The way you build your character in Fallout 4 is extremely important. You’ll be asked to choose your defining traits or ‘SPECIAL’ right at the beginning of the game, and it’s very easy to go wrong.
For more help on Fallout 4, read our How to Recruit Companions, PC Tweaks Guide and Romance Guide.
Fallout 4 Character Builds
Leveling in the game doesn’t come as frequently as others, so it’s of the utmost importance that you choose the right starting build for your character, and then work your way.
Sure, mistakes and weakness can be fixed in Fallout 4, as unlike previous games in the series you’re able to invest more in the primary SPECIALs, theoretically allowing you to become a Wasteland god who can do everything and anything.
Achieving that however is going to take a lot of dedication, and by a lot we mean roughly 400+ hours or so. Instead of taking such a path, it’s better off to start with a focused build in your mind, invest your points accordingly, and play your character in a very specific manner.
This guide offers you 7 practical, convenient builds. Each build has the initially 28 points you can spend, followed by essential perks that you’ll want to grab earlier than others.
We’ll let you decide which one you want to acquire first (as it largely depends on your playstyle and what you’re having trouble with), so the important perks listed are in no specific order.
Build 1 – A Constructive Survivor
- Strength – 3
- Perception – 4
- Endurance – 3
- Charisma – 6
- Intelligence – 6
- Agility – 3
- Luck – 3
Essential Perks: Gun Nut, Lone Wanderer, Local Leader, Armorer, Locksmith, Hacker, Science, Scrapper.
With the perks available at hand in Fallout 4, this is arguably one of the most versatile builds you can run. It doesn’t give a great deal as far as direct combat is concerned, but it’s important to understand that Fallout isn’t just about direct combat.
The Constructive Survivor gives you the necessary perks and ability to get your way around just about every challenge in the game. You’re not going to be a melee-oriented character with this build, but you’ll have adept crafting, good charisma, and enough tricks up your sleeves to get anything done.Fa
The main source of damage from this build doesn’t come from sheer combat skills, but the ability to be crafty. Gun Nut, Armorer, Scrapper, and Locksmith should be taken as quickly as possible as they give you the option to craft better weapons earlier than most.
Use your high Charisma for Lone Wanderer and Local Leader. The latter is an extremely underrated perk, but greatly rewards those who will take the settlement aspect of the game seriously.
It certainly is one of the most rewarding parts of Fallout 4, as establishing shops and settlements allows you to get your hands on very rare and legendary items from vendors, as well as better production of scrap material.
Your high intelligence will grant you good XP gain, enough to make the initial shortcomings in your combat a thing of the past as you’re able to compensate with the likes of Commando, Gunslinger, and Rifleman.
Build 2 – Less Brains, More Muscle
- Strength – 7
- Perception – 3
- Endurance – 4
- Charisma – 3
- Intelligence – 3
- Agility – 3
- Luck – 5
Essential Perks: Big Leagues, Armorer, Toughness, Blacksmith, Gun Nut, Idiot Savant.
If you’re not one to enjoy the RPG aspects of the game, then this build may suit your needs. It’s going to put things back in your desired sweet-spot of bash-first, think later. High strength means higher resilience, and also much great raw damage, which is exactly what you’re going for with this build.
The build greatly rewards pure aggression. However, you’ll find yourself a little slow in gaining experience, which is why you need to counter-balance your lack of intelligence with some Luck.
The Idiot Savant is the ideal perk for this, as it allows you to gain random XP from senseless tasks that can slightly compensate for your slower XP gain.
Characters who love going melee and bashing things will greatly enjoy this build. Fallout 4’s crafting system definitely rewards melee characters more than previous titles in the series, so it’s never too naïve to invest heavily in Blacksmith to build some of the meanest melee weapons you can imagine.
Just be prepared to do a lot of leg work to compensate for lack of charisma.
Build 3 – Long Distance Relationships
- Strength – 2
- Perception – 8
- Endurance – 2
- Charisma – 1
- Intelligence – 3
- Agility – 6
- Luck – 6
Essential Perks: Gun Nut, Sniper, Awareness, Rifleman, Moving Target, Locksmith, Better Criticals, Big Leagues.
A lot of players enjoy playing with long-ranged weaponry. It’s certainly one of the more rewarding experiences, as you gain the ability to clear out enemies from distances where it’s nearly impossible for them to reach you.
This is a build that helps in exactly that. Perception is the go-to perk if you want to have good long-ranged ability, and you’ll also need to be very good at utilizing the VATS system for that. This makes Agility an utmost necessity as it is directly tied to the number of Action Points you have.
Combining these two with Gun Nut, you’ll have access to long-ranged mods for your weapons in no time. Of course, criticals also play a big part in long-ranged weaponry, which is why you want to invest plenty in Luck.
To compensate for your almost non-existent ability in close-ranged combat, you should try to invest heavily in Big Leagues and buy yourself a good melee weapon (since you won’t be able to create your own).
You’ll need them a lot in closed areas and buildings where long-ranged weaponry is impossible. This build suffers badly in the role-playing aspect of the game though, mainly because of poor charisma.
You’ll have to do a lot of leg work and let your sniper weapons do the talking instead.
