Severely Underrated Perks For Any Builds in Fallout 4

[@Astrosive]

What's your favorite perk?

[@gabrielgibson5314]

Idiot savant and a couple hundred shelves as soon as I get to sanctuary

[@onetrickpony8004]

Cannibal I must eat Shaun

[@Skyben2]

Doctor for better stimpacks. It's really helpfull, especially earlygame.

[@raymondrowbottom413]

Lone Wanderer

[@vectinator7605]

Aqua boy is a convenience perk, but I still always get the first star. The second Star could of been useful if you could melee stealth kill enemies from water.

[@s10jam]

I have never heard anyone pronounce "savant" like that.

[@TwoFiftyTwo-us1yl]

I was looking for this comment lol. It was making me unreasonably upset 😂

[@s10jam]

@@TwoFiftyTwo-us1yl He was doing it so much I thought he was trolling.

[@zachpatten4425]

@@s10jam He was probably just trying to gain extra xp from making the video. 🤣

[@damianarrieta84]

I can't unhear it

[@LoquaciousBoyd]

My ears were almost bleeding listening to the mispronunciation. 😂

[@AlecBuxton-w5r]

A trick of mine is to use .38 ammo as cash when trading because one round equals one cap and is only used by the pipe weapons which are weak

[@Reckless_charge]

That kneecapper on a pipe weapon is pretty cool lol js weak but its hella ammo so that 20 percent to cripple is pretty gud

[@zamba136]

I always end up getting Explosive or irradiated on a pipe pistol within the first couple hours ofgame play, so i end up using the Rapid Automatic Pipe gun for a while as a cheap minigun. It's one of those ammo types that you don't use much until you use all of it in 15 minutes, lol.

[@Ozark-nq9uu]

​@@zamba13615k rounds in 15 minutes.

[@elmerferreira3923]

Unless you get the Overseer's Guardian and convert it to .38 full auto. Then it becomes a menacing cheap gun. Edit: Cheap as in the ammo type.

[@wastelandlegocheem]

I go with the 2mm as my currency. I dupe trash very easily so making an ammo factory is releatively easy. Its the most valuable workshop ammo

[@jesterssmile3180]

I’d say one of my favourites has to be the aqua boy/girl cause of the underwater breathing suuuper useful

[@blockmasterscott]

Aqua boy/girl is what I go for as soon as possible. I use that all the time.

[@Dequ011]

Wait till you see that perk that lets you see where to go. Actual game changer

[@zeriul09]

always like the bloody mess perk, straight up extra damage on everything and makes them explode, always funny

[@NewPaulActs17]

i'm avoiding that last tier for the minute as i'm functionally running a melee run with pickman's blade seriously, i'm doing one hit kills on most enemies with that 800+ damage per hit

[@RMavL]

Extra Flat damage

[@oxillerate7992]

Ironically pronouncing "idiot Savant" incorrectly over and over is level 100 trolling.

[@themarlboromandalorian]

Yeah it's pretty annoying how English speakers can't speak their own language. Their whole lives with a screen... Learning everything faster than ever before... But not correctly.

[@robert_39e]

@@themarlboromandalorian It's going to blow your mind when you discover that there is no singular "correct" pronunciation for "English" all over the world.

[@messire9837]

@@themarlboromandalorian 'Idiot Savant' is a French idiom me lads. It's not English. It comes from the French, hence the French accent pronounciation. Though he's stressing it it wrong, you're right. Also it's Lou-i-ville, not "Looville". That also bothers me to no ends, for good reasons.

[@themarlboromandalorian]

Joke is on all of you. Language is made up and appropriated from other sources. But once they commit it to printed page in official books, with written pronunciations, and then use those books to teach the language to children in schools, you no longer get to have the "no one singular way" argument. We spent a good long time ensuring our language didn't change too much by teaching "the correct" way to use it, and it brought us out of the dark ages. Why the hell you lot want to go back to those times, I shall never know. But oh, you just go ahead and believe whatever you want now dearies.

[@Youre-absolutely-right]

How else does on pronounce it? I would say it the exact same way :o

[@slyllamademon2652]

Pro tip: while swimming, swim in first person it is faster. Even more so when you equip movement speed gear. There are 4 available for you to wear at the same time. Two hats, the captains hat in fat harbor, and Oswald’s top hat in nuka world. Black ops right shin guard, destroyers right leg destroyers left leg, recon marine right arm. All these have the sprinters legendary effect and can let you absolutely blitz down the river on survival.

[@hamstirrer6882]

Lol "fat harbor"

[@christopherforeman4773]

We all float down here, especially the fat ones . 🎈 ​@@hamstirrer6882

[@GremlinSciences]

Keep an eye out for other "Sprinter's" legendary armor as well. The "Unique" gear lets you get an extra 40% movement speed, but you can squeeze out another 20% if you can scrounge up the remaining chest piece and left arm with the Sprinter's effect.

