I've been looking online, but I can't figure out what the best non-power-armor armor is in the game. Does anyone have any ideas? I don't want to keep relying on my power armors for protection. What's the best armor and mods for it?

I'm also trying to find the best melee, close-range, laser, and sniper gun to use. So far, I found a 55-damage Sniper Rifle, but at long distances against some enemies, it does hardly anything, even with head-shots.

I like Ballistic weave 4 on a Corser outfit (120 DR) .

and all the Legendary weapons will add effects to the weapon and with a little more work in the shop on them, they are usually the best.

Also 2-shot anything is better then 1!

there are a lot of threads on the topic, but everyone has their own favorites!

Ballistic woven hat and a ballistic woven suit that takes all the armor slots. Military fatigues are one of the perhaps 5 suits that take all the armor slots. Then upgraded Synth bits for those slots will provide the max armor outside of PA.

Ballistic weave is probably the best type of mod you can if you want to improve your armor rating. You need to do quests for the Railroad. I cannot give you the specifics since I have not found the Railroad yet. Basically, ballistic weave is applied to clothing and you can wear modded armor on top for even better armor rating.

The best weapon depends on your fighting style. A legendary Deathclaw is probably best for melee and the Overseer's Guardian is probably one of the best for semi-automatic / full automatic weapons. It is basically a Two-Shot combat rifle. Again, I can't really give you any specific help because at level 76 (survivor difficulty) I am still using the "puny" .38 auto pipe rifle to take down enemies like annihilator sentry bots Mk II, super mutant warlords and vampiric blood bugs.... I am pretty sure people consider me crazy.

I am in the middle of going through my loot to find a replacement for the .38 pipe rifle that does not make the game too easy on survivor.

It's somewhat dependent on opinion, but I prefer Combat Armor. I typically wear my Vault Suit as my under-armor layer, along with a full suit of Sturdy Combat Armor and Destroyer's Helmet, which is a unique Combat Armor Helmet with +1 Charisma and +1 Intelligence (the same perks as Sharp legendary armor). I'm running with some mods, so I have ballistic weave on my Vault Suit. Normally they can't receive the weave, and I found it incredibly stupid that I was limited to only like 5 under-armor outfits (none of which I found aesthetically pleasing) that could get ballistic weave.

Synth Armor is technically the best as far as stats go, but it doesn't really suit my tastes.

What I'm using specifically is an Armored Proto Vault Suit, the standalone N7 Combat Armor, and Destroyer's Helmet painted to match the N7 Combat Armor.

The most OP'd weapon in the game is the fully upgraded Cryolator next would be the gun you get from Cabot. No details that would be a big spoiler.

Example: compare this fully tricked out rocket launcher (495damage pershot) vs the Cryolator on the same super mutants.

https://youtu.be/ULUsYzet_N8

the 3 armours are kinda equal in this game

leather best against energy

metal best against ballistic

combat best all round against both ballistic and energy (but not as good as leather or metal against their specialised DR)

synth armour is technically the best all round (not normal comabt is better at normal, but sturdy and heavy its the best)

but you can only find it actually on synths not as loot (except legendary) or to buy (except instuitute)

all armour is massively outshined by ballistic weave though

for all situations, ballistic weave + combat would be the best setup

mods well best you can get at lvl protection mods obviously but the misc mod slot well thats all about your play style

for weapons +damage perk (rifleman, commando etc) trumps actual weapons by a long shot. also playstyle means everything for which ones are better

there is very very little weapon selection in this game so am unsure when you say best if you actually mean mods and/or legendary effect/unique?

but IMO

best sniper = overseers guardian

best CQB = deliverer

dont use melee nor lasers, but im pretty partial to the swords (just cause i like swords)

as far as you 55 damage sniper rifle goes, do you have the best mods for your level?, have you kept gun nut up with your level? or using higher level found mods on it? do you have rifleman perk at your level? or have it at all?

in this game weapon damage is completely irrelevant as you get higher level unless you keep up with the appropriate perk (eg rifleman for all rifles ballistic and laser and shotguns. commando for all auto weapons that arent in the heavy class etc)

Try Kneecapper`s flamethrower if you manage to find one.


Makes you virtually invincible in close combat regardless of number of enemies around you.




Best sniping weapon should be Instigating Gauss Rifle.


Best Melee weapon is probably bleeding ripper.. although I prefer piercing Deathclaw Gauntlet.

The single best weapon you can probably find in entire game is Exploding Minigun.

No Armor is better than Ballistic Weaved inner cloth + 6 outer pieces.

Well, it's already been said, but to sum it up:

Best weapon: Gauss (Instigating if playing stealth or two shot if playing non stealth).

Best armor: a hat with ballistic weave + underarmor clothes with ballistic weave + heavy synth armor (you can buy it in the Institute).

Hard to give more details cause this post isn't in the Spoilers forum.

