Hey there my fellow Fallout 4 players. Today I'm going to deconstruct the Ultimate Epic Stealth Build for you from levels 1 through 25. My character is currently 25th level in my walkthroughs. When I get to level 50, I'll probably do a part 2 to show you the perk selection for levels 26-50. But today's video is going to show you how to get well on your way to becoming the ultimate stealth assassin character in Fallout 4. I'll talk a bit about equipment and strategies near the end of the video and then show you some clips of the build in action.

But let's start right from the beginning with the stat selection array... Okay, so as you can see here I have selected: 6, 5, 2, 2, 2, 5, 6. Oh, I just realized that's a like palindrome. So anyway, I didn't want to dump strength because your carrying capacity is based on Strength and being able to carry stuff to vendors in an easy fashion will help make things affordable since we're dumping Charisma.

Perception I set to 5, knowing I'd get the Perception Bobblehead in Corcord. Having a 6 Perception is for most of your levels a decent balance, especially when it's easy to augment it further with eye wear and various hats. I'd only start increasing Perception way later when I wanted to look into the Penetrator perk.

I dumped Endurance since we wouldn't be doing a lot of sprinting with this build and we wouldn't even be getting hit that much if you use your stealth abilities strategically.

I dumped Charisma and Intelligence too since the XP can be made up for by taking the Idiot Savant perk and your trading prowess can be boosted with various chems and Charisma-boosting garb.

I set Agility at 5, knowing I'd use the SPECIAL book in Sanctuary to boost that by one more. I'd have to boost it again before I could take the Ninja perk. But I wanted this to be at a decent level from the start since Agility determines your Action Point reserve.

I also thought it was worth it to bring Luck to 6. I can't say with absolute certainty but I seemed to find vastly more useful legendary items during my replay after the glitch when my Luck was higher than my first build. Plus, Luck factors into crits as well as how often the Idiot Savant perk kicks in. It also factors into other things that all around make the game a bit more fun.

Okay, well let's go into the perk chart now. Well, you get your first perk at 2nd level and I chose Fortune Finder. If you dump Charisma with this build in order to boost Agility, Luck and Perception, you'll need a way to compensate your purchasing power. There are few feats best taken early on and this is one of them in my opinion.

At 3rd level, I took Idiot Savant. As with taking Fortune Finder if you're dumping Charisma, Idiot Savant will make-up for dumping Intelligence. And also like Fortune Finder, this is best taken early on to maximize the potential over many levels.

Okay, at 4th level, I took my first rank in Sneak. Not only is this perk the central focus of this build, but it'll help you survive a bit better early on.

At 5th level, I took another rank in Fortune Finder. My last rank in it, actually, but well worth it over the course of the character's career. You'll hear me tout the perk in my previous walkthroughs as one of the main reasons I could afford some of the cool equipment I was able to purchase. It actually does make a difference. Like me, if you don't want to use any glitches or exploits to make money, this is well worth it.

In order to qualify for Ninja, I needed to bump my Agility up from 6 to 7. So I put my 6th level perk into Agility. So we can now take Ninja next level.

At 7th level, I took my first rank in Ninja. Since one of the purposes of sneaking is to be able to do sneak attacks, this is perk chain is a must for the build.

At 8th level, I took another rank in Sneak. You can qualify for the second rank at 5th level, but I think getting Fortune Finder as early as possible is worth it. Then being able to do better sneak attacks is worth taking before another thank in Sneak.

At 9th level, I went ahead and took a rank in the Gunslinger perk. Being able to do slightly more damage with pistols early on is also worth it, especially since I'd be getting my hands on the Deliverer very soon.

At 10th level, I had my hands on the Deliverer since I did the early Railroad missions as soon as I could. So I went ahead and took a rank in the Mister Sandman perk. Not taking ranks in the Gun Nut perk means the Deliverer was my first silenced weapon.

