Fallout 4: Best Legendary Armor Effects (2024)

When wandering around the Wasteland in Fallout 4, players will occasionally come across Legendary enemies that will be marked with a star icon next to their name. They're tougher than normal enemies, but the loot they drop can be really useful, if not valuable to those who want to sell whatever they drop. When looting a Legendary enemy, players are sure to find a weapon or armor piece that will also have a star next to it. This marks an item that has a Legendary effect on it.

These effects are generated from an existing pool of perks that can vary when it comes to how useful they are. While most people will be happy to see the majority of legendary armor effects that can appear in the game, some effects are bound to be more useful than others. Players will be glad to see how much more effective they are in the game with this legendary armor on, making every piece a joy to attain after a tough battle with larger-than-life enemies.

Updated June 8, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: Fallout 4's loot system encourages players to explore and defeat powerful enemies to attain legendary equipment. Unlike regular pieces of armor that provide a base defense boost, these legendary armor sets come paired with effects that are a lot of fun to mess around with.

That being said, some legendary effects are more useful than others and make a world of difference for players who tailor their playstyle around these armor effects.

1 Assassin

Reduces Damage From Humans By 15%

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

While Fallout 4 is a game full of varied enemies, there's no denying that a major chunk of enemies in the game whom players need to deal with are humans. Whether they be raiders, security, faction members, or anything else along the same lines, players must make it a point to protect themselves from these attacks if players don't want to be overwhelmed.

For these players, any legendary armor with the Assassin effect does a great job of mitigating the damage that players incur during these combat scenarios. With this additional protection, players can easily tank through most battles and barrel through opponents with their attacks.

2 Quantum

Increases Action Point Refresh Speed With The Full Power Armor Set

• Applicable to: Quantum X-01 Power Armor

The Quantum X-01 Power Armor is one of the best suits of armor that players can get in the game. Given how much fun it already is to use Power Armor in the game, it's easy to see why specialized Power Armor suits like this one are great to use.

The entire set gives players the Quantum perk, which increases the speed at which Action Points are regained. This lets players move around in this armor without feeling too weighed down, with VATS getting a great bonus too.

3 Cavalier

Reduces Damage By 15% While Blocking Or Sprinting

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

Running around to hit foes is a great way to make Fallout 4's combat system more fast-paced yet engaging at the same time. This is made even easier with the Destroyer armor set.

The left arm has the Cavalier's perk, which reduces damage while blocking or sprinting by 15%. It's not the most mind-blowing perk around, but players who want to opt for a great run-and-gun build will have a great time with this particular perk.

4 Cryogenic

10% Chance To Freeze Melee Attackers Once Every 20 Seconds

• Applicable to: Chest

Freezing enemies in their tracks is pretty satisfying in Fallout 4. With the Cryogenic perk, this effect can be naturally triggered by the player with little to no effort from their end!

Melee attackers who make the mistake of mobbing the player suffer a 10% chance of being frozen with every hit. Its cooldown lasts for 20 seconds but the overall novelty of this perk more than makes up for its downsides.

5 Duelist

10% Chance To Disarm Melee Attacker On Hit

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

Guns are a huge part of Fallout 4's combat, with the majority of players using the many guns present in this game to riddle their enemies with bullets. While enemies that only attack in melee range can be easily disposed of with this method, they can still close the distance and hit for high damage with their powerful weapons.

With the Duelist's perk, players have a 10% disarm melee enemies simply by shooting them. It's a simple perk that will always be beneficial when triggered, although it might not be the most reliable perk in the game to make a build around.

6 Incendiary

30% Chance To Ignite Melee Attackers Once Every 20 Seconds

• Applicable to: Chest

Watching enemies burst into flames in Fallout 4 is almost always amusing. Players who love burning their enemies to a crisp can trigger this effect more frequently with the Incendiary perk.

This perk gives players a 30% chance to burn enemies that use melee attacks, sporting a cooldown of 20 seconds. The higher percentage of success with this perk is what makes it stand a cut above the rest of its contemporaries.

7 Almost Unbreakable

Quadruples Durability

• Applicable to: Tessa's Fist

The Power Armor is easily one of the most exciting aspects of any Fallout title. This fact makes it all the more painful to witness these powerful suits of armor being rendered useless after their durability is brought down all the way to zero.

This is where the Almost Unbreakable Legendary armor effect could come into the picture since it quadruples the durability of a Power Armor piece. Unfortunately, this perk is only reserved for Tessa's Fist, which makes this perk rather useless in the long haul.

8 Safecracker

Makes Lockpicking Easier By Increasing The Sweet Spot

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

This modifier can make easy locks even easier to pick, and harder locks a bit more bearable. The Safecracker's modifier can help the player when they're wearing whatever piece of Legendary armor has this name because it widens the pickable areas in a lock.

If players have a difficult time picking locks that are Very Hard, Hard, or even Average, this modifier can make all the other levels seem easier and the Very Hard level seem nonexistent. Some players might not feel like they have too much trouble picking any lock, but everyone is bound to break a bobby pin every once in a while, and this modifier can help save their stash.

9 Low Weight

Carry Weight Of Said Item Is Lower

• Applicable to: Power Armor

Unfortunately, the Low Weight modifier is only on power armor pieces, but that still makes it incredibly useful for players who always want to have power armor ready to use.

The Low Weight modifier is pretty self-explanatory. It decreases the weight of the power armor piece so it won't take up so much space in the player's inventory. While it would be nice if this modifier could also be used on regular armor pieces, it does make the most sense to put it on power armor, since it can be a pain to carry the armor around when it weighs so much.

