All Power Armor compared
All power armor in Fallout 76 has its advantages and disadvantages. Some have been there from the beginning, some have been added in updates. We have summarized all available power armor in this overview and draw a conclusion for our favorite: The best power armor (from our point of view).
General Power Armor Effects
All power armor has 42% damage reduction (7% per piece) and 90% radiation reduction (15% per piece). This provides e.g. Great advantages in nuke zones or in the tunnels of "radiation rumble". Of course, you can withstand more in power armor than in normal armor. However, the power armor is loud and heavy and stealth is not possible, which means you become the target of attacks more quickly.
In general, it is recommended to play with power armor if you play heavy weapons, as the "Stabilized" (Intelligence) perk only works in power armor and provides enormous advantages. We do not recommend Power Armor with rifles, pistols or melee combat.
Union Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 489
Energy Resistance: 295
Radiation Resistance: 265
Level: 50
Set Bonus: +150 Poison Resistance, +75 Carry Weight
Not tradable.
Reward on Scoreboard 10 (13th Sept 2022 - 06th Dec 2022)
Available for stamps from Guiseppe in the Whitespring Refuge since Season 11
Bug: There is currently a known bug that means you cannot pick up legendary pieces of union armor with the "Loot All" feature; it can only be picked up directly by the opponent who dropped the armor.
Hellcat Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 436
Energy Resistance: 320
Radiation Resistance: 320
Level: 50
Per part: "Reduces incoming ballistic damage by 2%" for a total of 12% (arms, legs, torso + helmet, that counts even though it doesn't say so)
Reward of the new "Steel Reign" quest line.
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted. Not tradable.
T-65 Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 565
Energy Resistance: 470
Radiation Resistance: 470
Level: 50
Plans only available for gold from Minerva or in Vault 79 (Regs / Secret Service).
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted. Not tradable.
X-01 Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 398
Energy Resistance: 453
Radiation Resistance: 453
Level: 40/50
Plans are rewards for the Enclave Quest series. (Can be downloaded for free from the terminal in the Whitespring Bunker / Armory).
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
Ultracite Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 453
Energy Resistance: 393
Radiation Resistance: 393
Level: 50
Plans are a reward for the first Brotherhood quest line.
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
Stranglerheart Power Armor
Damage resistance: 453
Energy Resistance: 393
Radiation Resistance: 500
Level: 50
The basis here is the Ultrazit armor, so for modifications you need Ultrazit PA mod plans (dropped from the Queen).
Available for the first time through the no longer available Vault Raids. Now available for purchase with gold (Minerva and Vault 79/Secret Service).
Vault Steel is required to craft it (available from the Purveyor / Rusty Pick).
A full set deals acid damage during armed attacks (100 over 3 seconds), and nearby enemies take acid damage (4 per second)
Does not drop legendary, can only be crafted legendary. Not tradable.
T-45 Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 360
Energy Resistance: 360
Radiation Resistance: 360
Level: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
T-51b Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 454
Energy Resistance: 454
Radiation Resistance: 305
Level: 30 / 40 / 50
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
T-60 Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 400
Energy Resistance: 370
Radiation Resistance: 415
Level: 40 / 50
Specific Brotherhood Paints available through the Forbidden Knowledge quest.
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
Excavator Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 240
Energy Resistance: 240
Radiation Resistance: 366
Level: 25 / 35 / 45
Set Bonus: +100 Carry Weight
When using 2 excavator arms, 4x the amount of ores can be mined.
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
Raider Power Armor
Damage Resistance: 341
Energy Resistance: 341
Radiation Resistance: 341
Level: 15 / 25 / 35 / 45
Drops from Legendary enemies and Legendary events and can be Legendary crafted.
Best legendary effects for power armor
When you craft/roll legendary power armor, the best legendary main effect is:
Overeaters (Increases damage reduction by up to 6% when filling hunger and thirst bars.)
Overeaters provides a total of 30% damage reduction if you are well fed (e.g. with Perfect Bubble Gum). In practice, damage reduction is significantly more effective than damage resistance and is therefore the best recommendation for all builds. Both Bloodied and Full Life builds should play Overeaters PA.
If you then roll Sentinel (75% chance of reducing damage by 15% while standing still) on the 3rd legendary effect, you are even better protected. Of course, reducing the weight of weapons or other things is always a good thing. And of course, as a 2nd legendary effect, AP Acceleration can't do any harm. This all depends on RNG. Especially with non-tradable armor, it takes a lot of luck to roll the optimal armor.
Best Legendary Power Armors
Best Power Armor for Combat Use:
Overeaters Hellcat Power Armor
Best power armor for allround use with carry weight bonus and poison resistance:
Overeaters Union Power Armor
Both apply to bloodied builds as well as all full life builds.
Sources: Fallout 76 Wiki
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