Fallout 76: 6 Ways To Boost Your Damage Resistance

Being able to soak up damage in Fallout 76 makes completing hard events much easier. There are lots of very strong enemies in the game that can take down players in a single hit if they aren’t well-prepared. While having good armor does help, there are a few other things that players can do to maximize their damage resistance.

Depending on the player’s build, there are legendary effects, perk cards, and consumables that can help boost their damage resistance. By combining high AP, high damage resistance, and high damage output, it’s possible for players to truly conquer the ruins of post-war Appalachia.

6 Armor Selection

Choose The Right Armor For The Job

There are two main armor types in Fallout 76: Power Armor and regular armor. While there are lots of variations of both armor types, for the most part, Power Armor tends to offer more damage resistance.

Without any legendary effects, perks, or other damage resistance increasing items, the Power Armor set that offers the most damage resistance is T-65. By having certain legendary effects, T-65 Power Armor can offer incredible amounts of protection. Legendary effects that players will want to keep an eye out for can be seen below:

• Bolstering: Up To +35 Damage Resistance The Lower The Player’s Health
• Vanguard: Up To +35 Damage Resistance The Higher The Player’s Health
• Overeaters: Damage Reduction Up To 6% As The Player’s Hunger And Thirst Bar Fills

As for standard armor, the one that is often quoted as being the best armor in Fallout 76 is Secret Service armor. This untradable armor set is a costly one. However, it’s more than worth it as it has a great base damage resistance. The best legendary effects for boosting damage resistance on Secret Service armor can be seen below:

• Bolstering: Up To +35 Damage Resistance The Lower The Player’s Health
• Vanguard: Up To +35 Damage Resistance The Higher The Player’s Health
• Overeaters: Damage Reduction Up To 6% As The Player’s Hunger And Thirst Bar Fills
• Unyielding: Up To +3 To All SPECIAL Stats (Excluding Endurance) The Lower The Player’s Health
• Sentinal: 75% Chance of Reducing Incoming Damage By 15% When Standing Still

5 Armor Mods

Boost Damage Resistance With Armor Mods

There are lots of modifications that players can add to their armor pieces. For every armor piece, there’s a mod section dedicated to increasing the player’s damage resistance. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any mods that offer damage resistance boosts for Power Armor pieces. This is because Power Armor already has pretty high damage resistances as standard. The mods that increase the player’s damage resistance can be seen below:

• Buttressed
• Hardened
• Tempered
• Welded

For the biggest increase, players should use the Buttressed mod on all of their regular armor pieces. Crafting the Buttressed mod on each armor piece can be quite costly for new players, so it may be worth heading out and stocking up on materials before crafting.

4 Backpack

A Surprisingly Powerful Boost

Backpacks do more than increase the player’s carry weight. There are backpack mods that reduce the weight of various items, reduce the rate at which food spoils, and a mod that increases the player’s damage resistance.

The armor-plated backpack mod increases the player’s damage resistance by 90. To get the plan to craft this mod, the player will need to buy it for 5 Possum Badges at a Possum Vending Machine. For those who don’t know where to find a Possum Vending Machine, one can be found at Camp Adams.

3 Consumables

Stack Consumables For Bigger Benefits

There are lots of different consumables in Fallout 76 that help to increase a player’s damage resistance. While they only work for a limited amount of time, they can be crafted, purchased, or farmed so that the player can have a steady supply of consumables that boost the player’s damage resistance.

Some of the best damage resistance boosting consumables can be seen below. Please note that it’s important for players to take a look at their workbenches and cooking stations to see what works best for them.

• Fried Fog Crawler: +25 Damage Resistance For 30 Minutes
• Mirelurk Jerky: 15+ Damage Resistance For 1 Hour
• Scorchbeast Steak: +15 Damage Resistance For 40 Minutes
• Cranberry Jam: +10 Damage Resistance For 1 Hour
• Split Bean Puree: +15 Damage Resistance For 1 Hour
• Grognak The Barbarian 8: +2 Damage Resistance For 30 Minutes
• Live & Love 6: +10 Damage Resistance While on A Team For 30 Minutes
• Fury: +25 Damage Resistance For 3 Minutes
• Med-X: +25 Damage Resistance For 5 Minutes

It’s possible to boost some of the consumables mentioned above by using mutations like herbivore and carnivore.

2 Perks

Certain Perks Can Dramatically Increase Damage Resistance

There are a few perks that increase the player’s damage resistance. However, most of them don’t work for Power Armor users. All of the core damage resistance boosting perks can be seen in the table below:

There are other perks that increase the player’s damage resistance, but they are more suited to specific build types.

1 Mutations

Being A Mutant Has Its Perks

Mutations are something that most players have on all of their characters. There are a total of 18 different mutations in the game. There are mutations to suit all playstyles. Some increase the player’s movement speed, others boost the player’s damage output, and some can increase the player’s damage resistance.

There are three important perks that players should have equipped while using mutations:

• Strange in Numbers: Positive Mutation Effects Are 25% Stronger If Teammates Are Mutated Too
• Starched Genes: No Chance To Gain More Or Lose Any Active Mutations (Rank 2 Required)
• Class Freak: Negative Effects From Mutations Are Reduced By 75% (Rank 3 Required)

The mutations that can help to boost the player’s damage resistance are Scaly Skin, Carnivore, and Herbivore.

Scaly Skin gives players a +50 to their damage and energy resistance. This can be boosted if the player is using the Strange in Numbers perk alongside it. The negative effect that comes with this mutation is a -50 to the player’s overall AP. However, as listed above, the Class Freak perk can dramatically reduce the negative effects that come with using mutations.

The other two mutations don’t directly affect the player’s damage resistance. Instead, they double the benefits gained by consuming plant-based or meat-based meals, depending on which mutation the player opts to have.

As shown in the consumables entry above, there are some foods that boost the player’s damage resistance for a limited time. So, for example, consuming Fried Fog Crawler gives the players a +25 to damage resistance. However, if the player is using the carnivore mutation, then this boost goes up to +50 to damage resistance.