Is it worth it to use unarmed weapons in Fallout 4?
Armed To The Teeth: Unarmed And Melee WeaponsAs in most RPGs, the amount of weapons you can carry in Fallout 3 is hilarious. Multiple firearms, swords, knives, twenty grenades, a dozen mines – all of this can fit on a single character. Despite the amount you can carry, your inventory space is still limited by your strength. You will at some point have to get rid of some of your gear in order to carry better armor or to make sure you have enough weight left for hauling around the loot you need to sell in order to afford ammo and repairs. This means you’ll always be limited in the weapons you can carry, and you’ll need to choose which ones are worth keeping and which ones you’ll want to ignore. This guide will cover all non-unique weapons. Unique weapons are not covered because they are rare, and you’d have to perform specific steps to get ahold of them. It is not the intention of this guide to include spoilers. There are some Unique weapons in the game that are absurdly powerful, but it should be readily apparent which ones these are once you run across them, as these super-powered weapons do absurd amounts of damage and can even be dangerous to your character’s health. These super-powered Unique weapons are also often impractical for everyday use. Unarmed WeaponsBare Fists: DPS 3 –Bare fists are obviously always with you. Their damage is only four – which is very low – but they are also a very fast weapon, which makes up it somewhat. That said, bare fists are not a good weapon to use for long unless you begin to pick up the Iron Fist perk, which increases your unarmed damage. Brass Knuckles/Spiked Knuckles: DPS 3/4 – These are common drops from Raiders and other humanoids, and provide a decent damage increase for your in the lower levels. Once you pick up a more powerful unarmed weapon or upgrade your bare fists, these become entirely useless. They are not valuable to merchants, so they are not even worth picking up as loot. Power Fist: DPS 9 – Obviously this is a major upgrade compared to Brass or Spiked Knuckles, and you should absolutely jump at the chance to get your hands on this weapon if you are an unarmed character. The Power Fist will be your mainstay throughout much of the game. With a value of only 100, they are not very good as loot. Deathclaw Gauntlet: DPS 10- At first glance with a DMG value only equal to that of the Power Fist, you might wonder why this weapon – which is built via a schematic – is worth bothering with. The key to the Deathclaw Gauntlet – and the reason it is the best unarmed weapon in the game – is its massive crit multiplier of x5 and crit bonus damage of +30. It is in theory possible for a player with the Ninja perk to have a 100% chance to crit when using this weapon and other Perks which increase crit chance. On the downside, the Deathclaw Gauntlet is not an easy weapon to get a hold of, as the schematic is rare. Melee WeaponsBasic Weapons – There are numerous basic melee weapons in Fallout 3 including the Pool Cue, Police Baton, Rolling Pin, Knife, Tire Iron, and Nailboard. All of these weapons are useful if you have nothing else at hand. Because you can pick up the Baseball Bat – which is superior to all of these weapons – before you even leave Vault 101, all of these basic weapons are mostly useless. They also have a very low value to merchants. Baseball Bat: DPS 12- You can pick this up early in Vault 101, and it is a reasonably effective basic melee weapon with a DMG rating of 9. It is not a quick weapon however, and will probably be quickly discarded in favor of other better melee weapons. It has very little value to merchants. Combat Knife: DPS 20 – Although the combat knife does less damage per hit than the Baseball Bat, it is quicker and can do more damage over time. It also has a much better crit chance than normal (3x) and does more damage when it does crit, so this weapon is good choice in the early game. Lead Pipe: DPS 20 – This weapon does the same damage per hit as the Baseball Bat, but it can be swung quicker which results in more damage over time. The Lead Pipe is not a remarkable weapon otherwise. Chinese Officer’s Sword: DPS 23 – This weapon is a true sword, which looks very cool, but it does less damage than you might expect. It can be swung with reasonable speed, has a slightly better than normal crit chance, and does a fair amount of damage when it does crit. It is a good choice until you get a hold of a Sledgehammer. Sledgehammer/Super Sledge: DPS 30/37 – This is when melee weapons start to get fairly serious. Both of these weapons put down a good amount of hurt, have good crit damage bonuses, but don’t crit more often than any other weapon. You can get these weapons fairly early on by defeating a Super Mutant equipped with one. Once you do get one, you’ll likely keep hold of it throughout much of the game. They are very heavy, so they make poor loot as a result. Ripper: DPS 30 – The Ripper is a very powerful and surprisingly cheap melee weapon which, while rare