Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 4 has a wide variety of gear to collect, but perhaps none as useful and memorable as its selection of armor sets. Venturing into the heart of the nuclear-ravaged wasteland requires that players get decked out in the best possible armor lest they fall prey to the Commonwealth’s cruelest creepy-crawlies.
With super mutants, gigantic insects, and ravenous Death Claws lurking about, players either need to find or craft the right armor sets to stay alive. The base version of Fallout 4 comes with a lot of excellent armor sets that players should immediately try to get their hands on, but there are some great options in the DLC expansions. Some are down to business, while others are walking fashion statements, as well as protective gear.
1 Heavy Trapper Armor
Offering a maximum of 80 damage resistance when upgraded, Heavy Trapper Armor isn’t particularly amazing, and those searching for Kasumi Nakano in Fallout 4‘s Far Harbor DLC later in their playthroughs will likely pass it up without a second thought. However, lower-level players may want to give it a shot, as well as those looking to immerse themselves in the nautical-themed expansion.
Rusted, spiky, and replete with an old lobster trap in lieu of a proper headpiece, the Heavy Trapper Armor set looks like something an inventive mariner might cobble together, and that’s part of the charm.
2 Nuka-Girl Space Suit
For players who want more pizazz in their outfits, along with specialty damage resistance, the Nuka-Girl Space Suit is a good option. It can be looted off a mannequin sitting on a rocket in Nuka World, inside the amusement park sector. It bears all the trademarks of typical 1950s sci-fi movies still loved by audiences today, making it quite unique among Fallout 4‘s armor sets.
Unfortunately, the suit is not very good in a conventional firefight against any obvious Fallout rudimentary weapons, but it does boast a very high resistance to both energy and rad damage, making it a solid choice when going up against foes wielding energy weapons. The glass bowl helmet also allows Fallout 4 players to breathe indefinitely underwater if they so choose.
3 Rescue Diver Suit
While not the toughest armor set in Fallout 4, there are many advantages to the Rescue Diver Suit that make it a must-have for wasteland explorers. First, it allows the player to spend as much time underwater as needed without having to surface. Second, it’s extremely mobile, and it’s a great alternative to using a full set of Fallout Power Armor for underwater excursions.
The suit can be acquired after completing the “Changing Tide” quest in the Far Harbor DLC pack. In addition to looking extremely cool, a classic diving suit aesthetic makes it fairly unique among Fallout 4‘s best armor sets. It also offers up 250 points of rad resistance, which is perfect for wading into high radiation areas without having to bulk up with power armor.
4 DC Guard Armor
The citizens of Fallout 4‘s Diamond City, despite living on an old baseball field, haven’t pieced together how the game was actually played. They believe that players attacked each other with bats while wearing catcher’s gear, and this misconception may have led to the city’s security patrol adopting the old attire as their official uniform.
While the DC Guard Armor isn’t particularly great, it’s actually not a bad perk of Fallout 4‘s Diamond City in the early game. The entire set can fairly easily be pickpocketed from an unaware Diamond City guard.
5 Raider Power Armor
Raider Power Armor doesn’t stack up well against other Power Armor variants, boasting insignificant stats compared to its mightier brethren. All the same, this is interesting and unique loot to take off of more powerful Raiders, and handily beats the armor pieces that most Raiders wear.
Raider power armor fits the scrappy aesthetic of survival in the Fallout post-apocalypse well, with the appearance of scrap metal used to build up a Power Armor frame. This might not hold up to the difficulty of playing Fallout 4 Survival Mode, but for a casual playthrough it could make an immersive choice.
6 Apocalypse Armor
To access this very rare and useful Fallout 4 armor set, players need to track down a character known as The Scribe, an NPC who randomly appears throughout the game. With a high enough speech skill and a settlement with 10 or more members to its name, The Scribe can be convinced to join the player, at which point he’ll set up an armor shop in whatever settlement he’s ordered to stay at.
The Scribe will then offer the Apocalypse Armor chest piece for sale to the player, offering the first part of the armor set. Next, players need to travel to Goodneighbor and visit Hotel Rexford to recruit one of Fallout 4‘s friendly ghouls, the Vault-Tec rep, in the same manner, and his vendor store will offer the Apocalypse left greave. It doesn’t look like much, but its damage resistance is fantastic, plus it has two rare effects not seen in other armors. First, time will slow for players as they accrue more damage, while damage resistance climbs at the same time.