10 Punishing

Reflects 10% Of Melee Damage Back Onto The Attacker

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

It can be really annoying when fighting a group of enemies, and some of them are shooting while others are attacking with melee weapons. Well, the Punishing modifier can help defend players from these attacks a bit.

When wearing armor with this effect on it, enemies that hit the player with melee attacks will have 10% of that damage put back on them. If players stack this effect with more armor that has the same Punishing modifier, it can start to do some serious damage to enemies that try to kill them with melee weapons.

11 Diver Suit

Breathe Under Water And Stay Protected From Radiation

• Applicable to: Rescue diver suit

The Diver Suit effect is easily one of the best Fallout 4 Legendary armor effects in the entire game. Its only drawback is that this Legendary effect is limited to the Rescue Diver Suit, but that's not really a big deal if players use this suit in appropriate situations.

Obviously enough, the Diver Suit helps players breathe underwater without any restrictions. However, it also protects them from radiation, which is a great bonus as well!

12 Auto Stim

Automatically Use A Stimpak When Hit Under 25% Health Once Every 60 Seconds

• Applicable to: Chest

Stimpacks are essential to ensure that players survive the trials and tribulations of the Commonwealth. That being said, there are times when the player is so invested in the heat of battle that they might forget to track their health.

To ensure that this negligence doesn't lead to a player's demise, they can opt for any Legendary Armor with the Auto Stim effect. It ensures that the health of players is topped up by automatically applying a stimpack whenever their HP drops below 20% once every 60 seconds.

13 Grognak's Loincloth

Increases Strength And Melee Damage

• Applicable to: Grognak costume and wildman rags

The Grognak's Loincloth is easily one of the best Fallout 4 Legendary armor effects, even if most players won't really get the opportunity to use it all that often. After all, this effect is reserved only for the Grognak costume and wildman rags.

This effect increases the strength and melee damage of the players by a considerable margin. It's a shame that these effects are limited to only two pieces of equipment, otherwise, more people would've realized the massive benefits of such a helpful perk.

14 Acrobat

Reduces Falling Damage By 50% (100% If Two Items Are Equipped)

• Applicable to: Legs

Sometimes, the easiest way to leave a building, structure, or airship might be to jump. At least, that is until players remember that there's a lot of fall damage in Fallout 4. For players that want to just jump to the Wasteland below instead of running downstairs in a building again, the Acrobat modifier works wonders.

Using one armor piece that has the Acrobat modifier will only reduce fall damage by 50%. While that might be nice, the best effect is to wear two pieces of armor with the Acrobat modifier, which will completely prevent fall damage.

15 V.A.T.S. Enhanced

10% Reduction In Action Point Cost In V.A.T.S.

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

At first glance, this modifier might seem like it doesn't do much to help the player. When an armor piece with V.A.T.S Enhanced is equipped, it reduces the amount of AP it costs to use V.A.T.S by 10%.

However, this effect can actually be stacked if players wear multiple pieces of armor that have this same modifier on them. With this in mind, players would be able to use V.A.T.S. a lot more with their legendary armor on, and they have a bit more control over how much AP is used.

16 Powered

Increases Action Point Refresh Speed

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

In the same vein as improving AP usage, look for the Powered modifier for even more help. Powered armor lets players get AP back even faster than normal, so V.A.T.S. can be used more, or if they can run more, which is always good to have when fans need to get away from tough enemies.

Players can make a great combination of multiple armor pieces if they stack V.A.T.S. Enhanced armor and throw in some Powered armor pieces as well. The Powered modifier can also appear on any kind of armor, whether it's regular armor or pieces of power armor.

17 Cloaking

Being Hit By A Melee Attack Generates A Stealth Field Once Every 60 Seconds

• Applicable to: Chest

Players who prefer to go through the game stealthily would obviously be frustrated every single time they get spotted in Fallout 4. However, with the Cloaking mod, most players can get a solitary moment of respite.

This Legendary armor effect generates a Stealth Field when the player is hit with a melee attack once every 60 seconds. It's a great way to get back into stealth mode and takedown opponents from the shadows once again without any major repercussions.

18 Chameleon

Enemies Have A Harder Time Detecting Players When Not Moving In Stealth

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

For those who prefer to sneak around instead of running in guns blazing, Chameleon armor pieces can come in handy. Any Fallout 4 Legendary armor with this effect makes it so that enemies can't see the player as easily when players sneak around.

Even for players who don't like to sneak a lot, this can still come in handy for instances when sneaking might be a better option. This can help to make up for lower sneak levels as well if players haven't put as many skill points into sneak as they might've liked.

19 Fortifying

+1 Strength & Endurance

• Applicable to: Chest, Arms, Legs

Here's a great modifier to stack as much as one can. The Fortifying effect increases both the Strength and Endurance stats by 1 point. That means players can carry more, do more damage with melee weapons, run longer, and have more HP.

A single stat point might not seem like a lot, but it can make a big difference. If players aren't satisfied with the effects from 1 point, they can equip even more Fortifying armor pieces for even more benefits. Players will be stronger, tougher to kill, and more powerful in battle.

20 Herbalist

+25 Poison Resistance

• Applicable to: Any body part

There are plenty of creatures in the Wasteland that can inject players with poison. While it might not kill them right away, it can still take a turn for the battle as the player's health depletes more than it would in a normal battle.

This is where the Herbalist modifier can help. This gives the effect of making players more resistant to poison by 25 points. If players find themselves in an area with lots of poisonous creatures, it wouldn't be a bad idea to equip some armor that will help to keep them safe from the poison damage.