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We rank the best and worst consumable Chems in Fallout 4, boosting damage, damage reduction, healing, and stats in our Tier List guide.
In Fallout 4, chems are consumable items that temporarily boost your character’s stats and abilities. They can enhance combat performance, increase survivability, and assist with gameplay mechanics. Chems can be consumed via your Pip-boy or favorites menu for quick use during combat. Each chem grants a temporary boost, though it comes with a risk of becoming addicted. Once addicted, players will suffer penalties for their stats, damage received, and others, which can be cured by visiting a doctor. Chems can also be crafted at a Chemistry Station with the Chemist perk, giving players the edge in combat and conversations!
This begs the question, what makes a chem better or worse than the others? Availability, impact in combat, and utility in dialogue make a great chem versus a mediocre one. Often, players overlook consumables as a way to increase power. Chems are something you should focus on when you have higher difficulty setting in Fallout 4, especially survival mode. This tier list prioritizes chems based on their overall effectiveness in combat and general utility within the game. Chems that provide multiple benefits or significantly enhance combat performance are ranked higher, while those with situational or less impactful effects are ranked lower.
Chems Tier List – Fallout 4
Psycho Jet is the best chem in Fallout 4 because it slows time, increases damage, reduces damage taken, and is widely available, ranking S+ Tier. The most versatile chem is X-Cell, boosting your SPECIAL Stats by 2. Bufftats is a great way to increase your accuracy and strength for 8 minutes, while Med-X reduces damage for 5 minutes. Every player will need Stimpaks to heal and RadAway to remove radiation. Below, we walk you through the most critical chems in Fallout 4 and how to use them.
Here is the tier list for the Chems found in Fallout 4 ranked best to worst:
- S Tier – Psycho Jet, X-Cell
- A Tier – Med-X, Bufftats
- B Tier – Stimpak, Jet
- C Tier – RadAway
- D Tier – Daytripper
Related:
Daytripper (D Tier)
Daytripper Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +3 Luck, +3 Charisma, -2 Strength
- Addiction: 35% chance of being addicted, -1 Luck, -1 Charisma
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 40 caps
- Console ID: 00150729
- Craftable: No
- Found: Concord Speakeasy
Day Tripper’s effects are more geared towards enhancing dialogue and improving critical hit chances. It is helpful for social interactions and critical builds like the Gunslinger, who wields Pistols with high Luck SPECIAL stat. The increase in Charisma is also helpful when trading, bartering, or dealing with NPCs. Therefore, you can haul many sellable items to your favorite vendor, pop Daytripper, and sell! You can find the Daytripper throughout the Wastelands and should save them for essential dialogue events.
The weakness of the Daytripper is that it lowers your strength by 2. Lower strength hurts when you play a melee build or hauling junk to a vendor. Moreover, Daytripper cannot be crafted, which prevents it from being used repeatedly. However, chems and consumable items that give you a temporary stat boost to Charisma always come in handy for selling and trading, and therefore, we rank it a D Tier on our best chems list in Fallout 4.
RadAway (C Tier)
RadAway Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: -300 Radiation adds fatigue, hunger, and suppresses immunity (Survival mode)
- Addiction: None
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 80 caps
- Console ID: 00023742
- Craftable: Yes
- Found: Sanctuary Hills
Players will be dealing with the Radiation mechanic throughout Fallout 4. Encountering specific environments, monsters, and items will increase your Rads, which can reduce your max health or kill you outright. The chem RadAway is vital for managing radiation by immediately lowering your radiation total by -300. Another benefit to RadAway is that they can be crafted throughout Fallout 4, making it easy to keep a few on hand when removing radiation. The Medic Perk will also increase the amount of radiation removed.
The downside to RadAway is that there are other mechanics to avoid radiation. Specifically, Power Armor almost eliminates nearly all radiation. At higher levels, you can play entirely in Power Armor with a Nuclear physicist perk from intelligence. Moreover, the Rad-X chem helps mitigate the effects by granting +100 resistance. The last weakness of RadAway is playing on survival mode; the use of RadAway will trigger Fatigue and hunger and suppress immunity, making infections more likely. RadAway is situational, and the lack of combat benefits makes it less impactful than other chems.