The Disciples are one of the major factions players can encounter in Fallout 4‘s Nuka World DLC, and they can either make for powerful allies or intimidating foes. Part of their daunting nature can be ascribed to the armor that they wear; like something out of Mad Max, the faction definitely looks the part amid a nuclear wasteland.
While the Fallout 4 armor is useful and offers a base damage resistance of 122 and an energy resistance of 140, a full set is incredibly heavy and can be quite burdensome.
8 Elder Maxson’s Battlecoat
The story of Fallout‘s Brotherhood of Steel is an important presence in the games, and Elder Arthur Maxson plays an important role in it as the leader of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 4. It’s his coat, however, that can offer an interesting armor alternative in the game.
Modifying Maxson’s battlecoat with ballistic weave gives the clothing surprisingly competitive stats while maintaining a low weight. The only catch is that it can’t be pickpocketed, meaning players will have to get their hands dirty to acquire it.
9 Army Fatigues And A Fedora
Once a player joins and completes a few quests for Fallout 4‘s secretive Railroad organization, they unlock the ability to boost the defensive stats of some clothing items. As outfits, jumpsuits, and other fashion statuses are worn under more conventional Fallout armor, Power Armor especially, this essentially lets a player wear two sets at once.
The best clothing items to boost with the Ballistic Weave upgrade are army fatigues and a fedora, as these items enhance a player’s Strength, Agility, and Luck by one point each. By wearing enhanced army fatigues and a fedora under more conventional armor, a player will essentially become a walking tank up until they reach Fallout 4’s late-game challenges.
10 Combat Armor
The Combat Armor set is one of the best standard sets of armor in Fallout 4 and will serve as adequate protection for the player for the bulk of their adventure. This armor provides balanced protection from both standard damage and energy damage and is also extremely customizable with a wide variety of modifications.
Additionally, it’s pretty easy for a player to get a full set of post-apocalyptic Fallout 4 Combat Armor, as enemies that belong to The Gunners mercenary organization have an affinity for this form of protection. This armor is by no means the best in any given situation, but its versatility and well-rounded stats make it ideal for players who want to explore and take on challenges as they come.
11 Synth Armor
Synth Armor is rather similar to Combat Armor in Fallout 4, albeit with an increased focus on energy defense and a much gaudier appearance. It can also be a bit more difficult to find a full set of Synth Armor as opposed to Combat Armor. Synth Armor generally only appears on synth soldiers and becomes increasingly rare if a player decides to destroy the nefarious and mysterious Institute.
Ironically, this armor is ideal for taking on synth-type enemies, as the increased energy resistance counters their use of laser weapons. While the actual suit looks like a stormtrooper armor variant from Star Wars, Synth Armor definitely has its advantages and is very useful against robotic enemies.
12 Marine Armor
The Marine Armor set is one of the strongest normal armor sets in Fallout 4 and is only available to players who downloaded the Far Harbor DLC. While this armor set is rather heavy, it boasts almost unrivaled defenses, especially if a player takes the time to upgrade the set to the Assault Marine Armor variant.
With these high stats comes rarity, but a full set of Marine Armor will spawn on the DLC’s island if a player solves additional puzzles inside of DiMA’s memory. These additional puzzles can be pretty tedious, but they are well worth it for the reward of having some of the best armor in Fallout 4.
13 Mechanist’s Armor
One of the quirkiest and funniest armor sets in the game comes in the Fallout 4 Automatron DLC in the form of the Mechanist’s Armor, which looks like a combination of mid-century sci-fi robot designs mixed with the nonsensical and bizarre design aesthetic of the Cybermen from Doctor Who. The armor can be secured after completing the DLC, and it’s not the worst set in the game by any means.
The full set offers 85 damage and energy resistance, plus a further 15 percent damage reduction from robot enemies, and a +1 boost to Endurance, Charisma, and Intelligence. It’s sure to turn heads, if not for the wrong reasons, and it’s fairly solid when it comes to a good old fashioned Fallout 4 firefight.