[@phantom117b4]

Also there is a perk mag that give you 25% faster swim speed

[@stratometal]

Also Fart Harbour 😂

[@MolnarG007]

1. Perks/SPECIAL: -Lone Wanderer not only super powerful when alone or when with the Dog (give him collar to make him stronger), but also helps looting locations even if you prefer not to fast travel (missing encounters, time moves fast so things might respawn or despawn, or just highest difficulty): when you are full and ANY companion is full dismiss the companion back to your nearest settlement. Then with Lone wanderer kicking in grab even more loot and return too, you can even walk with him. - With no armorer perk you can have pocketed armor (+30 carry), for deep pocketed need armorer 2 (leather). Later of course all kind of crazy stuff available. - lockpicking and hacking not only give more loot but many intresting story things are also locked on terminals, behind doors, etc. - Endurance 1: for me i never had issue with endurance 1 (85 hp level1, only 105 with end5 not huge difference) even on higher difficulty, but it saves a lot of points to put on other things. You need to heal anyways. It's like a gun with 4 or 5 ammo you will reload eventually. Oh healing: it's x amount per second. Favor for quick use your purified water, grilled stuff, etc too so when need heal you can quickly use 2-3-4 kind, giving 2x-3x-4x faster heal (higher difficulty slower heal) - Local Leader helps connecting your settlements, making dropping off your loot on the nearest settlement easy and building them up easy. Also you can empty your pockets to your provisioners, then when at it's settlement (where he was assigned from and have his bed) summon them using bell (and resting 1h) - if you like ranged combat and VATS all luck perks are your friend, improving VATS (except base hit chance, that is from perception and weapon range) - weapon modding is the strongest weapon, test things with pipe weapon easily. Damage isn't everything, for example first mod is to make weapon lighter: -1 damage but you can shoot 2x-3x more in VATS with full AP, damaging more and also refilling your critical meter super fast. - scrapper perk is helpful to get more rare materials from scrapping. - pistol vs gun: i like more careful approach (sneak shots from far, etc.) so i like to take gun perk, they are still good at close range . Pistols shoot faster but their range is very limited. Also need way better sneak to use silenced pistol for sneak attacks. 2. Leveling up and anything that makes leveling up faster like Idiot Savant is a huge misconsception: yes you level up but also the enemy!!!! You need to understand weapons, armors, modding, many things on deeper level to use your all your new unlocked perks. This can be overwhelming, first the million options what you can do even at level 1 is a lot.... now multiply that... If you level up every time you play once or twice you have time to get used to perks, modding, slowly. Many less complex enemies. If you enter Lexington or Boston on high level you just see everyone uses missiles, grenades, throws nukes, have huge hp, everything is super hectic. One upside of higher level is you find more powerful things on enemies, but they will use it on you first...(ok some containers are better and power armors are more advanced). Still for first playthrough do NOT take Idiot Savant. You have been warned. (and Idiot Savant can easily proc on quest completion giving 2-3 levels instantly)

[@necrobery]

For me Black Widow is a most have, and I always play as Nora. There are more male characters / enemies across the Commonwealth, the gain is well deserved.

[@ErosXCaos]

I’ve read a couple places the male/female split is balanced in 4. Whereas in prior titles, a female character has a distinct advantage.

[@OriginalLictre]

Given Kellogg's dialog when the PC's spouse is killed, it always more sense that the PC would be Nora, since it takes an unusual situation to be absolutely certain of the paternity of a child when observing from outside the family. It has to have been established that the parents were isolated from any other fertile male for the entire fertile period of the mother when the child is conceived. Even if that fact is established, (which is heavily implied not to have been the case during the game-starting conversations as Nora), that simply means that either parent would be a suitable back-up plan for the Institute. Kellogg's comment is "We still have the back-up" as he looks into the cryo-pod at the player.

[@maggi98mw]

Ne​@@ErosXCaos

[@mattd4378]

Man I just took multiple trips to collect all the enclave power armor…. Still worth it for the collection

[@aIexemre]

i just shot the first hellfire soldier I saw in their fusion core and i got a free maxxed out suit of hellfire armor

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

I collected like six sets all at once. 4 or 5 x-02 and 4 hellfire sets.

[@stanettiels7367]

Do the Enclave respawn randomly throughout the commonwealth? I haven’t touched any of that stuff yet because I’m way down south and can’t fast travel on survival. I guess I just assumed they’d randomly spawn, even after you’ve done their little quest line.

[@thecatthinks]

@@stanettiels7367 I was wondering if you don't turn off the beacon will they re spawn in their little outposts.

[@stanettiels7367]

@@thecatthinks Well the Brotherhood will still spawn, even after you’ve completed the game and wiped them out. I’d be surprised if the Enclave completely disappear after doing these small quests.

[@stanettiels7367]

3:19 That’s so true. It’s like a disease for me, I can’t help it. I’ve played many play throughs so I’m just having a glitch run - duping stuff, etc, so I don’t even need the loot. But I still can’t help picking everything up - and I mean EVERYTHING. Even dumping stuff in containers and getting my companion to get it and it adds 20 minutes to me getting out of a particular dungeon, I can’t help myself. I set out saying “don’t loot anything, just do the mission and leave”. Nope, I can’t. And I’m in survival so I can’t fast travel.

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

I pick up everything. I especially also grab any power armor pieces I find and have a huge mass of power armor sets now. I am like 7k up to 13k over my carry weight. I don't think I could do survival mode for several reasons. But I sure nailed the easier mode. I just did not make all the right decisions, apparently. I have a few decisions yet to make. I want the Institute power armor, but I do not want the institute to continue.

[@Gwynbleidd_117]

The mispronunciation of Idiot “Savant” is killing me

[@VAULT-TEC_INC.]

IKR?

[@adamwilson2096]

Yeah I'm having trouble

[@mmc8899]

I ended up just having to skip that section. It didn't help that it was like every other word he said. Other than that though I loved the video and liked it.

[@miguelbastidos1776]

Dude said it 1000 times 😂

[@odd-collection]

If English wasn’t this guy’s first language I would forgive him but sadly he’s just illiterate

[@jaydiaz8666]

aquaboy is so crucial once you get to the diamond city area. the major river in the middle becomes an enemy free highway to most areas around there.

