Perk system is a great way to diversify and customize your time in the Commonwealth. It doesn't matter if you have the vision of the exact playthrough you want to execute, or you are just playing the game for the first time and figuring out what you want to do, and how you want to play it. In any case, you will find a Perk that will support your style of play. As the game can be played in many ways, the Perk system is complex and it is hard to figure everything out.
Usually, the first impression is the right one. However, the perks we are going to talk about are often times left without attention. The value and impact that they have on the game can be hard to properly identify in first few runs.
Number 5.
"Awareness"
Often times missed, because of thoughts like "hey it’s probably VATS talent" or "I'm playing a FPS, right? It probably doesn't really matter", the Perk provides important info and is more valuable the higher the difficulty is.
Some enemies in Fallout 4 have obvious resistances and damage types. It is understandable that zombies (Ghouls) or RadScorpions will damage you withRadiation and will have high resistance for the same type of the damage. But are they more vulnerable to the Ballistic damage type or to the Energy damage type? What if we take less obvious enemy? How do we define his weaknesses and strengths, in terms of the damage and resistances? It doesn't really matter if you are using VATS or not. The Awareness Perk will help you to understand what weapon and defense you would like to use, and it will also save some bullets, time and will make fights easier. The knowledge is the power!
This Perk is situated in the Perception column. It requires you to have 3 points of the stat. The Perk will show resistances and damage type of the enemy in the VATS system.
Number 4.
"Scrapper"
Salvaging items can be hugely underrated by the new players. Especially, with not that intuitive crafting menu that exists in Fallout 4. It turns out, that the Perk is essential to crafting in general, and to the settlement building in particular.
Looking for source of additional Screws or Aluminium? Here you go! Tired of looting everything you see and want only to loot the desired materials? No problems! The Scrapper Perk is very valuable investment. It will solve many problems with crafting and will also make searching items easier. This is one of the best perks for crafters and loot hoarders!
The Perk is situated in the Intelligence column. You need to have 5 Intelligence to be able to learn it. The Perk allows salvaging additional components from items. While one point spent allows scrapping Aluminium, Cooper and Screws, two points spent allow scrapping Circuitry, Nuclear Material, Fiberoptics and the items tagged for the search will be highlighted.
Number 3.
"Blitz"
Most of the melee players miss this Perk because it seems totally not worth it to invest 8 points in the Agility. Especially, when you are not aware what this stuff does, and there are some tempting perks and options, like investing in Strength and melee Perks. Situation usually changes when player decides have a subtle approach to the game. Then is when people realize how much damage and utility they've lost for their previous melee playthrough!
The Perks is a must for any melee playthrough. Not only it allows you to cut the distances and dance on the battlefield from target to target, but you also get your damage increased! And, the bigger the distance to the target, the higher the buff! Even if you are playing with something heavy and not VATS friendly, in terms of Action Points, like Sledgehammer, it is worth keeping a dagger with you to quickly jump between the enemies.
This Perks is situated in the Agility column. You need to have 9 points of the stat to unlock it. It has two tiers. First tier increases VATS melee distance. Second tier increases the distance even more and adds damage based on the distance between you and the target. The higher the distance, the bigger the buff.
Number 2.
"Idiot Savant"
This is a kind of the Perk that you need to try to understand its value. Otherwise, you don't really have an image about its effectiveness. The position on the talent, in the Luck column, is a part of the reasons why it is missed. You don't really want to build your run around some random Perk, especially when you don't have an idea how it works. When people see the talent for the first time they usually think of it like this: "Some random XP gains. Why would i really need them? Especially, for the first run". However, as the run number increases, together with difficulty, the player realizes how valuable and effective the talent is. On Survival difficulty it will be your best friend. There, first 30 levels are like the air for your lungs!
In Fallout 4, almost anything you do grants experience. The Perk will proc from RadScorpion you've just cooked, the mod you've just made, or the elite enemy you've just killed. Any action will trigger the Perk. You will have your jaw dropped, when it will trigger for the first time on some big quest completion. It will give you absurd amount of the XP. At the beginning of the game it can even be few levels!
The Perk is situated in the Luck column. You will need to have 4 points spent in the Attribute to unlock the Perk. It has 3 tiers. First two tiers will randomly increase any XP gain by 3 and 5 multipliers. The third tier is complicated. It will randomly grant you additional 3x multiplier for kills, for a short period of time, as soon as the usual multiplier(from two previous tiers) will be triggered!
Number 1.
"Demolition Expert"
I can't state how underrated the Perk is. I really tried! I really tried to find the popular streamer on Twitch who would use it and I failed! This is ridiculous! This Perk is just Epic! Probably, the biggest misconception is its description, as it doesn't state what the word "explosives" means. You are thinking about the grenades, right? However, apart from any grenades, the Perk also increases damage of explosive Big Guns, like Missile Launcher or Fat Man. On a side note: there is something wrong with Big Guns, in a beneficial way of course. Some of them are also buffed by Perks for non-automatic and automatic guns. There is even a gun that benefits from both! (the cold one) I won't tell you exact names, so you can have fun experimenting.
Now, back to the Demolition Expert. This is insanely great Perk. Sometimes you can end a fight versus gang with few grenades or few shots from the Missile Launcher. Oh, man! The Missile Launcher! It is such a sense of joy to one-shot\few-shot some bosses on the Survival difficulty! The Perk completely changes your gameplay. The Grenades and the Missile Launcher become valuable addition to your kit. All explosives have doubled damage, increased area and you can easily throw grenades as the game now displays Throwing Arc! The joy of grenades thrown with high precision is incredible. There is only one thing that is more enjoyable. It is the ability to shot the grenades in the enemy hands and in the flight, which this Perk adds. Even if you are not using VATS, try it! It is hilarious! The chance to successfully hit the explosive is very high.
Demolition Expert is situated in the Perception column. You will need 5 points invested in the Perception stat to be able to skill the Perk. It has 4 tiers. Each tier will increase the damage of Explosives by 25%. First tier will allow crafting all sorts of grenades in the Chem Lab. For some of them you will also need a point in the Science Perk. I find Fragmentation Grenade to be most cost-efficient. Second tier will grant a Throwing Arc. Third tier will increase the area of the impact. The last tier will allow shooting enemy grenades and mines in VATS and they will also explode for doubled damage.
That is it! I hope the guide changed the way you are looking at some of theses Perks and on Perk system in general. Good luck in the Commonwealth and don't Savant too much!
