The Atom Cat
As they’re rarely seen outside of their remotely located garage it’s easy to play through Fallout 4 and never run into the Atom Cats, which would be a shame as they’re a great little addition to the game. While this isn’t the first reference to 50’s greaser culture that Fallout has made it’s my favorite. They trade a love of cars for that of power armor but otherwise they fit the greaser persona perfectly, right down to the outdated slang. You tell me the last time you heard the phrase “rustle their jimmies” used seriously.
Roleplaying as the coolest faction in the game wasn’t my only reason for making this build though. I wanted to do another melee build, but I didn't want to go for the same style of combat I went with for my Disciple. I accomplished this through a couple of key differences First, whereas the Disciple did a lot of sneaking, the Atom Cat charges into battle head-on, which he can get away with because unlike the Disciple, he has a suit of power armor to protect him. Second, the Atom Cat doesn’t use VATS nearly as often as the Disciple. In particular, the Blitz perk isn’t being used here; when the Atom Cat fights, he has to get up close and personal with his enemies the old fashioned way.
SPECIAL
Strength (5): With the exception of the high Intelligence, the Atom Cat actually has a relatively even SPECIAL spread starting off, which means that despite being a melee build, it only has an average amount of Strength at the beginning of the game. However, with the bobblehead and four points from level-ups put into this, you’ll have ten Strength by the time you finish the build, more than enough to get you through the game.
Perception (1): Irrelevant to a melee build.
Endurance (5): While you can count on your power armor to soak up a lot of damage for you, it certainly helps to have a decent amount of health to back it up. Put a point on a level-up here and grab the bobblehead as well.
Charisma (4): As one of the kings of cool the Atom Cat is a reasonably charismatic guy. You’ll want to put the point from You’re SPECIAL, the bobblehead, and two points on level-ups here, leaving you with eight Charisma by endgame.
Intelligence (8): The Atom Cat is also rather intelligent, being able to figure out even the most complex workings of power armor easily. Pick up the bobblehead here so you can perk Nuclear Physicist later on.
Agility (2): Like I said earlier, the Atom Cat isn’t terribly reliant on VATS, but that doesn’t mean he avoids it entirely. You’ll want to put two points on level-ups here and grab the bobblehead as well.
Luck (3): Part of the reason why I still used VATS with this build is so that I’d be able to use crits if needed, and to do that effectively the build needs reasonable amount of Luck. Get the bobblehead and put three points on level-ups here.
Perks
Listed (roughly) in order of priority. All of them should be maxed out (with the exception of any DLC exclusive ranks) unless indicated otherwise.
Nuclear Physicist: Helps you save on fusion cores for your power armor.
Big Leagues: Obvious perk choice for a melee build.
Armorer/Science/Blacksmith: All necessary perks for fully upgrading your weapons and armor. Depending on your weapon of choice and personal preference you don’t have to use Blacksmith but I liked being able to fully upgrade whatever melee weapons I decided to use.
Pain Train: A great opening move to start off fights. Charge in and knock them over!
Rooted: When you’re in your power armor you can afford to stand still and take hits, which in turn means that you can effectively use the damage boost this perk provides. The damage boost applies to your VATS attacks as well.
Better Criticals / Critical Banker: Great perks for boosting the effectiveness of your crits.
Live Giver: Gives a nice boost to your health, and the added regeneration at rank three is quite nice.
Inspirational: As there aren’t any Atom Cat companions in the game, I had Deacon follow me around instead, since he’s cool enough to be one. This perk will maximize his effectiveness.
You should be at level 50 once the build is completed.
Gameplay
The Atom Cat’s armor of choice is, of course, the T-60 Power Armor with the Atom Cat’s custom paint job. However, should you be running low on fusion cores or simply don’t feel like busting out the power armor for a mission you can go with the standard Atom Cats Jacket and Jeans along with some Sunglasses. Don’t use Zeke’s version of the outfit; aside from the bonuses not being as useful it’s also incompatible with Ballistic Weave.
A variety of weapon choices are available for Atom Cat, as pretty much any melee weapon can work; I went with the Shishkebab to go with the flames motif on the Atom Cat power armor paint and because there are few things cooler than a post-apocalyptic flaming sword. Also, while the Atom Cat is almost exclusively a melee fighter, I do recommend carrying a gun of some sort (I went with the Overseer’s Guardian) around for dealing with targets that can’t be easily reached with your melee weapons.
As mentioned before, the Atom Cat doesn’t use VATS all that often, primarily for closing that last bit of distance when charging an enemy (unless you want to go for the knockdown with Pain Train) and also for crits. Once in melee range, if you’re in power armor, you can generally afford to sit there and tank while taking advantage of the effects of Rooted. Outside of power armor though, it pays to be more mobile; even with the best version of Ballistic Weave you won’t be able to tank as effectively as you would in power armor.
Replies
It’s a shame Bethesda didn’t do more with this faction.