So, you’re a new player wanting to know about Fallout 4 and its starting stats, eh? Well, guess what? Today’s your lucky day, cause honestly, even veterans can feel bamboozled with Fallout 4. Worry not, though; we’ll look at each play style individually, then break down the configuration for you.
In short, we’ll tell you which stats to invest in so you don’t fumble and waste precious points. elsewhere. Alright, so here we go!
What are the Fallout 4 Starting Stats?
Fallout 4 has a particular acronym for the stats, which players will learn about in the character creation screen. The word S.P.E.C.I.A.L represents each of the stats. S=Strength, P=Perception, E=Endurance, C=Charisma, I=Intelligence, A=Agility, and finally, L=Luck.
This is common knowledge, but for any new gamers, it’s always a new experience learning about Fallout 4 starting stats. The more levels you gain, the more points become available to spend on the 7 primary stats. If you’d like to learn about leveling your character quickly, consider our good friend’s Fallout 4 max level guide.
How do the Starting Stats in Fallout 4 Affect Your Character’s Build?
Not only do the starting stats in Fallout 4 impact your playstyle, but they also significantly alter the character’s personality. For instance, a character with less Charisma will be unsuccessful in passive runs but can influence and convince others with a high enough stat. Let’s see how each individual stat works in Fallout 4.
- Charisma, as we previously said, allows players to convince others. You also gain neat discounts at shops and can reign in hostile enemies during conversations.
- Agility, while not everyone’s favorite or first choice for that matter, is still handy because it allows sneaking. Also, it grants additional attack points in combat.
- Perception is another highly underutilized stat in Fallout 4. The players get weapon accuracy, which saves a lot of ammo. It also grants a slow-motion effect for pin-point targeting of enemy limbs using mechs.
- Endurance allows greater stamina and also a longer duration of sprint. Plus, higher defense to tank attacks.
- Luck allows extra benefits plus increases critical hit chance.
- Strength in Fallout 4 gives players high attack power, a very useful starting stat.
- Intelligence allows additional experience, which helps you level up faster. Also, your items won’t degrade quickly with this stat.
Investing in Stats Unlock Perks
After putting points in the starting stats, you’ll transition to the perks section in Fallout 4’s character creation. This is where the result of your point allocation will bear fruit. Perks grant active and passive bonuses on top of the boost from your stat. However, you’ll need to be careful, as only perks from the stats you’ve invested in will be available to you.
Each perk has its appeal. Since there are too many of them to go through one by one, we’ll only mention the ones that will come up. The main ones you’ll need to focus on, regardless of build type, are 6.
- The luck-based Idiot-Savant.
- Three Endurance-based Lead Belly, Aquaboy/girl, and Life Giver.
- Perception-based Locksmith.
- Strength-based Strong back.
Also, if you’re using our build, you might want to avoid placing any points in intelligence as it works against the luck perk Idiot-Savant. You’ll understand why we’re focusing on the 6 perks over others, especially if you’re new to Fallout 4. The starting stats and corresponding perks in Fallout 4 will make your play style fun and enjoyable.
For A Fun Start, Invest in These Fallout 4 Stats
Remember that the point and perk allocation we’re going for after that is purely for the most fun build. Not the most powerful one or the most stealthy one. Having said that, if you’re looking to compliment your character’s strength build, our good friend has ranked the 6 best melee weapons in Fallout 4.
Anyway, here’s our recommended distribution of points in Fallout 4 starting stats.
- Luck – 8 points – unlock Idiot Savant as a priority; this gives extra experience for the most basic actions. Bonus if you also go for Richochet, as it’s the most fun we’ve had when playing Fallout 4.
- Endurance – 3 points – get the Life Giver perk as soon as it’s available to you later in Fallout 4; it gives health regeneration, which is extremely useful. But also go for Lead Belly for consuming radioactive food without hurting yourself. The Aquaboy/girl perks early on let you swim in radioactive bodies of water in the wasteland.
- Strength – 6 points – The additional strength is a nice additional byproduct, but we’re mainly going for the Strong Back perk. It allows you to carry more items without always having to unload them.
- Perception – 5 points – Mainly for unlocking Locksmith, which allows advanced lockpicking of master locks. Also, the increase in accuracy is pretty handy.
- Charisma – 0 points – no need to waste any points here.
- Agility – 2 points – An increase in attack damage will help out nicely with the Commando perk, but it’s optional.
- Intelligence – 3 points- Only go for the increase in XP here. You can tinker around for the Hacker perk, but we personally don’t like it that much.
Recapping Everything
Well, now that we’ve explained the distribution of starting stats and the perks to get in Fallout 4. We’ll concisely present everything to our readers for further clarity.
Your main 2 stats are Luck (8 points) and Strength (6 points). The Luck perks to get are Idiot Savant, Richochet, and others along the way. For Strength, get Strong Back only. Charisma is useless (0 points), and no perks are needed.
Endurance (3 points), but you’ll need 3 critical perks, Lifegiver, Lead Belly, and Aqua-boy/girl. Intelligence (3 points) needs to be low for Luck to be effective; no perks are necessary. Perception (5 points) is essential; you need it for the Locksmith perk. Finally, Agility (2 points) will net you the increased damage perk of Commando.
Final Thoughts About Fallout 4 Starting Stats
That concludes our guide about Fallout 4 starting stats; we hope it will prove as fun for you as it’s for us. Our distribution isn’t set in stone; we’re not married to it either. So let us know if you think of other fun builds and stat distribution in Fallout 4 through trial and error.
If you like gaming suggestions similar to Fallout 4, we have a list of 8 great open-world RPGs like Fallout. We always look forward to feedback from our readers, so don’t be shy about expressing yourself in the comments below. Until next time, stay safe and happy gaming, everyone!
