Fallout 4 Danse: Affinity, Romance, Blind Betrayal
Short answer: Paladin Danse is a Brotherhood of Steel knight you can recruit after the quest Shadow of Steel. His affinity stalls at 999 until you finish Blind Betrayal, and at 1000 you get his companion perk Know Your Enemy (+20% damage against feral ghouls, super mutants and synths). This guide covers how to recruit him, his likes and dislikes, the romance and the Blind Betrayal choice, based on Nukapedia (the community-run Fandom wiki).
This guide reflects information as of 26 October 2026. The latest Fallout 4 game update on Steam and PC is the one of 18 August 2026. The update of 15 October 2026 is a Creation Kit fix and says nothing about companions or Danse.
Danse at a glance: five points
- You recruit him after Shadow of Steel. Nukapedia says to finish Semper Invicta, the main quest Reunions and then Shadow of Steel; this starts the quest Tour of Duty and makes him a companion. He cannot be recruited before you board the Prydwen.
- His affinity stalls at 999 until Blind Betrayal is done. You cannot max it or reach the final romance conversation before then.
- At affinity 1000 you get the perk Know Your Enemy. You deal 20% more damage against feral ghouls, super mutants and synths (gen 1 and gen 2).
- His tastes are discipline and "reasonable" choices. He likes attacking super mutants, entering power armor and crafting weapon and armor upgrades. He dislikes chem use, sarcasm, bribes and friendly talk with ghouls.
- He can be romanced, but the final conversation only appears after Blind Betrayal. Whether you spare him changes how you can use him afterwards (see "The Blind Betrayal choice").
How to recruit Danse
Danse is fighting waves of feral ghouls outside the Cambridge Police Station. The steps:
- Go to the Cambridge Police Station and help Danse (Fire Support).
- Talk to him and take the quest Call to Arms; go with him to ArcJet Systems.
- Accept the offer to join the Brotherhood and work through Semper Invicta.
- Finish the main quest Reunions. The Prydwen arrives in the Commonwealth and Shadow of Steel begins; Danse takes you aboard.
- After Shadow of Steel you can take him with you (the quest Tour of Duty starts).
Two cautions. First, if you reach the Cambridge Police Station only after destroying the Institute with the Minutemen in The Nuclear Option, Danse will not become a companion. You can still help him against the ghouls, but he does not recruit you or join (Nukapedia). Second, if you side with the Institute and start Mass Fusion, Danse refuses to come along; he is described as the only companion who does so.
Before Blind Betrayal, Danse is essential (he cannot die) as long as you are not hostile to the Brotherhood. He carries a laser rifle and wears T-60 power armor without the helmet. Unlike other companions you cannot order him out of his power armor, and its parts do not appear in his inventory. You can give him upgraded armor pieces to equip, and his power armor does not deteriorate even if you put him in a different suit (Nukapedia).
How affinity works (the numbers)
Affinity is a hidden value shared by all companions (the same table as in the MacCready guide).
| Affinity | Relationship | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Neutral | Start. "Tolerates you" |
| 250 | Friend | — |
| 500 | Admiration | New conversations. The romance "flirt" option begins to appear |
| 750 | Confidant | — |
| 1000 | Infatuation | The companion perk. The internal maximum is 1100 |
| -500 | Disdain | One warning to change your ways |
| -1000 | Hatred | Leaves and can never be recruited again |
- A reaction is +15 for "liked", +35 for "loved", -15 for "disliked" and -35 for "hated" (scaled 0.5 to 1.5 times by the size of the action).
- Danse's affinity stays at 999 until you finish Blind Betrayal. The quest reward lists "Danse's affinity is no longer capped at 999" (Nukapedia).
How to raise affinity (from Nukapedia's repeatable actions)
- Travel with Danse. Affinity rises every ten minutes (by 40 − 0.033 × current affinity, provided you earned at least 1 XP in that time).
