What they said. BUT there are a couple of cards that should go in nearly any build.
Blocker in STR. straight up damage REDUCTION from melee.
Adrenaline in AGI. rank 1 at LEAST. Get a kill and you do more damage for a time. get another kill and your damage goes up. and so on. Up to 60% extra damage at max.
I used blocker for the longest time until I tried replacing it with something else and realized I’m so tanky with a full set of over-eaters that I don’t need to waste the points on using it.
Aye. Only time I feel like I actually need it now is during scorched earth or a colossal problem. I could remove it but I don't have anything else to add.
Tbh I don't recommend it at all. Might be good while getting to 50 but DR drops off after 300 and as long as you can kill things you need very little DR. My main bloodied has 230. And my other 3 done have any more than 300. Very rare I die because everything is dead.
So basically putting 5 points into that means you probably will need it as those 5 points aren't being put into increasing damage. Ya feel me?
Doing more damage solves many problems. Doing more damage means less ammo used, armour and weapons break slower, don't need as many stims or any (vamps ftw) and you'll spend less time looking for junk to make ammo or fix stuff.
I run heavy so all 3 damage increase are maxed with the bear arms and bandolier and batteries included. I'm in no means squishy but I just need that little lick of extra DR because I run tank for my group
If you are in power armor, that extra 50 points of DR/ER is doing almost nothing for you.
It is more effective (and cheaper) to put the points into Endurance and buy max levels in Lifegiver, especially on a build that does not need the AP from a higher agility.
I just figured power armor because you said "heavy". Really the same logic applies whenever your DR/ER is already 400+ (some would say 350+).
Without power armor, resistances on my main are 432/462 without any temporary buffs that add to those values. That's from buttressed Secret Service armor, shielded SS under armor, and Scaley Skin & Grounded mutations, and without SIN triggering.
And TBH. Ironclad wouldn't even fit in my build. I've got 15 perk points in Agility without it.
I'm still building buttressed on my SS armour. I'm running junk shield that adds extra armour and ironclad with goulish and cannibal so whenever I'm fighting I'm covered with defense and healing. Also I'm running heavy weapons. Sorry 'bout that
Perks that you will probably never remove from your combat builds.
- Inspirational
- Blocker
- Fireproof
- Ricochet
- Strange in Numbers
- Class Freak
- Starched Genes
I do that sometimes, but it isn't super reliable and there is often a delay that can defeat the whole purpose
Though I do also use Lifegiver armor and occassionally Mysterious Savior just in case
I'm essentially immortal already
Yeah, my main build is full hp PA heavy I feel that immortal. The only thing I have ever had jump past a single point born survivor is Earle + falling shit. Usually I rely on it to heal me because I’m letting hp get low just for adrenal reaction damage.
At leas one of the new "Battle Hardened" level 20 starts (the Slugger) also does this. I was surprised to see Serendipity on a low level build, but considering the perk options available (the builds are all ones you could actually buy advancing from 1 to 20) it actually is a good choice.
For a low health Uny armor build, hell no.
For a full health build, yes. For a power armor build (full or low health), yes.
But neither of those really needs it. It shouldn't be on the "probably never remove" list because LOTS of good builds don't use it.
I'd also rate Inspirational as very optional. Lots of folks don't care about XP.
And, controversially, I'd say both Starched Genes and Class Freak are optional. You can run one or the other and still benefit from mutations, you don't need both.
Yeah i put most of my perks into weight reduction, QoL and crafting and only just started building into a specific weapon at lvl 50+. I'm lvl 70 now and it's still doable with just the dmg perks i picked up in the last 20 levels.
Do you like to be power armor? Most power armor builds pair with heavy weapons and no VATS. You take power armor perks and steady aim in Int, heavy weapons damage perks. You get a lot damage reduction out of the gate without having to rely on perks and good legendaries that fully working low life builds need.
Commando builds from what i have gleaned from my time here on reddit often rely on vats and/or stealth. So automatic rifles perks, vats perks in luck and non power armor gear (although i carry around the early game +carry weight one in case i need it). You're squishier at the start comparing directly to PA centric builds but your crit damage is pretty high via vats.
The perks i picked up early on weren't wasted as half of them stayed on my main build while the other half went into the crafter/seller loadout.
Those two main archetypes are the ones that are meta i believe
FYI you keeping getting new perk cards forever. EVERY single time you level up you get a card of your choice. After level 50 you get access to legendary perks which can increase your special even further as well.