At 11th level, I went ahead and took another rank in Idiot Savant. Like Fortune Finder, it would be my last rank in the perk, but worth it to take as soon as it becomes available.

At 12th level, you can qualify for another rank in Sneak. This rank is particularly useful because you now no longer trigger enemy mines. You can just walk right up to them, and disarm them and take them for yourself which rocks.

At 13th level, I went ahead and took a rank in the Action Boy perk. It would be my only rank in it since I'd later get my hands on the Grim Reaper's Sprint perk. But I thought it was worthwhile to take early on, especially since it also helps with running while having a low Endurance.

At 14th level, I went ahead and took a second rank in the Gunslinger perk. Non-automatic pistols now do 40% more damage and the range is increased.

At 15th level, I went ahead and took a rank in Rifleman too. This is optional if you think you might want to go down the sniper rifle path. However, I soon discovered that the Gunslinger perk actually makes some pistols shoot farther than stock rifles. So this one I probably could have waited on until I got my hands on the Overseer's Guardian, which I talk about in one of my videos. I'll put a link in the description below if you want to check out that video.

At 16th level, you qualify for another rank in Ninja, which I definitely took. Sneak attacks will start making a real difference now, with many enemies downed in one shot.

nd at 17th level, I took another rank in Mister Sandman. That means our sneak attacks will do 30% more damage if done with a silenced weapon. All my weapons are now silenced at this level by simply pulling the silencers off other guns I find and putting them on my own. No need for the Gun Nut perk at all actually.

At 18th level, I went ahead and took another rank in Gunslinger since you won't qualify for it again until 27th level. Pistol damage is now doing 60% more and range is further increased.

For my 19th level perk, I added a point to Luck so we could then get the Luck Bobblehead and qualify for the Grim Reaper's Sprint perk, which is really cool if you use VATS a lot, which I do.

For my 20th level perk, I went ahead and took a rank in Bloody Mess. This bonus to damage is to all weapons and it ended up not being that hard to loot the bodies after they splatter.

So after getting the Luck Bobblehead and qualifying for Grim Reaper's Sprint, I spent my 21st level and 22nd level perks on two ranks of the Grim Reaper's Sprint. Won't be able to take that again until 46th level.

For my 23rd level perk, I took another rank in Sneak. You're not just 50% harder to detect now, but you can move along at your regular pace without contributing to enemy detection levels. This really helps. Can't take Sneak again until 38th though.

For my 24th level perk, I went ahead and took another rank in Bloody Mess. A +10% to damage really helps and you can't take it again until 31st level.

The next major perk I want to take is the Penetrator perk. Being able to shoot enemies through cover would be amazing. However, I only had a 6 Perception after already getting the Perception Bobblehead in Concord. So the next three perk points I'll spend on Perception, including the last one for this video which I spent at 25th level bumping up Perception from 6 to 7.

So there you go. The perfect array of perks to take for levels 1-25 to reach the ultimate stealth build, in my humble opinion. Now this is just if you want to fully maximize your combat capabilities. It doesn't take into account two other factors, inconvenience and impatience. Let me explain...

I was able to make up for having a low Charisma during speech checks and while trading by switching over to Charisma boosting clothing and popping some of those grape mentats, which you can craft without any of the chemistry perks. However, those are definitely extra steps you have to take every time you want to pass persuasion checks or buy major items. Not everyone is going to want to go through that inconvenience, which leads to the impatience factor.

Some players might not want to wait around until they find a gun or armor mods on enemies or from vendors. I like the Fallout 4 perk system. Not everyone does, I know. But I like it a lot, though, and I think a lot of thought went into it. They give players a way to work around any weaknesses in the game if you have enough patience and ingenuity. I really like that element of the game. But they also provide you with what I call “convenience” perks to make up for time if you're, you know, the impatient type. Perks like the VANS, Strong Back or any of the crafting perks are examples of ways to speed up your gameplay and make things, ya know, all around more convenient. It's very cool that they can cater to the impatient players so they don't get bored with the minutia while giving the more patient, strategic players various workarounds.

