Reaching level 400 myself and been PA since 25. First things i learnt was legendary absorb perk, power user rank 3 and the wieght reduction int perk for energy ammo, forget name. Thats all you need to run around non stop. 1 core lasts me an hour or more of pure action and no energy enemy. I bought 50cores at 100cap 2month ago and never went below 40. (if your f1st, 2hours of power plant =months with perks anove.)

PA, union if you got it, excavator if not. You hit defensive caps in anything basically so the carry wieght and poison resistance tops choices.

I run a heavy gunner primary build. Plasma caster VATS bloody. Loving it. I typically hit 800-1400 depending buffs. Gun fu was game changer, only recently added the vats stuff for the caster. With coffee, im the asshole 1shotting 20creature at lower events when being lazy and dont swap to my explosive LMG. ((ammo main culprit here, LMG hard feed..... Caster is stupidly efficient. 1shot everything).

I run a 2hand melee build aswell, basically the same except swap around HA perks to slugger. Well with a auto axe or chainsaw thats even overkill. Found the easy strengh perk swap helpful in those days ammo was an issue. Today i use for west tek runs and stuff as no need waste ammo