To craft RadAway, visit a Chemistry Station and add 2x Antispectic, 3x Glowing Fungus, 1x Plastic, and 1x Purified Water. Combining these four items will give you one RadAway and is a great way to use up random junk throughout your playthrough in Fallout 4.
Jet (B Tier)
Jet Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: Slows time for 10 seconds
- Addiction: 25% chance of being addicted, -1 Agility
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 50 caps
- Console ID: 000366C5
- Craftable: Yes
- Found: sold by vendors
Jet’s time-slowing effect is beneficial for gaining an advantage in combat. While it doesn’t boost damage or defense directly, the ability to slow time can help you avoid damage, line up shots, or use VATS. Jet has a lower percentage chance of becoming addicted than other Chems, and its adverse effects of -1 Agility players can live.
Jet also benefits from the Chemist perk in the Intelligence tree. Chemist extends the duration of chems, and with two points, you can double the duration to 20 seconds. Additional time in Jet often allows you to eliminate multiple targets or heal to be full with Stimpaks. Additionally, Jet is widely available and easy to craft, ranking it B Tier on our list of the best chems in Fallout 4. The only thing that keeps Jet from ranking higher is damage increase or reduction. You can combine Jet with another consumable to produce the best combat chem in Fallout 4.
Combine 2x Fertilizers with 1x Plastic at a Chemistry station to craft a Jet. Ensure you have the Chemistry perk unlocked if you cannot craft Jet. Additionally, Jet can be combined with other chems to create more powerful versions: Buffjet, Jet Fuel, Psycho Jet, and Ultra Jet. We highly recommend buying all the jes you find at vendors for later crafting use.
Stimpak (B+ Tier)
Stimpak Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +30% Hit Points
- Addiction: None
- Weight: 0 (0.1 survival mode)
- Value: 48 caps
- Console ID: 00023736
- Craftable: Yes
- Found: Vault 111
Stimpacks are essential for healing and are widely available. While they don’t offer any combat boosts, their ability to quickly restore health keeps you in the fight. However, the fact that they don’t enhance combat abilities places them in B Tier. Stimpaks do not weigh unless players are playing on Survival mode. Therefore, you can horde and use Stimpak’s liberally to ensure survival.
The Medic Perk is one of the best perks in Fallout 4 because it boosts the healing potential of Stimpaks. Moreover, Medic also increases the RadAway removal of radiation, giving you two benefits.
To craft a Stimpak, visit a Chemisty Station and combine 2x Antiseptic, 1x Blood Pack, and 1x Steel. Stimpaks can also be purchased at vendors and traders throughout the Wastelands and found on bodies of Raiders and Gunners. Trudy at the Drumlin Diner is a good source of purchasable Stimpaks and any doctor in the Commonwealth.
Bufftats (A Tier)
Bufftats Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +3 Strength, +3 Endurance, +3 Perception, +65 Max HP
- Addiction: 35% chance of being addicted, -1 Strength, -1 Endurance
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 75 Caps
- Console ID: 00058AA5
- Craftable: Yes
- Found: Kendall Hosptial
Combining Buffout and Mentats produces Bufftats, boosting your combat effectiveness with enhanced stats and HP. This makes it a well-rounded choice for various situations, particularly when you need survivability and accuracy. The duration of Bufftats is also noticeable, lasting for 8 minutes rather than 15-30 seconds like other chems. Therefore, you can pre-buff before a tough encounter and likely clear out an entire building before your timer runs out. Consider using the Chemist perk if you enjoy this chem because the extra duration will be handy!
While you gain increased HP, strength, endurance, and perception, Bufftats doesn’t grant any damage reduction bonus. Moreover, Bufftats doesn’t grant a specific damage percentage increase like Psycho. The lack of a flat damage increase keeps Bufftats from being higher on our tier list.
