Fallout 4: Best Lone Wanderer Build (2024)

Discover the Best Lone Wanderer Build in Fallout 4 and how to create a powerful character with Perks, S.P.E.C.I.A.L., Stats, armor, and weapons.

This build guide has been updated for Game version 1.10.980 on PC andFree Next Gen Updateon PlayStation and Xbox.

Best Lone Wanderer Build in Fallout 4

The Lone Wanderer build in Fallout 4 emphasizes solo gameplay with Dogmeat as your companion. What makes the Lone Wanderer build unique is that the Sole Survivor will have a balanced perk loadout focused on crafting and settlement building while maintaining proficiency in combat. If you enjoy feeling powerful in combat and want to craft and chain settlements together with local leader, this build is for you. You will use rifles at range for damage, allowing Dogmeat to distract enemies. You can build settlements and chain them together to pool resources and craft high-tech mods, weapons, and armor.

However, the downside to the Lone Wanderer is lower health due to sacrificing endurance stat. Thus, playing at range and tactically avoiding close-quarters combat would be best to increase survivability. Additionally, many perks are front-loaded. Thus, the first 20 levels are geared toward unlocking crafting. Your combat power comes in later levels, so this can feel slow to start. But, the pros outweigh the cons, allowing you to travel the wasteland independently of a companion.

Features and Mechanics for Best Lone Wanderer Build in Fallout 4

The following list presents all the essential Lone Wanderer Features and Mechanics in Fallout 4:

• Damage – Ballistic
• Range – 150 meters
• Weapon – Rifle
• S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats
  • Strength – 3
  • Perception – 5
  • Endurance –2
  • Charisma – 6
  • Intelligence – 7
  • Agility – 1
  • Luck –4
• Best Perks – Lone Wanderer, Rifleman, Local Leader, Gun Nut, Science
• Companion – Dogmeat

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats

7 Intelligence and 6 Charisma are the best special stats for the Lone Wanderer build. Intelligence contains most of the best crafting perks like Science, Gun Nut, and Chemist, while Charisma grants you Local Leader and Lone Wanderer. Perception and Luck synergies well together while using VATS and sniping at long range. A 3 in strength is needed to access armorer, increasing your survivability and utility with leather and combat armor. Agility and Endurance won’t be useful for this build, and Perception will be increased to 8 at later levels to gain Sniper Perk.

Below are the best recommended S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats for the Lone Wanderer build in Fallout 4 videogame RPG:

• 3 Strength (S): influences your carrying capacity, melee damage, and the effectiveness of melee weapons.
• 5 Perception (P): affects your accuracy in VATS, the chance of detecting stealthy enemies, and the ability to pick locks and spot traps.
• 2 Endurance (E): It affects your maximum health, radiation resistance, and ability to withstand environmental hazards.
• 6 Charisma (C): influences your success in dialogue options, ability to negotiate prices with vendors, and effectiveness in leading companions.
• 7 Intelligence (I): affects the number of experience points earned, the quality of crafted items, and your effectiveness with terminals.
• 1 Agility (A): It affects your overall movement speed, ability to sneak effectively, and performance in VATS.
• 4 Luck (L): affects critical hit chance, the likelihood of finding valuable items, and the outcome of random events.

Additionally, consider collectingBobbleheadsthroughout your Fallout 4 (FO4) adventure. Bobbleheads are collectible items scattered throughout the game world. Each bobblehead represents a particular attribute or skill, and when collected, it permanently increases your character’s corresponding stat or ability.

Best Perks

Lone Wanderer, Rifleman, Local Leader, and Science are the best perks for the Lone Wanderer build. Lone Wanderer reduces damage, increases damage done, and allows you to carry more weight while not using a companion. This perk does so much that it’s worth forging companions except Dogmeat. Rifles are the best and most abundant weapons in Fallout 4, so the Rifleman perk increases weapon damage. Local Leader is critical to building and syncing many settlements for resource collection. Finally, Science is the best perk for crafting high-end mods later in the game.

Here is the list of the best and recommendedPerks for the Lone Wanderer Build in Fallout 4:

• Lone Wanderer – best damage increase and reduction perk in Fallout 4.
• Rifleman – used to increase damage with Rifles. Make sure your receiver is semi-automatic and the stock is marksman or recoil.
• Local Leader – useful for chaining settlements together and pooling resources.
• Gun Nut – must have mod to increase weapon power.
• Science – allows best crafting mods later in the game.

In Fallout 4, perks are special abilities and bonuses that enhance your character’s skills, combat prowess, and survival capabilities. Perks are acquired by spending perk points earned each time your character levels up. Perks are divided into categories, each corresponding to one of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes. These perks offer a wide range of customization options, allowing players to tailor their characters to suit their preferred playstyles. However, there are no respecs or redoing of Perks, thus your selections are vital to increasing your characters overall power.

Level Progression

The initial start of your character will unlock various utility perks like a scrounger, medic, local leader, and locksmith. Locksmith is more beneficial than Hacker due to the sheer amount of locks vs terminals. Scrounger helps with ammunition at the start of the game, and scrapper, taken later, helps with material collection.

Gun Nut, Armorer, Chemist, and Demolition Expert perks all unlock crafting. Don’t sleep on crafting chems and grenades to offload useless materials into powerful chems. Science will be taken later once you reach higher levels and can craft better weapon mods. We suggest skipping Blacksmithing since this isn’t a melee or unarmed build and it’s useless.