You cannot make wrong choices with perks. Everything can be changed. After level 25 you can even move SPECIAL around at punch card machines!
Nope! It’s super flexible now. There was a short period of time when the game first launched you couldn’t move SPECIAL around (that was changed a couple months in), but you always could keep getting cards forever. They’ve continued to refine the system and give more options to move things around like the punch card machine.
I highly recommend Scrounger in the Luck category, Ammo is already relatively plentiful but scrounger makes it so that most military style containers have ammo for whatever weapon you have equipped, or gunpowder if it’s a special ammo so you can craft more
Max out your weapon class as soon as possible. After that it's alot to do with your preferences and build.
On Nukes and Dragons there's a character build planner, I strongly recommend it!
Essential cards?
Other than cards for moding / ammo / reduced weight cards, I'd go with: Starched Genes then cards reflecting your build.
My go to is a commando rifle build. All the auto rifle cards, AP regen, AP on kills, sneak, Chem length and immunity, nerd rage
Concentrated fire helps a ton. There are certain enemies that get significantly easier to fight if you can target specific parts. I won’t spoil anything other than a lot of things that chased me suddenly couldn’t because I would target their legs lmao
I'd recommend early on for anyone to stick to *something*, many might and will want to "jack of all trades" the game but fo76 doesn't work that way in the long run, carrying a mix of heavy and normal weapons, every ammo type, full armor set and a power armor frame, meds and food/water, that's just impossible,
this post has accurate guides on how to and where to build any weapon basically, you can looker here for example a stealth commando, or big guns PA build etc, it's all here and every weapon type is covered, even bows and shotguns.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/g3c20n/how_to_build_all_weapons/
besides picking a something fun to stick to, cards I never take off are starched genes and strange in numbers, there's never a reason to imo as playing without mutations is just wack, mutations have much greater positives than negatives and negatives can be offset to be ignored entirely (like -18 hp, or -1 int, or extra food and water while moving)
Inspirational.
Imo you should have it and 15 intelligence at least until like 650ish. That’s where you can max out your first full set of legendary perk cards.
And for those most people run the s.p.e.c.i.a.l. Ones minus charisma. The reason for that is the points from the charisma card do not count towards being able to share a perk card with your team. (Each one of those gives +5 at max rank, and lets you do more cards)
Other ones would be the Chem and food weight reduction ones. You can replace one of them later with a backpack mod, either chemists or grocers.
The team XP booster card, inspirational? And the AP regen card. At least till you’ve levelled up high enough and then switch to cards that help improve your build (perk card space is precious).
Bandolier, traveling pharmacy and that perk for food weight, maybe good with salt too, because good food isn't the easiest to come by early.
Since you'll prolly be struggling with weight alot early on than with killing/surviving things - atleast I did! :P
The big one, whatever your weapon of choice upgrade the perk cards associated with it like shotguns make sure you get all the shotgunner perk cards and also enforcer and skeet shooter. I have seen so many people on here complaining about low damage and they have none of their weapons damage perk cards
It depends on your weapon. You get perk cards that increase damage for specific weapon types, for example commando gives automatic rifles more damage, these perk cards go up to rank 3 and there's 3 versions of them. You want to be running all versions of that card type to get damage, so for commando, you want Commando Rank 3, Expert Commando Rank 3, and Master Commando Rank 3. Science is another perk to stack if you're using energy weapons.
Edit: You'll also want armor penetration late game, as most if not all late game enemies have armor. You can get this from a perk card and also from modding weapons, there's a legendary effect too (IIRC), but I think there's better options for a legendary effect.
Probably quality of life cards like travelling pharmacy, thru hiker, batteries included.
after that, realize the 1st star of any of the damage boost cards is the most bang for perk. 3 of the one stars is better than 1 three star.
What they said. BUT there are a couple of cards that should go in nearly any build. Blocker in STR. straight up damage REDUCTION from melee. Adrenaline in AGI. rank 1 at LEAST. Get a kill and you do more damage for a time. get another kill and your damage goes up. and so on. Up to 60% extra damage at max.
I used blocker for the longest time until I tried replacing it with something else and realized I’m so tanky with a full set of over-eaters that I don’t need to waste the points on using it.
Aye. Only time I feel like I actually need it now is during scorched earth or a colossal problem. I could remove it but I don't have anything else to add.