[@DMT-ix9zj]

The water one is always my first perk i take because water is everywhere from huge bodies of water to that little puddle thats all over and ofc it gives you radiation sao it really helps early game to not have to worry at all about water.

[@Christina-g4s]

Just pop a rad x. Not like there is any shortage of them

[@littleal7526]

Or just, don’t go into the puddle.

[@kampfkeks0158]

​@@Christina-g4sin survival aquaboy is a must, since radx and radaway dehydrate you alot and using medicine does debuff you for a time. Additionally, you can move through diamond city a lot safer. Aquaboy is so good

[@hisdudeness8328]

Aqua boy was one of the very first perks I got the first time I played the game. I just took one look at the map and thought, “There’s a hell of a lot of water here. Be a good idea to be able to swim without getting rads.”

[@vectinator7605]

I never bother with Strong back because of a bug in the game. If you command your companion to pick up an item or search a container they will add loot to their inventory even if it is already considered full. This can give you an unlimited inventory. The only companion this doesn’t work on is Dogmeat because he is considered a pet companion, a scrapped game mechanic. I discovered this bug also works in Skyrim.

[@speedracr7]

I'm pretty sure they fixed that bug with an update a while back. It definitely hasn't worked for me for some time.

[@Jacobtheunwise]

That's been fixed

[@DrHeartlesz]

It hasn't been fixed I do it everyday.

[@ihaterz123]

@@DrHeartleszsame here

[@BETMARKonTube]

Quite unpopular, I guess, but I also like to unlock pretty soon the perk that let you HACK ROBOTS. Even when you meet a group of them, no matter how strong they are, you just have to sprint close enough to interact with them and you can turn them off one by one. Then, you have all the time to decide their fate... and usually is SELF DISTRUCTION.

[@CMoore-Gaming]

On survival getting life giver maxed out will save you alot of healing supplies. Nuclear physicist also works for gattling lasers giving you a larger magazine

[@arellajardin8188]

Wasteland Whisperer and Intimidation, if you can wait until level 23 for them to start being useful. They both have a reasonably high success rate, and they work on anything in their category. Turn enemies against each other! If you can get to rank 3, then you can turn one enemy of each category into a temporary follower. Have a Deathclaw pet watching your back! Just dont take them near any settlers orctoens, as npcs will aggro.

[@Mokaakashiya24]

Oh for anyone just starting out. If you go to abernathy farm(you can look up where it is) and when talking to lucy you choose only the top options in dialogue, you can get her to give you 5 caps per melon, there are melons on the farm, and she has infinite caps AS LONG AS YOU DONT DO THE ABERNATHY QUEST. So if you go to any settlement, sanctuary etc you can plant tons of melons and run on over and make easy caps. I have 4 settlements with 120 melons each (requires 10 settlers) and im averaging 2000 caps each run. And all you gotta do is wait 24 hours outside your settlement and you can do it infinitly. Water farming is inefficient, because you CAN NOT WAIT OR SLEEP, the game was coded to ONLY produce things like water, scrap etc in your settlements every 24 in game hours. The kicker is that you have to pass that time organically, I've tried, it only works when you dont wait or sleep. 1 real life minute is about 20 in game minutes, so 24 in game hours takes 72 minutes real time. The amount or materials and valuable resources you need to make enough water purifiers for this to be viable #1 is not something you can do early game, #2 is again, wildly inefficient.

[@charlesduke9750]

Fortune Finder not only gives more money, it also makes more containers that would otherwise be empty have *something*. This something is mot only caps, but can be resources, food, weapons, and yes, even ammo.

[@juriesjoerdstoutjesdijk1678]

Playing these game series for years and still i'm learning new stuff with these videos

[@bowenjudd1028]

Putting points into black widow is a lot less powerful than bloody mess or adding to your charisma stat. Each pt of charisma gives +15% success to dialogue and 11 charisma makes it impossible to fail a speech check

[@Abraksas112]

but do you deal more damage?

[@ChozoSR388]

Being a Power Armor user myself, I really appreciate Nuclear Physicist, Armorer, Science!, Scrounger, Scrapper, and Pain Train. The only downside to Nuclear Physicist, long-term, if you can really call it a downside, is that, coupled with Scrounger, you end up with insane stockpiles of Fusion Cores. Right now, I'm a little over 97 hours into a new play through, and no lie, I have 163 Fusion Cores, counting the one that's currently at ~50% in my frame, and statistics say that I've only fully consumed 5 Fusion Cores. Over 97 hours. Of course, the Repair Bobblehead also helps with that, granting an additional 10% duration to Fusion Core lifespan.

[@cleanerwhite9470]

I remember youtubers shitting on Aqua boy in the earlier years of the game. Nice to see the community actually love that perk nowadays.

[@brett55512]

damn how many times he mispronounces savant is killing me....

[@laage4380]

😂😅😢😮

[@gamervet4760]

That's okay. I mispronounced Arnold Schwarzenegger for my entire childhood. Not paying attention to the two he's. I was corrected at 21. I am 38 now and still cringe about it.

[@ksea6565]

It was driving me nuts...I was serious about to scream at my phone.

[@chrisw9445]

I had to turn it off

[@Zach-lf9su]

SavANT. You're putting the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong syllABLE

[@ronnierayburn998]

🤣I see that you're going for a slightly "french" accent there... Perhaps SYLLable was what you meant? Sorry, didn't mean to troll! Aaaah, what am I saying... Of course I did! 😇

[@user-ue8il6jx3b]

Hearing you pronounce it sav ant and not sav-aunt feels intentional since the perk is called idiot savant

[@derfox777]

thank you.