Downside of outfits who take all armor slots is that you can not use legendary armor on armor slots, they give various bonuses, my favorite is one martyr who slows time like jet then hurt a lot and various special bonuses.

Best weapon depend on type, two shots is good on combat and assault rifles, overseer guardian can be bought, this can also be used full auto. double damage on unhurt targets is nice on sniper weapons, two shots might be better on survival difficulty, a bit less damage but do the damage on follow up shots too.

Shotguns, machine pistols and miniguns is insane with explosive.

Best Armor: Military Fatigues(ballistic weave) + some cap(ballistic weave) + Synth/Combat(overall), Metal(best against guns), Leather(best against laser)

Best Weapon: Depends on the perks, i thinks it's instigating Gauss? (doesn't really matter since all most all legendaries are OP)

I likethe idea of ballistic weave, and it is pretty good as armor goes, but I prefer combat armor personally. The reason is that if you use ballistic weave, it likely takes all of the armor slots, leaving a very limited mod ability. For instance, as soon as possible, I like to mod each piece of my combat armor (even Legendary varieties) with "deep pockets" greatly increasing my carrying ability.

Weapons... I use a lot of different types depending on ammo supply. My current favorite is a "powerful automatic assault rifle with explosive bullets". I also have a suppressed, scoped .50 cal rifle that also does freezing damage as well. When added to the "ninja" perk and rifleman perk on a sneak attack from long range, its damage is really outstanding.

not necessarily,

army fatigues, baseball uniform, military fatigues, green shirt and combat boots, minuteman outfit, tattered rags and the dirty version of the 2 fatigues have all armour slots open. thats all i can think of (edit: that can be modded with BW)

theres also plenty of clothing that can be modded that though you cannot wear a piece of armour on every slot still allows some armour pieces to be worn

so you could wear ballistic weave under your combat armour vastly increasing armour class

also say a full heavy set of combat armour with deep pockets on all slots vs ballistic weave clothing only, you are only actually gaining an extra 5.9 carry weight over not using that armour at all

best melee is furious ripper. It's so high damage it basically breaks the game.

I dunno, you may be right, but the only ballistic weave I've got right now for my character is "armored ratty skirt" and nothing can be work under/over it. I only have it because of the +2 to Charisma when bartering. As to the weight, my character can only carry 230 wearing only her skin. Fully loaded for combat (including her armor but not equipped) she weighs in at about 230 to 240 (she carries a lot of weapons and so forth). With the deep pockets and her armor equipped, she can carry 310 because two pieces also add +1 to strength and endurance.

In the end, using 5 slots of piece armor I can get 5 additional boosts to weight through deep pockets, plus any 5 mods I care to add, plus 5 to 10 legendary effects. Currently, she also has two pieces of leg armor that eliminate 50% each of falling damage (100% total)

plus 1 to Strength and +1 to endurance, and a 15% reduction in damage from supermutants. I'm ashamed to say I don't remember what the other effect is... Now, by wearing a ballistic weave under that armor, I can get whatever the weave offers and that's great, but if I have to choose between the ballistic weave and the 5 pieces of armor, the armor wins hands down. Especially since she's overburdoned to start with carrying no loot when wearing only the armored ratty skirt...

As a side note, I only lelarned last night that mods have weight. So I wonder, how can I store the weapons mods that I'm not using without removing the mod from the weapon? I've got at least 80 pounds of mods in there, and I don't have a clue how to sort them out.

sell the mods you dont want or store them in your workbench

if they in your workbench they are available for crafting at craft stations at that settlement

yeah ratty skirt allows has no armour slots, but like i say the army fatigues for example (+1str, +1agi) do

so a lvl5 BW on some army fatigues under your comabt armour will give you an additional 110/110 DR

no i dont think you understand how much weight you are saving

for example heavy combat chest piece(the best DR comabt armour) with poly mod (to gain the best DR) and deep pockets weighs 19.7lbs deep pockets adds 20lbs to your carry weight.

because you are adding 19.7lbs to your weight by wearing the armour you net gain is only 0.3lbs

in other words if im wearing clothing and you are wearing a heavy combat chest piece with deep pockets you can only carry 0.3lbs worth of loot than i can

remember the armour itself weighs something

if we can both carry 200lbs and we only wearing cloths that weigh 3lbs each then thats 197lbs of additional loot we can carry

if im wearing those clothes and then you decide to put on that armour then i can carry 200lbs you can carry 220lbs

but im only carrying 3lbs with me so can carry an extra 197lbs of loot (200-3=197) you are carrying 22.7lbs so can carry an extra 197.3lbs

that is only 0.3 lbs more than me

the only thing that changes that is if you can find them you can have an additional +5 STR which is an additional 50lbs and/or all the other effects you can find

but wearing armour over normal clothing vs armour over BW clothing is completely inferior, there is no benefit to this

I find that the two-shot musket is the best weapon, named it Holy [censored]. nothing exists after receiving a six cranked beam straight to the dome. Luckily I found a second two-shot musket and made a scatter version for the following companion. For armor, the ballistic weave is THE best, but I enjoy being realistic. So all of my builds never wear the bulletproof-clothing

"Does anyone have any ideas?" you say.

