theres alot to choose from what are some must have perks?

also is local leader worth having?

There aren't any. What sort of character do you want to build?

If you want to focus on building up settlements then local leader is convenient.

Local Leader is almost essential if you really want to get the most out of your settlements. If you're content to just let them be and stick with one location to focus on, though, you won't miss it.

As was said, the best perks really depends on your character build. Some of my favorite perks, though? For my high-endurance main character, Solar Powered is fantastic. When you get to the second rank, you pretty much never have to worry about radiation in the long term. And the second and third ranks of Solar Powered are fast, too. Aquaboy is also a really good one, too, although a bit situational.

For my Doomgal character, I'm going to have to say Lone Wanderer and Idiot Savant. Lone Wanderer is fantastic if you're not running with companions (and honestly, I run with companions for the companionship, not the fire support), and Idiot Savant is worth it no matter what your Intelligence is. If it kicks in when you complete a quest, you're in for a treat.

As for good perks all around, my top picks have got to be Life Giver and Scrounger. They really lighten the burden of playing on Survival Mode, if that's your thing, and they're just helpful for pretty much any character that takes damage and shoots guns. Otherwise, the "essential" perks will have to be the combat perk for whatever type of weapons you use, and the crafting perks for them too.

all depends on build & yes local leader both ranks are essential if you plan on spending a lot of time building settlements

For me lock picking, computer hacking, and scrounging for ammo are must have perks.

local leader is settlement play style specific - it can be argued it helps other styles but since OP asked what are 'must have' perks, my definition is those must-haves that fit most or all play styles

right now all I can think of is one - and it's top must-have in my opinion:

1- Scrapper

without scrapper, your play style for just about any mode - settlement simulator pro, gun nut action hero, etc is going to be a lot tougher

Scrounger is right up there. Scrounger to reduce costs for ammo because you'll find more.

If you plan to do any crafting then Scapper is a must as well. To get those rarer materials for crafting.

Local Leader 2 is soooo handy, to be able to create your own stores. The general store and weapons store help with crafting materials and ammo respectively.

Ok here is list of perks I have found useful. Certainly others might work for the right build, or to ease some part of the game.

Iron fist, Big League, Heavy Gunner, Rifleman, Gunslinger, Commando. (one of – probably exactly)

Sneak, Action Boy/Girl, Nija, Concentrated fire,

Gun nut, Science, Armour, Blacksmith,

Lone wanderer, Locksmith, Hacking.

Rooted, Better Criticals, Critical Banker, Four leaf clove, Grim Reapers Sprint ( look interesting as well. Not tried yet)

Also Gun Fu and Blitz.

For me, the Armorer and Gun Nut, Lockpicking and Hacking, and lone wanderer are probably going to be ones I'll get for every character I ever play, before level 10. The Lone wanderer bonus stays in effect with Dogmeat as a companion, so you can still have a pack mule companion along and have extra carry and defense, unless it's a bug and then maybe it's just the carry weight, but it seems to be a feature.

Science on top of armorer is pretty important if you want to dial in Power Armor.

I personally like sneaking and so get I sneak, but it's not essential at all, but they have dialed in the "senses" part and I have high agility and so can cruise along at a good speed while moving slow enough to look around and spy semi-hidden stuff looking left and right, up or down and don't have to stop or worry, knowing that the Hidden bracket box will shrink and I've gotten to where I notice that and stop, and can then take the time to look around in the direction I was heading to see what is starting to notice my approach.

I do think another useful perk is the Aquaboy/girl perk since you can enter water without the rad damage, and that's really nice, but certainly not essential.

Since combat is pretty much unavoidable, any of the weapon damage perk sets would be my number one.

Personally Rifeman, since single fire rifles do more damage than pistols and the perk adds essentially an armor piercing bonus. But it depends on you personal preference of weapon type. Sniper, shotgun, combat and laser rifles all fit under this perk which is nice. Single fire and the extra damage means you will need a lot less ammo. It also compliments well with weapon crafting.

Local leader is nice, mostly to be able to build more stores to sell to, but it's hardly essential. For me, it's hacking and lockpicking. There are oh so many locked consoles, doors, safes, toolboxes, ammo boxes, etc that I just can't imagine ever having a character that's unable to open them all. Gun Nut and Armorer are also really nice to have. The odds of finding good armor/weapons with all of the best mods are pretty slim, so it's really the only way to get the most out of your equipment. On that same note, Science! is also needed for the higher end weapon and armor mods, but it's not quite as essential as the other two. Lone Wanderer is essential for me, since I hardly ever travel with companions.

I think that pretty much covers it.

I find damage resistance is a must have. It really keeps you alive.

I also like demolition expert level 2, which allows you to see the trajectory of your grenade before throwing it. No wasted frags and LOTS of killing power.

After spending about seventy hours playing Fallout 4, I think the only "must have" perk is the one that increases the damage with your chosen weapon class. Armorer is almost a must have if you are using power armor since it is quite difficult to find upgraded power armor pieces without making them yourself. Getting upgraded weapons is easy late in the game and you can rip the mods off them to make what you want. So the weapon mod crafting perks are mostly just for convenience. Local leader is really only needed if you are going to spend dozens of hours building up all the settlements. I have found Sanctuary produces more than enough resources by itself to keep me flush with cash. Unlike previous Fallout games, I have found lockpicking and hacking to be unnecessary. There are so many other ways to get money and buy stuff that you don't need the extra items behind the locked door. Scrapper looked good, but you can easy buy all the rare materials you need from junk shops. Shops replenish thier inventory each day, so once you get a steady stream of caps from your settlement, you won't need to scavenge for anything anymore.

