FALLOUT WASTELAND WARFARE POWER ARMOR, CHEMS, AND MODS TIER LIST v5.0

POWER ARMOR, CHEMS, AND MODS TIER LIST v5.0

POWER ARMOR

Power Armor is unique among upgrades in that so few models have access to it, and it's such a big boost to a model's abilities, that you have to have a reason not to equip it - and there are reasons, such as a SS/Paladin with a Railgun.

RANK A
T-60 POWER ARMOR (70 Caps)
For 70 Caps you get a model that's nearly invincible for multiple turns. At worst a T-60 will absorb 3-4 attacks before getting Degraded thanks to its Strong Armor, and has a solid chance to suck down 6-8 before that happens. That's a lot of incoming damage ablated, and even after it's Degraded it still gives great Armor and a high STR boost.

RANK B

HELLFIRE ARMOR (52 Caps)

This armor has a couple key things that make it worth the Caps: First, it's Resistant to Fire. That means you can drop Flamer/Heavy Incinerator templates on yourself accidentally and at least have a 50% chance of ignoring it. Second, it loses the AGI penalty of the standard Enclave Armor. Third, it still has 3/3/3 Armor even when degraded, still strong against Energy weapons. On Teslas and Hellfires, this is worth the 8 extra Caps.

 

T-45 POWER ARMOR (36 Caps)
What T-45 brings to the table is cheapness; at 36 Caps it's half the price of a T-60 and does most of what the T-60 does. On average, though, it will only suck down four attacks before breaking, and in the worst case will Degrade in only 3. But with multiple T-45s working in concert you can do a lot of damage before that happens. The AGI penalty is bad, but most models using this won't be needing AGI except maybe to Climb - don't do that, send your less laden buddies up first.

X-01 POWER ARMOR (82 Caps)
X-01 is, of course, baller. At minimum 5, and more likely 7-9 Attacks absorbed before Degrading? And even after it Degrades, it still gives 4/3/4 Armor? The catch is the cost and the limited availability; it's +13 Caps for (basically) one more Attack absorbed. Worth it? ....Yyyyess? But with an asterisk.

RANK C

ENCLAVE POWER ARMOR (44 Caps)

Okay, this is a step between T-45 and T-51; while it does have 3+1 Physical Armor of T-51, it also has the AGI penalty of T-45. On basic Enclave Soldiers this won't matter too much; it means they lose 5% of their melee capacity, which they shouldn't be doing anyway. But on Teslas or Hellfires, not so good. These exist so we players can have large forces of Enclave PA without being forced to pay out the nose for the (canonical) X-01s, and honestly... I don't mind. 

 

NCR SALVAGED ARMOR (26 Caps)

For +5 Caps over the Heavy Raider Armor, you get +2 END (and that means +2 HP) and +4 Radiation Armor at the cost of -1 AGI. This is a good tradeoff on some models who wouldn't use AGI anyway and want better defenses, which is a VERY short list, but it exists - I'm eyeballing Sturges and Ronnie Shaw as non-NCR possibilities. Being in the Advanced Items also is a solid benefit.

As per James Sheahan, it already STARTS Degraded (to represent that after being stolen from a BoS trooper's body it was badly repaired), so there's no need to worry about it Degrading further.

 

POWER ARMOR FRAME (15 Caps)
I wish more models got access to this. For 15 Caps, getting +2 STR is absolutely GREAT, and for quite a few models this would be a solid boon.For a budget Sole Survivor, especially the SSL,

 

RAIDER POWER ARMOR (33 Caps)
Raider Power Armor will break easy and doesn't provide great stat boosts. So why is it not in D-tier? Well, it's cheap, and the model that will be using it most often - the Veteran Raider - makes it good, and you should use it. 

T-51 POWER ARMOR (54 Caps)
T-51 is a lukewarm choice between the cheapness of T-45 and the impressive capability of T-60; lowering Energy Armor isn't that big a deal, but neither is losing the AGI penalty of T-45, and losing 1 END and STR from the T-60 is pretty bad. It's a compromise: If you know you're not fighting models with Energy weapons, or you need to shave a few points without cutting as deep as a T-45, then reach for it.

