Fallout 4: Every Power Armor, Ranked (2024)

Fallout 4’s setting is the kind of apocalyptic hellhole where pretty much everything is out to kill the player. To survive, one needs a good gun and an even better set of armor. For the best protection, players will want some Power Armor.

With Fallout 4, Bethesda made some major changes to Power Armor. The suits are more akin to vehicles than traditional RPG armor, requiring both a chassis and a fusion core to work. The game features several iconic sets, but some are definitely better than others.

Updated July 28th, 2024, by Robbie Mitchell: Despite being nearly ten years old, Fallout 4 just got a massive update. Meant to coincide with Amazon's new Fallout series, the Fallout 4 Next-Gen update included enhanced visuals and bug fixes but also added some Creation Club Content to the base game as well. Easily the most exciting part of this new content was the addition of three whole new suits of power armor. The update as a whole appears to have been a bit of a miss for fans of the game, but the new armors have been positively received. Because there are new power armors in Fallout 4, this list needed to be updated with their information and ranking, and that's exactly what happened.

11 Raider Power Armor

As Basic As It Gets

Raider Power Armor has the worst stats of any Power Armor in Fallout 4, hands down. Hobbled together from pieces of junk by Fallout 4's infamous raider gang, this set is as basic as it gets.

Compared to other power armor sets, it has fewer upgrade options but is much cheaper to repair. Unless players like the rustic look, there's no reason to bother with this option, and using it is a waste of fusion cores.

10 T-45

Slightly Superior But Still Quite Poor

In canon, the T-45 was the first ever power armor deployed by the U.S. military - meaning, by Fallout standards, it's pretty out of date. In-game, it's likely to be the first power armor set the lone wanderer will come across and can be found during the early When Freedom Calls quest.

The T-45 is a nice step up from the raider armor since it has a lot more upgrade options, although it is more expensive to repair. Most players will likely quickly leave their T-45 armor behind, but those with a soft spot for it should hunt down the Piezonucleic chest piece variant at Cambridge Polymer Labs.

9 Overboss Power Armor Set

An Electrifying Step-Up

The Fallout franchise has a lot of great DLC, and one of the best is Fallout 4's Nuka-World. This expansion added a lot of cool items, including the Overboss Power Armor Set. The armor is received as a reward for defeating the expansion's first boss and is a nice little upgrade over the basic Raider Power Armor.

For a start, it looks cooler and features a more "bulked up" design with some nice nods to its theme park origins on the back. Even better, all its defensive stats are much higher (although worse than most other sets), and the armor has a unique modifier. When wearing the armor, the player will periodically deal energy damage to nearby enemies, making it a nice match for melee lovers.

8 T-51

Mid-Range Power Armor

There's not a lot to say about the T-51, except that it's like the T-45 but better. Developed by West Tek, this armor entered service just one year before the bombs fell and took ten years to develop.

Much like its elder sibling, there's a chance of getting a Piezonucleic chest-piece variant during the Cambridge Polymer Labs Quest. T-51 pieces can be found all over the Wasteland and the armor isn't too expensive to upgrade, making it a nice stepping stone before players move on to more advanced power armors.

7 Nuka T-51

A Walking Cola Advertisem*nt

Nuka-Cola is a big part of Fallout's lore, so it's not really surprising that one of the game's most unique power armor sets is a piece of Nuka-Cola branding. The armor is relatively easy to get and can be looted from the Nuka-World DLC's World of Refreshment location.

Stats-wise, the Nuka T-51 is the same as a vanilla set of T-51 armor. However, it comes with two nice upgrades. Firstly, the armor comes with a very snazzy-looking unique paint job. Secondly, equipping all pieces provides a handy +3 Agility bonus. The only downside is that material mods cannot be applied to this armor, which may mess with some players' builds.

6 T-60

An Armor Set Often Seen On Members Of The Brotherhood

Anyone even a little bit familiar with Fallout should recognize the T-60 power armor. It's the iconic armor most commonly seen being worn by the Brotherhood of Steel faction.

