Perks play an important role when building your character inFallout 4, enhancing or adding new abilities to the Sole Survivor’s skill set. The perks themselves are divided between the character’s stats, usingFallout’s SPECIAL attributes system, with Luck being one of the most powerful but also the most misunderstood.Fallout 4’s Luck perks can sometimes be overlooked, which is a shame because there are some awesome bonuses to grab that make adventuring in the Commonwealth a breeze.
Each SPECIAL attribute inFallout 4has 10 perks that you can select when leveling up.Not all the perks on offer are going to appeal; however, there are a fewmust-have perks inFallout 4that make life much easier. The perks under the Luck branch range from sort of useful to ones so good they’re worth creating entire builds around.
10You Won’t Get Rich With Fortune Finder
The First Perk On The Chart Is The Weakest
Fortune Finder is the first perk on the Luck chart, and while it is useful, it’s easily the weakest of the 10 perks available. As the name suggests,Fortune Finder lets you find extra caps when looting containers. There are four ranks of Fortune Finder, each increasing the number of caps looted, with the final rank giving enemies a chance to explode into caps when killed.
This sounds great, butin reality, it rarely amounts to any significant increase in money. It can be worth taking one rank of Fortune Finder early on, when you’re fresh out of the Vault and penniless. However, there are so many sources of caps in Fallout 4 that unless you are regularly going on spending sprees, you won’t ever really be without a cap to your name after the first few levels.
9Scrounger Is Great For More Ammo
Find More Ammo Out In The Commonwealth
Scrounger is the next perk down on the tree, and it works in a similar fashion to Fortune Finder. With Scrounger,you’ll find more ammo in containers when lootingand exploring the Commonwealth. There are four ranks of Scrounger, with each one increasing the chance of finding extra ammo.
Scrounger is a very useful perk to have early onwhen ammo might be tight, and selling any unneeded ammo to merchants with the perk can be a great source of caps by. However, just as with Fortune Finder, as you level up, you will find plenty of ammo with merchants also selling large quantities quite cheaply. Ammo can also be crafted using the Ammunition Plant, which can be created using theContraptions WorkshopDLC.
8Bullets Bounce With Ricochet
Enemies Have A Chance To Hit Themselves In Fights
Ricochet is a perk that sounds great on paper, but when actually playing with it, the effects are a little disappointing. With Ricochet,there is a chance that an enemy’s ranged attack will bounce back at themand kill them instantly. The chances of this happening increase the lower your hit points, meaning when the effect does trigger, it can be very useful.
At rank one, Ricochet has a 1% chance to trigger when using an automatic weapon or 5% with a non-automatic. This increases at rank two to 2% for automatics and 7% for non-automatics.
However,the chance of Ricochet triggering is very low. With enemies also needing to be low level or have low health for the return shot to kill them instantly, what should be a very cool perk at the end of the Luck branch is spoiled by the odds. Ultimately, when it does trigger, Ricochet is fantastic, but it should not be relied on.
7Idiot Savant Can Be Fun
Extra Experience Points The Lower Your Intelligence Score
Idiot Savant is one of my favorite perks inFallout 4, and I love the concept as well as the silly noise when it triggers. With Idiot Savant, the premise is thatyou will get bursts of inspiration the lower your Intelligence score, resulting in you periodically getting extra XP. There are three ranks to Idiot Savant, with rank one giving three times more XP, rank two increasing this to five times more, and rank three triggering three times more XP from all kills for a short time.
With one point in Intelligence, there is an 11% chance of Idiot Savant triggering, lowering by 1% for each point in Intelligence, to a minimum of 1%.
There is some debate about whether it is more effective to use Idiot Savant or have a high Intelligence character inFallout 4in order to gain XP quickly. However, even with medium to high Intelligence,Idiot Savant is worth picking up at least one rank of, although the chances of it triggering diminish with each point of Intelligence. This makes it useful for almost all builds, especially early in the game.
6Call On The Mysterious Stranger For Help
He’ll Happily Lend A Hand In V.A.T.S.
The Mysterious Stranger is probably one of the best-known perks inFallout 4and perhaps the entire franchise, taking on a life of its own. If taken, the Mysterious Stranger perk means that occasionally, you’ll see a strange man in a trench coat and fedora who will help fight an enemy.The Mysterious Stranger only appears when you’re using V.A.T.S., firing a shot at the target, and usually killing them.
