Most useless perk

D

dirtbag

It Wandered In From the Wastes
Which perk do you think is most useless in Fallout and Fallout 2?

I think it's scout. It's only worth it the very first time you will play it, but after you have done that you will know exactly where all locations are. (which is why the first time is always the best in Fallout 2, first time entering Vault 15... First time entering the Glow... First time whatever. Everything was so exciting)

Also, partially Mysterious Stranger. While he is a good addition in the beginning, he will kill your enemies, your allies and your whole party and yourself in one burst if he gets his hands on the minigun, unavoidable.
 
Probably the Night Vision & Here and Now. Night Vision isn't needed as you can turn more brightness and Here and Now simply takes away from you useful perk you could choose instead.
 
Oh boy are there a lot.

Mutate! - I don't know about anyone else, but this seems pointless to me, you waste a perk and you're an idiot if you picked bad traits, unless you're a first timer and you made a mistake, but that only happens once.

Cult of Personality - I think this one goes without saying.

Pathfinder - Entirely unnecessary.

Gambler - Hahaha.

Adrenaline Rush - This is completely and entirely pointless, even more melee characters since the damage increase is negligible and melee characters for the most part are reliant on good criticals.

Lifegiver - Absolutely worthless.

Empathy - This you only need if you're retarded, and since almost everyone is a save scummer who hardly ever plays Iron Man, it's nearly negligible for the average player.

Night Vision - Someone already mentioned it.

Fortune Finder - You really don't need extra money.

Karma Beacon - Just like CoP, goes without saying.

Presence - Absolutely no place in the game it really causes a difference, if you're a diplomatic character your CHA should already be high enough to take care of this.

Kama Sutra Master - It's only applicable in a few areas and they really aren't important at all. It's funny though.



Out of all of them? I'd say Pathfinder since it really never matters at all, it doesn't modify anything in your favor, it just wastes a little less time. So pointless.
 
As Eyenixon said, there are a LOT of them, but I still personally think that Swift Learner, Light Step and Bonus HtH/Ranged Damage are the most idiotic. Swift Learner I think as a personal insult, since I took it in my first game and even then could say it's completely unnecessary. I've had no problems with traps whatsoever, so Light Step is just pointless. Then the bonus damage- perks add so little damage, I can't even tell the difference between normal and these attacks.

Still, I wouldn't say Night Vision is all that horrible in FO: my screen is so dark even with the highets brightness that I get a headache if I try to play more than 15 minutes in Vault 15, The Glow before the power, or any place during the night without it.
 
Eyenixon said:
Oh boy are there a lot.

Mutate! - I don't know about anyone else, but this seems pointless to me, you waste a perk and you're an idiot if you picked bad traits, unless you're a first timer and you made a mistake, but that only happens once.
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I actually pick this every fallout 1 run. As per Per's guide, I turn finess to fast shot after getting sniper, take advantage of the A key bug when the overseer pops up to end the game, and kill every living thing in every town, just for the hell of it. You just can't beat 4 shots of plasma rifle or 6 shots of red ryder le per turn.

Worst perk to me is probably animal friend or survivalist.

On my first game of fallout, I actually chose the Here and now perk 3 times, and the pyromaniac perk, thinking I was the flame lord of the world with my flamethrower.

(which is why the first time is always the best in Fallout 2, first time entering Vault 15... First time entering the Glow... First time whatever. Everything was so exciting)
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You said it, bub. I would sell my soul for another chance at experiencing Fallout for the first time. I pulled my first all nighter because of this game. And my second, third, and fourth. All in a row.
 
I think the perks mentioned here fall into different categories:

1. The ones that do nothing at all.

Karma Beacon, Cult of Personality. These are entirely broken in Fo2, and CoP does very, very little in Fo1.

2. The ones that do something that you'd never care about.

Adrenaline Rush, Light Step. Even if once in a blue moon they make a difference, you'd be hard pressed to notice.

3. The ones that do very little, but can be convenient in special cases.

Empathy, Scout. Scout could save you a lot of time and fuel finding special encounters if you play on hard and have low Luck.

4. The ones that simply have an underwhelming effect.

Lifegiver, Pathfinder and Night Vision fit in here. They're not top picks, but they do something and can hardly qualify as the worst perks given the competition.
 
Heh. It is so useless, I would take it just to make the game more challenging :)

Same goes for Kama Sutra Master.

