Fallout 4 Deacon: Recruit, Affinity, Perk, Hostility
Short answer: Deacon is the Railroad spy you can recruit as a companion when you finish the quest Tradecraft. You cannot romance him. At maximum affinity you get his companion perk Cloak & Dagger (+20% sneak attack damage, +40% Stealth Boy duration). Nukapedia (the community-run Fandom wiki) lists no quest that caps his affinity, unlike Danse or Curie. This guide covers how to recruit him, how to raise affinity, his likes and dislikes, and what turns him hostile.
This guide reflects information as of 1 November 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 Deacon.
Deacon at a glance: five points
- You recruit him at the end of Tradecraft. Reach the Railroad in Road to Freedom, then accept the Railroad's offer in Tradecraft and pick a code name. He becomes a companion right away. If you keep refusing to join, he does not become one.
- He cannot be romanced. He and Old Longfellow (Far Harbor) are the only two human companions without a romance.
- Max affinity gives the perk Cloak & Dagger. You get +20% sneak attack damage and +40% Stealth Boy duration.
- He likes lockpicking, hacking, helping synths and peaceful dialogue. He dislikes chem use, cannibalism and haggling for more caps in dialogue.
- He hates joining the Brotherhood of Steel and executing Danse. Killing settlers or anyone tied to the Railroad turns him hostile on the spot.
How to recruit Deacon
You first meet him in the catacombs under the Old North Church. The path to recruiting him:
- Follow the Freedom Trail and reach the Railroad (Road to Freedom).
- Talk to Desdemona. Deacon vouches for you and talks up your achievements.
- The quest Tradecraft starts. You go with Deacon to retake the Railroad's old hideout under Slocum's Joe in Lexington.
- Return to the Old North Church and accept Desdemona's invitation to join. Pick a code name.
- When Tradecraft ends, Deacon becomes your companion.
Three details matter. First, the code name. The options are Wanderer (Desdemona's choice), Fixer, Professor, Bullseye, Charmer and Whisper. Whisper gets a "loves" reaction from Deacon. Second, the starting boost. Agreeing to join is itself a "loves" reaction, so he starts with some affinity already (Nukapedia). Third, his protection. He is essential (cannot die) until Road to Freedom. When he is not your active companion he is not marked essential. Nukapedia says he still appears to be protected by the game when dismissed, but not while assigned to a settlement.
He carries a pipe gun or a hardened sniper rifle and a stimpak, and has 185 Health. If you do not give him any clothing, he changes disguise as you move between areas (for example, a Diamond City security outfit in the market). Nukapedia describes this behavior, so equip him with one apparel item if you want the disguises to stop.
How affinity works (numbers)
Affinity is a hidden value shared by every companion (the same table as in the Danse and MacCready guides).
| Affinity | Relationship | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Neutral | Start. He "tolerates" you |
| 500 | Admiration | New conversations begin to appear |
| 1000 | Infatuation | Companion perk. The internal cap is 1100 |
| -500 | Disdain | He warns you to change your behavior |
| -1000 | Hatred | He leaves and can never be recruited again |
- Simply traveling with him raises affinity. Every 10 minutes you gain 40 − 0.033 × current affinity, as long as you earned at least 1 XP in that period. From 0 to 1000 takes about 520 minutes (roughly 8.7 hours).
- Reaction sizes are the same as for other companions (+15 for likes, +35 for loves, and so on).
- No quest is listed as capping Deacon's affinity. The Nukapedia Affinity page names Danse (stalls at 999 until Blind Betrayal), Curie, Cait and Nick as companions who cannot reach max affinity until their personal quests are done. Deacon is not on that list.
How to raise affinity
- Travel with him. The passive gain above happens automatically.
- Pick locks. He likes it.
- Hack terminals. He likes it. Lockpicking and hacking count as separate actions, so doing one right after the other gives two separate approvals (Nukapedia).
- Accept radiant settler quests. He likes it.
- Use a stimpak on Dogmeat. He likes it.
- Keep dialogue peaceful. He likes peaceful dialogue choices.
The Nukapedia Affinity page describes repeating lockpicking with a safe that has a terminal attached: open the safe, then lock it again from the terminal. For hacking, you leave the area until the cell resets and the terminals lock again, but the reset time is listed as unspecified. We have not tested either method.
Likes and dislikes
Deacon protects synths, so he favors helping them and solving problems without bloodshed. This is a selection from the Nukapedia list for the base game (DLC excluded).
