We revisited Fallout 4 and created a few characters each with different starting stats. With a few minor buffs and nerfs made to particular perks, we’ve spent our time researching and finding out what the absolute best starting stats are for Fallout 4 alongside the best build currently possible.
From the get-go, it’s clear that Intelligence and Luck are the best stats currently available in the game. Intelligence because of its great perks and the fact that it levels you up faster and Luck because it has one of the best perk trees.
However, there’s more to it than just that. Having the perfect point accumulation and catering your stats according to your gameplay style can make a significant difference in how you play the game. We’ll talk about each stat, why you should invest in a particular one, alongside the best starting build currently available.
Fallout 4 Starting Stats – Understanding The Basics
Fallout 4 just like previous iterations of the game consists of seven base stats which are: Strength, Endurance, Perception, Charisma, Intelligence, and Luck. These are also referred to as S.P.E.C.I.A.L for ease of use. Each stat has a unique passive attribute, like Intelligence granting you bonus XP, etc.
Moreover, leveling up each stat to a certain extent grants you access to a unique perk with it increasing in efficacy over each point you put in the stat. With that said, not every perk is useful in the early game and there is a definite difference between investing in Strength first as compared to Intelligence, for example. However, there are always a few perks that stand out amongst the rest in terms of their usefulness.
Strength
Strength allows you to increase the number of items you can carry (weight) alongside the amount of damage each of your melee attacks will do. You should consider investing in this stat if you are likely to punch and melee things around you. If you are more of a ranged player, strength wouldn’t do you that well. Therefore, we’ve constituted that fact as well.
In Fallout 4, you gain +10 extra capacity and 10% melee damage for every point that you put in strength. Here’s a quick look at all the perks you get from Strength:
| Perk | Description (Level 1) |
| Iron Fist | Punching attacks do 20% more damage. |
| Big Leagues | Does 20% more melee weapon damage. |
| Armorer | Gain access to base level and Rank 1 armor mods. |
| Blacksmith | Gain access to base level and Rank 1 melee weapon mods. |
| Heavy Gunner | Heavy guns do 20% more damage. |
| Strong Back | Gain +25 to carry weight. |
| Steady Aim | Hip fire accuracy is improved when firing any gun. |
| Basher | Gun bashing does 25% more damage. |
| Rooted | While standing still, you gain 25% Damage Resistance and your melee and unarmed attacks deal 25% more damage. |
| Pain Train | While wearing Power Armor, sprinting into enemies hurts and staggers them. (Robots and oversized enemies are immune to the stagger.) |
For the vast majority of character builds, you’ll end up quickly finding out that you won’t need any more perks beyond Armorer or Heavy Gunner in most cases. This is because pretty much all characters are going to need armor at some point.
And, if you decide to use heavy weapons, you can always allocate points to get Heavy Gunner. Beyond that, Basher, Rooter, and Pain Train are mostly melee-centric perks that we’ll be talking about later.
Perception
Unlike Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 where Perception directly controlled the distance at which enemies would appear on a player’s compass, enemies do not end up appearing on the compass in Fallout 4 unless they are directly talking for you.
Perception comes with two distinct advantages, it offers great perks like Locksmith and Rifleman which are considered must-haves. Moreover, it increases your V.A.T.S accuracy by 10% per point invested. However, its overall accuracy cannot go above 95%. So, there remains an upper limit.
Perception follows the same ambit as strength. All five of the starting perks that you get are must-haves and you can’t go wrong with any of them.
| Perk | Description |
| Pickpocket | Picking pockets is now 25% easier |
| Rifleman | Attacks with non-automatic rifles do 20% more damage |
| Awareness | View a target’s specific damage resistances in V.A.T.S |
| Locksmith | You can now pick Advanced Locks |
| Demolition Expert | Your explosives do 25% more damage, you can craft explosives now at any Chemistry station |
| Night Person | You gain increases stats during the night |
| Refractor | Increases your Energy Resistance |
| Sniper | Using a scoped non-automatic weapon increases your chances of knocking the enemy down when using V.A.T.S |
| Penetrator | Allows you to target an enemy who is behind cover using V.A.T.S |
| Concentrated Fire | Attacking the same body part using V.A.T.S increases your overall accuracy |
As we’ve mentioned all five of these perks are essential and carry their unique advantages. Therefore, having them in your starting build can lead to a few advantages. However, even if you don’t go for this route, you can still pick these stats later according to your need.
