Stealth damage multipliers make the game much, much easier. I'm getting 4.2x with Deacon's perk + Ninja and most things, including legendaries, go down with the first headshot from stealth. It's not as overpowered as Skyrim's stealth, where an arrow from stealth could one-shot most dungeon bosses and lesser dragons, but it's killer against most humanoid enemies. I can often get off a few shots from "stealth" before they locate me, so the next guy running around the corner gets planted, too.
I really like the mechanism where legendary enemies 'morph' and get their health back, though, as it's a bit of a buffer against stealth being so strong. Toughest opponent I've yet faced was a legendary Mr. Gutsy who cleaned my clock four times. Gauss rifle shot from stealth wasn't enough for a one-shot, which means he'd instant regen and tear into me with a very powerful machine gun. I enjoyed the challenge, to be honest (if not the loading screens).
Also, I've got to say, ballistic weave is really overpowered. That's an additional 200 damage resistance. I'm considering not using the highest level with the hat. I mean, suddenly wearing my Newsboy Cap gives me 10x resistance over a combat helmet?
I am using a mod that will let me apply ballistic weave to any hat/clothing, now that I've unlocked it, so I might put it on a combat helmet instead. I'm not sure and I'm holding off while I think about it. I don't really like that you can only use it on a few pieces of clothing/hats, either. I want more variety, which is why I got the mod. Still, that +1 Str on combat fatigues make them really hard to resist.
I've been doing Railroad missions. Holding off on endgame until I finish those.
I found a pipe rifle that would have been awesome early in the game. +15 explosive damage on each shot. With 125 rate of fire, that's an amazing boost to DPS. Unfortunately, a fully modded combat or plasma rifle eats that alive at this point. A shame.
My every-day gun is a Cryo (+10 cold damage, freezes on crit) combat rifle that uses the plentiful native ammo. I only switch to the high powered .308 combat rifle when things get tough, as that ammo type is more scarce.
Oh, speaking of headshots, my perk from MacCready is bugged to hell and back. It gives me 95% chance to hit in VATS always. I think it's supposed to just be +15% chance to hit. Because of that, I ONLY use it if it's relatively in-line with the other ratios. If my chance to hit is 80% or so with the torso, I might go with the headshot, but if the torso or other limbs are like 60% then I won't use the 95% headshot.
