Ranking Every Perk In Fallout 3 From Worst To Best

[@spidaaahs]

i was like "wow this video seems really high quality for a channel that only gets like 300 viewers" and then i saw it was posted 30 minutes ago

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks Spidaaahs! lol.

[@Reefer-Rampage69]

He still deserves more views than he gets though! 😢

[@drakion8400]

cannibal is pretty funny in context to fallout 3 imagine finding out your child's been out of the vault for a few days and they just started eating people

[@genesicAura]

Lawbringer is better than Contract Killer because all raiders, slavers drop finger when they die and they are pretty common enemies in the wasteland

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, that does come more into play.

[@mark9960]

@genesicAura Plus, in the story, the enclave counts as evil npcs. so easy to make a ton of caps.

[@McsmithersMysteryFiles]

Just enslave the raiders. They respawn in a lota places and its 250 caps each for a "finders fee" i still use lawbringer to reset my good boy points from the raider enslaving but if ya dont care about karma id spend the perk on something else

[@arellajardin8188]

Lawbringer also unlocks Plunket's Valid Points, a unique set of Spiked Knuckles. Decent weapon, though it can only be repaired at merchants, which reduces its value a bit.

[@neoman4426]

An interesting thing to note with the Puppies! perk, it's added in Broken Steel. Broken Steel also changed how Dogmeat works so he scales with player level, but the scaling they gave him (and other creature type companions such as Fawkes and RL-3. Human type companions always scaled, but at a much more reasonable level) is just plain nuts. He's got a base health of 500, which he gains again for every level. Got a minimum level of 5, so he'll have a minimum of 2,500 health if you have Broken Steel installed, and 11,000 at the level 22 you can take the perk, and 15,000 at 30. Dogmeat is pretty much never going to die with Broken Steel installed unless you deliberately do so and absolutely work for it

[@ReapeeRon]

That's interesting, I wasn't aware of that.

[@chubbubdreamer6904]

​@ReapeeRon Yup. Broken Steel might as well made Dogmeat and Fawkes/RL cannon companions because they scale so hard.

[@desko2041]

Interesting note, I entered Fort Constantine and dogmeat randomly died sometime after I exited it…before that I had never seen dogmeats hp go below 90% it feels like

[@martinbuhnemann2668]

And the perk allows you to stack companions. You can have all the companions and temporary companions just lined up in hellfire armor following you

[@kreativwiebetonblock1327]

The presidential metro can be rough with bad luck on the hardest difficulty. I was finishing of some robots when 4 reavers and some other ghouls came in. Dogmeat survived with less than 5% hp left.

[@silverjohn6037]

If memory serves Grim Reaper's Sprint was a last minute addition to the game. The devs had a competition in the Bethesda forums just before the game launched to design your own perk and this one was the winner. So literally no play testing to see how balanced/unbalanced it was;). Edited for spelling.

[@owenblount7334]

OG GRS is so fun I love VATS so much * furious beeping noises *

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah I did hear about that, and there was some other perks that sounded pretty interesting.

[@Nyxael5845]

Grim Reaper's Sprint in FO3: Absolutely Busted. Getting full AP back on a VATS kill makes it so easy to spam and makes combat trivial. Grim Reaper's Sprint in New Vegas: Nerfed to oblivion. Getting 20 AP per VATS kill is not enough, and it is only marginally useful on low AP cost weapons like one handed pistols. They had to nerf it somehow but I feel like this was way too harsh. Grim Reaper's Sprint in FO4: The most balanced version, as it relies on a dice roll for each kill. The addition of refilling your Critical Meter is a welcome bonus and stacks well with Critical Banker and Four Leaf Clover.

[@iheartblock3792]

I can’t wait to use this knowledge when I try to replay 3 and it crashes before I finish the tutorial.

[@cyh6092]

Odd, other than xb360 fo3 tends to be stable. I've only used the GOG version on PC so no idea if the Steam version is crashy.