 

CHEMS

For Chems, the most important thing to look at is the last turn. What does it give you for all three (four with Raiders) turns? And is that worth the points?

Most often, no. You'll see a lot of D-tier here, and for good reason - paying Caps for them is hard to justify when it's so limited time and can cripple your model when they run out with a bad roll. Even the high-ranking ones are only useful sometimes, and you need to carefully judge what you're getting with it.

Some Chems, particularly Stimpacks, Refreshing Beverages, and Radaways are pretty much no brainers - use them if you can afford them. This is about the other Chems... the ones which bend your model's stats and carry a chance of Addiction.

RANK A 

FURY (10 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Another Black die for melee is always welcome, and the short-term Armor boost will help frailer models close in fast. On dedicated melee models, this will never be a bad choice.

 

OVERDRIVE (13 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Criticals... are... awesome. Awesome enough that you might forget the bonus STR and Melee Black die and give Overdrive to a ranged model. But those are pretty good gravy on top of the delicious Critical mashed potatoes, especially with how many already great melee weapons have quick charging Critical effects...

 

REBOUND (8 Caps, 50% Addiction)
Rebound is delightfully simple - take it, get an AP every turn. Well, gee, if only there were some new faction on the block that could actually USE AP every turn and wouldn't mind drugging up their models to make them tougher and faster at the same time!

 

STEADY (8 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Adding Greens to your shooting, with penalties to CHA, INT, and LUC, is not a big deal for a lot of models. A PER buff for the first turn is quite nice as well.  

RANK B

DAY TRIPPER (6 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Lucky is good, and while it's random, Day Tripper is dirt cheap for something that can swing games if enough of it is on the table.

 

ORANGE MENTATS (14 Caps, 16% Addiction)
Giving better PER and letting a model spend APs on Shooting rolls is pretty good, especially in concert with other things like Commander - getting APs from shots is only a 15% by itself, which has a decent but not 100% to trigger across the use of the Chem. Gaining a free AP on the first turn is ALSO solid. Overall, this is one you'd want to reach for on ranged models who might want to get just a liiiiitle better at shooting.

RANK C
BUFFOUT (14 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Buffout's main benny is the hike to END, which can make a lot of models tougher. The STR boost is marginal, but will put STR 6 models into bonus melee Black die range. I won't say it's bad, but it's not great either.

MYSTERIOUS SERUM (15 Caps)
For dedicated melee models who are at STR 5, this is a solid dr-CHEM. Getting a temporary armor bonus is always good too, and the outright Radiation removal makes this a better Radaway at only slightly more!

 

PSYCHOBUFF (20 Caps)

I don't hate Psychobuff; adding more damage, extra armor, extra END, and extra STR is a solid mix. But it's priced by the old paradigm, and I'm doubtful it's better than Fury or Overdrive.  

SPARK (18 Caps, 16% Addiction)
Spark is for dedicated objective runners. Expertise as a Quick Action, along with a bonus AP, are all solid; the extra INT is just bonus and in some cases absolutely nuts. The problem is that most of them don't NEED the extra help, and spending 18 Caps on them to make them marginally better isn't always all that great.

ULTRA JET (25 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Getting a bonus AP, being able to spend AP on Movement/Charging, and getting a Ready token are all solid things. On slower dedicated melee models, this could let them close in slightly faster (by spending both bonus AP on movement), but not that much, and most melee models won't have much of a chance to roll dice to get more APs before the bonus runs out. I say pass in favor of Fury or Overdrive, but this isn't terrible.

X-CELL (17 Caps, 50% Addiction)
The thing about X-Cell is that no matter who takes it, they'll benefit - a +1 to a combat related stat gives a 5-10% bonus. The downsides are that it's 24 Caps AND has a high Addiction rate, with penalties that are impossible to dodge.

RANK D
BERRY MENTATS (13 Caps, 16% Addiction)
Who are Berry Mentats for? Improving PER and INT is for objective runners and shooters. Charging without LOS is for melee models. I think it's supposed to be a "helpful for lots of models" Chem, but better to pay for something that's always good.