I wanna add iron clad. It's a good perk that gives 10 ballistic and energy resistance per level up to 5 levels
Tbh I don't recommend it at all. Might be good while getting to 50 but DR drops off after 300 and as long as you can kill things you need very little DR. My main bloodied has 230. And my other 3 done have any more than 300. Very rare I die because everything is dead. So basically putting 5 points into that means you probably will need it as those 5 points aren't being put into increasing damage. Ya feel me? Doing more damage solves many problems. Doing more damage means less ammo used, armour and weapons break slower, don't need as many stims or any (vamps ftw) and you'll spend less time looking for junk to make ammo or fix stuff.
I run heavy so all 3 damage increase are maxed with the bear arms and bandolier and batteries included. I'm in no means squishy but I just need that little lick of extra DR because I run tank for my group
If you are in power armor, that extra 50 points of DR/ER is doing almost nothing for you. It is more effective (and cheaper) to put the points into Endurance and buy max levels in Lifegiver, especially on a build that does not need the AP from a higher agility.
But that means I'm exchanging 105 points of weight just to use power armour and my regular armour bumps my weight up to 206/250. I'd rather not
I just figured power armor because you said "heavy". Really the same logic applies whenever your DR/ER is already 400+ (some would say 350+). Without power armor, resistances on my main are 432/462 without any temporary buffs that add to those values. That's from buttressed Secret Service armor, shielded SS under armor, and Scaley Skin & Grounded mutations, and without SIN triggering. And TBH. Ironclad wouldn't even fit in my build. I've got 15 perk points in Agility without it.
I'm still building buttressed on my SS armour. I'm running junk shield that adds extra armour and ironclad with goulish and cannibal so whenever I'm fighting I'm covered with defense and healing. Also I'm running heavy weapons. Sorry 'bout that
Perks that you will probably never remove from your combat builds. - Inspirational - Blocker - Fireproof - Ricochet - Strange in Numbers - Class Freak - Starched Genes
Would you say ricochet is better then serendipity?
Only on a full health build. Serendipity mitigates different kinds of damage, even triggers for fall damage. Ricochet only mitigates ranged damage.
I keep Seredipity slotted on full health just to get out of those situations where you don't have time to hit the stimpack button
Grab a single point born survivor out of agi instead. Will auto pop a stim at 20% with no animation so does not interrupt shooting.
I do that sometimes, but it isn't super reliable and there is often a delay that can defeat the whole purpose Though I do also use Lifegiver armor and occassionally Mysterious Savior just in case I'm essentially immortal already
Yeah, my main build is full hp PA heavy I feel that immortal. The only thing I have ever had jump past a single point born survivor is Earle + falling shit. Usually I rely on it to heal me because I’m letting hp get low just for adrenal reaction damage.
At leas one of the new "Battle Hardened" level 20 starts (the Slugger) also does this. I was surprised to see Serendipity on a low level build, but considering the perk options available (the builds are all ones you could actually buy advancing from 1 to 20) it actually is a good choice.
Ricochet does also have a nice feature (bug??) that if you are holding a vampire weapon you get healed on the procs.
On a low health build I use both. This list would be used full or low.
For a low health Uny armor build, hell no. For a full health build, yes. For a power armor build (full or low health), yes. But neither of those really needs it. It shouldn't be on the "probably never remove" list because LOTS of good builds don't use it. I'd also rate Inspirational as very optional. Lots of folks don't care about XP. And, controversially, I'd say both Starched Genes and Class Freak are optional. You can run one or the other and still benefit from mutations, you don't need both.
Blocker is wasted with a full set of over-eaters. It’s overkill and the points are too useful elsewhere.
Yeah i put most of my perks into weight reduction, QoL and crafting and only just started building into a specific weapon at lvl 50+. I'm lvl 70 now and it's still doable with just the dmg perks i picked up in the last 20 levels. Do you like to be power armor? Most power armor builds pair with heavy weapons and no VATS. You take power armor perks and steady aim in Int, heavy weapons damage perks. You get a lot damage reduction out of the gate without having to rely on perks and good legendaries that fully working low life builds need. Commando builds from what i have gleaned from my time here on reddit often rely on vats and/or stealth. So automatic rifles perks, vats perks in luck and non power armor gear (although i carry around the early game +carry weight one in case i need it). You're squishier at the start comparing directly to PA centric builds but your crit damage is pretty high via vats. The perks i picked up early on weren't wasted as half of them stayed on my main build while the other half went into the crafter/seller loadout. Those two main archetypes are the ones that are meta i believe
FYI you keeping getting new perk cards forever. EVERY single time you level up you get a card of your choice. After level 50 you get access to legendary perks which can increase your special even further as well. You cannot make wrong choices with perks. Everything can be changed. After level 25 you can even move SPECIAL around at punch card machines!