[@iheartblock3792]

@@cyh6092 I have the Epic Games version, it’s wildly unstable. I actually lost like 4 hours of progress due to a crash softlocking me and just gave up.

[@martinbuhnemann2668]

Personally I'd place lawbringer over contractkiller, because it does unlock plunketts valid points, which you cannot get otherwise. Great content as usual!

[@Neskess]

Just unlock both...

[@pickleman40]

scrounger is alot more valuable in FO3 compared to NV since Bethesda hates giving vendors significant amounts of ammo or caps for some reason.

[@confusionjuice9663]

Very interesting thank you! Will use this info on my next playthrough

[@ReapeeRon]

Glad it was helpful!

[@matthewredenbaugh1110]

What could be a good idea is a tier list of enemies sorted by types like bugs, abominations, humans (could be by faction), animals, robots and go into details about their stats and threat level/ coolness.

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

What Rad Tolerance should do is move ALL the radiation debuffs up a tier, i.e. level 1 rad poison has no effect, level 2 rad poison gives you the debuff of level 1, etc. This would make Rad Regeneration more useful, as you would only have to sacrifice 1 END to get regenerating limb health.

[@ReapeeRon]

That would be a good improvement.

[@brantnuttall]

22:52 one thing about the light step is that later on in the game, it doesn't cover the sensor traps (like the ones on bog doors) so you still have to be careful.

[@baanfrey]

13:29 Explosives and melee are a very good combo actually, most explosives work as a ranged option that usually leaves enemies crippled. But explosives are a no go at close range so when enemies do get up close you have melee on hand and the targets are already softened up.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, I just haven't really used them together in Fallout 3. They are pretty good in FNV though.

[@dragodx8238]

@@baanfrey In other words, Demoman TF2?

[@thetrophygamer3606]

@@dragodx8238 yes except you get to have both instead of having one or the other with no downsides. Especially with how light weight explosives are in fallout

[@DethMetalDurgn]

👀 I would like to see this format for "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod (FO3 and New Vegas into one game) for perks, since they changed how alot of the FO3 perks worked.

[@ReapeeRon]

That could be really interesting, I will probably be covering Fallout London after this, but TTW could be up at some point.

[@DethMetalDurgn]

@@ReapeeRon Yo! Do it! Both would be awesome! 😁

[@jakeeb2441]

@@ReapeeRon Please do Fallout London, those guys deserve a spotlight from one of the pillars of the Fallout community.

[@davin1352]

FALLOUT 3 FANBASE, ASSEMBLE!

[@ericbaker8781]

@@davin1352 all 7 of us

[@McsmithersMysteryFiles]

​@@ericbaker87818. My tf2 heavy build is gonna be goosy

[@MyButReaks]

Pyromaniac is amazing with the legendary Slow Burn, you can feel like cook cook in fallout 3

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah it's great for that weapon.

[@EdilbertFernando]

Cook-cook lmao

[@ricearoni744]

As a teenager i would always take here and now, literally every time

[@brantnuttall]

17:12 "If you don't care for the Nuka grenade". What? Are you serious? Deathclaws: 1 dart + some nuka grenades + fun! I get this every time and is an A tier for me.

[@astronomical9441]

Clutch video. I’ve never played fallout 3 and I just started it today

[@brantnuttall]

great video and I absolutely love the format. well done on keeping the time down. look forward to the rest of them!

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you very much! Glad that you enjoyed!

[@Reefer-Rampage69]

Loving the Fallout 3 videos especially. I’ve been playing through it again the last week after doing a New Vegas run with my gf. I’m honestly kinda liking FO3 a little more at the moment at least. The exploration is better for sure, and atmosphere but everyone says that 😂

[@desko2041]

The atmosphere/exploration of 3 are excellent but man FNV was such a huge improvement in build/perk variety…Even on my first playthrough of 3 i was getting bored of how uninteresting the perk choices were, which was made worse since you get them every level. Going through DC and seeing a huge Enclave vs Mutant firefight makes up for it quite a bit tho

[@Reefer-Rampage69]

@@desko2041 I agree with the perks and character variety. New Vegas has way more choice and personality

[@glitchedpersonality]

As much as i can agree with Explorer, i think it should have been a bit higher. Sure, you could use an online map, but it's really nice when you watch a KZbin video and don't want to bring up a map. And also, i prefer it just because i prefer always knowing where i'm going instead of aimlessly walking around, which is bound to happen after you beat the game.