to see on other characters, will show up frequently at the gun shop in Rivet City once you get around level 10. Unlike other melee weapons, simply pressing the attach button and holding it will cause this weapon to constantly put out damage. Despite being obviously mechanical, you don’t need any sort of power source to operate it. This is the best basic melee weapon, but it is overshadowed by some uniques and by the Shishkebab, and you’ll like run across one of those other weapons before you get your hands on a Ripper. Shishkebab: DPS 80/120 – The most powerful melee weapon in the game, the Shishkebab is a schematic-built combination of a flamethrower and a sword. It does a ton of damage and attacks very quickly. This damage is increased to the point of absurdity when it is combined with the Pyromanaic perk, which increases damage done by this weapon by 50%. Keep in mind that since this is a fire-based weapon, so it will set off gas leaks. And unlike other fire-based weapons, this will set off a gas leak merely by having the weapon drawn! More FirepowerThis is the first article in a five-part series covering the weapons in Fallout 3. The next section will cover Big Guns, everyone’s favorite choice when something absolutely, positively must go boom. Over the course of this five-part series, every non-unique weapon in the game will be covered. Even if you don’t choose to go through every category, it is a good idea to train both your character and yourself in the details of at least two types of offense. After all, the best Assault Rifle in the world won’t help you if all you have left is ammo for a Flamethrower. This post is part of the series: Fallout 3 Weapons Guide
So, you have the best perks, your skills are high, and you think you’re ready to take on a thousand Deathclaws at once. But wait – you’re missing perhaps the most important part of survival. Your Weapon.
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Back in 3 there were few unarmed weapons, the deatchlaw gauntlet was the only one you would use, literally ONE good weapon for an entire weapon category. One thing i loved about FNV, was the amount of awesome unarmed weapons. They all look amazing and each one has its own quirks and benefits, they're my favorite weapons in that game.
I have yet to play FO4. I checked the weapons list and it seems we have gone back to FO3's ways. How many are there, 4 or 5? That's sad and disappointing.
So i was wondering, is it worth it to use unarmed weapons in FO4? Do the weapon mods make up for the lack of weapons, or should i just forget them and only use melee? What do you think?
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Taking down an enemy from a distance in Fallout 4 sure is a fun and challenging thing to do, but what about the ammo? What about positioning?
Not always will you be able to safely take them down, not caring about the ammo. That’s why you must have some melee weapons in your inventory.
In this article, you’ll be able to see what are Fallout 4’s best melee weapons.
Read also: Best Sniper Rifles In Fallout 4
1. Pickman’s Blade
We’re starting off our list strongly and that’s why you’re seeing the Pickman’s Blade first. If you’ve ever had the chance to hold this weapon, you know for sure that it’s definitely one of the best melee weapons that you can possibly have in Fallout 4.
The reason for being that its attack speed (AS) is very high, and we all know the difference that high AS brings into the fights and the bleed damage.
This knife, in particular, has both regular bleed damage (25 points) as well as additional Stealth Blade Upgrade bleed damage (another 25 points).
Dealing this much damage with just one hit is absurd. Pickman’s Blade’s base damage is 30 and its DPS (damage per second) is 59.9.
With fast attack speed, this weapon is quite lethal. If you wish to find and use this knife, you’ll have to complete the Pickman’s Gift Quest and obtain it as a reward in a safe, which can be found behind the painting in Pickman’s Gallery.
Read also: Fallout 76 Beta Testing
2. Furious Power Fist
Since we started off tough, let’s keep it that way! Furious Power Fist does not only look brutal and amazing, but it also deals a ton of damage.
The thing that makes this weapon so awesome is that the more you attack the same enemy, the more damage you deal to him!
Aside from that, it’s good for taking down high-HP enemies. Needless to say, if you upgrade this baby with some awesome mods, you’ll be indestructible.
Furious Power Fist’s base damage is 28 and its DPS is medium. When combined with quite good AS of 23.8, you get a real murderer in your hands.
In case you’d like to get hands on this one, you’ll have to go through the real trouble. You can get the regular version, The Furious Fist, by defeating the Edger Swann in the Swans pond (top of the Hubris Comics).
However, in order to get the Furious Power Fist, you have to defeat the Swan which can be found somewhere in the middle of Bostom Common pool (swan pond). This fight won’t be easy, so be careful!
