get 10 stacks of Onslaught cap, but it sort of inverts the way you use it. The default Onslaught wants you to hit a lot of times to build up stacks and have the decay at a rate of 1 stack per second, but GSM instead builds up stacks at a rate of 1 per second and expends them per hit. It's often called "Reverse Onslaught" because of that.
Those are the two general ways you manage Onslaught. Either you need to hit a lot really fast to get up to your stack cap, or you use a slow hitting weapon to maintain maximum stacks with GSM. Both are fun playstyles that reward different strategies, and both can be exceptional builds.
Cool! show me the details!
There are several sources of Onslaught, and some have some quirks on how they work. Here's the full list:
- Furious 1 star mod: The starting point. Your build for Onslaught should begin with this. It can be applied to any melee or ranged weapon, grants 9 max stacks, and grants 5% additional damage bonus per stack
- Guerrilla Expert perk: 1% reload speed per stack and an additional 3 max stacks (RANGED only)
- Guerrilla Master perk: 5% additional RANGED damage to close enemies per stack and 5 max stacks (RANGED only)
- Gunslinger Expert perk: 1% additional RANGED weakspot damage per stack and 3 max stacks (RANGED only)
- Gunslinger Master perk: 10 additional max stacks and turns on "Reverse Onslaught" (RANGED mostly).
- Pounder's 4 star mod: 10% additional damage per stack and 10 max stacks (MELEE only)
From here, you would add up your sources of Onslaught and multiply them by your maximum stacks (or whatever stacks you think are reasonable to maintain) to get the full list of stuff that applies to your build. Do note that there are some exclusive buffs and stack sources. While not clearly mentioned, some of the buffs and max stacks apply ONLY to either melee or ranged.
For melee, the max stacks is 19 (Furious and Pounder's). However, GSM still applies "Reverse Onslaught" without granting stacks. Meaning, the maximum bonus for a melee build is 285% damage ((5% damage for Furious + 10% damage for Pounder's = 15%) x 19 max stacks = 285%). For Ranged, your maximum possible stacks is 30. You also get a lot more buffs at that level:
- 150% more damage
- 150% more damage to close enemies
- 30% faster reload speed
- 30% additional weakspot damage
- Reverse Onslaught playstyle
And this is JUST Onslaught scaling. You still have the rest of your build scaling you as well.
That's... A lot... How do I build it?
Onslaught can be built at a variety of investment levels and with pretty much any weapon you want. Even at maximum effect, it's just a lot of agility perks and your 1st star mod slot (and your 4th if you're melee). Even with just Furious on your weapon of choice, it's already almost as much damage as a fully scaled Mutant's (45% at max stacks compared to 50% at 10 mutations).
To break it down into specific archetypes, you have 2 sets: Fast vs. Slow, and Ranged vs. Melee. Slower weapons will benefit from GSM and Reverse Onslaught, and melee wants Pounder's. Ranged and Melee are pretty easy to understand the difference for, but to give a bit more explanation (I'm quite fond of doing that, if you hadn't noticed), I'll talk about what I mean by "Fast" and "Slow".
Fast (Normal Onslaught): Anything that hits often. Automatic weapons like flamers, handmades, SMGs, or gatling plasma all fire pretty fast and can build up stacks quickly to get you at your maximum potential. Similarly, weapons that have a lot of projectiles also fit this bill, like shotguns or a laser gun fitted with the Beam Splitter weapon mod. And finally, fast swinging melee weapons. Either something that you can swing super fast like the Switchblade or auto melee like the Chainsaw.
Slow (Reverse Onslaught): For this, you want stuff that doesn't hit a lot. Any weapon with a long animation and a single hit is preferable so it won't consume stacks faster then you generate them. A Super Sledge with no swing speed buffs or a Hunting Rifle are good examples. To reiterate, it's about HITS, not how slowly you SHOOT/SWING. Anything with multiple projectiles hitting will consume one stack PER PROJECTILE HIT. Anything that has additional instances of damage, like the Explosive 2 star mod or Hat Trick for bows, will also consume a stack PER HIT. A Dom Pedro's with an Explosive weapon mod and Explosive 2 star mod will consume 3 stacks per bullet. It will consume even more if the explosions hit multiple enemies.