However, we still recommend picking up these perks:
- Rifleman: Rifleman is perhaps one of the best weapon perks in the game since it ignores armor and is great in the early game.
- Awareness: Awarness helps you take down harder mobs with relatively ease. These can be a pain to deal with without the perk.
- Locksmith: The fact that you are able to pick Advanced Locks so early into the game allows you to get good loot much quicker.
Unlike strength though, one point to note is that later perks like Sniper, Concentrated Fire, and Penetrator can all be good for ranged and rifle users. So, investing in these, later on, can prove to be quite useful. If you are going to be using V.A.T.S a lot, you should probably invest more in Perception as it greatly helps with your success rate.
Endurance
Endurance is an essential SPECIAL stat. It dictates your HP / hit points and also the rate at which your action points deplete when you are sprinting. If you aren’t sure of how much HP you’ll gain in accordance with your level, here’s a quick look:
HitPoints = 80 + E x 5
HitPoints Per Level: 2.5 + (E x 0.5)
where E is your Endurance Level and L is the currernt level of your character.Before we talk about each perk on an individual scale. Here’s a quick look at all of them:
| Perk | Description |
| Toughness | Gain +10 damage resistance |
| Lead Belly | Take less radiation from eating or drinking |
| Life-Giver | Instantly gain +20 Maximum Health |
| Chem Resistant | You’re 50% less likely to get addicted when consuming chems |
| Aquagirl | You no longer take radiation damage from swimming and can breathe underwater |
| Rad Resistant | Gain increased resistance to radiation |
| Adamantium Skeleton | Limb damage is reduced by a significant margin |
| Cannibal | Eating a human corpse now restores your health |
| Ghoulish | Radiation now restores your health |
| Solar Powered | Sunlight ends up healing radiation damage and heals you, too |
Unlike Strength and Perception, not every perk is worth having especially in the early game. However, there are a few that have some distinct advantages:
- Life Giver: The additional health especially at the start of the game helps you survive tough battles with relative ease.
- Lead Belly / Aquagirl: Both of these perks come in the same ambit. They are extremely situational and won’t help most players. Therefore, they aren’t worth investing for in your starting build.
- Toughness: Toughness only makes sense if you are not using Power Armor. But, at a maximum of only +50 Damage Resistance, you may find you can achieve that through other means or by just wearing more armor.
Some of the more higher-level perks present in Endurance like Adamantium Skeleton are okay in certain situations. However, you can probably get by most of the game without needing them. You should only invest in Endurance if you won’t be using Power Armor.
Charisma
Charisma is one of the most intricate stats in the game. It directly dictates the ability you, as a player, have to influence others and change how your role plays out in the story. It also affects the maximum amount of settlers allowed at a settlement as well:
Max Population = 10 + L
where L is your level of CharismaCharisma follows the same suit as Endurance i.e most perks simply aren’t worth it and you’ll probably be able to go through the game without them. Here’s a quick look at some of the perks you’ll be able to invest in with Charisma:
| Perk | Description |
| Cap Collector | Buying and Selling prices are better at vendors according to the Rank of the skill |
| Lady Killer / Black Widow | Be more effective against the opposite sex in combat and persuasion |
| Lone Wanderer | Take 15% less damage and increase your carry weight by 50 if traveling without a companion |
| Attack Dog | Your companion can now hold an enemy and has a chance of causing them to bleed or crippling them |
| Animal Friend | Gain the ability to pacify wild beasts |
| Local Leader | You are able to establish supply lines between your workshop settlements |
| Party Girl / Boy | No chance of getting addicted to alcohol |
| Inspirational | Your companion deals more damage in combat and does not hurt you |
| Wasteland Whisperer | Gain the ability to pacify creatures of the wasteland |
| Intimidation | Gain the ability to pacify wasteland humans too |
As mentioned earlier, Charisma perks are situational at best and you can go through with the game without them. Cap Collector is perhaps one perk that you should invest in. However, a perk like Inspirational, while quite good requires a lot of investment in Charisma in order to unlock it which ultimately deteriorates its value.
If you don’t use a companion (how dare you!), Lone Wanderer is great. Other than that, if you are into settlement building then the Local Leader perk is a must-have. As obvious, both these perks won’t make any difference to your gameplay if you have a companion or aren’t in the mood of building a settlement.
Intelligence
Besides providing you with perks, Intelligence directly dictates the rate at which you gain XP. The multiplier increases from 103% at Level 1 to 130% at Level 10. It also reduces the number of words that are displayed when you are hacking a terminal, which makes the entire process much easier.
