Armor is the basic source of protection inFallout 76, worn as distinct pieces over underarmor and under cosmetic armor and apparel, such as outfits and headwear. All armor is available as distinct sets, with five wearable pieces, different resistances and optional additional effects.
Armor in Fallout 76 consists of 5 pieces - arms, legs and chest piece. All types of body armor provide Damage Resistance and Energy Resistance in varying measures. Most can be modified with lead lining to also provide some Radiation Resistance and some armor sets, like robot, marine or trapper armor, provide Radiation Resistance without the need for additional modification. Arctic marine armor is the only set in the game to provide Cryo Resistance.
Currently, there is no armor or a mod in the game providing Poison Resistance. The only way to obtain this type of resistance is either by equipping the Funky Duds legendary perk or by getting an armor piece with the Poisoner's second-star legendary effect.
Legendary effects
Main article: Fallout 76 legendary armor effects
All body armor pieces can be obtained with legendary effects. Events and legendary creatures (enemies with the "legendary" name and/or stars next to their name) have a chance to drop a piece of legendary armor. These cannot be scrapped and can only be exchanged at a legendary exchange machine for legendary scrip.
- Solar, thorn and Secret Service armor are always crafted with legendary effects.
- Arctic marine, botsmith, Brotherhood recon, covert and Secret Service armor pieces randomly drop only after learning the associated plans.
- Solar and thorn armor cannot drop from legendary enemies nor be awarded as a reward (can only be crafted).
- Solar and thorn armor sets have unique set bonuses.
- Covert scout armor pieces provide sneak bonuses.
- Solar and thorn armor cannot drop with the Weightless legendary effect.
Perks
These perks affect armor crafting and performance:
- Armorer: Allows higher tier mods to be crafted once learned, higher ranks also reduce crafting costs by 50% and add 25 durability.
- Fix It Good: Armor pieces may be over-repaired up to 200%.
- White Knight: Armor pieces break up to 60% slower and are cheaper to repair by the same percentage.
- Lucky Break: 0.3% chance per hit for armor to be repaired (up to 90x the condition lost).
The following generic crafting perks apply to armor pieces:
- Scrapper: Increases amounts of resources gained when scrapping armor.
- Super Duper: Up to 30% for double the crafting results. Does not apply to the Secret Service, Brotherhood recon, solar or thorn armor sets.
The following legendary perks affect armor:
- Funky Duds: A full set of marching armor (five pieces, headwear not needed) confers between +50 and +200 Poison Resistance.
- Sizzling Style: A full set of matching armor (five pieces, headwear not needed) confers between +50 and +200 Fire Resistance.
Crafting
Most armor can be crafted after learning the associated plans. Armor plans are sold by vendors, can be awarded after completing events, quests, and Daily Ops, or can be found laying in the world. Leather armor is known by default. Wood, urban scout, and forest scout armor cannot be crafted.
Secret Service armor is always crafted at the highest possible level, but it is possible to choose the level of the crafted piece on other armor sets. Some armor sets (robot, leather, combat, and raider) can be crafted at one of three possible weight classes (light, sturdy, heavy), but they cannot be changed after crafting.
With rank 2 of the Armorer perk, it is possible to reduce the cost of crafting armor by 25%, while at rank 3 it provides 25 more durability.
The length of the durability bar of the armor is affected by the player's Intelligence stat, while the Luck stat determines how much it is filled. Armor pieces are crafted as non-legendary pieces, unless crafting the solar and thorn armor, which come with 3-star effects, or Secret Service armor with up to 3 random legendary effects.
Modifications
Main article: Fallout 76 armor mods
All armor pieces come with four modification slots: legendary effects, material, miscellaneous, and paint. The first three are functional modifications, while the latter is a cosmetic slot, altering the appearance of the armor only. Mods in the materials slot always provide a bonus to resistances. The miscellaneous modifications provide additional non-resistance effects to the armor, such as increased carry weight, AP regeneration rate, reduced damage from explosions, reduced armor weight, etc. Paint mods change the appearance and do not provide any bonuses aside from visuals. Paints are unlocked via the Atomic Shop, seasons, quests, or community event challenges. Some armor sets can have modifications that change the look of the armor, but applying a paint scheme overwrites these changes.
Mods are learned either by scrapping any piece of the armor set or by finding the appropriate plan. The chance to learn a modification by scrapping is a fixed percentage-based chance and cannot be increased with perks or stats. Any mod that has an associated plan available cannot be learned by scrapping and vice-versa. In lieu of crafting, mods can also be applied by finding or buying loose mods across the game world. All Enclave scout armor variants can only be modified with loose mods purchased at the Whitespring bunker from a MODUS terminal.
