Overview
This guide will give you the highest SPECIAL possible and 100 in every skill stat.
Starting out: Doc’s House
This guide will give you the highest SPECIAL possible and 100 in every skill stat.
Base stats (Vigor tester machine):
* Don’t set any skill higher than 9, then you will waste the free points that implants give.
* Set Strength to 7 max. You get 3 points for free.
* Perception depends on your gear. Elite Riot Gear gives +2 perception so I never set it higher than 5.
* Set Endurance to 7 (or higher) so you can get all implants later.
* Set Charisma to 1 as its almost useless.
* Set Intelligence to 9. Intelligence gives you more skills points when leveling up so you want it high.
* Set Agility to 8 max.
* Luck depends on your build. I always set luck to 7 as that allows me to reach 10 with implants + the right clothes. Luck is mainly used for gambling and critical chance.
Traits:
Get small frame. It gives you 1+ Agility for very little downsides.
DO NOT PICK FOUR EYES. 1: you can’t wear helmets at all. 2: It doesn’t count when picking perks. Just don’t pick this perk.
And now you’re all set. Go out and start playing. For me I typically have my SPECIAL like this:
Strength 6
Perception 5
Endurance 7
Charisma 1
Intelligence 9
Agility 6 (because of Small Frame!)
Luck 7
How to get your SPECIAL stats up during the game
Get all ranks of Intense Training (perk). This can give you 10 SPECIAL points. I recommend using the “Perk Every Level” mod or “2 Perks Every Level” or else this requires 20 levels worth of perks. After getting all 10 points my SPECIAL now looks like this:
Strength 6
Perception 7
Endurance 9
Charisma 4
Intelligence 9
Agility 9
Luck 7
Next, when you have enough caps go to the implant clinic east of Freeside. With 7 Endurance you can upgrade each SPECIAL stat and also get the perks if you want. You don’t have to do all at once. Start with Intelligence as soon as possible and then get the rest whenever.
Then there are a few extra SPECIAL points available in the DLC:
Lonesome Road gives +1 to any (I always pick charisma)
Old World Blues gives you +2 Strength with Reinforced Spine.
This gives you a total of:
Strength 9
Perception 8
Endurance 10
Charisma 6
Intelligence 10
Agility 10
Luck 8
Lastly, your gear
Now the rest depends on your gear:
Light Armor:
* LR Courier’s Duster gives +1 to either luck/strength/endurance/agility
* Ulysses Duster gives +1 charisma
Medium Armor:
* Elite Riot Gear gives +1 charisma, Advanced gives +1 Endurance, Standard gives +1 Agility (LR)
Heavy Armor:
* Remnants PA and T-51b gives +1 Strength (Arcade Gannon/Brotherhood)
* Armor of the 87th Tribe gives +1 charisma (LR)
T-45d gives +2 strength but -2 agility
After this you can either pick a hat+glasses or a helmet.
Glasses:
* Lucky Shades gives +1 Luck (Legion safehouse)
* Valence Radii-Accentuator gives +1 endurance (OWB)
Hats:
* Boone’s Beret gives +1 Perception and 5% crit chance
* Eulogy Jones Hat gives +1 Charisma (Rotface)
Helmets:
* Elite/Advanced Riot Gear Helmet gives +2 Perception
* T-51b helmet gives +1 Charisma.
This means Lucky shades and Boones Beret gives a total of 2 SPECIAL points (but gives poor DT)
Lastly is situational clothes. Stuff you put on when you need an extra point in something.
For luck get the nightwear set from Mick and Ralph’s in Freeside. For charisma get the duster in Primm’s Sheriffs office. General Oliver’s uniform gives +2 charisma, but the game ends just after you get it. If you use a mod so the game doesn’t end after the battle of hoover dam this is a really good set.
Final tally with gear (Couriers duster/PA, Lucky shades, Boones beret):
Strength 10
Perception 9
Endurance 10
Charisma 6 (7 with Sheriff’s Duster, 8 with General Oliver’s Uniform)
Intelligence 10
Agility 10
Luck 9 (10 with nightwear)
That’s it!