There have been many different character creation systems in the Fallout franchise. At its core, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat system and perks make up the structure of our protagonists. Fallout 76 has a unique, endgame-focused system known as legendary perks.
While not as build-defining as regular perks, these perks open up more options for players by adding additional S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats or providing bonuses based on the player’s weapons or armor.
How to unlock and upgrade legendary perks in Fallout 76
Unlike regular perk cards, legendary perks require significant investment to unlock and upgrade, so care should be taken when deciding which cards to add to your character. Legendary perks become available beginning at level 50 and an additional legendary card slot will be unlocked at the following player levels: 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300.
Legendary perk cards can be upgraded four times using perk points and have an increased cost with each upgrade. Unlike the regular perk cards, these cards don’t have any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. requirements so there isn’t any reason not to fully upgrade them to get their maximum benefits. Here are the costs for upgrading legendary perk cards:
- Level 1: 0 points
- Level 2: 50 points
- Level 3: 100 points
- Level 4: 150 points
Players should be committed to their build before deciding which legendary perks to invest in. Not only are perk points hard to come by, but changing out legendary cards will cost 1 perk point each time. Perk points are required to upgrade each card and at the moment, can only be acquired by:
- Scrapping standard perk cards for 2 perk points per card level.
- 50 perk points can be chosen as a reward in the final pages of the Season rewards.
The best legendary perks in Fallout 76
There are currently 26 legendary perks in Fallout 76 each offering a variety of bonuses to players. Every build requires different bonuses so the best perk for one player might not be useful at all to another. This list will be based on what perks are best for the characters that can use them, with extra consideration for the perks that can fit into any possible build. Let’s start with what perks should be avoided entirely.
- Blood Sacrifice
- Brawling Chemist
- Electric Absorption
- Exploding Palm
- Funky Duds
- Power Armor Reboot
- Retribution
- Sizzling Style
- Survival Shortcut
- What Rads
Due to the high cost and time required to upgrade legendary perks, these cards should be avoided. They either offer redundant bonuses such as generating a chem every 30 minutes, or their bonuses pale in comparison to regular perk cards. Nine times out of 10, it’s much better to simply pick a legendary S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perk card instead of any of these.
15. Power Sprinter
This perk only affects those who are using Power Armor, but it’s very useful for PA builds since many builds in the game utilize V.A.T.S. Keeping your Action Points topped up while still being able to dash around the battlefield will enhance both your offensive and defensive capabilities.
14. Master Infiltrator
While there aren’t any combat benefits with this perk, it’s one of the best quality-of-life perks in Fallout 76. It isn’t recommended to invest in this as your first legendary perk, but it’s a convenient addition to any build.
13. Taking One for the Team
It’s easier than ever to join a team to meet the requirements for this perk. You can either team up with an alt, join somebody’s public team, or create a public team of your own. If you create a public team, you’ll be considered a member of a team for this bonus– even if nobody joins up.
12. Legendary Endurance
Of all of the legendary S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perks, Endurance is the least beneficial to boost. Many of the Endurance perks provide mundane benefits and those that are decent tend to suffer from diminishing returns. Most builds will find more benefits from any of the other S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perks.
11. Legendary Charisma
Most builds consider Charisma to be a “dump stat” and keep it low so that they have more points for other stats. Charisma perks simply aren’t as impactful as those of the other stats. But there are a few perks that can be fit into all builds such as Tenderizer, Lone Wanderer, or Inspirational that justify this card.
10. Legendary Strength
The weapon-specific perks (such as big guns, shotguns, or melee) found in Strength can usually be taken by their respective builds without the need for additional points. But for those who want to take advantage of the quality of life cards such as Strong Back or the perks that reduce the weight of various item types, this card isn’t a bad option. Strength is also an excellent stat on its own since high carry weight is essential in Fallout 76.
9. Hack and Slash
Melee builds don’t get a lot of love, but this perk is by far one of the most impactful for melee characters. Triggering a VATS critical along with this perk will quickly clear most packs of enemies in the game.
8. Collateral Damage/Far-Flung Fireworks
These perks are essentially the same effect but for melee and ranged builds respectively. The explosion effect is a welcome bonus to damage during high-volume events. The 20% chance is deceiving, since in combat it feels more like 40% with how consistent it triggers.
7. Detonation Contagion
While this perk looks very similar to the two above, there’s a reason it is ranked higher. Grenades receive the benefit of most legendary modifiers from your equipped weapon. Because of this, a common speed-farming method is to equip a bloodied or instigating weapon and then toss Nuka grenades to decimate entire instances of enemies. With Detonation Contagion, those grenades cause chain explosions and drastically reduce the farming time in these strategies.
6. Ammo Factory
Another non-combat perk, Ammo Factory offers a significant bonus to ammo crafting. In the endgame when players transition to ultracite ammo, making more ammo from fewer resources is one of the top quality-of-life bonuses in the game. It’s worth noting that this perk stacks multiplicatively with Ammosmith to provide a 450% bonus at max ranks.
5. Legendary Perception
Perception is home to the rifle perk cards which are the most popular builds in Fallout 76. For those builds, an extra five perk points can make a big difference. The only thing holding back this legendary perk card is how perception doesn’t offer much to other types of builds. Concentrated Fire and Grenadier are the only notable perception perks for other builds and can be picked up without investing in this legendary perk.
4. Legendary Luck
Luck is one of the best stats in the game for any build. The stat alone increases the condition of items found along with increasing the critical gain for each attack in VATS. Regardless of the weapon used, any build benefits from the VATS, sneak, and critical effects found in the Luck perk cards. It also contains the best universal damage bonus, Bloody Mess.
3. Follow Through
One of the highest damage increases in Fallout 76, Follow Through is a must for any ranged build. Even if you’re not running a sneak build, most fights can begin from stealth and end within 10 seconds.
2. Legendary Agility
Agility is one of the top S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats for many reasons. It contains staple perks for nearly every build in the game. Gun Fu, Dodgy, and Covert Operative have their place in every meta build. The Agility stat itself also increases the number of Action Points available, making it the most versatile stat in the game.
1. Legendary Intelligence
Power armor and energy weapon users will find most of their respective perks in the Intelligence category. But that’s not why Legendary Intelligence is the number one on this list. The Intelligence stat increases the amount of experience gained from all sources by 2.072% per point. By utilizing buffs and specialized equipment, players can reach over 81 Intelligence, gaining a 167.832% increased experience gain.
Increased experience is an underrated benefit. Leveling up grants you perk cards which as we mentioned before, can be scrapped for perk points. Gaining experience is also the easiest way to increase your Season Pass level. This means that even after you’ve max-ranked every legendary perk card available, you’ll still reap rewards from gaining experience.
That’s why Legendary Intelligence is not only the best legendary perk card, but is also a recommended first choice. Slot it in, rank it up, and you’ll unlock the subsequent legendary card slots much faster than you would have otherwise.
