A guide to Power Armor in Fallout 76: which is the best?
By Denis Marasan ☆ 16/Jan/2019In Fallout 76 Power Armor chassis (or frame, if you wish) is an item weighting 10 pounds when added to your inventory or Stash box. The weight of Power Armor suite when stored doesn’t depend on the weight of individual parts, meaning that regardless of parts you install on your PA Chassis the overall weight of Power Armor suite will be only 10 pounds when stored.
Power Armor has the following advantages:
- Best protection possible past level 15. Even Power Armor Chassis alone provides good protection at the start of game compared to low-level conventional armor
- Boosts your strength to 11 thus increasing your melee damage and carrying capacity
- Negates fall damage
- Looks classy
Power Armor disadvantages:
- Consumes Fusion Cores like hell
- Uses that stupid animation when falling from height that interrupts movement and becomes pain in the arse after catching the Marsupial mutation (granting extra jump height that in certain cases may trigger the above mentioned animation reducing the travel speed to nil)
In my opinion novice players should get Power Armor as soon as possible. Power Armor is rather common in Fallout 76, so you probably run into it while exploring the wasteland. If not I recommend watching this video guide, showing some Power Armor spawning locations around Vault 76.
After you’ve found a Power Armor suite, in order to use it you should remove all high-level armor parts. Novice players should also scavenge for Raider Power Armor parts in order to use them at level 15. I also recommend claiming the second Power Armor Chassis to store PA parts you find on it, coz this way the total weight of Power Armor suite will only be 10 pounds. And yes, you may claim and store several Power Armor suits in your Inventory or Stash, though they will have identical look and names, which is not very convenient.
Which Power Armor suite is the best?
The answer to the question “which Power Armor suite in Fallout 76 is the best” greatly depends on the level of your character and your objectives.
The best Power Armor for beginner and advanced players
Until level 15 you can’t use any Power Armor parts except for Chassis. But as I’d already mentioned above, even wearing a Power Armor Chassis provides enough bonuses for a beginner.
At level 15 you can equip Raider Power Armor parts. As any other armor part or weapon in Fallout 76, Raider Power Armor is level dependent. You may find level 15, 25, 35 and 45 Raider Power Armor. Search for Raider Armor parts right from the start of game and save them for the future use on level 15.
Another big step is at level 25 when an Excavator Power Armor becomes available. The main feature of Excavator Power Armor is that it gives a +100 bonus carrying capacity if all six armor parts are equipped. This PA is easy to come by, all you need is to find the advertisement poster and activate the quest. At the end you'll find Excavator Power Armor schematics and build the armor yourself from raw materials. You can find posters almost anywhere, e.g. at Charleston Fire Department that you’ll be visiting early enough when following the main quest. Or you can go directly to the Garrahan Mining’s Headquarters, activate a poster and start the quest right at the location.
To build an Excavator Power Armor you need the following raw materials (legend: material – level 25 - 35 – 45):
- Black Titanium: 36 – 42 – 54
- Glass Shards: 12 – 14 – 16
- Loose Gear: 30 – 36 – 42
- Loose Screws: 60 – 72 – 84
- Loose Spring: 60 – 80 – 98
- Nuclear Waste: 6 – 7 – 9
- Scrap Steel: 102 – 122 – 144
- Waste Oil: 36 – 44 – 52
- Waste Rubber: 26 – 30 – 36
The best end game Power Armor
As for end game Power Armor suits there are four options:
1. Excavator Power Armor. You can build the level 45 suite and use it for the sake of bonus to carrying capacity. Though Excavator Power Armor provides poor protection compared to other end game Power Armor suites, it is very convenient for looting and scavenging junk.
Specifications*: Physical damage protection 300, Energy 300, Radiation 426
*Note: +60 points of Physical, Energy and Radiation resistance from Chassis is included here and below, coz you can’t use Power Armor parts without a Chassis anyway.
2. T-51 Power Armor. This armor has the best combination of Physical and Energy damage protection in Fallout 76. The Radiation protection is not so good, so at the first glance this Power Armor isn't suitable for raiding Blast Zones. Thought you can always boost Radiation protection by consuming RadX, the more so, that RadX isn’t addictive. You can’t build or buy the T-51 Power Armor, so you’ve got to watch out for this armor while playing.
You may also find a unique Nuka Cola paint scheme for T-51, the video guide is below.
Specifications: Physical 514, Energy 514, Radiation 370
3. Ultracite Power Armor. The best thing about this Brotherhood of Steel armor is that it’s free. You don’t have to build this armor. All you’ve got to do is complete a series of quests for the Brotherhood of Steel and get an Ultracite Power Armor as a reward: it will be added to your Inventory as another Power Armor Chassis (in Fallout 76 all Power Armor suites when added to the player’s Inventory or Stash have identical look and names).
Specifications: Physical 513, Energy 453, Radiation 453
4. X-01 Prototype Power Armor. The schematics for this Enclave armor become available after you obtain a General rank in Enclave. BTW, the word “Prototype” refers to a paint scheme, so if you select a standard paint scheme for a armor part the word “Prototype” will be gone from the part. As well as the paint scheme. I've never seen the Prototype paint scheme on sale, so be careful.
Another advantage of X-01 Power Armor is that modifications for X-01 are easy to come by. All you need is visiting a vendor in the Enclave Military Wing from time to time.
Specifications: Physical 458, Energy 513, Radiation 513
To build X-01 Prototype Power Armor you need the following raw materials (legend: material – level 40 – 50):
- Aluminum Scrap: 78 – 90
- Black Titanium Scrap: 16 – 20
- Circuits: 12 – 14
- Copper Scrap: 65 – 75
- Glass Shards: 15 – 17
- Loose Gears: 39 – 45
- Loose Screws: 77 – 89
- Loose Spring: 90 – 110
- Nuclear Waste: 8 – 10
- Raw Rubber: 34 – 40
- Silver Scrap: 24 – 28
- Steel Scrap: 88 – 104
- Waste Oil: 48 – 56
Summary
Summarizing the above, Power Armor Chassis is a single option until level 15, Raider Power Armor – until level 20, Excavator Power Armor is arguably the best solution at level 25 and beyond thanks to its bonus to carrying capacity. If EPA doesn’t look good enough for you, combine T-45, T-51 and T-60 Power Armor parts at will until you get an end game PA suite.
As for end game PA suites, Excavator Power Armor is still great for everyday use because of the above mentioned reason, though its level of protection from Physical and Energy damage is disappointing and Radiation protection is mediocre. T-51 provides the best Physical and Energy protection in Fallout 76. X-01 Power Armor provides the best Energy and Radiation protection and it’s obviously the best Power Armor for raiding Blast Zones. Ultracite Power Armor provides the best Physical damage protection, but lacks Radiation protection.
T-45 and T-60 mid- and high-level PA have no serious advantages over the competitors, provided they become available on level 25 and 30 respectively. Mid- and high-level versions of Raider Power Armor are also absolutely uncompetitive. These armor types are of collector value only.