Fallout 76 Builds and Archetypes Guide – Best Starting Perks and Stats, Level 50 Builds

Roaming the Wasteland is no joke. Danger lurks around every corner and you always have to be prepared and vigilant to tackle any kind of situation.

For this purpose, it’s important to stick to a particular build which suits you best and is also effective against of the challenges you’ll face in Fallout 76. Below, we take a look at some of the most powerful Fallout 76 Builds in the game.

Fallout 76 Builds and Attributes

Thanks to the new S.P.E.C.I.A.L System, Attribute Points can be spent on different perks and buffs that best suit the character. These can range from focusing more on solo play, or going for a team-based build.

Others will be tailored towards the usage of a particular weapon like melee weapons, snipers etc.

Some careful planning needs to be done since points can only be earned for the S.P.E.C.I.A.L System up to Level 50 and each attribute caps at a maximum of 15 points.

With all of that away, let’s take a look at some of the builds you can decide to start working on.

Groupie Build

This will focus on one of the other key aspects of Fallout 76: cooperation. Taking full use of grouping up with your friends and supporting them, the build will center around maximizing the Charisma attribute.

Since attributes can also be shared with a high enough Charisma level, we’ll also shed some light on healing perks and providing support by crafting more ammo and resources, and being able to carry more as well in your inventory.

Charisma +15

• Lavish Lender (II) will allow you to increase Perk card sharing duration by 50%. This will enable your teammates to utilize the various buffs for much longer.
• Anti-Epidemic (II) cures diseases of nearby teammates whenever you cure your own disease.
• Philanthropist (III) allows you to satisfy your team’s hunger and thirst whenever you eat or drink.
• Healing Hands (I) will eliminate radiation effects from all teammates when you revive them.
• E.M.T (II) revived teammates will regenerate health faster for 30 seconds. This together with Healing Hands work really well in reviving or near death situation for a team.
• Injector (II) will give revived teammates increased regeneration of additional 12 Action points for 10 minutes.
• Health regenerated with Stimpaks is also applied to half of the health of each team members thanks to the Team Medic (I) perk card.
• The Weird (II) allows your teammates to build an additional 20 points of Radiation Resistance when your character is mutated.

Intelligence +9

• Scrapper (I) for obtaining more useful components when scrapping weapon and armor.
• Chemist (I) for doubling the output from crafting Chems.
• Exotic Weapons (II) allows you to craft special Rank 2 weapons like crossbows, black powder guns etc.
• Science Expert (II) will allow for a lower cost of materials when crafting energy guns.
• Science Master (I) will enable you to craft Rank 3 energy gun modifications. This works well with the above perk.
• Armorer (II) will allow for a lower cost of materials when crafting armor.

Strength +8

• Pack Rat (II) to reduce the weight of junk by 50%. Since most of the items you craft depending on scrapping junk, this perk will be quite valuable to craft many items without compromising your inventory.
• Travelling Pharmacy (II) reduces weights of Chems (Stimpacks, Med kits etc) by 60%.
• Strong Back (IV) will add 40 points more to your overall capacity to ensure you’re always stocked with a variety of items suiting different situations for you and your team.

Luck +7

• The Dry Nurse (I) perk increases your chance of holding onto your Stimpak, even after reviving a teammate, by 50%.
• Scrounger (III) will increase your chances of getting ammo from ammo containers by 80%, so it’s highly beneficial for you and your team.
• For a decent amount of caps received from a caps stash, use the Cap Collector (III) perk card.

Agility +6

• Home Defense (III) will not only allow you to disarm expert traps but create expert ones of your own to remain safe without ever actually fighting. This will also help your team coordinate and plan their attacks better.
• Ammosmith (II) increases the amount of ammunition you craft by 80%. This will definitely help you and your teammates to stock up on ammo and always be ready for a fight.
• Thru Hiker (III) to reduce food and drinks weight by 30%.

Endurance +6

• Rad Sponge (III) for when you’re affected by rads, you periodically heal 200 rads on nearby teammates.
• Works well together with the above perk, Radicool (I) will cause the Strength attribute to increase proportional with Rads where the STR caps at +5.
• Revenant (II) perk card will add 50% more damage output to your character when he gets revived by a teammate. The effect lasts for two minutes.

Perception +5

• Butcher’s Bounty (III) improves your chances of getting extra meat from corpses by 80%. This is great for finding food resources from fallen corpses.
• Green Thumb (I) will earn you twice as much flora when harvesting it. It’s used for crafting purposes and curing diseases.
• Picklock (I) to gain +1 lock pick skill and increase the ideal spot for lockpicking by 10%. This is good for looting items and the pick lock skill can further be increased when you’re playing in the group with some Charisma Attribute Points.

Critical Hits Build

This build is all about greatly increase your critical damage and critical hit chance. It’s a build that individuals who use shotguns and close-ranged weapons will take benefit from the most.

You’ll want to use shotguns and similar weapons to quickly sprint in, deal tons of damage, then flee the scene.

You want limbs flying in all directions too, because you’re a complete psychopath. Crit and Luck go hand in hand, and that’s the attribute you’ll be putting in the most points in.