3. Kremvh’s Tooth
Just like we promised, we’re keeping it tough! Next on our list is a melee weapon that has the absolute highest base damage – it’s the Kremvh’s Tooth.
As usual, feel free to upgrade it and just harass your opponents with it. One of the coolest things about it is that you can transform it into awesome machete just be removing the mod from the tooth and putting it on the machete part. With the help of poison, it can shred enemies with ease.
Kremvh’s Tooth has 59 base damage, 50.2 DPS, and medium attack speed.
In order to find it, you’ll have to dive deep into the caves at the Dunwich Borers.
Go near the Salem Witch Museum and fight it towards the chamber at the bottom.
Once you spot the pool, jump into it and head to the underwater chamber, and there’s the Kremvh’s Tooth!
Read also: Fallout 4 – Hacking
4. General Chao’s Revenge
One of the Chinese officer swords is the General Chao’s Revenge. It has cool base stats, but one feature makes it amazing in certain situations.
Dealing with Assaultrons – not a problem! Just grab your General Chao’s Revenge and take them down! This weapon deals 50% more damage to robots.
General Chao’s Revenge has 40 base damage and 40 DPS and combined with medium attack speed, it’s quite devastating.
Getting this weapon requires you to finish the side quest with Wolfgang, after which you can buy it for quite a price, from Trudy the merchant.
5. Grognak’s Axe
When you’re in some kind of a trouble, you better wish for the Grognak’s Axe in your inventory! Aside from heavy damage that this axe can do, it also causes enemies to bleed and stumble, allowing you to zone out of the hard mess.
However, this isn’t the best part. This weapon’s AP usage is actually reduced when you’re in VATS. Therefore, you can strike way more often than you can with other weapons!
Grognak’s Axe’s base damage is 35 and DPS is 29.8. With medium AS and the features that we’ve mentioned, it makes up to a great melee weapon.
You can find it in the Advanced lock which can be found inside Hubris Comics.
Read also: Fallout 4’s Best Perks
6. Deathclaw Gauntlet
Still going hard at it, next on our list of Fallout 4’s best or strongest melee weapons is the Deathclaw Gauntlet. These claws are one of the historic weapons that Fallout 4 has, but they rock harder than most of the other melee weapons!
These ripping claws allow you to dominate your opponents with ease. We suggest upgrading this weapon so that you get the third claw which increases damage towards disarmed opponents and definitely make sure to work on the iron Fist Perk.
Deathclaw Gauntlet’s base damage is 35 and its DPS is 29.8. Medium AS makes these claws quite strong and dangerous, so use them wisely!
Getting them is easy – either get them from the merchants once you’re past level 20, or complete the side quest Devil’s Due.
7. Super Sledge
So far we’ve been covering the best melee weapons in Fallout 4 that can help you demolish enemies, but we still haven’t covered the ones that can actually help you in defense.
Super Sledge is a great defensive weapon and, even though it’s super heavy, we recommend you to have it by yourself for the god-forbid situations.
The reason why this weapon is defensively good is that it has high DPS and quite a range, so you can safely fight your enemies. Some stunning or shocking upgrades are more than welcome!
Super Sledge’s base damage is 56 and DPS is 30.8. Even though it has low AS, the output can still be lethal. Thankfully, this weapon is quite easy to obtain.
There are two ways of obtaining this weapon. You can buy it in Common Wealth Weaponry in Diamond city, or you can buy it from the K-L-E-O in Goodneighbor.
8. Zao’s Sword
For the rest of our list, we’ll be talking about almighty swords and the first to begin with is Zao’s Sword. This one represents the stronger version of Chinese Officer Sword, which we’ll mention next, and it can be upgraded so that it deals bonus electrical damage.
We all know that early levels can be much of a trouble when it comes to fighting weapons, and that’s where Zao’s sword comes in handy!
Achieving higher levels is easy with this weapon, and it allows you to get your hands on some of the better weapons.
Zao’s Sword’s base damage is 32 and DPS is 22. With its medium AS it’s quite decent early-level melee weapon.
Zao’s Sword can be obtained by completing Here There Be Monsters quest and convincing Zao three times.
Read also: Fallout 4’s Best Power Armor
9. Chinese Officer Sword
As we’ve mentioned, weaker version of Zao’s Sword is the Chinese Officer Sword. Even though it does allow fast attacks, it still doesn’t provide too much damage because of the low base damage and DPS.
On top of lacking damage, it’s not that easy finding it so this sword is one of those that are not really worth going through the trouble for. Although you can always add some electrical damage to this weapon, making enemies bleed!
