Fallout 76 mutations (2024)

“Radiation has given you a Mutation! You gain positive and negative effects. Using RadAway has a chance to cure any Mutations.”— In-game notification

Mutations are a type of effect inFallout 76.

Characteristics[]

Mutations are semi-permanent effects that provide both positive and negative effects, which can be acquired by the player when they are exposed to radiation. Whenever a player takes radiation damage, they have a chance to gain a mutation, equivalent to 5% per 5 points of radiation damage. This can occur from being struck by excessive background radiation from a source such as zones devastated by nukes, irradiated creatures, radioactive waste, etc. Players cannot acquire a mutation from radiation until level 5. If a mutation is acquired from radiation damage, another mutation cannot be acquired until the player leaves that server.

It is possible to acquire up to 18 of the 19 available mutations at the same time. The exceptions are Carnivore and Herbivore, which prevent one another from being acquired.

The Class Freak perk will reduce the negative effects of a mutation by 25/50/75%, while Strange in Numbers will grant a 25% increase to the positive effect if teammates are also mutated. Mutant's legendary items will only activate if the player is mutated.

Removal and prevention[]

Every time the player uses RadAway, RadAway: diluted or a decontamination shower, there is a chance that a randomly selected mutation will be removed. They can keep using RadAway for more attempts to remove a mutation. Mutations cannot be removed through death. However, a percentage of rads is removed upon death. Nuka-Grape, brahmin milk, or the perk cards Healing Hands, Rad Sponge and What Rads? can also be used to remove rads without risk of curing mutations.

The Starched Genes perk allows for locking mutations, as it reduces/eliminates both the chance of becoming mutated and their removal chance. Radiation protection gear (e.g. hazmat suit) reduces the chance of mutation.^{[verification overdue]}

Mutations list[]

Players may be affected by the following mutations:

Mutations
Mutation	Positive effect(s)	Negative effect(s)	Serum	Form ID
Adrenal Reaction	+Weapon DMG at low HP	Max HP -50	Adrenal reaction serum	004E1F14
Bird Bones	AGI +4, Fall from heights more gradually	STR -4, take extra limb damage	Bird bones serum	003C403D
Carnivore	Eating meat provides double the hunger satisfaction, HP restoration, and consumable buffs, with no disease chance	Eating plant-based food does not satisfy hunger, restore HP, or apply buffs	Carnivore serum	003C4049
Chameleon	Invisibility in combat if unarmored and standing still[1]		Chameleon serum	004E4006
Eagle Eyes	Critical Damage +50%, PER +4	STR -4	Eagle eyes serum	003C4037
Egg Head	INT +6	STR -3, END -3	Egg head serum	003C4045
Electrically Charged	Chance to shock melee attackers	Small amount of damage done to player	Electrically charged serum	004E400D
Empath	Teammates take 25% less damage	Player takes 33% more damage	Empath serum	004E1F16
Grounded	Energy Resistance +100	Energy Damage -50%	Grounded serum	004E4002
Healing Factor	Health Regeneration while not in combat +300% (Regardless of hunger level)	Chem Effects -55%	Healing factor serum	004DF1DB
Herbivore	Eating plant-based food provides double the hunger satisfaction, HP restoration, and consumable buffs, with no disease chance	Eating meat does not satisfy hunger, restore HP, or apply buffs	Herbivore serum	003C404E
Herd Mentality	All SPECIAL stats +2 when grouped	All SPECIAL stats -2 when solo	Herd mentality serum	004E1F1E
Marsupial	Carry Weight +20, +jump height	INT -4	Marsupial serum	004DF1CE
Plague Walker	Poison aura scaling with your diseases	Only works if you are carrying a disease	Plague walker serum	004E4021
Scaly Skin	Damage and Energy Resistance +50	AP -50	Scaly skin serum	004DF1CF
Speed Demon	Movement speed +20%, faster reload +20%	+50% drain on hunger and thirst while moving	Speed demon serum	004DF1E0
Talons	Punching attacks do 25% more damage + bleed damage	AGI -4	Talons serum	0028D3BC
Twisted Muscles	Melee Damage +25%, better chance to cripple limbs	Gun accuracy -50%	Twisted muscles serum	003C402F
Unstable Isotope	Medium chance to release a radiation blast when struck in melee	Minor damage to player during the radiation blast	Unstable isotope serum	004E4017
Rad Walker	Radiation aura scaling with your radiation.[2] Does not affect targets already taking radiation damage.	Radiation healing reduced by 50%		004E4028

Serums[]

By consuming a mutation serum, the corresponding mutation will be applied to the player and its negative effects will be nullified for 1 hour. If the player already has that mutation, then the negative effects of the mutation will be suppressed.

Serums and their recipes are sold by the MODUS science terminal in the Science Wing of the Whitespring bunker. Other players may also sell serums via a C.A.M.P. vending machine.

Suppression[]

Even with the Starched Genes perk, the positive effects of current mutations can be suppressed by Rad-X for 10 minutes. To avoid the suppression effects of Rad-X, the diluted version or RadShield can be used to gain Radiation Resistance. If the player already has a mutation, the respective serum will suppress the negative effects of the mutation for 60 minutes. For example, consuming a marsupial serum while already having the Marsupial mutation will temporarily remove the Intelligence debuff.

Notes[]

Generic non-player characters from the major factions (Settlers, Raiders or the Brotherhood of Steel) may occasionally comment on specific mutations that the player has acquired. For example, if they have the Marsupial mutation, NPCs will comment on their increased jump height.

Completing the main story quest An Ounce of Prevention will remove mutations when entering the Sympto-Matic even if Starched Genes is active.

Changelog[]

• Prior to patch 1.0.3.10, which fixed the issue, the Herd Mentality mutation could prevent the sharing of other perk cards with the group.^[patched]
• Prior to Fallout 76 patch 1.0.4.13, the Strange in Numbers perk could increase the effect of some mutations excessively. For example, combining it with the "Bird Bones" mutation can cause the player's fall speed to be reduced so much that it is possible to walk on air.^[patched]
• Prior to patch 1.1.2.9, mutation serum recipes had a chance to be dropped by the scorchbeast queen.
• Prior to patch 1.1.4.3, which fixed the issue, the Class Freak perk card had a bug on the effects page of the Pip-Boy, where it would not show any reduction to the Empath and Herd Mentality negative effects while it is for the other mutations. For Herd Mentality, it seemed to only be a visual bug, as the negative effect of having SPECIAL reduced by 2 when solo and in a combination of rank 3 Class Freak did not reduce SPECIAL at all when equipped. For the Empath negative effect, this was a confirmed bug, as the +33% of damage was not reduced at all.^[patched]
• Prior to patch 1.1.4.3, which fixed the issue, the Grounded mutation with the Class Freak perk (sometimes) said energy guns do 12% less damage (the correct amount) and sometimes it said 50% less damage (the standard amount) but the energy gun damage is always 50% less.^[patched]
• Prior to patch 1.2.2.9, which fixed the issue, Chameleon often glitched, and would render the character invisible from the player regardless of whether or not they were holding their weapon, wearing armor, or in motion. At times even just the character's exposed skin was rendered invisible, while their clothing remained visible.^[patched]

Behind the scenes[]

Mutations were originally planned to have a cosmetic impact on the player, changing their appearance temporarily or permanently.^[3][4]

Gallery[]

References[]