Strength (+12)

• Shotgunner (II), Expert Shotgunner (II), and Master Shotgunner (IV) should be your priority. Nothing quite deals the kind of crit damage like a shotgun, and you want to maximize the damage through the Strength attribute while you focus on increasing crit from others
• Shotguns are slow to reload, so you’ll want to max out Scattershot (IV) as well so they’re 40% faster to load. Additionally, you’ll be able to pack several since they’ll way 80% less

Perception (+12)

• Remember when we said you’re a complete psychopath because you want limbs to fly? That’s what Concentrated Fire (III) will help you do with some higher accuracy and damage per hit with VATS
• Skeet Shooter (IV) combines with your shotgun frenzy from the Strength perks to give you better accuracy and speed
• Awareness (I) will give you information on the target’s damage resistances in VATS, so you can shoot the limb that comes off more easily
• Remember when VATS would reduce your accuracy for parts blocked by the cover? No? That’s probably coz you have Penetrator (III) at max

Agility (+13)

• Marathoner (III) will help you move around quickly as you target everyone’s limbs, as sprinting will consume 40% less AP
• And of course, you want your AP to regenerate faster since you’ll be doing lots of slow-mo shooting. Action Boy/Girl is invaluable there
• Enforcer (IV) shouldn’t need an explanation, since it involves shotguns doing shotgun stuff and more chances of crippling a limb
• Gun Fu (III) will make you a VATS boss, as you can swap targets on kill with additional damage to your next 3 targets

Luck (+15)

• Psychopath (III), because we already told you that you are one. A 15% chance to refill your critical meter after a kill? What kind of a psychopath wouldn’t take up that offer?
• And you combine that madness with Four Leaf Clover (III) to practically ensure your critical meter is always full, as this perk provides “excellent” chance to fill it with each hit
• If you haven’t gotten the picture already, you’re focusing heavily on VATS and critical hits here. That’s why Grim Reaper’s Sprint (III), Better Criticals (III), and Crticial Savvy (III) are all so important in making you a complete monster

Lone Wolf – Sniper Build

You can’t tell us with a serious look that you’ve never tried to laze around sniping from long distances. Ideal for lone-wolves, this built is all about maximizing your effectiveness with long-ranged weapons, making you a sniping monster.

You’ll invest plenty in perks that reduce AP consumption to take VAT shots, then perform a quick getaway.

Additionally, you want some survivability because waiting in the brushes for your victim to pop their head (or whatever gross mutated variant of it they have) will make you hungry and cook you through radiation

Strength (+3)

• It makes sense not to spend much in Strength, because there’s no much heavy lifting to do or brute force to show. Just max out the Bandolier (III) perk to store plenty of ammo and you’re good to go

Perception (+14)

• Sniper (IV), coz duh. You’re a sniper, and you want to greatly improve how long you can hold your breath
• Long Shot (IV), coz another duh. If you’re not using a scope with this build, then you’re doing it all wrong. 20% more range and 40% more accuracy through a scope is what snipers dream of
• Rifleman (II) because a sniper uses a rifle. You don’t need to max this out as you’ll be looking for Expert Rifleman (II) as well. That’s a combined total of 40% extra damage, folks
• All those perks combine oh-so-well with Night Eyes (I) to make you an ultimate assassin even in darkness

Endurance (+3)

• Natural Resistance (III) will help you stay longer in the open with minimal chance of catching disease

Charisma (+4)

• Because you’ll be sniping from a distance and taking on this postapocalyptic adventure alone, the Lone Wanderer (III) will greatly aid you by reducing the damage you take by 20% and increasing AP regen by 30%

Intelligence (+6)

• As a lone wolf, your guns are your companions. Take care of them by maximizing the Gunsmith (III) perk
• And to make your guns last even longer, you can acquire Weapon Artisan (III) to repair them to 200% of normal maximum condition

Agility (+15)

• Action Boy/Girl (III) is important for you, because as a sniper you want to utilize VATS as well as have lots of AP in case things (that are trying to kill you) get too close for comfort
• And because you don’t want things to get close to you, investing in Marathoner (III) is a great idea
• Covert Operative (III) is great if you use a suppressor on your sniper rifle. If you don’t, you totally should
• Rifle ammunition is hard to come by and expensive to craft, so Ammosmith (III) is essential to keep you loaded
• Finally, Adrenaline (III) is just as important because there’s nothing more satisfying than chaining kills with increased damage for every kill

Luck (+10)

• Good with Salt (III) will help your food stay fresh as you trek the wilderness waiting for your next victim
• Luck of the Draw (III) will improve the longevity of your sniper rifle, since you’re bound to land its 20% chance to regain condition once in a while
• Storm Chase (II) will ensure that when the weather is a little wet and radioactive, you’re actually feeling better
• And finally, Bloody Mes (III), because there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a sniper shot make an enemy explode

The Power Armor Tank Build

This build will take use of the Power Armor to make you the ultimate defensive tank for your team. You won’t be dishing out the kind of damage you would with other offensive builds.

Instead, you’ll take a defensive approach and act as the walking, talking tank behind whom your team members will seek protection.

The *Power Armor you choose* for this build should depend on where you’re heading. We highly recommend you have access to all the Power Armors so you can select one based on the situation and where you’ll be heading.

