Fallout 4: Fallout 4 Build Guide: The Infiltrator
Fallout 4: Fallout 4 Build Guide: The Infiltrator
Fallout 4: Fallout 4 Build Guide: The Infiltrator
I call this build the Infiltrator. After spending about 100 hours with it, Ive refined and tweaked it to
make it even more deadly.
Note that as soon as you leave Vault 111 you can obtain an extra attribute point just by picking up the
Youre S.P.E.C.I.A.L. book in Shauns room in your old house in Sanctuary, so were working with the
assumption that you have 29 points to distribute (21 in the character set up screen, seven minimum
starting stats and one from the book).
For this particular build, theres only one stat I insist upon as an absolute minimum:
Agility: 7
However, I also strongly recommend picking up Perception 4, to enable the Locksmith perk.
You can do without it, but its a pain and this is such a flexible, low investment build that you can
easily spare the points.
Although you can do whatever you like with the rest of the points, Ill suggest two different S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
set ups for you.
Expert tip:never set any of your SPECIAL stats to ten right off the bat; theres a Bobblehead out
there with a bonus point for each SPECIAL stat. Youll also be able to increase your SPECIAL
points whenever you have a spare perk point, and theres no level cap, so theres plenty of time to
get those level ten perks.
This first approach is suitable for a full playthrough where you set up settlement chains and romance
NPCs. It has low carrying capacity and health, but is otherwise pretty balanced. It actually includes one
extra point of Agility which is unnecessary for the core perks youll be using, but my preference is for
higher Agility, to increase AP and improve stealth.
Strength: 1
Perception: 4
Endurance: 1
Charisma: 6
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 8
Luck: 3
This alternate build is for more action-oriented types who just want to get out there and murder baddies
without all the faffing around with crafting, settlements and NPC romance, while retaining the core
approach of a deadly rogue. The high Luck stat allows you to spam critical hits and utilise Grim Reapers
Sprint as a core skill early on, rather than saving it as an optional endgame add-on. Its slightly tougher,
too.
Strength: 2
Perception: 4
Endurance: 2
Charisma: 1
Intelligence: 3
Agility: 9
Luck: 8
Essential Perks
The very first perk you should pick up in any build is Locksmith. At level one it can be tough to survive,
making it tempting to go for a damage or health-boosting perk, but trust me: ensuring you have enough
ammo, cash and aid items is vital. Make sure you can loot everything you find.
Once youve attended to that basic requirement, turn your attention to our first key skill: Sneak. Any
time you can level up Sneak, do it.
The next most important perks to pick up are Ninja and Action Boy/Girl. The first will increase your
sneak attack damage, while the second will restore your VATS points faster.
Were going to be focused on a non-automatic handgun, so grab Gunslinger to boost your damage
output (use any appropriate weapon until we get the one were after with a suppressor, if available).
Take a couple of ranks of Gun Nut so you can craft mods for your gun, and as soon as you have a
silenced weapon, take Mister Sandman for another bonus to damage.
Its a little bit whimsical, but I also take Bloody Mess when Ive hit the cap on the other perks and want
to hit a bit harder than I already am. The damage bonus is small at first, but really adds up. And
everything explodes! Its great.
Expert Tip: need more survivability? Customise this build by leaving out Bloody Mess and making
Luck a dump stat. The extra points can be added to Endurance. Note that a lower Luck stat makes
everything else in the game just a teensy bit harder.
Max out these essential perks as soon as you can, in order of priority presented above. If youre not
high enough level to purchase any more ranks in the essential perks, turn your eyes to the next section.
Growing and changing
As youre levelling up, you may reach situations where youve maxed out all the above perks. When
that happens I recommend the following secondary perks:
Local Leader, Caps Collector and one rank of Medic are required for building and expand
awesome settlements.
Scrapper and more importantly Science will help you build better mods than you can buy or find
in the wild if youre willing to collect loot and drag it back to a Workshop.
Finally, Better Criticals, Gun-Fu and Grim Reapers Sprint make excellent endgame additions
to your repertoire, upgrading you from terrifying deadly to apocalyptic.
