Fallout 4 perks

General information
Perks are tied to SPECIAL stats, and not levels. Having specific high special stats means having good related perks. There are 70 perks, and each perk has a set of ranks. These total 275 different iterations of ranks.

Weapon perks are an integral part of the combat system, as they modify the base damage of the weapon, before modifiers from weapon modifications are applied. For example, a .44 pistol with a hardened receiver and no perks will deal 60 damage, but with a maxed-out gunslinger it will deal a whooping 120 damage per shot.

Perk categories
Fallout 4 does not categorize perks automatically, so we've provided the following breakdown to help in understanding them and building a character. If perks fit in multiple categories, they are listed in each.

Weapon proficiencies
Perks in this category replace weapon skills and affect the player's ability to fight using weapons. When maxed, they provide a +100% damage bonus and special effects.
 * Iron Fist (ST 1): Unarmed regular attacks can disarm opponents, power attacks allow for crippling limbs, VATS attacks paralyze opponents.
 * Big Leagues (ST 2): Melee weapon regular attacks can disarm opponents, hit all targets in front of the player, and have a chance to cripple or outright kill the enemy.
 * Heavy Gunner (ST 5): Heavy weapons gain improved hip-fire accuracy and chance to stagger opponents.
 * Rifleman (PE 2): Non-automatic rifles ignore up to 30% of a target's armor and can cripple limbs.
 * Demolition Expert (PE 5): Unlocks explosives crafting, increases effect area, improves damage dealt by explosives when shot in VATS.
 * Nuclear Physicist (IN 9): Increases damage with radiation weapons, fusion core duration, and enables ejecting fusion cores from armor as improvised explosives.
 * Gunslinger (AG 1): Pistols can disarm opponents.
 * Commando (AG 2): Automatic weapons gain increased hip-fire accuracy and stagger opponents.

Combat perks
Perks providing general combat bonuses.
 * Steady Aim (ST 7): Improves hip-fire accuracy.
 * Basher (ST 8): Improves weapon bash damage and attacks get a chance to cripple target limbs.
 * Awareness (PE 3): Show's target's damage resistances in VATS.
 * Sniper (PE 8): Improves breath and scope control, +25% chance to hit heads in VATS, enables scoped rifles to knock opponents down.
 * Penetrator (PE 9): Allows attacking enemy parts obscured by cover in VATS.
 * Concentrated Fire (PE 10): Confers a bonus to accuracy and damage when attacking the same location multiple times in VATS.
 * Lady Killer / Black Widow (CH 2): Increases damage taken by the opposite sex and makes them easier to persuade and pacify using Intimidate.
 * Lone Wanderer (CH 3): Increases damage, carry weight, and reduces damage taken when without companions.
 * Action Boy / Action Girl (AG 5): Increases AP regeneration.
 * Quick Hands (AG 8): Reduces reload times and eliminates AP cost in VATS.
 * Blitz (AG 9): Increases melee attack range and grants a damage bonus proportional to the distance traveled.
 * Gun-Fu (AG 10): Increases damage dealt to second, third, and inflicts an automatic critical hit on the fourth target in VATS.
 * Bloody Mess (LK 3): Up to +15% damage in combat, enemies may explode and at max level, chain explosions.
 * Mysterious Stranger (LK 4): Enables the Mysterious Stranger and instant kills in VATS.
 * Better Criticals (LK 6): Improves critical damage up to 250%.
 * Critical Banker (LK 7): Allows for storing critical hits.
 * Grim Reaper's Sprint (LK 8): Kills in VATS may restore AP and refill critical meter.
 * Four Leaf Clover (LK 9): Melee attacks in VATS can fill the critical meter on hit.

Defensive perks
General defensive and survival perks.
 * Rooted (ST 9): Improves damage resistance, damage with melee and unarmed weapons, and allows for disarming enemies if the player remains still.
 * Refractor (PE 7): Up to +50 damage resistance against energy weapons.
 * Toughness (EN 1): Up to +50 damage resistance against normal attacks.
 * Life Giver (EN 3): Up to +60 hit points and enables health regeneration.
 * Rad Resistant (EN 6): Up to +30 radiation resistance.
 * Adamantium Skeleton (EN 7): Reduces damage taken by limbs.
 * Ghoulish (EN 9): Radiation regenerates health and feral ghouls randomly become friendly.
 * Solar Powered (EN 10): +2 Strength and Endurance between 6 AM and 6 PM. Sunlight removes radiation and regenerates health.
 * Lone Wanderer (CH 3): Increases damage, carry weight, and reduces damage taken when without companions.
 * Nerd Rage! (IN 10): When below 20% health, confers up to +40 damage resistance, +40% damage dealt, and killing opponents restores lost health.
 * Moving Target (AG 6): Up to +50 damage and energy resistance while sprinting; reduces sprinting costs.
 * Ricochet (AG 10): Enemy attacks can ricochet and instantly kill the attacker.