Strength (+15)

• Bear Arms (IV) should be a priority as you’ll be carrying heavy guns with your Power Armor. Who carries a piper pistol when in a moving in a mobile bunker?
• Heavy weapons take a long time to reload slowly though, so you’ll want to max out Lock and Load (III) to reload them faster
• Full Charge (II) is also a no brainer. Fusion Cores are precious, and you don’t want to be running them out while sprinting
• Pain Train (III) is obvious and works incredibly well with Full Charge. Save your ammo, charge into foes instead
• Portable Power (III) is another no brainer for Power Armor users

Endurance (+12)

• Solar Powered (I) because a solar powered Power Armor is far more efficient, don’t you think?
• Adamantium Skeleton (V) will ensure you can role play as the tough-as-nails tank that you want to
• Photosynthetic (II) adds to your tankiness by giving you plenty of health regen during sunlight
• Lifegiver (III) will be the final purchase in Endurance, as you want to bulk up as much as possible

Intelligence (+15)

• Power Smith (III) will ensure that your crafted Power Armor has more durability. More durability means you can stay in the battlefield wearing it a lot longer
• Stabilized (IV) is also a no brainer. Heavy guns just work well in Power Armor, and you want them to penetrate armor and be accurate, which is what this perk does
• Robotics Expert (III) combines well with Power Smith to make your Power Armor even more durable. It’ll also be cheaper to repair
• Power User (V) is perhaps the most important perk for this build. You want to max it out, so your Fusion Core lasts double the amount of time

Luck (+10)

• One Gun Army (IV) boosts the chance of your Heavy guns to stager and cripple a limb. Just what you need when you’re a walking tank
• Bloody Mess (III) just makes sense here, because you’re going to be bashing things with your Power Armor and heavy weapons, so why not get some bonus damage and make enemies explode?
• Quick Hands (III) will make reloading your heavy weapons that much faster once in a while

The Nutcase – Survivalist Build

Some may call you a grenadier. Others will just say you need help. We like to believe we’ve just adapted to the post-apocalyptic environment.

Regardless, this build is all about accepting the crazies of the world and turning them to your advantage. Expect a lot of cannibalism and explosions.

Strength (+7)

• Strong Back (IV) will help you carry plenty of grenades and food, because those are the two things you live for
• Ordnance Express (III), because you want to blow stuff up when you’re not eating it

Perception (+5)

• Grenadier (II), because you want more stuff to blow up when you’re not eating it
• Fire in the Hole (III), because the stuff you want to blow up is likely far away, and you’ll need to aim your grenades accurately and throw them farther

Endurance (+15)

• Sun Kissed (II) should help you shed away all that radiation damage when the sun is out. Bask in the morning glory!
• Ghoulish (II) will help you be the meta human you always wanted to be. Embrace the radiation (and the ugliness) to heal yourself through it
• Cannibal (II) is what you’re all about with this build. You want to be able to eat anything and everything and savor it. This will help you do that with great fervor
• To ensure you don’t get sick when consuming irradiated meat, you’ll want to max out Lead Belly (III). Bon appetite!
• Iron Stomach (III) is also important because meat can be diseased too. Those bugs are no match for your appetite though
• Natural Resistance (III) ensures that the environment can’t infect you. Embrace the bugs!

Intelligence (+5)

• Burn them all with Demolition Expert (V) as your explosives do double the damage

Agility (+10)

• Action Boy/Girl (III) will help you regenerate AP fast enough to keep things moving at the frantic pace you want
• You’ll be doing a lot of sprinting, so Marathoner (III) is a must-have
• Now you may be a bit messed up in the head, but you’ve got dexterity that allows you to craft and disarm expert traps and turrets with Home Defense (III)
• Light Footed (I) will also help you never trigger mines or traps, because they’re your friends when you’re sneaking

Luck (+8)

• Last Laugh (II), because this build wouldn’t make sense without it
• Bloody Mess (III) will ensure you get your gory fulfillment as bodies explode from 15% additional damage. Afterall, you live for meat and explosions
• Finally, you just have to take Mystery Meat (III) if you’re roleplaying the crazy postapocalyptic cannibal

Two-Handed Slugger – Melee Build

You’ll want to equip some of the meanest melee weapons for this build. There’s always going to be that one person who will love to get up close and personal, and this build is for them.

You’ll have lots of endurance, agility, and strength, with the primary focus on dishing a lot of damage while being tough as nails. It’s a high risk, high reward build for those who enjoy the thrilling in-your-face action.

Strength (+15)

• Slugger (II), Expert Slugger (II), and Master Slugger (III) are self-explanatory for this build. You want as much melee damage as possible. The reason none of them have been maxed out is that you’ll need other Strength perks to maximize your damage and resistance. If you feel like going down the one-handed route, consider the Gladiator (regular, Expert, and Master) perks instead
• Incisor (III) will give you armor penetration, as it ignores 75% of your target’s armor when using melee weapons
• Barbarian (III) will ensure you have enough resistance to take hits while you’re up close and personal
• Carrying lots of melee weapons is important, and you’ll want to swing them fastest for increased DPS. For this reason, you’ll always want to max out Martial Artist (III)

Endurance (+15)

• Aqua Girl/Boy (I) is useful as it requires only one point and lets you swim around. Makes you a great ambusher and gives you the opportunity to flee if things get too nasty
• Vaccinated (III) is paramount so you don’t catch the disease when you’re killing creatures from up close
• Iron Clad (V) is essential because you won’t be using Power Armor much with this build, so gaining as much resistance to Damage and Energy as possible is a must
• Cola Nut (II) will help you retrieve HP and boost the effectiveness of Nuka Cola
• Lifegiver (IV) is essential because, well, you’ll need some endurance when you’re exchanging hits from such a close range