I love this perk, and it’s another that’sworth taking at least one rank of whatever build you’re using, although obviously it is more handy for those using V.A.T.S. often. There are four ranks to the Mysterious Stranger perk, each one increasing how often he’ll show up, with the final two ranks also refilling your critical meter. There have been plenty of times when the Mysterious Stranger has saved my bacon, including fights with some ofFallout 4’s hardest enemies.
5Get More Critical Hits With Four Leaf Clover
Refill Your Critical Meter More Often
One of the best aspects of playing as a high Luck character inFallout 4is that your critical meter will refill quicker, which in turn allows you to perform critical hits in V.A.T.S. more often. Four Leaf Clover is a fantastic perk for this type of build asit has a chance to completely refill your critical meter. With each of the four ranks, the chance improves, with each hit in V.A.T.S. now offering a chance to refill the meter.
With the first rank of Four Leaf Clover, the chances of the meter refilling are 8%, with an increase of 2% for each subsequent rank to a maximum of 14%. These are decent odds, especially when using V.A.T.S. frequently, andthe only drawback for me is that Four Leaf Clover requires nine points in Luckto grab. Four Leaf Clover is best used alongside other perks on this list, such as Critical Banker.
4Grim Reaper’s Sprint Restores Action Points
Get Back All Your Action Points
Grim Reaper’s Sprint works in a similar way to Four Leaf Clover, except instead of refilling your critical meter,the perk has a chance to restore all your Action Points. Action Points inFallout 4determine how many shots or attacks you may make in quick succession in V.A.T.S., and how many you have is determined by your Agility score. There are three ranks of Grim Reaper’s Sprint, each increasing the chance of your Action Points refilling.
I love this perk and how overpowered it can be, making it essential for any ranged Fallout 4 build. A 15% at rank one is good, but this increases to 25% at rank two, and by rank three, the chance of restoring all AP is 35%. But on top of that, at rank three, Grim Reaper’s Sprint also has a chance to refill your critical meter as well, making it a must-have alongside Four Leaf Clover.
3Bloody Mess Isn’t For The Faint Hearted
Overlooked Perks Overs 15% Damage Increase Across All Weapons
Bloody Mess is a strange perk, and some might be put off from taking it due to the description. However, it’s actually a good all-around perk for most builds, making it worth picking up despite the gore. As the name suggests,Bloody Mess has a chance to make enemies explode into gross messes, but it also offers a flat increase to all damage output.
There are four ranks to Bloody Mess,each increasing the damage bonus from 5% at rank one to 15% at rank three. At rank four, there is a chance that when a target explodes, nearby enemies may also detonate; however, I’ve found that this rank isn’t really worth picking up. Be warned, as the perk is just as disgusting as it sounds, so if gore really isn’t your thing, perhaps you should skip this one.
2Improved Damage With Better Criticals
Deal Even More Damage With Critical Hits
Better Criticals is a perk that does exactly what it sounds like, improving your critical hits with each rank taken. With this perk,critical hits will do increased damage, starting at a whopping 50% at rank one and only going up from there with the other two ranks. At rank two, the damage done by critical hits is doubled, and at the final rank, criticals do 2.5 times more damage.
This might not sound like a lot, but considering criticals already do significantly more damage than normal attacks with this perk,you can easily one-shot most enemies. This is a great perk to pair with some of thebest weapons inFallout 4and an essential choice for anyone who plans on using V.A.T.S. a lot throughout a playthrough. Considering that a well-timed critical hit can make all the difference in tough fights, this perk is fantastic and especially at higher levels against powerful enemies.
1Critical Banker Is Essential For V.A.T.S. Builds
Store Up To Four Critical Hits For Later
Easily the best perk in the entire Luck branch of the perk chart is Critical Banker, which requires seven points in Luck to pick up. With this excellent perk,you will be able to store critical hits for later, making sure that you always have one ready for tough fights. There are four ranks to this perk, each allows one more crit to be stored to a maximum of four with the base game.
Critical hits are brilliant to keep in your back pocket inFallout 4, as not only do they do extra damage, but they are guaranteed to hit. Keeping some in reserve pretty much makes you unstoppable withthe ability to fire off multiple crits in succession, withFar Harborupping the number you’re able to store to five. When used alongside other perks like Four Leaf Clover, you’ll never have to worry aboutFallout 4’s boss fights again.