Here’s a quick look at the perks that you get from the Intelligence stat:
| Perk | Description |
| V.A.N.S | The path to your closest quest target is displayed in V.A.T.S |
| Medic | Stimpaks restore 40% of lost health, and RadAway removes 40% of radiation |
| Gun Nut | Access to base level and Rank 1 gun mods |
| Hacker | Allows you to break into more terminals |
| Scrapper | You can salvage uncommon components like screws, aluminum, and copper when scrapping weapons and armor. |
| Science! | Access to base level and Rank 1 high-tech mods |
| Chemist | Increased chem duration |
| Robotics Expert | Hack a robot, and gain a chance to power it on or off, or initiate a self-destruct. |
| Nuclear Physicist | Radiation weapons do 50% more damage and Fusion Cores last an extra 25% |
| NERD RAGE! | When your health drops below 20%, time slows and you gain +20 Damage Resistance and do 20% more damage while it lasts. |
In our opinion, Intelligence is one of the most important stats in the game. Besides just leveling you up at a quicker rate, it has one of the best perks in the game with the entire stat tree only possessing one or two perks feeling situational at best.
Perks like Hacker are out-classed by Locksmith from Perception but does have its occasional uses. All in all, you can’t go wrong with investing in Intelligence especially since it helps you level up faster in the long run.
Agility
Each point of Agility nets you with 10 additional AP (Action Points). These help increase the number of points available in your V.A.T.S. alongside your ability to sneak as well. Your agility is calculated in the following manner:
Agility = 60 + (10 * Current Level)Every point that you add in Agility also increases your pickpocketing chance by 1%. Almost every perk in Agility is useful for some character build as it is specifically meant for each weapon type. Unlike most other stats, Agility works best when invested into in the late game.
Here’s a quick look at all the perks you can avail by investing in Agility:
| Perk | Description |
| Gunslinger | Non-automatic pistols do 20% more damage |
| Commando | Automatic weapons do 20% more damage |
| Sneak | 20% harder to detect while sneaking |
| Mister Sandman | Your silenced weapons do an additional 15% attack damage |
| Action Boy / Girl | AP Points regenerate 25% faster |
| Moving Target | Increased Damage and Energy Resistance when Sprinting |
| Ninja | Sneak Attacks do more damage |
| Quick Hands | Faster reload speed |
| Blitz | V.A.T.S. melee distance is increased |
| Gun Fu | More damage to the second target in V.A.T.S. |
While the first four perks are catered towards builds that prefer using pistols or automatic guns or ones who like using stealth or Power Armor, there’s no denying that they’re quite good perks. Action Boy / Girl, in particular, is useful in almost every build.
With a higher investment in Agility, you can get your hands on the Ninja, Quick Hands, Blitz, and Gun Fu perks which are all phenomenal in their own ways. Ultimately, there’s little to no shame in investing in Agility a bit later into the game especially given that most perks won’t benefit you immediately.
Luck
Luck dictates, well, your luck throughout the entire game. From determining the recharge rate of your critical hit meter or improving how much caps and ammo you find loitered throughout the world through perks, Luck is definitely not a trait to ignore.
As an example, it can take you upwards of 14 hits to be able to recharge your critical meter at Level 1 Luck. However, you’ll need just 1 hit to be able to recharge it at Level 63. Here’s a look at all the Luck-based perks you can take advantage of:
| Perk | Description |
| Fortune Finder | Find more bottle caps in containers |
| Scrounger | Find more ammunition in containers |
| Bloody Mess | Enemies will sometimes explode into a gory red paste (+5% bonus damage) |
| Mysterious Stranger | The Mysterious Strangers will appear occasionally in V.A.T.S. to help the player |
| Idiot Savant | Randomly receive 3x XP from any action. The lower your Intelligence, the greater the chance |
| Grim Reaper’s Sprint | Any kill in V.A.T.S has a 15% chance to restore all action points |
| Critical Banker | You can save a Critical Hit and use it in V.A.T.S later |
| Four Leaf Clover | V.A.T.S has a chance of filling your Critical Meter with each hit |
| Ricochet | An enemy’s ranged attack will sometimes ricochet back and instantly kill them |
Luck offers one of the best perks available in the game will all of them faring to be quite useful in one way or the other. In terms of what you should prioritize, going for Idiot Savant might feel a bit counter-intuitive especially if you have high Intelligence early in the game. Other than that, you should be fine!