From level 20 forward, you will gain more damage-related perks like Mysterious Stranger and Bloody Mess. Therefore, you should try to shoot in VATS depending on your Action Points (AP). At the end of the leveling progression, we increase perception to 8 for two ranks of Sniper. Ensure you have a semi-automatic rifle with a marksman stock and a scope to activate this perk. You can shoot and knock down monsters, stunning them for free damage. Below is a walkthrough of the leveling progression until level 50.

Level 1 – 10

Here’s a list of the best perks to select from levels 1 to 10 with the Lone Wanderer BuildGuide in Fallout 4:

• Level 1 – None
• Level 2 – Lone Wanderer
• Level 3 – Rifleman
• Level 4 – Locksmith
• Level 5 – Scrounger
• Level 6 – Medic
• Level 7 – Gun Nut
• Level 8 – Armorer
• Level 9 – Rifleman 2
• Level 10 – Local Leader

Level 11 – 20

Here’s a list of the best perks to select from levels 11 to 20 with the Lone Wanderer BuildGuide in Fallout 4:

• Level 11 – Locksmith 2
• Level 12 – Scrounger 2
• Level 13 – Chemist
• Level 14 – Local Leader 2
• Level 15 – Science
• Level 16 – Gun Nut 2
• Level 17 – Lone Wanderer 2
• Level 18 – Locksmith 3
• Level 19 – Rifleman 3
• Level 20 – Medic 2

Level 21 – 30

Here’s a list of the best perks to select from levels 21 to 30 with the Lone Wanderer BuildGuide in Fallout 4:

• Level 21 – Armorer 2
• Level 22 – Bloody Mess
• Level 23 – Demolition Expert
• Level 24 – Save
• Level 25 – Gun Nut 3 + Armorer 3
• Level 26 – Science 2
• Level 27 – Mysterious Stranger
• Level 28 – Science 3
• Level 29 – Bloody Mess 2
• Level 30 – Medic 3

Level 31 – 40

Here’s a list of the best perks to select from levels 31 to 40 with the Lone Wanderer BuildGuide in Fallout 4:

• Level 31 – Rifleman 4
• Level 32 – Mysterious Stranger 2
• Level 33 – Demolition Expert 2
• Level 34 – Scrapper
• Level 35 – Scrapper 2
• Level 36 – Demolition Expert 3
• Level 37 – Demolition Expert 4
• Level 38 – Save
• Level 39 – Gun Nut 4 + Armorer 4
• Level 40 – Lone Wanderer 3

Level 41 – 50

Here’s a list of the best perks to select from levels 41 to 50 with the Lone Wanderer BuildGuide in Fallout 4:

• Level 41 – Science 4
• Level 42 – Bloody Mess 3
• Level 43 – Mysterious Stranger 3
• Level 44 – +1 Perception and Perception Bobblehead
• Level 45 – +1 Perception
• Level 46 – Rifleman 5
• Level 47 – Bloody Mess 4
• Level 48 – Sniper
• Level 49 – Sniper 2
• Level 50 – Medic 4

Gear and Weapons

The best weapon for a Lone Wanderer is theLast Minuteunique Gauss Rifle. Early in the game, look to obtain the Overseer’s Guardian sniper rifle and leather armor. Then, upgrade weapons and combat armor. Below are our favorite gear selections:

Overseer’s Guardian Sniper Rifle– obtained in Vault 81 by vendor Alexis Combes. Vault 81 is west of Diamond City and requires three fusion cores and quest completion to enter. Alternative weapons are Pipe Rifle (early), Hunting Rifle, Combat Rifle, and Gauss Rifle (end game).

Patrolman Sunglasses– you gain passive +1 perception, which can be found at the Cambridge Police Station. You will likely go here during the Paladin Danse quest with the Brotherhood of Steel quest.

Combat Armor– this set of armor gives excellent protection and looks cool! A complete set can be obtained on the dead NPC Sal in Jamaica Plains. The location is southeast of Diamond City and near University Point. Upgrade the legs to Custom Fitted and arms to Stabilized.

Companions

Dogmeat is the best companion for the Lone Wanderer build because he does not negate the Lone Wanderer perk bonuses. With three ranks into Lone Wanderer, you will take 20% less damage, do 25% more damage, and carry 100 more pounds. This is in addition to Dog Meat scrambling for items and distracting enemies.

Dog Meat can be found at the Red Rocket truck stop shortly after the game’s introduction. Moreover, you can gain the Attack Dog companion perk to increase Dogmeat’s affinity (affection) to the maximum. Attack dog increases accuracy in V.A.T.S. against enemies immobilized by dog companions. Unlike other companions, Dog Meat’s affinity is increased through leveling and spending perk points. We highly suggest using Dog Meat whenever possible to gain the most damage and reduce damage using the best Lone Wanderer build.

Looking For More About Fallout 4?

Thank you for reading the Fallout 4: Best Lone Wanderer Build Guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Fallout 4, Enshrouded, ESO, Baldur’s Gate 3, and More. Also, watch me play games onTwitch or visit myYouTubechannel!

• Fallout 4 Guides
• Fallout 4: Builds with Best Perks and Detailed Level Progression
• Fallout 4: The Best 5 Builds You Should Use
• More News and Articles about Fallout 4…