BUFFTATS (25 Caps, 50% Addiction)
Bufftats are... weird, like Berry Mentats; yes, a solid mix of stats gets buffed, but it's hard to think of a model that uses all of them and wouldn't want to just focus on one or the other.

CALMEX (12 Caps, 50% Addiction)
No Triggers at Long range isn't BAD, per se - it can prevent your model from getting shot with Reactions, or letting them run behind cover. The bonus to PER and AGI is helpful, too - either stat is often used for Rifles. But it's hard to give this one a thumbs-up when there are better choices.

 

HEALING POWDER (15 Caps, 16% Addiction)
Healing Powder is exactly the same as the other 15-Cap Healing items, just spread out over 3 turns instead of all at once, and with the added penalty of hitting PER hard and possibly addicting the model. I say if you want healing, buy a Squirrel on a Stick.

JET (13 Caps, 33% Addiction)
A worse version of Ultra Jet for slightly cheaper - don't settle for less, buy the real stuff. As an aside, isn't Jet supposed to be highly addictive? Worse than Slurm? So why is it only at a 33% chance?

MED-X (12 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Immune to Poison is marginal at best - the shorter-term Armor boost is okay, but lots of Chems do that.

MENTATS (11 Caps, 16% Addiction)
These were cheap, which was their only virtue; the INT bonus only helps some models, and the PER bonus runs out turn 2. Save these for tripping at home, not on the battlefield.

PSYCHO (13 Caps, 33% Addiction)
Getting two Strong Armor tokens isn't awful; each one is basically +1 Health. But swapping the armor and bonus Black die from Fury matters - continuing a sweep into vulnerable models is great, and by the final turn you've either used up the Strong Armor token (and possibly been killed!) or you're stuck in a melee and could really use that bonus. Fury's better.

MODS

I'm going to split the Mods into their respective categories (Weapons, Power Armor, and Armor/Clothing) since it makes no sense to judge the usefulness of Abraxo Paint against, say, Multi-Purpose.

Do remember that in Battle Mode, the rules specifically say that you can only add one Mod to WEAPONS. Not Power Armor, and not Clothing. So these rankings are mostly added for edification.

WEAPONS

To differentiate what Mods are for which type, I'll use C, H, P, and R for Close Combat, Heavy, Pistol, and Rifle respectively.

RANK A

BALANCED (9 Caps, Pistol)
This basically turns your Pistol into a melee weapon, which saves you from having to buy one. Since Pistols already have short range to begin with, this isn't a bad bet to make at all!

COMFORT GRIP/REFLEX SIGHTS/SUPERIOR MATERIALS (10 Caps, P/R or C)
+10-20% to hit at your chosen range? What makes this excellent is that a lot of models have... mediocre... chances to hit at best, and whiffing in any game just sucks. Making a Settler with a Laser Rifle into a better shot than a Lancer for 8 points cheaper is not to be dismissed lightly. Just be careful that you're not putting points into making bad models mediocre, but good models better - Knight Patrols, I'm looking at you!

 

HARDENED RECEIVER/HEAVY (9/8 Caps, P/R or C)

They both do the same thing, but for different weapons - and it's also good on either. For guns you can shoot them so often that the odds are in your favor of it coming up at least once a game, and with melee models it's incredibly easy to stack tons of black dice. Extra damage results are always welcome.

 

RANK B

HAIR TRIGGER/LIGHT (6 Caps, P/R or C)

Adding Quick Actions isn't always necessary - most models have access to Reactions, which can do the same thing. But if you're getting extra AP, like through Commander, these are dirt-cheap and will save you from waiting until the enemy has already acted once to take an extra shot at 'em.

JAGGED (10 Caps, C)

I'll admit it, I misunderstood this entirely. It turns the Bottle result on a Black into 2 Damage. The reason that this is still good, though, is because melee models tend to roll a LOT of black dice, and it adds 8% to the chances of a single die generating the coveted double damage result. Combining it with the Big Leagues Perk and you'll be increasing your chances of rolling high numbers even further.