Chinese Officer Sword’s base damage is 22, DPS is 18.7 and it has medium AS. You can find it in a dresser in Yangtze Submarine, or you can buy it from Arturo Rodriguez in Diamond City.
10. Shem Drowne’s Sword
Last but not the least is the Shem Drowne’s Sword. This melee weapon isn’t too strong but its damage relies on the radiation damage.
Unfortunately, you can’t get this weapon in the beginning, so make sure to use it wisely once you get it. Also, because it’s not that strong, getting a stronger melee weapon is a must!
Shem Drowne’s Sword’s base damage is 24, DPS is 20.4 and it has medium AS. Once you complete the Gilded Grasshopper quest, you can get this sweet sword.
Just search for the file in Nick Valentine Office!
What’s your pick on the best melee weapon in Fallout 4?
Well, folks, that would be it. Hopefully, you’ve found out stuff that you didn’t know before or at least you got to take a look at our Fallout 4 best melee weapons list.
We, as Fallout 4 fans, strongly believe in dueling and outplaying enemies and therefore we find melee weapons best choice for fighting!
Do you not agree with our top weapons list? Make sure to let us know of your top list!
This article was written by a freelancer.
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First of all, decide early on whether you want to primarily use rifles or pistols, and pick up either the Rifleman perk or Gunslinger perk, accordingly. Note that it's largely a cosmetic choice, but resist the temptation to pick both - perk points are precious and 90% of the (non-heavy) Fallout 4 weapons can be modded back and forth between being rifles/pistols by either putting a stock or a grip on them, anyway. Next, pick up Gun Nut, so you can also kit out your weapons with the latest receivers and other toys.
With that, you're basically set. If you go with this perk combo and keep them maxed, you will always have excellent guns with plenty of ammo at your disposal, no matter what playstyle you use or what the game throws your way.
Gun Nut: That one perk alone will net you more damage/accuracy/utility than many, many hours of wasteland exploration.
A second important factor is VATS - which should be used very differently compared to the last Fallout. In Fallout 3, trying to ignore VATS and aiming 'by hand' was a pretty frustrating exercise. In fact, back then most people grudgingly accepted that the only way to reliably hit stuff was to max your VATS accuracy.. and only use sight aiming 'for fun'.
Bethesda heard the cries, and made Fallout 4 very different in that regard.
Simply put, now it's almost the other way around. In Fallout 4, sight/hip-based shooting tends to be a lot more accurate than the hit chances that you get alotted in VATS, especially if you go for a sneaky playstyle where you can sit still and aim carefully. Generally speaking, make sure to crouch for the added accuracy whenever you can and try to aim by hand as much as possible. Only use VATS when you are swamped by several close-range enemies. (..or for those %&$§ flying bugs whose movement patterns are harder to predict than the HL3 release date)
Want more detail? Alright, here we go.
Early on, the game will absolutely bury you in .43 ammo from raiders. Granted, it only works with 'pipe' weapons. Which are normally crap. However, if you have that Rifleman/Gunslinger and Gun Nut combo, you can turn all that pipe junk into perfectly serviceable weaponry.
Does it make them spectacular? Well, no. But we are talking practical here: they will do very decent damage and you will never run low on ammo. Simply mod one pipe gun for hip-shooting, and another one for sighted shooting.. and go to town on whatever stands in your way.
Mid-game, 10mm ammo will take the place of those .43 peas. Slap together a tricked out, sighted 10mm pistol (or pistol-rifle), and you have an extremely accurate, reliable weapon. So much that if you have a talent for headshots, you can already become the terror of the wasteland at this point.
Sadly, although 10mm ammo is common mid-game, it's not quite as abundant as the .43 stuff was before, so you may want to still hold on to that pipe weaponry from before.
Late-game, both 10mm and .43 ammo will become rare, and be replaced by .45 rounds. But by this point, you can even mod your old pipe toys to now eat all these .45 bullets. Hm.. yay, I guess?
But the real fun lies elsewhere: You will now also find a crapton of energy cells. If you haven't bought Old Faithful in Diamond City yet, do so now. It's a laser pistol that does double damage on unwounded targets. If you mod it to your needs (ideally combined with the Science! perk), you have an absolutely devastating toy with near-infinite ammo in your hands.