14 Grognak Costume
The Grognak Costume is a goofier armor set in Fallout 4, but it’s extremely useful in certain circumstances. Essentially a parody of the iconic, eponymous character from Conan the Barbarian, the Grognak Costume takes similar visual cues when it comes to attire. This armor set boosts a character’s Strength stat by two points and increases the damage inflicted with melee weapons by 20 percent.
This makes Fallout 4‘s Grognak Costume a must-have for character builds that focus on dealing damage with melee weapons. Moreover, some pieces of armor can be worn over the costume, which mitigates its weak defense. Adding too much armor might take away from that fashionable barbarian look, however.
15 Destroyer’s Armor
Fallout 4‘s Destroyer’s Armor is a unique set of combat armor with some particularly useful bonus effects. Not only does the armor decrease damage from human enemies by 10 percent, but it also increases a character’s speed and blocking effectiveness while raising the Sole Survivor’s Charisma and Intelligence by one point each.
A player needs to buy the various components from merchants found across the Fallout wasteland, as the various parts that make up this armor cannot be found on defeated enemies. Beyond being useful in battles against humans, the Destroyer’s Armor rewards players who explore Fallout 4’s world and go out of their way to interact with NPCs in various settlements.
16 T-60 Power Armor
The iconic T-60 Power Armor is so good in Fallout 4 that it was even featured on the game’s box art. Even if it isn’t the strongest Power Armor in the game, the T-60 has some incredible defensive stats and is much easier to find. Additionally, the T-60 Power Armor is easier to repair than its bulkier counterpart and is also the most customizable in the game.
While walking around in T-60 Power Armor can burn through Fusion Cores pretty quickly, it’s great for going up against bosses or large hordes of enemies. Also found in other titles, like Bethesda producer Todd Howard’s favorite, Fallout 3,the T-60 Power Armor is a no-nonsense armor set that intimidates foes, gives confidence, and provides a much-needed boost during harder battles.
17 Operators Heavy Armor
Available exclusively through Fallout 4‘s Nuka World DLC pack, the Operators Heavy Armor set offers up a robust set of defensive stats, providing solid protection against energy and ballistic damage. It can be purchased from available vendors or nicked off the corpses of enemies standing in opposition to the player.
The only downside to this Fallout 4 armor set is its lack of aesthetic value. It’s not going to win any awards for being fashionable or snazzy, but in the depths of the wasteland, this is a secondary consideration at best. What matters is damage negation, and the armor offers a stat of 127 in that area, with a further 127 toward energy resistance.
18 Silver Shroud Costume
The Silver Shroud costume is easily one of the most entertaining outfits in Fallout 4. It’s well worth getting the Silver Shroud costume, as it will grant the Sole Survivor some unique dialogue options, and even have certain NPCs interact with them differently. This costume is also upgradable and has some of the best damage and energy resistance in the game.
The Silver Shroud missions are some of the most enjoyable in Fallout 4, and wearing the costume can yield a lot of gameplay options that directly affect the story. It’s also a testament to the way the Fallout franchise handles quirky humor, as well as post-apocalyptic horror.
19 Freefall Legs
The Freefall Legs are unique in Fallout 4 due to it being a set of leg armor only. However, it makes up for its limited coverage by having one of the best effects in the entire game. Wearing the Freefall Legs completely negates any and all fall damage that a player would otherwise suffer when jumping from high places.
This makes exploring the eerily beautiful Fallout 4 wasteland a lot more fun and convenient, as a player can now completely ignore a major environmental hazard. To find this Fallout 4 armor set, the player needs to go to the Mass Fusion building while wearing Power Armor with a jetpack. It may kill some of the immersion, but it’s a handy armor set to have.
20 X-01 Power Armor
The X-01 is a rare and experimental kind of Power Armor that provides nothing short of the best defense in Fallout 4. On top of nullifying radiation damage, this armor also greatly reduces physical damage and lessens energy damage. The X-01 Power Armor is also extremely customizable, and players who enjoy making use of Bethesda crafting systems in Fallout 4 can modify it to boost their base stats, reduce Action Point consumption, and automatically heal, on top of a host of other effects.
The only downside to this armor set is that it requires more resources to repair than any other armor in the game. Even with that caveat in mind, it’s still the best armor against the many threats of Fallout 4.
Source: Bethesda Softworks/YouTube
