Adamantium Skeleton¶

With the Adamantium Skeleton perk, your limbs only receive 50% of the damage they normally would.

If you are playing in normal mode, laugh at this perk-laugh at it and stick yourself with a Stimpak, you lucky bastard. On the other hand, this perk started to seem slightly less useless in Hardcore Mode, during the expansions, with the Small Frame trait… but even then you can just make Healing Poultices, and ignore this perk.

Center of Mass¶

You don’t fool around with fancy trick shots. Straight to the midsection and down they go. In V.A.T.S., you do an extra 15% damage with attacks targeting the torso.

15% is nice and all, but note the ‘in V.A.T.S.’ line. Also keep in mind that headshots tend to deal more damage… if you’re close enough to pull off a V.A.T.S. shot with some expectation of success, you’re probably close enough to go for the head.

Chemist¶

With the Chemist perk, any chems you take last twice as long.

First, it should be stated that the “any chems” here is bogus. In Hardcore Mode, all restoratives work over time-and this perk will not make Super Stimpaks, Stimpaks, and RadAway work twice as long. So if you’re hoping it’ll double the healing, you’re hoping in vain. Once you realize that, there’s seemingly only one use for this perk; extending the coverage of Rad-X. Rad-X is the only chem you’re likely going to use with any frequency, but it’s not so rare that you can’t just pop another one to keep yourself from glowing. Even then, there are always Radiation Suits for when you have to walk into the fire. There is, however, one instance when this perk might be handy; if you plan to invest in the Implant GRX perk, you should consider Chemist, as it’ll double the duration of the effect.

Jury Rigging¶

You possess the amazing ability to repair any item using a roughly similar item. Fix a Trail Carbine with a Hunting Rifle, a Plasma Defender with a Laser Pistol, or even Power Armor with Metal Armor. How does it work? Nobody knows… except you.

This perk allows you to repair like with like, instead of same with same, which seems decent enough, but its uses are great. There are plenty of new items in the expansions that won’t be found in the Mohave, and unique versions of those items that you might want to use. Also, the expansions tend to force you to travel light, restrict you from going back to the Mohave and… well… let’s just say that they tend to be light on merchants who will repair your stuff. This perk saves you money, and eliminates hassle in a big way; it’s comparable to the Them’s Good Eatin’ perk, especially for Hardcore Mode players… and it’s not an exaggeration to say that keeping your arms and armor in good condition is just as good as healing. Repair Joshua Graham’s Armor with any old Pre-War clothes you find, or keep the Gobi in shape by fixing it with parts from various - less godly - guns. This perk simplifies keeping your gear in top shape so much, it’s hard to understate its convenience.

Light Step¶

With the Light Step perk, you’ll never set off an enemy’s mines or floor-based traps.

Land mines are pretty common. Fortunately, they’re also obvious, they don’t do a huge amount of damage-in the grand scheme of things, and you can disarm them with a simple button click. Not only that, you get experience and the mine itself when you do! Be observant, and you wont need this perk.

Purifier¶

As a purifier of the wasteland, you do +50% damage with Melee and Unarmed weapons against Centaurs, Nightstalkers, Spore Plants, Spore Carriers, Deathclaws, Super Mutants, and Feral Ghouls.

This perk seems somewhat obvious-after all, +50% is a huge damage boost, and the enemies this effects are bad news. On the other hand, most of these critters are such bad news, that even with Piercing Strike, Super Slam, Slayer, and this perk, you probably don’t want to go toe-to-toe with a Deathclaw. They can still kill you in several hits, regardless of how fast you can kill them, and if there’s more than one of them, you will probably get hit a few times. Why fight fire with fire when you have… say… the Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle (aka, the Finger of God)? Also, Centaurs are always weak, Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls are manageable without this perk, and when you become immune to poison (courtesy of ‘Old World Blues’) you’ll laugh at Nightstalkers. That really only leaves Deathclaws as worthy of consideration (Spore critters are too rare to care about) and… well, don’t fisticuffs with something called a Deathclaw seems a good rule of thumb. You have guns for that.