[@SuperNintendawg]

I feel seen

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

Crikey! Some folks add an I after certain words too. I have no idear why. I think only in speech though, not in writing. It's an "over there" thing, I think.

[@stanettiels7367]

@@cosmicraysshotsintothelight Yeah, like ant-eye or sem-eye for anti and semi. Or bay-ta and zay-ta for beta and zeta.

[@Astrosive]

I realized halfway through editing and knew I was about to get cooked in the comments lol

[@ptpracing]

I start as a 10 intelligence and my first 3 perks are used to get idiot savant. It seems that once I am able to pass 12 intelligence using sharp or similar legendary armor it kinda tricks the game engine into more instances of idiot savant. At level 3 when you get 3x XP for kills for a limited amount of time, one good fight could easily get me a level up.

[@Skjeggspir]

Completely falling into the noob trap of Idiot Savant. Just wasted perk points, as beyond level 100 or so you get weaker every time you level up, because half the monsters level up together with you and you wasted your perk points on things like Idiot Savant…craft shelves in Sanctuary and other settlements, you gain enough levels, and pick perks that actually improves your char and not just improves your level without improving anything else.

[@danielmenzes8550]

Scrounger, Nuclear Physcist, Aquaboy/girl, Adamantium Skeleton, Strong Back, Idiot Savant, plus crafting perks makes for most of my focus, early on

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

The strong back perk isn't super useful if you're good with the Brotherhood as you can summon a vertibird for those times when you're overencumbered for a nominal fee.

[@LiveGooneyDieSaint]

I think the last 2 are useless if you play on survival

[@Jacobtheunwise]

It definitely helps when your balls deep in a building and go 1 kg over weight

[@RadishAcceptable]

Favorite underused perks? Attack dog on Lone Wanderer builds. Dogmeat gets "so" much better with this perk line. It's absolutely worth it. He won't be as good as a normal companion, but if you're doing Lone Wanderer, you'll already have the charisma requirements and the whole point is to not use human or robot companions. On Survival, opening the fight by sicking Dog Meat on a strong bad can make the fight trivial, as he'll open them up to your shots, pulling them out of cover, stopping them from shooting you, etc. Penetrator is another one that's ungodly good that is almost never used because of the perception 9 requirement. It's ABSOLUTELY worth the investment. At around level 30 you'll get access to straight up wall hacks able to shoot people through cover with no penalty to your aim. It breaks the game's difficulty in human encounters as enemies will waste their time hiding behind cover that does nothing for them while your cover works for you.

[@Vegeto_Blue1]

I dont like the idiot savant perk it randomly jumpscares me at the most random times

[@bacd-nn2lg]

With intelligence of 18 this perk is useless. You just need to wear Robes of Atom's Devoted, and Inquisitor's cowl.

[@basedbear1605]

​@@bacd-nn2lgNo, it is not. As MANY videos have stated, it still gives you a net +4% exp overall. Even with high INT. Listen and research before making uninformed comments. 😂

[@Skjeggspir]

Agreed, awful sound effect and just a noob trap as levelling up alone makes you weaker since half the monsters level up with you…and they get stronger, while after level 100 or so you won’t. Skip the whole perk, then you can skip the whole luck tree until late game😊

[@Christina-g4s]

I find the noise far less annoying as a female character, the male noise really grinds my gears

[@Skjeggspir]

@@Christina-g4s idiot savant noise is just garbage, regardless of gender

[@adamperry518]

I hate to be that guy but uh... it's "suh-vont" ... not "savint" 😅

[@Yamchasbestfr]

I think he knows at this point

[@adamperry518]

@@Yamchasbestfr yeah it was after I posted that that I saw the hundreds of other posts

[@Mortified42]

KZbinrs are synonymous with illiteracy

[@GabrielLarue-g1n]

Or you can pronounce it savant.... silent t. Pardon my french

[@katkong281]

Gotta give a shout out to Basher. It's pretty dope if you use Chemist + Chem Resistant with the Overdrive chem (especially with any Lucky prefix Legendary weapon). It's also incredibly satisfying

[@EclipseClemens]

Sah-vent is not how it's pronounced. It's Sah-vahnt Other than that, great video, very informative. You clearly researched everything about the game effects and you earned my subscription :)

[@vincentvalentine142]

Ikr. I have read the the Scrapper perk is worthless. It's only worthless if you don't know how to use it. Like take for instance if you break down an original pipe rifle at scrapper level 0 you will only get wood. But the higher the rank the more resources you'll get, but you'll need modded gear. If you dismantle modded pipe weapon with higher rank scrapper you'll get rare resources from nuclear materials, screws, glass to even rubber. Without the scrapper perk dismantling gear is honestly quite crappy. I recommend topping the scrapper perk to level 3 cause you'll get rarer resources and to top it off you'll also receive more resources from breaking down gear. Which comes in handy if you do the resource duplication glitch.

[@AEtherSpecc]

My playthroughs, I like putting 10 in endurance and intelligence, 3 (4 if getting the SPECIAL book) in perception and 2 in luck. Then make my way to the endurance bobblehead at level 1. I like getting the Scrounger, Fortune Finder, Locksmith, and Hacker early

[@boomer150]

Something I do that you might consider doing for your next playthrough. I add a single mod to my plays. Weightless junk. In my view junk is in the same category as ammo and misc items. If ammo is weightless, why not junk? It makes the game much more enjoyable in my opinion. To be able to lean into your hoarder self. You can loot everything in a location and carry all the stuff you need from settlement to settlement. My favorite perk is Lone wanderer. In all my plays I travel the commonwealth alone. Not even Dogmeat. I hate Bethesda companions and how they behave. Impossible to control. I prefer to just be alone and Lone wanderer makes it much more viable. I do sometimes use robot companions tho, robots would be the exception. Since they are customizable.