| Reaction | Action |
|---|---|
| Loves | Join the Railroad in Tradecraft; pick the code name "Whisper" |
| Loves | Refuse to join the Brotherhood of Steel in Call to Arms |
| Loves | Spare Danse in Blind Betrayal; tell Elder Maxson that Danse needs a chance to explain himself |
| Loves | Agree to try to communicate with Patriot in The Molecular Level |
| Loves | Argue against the genocide of synths and reject Dr. Chambers' deal in Human Error |
| Loves | Tell Desdemona to protect the Railroad in End of the Line |
| Loves | Tell Glory "I promise" in Precipice of War |
| Loves | Keep Kent Connolly alive and threaten Sinjin's men in The Silver Shroud |
| Loves | Complete the launch of the ship in Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution |
| Likes | Lockpicking, hacking, radiant settler quests |
| Likes | Using a stimpak on Dogmeat |
| Likes | Joining the Minutemen |
| Likes | Helping synths and speaking well of them |
| Likes | Completing Boston After Dark |
| Likes | Killing Dr. Chambers in Human Error |
| Likes | Convincing Paladin Brandis to rejoin the Brotherhood in The Lost Patrol |
| Likes | Telling Initiate Clarke to run in Duty or Dishonor |
| Dislikes | Using chems |
| Dislikes | Cannibalism |
| Dislikes | Passing Charisma checks to ask for more caps in dialogue |
| Dislikes | Helping the Minutemen retake the Castle in Taking Independence |
| Dislikes | Entering the town of Covenant |
| Dislikes | Accepting Jacob's bribe in Human Error |
| Dislikes | Saving Pickman |
| Dislikes | Betraying and killing Bobbi No-Nose in The Big Dig |
| Dislikes | Telling Initiate Clarke to turn himself in, or killing him, in Duty or Dishonor |
| Dislikes | Siding with the scavengers in Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution |
| Hates | Joining the Brotherhood of Steel |
| Hates | Executing Paladin Danse in Blind Betrayal |
| Hates | Activating Liberty Prime in Liberty Reprimed |
| Hates | Killing Paladin Brandis at Recon bunker Theta, even if he attacks first |
| Hates | Assassinating Shelly Tiller in The Silver Shroud |
| Hates | Siding with Bobbi No-Nose in The Big Dig |
| Hates | Giving Proctor Ingram the network scanner in Outside the Wire |
| Hates | Killing settlers or innocent people (the Nukapedia likes-and-dislikes list says this turns him hostile; the hostility section names only settlers and Railroad-connected people) |
Two points to watch. First, the Minutemen entries look contradictory. He likes it when you join the Minutemen but dislikes Taking Independence. Nukapedia gives no reason. Second, Danse. Sparing him is a "loves" and executing him is a "hates", so decide how you will handle Blind Betrayal (see the Danse guide) before you take Deacon along.
Companion perk: Cloak & Dagger
- Effect: +20% sneak attack damage and +40% Stealth Boy duration.
- Requirement: reach maximum affinity with Deacon.
- Note: Nukapedia says the 20% applies to all the damage of a sneak attack, not just the bonus part. A ranged sneak attack with no other perks does 2.4x damage instead of 2x.
- Stacking with other perks: if you already have Ninja (3 ranks) and Mister Sandman (3 ranks), the order you take them in changes the result. Nukapedia says that since patch 1.4 taking Cloak & Dagger before Mister Sandman rank 3 gives the maximum of 4.8x, while the order Ninja 3, Sandman 3, Cloak gives 4.7x.
The perk-order results come from Nukapedia and we have not tested them ourselves.
Why there is no romance, and who Deacon is
Deacon is one of only two human companions who cannot be romanced, so no flirt or romance option appears. You still get Cloak & Dagger without a romance; Nukapedia notes that romance only unlocks the separate perk Lover's Embrace.
Deacon tells several different versions of his past. The most detailed one says he left a gang (the University Point Deathclaws), became a farmer and lost his wife Barbara, but he admits he lies, so none of it can be confirmed (Nukapedia). This guide does not treat any of it as fact.
What turns Deacon hostile
These are the conditions Nukapedia lists.
- Killing a settler or anyone connected to the Railroad. If Deacon is your active companion at the time, he does not turn hostile.
- Bringing X6-88 near Railroad HQ or the Old North Church. Deacon and the whole Railroad turn hostile immediately.
- Finishing The Nuclear Option for the Minutemen without giving the optional evacuation order. The next time you talk to Desdemona, Deacon and the Railroad turn hostile. You can still talk to other Railroad characters and finish their quests.
- Telling Desdemona you will kill the Railroad in End of the Line. Deacon turns hostile, and this is also a "hates" action.
The quests Deacon is involved in are Road to Freedom, Tradecraft, Precipice of War, Rockets' Red Glare, The Nuclear Option (Railroad), Tactical Thinking and End of the Line (Nukapedia). If you plan to side with the Railroad, telling Desdemona to protect it in End of the Line is one of his "likes".
Known bugs (from Nukapedia)
- Stuck in walk mode after The Nuclear Option (Minutemen). Reported on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. On PC, the console command "setstage comdeacon 1000" is listed as a fix. On PS4, drawing your weapon is reported to make him run again.
- Outfit changes in power armor can remove armor pieces. This can also happen after fast travel.
- Lying face down after leaving the Vertibird in Rockets' Red Glare (PC). Dismissing him fixes it.
- Cannot be told to exit power armor. If the dialogue only offers the recall code, read the code first and say it to him; then the normal exit option works.
We have not reproduced any of these, and we have not checked whether the update of 18 August 2026 fixed them.
What we could not verify
- Whether any quest caps his affinity. We only confirmed that the Nukapedia Affinity page does not list Deacon among the capped companions. We did not max his affinity in game.
- Detailed reactions when you change faction with Deacon in the party. We only wrote what Nukapedia states.
- The effect of the latest update on Deacon. We found no announcement of a change. The numbers and steps here come from Nukapedia and were not tested in game.
Sources
- Nukapedia: Deacon (likes and dislikes, recruiting, hostility, bugs)
- Nukapedia: Affinity (affinity levels, passive gain, repeatable actions)
- Nukapedia: Tradecraft (recruiting timing, code names)
- Nukapedia: Cloak & Dagger (perk effect, perk order)
- Bethesda: Fallout 4 Update - August 18th and Steam: Fallout 4 Creation Kit Update - October 15 (to confirm the 15 October update)