The T-60 was brought into service right at the end of the war and, at the time, was considered to be the most advanced model of power armor to have ever seen action. Stats-wise, the armor is a step up from almost every piece of armor in the game and has some of the best upgrade options. There's also a unique "Tesla" variant of the arm and chest pieces that gives up to a 15% bonus to energy weapon damage.

5 X-01

The Latest & Greatest

See Also

Fallout 4: The Best Pieces Of Power Armor, Ranked

The X-01 is the most advanced power armor in Fallout 4. According to Fallout lore, work began on the X-01 power armor just before the end of the Great War but wasn't completed until much later - around 2220 by the evil Enclave.

The X-01 is hands down the best vanilla power armor in the game and offers the best defensive stats. Amazingly, it's also shockingly easy to get a full suit early on in the game. A complete set of X-01 armor can be found on the roof of 35 Court in Boston's Financial District, and another can be found on the back of a truck just west of Dry Rock Gulch. Its great stats, upgrade options, and easy availability mean that there's little reason to bother with any of the other Power Armors in Fallout 4.

4 Quantum X-01

Better Than The Best

If players are willing to complete one of Fallout 4's most frustrating quests and collect 35 star cores hidden throughout Nuka-World, their reward is the game's best power armor. The Quantum X-01 is a unique variant of the standard X-01 armor that comes with a sweet custom Quantum blue paint job and a unique perk - faster action point refresh speed.

Better still, it comes already upgraded to Mk 5, making it the most powerful complete suit that can be found in the game, saving the player from having to spend precious resources on upgrading it. The only downside to wearing either version of the X-01 is that it arguably makes the game too easy. Getting the Quantum X-01 in Fallout 4 might take a while, but it's worth the effort.

3 Hellfire

Good For Energy Resistance

Of the three new armors added in the Next-Gen update, the Hellfire Power Armor is probably the least impressive. It's looted from Pyro, a member of the Forged Raider gang, during the Pyromaniac quest, and it is incredibly similar to the original X-01 power armor.

It has the same physical resistance as the X-01 but slightly higher energy resistance. On the other hand, its overall HP is lower than the X-01's, being the same as the T-60's. That means which is better between the two is largely a matter of taste; or which one the player thinks looks better, probably.

2 Enclave Hellfire

Good Energy Resistance, Poor Health

The best thing we can say about the Enclave Hellfire Armor is that it looks better than the standard version. The Enclave version can be looted from Hellfire Enclave Troopers during Echoes of the Pass after being ambushed on the way to Saugus Ironworks, or can be found at the Atlantic Offices in the Glowing Sea.

Its stats are around the same as the normal Hellfire armor, except the Enclave variant has better energy resistance. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of even lower armor HP. This means that unless the player knows they're going up against enemies that exclusively use energy weapons, either the normal X-01 or the new X-02 armor are probably a better option.

1 X-02

An Advanced Prototype

The X-02 is a modest upgrade on Fallout 4's former best power armor, the X-01. Developed in-house by the Enclave Department of the Army, it has a slightly bulkier design than the X-01 and almost the same stats, apart from having better energy resistance and a higher HP.

Curious players can get their hands on a full set of the armor in the Mass Pike Tunnel during the "Speak of the Devil" quest, or loot the pieces separately off of fallen Enclave soldiers during "Echoes of the Past." The best thing about the X-02 is its upgrade options is, unlike other power armors, the X-02 can be equipped with any power armor mod. Even better, it can be fitted with the Devil's Inferno mod (found in the Mass Pike Tunnel), which is an upgraded version of the Tesla coils. Better stats and more upgrade options are rarely a bad thing, making the X-02 a great addition to the game.

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Fallout 4

RPG

Action

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:87/100 Critics Recommend:89%

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

November 10, 2015

Developer(s)

Bethesda

See at Official Site