[@Crazy-pl1lo]

Only issue with swimming is power armor lol if you use it you can’t swim but definitely love that perk for looting and crossing rivers 😁

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

You can swim... just only in the form of walking along the bottom and with severely limited hop capability. I only take off my armor when I go down to grab a couple mini-nukes down at the bottom of the hole. Swimming with PA on only alters you entry and exit paths and slows you down a lot, but point A to point B still happens. My murkyness is higher than all the swimming videos I see here though. I can barely see down there, headlamp or not.

[@Crazy-pl1lo]

@@cosmicraysshotsintothelight that’s not swimming what so ever that’s literally walking on the ocean floor lol

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

@@Crazy-pl1lo Swimming is not that much faster.

[@Crazy-pl1lo]

@@cosmicraysshotsintothelight you are completely wrong? Dude what world are you living in and when was the last time you played? Check your game you move so slow under water with PA… must be a troll account lmao

[@zacharylona]

Raising the difficulty only affects legendary enemy spawn rate in Fallout 4; it doesn't affect XP gain. The exception is if you bump it all the way up to Survival difficulty, which doubles your XP gain, but adds in some nasty mechanics that make things much harder, such as the need to eat, sleep, and drink, plus adding weight to items that were negligible before such as ammunition.

[@themaidenlesswretch7819]

Penetrator is just peak for me. Shoot out fusion cores and combat inhibitors to my heart’s content. Add in the 10% bonus with every stack in vats, and you can take a low AP weapon and pump out headshots on anyone whose foot you can see

[@a.grimes4202]

1 INT + First 2 levels of Idiot Savant are a great foundation for an XP farm that especially new players might not be aware they can take advantage of. Inside the Saugus Ironworks building is an issue of _Picket Fences_ magazine, which when obtained, lets you build statues on your settlements. So what’s the big deal? Well, just get some copper, then at your settlement, duplicate until you have somewhere in the 10s or 100s or thousands of copper - there are guides on a pretty easy duplication method on KZbin - store it in your settlement storage, and then you will want to scrap everything you can at your settlement, THEN start building specifically the *baseball player* statue until you have the settlement where you can’t build anymore, scrap them and start building more when they’re cleared out. Normally you get about 30 XP, but when Idiot Savant procs, you will get significantly more from those individual statues. I’ve been able to get to about level 200 that way, give or take.

[@justinlynch3]

I feel people underestimate Idiot Savant level 3. The wording is a bit confusing but basically what it does is every time Idiot Savant triggers, you then get a 3X EP bonus for a period of time. Some people takes this to mean level 3 is a reduction from 5X back to 3X. I'm not sure that's true. I'm still getting some big EP bonus from it triggering. Personally I think the first trigger is still 5X, but you just get an additional 3X on all kills for a period of time afterwards. But even if the first trigger was cut back to 3X (which I'm not sure it is, but lets run with it) in my current game I have all my base stats maxed, Idiot Savant maxed, and am working on getting level 4 Ghoulish (at 2 atm). I'm still leveling up fairly quickly all things considered for being in the high 40's/low 50's range (I forget exactly what I'm on). Even if the first trigger was cut back to 3X, I feel like having the 3X for a period of time is still earning more overall than a 1 time 5X bonus. So while most look at 5X and assume level 2 is automatically the best. Honestly, I think level 3 is being slept on.

[@Skjeggspir]

Total BS, Idiot Savant is the biggest noob trap in Fallout 4. Just skip it and craft shelves in Sanctuary and all other settlements to level up high anyway. After level 100 or so it’s detrimental to level up further because half the monsters level up too, while you already have taken all the best perks…so you get comparatively weaker for every level beyond that. And if you’re save scumming Idiot Savant: Get a life and just use console commands to increase your level, at least it’s honest cheating.

[@sabersroommate8293]

Aquaboy/girl is amazing, you can easily visit any Main Factions HQ easily in survival mode. Just clear out Hangman ally first to make it a easy rest stop.

[@adambaker1467]

Good picks here. I would push back on Mysterious Stranger perk. I just dont think the stranger appears enough to warrant the investment. It needs some alternative way to increase the chance of stranger appearing like greater change at low health or scales with luck stat, etc.

[@mazz9487]

I've never considered taking the river even though Aquaboy was one of the first perks I got. Gonna give that a try next playthrough.

[@ThatEpicGuyGaming]

If you Go for Perseption then Take Penetrator. The second Stage of This perk literaly gives you wallhacks with vats. Also Combo that with critical banker and grim reapers spitit (and Mysterious Stranger). You will be OP

[@adambussert3383]

Plus there’s lots of beds located around the waterways, for playing survival. I always pick that perk every time

[@WhiteManOnCampus]

Fusion cores count as ammunition: due to their usefulness in settlement building and for power armor, I take Scrounger on nearly every character.

[@MaleWingDiver]

I love the unrelated background footage of you slaughtering things with your rediculous shotgun.