Last but not least, in case the Random Number God throws a 'legendary' weapon your way.. watch out for these attributes (in roughly this order):
Simply put, if you are lucky enough to find a gun with one of these effects.. don't hesitate a second to go and mod the hell out of it.
I’m currently deep into my second playthrough of Fallout 4, as in my first go-round, there’s pretty much no map marker left unturned at this point, and no enemy I can’t down with a couple shots from my trusty Rick Grimes.
The second time around, I’m playing as a good-natured Indian woman instead of a sarcastic black guy, and I’m trying to redeem myself for aligning with a certain faction and being forced to do unspeakable things to the other two. This time I’ll stay loyal to one of the others and….do unspeakable things to the other two again, I’m guessing. War never changes, and all that.
But past my looks and my decisions, a new playthrough allows me to change my playstyle. As I mentioned in many of my earlier Fallout 4 pieces, the game doesn’t allow for much flexibility. This isn’t Diablo 3 where you can change your skill set and stat points on a whim. When you go for a certain build, you’re pretty locked into it, unless you just get so much XP you can unlock everything, but that will probably take years.
My last vault dweller specialized in pistols and semi-auto rifles/shotguns almost exclusively. This time around, I wanted to challenge myself a bit. I wanted to beat the game from top to bottom without firing a single shot.
No, I’m not following in the footsteps of PC Gamer’s Christopher Livingston, who is currently playing through the game as a builder/merchant without ever leaving Sanctuary. Rather, I’m talking about a melee-only build which has me clubbing, beating, hacking and slashing my way through every problem I come across.
What I’ve found is a completely different play experience from my first go-through. One that makes the game seem fresh again, while allowing me to reach new levels of overpowered-ness I didn’t even think possible. Not only is this build viable, once you get past the brutal early stages, but it’s so good it almost breaks the game.
So, how did I do it?
Fallout 4 Unarmed Weapons List
The Build
If I’m being entirely honest, I almost gave up on this idea when I first started it a couple weeks ago. I got to about level six, thought it was either A) too hard or B) I’d botched the build, and I nearly quit. I’m glad I didn’t.
There are probably any number of ways to go about this, but I’ll share my own path. The long and short of it is that you need at least 9 points in both Strength and Agility, with a few sunk into Endurance, and the rest wherever you like them (Luck is always a good bet).
The reason you have to get up to 9 in Strength and Agility is because the perks at those levels for each stat are essential to the build. For Strength, you’ll want the first two levels of Rooted, a perk which dramatically reduces damage taken and increases melee damage dished out when you’re standing still. For Agility, you will absolutely need Blitz, an ability which uses VATS to instantly warp you to your target to melee them, even if they’re relatively far away. I’m not sure there’s any viable melee build that doesn’t use this.
My problem was that early on, I tried going the stealth route, when low level stealth perks are pretty much garbage. 20-30% stealth means almost nothing, and between that and low armor and melee damage, I was getting shredded.
Early on you will want to conserve what few Stimpacks you have by healing through sleep as much as possible. Halfway through a level and at 20% health with 2 Stimpacks? Think about leaving, sleeping, and coming back instead of burning through all your supplies.
This advice may tempt you to sink a ton of points into Endurance perks, but do try to minimize that as much as possible. I managed to get away with only putting one point in damage reduction, as I found that between Strength’s Rooted perk and Agility’s Moving Target perk (damage reduction while sprinting) that’s really all the bonus armor stuff you need outside of the literal armor you’re wearing. I do recommend three points in Life Giver, however, which triggers a hugely useful health regen perk later on.
I should insert a brief interlude to note that for reasons that elude me, Fallout 4 has decided to separate out “unarmed weapons” and “melee weapons” into two separate categories. The problem there is that to max out both, you’d have to flush away ten points, and it really doesn’t seem worth it given how few unarmed weapons there are. By my count, there’s only knuckles, boxing gloves, Deathclaw gauntlets and Power Fists. As awesome as those may be, it seems there are a lot more melee options in the “melee” category, so I would recommend going that route, at least for a while.
Even though I ditched stealth at the beginning of the game, it’s essential for later on. Blitz will allow you to teleport all over the map, and if you do so while crouched and hidden, you can rack up 3x, 5x even 10x damage stealth kills left and right. If you really want to go crazy, you can upgrade not just the Ninja perk (higher stealth multipliers) but also Mister Sandman, which can give your silenced weapons (knives, for one) 50% more damage during stealth kills. Those YouTube videos that show people one-shotting Alpha Deathclaws? This is how you do that.