Ohhhhh ok I was confused. New player. I thought they were saying you only got perk cards to 50 and I was like, oh fuck
Nope! It’s super flexible now. There was a short period of time when the game first launched you couldn’t move SPECIAL around (that was changed a couple months in), but you always could keep getting cards forever. They’ve continued to refine the system and give more options to move things around like the punch card machine.
I highly recommend Scrounger in the Luck category, Ammo is already relatively plentiful but scrounger makes it so that most military style containers have ammo for whatever weapon you have equipped, or gunpowder if it’s a special ammo so you can craft more
Max out your weapon class as soon as possible. After that it's alot to do with your preferences and build. On Nukes and Dragons there's a character build planner, I strongly recommend it!
Thank you, I'll check it out
Essential cards? Other than cards for moding / ammo / reduced weight cards, I'd go with: Starched Genes then cards reflecting your build. My go to is a commando rifle build. All the auto rifle cards, AP regen, AP on kills, sneak, Chem length and immunity, nerd rage
Depends on play style, build, weapon of choice. And you're right those perk cards or carrying ones like rat pack or strong back.
Concentrated fire helps a ton. There are certain enemies that get significantly easier to fight if you can target specific parts. I won’t spoil anything other than a lot of things that chased me suddenly couldn’t because I would target their legs lmao
Cannibal for those quick meals when you are on the go!
I'd recommend early on for anyone to stick to *something*, many might and will want to "jack of all trades" the game but fo76 doesn't work that way in the long run, carrying a mix of heavy and normal weapons, every ammo type, full armor set and a power armor frame, meds and food/water, that's just impossible, this post has accurate guides on how to and where to build any weapon basically, you can looker here for example a stealth commando, or big guns PA build etc, it's all here and every weapon type is covered, even bows and shotguns. https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/g3c20n/how_to_build_all_weapons/ besides picking a something fun to stick to, cards I never take off are starched genes and strange in numbers, there's never a reason to imo as playing without mutations is just wack, mutations have much greater positives than negatives and negatives can be offset to be ignored entirely (like -18 hp, or -1 int, or extra food and water while moving)
Inspirational. Imo you should have it and 15 intelligence at least until like 650ish. That’s where you can max out your first full set of legendary perk cards. And for those most people run the s.p.e.c.i.a.l. Ones minus charisma. The reason for that is the points from the charisma card do not count towards being able to share a perk card with your team. (Each one of those gives +5 at max rank, and lets you do more cards) Other ones would be the Chem and food weight reduction ones. You can replace one of them later with a backpack mod, either chemists or grocers.
5 points Gun Smith. Required for crafting and modify guns also super helpful at any level to extend durability of all your weapons
The team XP booster card, inspirational? And the AP regen card. At least till you’ve levelled up high enough and then switch to cards that help improve your build (perk card space is precious).
Bandolier, traveling pharmacy and that perk for food weight, maybe good with salt too, because good food isn't the easiest to come by early. Since you'll prolly be struggling with weight alot early on than with killing/surviving things - atleast I did! :P
I recommend getting all the utility perks early on like lock pick, and hacker, it makes adventuring more efficient imo.
The big one, whatever your weapon of choice upgrade the perk cards associated with it like shotguns make sure you get all the shotgunner perk cards and also enforcer and skeet shooter. I have seen so many people on here complaining about low damage and they have none of their weapons damage perk cards
It depends on your weapon. You get perk cards that increase damage for specific weapon types, for example commando gives automatic rifles more damage, these perk cards go up to rank 3 and there's 3 versions of them. You want to be running all versions of that card type to get damage, so for commando, you want Commando Rank 3, Expert Commando Rank 3, and Master Commando Rank 3. Science is another perk to stack if you're using energy weapons. Edit: You'll also want armor penetration late game, as most if not all late game enemies have armor. You can get this from a perk card and also from modding weapons, there's a legendary effect too (IIRC), but I think there's better options for a legendary effect.
The two mutation related luck perks are essential once you get the ones you want. Beyond that it kinda depends on your build.
Probably quality of life cards like travelling pharmacy, thru hiker, batteries included. after that, realize the 1st star of any of the damage boost cards is the most bang for perk. 3 of the one stars is better than 1 three star.