[@Dsullivann]

Neverending shotguns are super op

[@DEATH_WOLF_LORD]

Believe it or not usually the first perk I usually get is to breathe underwater perk reason why it also allows you to not receive radiation whenever you're going across lakes and let me tell you that's very helpful

[@j.b.7813]

Playing at survival permadeath and this changes things a bit. When I plan my builds I like to take the most needed perks first and later usually after lv 40 / 50 to take somehing else. It is hard for me to say which is my favorite perk as depending on the build there are plenty of great perks. So will comment mostly on the perks that you mentioned. I really enjoy aquaboy/aquagirl. Strongback is also very good and try to pick the first 2 ranks asap to help with my inventory management. The last 3 ranks of strong back are also very useful for many chars but it depends. If your char is low on endurance strong back will not be as efficient. Idiot savant is good for chars with low int when you do it asap. I can't recommend it for chars with high int at least not at the beginning of the game and especially if you start with 1 luck as it will take too long to feel the benefit. Mysterios stranger is too much gamble for me and I don't use it. Black widow is decent perk for female chars but I don't think you will miss it if you don't take it and this shouldn't be a reason to play male of female char. Gholish lv 4 is a perk which I like to take after level 50 with any char with high endurance just for convinience as it is absolutely not needed but stacks with every source of life and radiation healing.

[@Gigawood]

What I love about the mysterious stranger in 4 is that Valentine recognizes him and yells after him if you’re with Valentine

[@Psychonautical89]

The single most underrated perk that I almost never see mentioned in the context of this discussion is Moving Target. How many fights are you waltzing into an area with enemies around the corner and immediately dashing back aro when they start shooting? Its a lot, especially if you're newer to the game and don't know where the static enemy locations are. That extra damage resist has saved my ass on so many occasions to give me a chance to heal up before Jetting back into the fray. And if you're on Survival Mode with no fast travel, its third rank is a GODSEND. 50% less AP drain from sprinting on top of some Action Boy/Girl or Jet Fuel will allow you to pretty much go from Sanctuary to Jamaica Plains in like three AP bars. You really just get to run forever when you get it.

[@oncinaust5178]

3:59 I got the magazine in Nuka world to get a bunch of strength at low caps so I purposely keep my caps very low and use ammo for money so yes this perk is VERY useful.

[@vincentschuler2408]

Concentration fire is the most OP perk paired with high agility and a low AP cost weapon you can get multiple hits to the any area and beat the game with a pipe pistol

[@shellyreilly983]

I got the Scrounger perk once and I got a LOT of power cores. If I was going to do a Power Armor build I would get Scrounger first.

[@Christina-g4s]

No need, you get plenty without scrounger.

[@ShamanFox]

Getting any explosive legendary gun(Preferably fully auto) and using Demolition Expert is the most overpowered way to kill enemies. Personally, my favorite: Spray n' Pray explosive drum-gun from the traveling merchant Cricket. Combine Demolition Expert with Commando and literally everything gets wiped away with ease. Then I also purchase the Partystarter missile launcher from Good Neighbor which does 50% more damage to ALL humans.It's expensive though. If you get the Targeting computer mod on it, you can lock onto raiders and then fire a missile in a random direction and it will still just zone in on the target and obliterate enemies.

[@labrat_09]

missed opportunity to mention robotics expert, level 1 alone can trivialize a lot of encounters, especially during the automatron questline

[@DanielFlores-tl5vu]

You dont sprint with strong back 3 or get a “speed boost” You use your action points to move at a normal pace instead of walking like you normally do under over-encumbered

[@TheRavenShadowsWolf]

Strength IS one of the better stats for any build - Basher is purportedly not bad; as you say Strong back (without mods) just to not have to care about encumberance at all. There's Rooted in general (especially good for melee/unarmed - but still useful for most shooting builds as well) I personally like Lone Wanderer when taken with Pack Alpha. Solar Powered, Ghoulish I'm mixed on because I tend not to want to get irradiated in the first place, but it's a decent extra healing option when maxed. What I do is take LW - get pack alpha. Buy the one Sentinel's legendary armor piece at Vault 81 (maxed LW with pack alpha is a flat 55% damage resistence on it's own. Sentinels adds 15% for each piece, while standing still = it's a BETTER version of Rooted) Get 2 pieces of Sentinels and your DR goes to 85% flat while standing still. Which if you like playing unarmed - and I do, you will be. A LOT. You could also add 2 pieces of Cavaliers if you want, for the same effect as the sprinting version of Rooted. That way all bases are covered if you like that option. Get the HP regen magazine at Boston Mayoral Shelter, and go for saving Lorenzo at Cabot House. You will get endless Mysterious Serum, which basically makes you immune to Rads, even in the glowing sea. With Solar Powered atop Ghoulish added in, you are effectively Truly Immortal. You can feel free to add in sneak damage perks if you like; but they shouldn't really be necessary. [You can also do this with a shooter/heavy guns build and go to town without caring if you can't aim the fat man for shit... because even if you blow yourself up, you are still laughing] * It does require level 50 to really set this build up, and some persistence in legendary farming. It's not for everyone, but it is fun if you can manage it. And DON'T want to be challenged. - might want to note there is a downside to Scrounger: It doesn't necessarily mean you're going to find ammo for the gun you're currently using. : / - Intelligence adding a passive swift learner feature is a bit misleading - 30% of fuck and all EXP in most cases, is still fuck and all. >.< You get a LOT more EXP by increasing Int & taking both ranks of Savant. (Though you will also be reloading every finished quest FOREVER to see the procc... so if you have patience, good on you. If you don't... this is really, REALLY going to frustrate you) * as many have mentioned; as far as I'm aware it's pronounced Sav-Aunt. Not sav ant - we've killed too many fire ants I take it... Not that there's anything wrong with that. I hate those pyro bastards.