LONG BARREL (8 Caps, P/R)

This is solid for a lot of Rifles; adding 4" to a gun's range is quite a bit. For Pistols, not so much, and there are some Rifles which get no benefit out of this at all and should take something else.

 

STUN PACK (3 Caps, C)

For 3 Caps, adding a Nuclear result to blue dice which lack one (like, say, the Super Sledge) isn't too bad. But where it really comes into its own is on the Chinese Officer Sword, Commando Chest Piece, or pretty much anything that adds AP on Blue die results but doesn't actually ADD a blue die. There are also a lot of other weapons with Bottle effects, for which this ALSO counts. 

RANK C

ALIGNED SIGHTS (12 Caps, P/R)

So if you have a melee line set up in front of a firing line, this is a good add, letting you pour damage in over the heads of your defenders into the attackers without risking their lives. It's not always good, but when it's good it's good. I think the main problem, though, is the Perk Collaborator is better than this, as it lets multiple models act as though they have Aligned Sights for just a bit more - and doesn't burn up a valuable Mod slot!

 

LENGTHENED BARREL (4 Caps, H)

As of this writing, there are only two weapons this applies to: the Fat Man and Heavy Incinerator, which don't really benefit too much. (And the Junk Jet, but... don't.) In theory it's a good Mod! But kinda useless right now.

 

MULTI-CALIBER/PURPOSE (3 Caps, P/R or C)

Before you roll dice, you can trade two dice for one of your choice. It's versatile, and can do stunts like turning the Yellow/Green dice of a Combat Rifle into a single Black, or trade the two Yellows of a Super Sledge into a Black - that isn't bad at all. But it's situational; most of the time you'd be swapping Yellows to Greens or Blacks, and a lot of weapons have Yellows paired with one or the other so you're losing a good dice to trade alongside the situational one.

RE-BORED (8 Caps, P/R)

So let me see if I understand this. I can lose two Damage (possibly killing a model) in exchange for Stunning it? This MIGHT have use against high Armor models like Deathclaws, where hampering them is easier than actually killing them, and Stun tokens DO stack which could let you lock them in place. But more generally? And at that price? I don't think so.

REFINED (2 Caps, C)

"But Aaron," I can hear you say, "I thought Yellow dice are situational?" Yes, they are. But for 2 Caps, making any melee weapon reliable against Power Armor is good.

RANK D

ARM BREAKER (5 Caps, C)

This one is... meh at best. Yes, reducing their attack rolls is a good thing, but Stun Pack is a much better bargain for expanding blue die usefulness - which is already a pretty marginal thing to begin with!

ARMOUR PIERCING RECEIVER (6 Caps, P/R)

Turning blank die faces into results isn't bad. But armor piercing results are really situational, and the odds aren't great on getting results.

 

BARBED (3 Caps, C)

A well-equipped melee model usually won't have trouble dealing with low Armor models. Even at 3 Caps, this doesn't change anything.  

BAYONET (3 Caps, R)

This should be a duplicate of Balanced, for Rifles. Bayoneted rifles are actually nasty weapons - for thousands of years, we would have called a blade on the end of a 3-foot stick a spear, and there's a large school of martial knowledge about how to use that sort of weapon. This one... just lets you maybe deal 1 damage to a charging model IF the user isn't already engaged. Pass.

COUNTERWEIGHT (5 Caps, H)

You know why you don't want this? It lets you take a super-expensive, limited-availability weapon on a model that is going to be bad at using it. It's loyal to the flavor of the games, yes, but on the tabletop it's a bad bad idea.

 

RECOIL COMPENSATOR (7 Caps, H)

This is basically Comfort Grip for Heavy Weapons with Scatter, but at two drawbacks: The +2 only works in Close Range, and Scatter at Long range is 2" larger. That's... huge. That means if you miss by a LOT, it's an 8" scatter. 12" is still quite a lot of range, but... I don't think I'd take this.

SERRATED BAYONET (9 Caps, H)

ARGH. Any model using a Heavy Weapon is going to have decent STR in the first place and no difficulty using Improvised Weapon even if they don't have a Machete or something. This has a bare chance of adding even 1 Damage, for 9 Caps. Don't.