[@McMusket]

I've been loving all the fallout 3 vids. It's my favorite game of all time and this brings back so much nostalgia. It really feels like the good ol days of 2010 all over again.

[@ReapeeRon]

Glad you like them!

[@BadKruser]

Love your video. Glad you indicated which version of F3 has the perk. FYI, it's Mediation, not Meditation for #41. Keep giving us more Fallout 3!

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks, and you are right about that. I always thought it was Meditation lol.

[@Flak_Jacket]

Love these kind of perks break down videos. I'd love to see the same for New Vegas !

[@Treasure_hunter_21]

Considering how beefy broken still made dogmeat, puppies are wholly unnecessary 🤔

[@ReapeeRon]

Fair enough.

[@Treasure_hunter_21]

@ReapeeRon will you do a video about the differences of shotguns between fo3 and fnv?

[@KimFareseed]

Eh , I rather take the contingency. Didn't pickup companions because I don't trust them to not get squished by the Broken Steel enemies.

[@villings]

I never ever ever used _paralyzing palm_ amazing

[@ReapeeRon]

Okay, it's pretty fun.

[@jam-ham-handed]

Idk how im still not subbed to you, ive been watching you for awhile now lol. Subbed

[@ReapeeRon]

Well, thank you very much Jam!

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

sneak + crit perks + combat shotgun it's pretty much easy win mode, lol.

[@ReapeeRon]

I mean pretty much just combat shotgun plus crit equals win in this game lol.

[@KimFareseed]

I do wish that I had this list a few months ago when I non stoped played through Fallout 3. 30:59 Had the Firelance land ontop of a cliff, next to the powersubstation near Ravenrock. After having Dogmeat fail to find it, though, he did stop on the broken fence of the substation, directly below where the cliff holding the Firelance was. Had resorted to freecam as I though it went underground, when I wasn't able to find it after an hour of searching around the area, and down to the lower cliffside. Was a pain to climb up and reach the higer cliff to collect the Firelance.

[@ratboy850]

All of this adds up to a Stealthy Unarmed build with V.A.T.S and the occasional grenade backing it up from time to time sounding really fun and interesting to try out in this game.

[@IOSAGifts]

ReapeeRon, Your videos are fantastic! I just had to subscribe!

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you very much!

[@Biomancy]

I usually get explorer still, not for the map reveal, but because it gives you unique dialogue opinions (I think in fallout 3, but for sure in NV) I like getting all the perks that give dialogue options.

[@ReapeeRon]

That's fair, all the extras that perks can give can be worth it for the interesting options.

[@Biomancy]

@@ReapeeRon yeah I missed perk based dialogue in fallout 4, but I'm glad they brought it back in Starfield. Also do you think you'll ever do any Skyrim or Oblivion content? You've done Starfield and Fallout so I figured I'd ask if you plan on doing Elder Scrolls.

[@notyourbox]

Great video to show up in my feed after i started my fo3 replay

[@nateosborne7361]

Very funny to go back and think on all the F tier perks I picked up on my first playthrough

[@tonicus123]

This is definitely the better format for tier lists.

[@No_Use_For_A_Name1981]

Perfect content while I'm mowing grass! Love it Ron.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, glad that I can entertain you!

[@brantnuttall]

And now I'm off to Balmora

[@brantnuttall]

39:46 yes we know you absolutely love Chemist. we know you do but personally, I just don't ever see a need for it.

[@coldeed]

You don't have to. It's pretty much more damage, damage resist etc, and it out scales most perks while being less conditional.