- Add or remove a weapon mod at a workbench. Danse loves this. It reacts again after 48 in-game hours. Swapping to the "None" attachment costs nothing.
- Armor modding works the same way. Danse loves it, with a 48-hour cooldown.
- Enter and exit power armor. Danse likes this. It triggers when you move between indoor and outdoor areas with power armor; there is a cooldown, so repeated entries in a row count once.
- When it stalls at 999, advance Blind Betrayal. Finishing it removes the cap and lets you reach 1000.
These repeatable actions are treated as small actions, so a "love" gives +17.5 and a "like" +7.5 (Nukapedia). Stealing is something Danse dislikes, so do not repeat it near him. For actions he dislikes, dismiss him and move away first.
Likes and dislikes
Danse values Brotherhood discipline and distrusts synths and ghouls. These are the main entries for the base game (no DLC) from Nukapedia's list.
| Reaction | Action |
|---|---|
| Like | Completing radiant Brotherhood quests |
| Like | Entering power armor |
| Like | Accepting radiant quests from settlers |
| Like | Making "reasonable" dialogue choices |
| Like | Killing Theodore Collins in Mystery Meat |
| Like | Agreeing to take Billy home in Kid in a Fridge |
| Like | Agreeing to become General in The First Step |
| Like | Completing The Nuclear Option for the Minutemen |
| Like | Being sarcastic to Children of Atom members |
| Love | Doing anything negative towards super mutants (for example convincing Virgil he needs to die) |
| Love | Crafting weapon, armor or power armor upgrades |
| Love | Accepting Public Knowledge from Daisy |
| Love | Convincing Dr. Li to work on Liberty Prime in Liberty Reprimed |
| Love | Attacking Mayor McDonough on the spot in In Sheep's Clothing |
| Love | Informing Elder Maxson of the synths at Bunker Hill / killing the synths in the bunker |
| Love | Completing Outside the Wire |
| Love | Giving Brandis his squad's holotags / convincing him to rejoin the Brotherhood in The Lost Patrol |
| Dislike | Using chems |
| Dislike | Using bribes in dialogue |
| Dislike | Sarcastic remarks |
| Dislike | Positive conversations with ghouls |
| Dislike | Cannibalism |
| Dislike | Attacking non-hostiles; picking an owned lock |
| Dislike | Saying neutral things about synths |
| Dislike | Building artillery for the Minutemen at the Castle in Old Guns |
| Dislike | Digging up Shem Drowne's grave in The Gilded Grasshopper |
| Dislike | Betraying or siding with Bobbi No-Nose in The Big Dig |
| Dislike | Offering to split the cure in Hole in the Wall |
| Dislike | Informing the Railroad about the Institute's attack in The Battle of Bunker Hill |
| Hate | Murder |
| Hate | Saying positive things about synths |
| Hate | Joining the Railroad after Tradecraft |
| Hate | Killing Initiate Clarke in Duty or Dishonor, even if Clarke attacks first during the conversation |
| Hate | Allowing McDonough to escape in In Sheep's Clothing |
| Hate | Aiding X6-88 in Synth Retention |
| Hate | Telling Desdemona you will contact Patriot for the Railroad in The Molecular Level |
| Hate | Flirting with other characters while romanced and traveling together |
Two cautions. First, do not do things he dislikes near him. Chem use, sarcasm, bribes, stealing and picking owned locks all count against you. Second, reactions change after Blind Betrayal. Once he learns what he is, Danse may approve some comments that support synths. Nukapedia notes that he still dislikes saving Amelia Stockton in Human Error after Blind Betrayal, so it may be a developer oversight.
The Blind Betrayal choice and what follows
After Liberty Reprimed, Elder Maxson summons you and says Danse is a missing generation 3 synth, designation M7-97. He orders you to find and execute him. This is Danse's personal quest.
- Speak to Elder Maxson.
- Speak to Proctor Quinlan. Scribe Haylen cuts in, pleads for Danse's life and names his fallback location, Listening Post Bravo.