Agility (+15)

• You should invest just a single point in Born Survivor (I) so you don’t forget to heal while you’re caught up in the act (we’re talking about using a melee weapon to plough your opponent)
• Moving Target (III) will help you be an annoying pest as you run around dishing spike damage from up close, then running away. Rinse and repeat
• Marathoner (III) cannot be compromised on. You’ll be doing a lot of running to close/increase distance with your enemy, and you’ll need it for this build
• Ninja (III) is also important because sometimes you’ll want to be sneaky. Sometimes
• Invest in all the points you can in Adrenaline (V). This will give you a good boost in damage so you can shive the next guy immediately after you’ve poked a few holes in the first one

Luck (+5)

• Ricochet (IV) will deflect ranged damage enemies do to you even when you’re up close. It’s great for enemies who don’t know how to use a knife or a sledgehammer
• Storm Chase (I) will make you a monster in Rad storms as you regenerate health while bludgeoning other people with your melee weapon

Chem Head – Psycho Build

This build is all about making you a drug addict. Chems offer fantastic boosts that make you a killing machine, but they have a nasty tendency to cause addiction, along with a few other effects. To help maximize the effects of Chems and reduce the addiction to as little as possible, this build will be based around Chems-based perks.

Use any weapon of choice with this build, but we recommend shotguns because being up close and personal when high is the best.

This is a fun Fallout 76 build that is great for roleplaying and can make you a real wildcard when playing in a group. It’s not the most effective min-max build, but Fallout 76 is less about being competitive and more about having sheer fun.

Strength (+15)

• Traveling Pharmacy (III) will help you carry as many chems as possible
• Scattershot (IV) so you can carry a few different shotguns
• Ordnance Express (II) because when you’re too far away for shotguns, you should toss some explosives
• Shotgunner (II), Expert Shotgunner (II), Master Shotgunner (II) all will greatly increase the power of your shotguns and let you dish out huge damage. Emphasize on Chems that boost Strength to really see the difference

Perception (+3)

• Green Thumb (I), you’ll need all the natural goodies to make your own chems
• Grenadier (II) will help you channel your inner Michael Bay

Endurance (+15)

• Dromedary (II), Chems can make you thirsty, so you should invest in this Perk just enough to reduce the effect
• Hydro Fix (I), top Dromedary off further with Hydro and you’ll almost never feel thirsty when you’re high
• Munchy Resistance (II) Managing thirst is easy, but when you’re hungry things can get painful. Maxing out this Perk will ensure you never feel hungry when you’re on Chems
• Solar-Powered (III) will combine with your Chems to make you a monster during the day
• Do we really need to explain why you should absolutely equip Chem Fiend (III)?
• And just like the above, do we need to explain why you need Chem Resistant (II)?

Charisma (+4)

• Party Boy/Girl (II) – look, we know alcohol won’t give you the same effect as Chems, but let’s role play here and be the total addict, shall we?
• Happy-Go-Lucky (II) – and while we’re drunk (and high), might as well benefit from it with some added Luck

Intelligence (+7)

• Demolition Expert (V) because you’re really inspired by Michael Bay
• Chemist (II) will turn you into Walter White, and there’s no druggy who doesn’t want to be Walter White

Agility (+3)

• Secret Agent (III) – there’s nothing more entertaining than being high and invisible for a long time

Luck (+5)

• Pharma Farma (II) because have you seen addicts when they’re sober? They’re rummaging through everything to find something to get high on, and would kill for such a Perk
• Super Duper (III), when this combines with Chemist, it produces sweet ecstasy

Brawler – Melee Build

We know, we know, we already covered the primary melee build, but there’s a difference between holding a melee weapon and fighting with your bare fists. Don’t pretend like you never tried the popular “naked” build in action RPGs. Raise your hand if you did.

Truth be told, you can be quite powerful with such a Fallout 76 build. It’s not easy initially, but once you get your hands on some sweet fist weapons, you’ll love running around in your undies punching everything that looks mean (or delicious). You’ll be using Fist Weapons for this build.

Strength (+15)

• Iron Fist (III) – you could maximize this important skill if you wanted, but we feel the other Perks in Strength are just as essential, so keep it at Rank 3
• Barbarian (III) is important since you’ll be putting lots of points in Strength, and you need the resistance when you’re going up close and personal
• Martial Artist (III) so you can punch all that harder with your Power Fist
• Blocker (III) because when you’re so close, they’ll start butting you with their rifles, and you don’t want bruises
• Incisor (III) because there’s nothing more entertaining than seeing your Deathclaw fist slice through a hapless fool’s armor

Perception (+4)

• Refractor (IV) – you can gain all the physical resistance you need from Strength and Endurance, but you will want some Energy resistance too when you’re punching radioactive Feral Ghouls

Endurance (+12)

• Adamantium Skeleton (III), because a person who punches hard should be able to withstand getting punched hard too
• Ironclad (V), you’re not going to be wearing Power Armor anyway, so might as well
• Radicool (I) works awesomely when fighting radioactive monsters or enemies in radioactive environment
• Lifegiver (III), more health means you can punch for longer

Charisma (+6)

• Suppressor (III) will help you withstand assault as you assault others
• Tenderizer (III) just works oh-so-well with fist weapons, both thematically and functionally

