Greetings lone wanderer! As a seasoned vault survivor who has sunk over 400 hours exploring the ruins of Boston, I‘m delighted to share my hard-won knowledge to help prepare you for the adventures that await in Fallout 4.
Choosing Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L Stats
Let‘s start by examining the all-important S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes that define your skills, abilities, and playstyle. Along with perk recommendations tailored to each stat:
Strength
Buffing Strength should be a priority if you enjoy charging into the fray and crushing enemies with melee and heavy guns. I‘d recommend spending starting points on:
- Big Leagues (5/5): Essential for melee, boosting swing speed and damage.
- Armorer (3/4): Unlock armor mods to bolster defense.
- Blacksmith (3/3): Craft melee mods like electrified, serrated, and more.
With high strength, I can one-shot most basic enemies with my electrified sledgehammer on survival mode!
Perception
Perception transforms you into an eagle-eyed marksman, perfect for players who prefer precision fire from a distance. Invest early Perception points into:
- Rifleman (5/5): Increases damage with bolt-action sniper rifles.
- Awareness (2/4): View enemies‘ damage resistances and remaining health.
- Locksmith (4/4): Unlock doors and safes to access precious loot.
I heavily recommend the Instigating Gauss Rifle once available. It often one-shots standard enemies with sneak attack criticals while you remain safely out of sight!
Endurance
Endurance bolsters your health pool allowing you to soak devastating blows that would flatten low END builds. Prioritize:
- Solar Powered (3/3): Gain bonuses to strength and endurance during daylight.
- Lead Belly (2/3): Take less radiation from food and water.
- Lifegiver (3/3): Gain substantial permanent HP bonuses per level.
With my final Endurance build, I gain +80 health, +2 strength in sunlight, and hardly take radiation from food or water allowing me to thrive anywhere!
And so on for each S.P.E.C.I.A.L attribute…
Dealing With Deadly Adversaries
While standard enemies like raiders, ghouls, and mutants can be swiftly dispatched with proper gear and builds, Fallout 4 throws deadly adversaries at you demanding specific strategies:
Mirelurk Queens
These gigantic crustacean mutants soak up bullets while shredding you with claw combos and spit projectiles. I heavily favor explosive ordnance against their thick carapaces:
- Target limbs to stagger and slow them.
- Attack from high vantage points they cannot reach.
- Repeatedly paralyze them with shots from a Cryolator rifle.
Deathclaws
Short of power-armored foes like Sentry Bots, nothing brings dread like an angry Deathclaw bounding towards you. Bring plenty of land mines and use the terrain to your advantage!
- Use Long Shot + Concentrated Fire perks to repeatedly cripple their legs slowing them to a crawl.
- Funnel them towards densely clustered mines while retreating to high positions.
- Once grounded, hammer them with penetrating .50 caliber rounds before they can fully recover!
And so on for other challenging enemies…