Whenever you cant obtain any of the perks mentioned above (or dont want them, in the case of the
crafting and settlement stuff), chuck some extra points on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats. This is what youd
need in order to get everything Ive mentioned above. You wont be able to do all of this stuff till youre
around level 50, so pick and choose at your discretion:
Strength: 1
Perception: 4
Endurance: 1
Charisma: 6
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 10
Luck: 8
Expert tip: Its pure frosting, but after you complete everything above, youll want to max out your
Perception to continue increasing your potential for mass VATS murder. You may also want to push
Strength up to six and grab Strong Back for the masses of treasure youll find on your murder sprees.
Everything else is completely unnecessary if you play this build as intended.
Example Infiltrator gameplay. I didnt actually see the Super Mutants until I turned at the sound of the
Suiciders bomb. Notice the huge number of AP at my disposal, and how the second Super Mutant
doesnt see me even after I blow up his mate.
How to play an Infiltrator
Now that you know what youre aiming for, how do you put this baby to use?
We play slow and careful. Whenever you approach the entrance to a structure, sneak. Make sure your
AP is full, then hammer VATS. As soon as you see an enemy in VATS with a hit chance of 65% or
more, smack it; with any luck youll get a sneak attack bonus.
If there are multiple enemies, you may opt for one sneak attack on each of them to start with.
Take out nearby and melee enemies first as theyre harder to evade.
If you have a choice of limbs with a good hit chance:
o Go for the legs of melee attackers.
o Hit the arms or heads of enemies using firearms.
As soon as you destroy a limb, cancel your VATS attack and immediately re-initiate it to hit a
different target.
If you have destroyed the leg of a melee attacker, ignore it and move to another enemy.
At low levels, you may complete your VATS attack to find half a dozen angry baddies heading for
you. Run away. Break line of sight and go into Sneak mode. Wait until they get over it.
Now just rinse and repeat.
This is very slow and annoying in the beginning, but by the time you have levelled up a bit you can walk
into a room and kill everything in a single VATS session before they even know youre there. The whole
run away and hide part never needs to happen again.
Get this gun and mod the shit out of it; if you havent got the perks to craft mods, try checking in with
Tinker Tom at Railroad HQ, as he sometimes sells Deliverer mods. A suppressor comes standard and
shall never be removed. Do what you like with sights, although note that youll be using VATS mostly.
Get the most powerful receiver you can to increase the damage, but dont go automatic youll lose
the benefits of the Gunslinger perk. (I dont recommend going automatic in general as it means using
more ammo to get the same job done. If you really must, be sure to sub out Gunslinger
for Commando when choosing perks.)
Im talking so many shots queued up in VATS that the user interface
literally cannot account for them; they fill the bar and overflow and
disappear. I told you I broke the game.
You can sometimes find 10mm legendaries with the same perk as the Deliverer; theyre not as powerful
as a similarly-modded Deliverer, but make a good stopgap while youre waiting for the real thing. Just
dont use up all your ammo at low levels!
For your back-up guns, look for anything with VATS, accuracy or AP-related bonuses (the Tinker Tom
Special, purchasable in Railroad HQ, is a pretty good example), or just good old fashioned extra
damage. Whatever you pick, try to put a suppressor on it.
Sneaking not your bag? Try the bombastic One-Punch Man.
Armour-wise, the lighter the better while your Sneak perk is low, but you can afford to go a bit heavier
as you get harder to detect. To be honest, you wont need to; you will almost never be hit, so who
cares? I tend to stick to leather, modded up with pockets and shadowing, and worn over clothing with
native or modded-in damage reduction (the Railroad can help you with that). Fuck Power Armor right
off immediately; its not any use at all to this build.
There are a couple of Legendary armour bonuses that are worth grabbing if you find them. Chameleon
makes Sneak unbelievably easy, although the visual effect is really annoying. VATS-enhanced armour
pieces are pretty common once youre about 20 levels in, and are a big help.
Finally, you definitely want to snaffle any U.S. Covert Operations Manual books you find, as theyll
permanently boost your Sneak ability.
AP for days.
Conquer the Wasteland
Like I said, this is just one way to play; there are plenty of other terrific, ber-powerful approaches for
those who like frontal assaults, or cant be bothered faffing about with VATS. Wed love to hear about
your builds.