The rest of the build is kind of whatever you want it to be. I definitely would recommend Action Boy (or Girl) to make sure your VATS is recharging quickly. You may think you want to play Fallout 4 like Skyrim, swinging randomly outside of VATS at enemies, but trust me, once you get Blitz, you will want to VATS all the time in melee, as it will produce much more consistent results (and gnarly executions).
You can invest points in armor and weapon upgrades, although there are far less for each than gun mods. I really do recommend Luck in any build, especially higher crit damage, and Idiot Savant, which will rain XP on you if you have a presumably low Intelligence score, as tends to happen with this build. Overall, this build uses less essential perks than most, so sink the rest into whatever you want.
The Tools
I started this build with just a tire iron and a switchblade, but the game has a few specific melee tools that you’ll want to seek out to help you with your build. You can probably craft some approximation of many of these, depending on the types of legendaries you get to drop, but here’s where to find some of the weapons that have been the “core” of my build.
Rockville Slugger – This was my first real legendary, and it’s something you can buy straight from the store. The baseball guy in Diamond City has it for sale for 1200 caps, and it’s worth every penny. The bat has 40% less AP cost, and combined with high agility, that means swings for days in VATS. Bats are super-upgradable too, and with only one point in melee mods, I managed to change it from oak to aluminum, and wrap it in razor blades. It’s one of my essentials to this day.
Shem Downe’s Sword – After you meet Nick in the main questline, this is one of his two case files that he asks you to help solve. You find a note on top of a Faneuil Hall, which will lead you to a grave where a guy is buried with a sword. It has great base damage, and does bonus radiation damage as well.
Grognak’s Axe – Found in Hubris Comics in a locked display case, this unique axe staggers and does bleed damage. One of the better melee weapons you can easily get early on in the game, and you’ll never see anything else quite like it
Grognak Costume – This is the only piece of armor on this list. It’s found in the top level of Hubris, and gives you bonus Strength and melee damage. It’s a weird bit of armor, as it replaces both your chestplate and undersuit (I’ve never seen anything else do that). Some may not like the way it looks (my female character now has chunky arm and leg armor with an exposed midriff), or they may not like the lack of damage reduction from a lack of undersuit and chestplate, but I have no regrets using it for most of the game.
Furious Power Fist – You get this at Swan’s Pond by killing Swan himself, a giant Behemoth who will almost certainly be a skull icon when you meet him. With a lot of luck and chemical assistance, I managed to take him down, and his unique Power Fist is one of the best melee weapons in the game. Technically it’s an “unarmed” weapon, but the damage is so high and the perks is so good (increased damaged on repeat hits) even with zero points sunk into unarmed weapons, I can still two-shot just about everything with it.
The Shishkebab - I found this in my first playthrough, but not my second yet. I actually forgot about it until I started writing this article, and I'm going to go hunt it down shortly. The classic Fallout fire sword is in Saugus Ironworks and you retrieve it as part of the Out of the Fire quest started at Finch Farm. Did I mention it's a fire sword?
Pickman’s Blade – By FAR the best melee weapon I’ve found in this game so far, and without a doubt the one I turn to most often. You get it in Pickman’s Gallery after completing a creepy quest about a serial killer who only kills raiders. Post-apocalyptic Dexter, if you will. If you spare him, he’ll thank you and give you access to a safe in his house, where the blade will be. The thing does tons of bleed damage (which I believe stacks on each hit) and bonus stealth damage. It’s just an absolute monster when combined with all the other perks we’ve been talking about, and you should get it as soon as possible.
And that’s pretty much it. If you want to “cheat,” I’d recommending adding a sniper rifle to your arsenal for those pesky, high up turrets. But with enough sprint and blitzing, nearly anything is reachable, if you really want to stick with the whole “no gunshots ever” philosophy.
Honestly, by level 15 even, this melee build makes the game almost too easy. Warping from enemy to enemy with Blitz, one shotting them with Ninja and taking no damage from Rooted means that I haven’t died or been seriously hurt in eons, outside of a few random unlucky Fat Man shots.
But it’s a blast. I’m not sure I’d recommend it for a first playthrough, as there are just too many great guns to choose from, and I love my Perception/Luck build, but for a second one? It totally changes the game, and will make it feel fresh even if you’re doing a lot of the same stuff over again.
Obviously this is not a completely comprehensive guide. I’m sure there are other strategies to employ, or other hidden melee weapons to be found, but this has been my journey. Enjoy your own, if you decide to go down this path.