[@dragonmaster613]

Speaking of the Puppies! perk, I found Dogmeat at LV15, but for some Todd knows reason, no matter how tough the fight (even Mutant Behemoths), Dogmeat barely needs a single Stimpak. Why can't he [unalive]?! (Not that i want him to, I'm just perplexed to the point of frustration trying to understand)

[@vaultboy5492]

dogmeat has an insane amount of health yubel

[@Ranger_Danger2899]

I think almost perfect is too highly rated. Sure having all your stats raised to 9 is nice but saving all your bobbleheads til the very end of the game is kinda pointless at that point

[@Daniel250-yz1ep]

After a long day at work I immediately saw this video, I’m very happy now 🎉

[@ReapeeRon]

Perfect!

[@Avatar1977]

Child At Heart should be in F tier since it requires you to waste SPECIAL points on Charisma. And Animal Friend is even worse. 6 points in charisma to have mole rat bodyguards when Deathclaws are running around...

[@ReapeeRon]

That is also true, Charisma is not the best for Special stats.

[@V.Sensei]

@@Avatar1977 Animal friend instantly pacifying Yao Guais makes it an immediate take for me

[@Goji505]

Yao Guai really aren't a big deal, honestly Animal Friend might be one of the most demanding Perks for how little real benefit it gives in the end.

[@arellajardin8188]

Master Trader might get a slight bump for 2 reasons, though really, money isn't a big deal. First, it significantly reduces the cost of investing in the caravans. Max them out, and you've got 4 roaming traders with a lot of caps, and really high repair skills. Second, if you have low Int and aren't worrying about skill books, then this perk at 60 Barter gets you the best prices, meaning you don't need to increase Barter beyond this.

[@JMW10o0o]

I remember when i began getting good at FO3 and learning which perks are bad. On my playthroughs now i go with a lot of intense training because of the lack of good perks.

[@porkflaps4717]

Great vid yea I like these keep them coming

[@pyry1948]

This for TTW would be interesting

[@mysterioushazel]

honestly I always take swift learner, because most early game perks arent really worth it, and there are usually only a few perks that are necessary to whatever build im using, so it just kinda is always one of my first perks I get

[@Goji505]

Yeah the problem with pretty much all of the really early perks besides Lady Killer/Black Widow iis that they all become obsolete thanks to Skill Books with Comprehension or Educated and Almost Perfect. I just take Intense Training at Level 3 to make my initial character build a bit stronger for the earlygame. If Child at Heart was a Level 2 perk I'd probably take that one at Level 3 just to save myself some trouble savescumming Speech checks in Little Lamplight lmao.

[@khrashingphantom9632]

Awesome video but I 100% disagree with Explorer being an F-Tier skill. It is easily AT LEAST B-Tier if not low A. That’s because if you’re doing a collection run it takes out a lot of the guess work of were certain locations are by showing you all the relevant ones nearby. Although I’m an “ancient” gamer that used the map and a player’s guide to find all the unique weapons on my initial play throughs. That was until I got the internet and was able to use weapon and armor guides (like the ones YOU make) to find unique weapons, so having Explorer expedited that process. It being level 20 isn’t even that big a deal because it buffs you out to get to the more challenging areas to get some of the best stuff. So yeah I use it EVERY playthrough of this and New Vegas. Either thanks for posting Fallout 3 content. It’s good to gather with fellow fans that are willing to even remotely acknowledge that Fallout 3 IS a good game, which is dangerous to say on the open internet these days. Or worse still saying ANYTHING good about Fallout 3 without mentioning the ultimate perfected greatness without flaws purity of New Vegas. Lol

[@bluepriest6990]

It should be noted that some of these perks are bugged in the vanilla game with perks like ninja doing literally nothing, pyromaniac does not effect the burnmaster, and nuclear anomaly literally just kills yourself on anything higher than normal difficulty with only a chance to kill you.