Each armor set has its own set of mods and they have to be unlocked independently of every other set. For example, unlocking a modification for combat armor does not grant the ability to modify leather armor with the same modification. Arms, legs and torso have their own respective mods and each has to be unlocked separately, but they can be unlocked by scrapping any armor piece (for example, by scrapping a leather arm it is possible to learn a mod for a leather leg, however this mod cannot be applied to arms or torso as it is a leg-specific mod, despite the learn method). The level or class of the armor piece is not relevant to the type of mods learned or the chance to do so. When crafting armor pieces for the sole purpose of scrapping to learn mods, craft the level and piece with the lowest crafting costs.
There are a few exceptions:
- Marine armor and Arctic marine armor share modifications.
- All scout armor sets share modifications (covert, forest, urban, solar and thorn).
- Botsmith and robot armor share modifications.
Finally, some armor modifications require the equipping of the Armorer perk card as a requirement for crafting. There is no way to reduce the cost of modding armor pieces.
Scrapping
Scrapping armor provides junk. Mods applied to the armor provide additional junk. Having the Scrapper perk equipped with high Intelligence will increase the junk yield.
Scrapping also has a chance to unlock mods for the associated armor set. When scrapping a piece of armor, the game first creates a list of all unlearned mods for that set that can be learned by scrapping. It then rolls a random percent for each mod in the list. If that number is lower than the 'scrap learn chance' value set on the mod, it is unlocked, up to a limit of 1 unlock per armor piece scrapped. As a result, as fewer and fewer mods remain to be unlocked, the lower the chances are of having a hit on one of the remaining mods and unlocking it.
As the only reliable source of damage resistance in the game, choosing the right armor set determines the player character's life expectancy. Armor can be crafted at various levels, with the maximum values reached at levels 45 and 50. A player can only equip armor that has a level equal to or lower than their current level.
Before perks and legendary effects are applied, the following armor sets provide the greatest amounts of protection or have other notable properties.
- Wood armor is very light but provides the least Damage and Energy Resistance. It cannot be crafted. Its unique Shrouded mod makes it even lighter, increases stealth and a full set increases sneaking speed by +125%.
- Brotherhood recon armor as a full set provides the greatest amount of Damage Resistance, a good amount of Energy Resistance, and the second-best amount of Radiation Resistance. It can also be modded with a jetpack.
- Civil Engineer armor as a full set provides the greatest amount of Energy Resistance with a decent amount of Damage Resistance and Radiation Resistance, as well as a full set bonus that slows down weapon degradation by 35% and gives the user a 10% chance to do 150 fire damage over time to melee attackers. It can also be fitted with a jetpack.
- Secret Service armor as a full set provides the second-best amount of Damage Resistance, second-best amount of Energy Resistance, and the most Radiation Resistance. It can also be modded with a jetpack.
- Arctic marine armor as a full set is the only set providing Cryo Resistance, but all other resistances are inferior to most late game armor sets.
The remaining sets typically have a specific focus:
- Trapper armor and marine armor have low Damage and Energy Resistance, but provide some Radiation Resistance.
- Metal armor focuses on conventional damage, providing high Damage and low Energy Resistance.
- Leather armor is the opposite of metal armor, providing high Energy and low Damage Resistance.
- Enclave scout armor, in both forest and urban paint schemes, provides middling Damage and Energy Resistance, but has several unique variants that provide additional bonuses:
- Covert scout armor provides a +25% sneaking bonus as a full set.
- Solar armor grants regeneration to the whole team when nearby.
- Thorn armor grants a bonus to sneak and adds bleeding damage when attacking and causes bleeding damage to the aggressor when attacked.