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I’m currently deep into my second playthrough of Fallout 4, as in my first go-round, there’s pretty much no map marker left unturned at this point, and no enemy I can’t down with a couple shots from my trusty Rick Grimes.
The second time around, I’m playing as a good-natured Indian woman instead of a sarcastic black guy, and I’m trying to redeem myself for aligning with a certain faction and being forced to do unspeakable things to the other two. This time I’ll stay loyal to one of the others and….do unspeakable things to the other two again, I’m guessing. War never changes, and all that.
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But past my looks and my decisions, a new playthrough allows me to change my playstyle. As I mentioned in many of my earlier Fallout 4 pieces, the game doesn’t allow for much flexibility. This isn’t Diablo 3 where you can change your skill set and stat points on a whim. When you go for a certain build, you’re pretty locked into it, unless you just get so much XP you can unlock everything, but that will probably take years.
My last vault dweller specialized in pistols and semi-auto rifles/shotguns almost exclusively. This time around, I wanted to challenge myself a bit. I wanted to beat the game from top to bottom without firing a single shot.
No, I’m not following in the footsteps of PC Gamer’s Christopher Livingston, who is currently playing through the game as a builder/merchant without ever leaving Sanctuary. Rather, I’m talking about a melee-only build which has me clubbing, beating, hacking and slashing my way through every problem I come across.
What I’ve found is a completely different play experience from my first go-through. One that makes the game seem fresh again, while allowing me to reach new levels of overpowered-ness I didn’t even think possible. Not only is this build viable, once you get past the brutal early stages, but it’s so good it almost breaks the game.
So, how did I do it?
The Build
If I’m being entirely honest, I almost gave up on this idea when I first started it a couple weeks ago. I got to about level six, thought it was either A) too hard or B) I’d botched the build, and I nearly quit. I’m glad I didn’t.
There are probably any number of ways to go about this, but I’ll share my own path. The long and short of it is that you need at least 9 points in both Strength and Agility, with a few sunk into Endurance, and the rest wherever you like them (Luck is always a good bet).
The reason you have to get up to 9 in Strength and Agility is because the perks at those levels for each stat are essential to the build. For Strength, you’ll want the first two levels of Rooted, a perk which dramatically reduces damage taken and increases melee damage dished out when you’re standing still. For Agility, you will absolutely need Blitz, an ability which uses VATS to instantly warp you to your target to melee them, even if they’re relatively far away. I’m not sure there’s any viable melee build that doesn’t use this.
My problem was that early on, I tried going the stealth route, when low level stealth perks are pretty much garbage. 20-30% stealth means almost nothing, and between that and low armor and melee damage, I was getting shredded.
Early on you will want to conserve what few Stimpacks you have by healing through sleep as much as possible. Halfway through a level and at 20% health with 2 Stimpacks? Think about leaving, sleeping, and coming back instead of burning through all your supplies.
This advice may tempt you to sink a ton of points into Endurance perks, but do try to minimize that as much as possible. I managed to get away with only putting one point in damage reduction, as I found that between Strength’s Rooted perk and Agility’s Moving Target perk (damage reduction while sprinting) that’s really all the bonus armor stuff you need outside of the literal armor you’re wearing. I do recommend three points in Life Giver, however, which triggers a hugely useful health regen perk later on.
I should insert a brief interlude to note that for reasons that elude me, Fallout 4 has decided to separate out “unarmed weapons” and “melee weapons” into two separate categories. The problem there is that to max out both, you’d have to flush away ten points, and it really doesn’t seem worth it given how few unarmed weapons there are. By my count, there’s only knuckles, boxing gloves, Deathclaw gauntlets and Power Fists. As awesome as those may be, it seems there are a lot more melee options in the “melee” category, so I would recommend going that route, at least for a while.
Even though I ditched stealth at the beginning of the game, it’s essential for later on. Blitz will allow you to teleport all over the map, and if you do so while crouched and hidden, you can rack up 3x, 5x even 10x damage stealth kills left and right. If you really want to go crazy, you can upgrade not just the Ninja perk (higher stealth multipliers) but also Mister Sandman, which can give your silenced weapons (knives, for one) 50% more damage during stealth kills. Those YouTube videos that show people one-shotting Alpha Deathclaws? This is how you do that.