Intelligence (+5)

• Makeshift Warrior (III), because you don’t want to break your precious Power Fist
• Nerd Rage (II), even though you’re more brawns than brains, you can still take advantage of this skill. Weird, but can’t complain

Agility (+8)

• Action Boy/Girl (III) – hear us out for a second. Maxing this perk will help tremendously with the next two Perks
• Dead Man Sprinting (II), because sometimes you just have to admit you’re in trouble and run away a bit, and this takes up a lot of AP
• Dodgy (III), because you want to be tough as nails, and this also takes up plenty of AP

Luck (+3)

• Bloody Mess (III) so your foes can explode from how hard you punch them

Walking Junkyard – Scrapper Build

If you’re a hoarder, you’ll love this build. It’s not the most practical in combat, but it’s wonderful for roleplaying and being a walking dumpster for your teammates. Essentially, you just collect lots of stuff for yourself and everyone else, looting corpses, canisters, drawers, and just about everything else in this world and dumping it in the nearest workbench.

It sounds boring, but when playing with friends it’s a fun role, especially when you dress up appropriately for it (and boy can you in Fallout 76).

Strength (+14)

• Bandolier (II) – just because you’re going to carry junk doesn’t mean you won’t also carry bullets
• Traveling Pharmacy (III) will help you pack all the goodies you and your friends need to stay healthy (and high)
• Pack Rat (III) because you are one
• Ordnance Express (III) will help you carry plenty of explosives
• Strong Back (III) will let you carry a lot more than you should be able to

Perception (+7)

• Butcher’s Bounty (II) will keep your teammates and yourself well fed. Just make sure to take some pills after to prevent disease
• Green Thumb (I) will let you harvest plenty of natural goods for awesome Chems and more
• Crackshot (IV) – in case you ever want to use that pistol you’re carrying

Endurance (+6)

• Aqua Boy/Girl (I) will help you scavenge the deepest bodies of water for all the junk you need
• Ghoulish (III) will ensure nothing gets in your way from hoarding, not even radiation
• Adamantium Skeleton (II) so you don’t lose your function as a walking junkyard when you’re shot at

Charisma (+10)

• Happy Camper (II) will help you rejuvenate when you’re at camp, because you’ll be going there frequently do dump and salvage all the junk you’ve been carrying
• Bodyguards (IV) will make your existence beneficial beyond just carrying stuff for your teammates
• Hard Bargain (III) – you know your junk better than anyone else, so you should be the one selling it
• Travel Agent (I) is important for you because there’s lots of hoping between areas to do

Intelligence (+7)

• Exotic Weapons (II) should let you craft some decent weapons for yourself. You don’t want to be entirely useless in battle
• Scrapper (I) just defines what your character is made to do with this build
• Gunsmith (III) will help your limited range of weapons stay in shape
• And just like Bandolier, you want to be able to carry ammo for your team, hence Batteries Included (I) is also important

Agility (+8)

• Thru Hiker (III) should help you carry plenty of edibles for your group
• Dead Man Sprinting (I) in case you have to make a run for it
• Packin’ Light (III) should take the load off your hips, or wherever it is you’re placing your pistols
• Light Footed (I) will let you disarm mines and floor-based traps to collect

Luck (+5)

• Get more Chems and healing items with Pharma Farma (I)
• Get more ammo with Scrounger (I)
• You’ll get a lot more food with CanDo! (I)
• And because you’ll be carrying so much junk, it’s important to have Junk Shield (II)

Heavy Weapons – Non Power Armor Tank Build

You don’t have to utilize the Power Armor to carry heavy weapons. In fact, you’ll arguably look more badass in some rusty regular-sized armor with a huge weapon in your hand. If that doesn’t strike true fear in the heart of your foes, then we can’t say what will.

Strength (+15)

• Sturdy Frame (II) is essential because you’ll be packing some serious heavy armor
• Strong Back (IV) will aid in carrying heavy weapons and armor by increasing your max carry weight
• Heavy Gunner (II), because it’s what this build is all about
• Bear Arms (IV) will massively reduce the weight of heavy weapons for you
• Lock and Load (III) will reload heavy weapons faster so you can keep firing

Endurance (+14)

• Adamantium Skeleton (V) will ensure you’re never crippled enough not to carry around those big, mean weapons
• Ironclad (V) will make you a walking leviathan without Power Armor
• Lifegiver (IV) makes you all that beefy. Who needs Power Armor, amirite?

Charisma (+7)

• Playing as a heavy support with your friends is a great way to utilize this build, and that’s why Body Guard (IV) is essential
• Tenderizer (III) will shred enemies to bits with faster heavy weapons

Agility (+3)

• White Knight (III) will ensure your armor stays on you and doesn’t break as easily

Luck (+15)

• Quick Hands (V) will make reloading heavy weapons easier
• There’s no fun being a heavy weapons specialist if you don’t make a Bloody Mess (III)
• One Gun Army (IV) will give your shots a small chance of completely destroying enemy limbs and staggering even the meanest ones

Your Everyday Commando Build

This is one of the most popular ways to play Fallout games. You pick up your favorite rifle type, and you build your entire character all around it. No sniffing about, no nonsense. It’s all about maximizing the power of your rifles, and making an infiltrator build using them.

