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[Poor Ernie]

Looking for a build that is very efficient when using pistols. Anyone have any ideas? I assume Agility and Int/Luck are a must.

[Nunn]

With pistols you will be going for fast aimed criticals to take em out, so yes luck and int are a must.
All the other specials are probably down to personal choice, a bit better at range or being more stocky and robust.

Desert Eagle .50 will of course be your friend.

[MuchaChota]

dont waste your time with AG, its useless compared to other stats(except for the crit res ofc). 10LK is must, IN depends on how many skillpoints you want to allocate in tagged secondaries. CH>all

[Myakot]

dont waste your time with AG, its useless compared to other stats(except for the crit res ofc). 10LK is must, IN depends on how many skillpoints you want to allocate in tagged secondaries. CH>all

Please don't forget that INT grants just as much as crit potential, as LK does.

You will have to dump your stats into survivability since ~30 range is not optimal for a glass cannon character.

[GroeneAppel]

Not that much room for a tank SPECIAL if you roll with 10LK and high int.
If you pick 8 int you will be capable of hitting 250% SG + 150% in two secondaries. Making it a very viable character to level after the softcap.
This does mean that you won't have to much room for other SPECIAL. You can either rely on having a squadleader that grants defensive buffs or roll with 1 CHA and get yourself a decent STR, END and AG. While AG is fairly usseles it does offer you knockdown resistance. meanwhile STR offers you knockOUT resistance. So pick whatever you consider more important and go with that.

It's probably best to roll with enough str to handle your pistols without weapon handling, and ensure that you don't go <5 AG or something close to that. End can be sacrificed a tad if you dont mind losing out on 20-40hp compared to others.
Something like: 5/4/5/1/8/7/10 could work or: 7/4/5/1/8/5/10. Yes that is much more STR than you need for your weapons, but that doesn't mean much in a gameworld where a knockout results in your death 9 out of 10 times. Knockdowns are dangerous for smiliar reasons.

Last but not least, if you have a good squadleader that enjoys defensive buffs, you could roll with: 3/4/5/5/8/5/10.
Do not underestimate charisma, it can be considered OP if you apply the right buffs in the right situations.

[MuchaChota]

with 10 CHA you can get 40 sight range so no PE needed, and you also can get like 100% crit AG and ST resistance added to your base res. That kinda solves all problems with the lack of special pts. And yes IN gives more crit % than LK, but without 8-10LK your critrolls are too random to rely on them(they are always random but by my experience with 9/10 LK you can rely on them kd/ko/crippling/etc the target)

[GroeneAppel]

with 10 CHA you can get 40 sight range so no PE needed, and you also can get like 100% crit AG and ST resistance added to your base res. That kinda solves all problems with the lack of special pts. And yes IN gives more crit % than LK, but without 8-10LK your critrolls are too random to rely on them(they are always random but by my experience with 9/10 LK you can rely on them kd/ko/crippling/etc the target)

You are correct yes. I played around a bit more, and going with 10 CHA is completely viable (and actually the best choise) if you have a squadleader that can roll with +sight, +critical str and +critical agility. Though I wouldnt cut on perception due to the negative ranged modifiers you will be getting. In addition, you dont want to lose out on critical perception%, getting blinded is always painfull.

3/4/4/10/8/1/10 would be a viable tactic. Keep in mind, even if you go with 1 agility. You will STILL have more than double the resistance to knockdowns compared to a regular player with low charisma. Assuming you have a squadleader. Your biggest weakness would be your HP. so consider shaving a point of int and luck to get that up a tad. But afcoarse, your squadleader could simply go for +hp, crit ag and crit str to make up for that.

[faopcurious]

You WILL want high endurance, most of the pistols are fairly short range, so you will not be sniping very much.  But you should always have 1 long range, and 1 short range weapon.
Hell, sometimes I go into battle with 4-5 weapons =/  I like being prepared for any situation.

[mAdman]

Sneaking, a perception that is at the max range of your favorite pistol (not sure exactly).

Something like;

3 5 7 4 7 7 7

For perks I would go tanky as you will likely be getting shot even if you are a sneak, so adrenaline rush and possibly toughness, but critical strength (and/or crit PE and/or crit ag) is a must as you don't want to be dropping your pistol. Other than that, do or die is really strong (2 flat regen over the ~0.6 of action boy), dodger is always good as well as psychopath and blood thirst. Most obviously BROF and SHD are must haves too though.

For traits I would definitely go with fast shot (as you are going to be firing a lot with a pistol and you want as many BROF stacks as you can get) and either small frame or something different like dead man walking, lizard limbs or fast metabolism.

[mAdman]

You could even consider dropping 2-4 luck and going entirely unaimed shots (with high int for base crit chance and maybe living anatomy too), with the amount of shots you can put out with a pistol and the lack of aiming delay, you would be a powerhouse gunslinger.

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[MuchaChota]

I've tried the unaimed path with different builds and it has one big problem for pistols. The higher the crit chance, and even with low crit chance, you end up knocking back your target out of your own short and useless effective range. It's a big no-go unless the aim torso mechanic gets changed.

I've also tried various chars with 6-10AG and different combinations of fast shot, action boy and brofs(except the one from the leadership module) and in the best case scenario you get 1 shot more than 1AG bruiser builds. AG is a complete waste.

[mAdman]

I can agree with a lot of what you are saying, but in regards to agility, it is the AP regen+ that is modified, and while I agree it has a very small effect on AP regen+, it does give you the ability to shoot and run alot more effectively (or back and forth out of cover, or kite a melee), plus it helps your ap regen when you are chasing the target you keep knocking back and out of range >.<

[hell]

Please don't forget that INT grants just as much as crit potential, as LK does.

You will have to dump your stats into survivability since ~30 range is not optimal for a glass cannon character.

As far as i know luck is far more important to deal damage with crit builds since LK increase strenght of criticals. INT doesn't.

[Nunn]

You get both for the benefits they both provide.

[GroeneAppel]

You could even consider dropping 2-4 luck and going entirely unaimed shots (with high int for base crit chance and maybe living anatomy too), with the amount of shots you can put out with a pistol and the lack of aiming delay, you would be a powerhouse gunslinger.

3 5 7 4 10 7 4

That would be a one way ticket to a gimped build. Remember to take your opponents crit resistance into mind. Your base crit - their crit res is your actual % to crit. That 40% base might seem high, but its closer to 0-10% when you take your opponents crit res into mind.

In addition, you would throw about your own crit resistance by going low luck aswell. Great way to become a prime target by 90% of the opponents team: namely snipers.

I won't touch the topic of sneaking for now. Since the sneaking mechanics seem to be subject to changes soon.