These are a list of unlockable perks throughout the game, including companion and special perks.
| Unlockable | How to unlock |
|---|
| Perk (lvl) | Description. (Additional requirements) |
| Black Widow/Lady Killer (2) | +10% damage to the opposite sex and unique dialogue options with certain characters. |
| Confirmed Bachelor/Cherchez le Femme (2) | +10% damage to the same sex and unique dialogue options with certain characters. |
| Friend of the Night (2) | Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions. (PE 6, Sneak 30) |
| Heave, Ho! (2) | +50% thrown weapon velocity and range. (ST 5, Explosives 30) |
| Hunter (2) | In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals. (Survival 30) |
| Intense Training (2) | You can put a single point into any of your SPECIAL attributes. |
| Rapid Reload (2) | All of your weapon reloads are 25% faster than normal. (AG 5, Guns 30) |
| Retention (2) | Skill magazines last for 3 real-time minutes. (IN 5) |
| Swift Learner (2) | You gain an additional 10% whenever experience points are earned. (IN 4) |
| Cannibal (4) | When you're in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a human corpse to regain hit points, but lose karma. |
| Comprehension (4) | You gain one additional skill point for reading books and double the skill points for reading magazines. (IN 4) |
| Educated (4) | You gain two more skill points every time you advance in level. (IN 4) |
| Entomologist (4) | You do an additional 50% damage every time you attack a mutated insect. (IN 4, Survival 45) |
| Rad Child (4) | +2 HP per second per 200 rads accumulated. (Survival 70) |
| Run 'n Gun (4) | Halved spread with one-handed ranged weapons while walking or running. (Guns/Energy Weapons 45) |
| Travel Light (4) | While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster. (Survival 45) |
| Bloody Mess (6) | +5% overall damage, more violent death animations. |
| Demolition Expert (6) | +20% damage with explosives (Explosives 50) |
| Ferocious Loyalty (6) | When you drop below 50% HP, companions gain +50 DR. (CH 6) |
| Fortune Finder (6) | Considerably more bottle caps will be found in stockpiles. (LK 5) |
| Gunslinger (6) | +25% accuracy in V.A.T.S. with one-handed weapons. |
| Hand Loader (6) | When using Guns, you are twice as likely to recover cases and hulls. You also have all hand load recipes unlocked at any reloading benches. (Repair 70) |
| Lead Belly (6) | -50% radiation taken from food and water sources. (EN 5) |
| Shotgun Surgeon (6) | When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's Damage Threshold. (Guns 45) |
| The Professional (6) | Your sneak attack criticals with revolvers, pistols, and submachine guns (guns and energy weapons) all inflict an additional 20% damage. (Sneak 70) |
| Toughness (6) | +3 DT permanently. (EN 5) |
| Vigilant Recycler (6) | When using Energy Weapons, you are twice as likely to recover drained ammunition. You also have more efficient recycling recipes available at workbenches. (Science 70) |
| Commando (8) | +25% accuracy in V.A.T.S. with two-handed weapons. |
| Cowboy (8) | +25% damage done by dynamite, hatchets, knives, revolvers, and lever-action guns. (Guns 45, Melee 45) |
| Living Anatomy (8) | Shows health and Damage Threshold of any target. +5% bonus to damage against humans and non-feral ghouls. (Medicine 70) |
| Pack Rat (8) | Items with a weight of two pounds or less now weigh half as much. (IN 5, Barter 70) |
| Quick Draw (8) | Makes weapon equipping and holstering 50% faster. (AG 5) |
| Rad Resistance (8) | +25% radiation resistance permanently. (EN 5, Survival 40) |
| Scrounger (8) | Considerably more ammunition in stockpiles. (LK 5) |
| Stonewall (8) | +5 DT against melee and unarmed attacks and cannot be knocked down during combat. (ST 6, EN 6) |
| Strong Back (8) | +50 Carry Weight. (ST 5, EN 5) |
| Super Slam (8) | All melee (except thrown) and unarmed attacks have a chance of knocking your target down. 15% for Unarmed or one-handed melee, 30% for two-handed melee. (ST 6, Melee 45) |