What Starting Stats Are The Best?
Now that we’ve gone through all stats in the game, it is important to realize that some stats are better than others due to two distinct reasons. Firstly, they may provide more utility as compared to other stats. For example, going for Intelligence will allow you to increase your experience gain faster.
Secondly, they might have better, more useful perks that are useful in a more generalized fashion. For example, almost all of the perks you get from leveling up Luck can be used to accelerate your progress by a substantial margin.
Overall, if we had to rank each tree by the number of quality perks they offer, Intelligence and Luck would definitely be at the top. Strength, Perception, and Agility would be more towards the middle with Endurance and Charisma being towards the bottom due to the aforementioned reasons.
So, ultimately, your investment in these stats should be predicated on achieving the bonuses these individual stats themselves provide. You essentially get the same bonuses from special stats at higher or lower levels. This allows you to get away with lower investment in these stats at the start of the game and then eventually level them up later.
Best Starting Stats Build For Fallout 4
| Perk | Level |
| Strength | 2 |
| Perception | 4 |
| Endurance | 3 |
| Charisma | 2 |
| Intelligence | 9 |
| Agility | 4 |
| Luck | 4 |
If you are someone who is fairly new to Fallout 4 or wish to maximize the potential of your character, you should go for this particular stat build. This build requires you to use Power Armor to work efficiently.
With 9 Intelligence, you’ll be able to get Nuclear Physicist right out of the bat which will make your fusion cores last longer. But, you’ll also be able to get by with a lower Strength value as your Power Armor will increase your Strength to +11 providing you with all the bonuses passive Strength provides such as increased Melee damage.
Plus, if you are able to level up Strength even once, you’ll be able to get the Armorer perk which provides you with access to base level and Rank 1 armor mods. As for our other low investment, Charisma, you really only need 11 Charisma and you don’t necessarily need it all the time.
At 11 Charisma, you will have a 100% chance to pass all speech checks. Provided that you are wearing some clothing and have consumables that boost your Charisma, getting to 11 should be fairly easy. As this applies to bartering, perks like Cap Collector will allow you to get better prices when buying and selling. That said, we recommend leveling Charisma once or twice to act as a cushion for reaching 11 Charisma.
As for our largest investment, which is in Intelligence, it’ll help you level up faster but will also allow you to get all the perks off the Intelligence tree of which there are many like Nuclear Physicist and Gun Nut. Just be sure to have a Dirty Wastelander, the Intelligence Bubblehead, and the You’re Special Book as you’ll need all 3 to reach 12 Intelligence for maximum XP gain.
A lot of our allocation other than that is quite balanced with Perception, Agility, Luck, and Endurance all being in the 3-4 range. This level of Perception allows you to get locksmith which is useful at all points in the game while 4 Luck still gives you access to Scrounger, Fortune Finder, and Bloody Mess. By simply leveling Agility and Endurance by 1, you gain access to Action Boy / Girl for Agility and Chem Resistant which is useful on all characters.
Between all these stats though, we recommend leveling up Luck first at the highest priority with the goal being to get Critical Banker so you can boost the rate at which your Crit Meter fills up a lot faster. In general, this setup will allow you to have a decent choice of weapons alongside leveling up quite quickly.
While there are multiple different character builds that you can opt for, investing in Intelligence has always been the way to go. It allows you to level up quicker thereby granting you an easier playthrough. Moreover, the
FAQ
What are the most important stats in Fallout 4?
As we’ve established, the most important stats in Fallout 4 are Intelligence and Luck. Intelligence allows you to level up faster while Luck provides you with essential perks that make your playthrough extremely efficient and fun!
How many stat points do you get in Fallout 4?
You receive one skill point in each individual stat with 21 additional points that you can invest in any skill. So, you end up beginning with a total of 28 skill points.
Does Fallout 4 get harder as you level up?
Fallout 4 embodies the true essence of an RPG in the fact that killing enemies / surviving gets much easier as you level up. However, this does not mean that the game gets stale or dull. On the contrary, you’ll have to fight mobs and enemies with increasing difficulty which keeps the game engaging. However, you do get stronger with each level.
Can you max everything in Fallout 4?
Fallout 4 has no real level cap. So, by investing the right amount of time, you can unlock every perk in the game. To max all your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points you’ll need to be at level 43. To max out all your perks alongside your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points, you’ll need to be at least level 272.