Seeing that you asked for ideas i suggest trying out different armour and guns and associated mods, for yourself.

Find a legendary item, mod it, then take it for a test run.

It took me a while to find a sniper combination that suited me.

You also need the associated perks, though.

Actually the game is full of adequate armour and weapons.

You don't always need the very best because the very best won't make the enemies any deader than dead.

Curiosity drove me to go take a closer look, and here's what I found. First, she used to have all combat armor (shame on me for not realizing that I had swapped out all but one piece ) but now... not so much. Here's what she does have:

All 5 Deep Pocketed:

MIcrocarbon Synth Chest Piece 20/24 weight 10.6

Champion Left Arm (+1 Str, +1 End) 15/9 weight 7

Fortify Metal Right Arm (+1 Str, +1 End) 15/9 weight 7

Acrobat's Microcarbon Synth Right Leg (Fall damage -50%) 11/14 weight 5.3

Acrobat's Polymer Combat Armor Left Leg (Fall Damage -50%) 11/14 weight 5.3

So, total weight all pieces: 35.2

Deep Pockets added carry weight: 100

Net carry weight gained from Deep Pockets: 64.8

Total net carry weight from all additional: 84.8

So, obviously if I were to wear ballistic weave under the armor, it would be an improvement in defense, I'm not arguing that at all. However, once again, as I said if I must choose, armor or ballistic, the ballistic is going to be in storage somewhere.

Besides, I love my armor. Try https://youtu.be/25GZA_l0k20 in Ballistic Weave...

(it's a 30 second video)

i pretty much stick with leathers. i like the stealth. i got a boat load of legendary armor. if i know what i am going up against, i equip the appropriate armor.

as for a weapon, i use a combat knife, modded, with extra bleeding. my agility is 13 and perception 9, so i am getting about 14 strikes in VATS. i can usually get 2 crits in on one VATS attack. if i can sneak up on ya, you are dead.

Dirty army fatigues +1 str/agi 110 resist

fortifying arms +2 str/end

sprinting legs

fortifying raider chest with biocom mesh +1 str/end 50% longer drugs

commando helmet -10% ap cost


Furious Ripper

Dang, you guys blew up my email with these comments! LOL

You're right, you don't necessarily need the best weapons, but you do need the best armor. The game is loaded with tough baddies, especially in low-levels. If I was in survival mode, I wouldn't even have made it past Lexington.

Yes, that's right.

So you pick up a piece of armour, look at the specs in the pip-boy, compare it to what you've got and if it looks a good prospect, try it out.

For me it's the other ways round, I wish the best weapons but use armor only if I like the optics. My favorite weapon is the two-shot combat rifle, it's strong but not too strong. As armor I wear the old army Fritz helmet, combat armor briast and metall arms, with + strength, less damage from humans and +DR when the HPs decrease. No leg armor, I need mobility (it's roleplay, no hard fact).

I find ballistic weave a bit silly, more protection from a buffed up cloth than from a buffed up plate armor? For this reason I modded the ingame armor mods to make armor better, so that they gave much more +DR than in vanilla (f.e. + 50 instead of +2 which is ridiculous) but less than vanilla armor + ballistic weave.

The absolute best armor setup you can get is 359/364. To get it, you need:


1. Minuteman Outfit, Military Fatigues, Green Shirt and Combat Boots, Army Fatigues, Baseball Uniform, Dirty Army Fatigues, or Tattered Rags. These are under-armor items that can accept Ballistic Weave.


2. Green Rag Hat, Battered Fedora, Newsboy Cap, or Trilby Hat. These are head-slot items that can take Ballisitc Weave.


3. A full set of Legendary Heavy Synth Armor (any effect), all upgraded with the Nanofilament mod to max their resistances.


Note that if you don't have Legendary versions of the Heavy Synth Armor pieces, your defenses will drop to 349/354. All Legendary Armor Mods also give +2 Ballistic Resistance and +2 Energy Resistance in addition to their stated effects, so without Legendary versions, you'll lose 10 Ballistic and 10 Energy Resistance (-2 for each piece multiplied by 5 pieces). That is the absolute highest you can get your Ballistic and Energy Resistances without using Power Armor. And none of these use the Misc mod slot, so you can do whatever you want with those.


Also, for the record, nothing beats Synth armor when it comes to resistances. Leather Armor doesn't have higher Energy Res than Synth Armor, and Metal Armor doesn't have higher Ballistic Res than Synth Armor. Synth Armor is literally the best you can get.