With an array of choices to modify your armor in Fallout 4, we wanted to give you the 10 best armor mods and how to use them!
Fallout 4 offers various armor customization options to enhance your gameplay. Whether you’re looking to boost your defense, increase your carrying capacity, or enhance your combat abilities, numerous mods are available for every type of armor. Players will need the Armorer perk in the strength SPECIAL Stat tree to craft modifications to their armor. This guide will cover specific armor modifications that add effects to your armor. Legendary perks, which are random, will not be listed as they drop from legendary monsters. However, you can combine legendary perks with armor mods, making god-tier powerful armor.
With three points in strength, you can unlock the armor workbench. You can increase the type of mods at levels 1, 13, 25, and 39. Armor can be equipped in five places on your body: legs, arms, and chest. Some mods can be equipped on all three types to reduce weight or increase Action Points (AP). With so many mods, what makes one better or worse than the other? The overall impact on combat and utility to help aid your Sole Survivor. Here’s a comprehensive guide to the best armor mods you can apply to the various types of armor in Fallout 4.
Top 10 Best Armor Mods in Fallout 4
BioCommMesh is the best armor modification in Fallout 4 because it acts like the Chemist perk, extending chems by 50%. This gives you an incredible boost in combat when combined with Jet, which slows down time. No other mods besides BioCommMesh gives a drastic performance boost on demand, making it the strongest in Fallout 4. The second best mod is Ultra-Light Build because it lowers weight and increases AP. Ultra-Light Build can be applied to five slots, drastically increasing your AP and carrying weight. Lastly, for Sniper builds, we suggest Stabilized in the arms or Sleek for sneak builds that want to move faster.
Below is a top 10 list of the best armor mods (modifications) in Fallout 4 ranked best to worst:
- BioCommMesh – adds 50% to chems, giving it the best combat boost
- Ultra-Light Build – most versatile lowering weight and increasing AP
- Stabilized – steady scopes for sniping
- Sleek – move faster while sneaking
- Custom Fitted – all around good for lower AP sprinting
- Weighted – best damage for unarmed and melee builds
- Brawling – starter mod for unarmed builds
- Deep Pocketed – helps with carrying weight
- Muffled – reduces detection
- Lighter Build – slight weight reduction and Action Point (AP) gain
Related:
10. Lighter Build
- Effect: Reduces weight (+5 AP).
- Weight: -3.1
- Perk(s) Required: None
- Components:
- Adhesive x3
Cork x4
Fiberglass x5
Rubber x3
- Adhesive x3
- Mod Slot(s): Arm, Leg, Chest
Similar to Ultra-Light Build but less impactful, this mod slightly reduces the weight of your armor and gives a slight boost to your action points, making it a good choice for general mobility improvement. The main benefit of Lighter Build is that it doesn’t require any Armorer perk. Moreover, you can adjust all five slots arms, legs, and chest. Thus, this is for you if you want a well-rounded starter perk and lack the strength armorer crafting perk.
However, the Ultra-Light Build armor modification does a Lighter build but to a greater degree. We recommend investing in the strength stat to get armor for the drastic improvements it can provide. You can always use a perk point or a bobblehead to increase strength, which is easy to reach 3.
9. Muffled
- Effect: Reduces detection from moving.
- Weight: none
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 2
- Components:
- Adhesive x6
Cloth x5
Rubber x7
- Adhesive x6
- Mod Slot(s): Leg
Another excellent mod for stealth builds, Muffled reduces the noise you make while moving, making it harder for enemies to detect you. You’ll want to combine the Muffled armor mod with the Sneak perk in both legs. Sneak is found in the agility tree at rank three and can be progressed at levels 1, 5, 12, 23, and 38. Once you reach 38, when you activate sneak by crouching, you will temporarily turn invisible, and enemies will lose you.
Using perks like Ninja, Mister Sandman, and Sneak is advised if you love stealth and sneak gameplay in Fallout 4. The downside of Muffled is there’s a better mod for sneak builds, and that’s Sleek, which allows for faster movement.
8. Deep Pocketed
- Effect: Improved carrying capacity (+20 Carry Weight).
- Weight: +0.2
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 2
- Components:
- Adhesive x6
Cloth x5
Leather x6
- Adhesive x6
- Mod Slot(s): Chest, Arm, Leg
This mod increases your carrying capacity by 20, allowing you to haul more loot, ammo, and supplies without becoming over-encumbered. The main benefit of this perk is that Fallout 4 can be dreadful when carrying weight and junk hauling, especially when you start the game and want to obtain as much junk as possible for settlement building and modifying weapons and armor. The +20 carrying weight bonus can be applied to all five armor slots. Therefore, you can get a massive boost from hauling endless junk.
If you struggle with this, consider ditching the companion for the Lone Wanderer perk. You can gain 100 lbs extra carrying capacity at rank 2, level 17. Combine this with five slots of Deep Pocketed, and you’ll be hauling tons of stuff. Carrying weight is critical in Survival Mode because ammunition incurs a small weight.
7. Brawling
- Effect: Improves unarmed damage.
- Weight: +0.5
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 1
- Components:
- Adhesive x5
Bone x3
Lead x2
Screw x2
- Adhesive x5
- Mod Slot(s): Arm
This mod boosts your unarmed damage, making you a formidable force in hand-to-hand combat. It pairs well with the Weighted mod for maximum impact. Unarmed builds are limited with weapon choices and mainly use unarmed knucks and punching for damage. However, the benefit is you don’t need ammunition, which is brutal to find early in Fallout 4. Moreover, Brawling can be obtained with only 1 rank in Armorer, giving you an edge early.