SILENCED (2 Caps, P/R)

Removing triggers in response to firing weapons is okay; but of course your target knows you hit it so they can still spend Reaction tokens. The catch is that you have to MOVE in order to get your weapon in range if they're sitting with Reaction tokens, which can in itself cause a trigger!

SPIKED (6 Caps, C)

Nuh-uh. Anti-armor is situational, and this mod adds incredibly thin odds of actually modifying said dice.

TOXIC (5 Caps, C)

For five Caps, it MIGHT give Poison to ONE model. At one Cap it might be worth it for the possibility, but 5? No. 

POWER ARMOR

It vexes me that Sensor Array, Internal Database, Optimized Sensors, Reactive PLates, and Tesla Bracers aren't priced on the foww_items___costs_v.3.2.pdf, as they're mostly interesting - especially Sensor Array - but it's hard to tell if they're useful without that information!

RANK A

ABRAXO PAINT (12 Caps)

Slapping a -2 penalty on a model in your Presence is brutal; that's a big hit to take. It's versatile and strong.

BOOSTED SERVOS (5 Caps)

Power Armor models use STR based weapons if you're using them correctly. This increases STR for 5 measly Caps. It's a no brainer.

RANK B

CORE ASSEMBLY (6 Caps)

On Heroic models with Power Armor, this ups your odds of gaining an AP from 58% to 75%. That's good! But it's also even more points on a super-expensive model! That's... less good, but not bad!

ELDER PAINT (18 Caps)

Lucky, along with +1 LUC, will make an already tanky Power Armor model even tankier - or deadlier if that's what you need. Yes, it's random, but if you don't want random go check out Othello or Chess.

HEADLAMP (10 Caps)

If you're running PA models, odds are you're short of objective runners. This will dramatically increase your ability to do that, and will make triggers easier as well.

JET PACK (8 Caps)

If you're playing in built-up terrain, this is gonna do work. Getting a free 4" Climb AND your regular Movement to claim high objectives, get a good field of view for shooting, or even Charge? It's not always good. But when it's good, it's great.

MEDIC PUMP (10 Caps)

First, this is expensive, which is the only reason it's not in A. You gotta have the Stimpack at 28 Caps just to use it. But unless an Attack deals four damage to your extremely well-armored model, this will instantly restore a lot of Health without you needing to wait for your own turn to use said Stimpack. Since one of the major perils of using PA is that you're going to be outnumbered and can get ganged up on after all your models have moved, this is a solid insurance policy. But expensive.

TESLA COILS (7 Caps)

A free Damage 1 Energy Attack against every enemy in a model's melee range at the end of the turn? Yes, thank you. The only thing you have to worry about is friendly fire, which can be avoided easily enough.

THICKER PLATING (10 Caps)

This could let you you apply the Strong Armor bonus for one more incoming attack, which is never a bad thing. There are better choices, but that doesn't make this one bad.

RANK C

EXPLOSIVE SHIELDING (4 Caps)

I don't hate this. If any model is likely to get Missiles and Grenades panick-chucked at it, it's Power Armor, and on frailer models like the Raider or T-45 (or the Power Armor Frame, heh heh heh...), it's gonna do work for fairly cheap if you see those weapons. But it's situational.

HOT ROD SHARK PAINT (7 Caps)

For very cheap, adding +1 AGI isn't the worst. Problem is that if you're using PA, you should be using STR - so at most this is a way to get rid of the T-45 AGI penalty.

RECON SENSORS (5 Caps)

So if you've picked up anything so far from my opinions on how to play, it's that if you use PA you should be focusing on that enhanced STR with Heavy Weapons or Close Combat. This is basically Reflex Sight at half the cost, but Rifles and Pistols should be left to other models.

VATS MATRIX OVERLAY (8 Caps)

I think that part of my problem with this is that most PA models who get Quick Actions to Attack already have high scores. A Green gives BETTER odds, to be sure, but when ranked against other Mods which always help?

VIM! REFRESH PAINT (15 Caps)

Expensive, yes. But it DOES add everything but Expertise as Quick Actions, which (especially with an external source of AP) can make a PA model quite deadly. There are better options, but this isn't terrible.