Preston Garvey will be proud. We miss you Preston, we miss you (not really, he was annoying).

Strength (+3)

Bandolier (III) – ammo will be your most important companion as a commando (in addition to the rifles, of course), so this is the only perk you’ll need from Strength

Perception (+15)

Commando (II), and Expert Commando (II), because you are one

Grounder Pounder (IV) will make your automatic rifles even more powerful and give great hip fire accuracy

Add in some chance to stagger and armor penetration with Tank Killer (III), and you’ll be able to take care of anything

Long Shot (IV) will grant your rifles more range

Endurance (+6)

You won’t be wearing any Power Armor, so take up Ironclad (III) for added defense

Lifegiver (III) will boost your health greatly

Charisma (+3)

Tenderizer (III) works wonderfully well with rifles each consecutive shot does more damage

Intelligence (+4)

Gunsmith (III) will ensure your rifles stay in tip-top shape

Weapon Artisan (I) will further ensure your rifles stay in tip-top shape

Agility (+9)

Action Boy/Girl (III) will grant you plenty of AP. You’ll want to use lots of VATS for some headshots and limb damage

Marathoner (III) will make sure you have plenty of AP left even when you’ve busted your lungs getting to where you are now

Rifles consume plenty of rounds, so Ammosmith (III) is essential

Luck (+15)

You may have guessed the pattern now with ammunition. Scrounger (III) is a no-brainer for this very reason with this build

Combine some awesome VATS with Tormentor (IV) to shoot off limbs in all directions

Quick Hands (V) should give you that invaluable random instant-reload once in a while

And Bloody Mess (III) will make your enemies explode with your rifles. Boom!

Night Owl – Stealth Build

This build is all about taking advantage of night time. This means there’s plenty of sneaking, lots of silent pistols, and a great deal of daggers. It’s a more aggressive alternative to the Stealth builds in Fallout 76 that has you slitting throats and backstabbing in the darkness, because there’s no such thing as honor in a postapocalyptic world.

Use a fast weapon like the Switchblade for melee, and a silenced pistol for ranged attacks. If you wish to use rifles instead of pistols, feel free to swap all the pistol-based Perks for rifle ones in this build.

Strength (+12)

• Gladiator (II), Expert Gladiator (II), Master Gladiator (II) for all those knives and blades you’ll use while sneaking behind your enemies
• Martial Artist (III) to make your melee weapons swing even faster
• Incisor (III) will help them do deadly damage against armored foes

Perception (+10)

• Crackshot (IV) for when you need to silently headshot enemies from a distance with your pistol
• Night Person (III) because you’ll be doing most of the dirty work when darkness falls
• Night Eyes (II) will give you night-vision so you can see others when they can’t see you

Endurance (+10)

• Adamantium Skeleton (III) in case you get caught and need to dish it out the old fashioned way
• Nocturnal Fortitude (II) will channel your inner vampire and grant you more health at night
• Ironclad (II) because Power Armor is too noisy, so you might as well use lightweight stuff
• All Night Long (III) will keep you going without feel too hungry or thirsty at night

Intelligence (+3)

• Makeshift Warrior (III) so your precious melee weapons don’t die on you while you’re poking holes in people

Agility (+15)

• Gunslinger (II), Expert Gunslinger (II) will maximize the damage from your pistols
• Gun Runner (I) in case you need to run
• Ninja (III) because this is what this build is all about. Massive damage with your melee weapons will help you one-shot even the most badass enemies
• Sneak (III) will make you really hard to detect. We suggest maxing this if you’re not interested in some of the other Perks listed here under Agility
• Light Footed (I) so you don’t accidentally trip anything while you’re sneaking
• Escape Artist (I) will help you get back in cover if you’re spotted
• Mister Sandman (II) because you’ll be killing a lot of things with your silenced weapons

Tinkerer – Crafting Build

When playing with a team, chances are you’re not going to find many with a lot of technical knowhow of the postapocalyptic world. Be a helping hand, will ya? This Fallout 76 build is all about the master crafters. If you love crafting the coolest weapons, lockpicking the most stubborn doors, and hacking the most resilient robots/terminals.

Who needs to be proficient in using weapons when you can make the meanest ones? Your teammates will thank you for your intelligence and craftiness, and you’ll have a blast roleplaying the know-it-all among them.

Strength (+11)

• Pack Rat (III) will help you carry plenty of stuff back to camp so you can build the meanest weapons and tools
• Sturdy Frame (II) because you’ll be carrying a lot of things with you
• Strong Back (III) because you’ll be carrying a lot of things with you
• Ordnance Express (III) so you can chuck grenades from afar when you’re not crafting

Perception (+5)

• Picklock (I), Expert Picklock (I), Master Picklock (I) are all essential. Your incompetent teammates may be good at killing things, but they don’t know jack when it comes to street smarts, or at least that’s what you tell yourself
• Night Eyes (II) will help you spot essential items, discrete areas you can scavenge, and stay alert so you can keep your behind protected

Endurance (+7)

• Homebody Card (II) will help you gain the benefits of being in camp. Home is where the HP is
• Adamantium Skeleton (II) to ensure you don’t get crippled too badly. You need your hands and legs to carry out your brain’s work
• Solar Powered (II) will help you take the best benefit from being out in the daylight. More Strength and Endurance means you can survive longer, scavenge more, and build more
• Aqua Boy/Girl (I) will help you traverse the seas, because there’s a lot of amazing stuff down there!