To craft a Bufftats chem, combine one Buffout and Mentats. Buffout is not craftable, though Mentats is. To create a Mentats, combine 1x Abraxo Cleaner, 2x Brain Fungus, and 1x Lead. We suggest buying and saving all Buffout to make Bufftats.
Med-X (A+ Tier)
Med-X Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +25 Damage Resistance and +250 Poison Resistance for 5 minutes
- Addiction: 25% chance of being addicted, -1 Agility, -10 Damage Resistance
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 50 Caps
- Console ID: 00033779
- Craftable: No
- Found: Sold by Doctors
The Med-X chem is excellent for increasing your survivability during prolonged battles. While it doesn’t provide an offensive boost, the damage resistance can be crucial for staying alive under challenging encounters. Med-X gives a damage reduction number, not a percentage, and that’s a critical distinction. Damage reduction if Fallout 4 is calculated based on the potential incoming damage rather than a flat amount. This means you will see a high percentage of damage reduction in lower-damage situations. As you progress and incoming damage increases, the percentage granted is lowered.
If your damage resistance is precisely the potential damage done, you negate half of the damage. This total is incredible with armor (power armor), chems, and perks that reduce damage. With Combat Armor, Med-X, and Lone Wanderer, you will take about half damage from most weapons, excluding Missile Launchers.
The downside of Med-X is that it is not craftable and can either be found or bought from Doctors. However, Med-X aids in survivability, which is difficult during some encounters in Fallout 4. We rank Med-X as an A+ Tier for the damage reduction, but with no damage increase, it’s not higher than others on our best chems in Fallout 4 list.
X-Cell (S Tier)
X-Cell Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +2 Strength +2 Perception +2 Endurance +2 Charisma +2 Intelligence +2 Agility +2 Luck
- Addiction: 35% chance of being addicted and -1 Strength -1 Perception -1 Endurance -1 Charisma -1 Intelligence -1 Agility -1 Luck
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 60 Caps
- Console ID: 001506F4
- Craftable: No
- Found: Rarely sold at Diamond City Surplus
The X-Cell chem significantly boosts all your SPECIAL stats, enhancing your overall performance in every aspect, from combat to dialogue. Its versatility and rarity make it extremely valuable in combat and non-combat scenarios. X-Cell gains a plus two to every stat for two minutes, and that’s its strength. However, it’s not craftable and is rarely sold by vendors.
Other consumables increase stats like Beer, Buffout, and others, but none buff every stat, especially for two minutes. The major downside to X-Cell is its rarity, which doesn’t directly increase damage or reduce damage taken. However, it’s the Jack-of-all-trades chem that can be useful in every single scenario in Fallout 4.
Psycho Jet (S+ Tier)
Psycho Jet Stats, Effects, and Additions in Fallout 4:
- Effects: +25% Damage, +35 Damage Resistance, +40 Action Points for 25s, Slow time for 15s,
- Addiction: 35% chance of being addicted, -1 Strength, -10 Damage Resistance
- Weight: 0.1
- Value: 70 Caps
- Console ID: 00058AA8
- Craftable: Yes
- Found: crafted at chemistry stations
The best chem in all of Fallout 4 is Psycho Jet, combining the effects of Psycho and Jet to increase damage, reduce damage taken, and slow time. Moreover, Pyshco Jet also increases Action Points, allowing you to get into VATS for additional shots while the slow effects continue. We rank Psycho Jet as the S+ tier because it’s widely available and the best boost to combat performance in Fallout 4. The downside to Pyscho Jet is the lack of dialogue or persuasion benefits. However, when you are ambushed and drop to lower health, quickly pop one of these to turn the tides of battle.
The best build combination using Psycho Jet is a 10 Intelligence build using Nerd Rage. Nerd Rage will slow down and reduce damage once your health has dropped below 20%. This acts as a mini Psycho Jet, which you can chain for unforgettable comebacks when you die. Assuming you don’t get blasted with a Missile, Nerd Rage and Psycho Jet is the best solution to survival in Fallout 4.
To craft Psycho Jet, combine one jet with one psycho at a chemistry station with the chemist perk unlocked.
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