[@herbalfangaming4472]

Pyromaniac is actually kinda worse than you think. There’s a select few fire weapons that do not work and are unfortunately most of the unique fire weapons

[@brantnuttall]

13:52 I notice that you're using the dart gun or, as I call it, "Having fun with Deathclaws." lol

[@Avatar1977]

Really surprised to see you putting Infiltrator/Computer Whiz above Tag - the first two can be replaced by the escape key while Tag at least gives some benefit. Also for a low intelligence build you don't have quite the overload of skill points and could get more mileage out of it

[@brantnuttall]

25:05 I agree but some time I am going to do a full sneak run with this perk and just blow things up.

[@mightystu49]

I'd be interested to see this broken down by level you can get the perk at, or at least factoring that in, since things like Swift Learner aren't great but it is competing against some real duds since anything that is just a few skill points is basically a waste of a perk so at level 2/3 you're only real choices are this, lady killer/black widow, and intense training. Intense training is good but not as useful in Fallout 3 since bobbleheads exist and the Broken Steel perks that set your special stats higher can help (though those come in a bit late to be relevant) and while black widow is pretty useful lady killer is far less consistently applicable. Bonus to XP gains is the only truly universally useful perk, and sure it's not great, leveling up a bit quicker can help you get to actually useful perks faster and has use for most of a playthrough since you likely won't hit the level cap that early

[@brantnuttall]

15:14 first disagreement. No weakness is F tier because...............well you know why.

[@ThrashMetalWolf666]

Never understood why BGS decided to add perks that were just skill boosts. It's pointless as you can just level the skill up with skill points.

[@ReapeeRon]

They could just be filler perks I guess.

[@dragonmaster613]

Swift Learner is better in New Vegas if you got the Trait that reduces XP by 10%

[@aceade]

Robotics Expert does allow you to skip one part of the Wasteland Survival Guide questline: instead of travelling all the way to the RobCo production facility near Tenpenny Towers, you can just tell Moira that you're an expert, so you might as well write that part for her.

[@ReapeeRon]

That's awesome, I wasn't aware of that. I guess I have never had that perk when I did that quest.

[@Mikey-xz4vn]

I think the only time I took here and now was to get enough skill points for lockpicking/hacking something at the bottom of a dungeon I _really_ didnt feel like schlepping all the way back for twice

[@nickperry3436]

1 billion subscribers when??????

[@lancemartinez1130]

I find putting points and perks into sneak pretty unnecessary since stealth boys make you undetectable and are just better since enemies can still find you pretty easily even with max sneak and silen running

[@pyry1948]

Do you do on TTW perks and such?

[@ReapeeRon]

I might do that in the future.

[@pyry1948]

@@ReapeeRon yesss, been loving 3 w TTW recently

[@devinvaldesalice7427]

Nuclear* Helpful video though! Thanks!

[@user-abuser26]

Acquired immunity - best one

[@jaredrobinson7071]

In my opinion it's Grim Reapers Sprint. That perk plus Lincolns lever action and you've won the game. No if's no but's, pass go collect 200$ You ain't never going to jail.

[@senhordosmanes1618]

What a coincidence,ive just stated play fallout 3 and out of the bleu you start posting about it

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome! Hope you are having fun on your journey!

[@johnny-smith]

Explorer was so much better back in 2008 when internet was less available and guides were less accessible, but it's definitely useless nowadays except for convenience

[@snipe4541]

How convenient that I’m trying to 100 percent fallout 3 at the moment.

[@desko2041]

Have you considered playing TTW?

[@ReapeeRon]

Yes it looks cool. I think I played part of it in the past but never finished it. Right now I am trying out Fallout London and have been enjoying it a lot!

[@radesc7677]

Ninja is bugged in fallout 3 it improves your crit chance by a whopping 0%. odd how the nv version is also bugged in a similar but different way. The damage bonus to melee sneak attacks works just fine though.

[@brantnuttall]

2:09 yes indeed! lol

[@Nightxx9199]

"Not hard to reach max level" *Looks at me clearing most of 3's dlcs and beating the game at only like. Lv 20 something*

[@ReapeeRon]

I mean you can do just about anything in this at any level.