Arctic marine armor
| Arctic marine armor has a similar resistance to Marine armor, but it provides additional Cryo Resistance. It's the only armor set in the game with this resist type. |
Botsmith armor
| This armor set has higher Radiation Resistance than the majority of armor sets in the game, but has a bit lower Energy Resistance. It's a balanced armor set, almost as good as Secret Service or Brotherhood armor sets. |
Brotherhood recon armor
| Brotherhood recon armor can be modified with a jet pack. It's similar to Secret Service armor. Provides more ballistic Damage Resistance than Secret Service but less Energy and Rad protection. |
Civil Engineer armor
| Civil Engineer armor offers average damage resistance, as well as good energy and radiation resistance. A complete set of this armor adds a 10% chance to deal 150 Fire damage overtime to melee attackers; additionally, all weapons will break 35% slower than normal. |
Combat armor
| Combat armor is a strong armor set that provides balanced Damage Resistance and Energy Resistance. It requires at least level 20 to equip or craft. The helmet, like all headwear, provides no damage reduction. |
Covert scout armor
| Each piece of the covert armor comes with an integrated sneak bonus, the only exception is the mask. |
Forest scout armor
| Forest scout armor cannot be crafted; the armor and its modifications can be acquired from MODUS and Enclave events. The forest scout mask is a rare drop from events in the Savage Divide. Scout armor provides a balance between Damage and Energy Resistance with a slight emphasis on Damage Resistance. It is similar to, but provides somewhat less Energy Resistance than, similarly-leveled combat armor. Stats are exactly the same like Urban scout armor. |
Leather armor
| Leather armor provides the highest Energy Resistance of all body armors, but has inferior Damage Resistance when compared to most other armor types. It appears to be crafted from various leather patches and straps. |
Marine armor
| Marine armor provides a balance of Damage, Energy and Radiation Resistance with an emphasis on Damage Resistance. It has better Damage and Energy Resistance but somewhat less Radiation Resistance than trapper armor. |
Metal armor
| Metal armor serves as the counterpart to leather armor. Crafted from various metal parts, it provides the highest Damage Resistance of all body armors but has the lowest Energy Resistance. |
Raider armor
| Raider armor is a commonly found armor, crudely crafted from various metal plates and bars. It provides good Damage Resistance and relatively weak Energy Resistance, with somewhat less Damage Resistance and slightly more Energy Resistance than metal armor. |
Robot armor
| Robot armor provides a balance of Damage and Energy Resistance with additional Radiation Resistance. It's a middle-of-the-road armor with less Damage and Energy Resistance than combat armor and less Radiation Resistance than trapper armor. |
Secret Service armor
| Secret Service armor allows modifying the chest piece with a jet pack mod. The armor pieces cannot be dropped, sold or traded, but they can be exchanged for legendary scrip at a legendary exchange machine. |
Solar armor
| Solar armor provides the same defense as urban or forest scout armor, but it always comes with three legendary effects and unique healing set bonus. |
Thorn armor
| Thorn armor provides the same defense as urban or forest scout armor, but it always comes with three legendary effects and unique bleeding set bonus. |
Trapper armor
| Trapper armor seems to be crafted mainly from old truck tires and various metal parts, held together by screws and straps. It can be made after acquiring plans scattered throughout Appalachia, with the lowest level initially craftable being level 15. Trapper armor provides the highest Radiation Resistance of all body armor types, along with medium Damage Resistance and low Energy Resistance. |
Urban scout armor
| Urban scout armor cannot be crafted; the armor and its modifications can be acquired from MODUS and Enclave events. The urban scout mask is a rare drop from events in the Savage Divide. Scout armor provides a balance between Damage and Energy Resistance with a slight emphasis on Damage Resistance. It is similar to, but provides somewhat less Energy Resistance than, similarly-leveled combat armor. Stats are exactly the same like forest scout armor. |
Wood armor
| Wood armor has been crudely constructed from large pieces of tree bark tied together with rope. Rusty tin cans are affixed to the armor as if to act as makeshift storage compartments. Clusters of dry lichen still remain on the bark used to make the exterior of the armor. Wood armor is very light and provides some Damage Resistance and very little Energy Resistance. It cannot be crafted. Its unique Shrouded mod makes it even lighter and adds various sneak-related bonuses. |
Some armor pieces come with an unique name and pre-attached mods or legendary effects. They cannot be re-rolled using legendary crafting feature.
Last Bastion
| Last Bastion is an unique urban scout armor chest piece. It comes pre-modded with BioCommMesh and padded modifications. It also provides an unique gun accuracy effect. |
Silver Lining
| Silver Lining is an unique leather armor chest. It comes pre-modded with pocketed modification and legendary effect +1 Endurance. |
Stand Fast
| Stand Fast is an unique combat armor chest. It comes pre-modded with pocketed and shadowed mods. It also provides an improved sneaking legendary effect. |
Trail Warden
| Trail Warden is an unique metal armor chest. It comes pre-modded with lead lined and lighter build modifications. It also provides a legendary effect +1 Perception. |