Didn't Night Vision mitigate ToHit penalties at night? I admit, it isn't anything a Gain Perception or Sharpshooter won't substitute for, but I wouldn't put it at the bottom of the list.

Earlier Sequence (and it's Trait-orous brother, Kamikaze) is wicked, counting essentially only on the 1st combat turn, if at all. And Swift Learner tutored it in bastard-ness.
 
Of the perks that do what they are supposed to.

Here and now (You used a perk to gain one level when leveling up is to gain perks FAIL.)

Swift Learner (Exp is not an issue FAIL)

I Personallly like life giver, Enclave troopers can crit like a bitch.
 
Mutate is pretty dumb, if I see that I have mixed up my traits I would just start over

I don't see why life giver is picked as a useless perk, it's hard to say what I mean, it's good to have a lot of HP, but even if you have a low HP score you could always have a good deal of stim packs, or the save and load thing. Although in some particular cases like FOT hardcore mode where you can't save, which is a pretty good reason to pick life giver, it comes in handy. It really depends on the case you are having.

Sift learner is not good at all, but it's even worse in F3 where you have a level cap not only you miss the chance of getting good perks but you are going to reach the level cap faster.

Die hard is more bad than good, because I never let my char's HP fall under 20 per cent, maybe in hardcore mode in FOT it MIGHT get in handy.

Perks like Empathy, Presence, Animal Friend, Night Vision and etc I have never picked them so I can't say more than that I think they would hardly affect my game in any way.
 
RoseKilla said:
Probably the Night Vision --- Night Vision isn't needed as you can turn more brightness
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I do believe it has in game math effects on your chance to hit/perception checks etc

I take several levels in night vision and my 'night combat' seems to pan out better, also (if my assumption is correct) it helps a high PER char's spot nasty traps at night, often I assault at night to gain just such benefits.

I could be wrong, but I believe it has effect 'in game' other than just making things brighter

My two cents on, worst perk, here and now, absolutely no benefit it just wastes a precious perk slot.
 
Jax Sparrow said:
Mutate is pretty dumb, if I see that I have mixed up my traits I would just start over
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I do remember using it to give the Big Gun guy Fast Shot in Tactics, though. Very obscure, but still usable.:)
 
Eyenixon said:
Mutate! - I don't know about anyone else, but this seems pointless to me, you waste a perk and you're an idiot if you picked bad traits, unless you're a first timer and you made a mistake, but that only happens once.
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The first time I played through Fallout 2 I remember thinking that by choosing this perk I'll turn into a Super Mutant! I've thought about it a lot and decided to try it out ... boy was I disappointed.

Not quite that bad though, as you can start your game with melee and later just switch to energy weapons or something like that.

I guess Kama Sutra Master is the dumbest. It's almost unusable.
 
it seems some players misunderstood mutate! perk. it changes trait, not skill.

I would just note that mutate! isn't so useless, I've used it once. I started playing with finesse, and after gaining sniper perk changed to fast shot to gain 1 more shot per round with gauss rifle (or two with gauss pistol!) having 12 AP and bonus rate of fire.
I agree it was wasted perk (seeing char development in total), but at level 27 you don't have so much left to play and i benefited in the early and mid-game for not losing aimed shots (which I would lose if I took fast shot in the beginning).
 
I think a lot of the skill-based perks are the ones that I like to avoid. It's so stupid - you get plenty of skill points to spread around and not nearly so many perks!
 
Well, Thief is worth a lot if you ever choose Gifted. Your stats are terrible in thieving even with 9-10 agility.

THief is 40 points. Great for limited leveling builds like diplomatic. You really dont get to see many levels, so you dont get to have like high thief skills. shrug.

Night time fights are highly innacurate. Night vision negates this. not that bad.

Lifegiver on 2 endurance build = rocks.
Lifegiver on 6 endurance build = rocks. shrug?

Ranger is a good perk to find all the encounters, and boost outdoorsman. In the Killap it does even more. Diplomatic game I half completed, it was very good in keeping me alive traveling and finding the good encounters with minimal effort.
 
el_jefe_of_ny said:
Night time fights are highly innacurate. Night vision negates this.
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It really doesn't. It's equivalent to a bunch of skill points situationally spread across your ranged weapon skills.
 
Funny, no one mentioned Awareness, yet? It has it's uses for first-time players and such, but it should be the first to go on any consecutive playthrough.

Not as useless as Cult of Personality and Presence, but is next in line, imo.
 
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