"Hitting" is by far one of the most frustrating parts of figuring out Onslaught because it's not always clear if something is doing a "hit" or where that "hit" might come from. For example, the Electrically Charged mutation technically "hits" an enemy, and will consume/add a stack of Onslaught depending on taking GSM or not. Another one, which may be a bug, is the Radiation Power perk for Ghouls. I noticed when running around with a Reverse Onslaught build that I'd occasionally get an instance of 1 damage that consumed Onslaught stacks. For the life of me, I could not figure out where that one damage came from. Once I unslotted that perk, it went away. When tinkering with your own build, be on the look out for how things are manipulating your stacks. Track what's hitting and when, and adjust accordingly.
I'm lazy, show me a build
I'll do you one better and show you 2!
This is what I'm running right now: Reverse Onslaught VATS With a Longshot.
The build is pretty straightforward. Use VATS, target head, and shoot. Pop a crit every other shot if the target is tanky, pop a Nuka Quantum if you run low on AP, and that's it. I run a couple canned foods, but they're not necessary for it to function. They're just nice buffs to have. Same goes with camp buffs, though Well Tuned is a welcome addition for any AP hungry build (I use the tuba!). Only real struggle for this build is stealthed enemies (can't VATS what you can't see). The slow rate of fire is perfect for maintaining the Reverse Onslaught stacks, and the Longshot's absurd range all but guarantees I can pop any target from most ranges.
The melee build I was running before I swapped: Furious Chainsaw/Auto-axe.
This build is fairly standard auto-melee, but takes advantage of the absurd additional damage that Onslaught can do with something that hits so frequently. Bar none, the highest DPS build I've ever run (you know, when I'm not waiting on the ground for the stupid piece of shit Scorchbeast to land). Unfortunately there's no canned variant for a melee buffing food, but aside from that it's also pretty easy to manage. More Strength is more more damage, and more Endurance means you don't get clapped by bosses instantly. It's a bit more face tank oriented than any shooty build, but just hotbar your toxic goo and chug it like your life depends on it if necessary.
You may have noticed that these builds doesn't really have much associated with Onslaught specifically. Aside from my Agility perks being mostly reserved for the Longshot build, it's just the Onslaught legendary mods. That means you're free to build however else you want! For builds that don't want to use GSM, it's even less stringent.
TL;DR for the weak minded who don't want to suffer my yapping
- Onslaught is a stackable buff that grants various kinds of damage (general, weakspot, "close range"), and reload speed depending on where you get the stacks from
- Each buff is PER stack
- You are required to have at least ONE source of stacks that have a buff to benefit at all (usually the Furious 1 star mod)
- The more sources of stacks, the more buffs you get, the more stacks you can build up, the better each buff gets
- By default, you generate one stack per hit, and you lose one stack per second
- The Gunslinger Master perk grants 10 max stacks, but REVERSES the above rules: you CONSUME one stack per hit, and you GAIN one stack per second
- "Hitting" an enemy is any source of damage that does a separate damage number on your screen
- Shotgun-style weapons will count as a hit PER bullet hit
- Secondary damage, such as 2 Star Explosive mod or Explosive rounds, will ALSO count as a hit for each instance of damage
- Some perks and mutations will ALSO count as a hit, such as the Electrically Charged mutation, Ricochet perk, or Radiation Powered Ghoul perk (which I am convinced is a bug)
- Anything with area of effect that hits multiple enemies will count as a hit for EACH enemy they hit
- Be sure to adjust your build for whether or not you want a lot of hits (Regular Onslaught), or you want very few hits (Reverse Onslaught)
- Some sources of stacks are exclusive to melee (Pounder's 4 star mod) or ranged (all of the Agility perks)
- Gunslinger Master will NOT give max stacks to melee Onslaught, but it WILL apply the "Reverse Onslaught" mechanic (useful for slow swinging melee builds)
- Onslaught is fairly easy to build as a main source of damage scaling for a variety of playstyles
- The general rule of thumb for which Onslaught to build is:
- Lots of hits? Regular Onslaught
- Few hits? Reverse Onslaught
Tips/Notes from the comments
- The Western Spirit unique lever action grants GSM for free, so it can be held to passively generate stacks. You can then swap to your real weapon to be already at your stack cap without needing to ramp up ~ u/FaeOfReddit
- There's some weirdness with multi-projectile weapons and adding/consuming stacks. While a full shotgun blast will RENDER every single instance of damage that could have hit, it appears that only the hits that CAN do damage will add/consume a stack. If the target doesn't have enough health to survive every projectile, only a portion of the projectiles will count as a hit ~ u/DarkHeroAxel