Charisma (+8)

• Inspirational (III) will help you gain XP quicker than you otherwise would. You won’t be doing much killing, but it doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from others doing it
• Field Surgeon (II) will keep you alive
• Tenderizer (III) is a great little support Perk to help your team kill things quicker, and when you have the most badass weapons out there, it’ll help you survive on your own as well

Intelligence (+15)

• Hacker (I), Expert Hacker (I) should get you hacking everything you need. You can take Master Hacker as well if you want, but we feel investing in weapon Perks is more important
• Scrapper (I) should get you the materials you need to craft the best mods, armor, and weapons
• Exotic Weapons (I), Expert Exotic Weapons (I), Master Exotic Weapons (I) are the skills that define you. You’re smart, and you’re craft, and that’s exactly why you should be able to craft the best
• Contractor (II) will make sure you don’t run out of materials for crafting
• Science (I), Expert Science (I), Master Science (I) should get you the meanest energy weapons out there
• Power Smith (III) for that one dude who loves to walk in tin can
• Robotics Expert (I) will increases your chances of making mechanical friends

Agility (+3)

• And you can always help fend raiders away from your camp with Home Defense (III)

Solo Build

This build leans toward increasing the Strength and Endurance attribute more. Though it’s tailored around Solo play, the sufficient Charisma stat will enable you to do well in groups too. The build will focus on maximizing damage and keeping as much of the inventory slots available as possible. The changes in stat and the perk cards to be used as below:

Strength +14

• Gladiator (III) perk card to increase melee damage by 20%.
• Sturdy Frame (II) which reduces the weight of armor by 50%.
• Pack Rat (III) to reduce weight of junk by 75%. Since most of the items you craft depending on scrapping junk, this perk will be quite valuable to craft many items without compromising your inventory.
• With the Martial Artist (III) perk, not only does your melee weapon swings 30% faster but the overall weight of it is reduced by 60%.
• Slugger (III) increases damage output of melee weapons by 20%. So this in conjunction with Gladiator and Martial Artist will make you a menacing threat with melee weapons.

Perception +1

• Picklock (I) to gain +1 lock pick skill and increase the ideal spot for lockpicking by 10%. This is good for looting items and the pick lock skill can further be increased when you’re playing in the group with some Charisma attribute points.

Endurance +11

• Aquaboy/Aquagirl (I) eliminates any chance of taking radiation damage while swimming underwater. This makes traversing water bodies much easier.
• Dromedary (III) to quench thirst by an additional 75%.
• Slow Metabolizer (III) to satisfy hunger by an additional 75%.
• Lifegiver (III) to increase maximum health by 45 points.

Charisma +7

• Lone Wanderer (III) which works well for solo as you incur 20% less damage and regeneration action points at a rate 30% faster. Remember, this card is quite useless when you’re regularly grouping up with people but works wonder for solo-play.
• Hard Bargain (III) to increase selling prices and reduce buying prices for a more affordable and profitable exchange at vendors. This will create many opportunities for you to spend your Caps on including weapon, ammo, armor and other important stuff.

Intelligence +8

• Makeshift Warrior (V) causes your melee weapons to become obsolete or break 50% slower than usual. With the right Plans, you can also craft Tier 5 melee weapons.
• First Aid (III) which increases the effectiveness of the special consumables, Stimpacks, and they will allow you to restore 45% more health.

Agility +9

• Action Boy/Girl (III) allows you to regeneration action points (or stamina) 45% faster. This, in conjunction with the Lone Wanderer perk will allow you to regenerate AP at a combined 75% rate.
• Thru Hiker (III) to reduce food and drinks weight by 90%.
• Ninja (III) enables you to perform damaging sneak attacks which will cause 3 times more melee damage as usual. This suits the build since most of the time, you’ll be wanting to use a stealth approach.

Luck +6

• Junk Shield (III), for whenever you’re carrying junk, you’ll be given a boost of 30 points in Damage and Energy Resistance. This is kinda obvious, since you’ll almost always be carrying junk since it’s such a vital component that goes into crafting a lot of resources.
• Pharma Farma (III) to increase your chances of receiving a first aid Chems from a Chem container by 80%.

Gunslinger Build

Utilizing a semi-automatic scoped pistol, this build will be focused on maximizing damage from all ranges and using the VATs system rather accurately. So basically, the build will center more around combat than actual survival or stealth in Fallout 76. The perk cards below focus on agility and perception more than others.

Strength +5

• Pack Rat (III) to reduce weight of junk by 75%. Since most of the items you craft depending on scrapping junk, this perk will be quite valuable to craft many items without compromising your inventory.
• Basher (II) increases 50% damage when gun is bashed and will even increase chances of crippling the enemy by 10%.

Perception +9

• Crack Shot (III) carry an additional 30% range for pistols and will be quite accurately while aiming through scopes.
• Concentrated Fire (III) will allow you to utilize the VAT system for targeting limbs and get more accuracy and damage while you’re at it. This together with Crack Shot will give you quite a bit of accuracy with your shots.
• Sniper perk card (III) for a more steady aim by holding your breath 75% longer while aiming through scope of a weapon including pistol.