Just wanted to throw that out there in case some people might have a strong case for other perks that I didn't take. You know, you probably noticed I didn't take the locksmith perk. You know, some people might not want to recruit Cait as a companion to do the lockpicking for you and want to just take the lockpicking perks themselves. That's perfectly fine... You tuned into this video to basically hear one person's take on the epic stealth build. There are many paths to achievement and that's the beauty of Fallout 4.

Okay, so let's talk about some of the equipment you want to try and acquire along the way. All right, well if you're lucky, you'll get your hands on some chameleon armor. It's dropped randomly by legendary enemies, so there's no guide for that. It'll eventually happen for you though. It just takes some time.

In the meantime, you can certainly add muffling or shadowing to your current armor, which doesn't require any Armorer perks. Stay light on the armor, though, to keep your stealth factor high. I went with leather all the way until after 20th when I found some chameleon metal combat armor and that's when I switched.

You can go through the early Railroad missions to get your hands on the Deliverer, the ultimate early stealth weapon. I was able to even mod it out further without having the Gun But perk. And I was able to pick that up by 10th level by doing those missions right after Diamond City in my replay. I made videos about those if you want to check them out. Episodes 8-11 in my trivia walkthroughs. Check out those links in the description.

Look out for suppressors on other guns sold by vendors. You don't need to invest in any crafting perks if you're willing to take the time to mix and match the mods themselves. If you guys want me to make a video on how to totally mod out your gear without any crafting perks, let me know in the description below. I was able to scrap together a pretty hefty surrogate sniper rifle for myself which I named the Shadowshot. All those mods there, I basically pulled off other guns and added them to this gun. So it ended up being kind of a Frankenstein gun that's not even really a sniper rifle, but it's actually better than a sniper rifle because of the Gunslinger perk. You can see the range down there, 278. That's crazy.

You can also craft a lot of food and chems to boost your gameplay as well. The chem I use most often is the Grape Mentats. It boosts your Charisma by 5, which is not only useful for buying and selling but aslo for passing speech checks as well. Combined with various charisma boosting clothing, it totally makes up for having a low Charisma...

The food item I use most often is the Squirrel Stew. The +2% to XP is nothing to shake a stick at. Combined with being well-rested from sleeping in your own bed and the Idiot Savant perk, you'll actually level up very quickly and it totally makes up for having a low Intelligence, which is what experience points are normally based on.

There are a few other things that will help your stealth capabilities. I picked up my first Covert Operations Manual during the Tradecraft mission. I then collected about four more in between episodes. You know, the ones that didn't have quests associated with them. The ones that quests associated with them, I'll cover in my upcoming trivia walkthroughs. So stay tuned for those.

Lastly, if you want a companion that won't blow your cover, pick Cait. Sounds like that Eagles song. Anyway, I talk about her merits at length in Episode 10 of my Fallout 4 playthrough. The part 1 of the Tradecraft mission in fact. No need to repeat all that when you can just watch that episode. But in my opinion, she's the best companion for a stealth build. Give her a wicked suppressed sniper rifle and you're all set.

Alright guys, well that's my version of the Epic Stealth Build levels 1-25. If and when I reach 50th level, I'll do a part 2 to this video. But to be honest, levels 1-25 really make up the crux of this stealth character. After that, it just starts becoming all gravy. You know, like I might just taking some pickpocketing so I can reverse pickpocket grenades for the fun of it into enemies' pockets. But yeah, this video is really the concentration of what you want to focus on if you want to the ultimate stealth character.

And just to end the episode with a little action, I'll show you guys an awesome stealth killshot montage from my previous episodes. Thanks again for watching. If this helped you guys, assasinate that like button and share the video around. And we'll see you next time on the Skooled Zone. Peace out.