Build 4 – Nerdular Nerdance
- Strength – 3
- Perception – 3
- Endurance – 3
- Charisma – 2
- Intelligence – 9
- Agility – 5
- Luck – 3
Essential Perks: Gun Nut, Cap Collector, Armorer, Nuclear Physicist, Toughness, Hacker, Science, Scrapper, Action Boy.
Intelligence builds in Fallout games are infamous for being heavy late-game builds. They’re generally very difficult to play with initially as you’ll be severely lacking in-terms of raw fire-power and ability, but their rewards after Level 20 onwards are immaculate.
This is a pure Nerd build that boasts a whopping 9 intelligence at the start. Although you may feel at a slight disadvantage early on, the rapid XP gain from Intelligence will greatly aid in making your character much better.
It’s a fantastic alternative experience to pure run-and-gunning, as it truly does require witty crafting and indirect combat techniques. Once laser, plasma, and radiation weapons start becoming more common, that’s when your Intelligence build will begin to thrive.
Combined with hacking terminals, good Agility, and longer use of your Power Armor, this high Intelligence will allow you to thrive in late game areas so long as you’re avoiding conventional weaponry and always have tricks up your sleeves.
The disadvantages of this build are fairly obvious – you’ll have very little HP, and won’t be able to power your way through things. You’ll also be greatly limited in-terms of conversations. Just think of yourself as an autistic genius who is a drug-addict, and act like one for once.
Build 5 – Married to Lady Luck
- Strength – 4
- Perception – 3
- Endurance – 3
- Charisma – 5
- Intelligence – 1
- Agility – 3
- Luck – 9
Essential Perks: Big Leagues, Blacksmith, Armorer, Toughness, Idiot Savant, Better Criticals, Critical Banker, Grim Reaper
Ever secretly envied those complete doofuses who always manage to get their way in things? Well, this build develops exactly that kind of character. You’re not smart, and you don’t really care about sophisticated weapon crafting or advanced tech.
What you are is essentially Lady Luck’s sweet childhood lover, and she’s going to give you all sorts of good treats. Luck is a strange yet extremely underrated SPECIAL in Fallout games. Combine it with VATS to get the best out of your character.
It won’t matter if you haven’t built all-powerful weapons because with your insane Critical generation, you won’t be needing too much raw firepower to deal tons of damage. You will have to be tactical though, as direct combat with this kind of a build can be a bit difficult.
The build combines high critical and good VATS with decent Charisma.
If you want to be that well-known stupid yet highly successful mayor, consider swapping a point from Endurance or Perception and putting it in Charisma, then investing in Local Leader for some really useful trading routes and rare weapons.
Build 6 – Mr. / Mrs. Stealy
- Strength – 4
- Perception – 6
- Endurance – 2
- Charisma – 3
- Intelligence – 3
- Agility – 7
- Luck – 3
Essential Perks: Night Person, Pickpocket, Locksmith, Lone Wanderer, Sneak, Mr. Sandman, Action Boy, Moving Target, Ninja
A lot of people enjoy playing Fallout with stealth exclusively. It’s not easy, and it’s certainly not recommended for players experience the franchise for the first time, but it most definitely is one of the most rewarding ways to play the game.
If you’ve ever played a Bethesda RPG, you’ll know that a lot of NPCs and specific houses have some truly precious things that you will always be tempted to steal. With this build, that becomes a cakewalk.
All you need is a good combination of Perception and Agility, and you’ll be good to go.
As for combat, the high amount of Perception, Agility, and decent Strength give you tactical fluidity, making this an excellent all-round build if you’re not too bothered by the inability to craft weapons or use plasma/radiation guns.
It’s very likely though that you’ll want to combine this build with melee weapons – particularly swords and such. For this reason, the Blacksmith perk is very important, and should not be overlooked.
Sneak attacks reward extra XP in the game, and if you can land them effectively, you’ll likely be able to negate the lower XP gain due to lack of Intelligence.
Yes, Endurance is super-low, which also means you’re as good as dead when caught; but the whole point of a stealth build is not to get caught.
Build 7 – Unbreakable
- Strength – 6
- Perception – 1
- Endurance – 7
- Charisma – 6
- Intelligence – 3
- Agility – 5
- Luck – 1
Essential Perks: Strong Back, Heavy Gunner, Blacksmith, Toughness, Radiation Resistance, Adamantium Skin, Chem Resistant, Action Boy
You have shitty luck, your five senses aren’t that great, but you’re able to withstand the craziest shit the Wasteland can throw at you. This build combines Strength with Endurance to give a devastating tank-like build.
It’s not a build that will give you the versatility that Build 1 has, but it’s certainly one that will make survival secondary. In addition, there’s nothing more fun than becoming a bullet sponge and simply hammering enemies away while they try to shoot at you.
The build’s truly lacking aspect is Perception, so you won’t have a great time when you’re trying to use VATS, but the entire point of the build is to throw tactical gameplay out of the window and go through everything with sheer resilience.
Think of yourself as that old, blind man who could survive a truck hitting him. Never heard that story? That’s because you’re going to be making it with this build.
If you have a better Character Build, share it in the comments and we will add it in the guide!
