Ok, so title says it all.


I ask this because I'm doing a Basic Combat Armor build minus the Helmet. It will have Shadowed attachment, but I wanna know which of the above stated is better and why?


Also, wanna know for:


Basic/Sturdy/Heavy Raider

Basic/Sturdy/Heavy Metal

Basic/Sturdy/Heavy Leather


Those aren't as important right now.

Deep Pockets is better if you want to carry a lot of stuff (+60 carry weight), Ultra-Light if you use VATS a lot in combat (+30 Action Points). If you use Power Armor a lot choose Ultra-Light as you lose the Deep Pockets bonus when in Power Armor.

It depends on what you're trying to do. Deep pocketed is going to allow you to carry the most. Ultra light allows you to carry more, but not as much as deep pocketed. Ultra light also increases your ability to sneak, and also affects your endurance and your amount of AP, which allows you to sprint longer and fire more shots in VATS.

edit - Ninja'd

It's mostly a sneak style character, so ultra light, but she also carries a lot of JUNK, so which one?

Why not just try both and see what you prefer? You can always change them. They both have their uses. If carrying junk is a priority over sneaking, then I'd go with deep pocketed. If sneaking is a priority, then I'd go with ultra light. If it's a matter of not wanting to spend the resources, build one and use it for a while. Then reload the save and try the other. Then go with whatever works best for you. Playing styles vary, so what's best for me may not be best for you. I generally prefer ultra light because my character is mostly a sniper build. It can be useful to have both though. If I'm going out to do a bunch of junk saluaging, I'll sometimes throw on the deep pocketed armor.

And note that these same points are true of all of the armor. They have the same effect on all of the different armor types.

Thats a personal choice, but for me I chose Deep Pockets early on and switched to Ultra-Light once I got the Strong Back Rank 3 perk (move while encumbered using Action Points). Sneaking benefits from Ultra-Light as armor weight effects detection when moving. The other thing to consider is your carry weight without Deep Pockets. The extra 60 carry weight will make more difference to how you play if your character has a base carry weight of 200 versus a carry weight of 450+ (with Strong Back and Lone Wanderer perks). If you are a chronic hoarder then IMO Strong Back is a must have perk.

This is almost exactly what I did with my first character. I used the deep pocketed mods at first, but once I started leveling up my Strength and putting points into the Strong Back perk, the need for the extra carry weight from the deep pocketed mods was basically negated. I agree that Strong Back is a necessary perk for anyone who does lots of junk collecting. It's great.

I have a full sneaking character but I want to pick up all the shiny stuff I see. I do have strong back 3 but you can't always fast travel during missions and it depletes your AP when walking so I prefer a lot of carry weight. To accomodate my sneaking needs I chose all the appropriate perks and was lucky enough to find a piece of legendary Chameleon armor which cloaks you when you stop moving. I've never felt the need for more sneak, I can pretty much sneak behind raider's backs almost close enough to touch them.

Which is better will depend on habits and preferences.

i.e. My current characters use several weapons modded to minimise AP cost as much as is practical, so ultra-light is a clear winner before you even consider that it improves stealth, lets me sprint longer and gives a small buff to carry weight.

But the less you use VATS, the more you horde and the more you like carrying lots of poundage in weaponry and extra equipment the better deep pockets is going to look.

I like both but sadly i just usually end up doing mostly Deep Pockets. The "which is better" is more situational and depends on the user i guess. There are perks to help carry more if you want to spend 3 into strong back then I say choose ultra light.

I almost always choose ultra-light because it has benefits that might help prevent getting killed. Deep pockets just makes me have to carry less junk and/or make more trips back to base.

In a broad way it's kind of like the difference between Cap Collector and Scrounger perks. Both get you more valuable stuff to trade, but Scrounger gets you stuff you can also shoot!

Yeah I have a Shadow set of leather with Deep Pockets on the Chest and arms and Sleek on the legs. Fantastic for the sneaky type. But if I was using VATS very often I would go with Ultra-Light on the legs.

If you plan on using survival that might also impact which one you want. The whole taking damage when over encumbered. (Assuming they didn't change that aspect since it was leaked.)

I make all my armor strengthened. I dont think i ever suffer limb damage anymore.

Limb damage isn't that much of an issue anymore since it's so easy to heal in FO4 and stimpaks are everywhere. One of many things that became kind of pointless with FO's redesign.

True. I am walking around with over 500 stimpaks and I never even buy them.

player.modav carryweight 10000

Well I did play one character that only used items he cooked or made himself (so no stimpaks). But even then you can just 'walk off' limb damage now so even that wasn't an issue. That being the case I can find better uses of the misc. mod for armor than Strengthened. Course to each their own.

Thanks for the tip. What should I replace it with? Is the radiation resistance lead lined worth it?

Playing.OnConsole -Mods

Well depends on play style. For the sneaky type, this thread kind of covers that already. If you find you need to be able to carry more stuff then Deep Pockets is always useful.

I'm afraid that Lead Lined fails for the same reason Strengthened does, there is Radaway everywhere in this game. No way anyone should die from radiation in this game unless you've picked a fight with a group of 'Children of Atom' or something.

I did a combination. 2 pieces had ultra-light, 2 pieces had deep pockets and 1 piece had weapon stabilization. A little of each was all I needed to give me the boosts I wanted.

I'll go with deep pockets then. I pick up every piece of loot and even go on loot runs. Plus I never use power armor. Cheers mate

If you are in the new Survival, then maybe Deep Pockets, else Ultra-light. Personally, for any sneaky character no matter the mode, I'd stick with ultra light.

Funny thing is, if you have the armorer perk, and work with a certain faction in-game, you can make apparel that is mostly incredibly light, which hits both areas. Also keep loadout (of weapons) limited, as some weapons are incredibly heavy.

Other than that, op, ultra-light is what I use for stealth characters., and deep pockets for non stealth characters.