[@Nightxx9199]

@@ReapeeRon Basically lol I had to take on the mothership DLC with no items and like a borderline stealth game. Because my buddy said that I wouldn't be able to access it. Just to find out that I absolutely could have taken my items with me lol I blame my low EXP gains on the fact I for some reason grabbed skilled as one of my starting perks in TTW.

[@Crab-12]

YOOO wake up new vid dropped

[@user-abuser26]

Use escalator to heaven after destroying BoB base

[@bjack1547]

Impartial Mediation is not meditation

[@durp002]

People really sleep on swift learner. It's not great but it's above f tier

[@refusingtoconform]

FO3 really just comes off as an unbalanced mess at times. I don't play it, mostly because I prefer the less chaotic and refined New Vegas but I do wish some aspects of both of these games were intermixed to make one great Fallout from this post-Interplay, pre-Fallout 4 era.

[@Soldaraku]

So this is probably going to get me roasted but... I think Almost Perfect is not that good of a perk. Hear me out, what do you actually get out of it? Since you need to be max level just to get it, you probably already have all the skills you want, if not just plain every skill maxed at 100. The only thing I can see this being useful for is for the bragging rights of having a perfect character.

[@KimFareseed]

SPECIAL speech checks. That was why I picked it when reaching level 30 while doing Zeta. Had still to get recruited by the brotherhood. I also did notice that debuffs to some ended up not affecting skills, so I guess it worked as a buffer for them as well.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Anything you get at that level is going to be for the lulz anyway as you’ve had so many options to grab other perks.

[@tylercollins7760]

Ron I love you

[@johncisney15]

Puppies belongs in F-tier. Companions in Fallout 3 are weak, shallow and bullshit compared to Fallout: New Vegas. I never had any inclination to use any of the companions in F3, and when I did use them, it seemed like they get in the way more than they help. They even steal your XP unless you download a mod. Any perk related to companions in F3 is automatically F-tier because companions themselves in F3 are all F-tier. There is literally zero point to having companions in F3 except as pack mules.

[@eggy6815]

Mysterious stranger is A tier don’t pin me tho I don’t want heat

[@ReapeeRon]

That's fair, it can be pretty strong when it works.

[@owenblount7334]

@@ReapeeRonWith a high luck VATS build it’s pretty consistent and if I remember correctly it synergizes with Grim Reaper’s Sprint so it’s like fallout 1 or 2 but it’s always your turn although I get that you ranked it that low because you aren’t a big VATS enjoyer.

[@alexpratt99]

I disagree on infiltrator you hit a lock that’s 50 percent and it breaks yeah I use it all the time lol

[@brantnuttall]

20:55 WRONG! lol. (Ron is right though)

[@johnoglesby-vw7ck]

Not to be that guy, but...scrounger, no d (like some teams I watch)😁

[@FisherAthleticFan]

Explorer is my perk sorry!

[@jimmythornseed8605]

Day 5 of asking you to review Board of Education.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Will you ever grow board of asking? (Exit, stage left)

[@piojestsuper]

Fun

[@piojestsuper]

Haven't he already done it... like twice?

[@ReapeeRon]

I haven't ranked them like this before, but I did to a tier list on these like a year and a half ago.

[@piojestsuper]

Watched and had fun. You're such a child guy. Your fallout stuff is delightful

[@brantnuttall]

12:50 is there really. I don't know about this one.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah it is at Shalebridge. In the Ant Tunnels, there is a body that respawns every 3 days and has a book on him.

[@SuperLumianaire]

It's not Impartial Meditation. It's Me De A Shin. Mediation.

[@smegintheheads822]

This may have already been mentioned in the comments but lawbringer will be a top tier perk if you collect every unique as without it a certain knife (I forget the name) only spawns if you pick that perk so it becomes a must have perk.

[@smegintheheads822]

Sorry not a knife, spiked knuckles, and yes it was already mentioned in the comments.

[@Shittlebees]

Worst perk: nuclear anomaly Best perk: nuclear anomaly ❤

[@ReapeeRon]

Very true