Do you need the local leader perk to get caps from your settlement's?

Ive completed on Survival and Ive never had ammo issues....if you use your _ _ _ _ _

Well to get caps directly produced by the settlement, yes you need to build stores. However they only produce a small trickle of income. To get a waterfall of income you need, well, water. Just cram the river in Sanctuary full of water purifiers. Each day they will produce water that will be deposited in your workbench that can be sold or traded to any merchant for whatever you want. Having the science perk at rank 1 makes this process four times better since you can build industrial sized water purifiers. My Sanctuary settlement produces about 500 units of water a day which I can sell for over 6000 caps worth of stuff with my current character's charisma and perks. Of course by the time you are making that amount of money....you won't actually need most of it.

I'd say Gun-nut, Armorer, Hacking, Lockpicking, and your chosen weapon category. Anything else is convenience. My top pick after these are Nuclear Scientist to make my fusion cores last longer,

I think the most obvious ones are Locksmith and Hacker. Both of which are your most basic means of accessing a lot of things in this game unless you plan to rely on finding keys for everything, and keys aren't always going to be there. Could you have one without the other? Perhaps. Usually when there is a hard lock to crack, there is a terminal near by for an alternative means to open said lock. Though that is not an always common predicament. So if I were to ever claim a "must have" perk, those two would qualify.

Everything else depends on your build. I'm hearing a lot of Scrounger, but melee/unarmed characters have no use for that perk. Not to mention so long as you're good at managing your resources, you can most certainly go without Scrounger.

What I can definitely say is that there are definitely some must have perks within those builds. Any build that uses a specific weapon type are perks such as Rifleman, Gunslinger, and Big Leagues definitely a must to be the most efficient at those weapons. Other examples being a VATS focused character needing Action Boy and Grim Reaper's Sprint. A settlement focused character needs Local Leader. A character who plans on crafting extensively should invest in Gun Nut and Science. A character who uses chems will need Chem Resistant and Chemist. Varies quite a bit.

Me personally, I have a very stealth focused play style. And with that, perks like Ninja are definitely essential to be the most effective at it. While ironically, perks like Sneak aren't necessary to invest too much into.

Personally i can say without a doubt there are no 'must have' perks in teh game. The perk system seems very well balanced in this regard and you can see evidence based on character builds. Take a sniper based character, they will be heavily invested in the Perception tree, yet a melee character will be invested in the strength tree. A gunslinger like Kellogg will in turn be heavily invested in the Agility tree. The game allows for and promotes a variety of builds where the perks are different. if you are power armoured centred then there is a major advantage to being very smart to get extended time using fusion cores. And with all that heavy armour you wont need to invest as much in the perks the increase your energy, radiation or damage resistance and less likely for a sniper either as they will be hanging back in most combat anyway, yet a Melee, gunslinger, or shotgun specialist may want to invest in these perks because they will need to get closer to the enemy and that extra resistance can help.

They are a whole slew of crafting perks that go well beyond local leader that as important for people who want to play the settlement game, do you want to be a crafter? if yes then you need to invest in those perks. There is some crossover as you need science and gun nut perks to craft weapons and automated turrets.

You don't need crafting skills to remove and add mods to weapons and armour you only need the skill to build the mod. So if you find a mod for leather armour but you want that mod for your legendary leather armour but lack the skill you can remove it and add it the legendary piece without the skill. This means you can buy or find dropped armour with the needed mods for your gear without crafting perks it just takes more effort and likely more time to acquire the mod combos you want.

The simple fact is that play style will GREATLY impact what are the 'must have' perks are.

For me, they are Locksmith, Hacker, Strong Back, and Local Leader rank 1. Locksmith and Hacker are for the extra loot and XP. Arguments can be made for and against both, of course, but for me, they're essential.

Strong Back is for the 3rd and 4th ranks. While not required, the benefits of those ranks are massive Quality of Life changes that I absolutely love.

Local Leader is just for the Supply Lines. I don't bother planting Tatos or Mutfruit, as Abernathy Farm and Greygarden both have excellent surpluses of these. I use Sanctuary for Corn and Purified Water only. Of course, normally I'd have to go and collect the surplus myself, but with Local Leader, I just set up a Supply Line, then make Vegetable Starch whenever the option is available.

Crafting perks are nice, but if you're patient, the game will give you all the mods you want without you ever having to spend a single perk. The crafting skills just eliminate the waiting. Because of this, they're not actually essential perks; just nice to have. Technically, all the ones I listed are the same, but they're ones I don't want to do without.

Penetrator. No one can hide.

I'd say Gun nut is probably the only real " must have " perk.

The Intimidate/Pacify perks are pretty cool. I love pacifying Raiders then inciting them to go kill their buddies. Also handy for the Ghouls - it`s pretty funny when he says "Calm down Freak!"

Another must for me is the ghoulish perk where radiation heals your health - very handy!

For me, all the mod perks except for Blacksmith is essential. Science! and Gub Nut to mod laser weapon. Armorer to increase the defense of my clothes (I combined ballistic fiber with toughness and refraction to have decent defense without actual armor). Hacking and Lockpicking are also big ones for me as I hate leaving things behind, though there's usually other ways around things-- keys or passwords. And if you plan on doing anything with Settlements at all, Local Leader is a big one.

Yeah, I'm actually having a ton of fun building new characters and taking different perks, or taking them in a different order. My Endurance guy is at level 50 and I still don't have all the perks I wanted for him - although in fairness I spent five levels bumping up my charisma and then another two to get Local Leader to flesh out my settlements. But he still doesn't have any ranks of Gun Nut.