- Defeat the two outside turrets and the Protectron at Listening Post Bravo, go down, and speak to Danse.
Choice 1: carry out the execution
You can execute Danse with or without talking to him. A synth component and his holotags are left on the body; take the tags to Elder Maxson on the Prydwen. Danse also kills himself if you wait several in-game days without going to the bunker, or if you talk to him and then leave without resolving it.
Choice 2: let him live
If you refuse, Danse protests that synths are abominations. Passing a medium-level persuasion check convinces him he is no threat to humanity, and he hands over his holotags and asks to say goodbye on the surface.
Outside, Elder Maxson confronts you and demands Danse's death again. You then have three options:
- Concede and kill Danse. He submits peacefully.
- Fail to persuade Maxson, or ask him to do it himself. Maxson slits Danse's throat.
- Persuade Maxson to let Danse live. Maxson reluctantly agrees but exiles Danse from the Brotherhood.
Whatever you choose, back on the Prydwen you are promoted to Paladin and get Danse's quarters (Prydwen Quarters) and a full set of T-60 power armor (the reward is 350+ XP). The quest then starts Tactical Thinking automatically. Tactical Thinking has you attack the Railroad HQ, so finish any business with the Railroad before you turn in Blind Betrayal (Nukapedia).
If you spared Danse: cautions
- The exiled Danse sets up camp at Listening Post Bravo (per the quest log). When you meet him again he wears X-01 power armor.
- Taking the exiled Danse along as a companion makes the Brotherhood hostile. Dismissing him returns the Brotherhood to normal, though they keep attacking Danse.
- After sparing him, Brotherhood vertibirds may attack settlements where Danse is located.
- If you spared Danse and then start Mass Fusion or finish Airship Down for the Institute, he stops working as a companion.
- You can keep Danse as a full companion only if you side with the Brotherhood, or with the Minutemen without becoming enemies with the Brotherhood. The Railroad and Institute endings both bring you into conflict with the Brotherhood and you lose him (Nukapedia).
The perk is not guaranteed on every route. Know Your Enemy requires Danse to be alive (a dead Danse has no affinity to raise; our inference). And siding with the Minutemen or the Railroad before Blind Betrayal prevents you from getting it (Nukapedia).
The companion perk Know Your Enemy
- Effect: you deal 20% more damage against feral ghouls, super mutants and synths.
- Requirement: max out Danse's affinity and complete Blind Betrayal.
- Note: "synths" means gen 1 and gen 2 synths. Gen 3 synths are set up internally as humans, so the perk does not apply to them (Nukapedia).
Romancing Danse
Danse can be romanced. The conversation flow is the same as for other companions.
- In the second conversation after affinity 500, a "flirt" option appears.
- In the final conversation, a "romance" option appears.
- Both are Charisma checks; a successful flirt makes the final check easier.
For Danse, the final conversation only appears after Blind Betrayal (it needs the top affinity level). If you choose romance, he answers confused, asking how you could love a machine after everything the Brotherhood taught you. Once romanced, sleeping in a non-owned bed near him gives the perk Lover's Embrace (a temporary XP bonus).
- While romanced, Danse hates you flirting with non-companions. Dismiss him first.
- To end a romance, affinity must drop below 750.
What we have not confirmed
- Japanese names. Quest names, the perk name, Haylen, Quinlan and Listening Post Bravo are given in English as published.
- Which dialogue choices count as "reasonable". The list gives only that phrase.
- Effects of the latest update on Danse. We found no announcement that changes him. But the numbers and steps here come from Nukapedia and were not tested in the game.
Sources
- Nukapedia：Danse (likes, recruitment, cautions)
- Nukapedia：Affinity (affinity scale, reaction values, repeatable actions, romance)
- Nukapedia：Blind Betrayal, Tactical Thinking, Know Your Enemy
- Nukapedia：Fallout 4 companions (recruitment)
- Bethesda：Fallout 4 Update - August 18th