Crafting abilities
Perks in this category unlock abilities to craft weapon mods or settlement elements.
 * Armorer (ST 3): Unlocks armor modifications.
 * Blacksmith (ST 4): Unlocks melee weapon modifications.
 * Demolition Expert (PE 5): Unlocks explosives crafting, increases effect area and damage dealt by explosives when shot in VATS.
 * Local Leader (CH 6): Enables supply lines, store, and workstation crafting.
 * Gun Nut (IN 3): Unlocks firearm modifications.
 * Scrapper (IN 5): Enables salvaging uncommon and rare components.
 * Science! (IN 6): Unlocks high-tech modifications (energy weapons, recon scopes, etc.)

Stealth perks
These perks modify the chance of sneaking and stealing from other characters.
 * Pickpocket (PE 1): Increases chance to steal items (up to +100%), allows for planting explosives and steal equipped items.
 * Aquaboy / Aquagirl (EN 5): Immunity to radiation damage, infinite air, and ability to disappear through diving while in water.
 * Sneak (AG 3): Decreases detection chance, prevents traps and mines from exploding, running no longer affects stealth.
 * Mister Sandman (AG 4): Ability to kill sleeping characters, increases sneak attack damage with silenced weapons.
 * Ninja (AG 7): Improves ranged and melee sneak attack damage (up to 3.5x and 10x respectively).

Companion and non-player character perks
These perks affect the player's ability to deal with non-player characters, creatures, robots and companions.
 * Cap Collector (CH 1): Improves store prices and allows for investing in them.
 * Lady Killer / Black Widow (CH 2): Increases damage taken by the opposite sex and makes them easier to persuade and pacify using Intimidate.
 * Attack Dog (CH 4): Unlocks Dogmeat's ability to immobile enemies, potentially crippling limbs and causing bleeding.
 * Animal Friend (CH 5): Enables pacifying animals and issuing commands to them.
 * Inspirational (CH 8): Increases companion damage, damage resistance, carry capacity, and eliminates friendly fire from them.
 * Wasteland Whisperer (CH 9): Enables pacifying non-animal creatures in the wasteland and issuing commands to them.
 * Intimidation (CH 10): Enables pacifying humans and issuing commands to them.
 * Robotics Expert (IN 8): Allows for hacking robots.

Power armor perks
These perks apply while the player is in power armor.
 * Pain Train (ST 10): Allows the player to damage and stagger enemies by sprinting into them and increases damage caused on landing.
 * Nuclear Physicist (IN 9): Increases damage with radiation weapons, fusion core duration, and enables ejecting fusion cores from armor as improvised explosives.

Attribute bonuses

 * Night Person (PE 6): +3 Intelligence and night vision while sneaking between 6 PM and 6 AM.
 * Solar Powered (EN 10): +2 Strength and Endurance between 6 AM and 6 PM. Sunlight removes radiation and regenerates health.
 * Party Boy / Party Girl (CH 7): Improves alcohol effects, reduces addiction chance, and provides +3 to Luck when under the influence.

Consumable perks
These perks increase the effectiveness of consumables in various ways.
 * Lead Belly (EN 2): Reduces radiation intake from eating and drinking.
 * Chem Resistant (EN 4): Reduces chem addiction chance.
 * Party Boy / Party Girl (CH 7): Improves alcohol effects, reduces addiction chance, and provides +3 to Luck when under the influence.
 * Medic (IN 2): Improves effectiveness and speed of stimpaks and RadAway.
 * Chemist (IN 7): Increases chem duration.

Utility perks
General use perks that don't fit in any other category.
 * Strong Back (ST 6): Increases carry capacity and unlocks the ability to run and fast travel while overencumbered.
 * Locksmith (PE 4): Enables picking difficult locks and prevents bobby pin breakage.
 * Aquaboy / Aquagirl (EN 5): Immunity to radiation damage, infinite air, and ability to disappear through diving while in water.
 * Cannibal (EN 8): Allows for eating humanoid corpses to restore hit points.
 * Lone Wanderer (CH 3): Increases damage, carry weight, and reduces damage taken when without companions.
 * V.A.N.S (IN 1): Displays the path to the next objective in VATS.
 * Hacker (IN 4): Enables hacking of higher difficulty terminals and prevents lockout.
 * Fortune Finder (LK 1): Increases the amount caps found in containers, enables spontaneous cap-bustion.
 * Scrounger (LK 2): Increases the amount of ammunition found in containers.
 * Idiot Savant (LK 5): Randomly provides experience bonuses (up to 5x for regular actions, may randomly trigger 3x kill experience rewards).

Magazine Perks
Magazine perks are perks granted from finding magazines in Fallout 4. Some magazines will grant and improve a single perk, while other magazines give you different, related perks.

Companion perks
Perks are unlocked by achieving 100% affinity with a given companion. Additional conditions apply for Cait, Curie, MacCready, and Nick Valentine, who require for their companion quests to be completed first.

Dogmeat has no perks associated with him.