| Terrifying Presence (8) | Can intimidate foes through dialogue; closing dialogue results in the foe fleeing for 5 seconds. (Speech 70) |
| Here and Now (10) | You instantly level up again. |
| Animal Friend (10) | On 1st rank, hostile animals become friendly. On 2nd rank they come to your aid against enemies except against other animals. (CH 6, Survival 45) |
| Finesse (10) | +5% Critical Chance. |
| Math Wrath (10) | Reduces all AP costs by 10%. (Science 70) |
| Miss Fortune (10) | 10% chance that Miss Fortune will incapacitate a target in V.A.T.S. (LK 6) |
| Mister Sandman (10) | Can instantly kill a sleeping non-player character, and earns bonus XP. (Sneak 60) |
| Mysterious Stranger (10) | 10% chance that the Stranger will finish off a target in V.A.T.S. (LK 6) |
| Nerd Rage! (10) | +15 DT and Strength increased to 10 whenever health is 20% or lower. (IN 5, Science 50) |
| Night Person (10) | +2 Intelligence and +2 Perception between 6:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. |
| Plasma Spaz (10) | AP costs for all plasma weapons are reduced by 20%. (Energy Weapons 70) |
| Fast Metabolism (12) | +20% Hit points restored with stimpaks. |
| Ghastly Scavenger (12) | When you're in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a super mutant or feral ghoul corpse to regain hit points, but lose karma. (Cannibal perk) |
| Hit the Deck (12) | +25 DT against explosives. (Explosives 70) |
| Life Giver (12) | +30 hit points. (EN 6) |
| Long Haul (12) | Being over-encumbered no longer prevents you from using fast travel. (EN 6, Barter 70) |
| Piercing Strike (12) | All your unarmed and melee attacks negate 15 points of DT. (Unarmed 70) |
| Pyromaniac (12) | +50% damage with fire-based weapons. (Explosives 60) |
| Robotics Expert (12) | +25% damage to robots, can shut down robots by sneaking up on them. (Science 50) |
| Silent Running (12) | Running no longer factors into a successful sneak attempt. (AG 6, Sneak 50) |
| Sniper (12) | 25% more likely to hit the target's head in V.A.T.S. (PE 6, AG 6) |
| Splash Damage (12) | Explosives have a 25% larger area of effect. (Explosives 70) |
| Unstoppable Force (12) | x4 normal damage through enemy blocks with melee and unarmed attacks. (ST 7, Melee Weapons 90) |
| Adamantium Skeleton (14) | Damage taken by limbs reduced by 50%. |
| Center of Mass (14) | In V.A.T.S., you do an additional 15% damage when targeting the torso. (Guns 70) |
| Chemist (14) | Chems last twice as long. (Medicine 60) |
| Jury Rigging (14) | Repair any item using a roughly similar item. (Repair 90) |
| Light Step (14) | Floor traps or mines will not be set off. (PE 6, AG 6) |
| Purifier (14) | You do 50% extra damage with melee and unarmed weapons against centaurss, nightstalkers, spore plants, spore carriers, deathclawss and super mutants. |
| Action Boy/Girl (16) | +15 Action Points. (AG 6) |
| Better Criticals (16) | +50% damage with critical hits. (PE 6, LK 6) |
| Chem Resistant (16) | Half as likely to get addicted. (Medicine 60) |
| Meltdown (16) | Foes killed by your Energy Weapons emit a corona of harmful energy. (Energy Weapons 90) |
| Tag! (16) | Fourth "tag" skill: +15 points to that skill. |
| Weapon Handling (16) | Weapon Strength requirements are now 2 points lower than normal for you. (ST < 10) |
| Computer Whiz (18) | Can hack a locked down terminal with four more chances. (IN 7, Science 70) |
| Concentrated Fire (18) | +5% accuracy in V.A.T.S. with every attack on a given body part queued. (Energy Weapons 60, Guns 60) |
| Infiltrator (18) | Can pick a broken lock with one more bobby pin. (PE 7, Lockpick 70) |
| Paralyzing Palm (18) | Can paralyze an enemy for 30 seconds with a V.A.T.S. unarmed attack. (Unarmed 70) |
| Explorer (20) | All locations are marked on your map. |
| Grim Reaper's Sprint (20) | A kill in V.A.T.S. restores 20 AP immediately. |
| Ninja (20) | +15% (15 Luck skill) critical chance with melee and unarmed weapons, +25% damage with melee/unarmed sneak attack criticals. (Melee Weapons 80, Sneak 80) |