The rest of the build is kind of whatever you want it to be. I definitely would recommend Action Boy (or Girl) to make sure your VATS is recharging quickly. You may think you want to play Fallout 4 like Skyrim, swinging randomly outside of VATS at enemies, but trust me, once you get Blitz, you will want to VATS all the time in melee, as it will produce much more consistent results (and gnarly executions).
You can invest points in armor and weapon upgrades, although there are far less for each than gun mods. I really do recommend Luck in any build, especially higher crit damage, and Idiot Savant, which will rain XP on you if you have a presumably low Intelligence score, as tends to happen with this build. Overall, this build uses less essential perks than most, so sink the rest into whatever you want.
The Tools
I started this build with just a tire iron and a switchblade, but the game has a few specific melee tools that you’ll want to seek out to help you with your build. You can probably craft some approximation of many of these, depending on the types of legendaries you get to drop, but here’s where to find some of the weapons that have been the “core” of my build.
Rockville Slugger – This was my first real legendary, and it’s something you can buy straight from the store. The baseball guy in Diamond City has it for sale for 1200 caps, and it’s worth every penny. The bat has 40% less AP cost, and combined with high agility, that means swings for days in VATS. Bats are super-upgradable too, and with only one point in melee mods, I managed to change it from oak to aluminum, and wrap it in razor blades. It’s one of my essentials to this day.
Shem Downe’s Sword – After you meet Nick in the main questline, this is one of his two case files that he asks you to help solve. You find a note on top of a Faneuil Hall, which will lead you to a grave where a guy is buried with a sword. It has great base damage, and does bonus radiation damage as well.
Grognak’s Axe – Found in Hubris Comics in a locked display case, this unique axe staggers and does bleed damage. One of the better melee weapons you can easily get early on in the game, and you’ll never see anything else quite like it
Grognak Costume – This is the only piece of armor on this list. It’s found in the top level of Hubris, and gives you bonus Strength and melee damage. It’s a weird bit of armor, as it replaces both your chestplate and undersuit (I’ve never seen anything else do that). Some may not like the way it looks (my female character now has chunky arm and leg armor with an exposed midriff), or they may not like the lack of damage reduction from a lack of undersuit and chestplate, but I have no regrets using it for most of the game.
Furious Power Fist – You get this at Swan’s Pond by killing Swan himself, a giant Behemoth who will almost certainly be a skull icon when you meet him. With a lot of luck and chemical assistance, I managed to take him down, and his unique Power Fist is one of the best melee weapons in the game. Technically it’s an “unarmed” weapon, but the damage is so high and the perks is so good (increased damaged on repeat hits) even with zero points sunk into unarmed weapons, I can still two-shot just about everything with it.
The Shishkebab - I found this in my first playthrough, but not my second yet. I actually forgot about it until I started writing this article, and I'm going to go hunt it down shortly. The classic Fallout fire sword is in Saugus Ironworks and you retrieve it as part of the Out of the Fire quest started at Finch Farm. Did I mention it's a fire sword?
Pickman’s Blade – By FAR the best melee weapon I’ve found in this game so far, and without a doubt the one I turn to most often. You get it in Pickman’s Gallery after completing a creepy quest about a serial killer who only kills raiders. Post-apocalyptic Dexter, if you will. If you spare him, he’ll thank you and give you access to a safe in his house, where the blade will be. The thing does tons of bleed damage (which I believe stacks on each hit) and bonus stealth damage. It’s just an absolute monster when combined with all the other perks we’ve been talking about, and you should get it as soon as possible.
And that’s pretty much it. If you want to “cheat,” I’d recommending adding a sniper rifle to your arsenal for those pesky, high up turrets. But with enough sprint and blitzing, nearly anything is reachable, if you really want to stick with the whole “no gunshots ever” philosophy.
Honestly, by level 15 even, this melee build makes the game almost too easy. Warping from enemy to enemy with Blitz, one shotting them with Ninja and taking no damage from Rooted means that I haven’t died or been seriously hurt in eons, outside of a few random unlucky Fat Man shots.
But it’s a blast. I’m not sure I’d recommend it for a first playthrough, as there are just too many great guns to choose from, and I love my Perception/Luck build, but for a second one? It totally changes the game, and will make it feel fresh even if you’re doing a lot of the same stuff over again.
Obviously this is not a completely comprehensive guide. I’m sure there are other strategies to employ, or other hidden melee weapons to be found, but this has been my journey. Enjoy your own, if you decide to go down this path.
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