Perks in Fallout 4 - essentially the same as abilities. Leveling up perks significantly strengthens your character and adds new, unique characteristics and abilities.

We recently talked about which perks you need to level up to achieve the maximum Luck stat in Fallout 4. In this guide, you'll learn about abilities that not only strengthen your character but make them a true powerhouse and literally break the game with their usefulness.

Rooted

The Rooted perk becomes particularly useful at level 2. This ability enhances melee combat. It only applies to unarmed and melee weapons, such as brass knuckles, boxing gloves, or hooks.

Melee combat might not be the most popular way to deal with enemies. But Rooted is the only perk that, at level 2, provides a +50% bonus to defense against both physical and energy damage. Plus, you get +50% bonus damage in close combat.

Lifegiver

Lifegiver is a more versatile ability than Rooted. It's an excellent perk for increasing character survivability, which is crucial at every stage of the game. At the start, it will be easier for you to adapt to the game, and later on, to fight powerful monsters.

The main feature is that at the final level of the perk, you also gain constant health regeneration out of combat. Essentially, you can completely forget about constantly searching for stimpaks and even give up any other forms of health restoration.

United We Stand

The United We Stand perk can only be obtained by interacting with companions. You'll earn this ability when you reach maximum relationship level with Preston Garvey. The ability stays with you forever, and you no longer need to travel and interact with Preston. Yes, you can literally forget about him.

The perk has a very useful buff that increases your survivability when fighting groups of enemies. It provides +20% damage and +20 damage resistance when facing three or more enemies.

However, there's a catch. Preston will become quite annoying for those who don't want to play the role of a do-gooder. In terms of character, he's reminiscent of Sam Coe from Starfield. Preston wants you to always come to the aid of others, not refuse requests from those who ask. For example, you can't steal or commit any other immoral acts. If you're comfortable with this style of play, you won't have any problems. Otherwise, you'll quickly want to get rid of your companion.

Solar Powered

Each level of the Solar Powered perk provides useful buffs. At level 1, you get +2 to Strength and Endurance. At level 2, the character starts gradually neutralizing radiation received. And at the final level, sunlight will constantly regenerate your health. It can be used as another alternative healing method.

Similar to Rooted, the perk has a condition. It only works at specific times, namely: from 6 AM to 6 PM. The first two levels of the perk are a guaranteed powerhouse that significantly strengthens your character. At level 2, the likelihood of dying from radiation exposure is extremely low. However, the third level is questionable - it can be replaced by the previously mentioned Lifegiver, which is stronger and more convenient in terms of survivability.

Nerd Rage

Nerd Rage is another versatile perk. The only exceptions might be characters specializing in close combat. To activate the perk, the character needs 10 intelligence.

When the nerd's health drops to 20% or below, their strength and damage resistance increase by +20. At the final level of the perk, damage dealt increases by a whopping 40% - a huge boost.

During perk activation, time slows down. This is very useful during gunfights, but it becomes a problem for close combat because you'll have to run to the enemy literally in slow motion. Is it convenient? Not really.

Ninja

The Ninja ability is essential for all snipers and players who enjoy killing in stealth mode. At the final level of the perk, damage from stealth attacks in ranged combat increases by 3.5 times, and in close combat - by 10 times.

We recommend leveling up the Sneak ability alongside Ninja, which increases your stealth.

Chemist

The Chemist ability increases the effects of all drugs by 50% at level 1. It's an excellent choice for those who like to buff their character and apply various effects. And at the final level of the perk, the duration of drug effects is increased by 200%. That's almost three times longer than usual.

The power of this ability lies in the fact that there are drugs in the game whose increased duration allows you to kill everything around you. A great example is Jet, which slows down time.

Blitz

The Blitz perk reduces the distance of melee attacks in V.A.T.S. mode. At level 2, not only does the distance increase, but also the damage - approximately 2.5 times. The farther the distance between the character and the enemy, the harder you'll hit.

Moreover, after the first attack in V.A.T.S., all subsequent attacks in the same mode will deal as much damage as the first attack when Blitz was activated. In simpler terms, the character will always strike as if hitting from maximum distance. And this, again, is a huge number.

Concentrated Fire

The Concentrated Fire ability increases weapon accuracy and perception. In other words, if you max out the perk, you'll be able to attack in V.A.T.S. mode and hit the enemy with any weapon from any distance, even if the chances are extremely low. At level 3 of the perk, the chance to hit increases by 20% with each shot.

Lone Wanderer

We've come to the most imbalanced perk in Fallout 4 - Lone Wanderer. It's suitable for players who prefer to play without companions and travel alone. For adventures without a companion, at level 1 of the perk, you'll receive 15% less damage, and the maximum carry weight will increase by +50. At level 2, the bonus doubles: received damage decreases by 30%, carry weight increases by 100. And at level 3, the hero's damage increases by +25% with any weapon. At level 4, for traveling without a companion, you'll receive 25 additional action points.

The abilities at each level of the perk are already imbalanced on their own. And together, they make your character much stronger simply because you don't take anyone with you. It's worth noting that quite a few players prefer to play this way.

But there's one more pleasant fact. You can't take companions with you, but there's one exception - Dogmeat. Yes, a very pleasant fluffy exception. Moreover, it always keeps silent and won't judge you for any choice. What could be better?

We've listed all the imbalanced abilities in Fallout 4. Perhaps you didn't even know about some of them or didn't fully understand how the perk works. We hope the material was helpful. Enjoy your game!