Endurance +12

• All Night Long (III) perk doesn’t give you much to care about when hunger and thirst since both of these phenomenons are reduced by 60%.
• With Ironclad (V), you will hold an astounding 50 points of Damage and Energy resistance even without a Power Armor.
• Lifegiver (III) to increase maximum health by 45 points.

Charisma +4

• Hard Bargain (III) to increase selling prices and reduce buying prices for a more affordable and profitable exchange at vendors. This will create many opportunities for you to spend your Caps on including various pistols and pistol ammo.
• Surpressor (I) will reduce opponent’s damage by 10% for 2 seconds after you attack.

Intelligence +8

• All guns including pistols will break away 50% more slowly and you can craft Tier 5 weapons through the Gunsmith (V) perk.
• Weapon Artisan (III) allows you to repair weapons up to 200% of normal condition. Both of these perks in the Intelligence tree ensure that your pistols will stick around with you for a long time thanks to the increased durability via the effects of the perks.

Agility +15

• Gun Runner (I) to increase sprinting or running speed by 10% when gun is equipped. This is good for evading opponents and keeping your distance. This will also help to get out of radioactive zones or other dangers.
• Gun Slinger (III) will add additional 20% damage to non-automatic pistols.
• Master Gun Slinger (III) for 20% even more damage on high levels, which brings the combined additional damage to 40% with the standard Gun Slinger perk card.
• Any pistols you equip will weigh 75% less with Packing Light (III) perk card. Since ammunition can be a little problem, you might want to keep multiple pistols equipped which won’t be so difficult with this perk card.
• Ammosmith (II) for addressing the above problem, the ammo you receive, whenever you craft it, is increased by 80% which will really help you out dish damage from pistols.
• Action Boy/Girl (III) allows you to regeneration action points (or stamina) 45% faster.

Luck+3

• Scrounger (III) will help you find powerful and rare ammo rounds for your pistol like .44 which can’t be crafted or purchased. The chances for finding such ammo in an ammo container will go up by 80% under this perk.

Survivalist Build

This particular guide focuses on staying low. Yes, better safe than sorry. Instead of relying on combat, we’ll be sticking to the shadows, the shelters and only attack by approaching things stealthily. Moreover, there’s a huge emphasis on sustenance and salvaging what you can. Regaining health, keeping hunger and thirst in check, boosting resistance to radiation and diseases, this build will focus on all of that.

We’ll be looking at maximizing Endurance since a lot of the points mentioned above, lie under this skill tree. Since purifying food and water, and making them edible, is quite easy via cooking pots and boiling in CAMP, you don’t need to worry about catching diseases or radiation from these resources. After all, you need to work smart, not hard.

Strength +3

• Blocker (III) will boost 45% more resistance to damage from the enemy’s melee attacks.

Perception +5

• Butcher’s Bounty (III) improves your chances of getting extra meat from corpses by 80%. This is great for finding food resources from fallen corpses.
• Green Thumb (I) will earn you twice as much flora when harvesting it. It’s used for crafting purposes and curing diseases.
• Picklock (I) awards you +1 lock pick skill and increases the ideal spot for lockpicking by 10%. This is good for looting items and the pick lock skill can further be increased when you’re playing in the group with some Charisma attribute points.

Endurance +15

• Lifegiver (III) to increase maximum health by 45 points.
• All Night Long (III) perk doesn’t give you much to care about when hunger and thirst since both the negative effects of suffering from these phenomenons are reduced by 60%.
• Natural Resistance (II) makes traversal of landscapes easier by reducing chances of contracting diseases from environments by 60%.
• Rad Resistant (II) boosts resistance against Resistance by an additional 20 points.
• Slow Metabolizer (II) satisfies hunger by an additional 50%.
• Dromedary (II) satisfies thirst by an additional 50%.

Charisma +3

• Hard Bargain (III) to increase selling prices and reduce buying prices for a more affordable and profitable exchange at vendors. This will create many opportunities for you to spend your Caps on including valuable food and sustenance resources.

Intelligence +6

• First Aid (III) increases the effectiveness of the special consumables, Stimpacks, which will allow you to restore 45% more health.
• Pharmacist (III) to remove twice as much radiation when using RadAway.

Agility +14

• Thru-Hiker (II) allows you to carry more food and drink because their weights are reduced by 60%.
• Escape Artist (I) will make you undetectable while sneaking, so enemies will quickly lose trail of you. Moreover, running won’t mess up your sneaking tactics.
• Light Footed (I) will never set off traps, alarms or mines while you’re sneaking. This together with Escape Artist (I) above implies that even running won’t trigger the traps.
• Home Defense (III) will not only allow you to disarm expert traps but create expert ones of your own to remain safe without ever actually fighting.
• Born Survivor (III) will automatically activate a Stimpak to regenerates some of the health whenever it falls below 40%. Note, the cooldown for this effect is 20s.
• Ninja (III) enables you to perform damaging sneak attacks which will cause 3 times more melee damage as usual. This suits the build since most of the time, you’ll be wanting to use a stealth approach.

Luck +10

• Good With Salt (III) will cause the food to decay or spoil 90% slower. This is a must have perk since you can then stock up on food supplies for longer times without going out on hunts to find more.
• Pharma Farma (II) increases your chances of receiving a first aid Chems from a Chem container by 60%.
• Can Do! (III) will increase your chances of getting canned food from food containers by 80%.
• Class Freak (II) reduces the severity of the negative effects of mutations by 50%.