| Solar Powered (20) | +2 Strength and +1 HP per second while outside, from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (EN 7) |
| Laser Commander (22) | You do an extra 15% damage and have a 10% extra chance to critically hit with any laser weapon. (Energy Weapons 90) |
| Nuka Chemist (22) | Unlocks special Nuka-Cola recipes at the workbench. (Science 90) |
| Slayer (24) | The speed of all your melee and unarmed attacks is increased by 30%. (AG 7, Unarmed 90) |
| Nerves of Steel (26) | 20% faster AP regeneration. (AG 7) |
| Rad Absorption (28) | -1 Rad every 20 seconds. (EN 7) |
| Companion Perks | - |
| Perk (Companion required) | Description. |
| Better Healing (Arcade Gannon) | Regain +20% more health from all consumable sources. |
| Enhanced Sensors (ED-E) | Detect enemies at a very far range, and enemies that are cloaked can also be targeted in V.A.T.S. |
| Regular/Full Maintenance (Raul Tejada) | The condition of weapons and armor decays 50% slower (75% with Full Maintenance). |
| Scribe Assistant (Veronica) | The player can craft workbench items through Veronica’s dialogue. |
| Search and Mark (Rex) | Chems, firearms & ammunition within a short distance are highlighted when you zoom in. |
| Spotter (Boone) | Hostile targets are highlighted whenever the player is actively aiming. |
| Stealth Girl (Lily) | Increases Stealth Boy duration by 200% while also granting sneak attack criticals an extra 10% damage. |
| Whiskey Rose (Cass) | Consuming whiskey does not have any adverse side effects or addictions, while raising the player's damage threshold. |
| Special Perks | - |
| Perk | Description. (How to unlock) |
| Abominable | Deal +3%/+6%/+10% damage to abominations. (Kill 50/100/150 abominations) |
| Animal Control | Deal +3%/+6%/+10% damage to mutated animals. (Kill 50/100/150 mutated animals) |
| Beautiful Beatdown | AP costs for unarmed attacks are reduced by 10%. (First kill 42 people with unarmed weapons, then inflict 10,000 damage with unarmed weapons) |
| Bug Stomper | Deal +3%/+6%/+10% damage to mutated insects. (Kill 50/100/150 mutated insects) |
| Camel of the Mojave | Water items hydrate and heal you 15% better. (Drink 100 water items) |
| Day Tripper | The effects of addictive Chems last 33% longer. (Use 25 addictive Chems) |
| Dine and Dash | Get option to take Human remains when using Cannibal. (Eat 25 corpses with Cannibal perk) |
| Fast Times | Turbo's effects last +50% longer. (Use turbo 20 times) |
| Free Radical | RadAway's effect is improved +20%. (Use 20 RadAway) |
| Friendly Help | Mysterious Stranger and Miss Fortune are twice as likely to appear in V.A.T.S. (Receive 15 Mysterious Stranger or Miss Fortune visits) |
| Lord Death | Deal an extra +1%/+2%/+4% damage to all enemies. (Kill 200/700/1000 enemies) |
| Machine Head | Deal +3%/+6% damage to robots. (Kill 50/100 robots) |
| Meat of Champions | +1 Luck, Strength, Charisma and Intelligence for 60 seconds each time a corpse is consumed. (Cannibalize Mr. House, Caesar, The King and Aaron Kimball) |
| Melee Hacker | Level 1: +5% melee weapon attack speed. Level 2: +10% melee weapon attack speed. (First kill 125 enemies with melee weapons) |
| Mutant Massacrer | Deal +3%/+6%/+10% damage to super mutants. (Kill 50/100/150 super mutants) |
| Power Armor Training | Ability to wear all power armor variants. (Complete Still in the Dark or For Auld Lang Syne) |
| Set Lasers for Fun | ALL energy weapons gain an extra +2%/+4% chance to get a critical hit. (For one rank, deal 25,000 damage with rifle-grip energy weapons. For another, deal 16,000 damage with pistol-grip energy weapons) |
| Tough Guy | Take 20% less limb damage. (Become crippled 50 times) |
| Unarmed Perks | - |
| Perk | Description. |
| Khan Trick | Perform all Great Khan drug runs. |
| Legion Assault | Talk to Lucius with 50 Unarmed. |
| Ranger Takedown | Talk to Ranger Andy with 30 Speech. |
| Scribe Counter | Put Formal wear or White Glove Society attire into Veronica Santangelo's inventory. |
| Scribe Counter | Put Formal wear or White Glove Society attire into Veronica Santangelo's inventory. |