[@tdhhellian7509]

I have always put my strength at 6 to start, specifically for the Strong Back perk. It's only recently with the fanbase boom from the show that all the Fallout CC's are coming out to show me new stuff. 8 straight years I didn't know about the Your Special glitch, the int build/idiot savant, or even that there was a chest at the bottom of the lake in sanctuary?? What?!

[@dragonson04]

Well, not a perk, but an "infinite money" hack using settlements. At about 8 medium-to-large settlements, build as much water production as possible and link them all with supply lines. Every two days, at any one of those 8, the water produced will be added to the Workshop inventory. Going to any one of the 8 gives you access to the others via the supply lines. Water trades as easily as caps to any merchant. Hundreds of purified water every two days for free to spend like caps.

[@Jacobtheunwise]

It doesn't work like that. I have 6 settlements linked making water and have to go to each separately to get the water. Usually get about 4000 by the time Im done

[@michaelproctor8100]

I recently started a new game and noticed that under the strong back perk, the ability to fast travel while over encumbered is no longer an option. Did Bethesda remove it for some reason?

[@coreyschmidt9382]

“And unless you’re the complete opposite of me, you’re going to loot everything anyways” Said as he doesn’t loot everything from the body

[@cosmicraysshotsintothelight]

I leave 'em naked these days. Didn't start that way. But selling crap armor is better than selling other cap worthy items. I have to fill my factory too, after all...

[@westtexastiger]

Isn't the highest level of Strong Back the one that lets you sprint while overencumbered, and only use 1/2 the AP of the previous level? That was my favorite part of that perk. My favorite perk is Sneak. I love being about to sneak around and not be detected. Makes for Sneak Critical Attacks doing LOTS of damage. I also like Pickpocket because I am a Psychotic Prankster.

[@genghiskhan7041]

Aquagirl is a great "quality of life" perk :D

[@davideburgassi]

the ammo perk is useful even for buying things to the merchants in game , the cc content bfg add to the game the argent plasma cells , and are very valuable

[@bowenjudd1028]

Pro tip, mod Idiot savant to reverse the scaling. Then you get even more broken situations

[@Safetytrousers]

If you mod for game advantage where do you stop?

[@bowenjudd1028]

@@Safetytrousers just that, and a mod to fix my stats if the game accidentally turns my overstats from buffs to 10

[@stainless5708]

Jeez, that heavy screen shaking with the shotgun makes me sick. I would NEVER play the game like that, it looks HORRIBLE.

[@Leavemealone670]

? You don’t like recoil?

[@urmadrelastnite]

I'm running a shotgun build right now, the recoil was pretty annoying until I got an explosive combat shotgun and now with the Demolition perks I don't have to worry about the screen shake cause everything on the screen is dead in one shot

[@javiejumuad1008]

​@@Leavemealone670its too much recoil. Makes you sick when you are focused on something

[@oileduprod1630]

Good thing you can play it how you want. Puss

[@TacynMegan]

Skill issue

[@coolkarl182]

Picking scrounger made the game a cakewalk especially since it feels like having unlimited ammo.

[@PeterRattin]

As someone with thalassophobia, I will not be going in the water 😅

[@Mediasoldier]

The pronunciation of “savant” made me unreasonably angry. I had to take a minute to chill, and now I have to rewatch the video because I forgot everything else you said. 😂

[@dwmaples2583]

Same😊

[@dsligon2004]

lol same

[@connormazzola9792]

That’s because he has the perk IRL

[@ErosXCaos]

Most underrated: VANS. I can’t recall anyone singing its praises. But for a certain segment, it’s S-tier, if not the best overall perk. There are players who are directionally challenged, and constantly getting lost. They might even stop playing out of frustration. With a big world, and complex dungeons, they aren’t even alone among the playerbase. A perk that could determine whether or not someone can even play the game? VANS; if you can’t live without it, it’s #1.

[@Skjeggspir]

I love VANS too, as I get lost in the mazes and I’m not afraid of admitting it😂 Should have been VANS instead of Idiot Savant as underrated perk…as Idiot Savant is just an overrated noob trap.

[@vergillives9890]

If you hold down the vats button you will have a green line where you came

[@ErosXCaos]

Out of a hundred Survival builds, I might use Power Armor once, because swimming with Aquagirl is just that good. But the most underrated for me is Strong Back. Only because it’s purely a Quality of Life perk, with a huge game changer effect. In Survival, I’ll probably find room for the first 2 ranks before Level 50. But once I can finally spare 3 points, Strong Back is a must have. I like settlements and defending their raids. And once I take Strong Back 5, I’ll clear a location fast, then turn around and do a full sweep and retrieve. Building up takes off like a rocket with 1000+ unit hauls continually getting unloaded. And settlers go from ramshackle to fully kitted out and matching. It’s a game changer, yet still a QoL improvement that takes back seat until later game.

[@zaltaristhedragongod911]

I love idiot savant because of the sound. But my favorite perk is strong back, and mysterious stranger.

[@Welshcrusader-v2u]

Such a cool vid- 4:31 GYYYAAAAAATTTTT

[@retiredbritphilippines4722]

Just started playing this and loving it. Only thing I hate is companions ( Dogmeat ) getting in the way all the time, so I go alone.

[@mrscrystalbear]

If you want you can direct him to go in different direction, attack an enemy, stay etc as you may already know. Stand directly in front of him then you have a choice what to suggest. Stay, trade, tricks etc

[@blaiskris]

survival mode: all strong back, moving target max (for 50% sprint reduction), action boy max, lone wanderer max; you can carry all you find and drop off at closest base. boost further with armor mods for AP refresh/cost reduction

[@andrewmoluf4299]

Is action boy actually good? I'm 46 levels into a vats crit build and it seems kinda useless....especially now that I got a relentless plasma rifle(before that was mostly using righteous authority).....that plus grim reaper sprint keeps me in action points so long as I'm paying attention

[@Skjeggspir]

Local leader rank 1 is important too, to connect all settlements and storages.