If you’re playing an unarmed build, add the Iron Fist perk for increased damage and Rooted for damage reduction playing in close range. We would rank Brawling higher on our Top 10 Armor Modification list in Fallout 4, but Weighted is a better mod for these builds.
6. Weighted
- Effect: Unarmed and melee attacks ignore some of the target’s armor.
- Weight: +0.7
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 4
- Components:
- Adhesive x8
Aluminum x10
Bone x4
Fiberglass x4
- Adhesive x8
- Mod Slot(s): Arm
Perfect for melee builds, this mod allows your unarmed and melee attacks to penetrate through enemy armor more effectively, dealing more damage. Weighted is the best armor mod for melee builds because of this armor-penetrating effect. The downside, however, is that it requires Armorer rank 4, which won’t be available until level 39.
Another benefit of Weighted is it applies to unarmed and melee builds. Moreover, you can add this mod to both arms, radically increasing damage. Using a Super Sledge or other melee weapons, you have some of the most damage possible in Fallout 4. If you take the Big Leagues perk and max it out, you can even do area damage!
5. Custom Fitted
- Effect: Sprinting takes less AP.
- Weight: +0.2
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 3
- Components:
- Adhesive x7
- Leather x8
- Rubber x4
- Spring x5
- Mod Slot(s): Leg
For players who like to move quickly across the wasteland, this mod reduces the AP cost of sprinting, allowing you to cover more ground without depleting your action points too quickly. This mod’s strength is that it applies to nearly all builds in Fallout 4. Sprinting inside and outside combat is used constantly, and the reduction in AP is noticeable.
The Moving Target perk in Agility is perfect for combination with Custom Fitted. Moving Target reduces damage and sprinting costs by 50% when maxed at rank 3. If you love to sprint, use this combination in Fallout 4.
4. Sleek
- Effect: Increased movement speed while sneaking.
- Weight: +0.2
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 4
- Components:
- Adhesive x8
Fiberglass x5
Oil x4
Rubber x10
- Adhesive x8
- Mod Slot(s): Leg
Essential for stealth builds, this mod increases your movement speed while sneaking, making it easier to evade detection and navigate through enemy territory unnoticed. We rank Sleek 4 out of 10 on our best armor modification list in Fallout 4 because not everyone sneaks around. Sleek is a better mod than Muffled because once sneak perk is maxed at higher levels, you will have no trouble avoiding detection.
Moreover, Rank 4 of sneak, at level 23, no longer adversely affects stealth. Therefore, you can run while sneaking and move extremely fast, to avoid detection. You can re-enter stealth to briefly confuse enemies, giving you the ultimate tactical advantage in combat.
3. Stabilized
- Effect: Scoped aiming is more steady.
- Weight: +0.5
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 2
- Components:
- Adhesive x6
- Aluminum x7
- Fiber optics x3
- Spring x4
- Mod Slot(s): Arm
Ideal for sniper weapons, this mod reduces weapon sway while aiming through a scope, making it easier to line up those critical long-distance shots. The Sniper perk, in perception, is one of the strongest in Fallout 4. Sniper rank 2 at level 13 allows you to knock down enemies when attacking. However, the weapon will need to be a semi-automatic rifle with a scope.
This combination allows you to steady your scope with AP outside of VATS and one-shot or knock down the toughest enemies in the game. If you have trouble with aiming, simply enter VATS with high perception for a good chance to land a blow. You can put the shot center mess due to the likelihood of knocking down the target and having ultra-crowd control at your disposal.
2. Ultra-Light Build
- Effect: Greatly reduced weight and increased Action Points bonus (+10 AP).
- Weight: -5.4
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 3
- Components:
- Adhesive x7
- Cork x6
- Fiberglass x8
- Rubber x5
- Mod Slot(s): Arm, Leg, Chest
The second best armor mods on our top 10 list in Fallout 4 is Ultra-Light Build due to its usefulness in every build within Fallout 4. This mod significantly reduces the weight of your armor, making you more agile and less encumbered. The additional +10 AP is crucial for performing more V.A.T.S. attacks or sprinting longer distances.
Another strength of the Ultra-Light Build armor mod is that it can be applied to five armor slots. Players can then decide what’s most important and use this mod in flex positions. An example would be a sniper build, using two armor mod slots for Stabilized, a chest slot for BioCommMesh, and two legs for Ultra-Light Build. This would give you a well-rounded setup with the flexibility needed to customise your build to perfection.
1. BioCommMesh
- Effect: Increases the duration of chems by 50%.
- Weight: +2.3
- Perk(s) Required: Armorer 4, Science! 2
- Components:
- Adhesive x8
- Aluminum x12
- Circuitry x8
- Cloth x6
- Mod Slot(s): Chest
The best overall mod in Fallout 4 for your armor is BioCommMesh because it increases chems duration by 50%. Jet is one of the strongest abundant chem, which slows down time. Jet can single-handedly flip any fight, giving you time to react, aim, think, and heal with medpak. BioCommMesh extends the duration of Jet by 5 seconds, slowing down time for 15 seconds with one Jet!
This effect applies to any chem, which increases charisma, perception, strength, carrying weight, and overall combat proficiency. But there’s one chem to rule them all: Pyscho Jet! When consumed, the user gains +25% Damage, +35 Damage Resistance, +40 Action Points for 25 seconds, and Slow time for 15 seconds. All of these effects are increased by 50%, increasing “stacks” in effectiveness with the Chemist perk.
While some of the other armor mods give you a passive benefit in Fallout 4, nothing competes with the raw power of BioCommMesh. The major downside of this mod is it requires Science rank 2. This won’t be possible for some players, so look for Ultra-Light Build or others to fill in the gaps.
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