RANK D

EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS (6 Caps)

If the model's almost dead, it gets an AP. Don't get this, there are other Mods and Perks which do similar things and don't rely on being near death to do it.

EXPLOSIVE VENT (6 Caps)

The main issue is that without a Jet Pack, this is kinda useless - PA has better things to do than spend Actions climbing laboriously only to Death From Above some nearby models. It's also seriously telegraphed, and doesn't deal a lot of damage.

HYDRAULIC BRACERS/RUSTY KNUCKLES (3/2 Caps)

Why the hell would you be using either of these when you could get a Machete for cheaper, or a real weapon for more? Flavor, I guess?

TARGETING HUD (10 Caps)

Take Recon Sensors and make it a Yellow die instead - yes, that adds at all ranges instead of Long, but Yellow dice are no prize.

ARMOR/CLOTHING

RANK A

Lightweight (3 Caps)

Adding Unimpeded to a model is really board dependent, but if you're playing on any amount of actual terrain this will always pay for itself on close combat or even objective runners.

RANK B

ASBESTOS LINING (5 Caps)

This is straight better than Dissipating - adding +1 Energy Armor AND immune to Fire? For cheaper than the alternatives, with the same limitation? I'd say 'power creep', but honestly it's so marginal that I don't really think it's any kind of big deal.

 BALLISTIC WEAVE (6 Caps)

Improving armor gives a +25% chance of reducing, or even ignoring, damage. For only 6 Caps? Definitely good. What makes it hard is that you've got to buy it for an Armor that already increases the ratings, which can be a potential points-waster by itself depending on the model.

IMPROVED FLEXIBILITY (2 Caps)

+2 Lockpick for 2 Caps is pretty darn good on the right model.

RANK C

BIOCOMM MESH (6 Caps)

This is Chemist for 4 Caps cheaper, which makes it... okay on Chem-users who are also wearing armor? Particularly Raiders who already have an extension of the column? But I'm really not thinking this as great.

CUSTOM FITTED (5 Caps)

On the right model, this could do a lot of good work - countercharging at a longer range and so on. But it seems very hit-and-miss.

 

HEADLAMP (3 Caps)

The Mod so nice they made it twice! +2 Search for 3 Caps is...actually not too shabby. But a lot of the models with Search that you'd be giving armor to already have decent PER or INT. 

RANK D

BRACED (5 Caps)

What makes this mediocre is the cost: removing a Reaction token (which could let you shoot them!) for +2 Armor against one Attack. Yeah, it means you probably won't take much damage at all, and works out of Reaction range, but...

CUSHIONED (1 Caps)

Feh. Yes, fall damage sucks, but you could always just... climb down if you don't want to take it?

DISSIPATING (6 Caps)

The only problem is that this mod is straight invalidated by Asbestos Lining. Don't bother. 

LEAD LINED (4 Caps)

Radiation resistance for more expensive than the other two options? When it's a rarer form of damage? That doesn't stack with physical or melee, just flipping the tokens over? Don't do this.

PADDED (3 Caps)

AoE damage isn't all that common, though admittedly this adds quite a lot of resistance. I say pass.

PNEUMATIC (10 Caps)

For quite a lot of caps, this adds two marginal effects: resistant to crippling, and choosing whether to be affected by Push Back. I say pass. 

 

CHANGELIST

v5.0 - Added NCR Salvaged Armor and the few mods. Moved the Stun Pack from D to B, as there's a lot of use for just adding +Blue. 

v1.2 - Fixed the Hellfire Armor, Raider Armor, and Power Armor Frame - but don't blame me for the Raider, it was mispriced in the list!

v1.1 - Raider Armor C > B. Power Armor Frame C > D. Enclave C. Hellfire B. Fury B > A. Overdrive B > A. Spark B > D. Daytripper D > B. Psychobuff C. Aligned Sights B > C. Hardened Receiver/Heavy C > B. Headlamp D > C. Asbestos Lining B. Pneumatic D. Toxic D. Lengthened Barrel C.