[@blaiskris]

@@andrewmoluf4299 action point refresh, for things like sprinting or vats. Good in some use cases like quick recharge on your sprint in my example or if you are a heavy VATS user i guess

[@mikebrooks6415]

There is a certain amount of irony to him explaining in depth the benefits of Idiot Savant, while mispronouncing it ever 2.7 seconds

[@JerryKurlzz]

Finally, someone putting respect on aqua boy/girl. It’s so good

[@Marineboy22]

Strong back isn’t needed with a companion, because you can just have them pick up anything you can’t hold with infinite carrying capacity. I use my companions as a bank😂

[@basedbear1605]

Yeah, but it's annoying AF to do, and time consuming. + you can carry an extra gun or two.

[@Jacobtheunwise]

Pretty sure they got rid of that?

[@basedbear1605]

@Jacobtheunwise nope I still use it.

[@MolnarG007]

it takes bloody minutes to slowly order your companion to pick up one thing, then another one then another one. I would rather sell my teeth for some caps.

[@mrcocoloco7200]

0:08 Bro WTF!!!

[@anthonyturner6399]

Never ending Double barrel shotgun. It’s crazy af

[@hendrairawan]

yup have unlimited ammo as early as possible, it's really helpful. max it out as early as possible

[@wilomica]

Strong Back works different on Survival. These are things it took years to figure out.

[@basedbear1605]

How is it different?

[@triedtherest]

Being over encumbered in Survival causes limb damage. Strong Back eliminates that instead of granting the Fast Travel benefit.

[@basedbear1605]

@@triedtherest hmm.... I've got strong back 1, and I still take damage if encumbered... can't validate that yet.

[@ronnierayburn998]

LONE WANDERER!!! Each tier of this perk is, on it's own, better than any other perk that you can put a point in. -15% less damage and 50 extra carryweight times two!!! -25% more damage dealt!!! -25 extra AP!!! "Less damage", means that the incoming damage is reduced. And then, your resistance kicks in. But, even if it's regular resistance, you'd have to spend at least 3 points in Toughness and Refractor to reach the same level of resistance. That's 6 points! Minimum! 100 extra carryweight is unmatched. While Strong Back gives you the ability to fast travel at tier 4, it falls flat on it's ass if you're in Survival mode, where fast travel is disabled. 4 points! 25% extra damage dealt! Any of the weapons and melee specific perks require you to reach tier 2 of each perk. Unarmed, Big Leagues, Heavy Gunner, Rifleman, Gunslinger and Commando. That's six perks times two. 12 points! To increase your AP by 25, you need to increase your Agility three tiers. So, another 3 points! All in all, you need to spend at least 25 points to be able to match Lone Wanderer's requrement of 4. And I'm not counting the initial investment in the basic stats to reach the perks, since that would depend on the build. It's a fantastic perk, and that one should not miss if going solo! I would also like to raise a cup for the CHEMIST perk. Apart from being able to craft some really neat chems, they also last 3 times longer at tier 4. That means 24 minutes (Real time) for chems such as Psychobuff, Jet Fuel and Berry Mentats. Not to mention the crazy things you now have time to do when using Ultra Jet. Requires a 7 point investment in INT, though!

[@jamesduncan4105]

Idiot savant is usually one of the first perks I grab. Even with high intelligence it still helps a lot

[@DawnLogan614]

I always get scrounger. I use all the bullets for caps. It honestly feel OP.

[@roshee5573]

Played thousands of hours and never needed to use Scounger as a end up having more ammunition than I can ever use . It’s only early game where ammo is rare

[@HorrorManMike]

For my girlfriend and I, Aquaboy 1 and Strong Back 4 are REQUIRED for every character

[@tofast4u69100]

Thanks for the info it was illuminating.

[@jeroenjager8064]

I can never train myself to empty a whole clip before reloading.

[@rbruch98]

To say nothing of pronunciation: Idiot Savant is an interesting perk. Even in an Int build, I don't think there's any argument *against* taking Idiot Savant. Many of the later Int perks require other supporting perks or gear to be effective - meaning you're going to have several levels/points before using it anyway. Plus Bobbleheads, the Special book and other points gained later, I think Idiot Savant is a no-brainer. Someone did a workup of the perk and found that it has an effective proc-rate of ~7% at 5 Int, 5% at 6 Int, and it trails off from there. So starting the game with 5 Int, Idiot Savant at level 2, then taking Rank 2 at level 11 makes for some rapid XP gain. Then, once you *need* Science! and Nuclear Physicist, get the bobblehead and use the book.... The early game is when you need the XP gain anyway.

[@ffffdsd]

A scoped semi auto combat shotgun with the last rank of sniper will keep any enemy knocked down permanently

[@totheyeah]

Aqua boy is my first perk point every time

[@nathanwhite64]

The mysterious stranger is the ghoul from the show? Is that possible? If so, he fathered the guy from FNV, right?

[@StaryBrudnyLis187]

Yeah waterboy is cool i dont know why other yt guys say its sht

[@videogamesareforadults5710]

OMG this video is so amazing... I've seen tons of Fallout 4 guides but this one is so unique. Well presented and great ideas.

[@Wenjo936]

Yo the savant thing was that jarring af. The video itself was good. Its totally normal to know how to read a word VS say the word. At least it was just one word