Fallout 4 Legendary Effects: Full List and What to Keep
Short answer: the randomly dropped legendary weapon effects number 47 and the armor effects 29, and an effect's value is decided mostly by the kind of weapon it lands on. Some effects only go on ballistic guns (Explosive, Incendiary, Plasma Infused, Violent), some are melee-only (Furious, Berserker's, Bloodied), and some combinations do not stack or work only one way. When you pick one up, ask "does this make sense on this weapon?" before reading the effect name.
Version covered and how I sourced this. The latest game update on the official Steam news feed is "Fallout 4 Update - August 18th" (August 18, 2026), and it was still the latest on November 6, 2026 (the October 15 post is for the Creation Kit). That update covers Creations (mod) tooling, bug fixes and updated credits, and does not mention legendary effects. The numbers come from the Fallout Wiki pages on weapon effects (last edited September 27, 2026) and armor effects (last edited May 15, 2026). Both are community wikis, not official, and neither states a game version. (FH) marks effects the wiki shows as Far Harbor additions.
Where they come from: legendary enemies
Most legendary weapons and armor drop from "Legendary" enemies. According to the wiki's enemies page and weapon page:
- Spawns: random, across the Commonwealth, the Island and Nuka-World. Raising difficulty to the maximum and heading to crowded areas is described as the easiest way to see more. They are also rare rewards from some quests and Nuka-World prizes.
- The fight: at 50% health the enemy "mutates", refills its health and gets stronger.
- The loot: almost always one legendary piece. In the base game weapon and armor are 50% each.
- Level limits: some early-game variants stop dropping after level 15.
- Rerolls: for an enemy inside a building, reloading a quicksave made before entering rerolls the loot; reloading the autosave made on entry rerolls the effect (per the wiki). In Survival difficulty you can only save by sleeping and quicksaves and autosaves are unavailable, so this method does not work there (Survival mode guide).
Weapon effects (47)
The tables below regroup the wiki's list of randomly dropped weapon effects by what they do. The brackets show which weapons they land on; "ballistic" means guns that fire bullets. VATS Enhanced differs between ranged and melee, so it has two rows. Medic's (heals the target) does not drop normally and is mod-only, so it is left out.
Target-specific bonuses (all weapons)
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Assassin's | +50% damage against humans |
| Exterminator's | +50% damage against mirelurks and bugs |
| Ghoul Slayer's | +50% damage against ghouls (no effect with the gamma gun) |
| Hunter's | +50% damage against animals |
| Mutant Slayer's | +50% damage against super mutants |
| Troubleshooter's | +50% damage against robots |
Raw damage
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Powerful / Mighty | +25% damage (all weapons) |
| Instigating | Double damage if the target is at full health (all weapons) |
| Lucky | Critical hits do double damage and the critical meter fills 15% faster (all weapons) |
| Berserker's | More damage the lower your Damage Resistance (up to 200% at 0; 50% at 81-100 and 25% at 101+; the wiki does not make clear whether 200% is the total or a bonus) (melee, unarmed) |
| Bloodied | More damage as health drops (+5% per 5% health lost, up to +95% at 5% health) (melee, unarmed) |
| Furious | +15% after each consecutive hit on the same target (melee only) |
| Junkie's | +15% per addiction (all weapons) |
| Nocturnal | More damage as night deepens, less by day (all weapons) |
| Two Shot | Fires an extra projectile, +25% recoil (ranged) |
| Violent | +25% damage and limb damage, +200% recoil (ballistic) |
| Defiant (FH) | The last shot in the magazine does double damage (ranged) |
| Hitman's (FH) | +10% damage while aiming down the sights (ranged) |
Extra damage and status effects
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Explosive | Bullets explode on impact for 15 area damage (ballistic) |
| Incendiary | Sets the target on fire for 15 in total (the wiki table says 5 over 3 seconds; its notes say 3 per second for 5 seconds) (ballistic) |
| Plasma Infused | +10 energy damage (ballistic) |
| Irradiated | +50 radiation damage (all weapons) |
| Freezing | 10 cryo damage; critical hits freeze (all weapons) |
| Poisoner's | Poison for 10 seconds, 3 per second (all weapons) |
| Wounding | Bleeding for 25 over 5 seconds (all weapons) |
| Penetrating | Ignores 30% of the target's DR and ER; due to a bug it does not affect ER (all weapons) |
| Crippling | +50% limb damage; attack power does not rise (all weapons) |
| Kneecapper | 20% chance to cripple all of the target's legs (all weapons) |
| Staggering | Chance to stagger on hit (all weapons) |
| Enraging | Critical hits make the target frenzy (all weapons) |
Fire rate, AP, VATS, ammo
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rapid | +25% fire rate, 15% faster reload (ranged) |
| Quickdraw | 25% fewer Action Points (all weapons) |
| Relentless | Refills AP on a critical hit (all weapons) |
| VATS Enhanced (ranged) | +33% VATS hit chance, 25% less AP (ranged) |
| VATS Enhanced (melee, unarmed) | 40% less AP (melee, unarmed) |
| Stalker's | Before combat, +100% VATS accuracy but +100% AP cost (ranged) |
| Never Ending | Magazine size equals the ammo you carry (guns; excludes laser musket, syringer, harpoon gun, junk jet) |
| Nimble | 75% faster movement while aiming (guns) |
| Deadeye (FH) | Time slows for a moment while aiming (ranged) |
| Resolute (FH) | Time slows as the last round is chambered (ranged) |
Defense and blocking (weapon side)
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cavalier's | 15% less damage while blocking or sprinting (melee, unarmed) |
| Sentinel's | 15% less damage while standing still (melee, unarmed) |
| Resilient (FH) | +150 Damage Resistance while reloading (ranged) |
| Steadfast (FH) | +50 Damage Resistance while aiming (ranged) |
| Blazing (FH) | Blocking has a 25% chance to set attackers on fire for 50 (melee only) |
| Charged (FH) | 10% chance to deal 100 electrical damage on a successful block (melee) |
| Duelist's (FH) | 25% chance to disarm attackers on a successful block (melee, unarmed) |
| Frigid (FH) | 20% chance to freeze the enemy when blocking (melee, unarmed) |
Easy-to-miss points on weapon effects (from the wiki)
- Berserker's works in reverse too. High armor Damage Resistance drags the damage down to almost nothing. Radiation resistance does not count.
- Crippling does not raise attack power. Only limb damage rises, so it takes the same number of hits to kill, but limbs break more easily.
- Violent versus Two Shot: Violent kills as fast as Powerful and cripples as fast as Crippling, but with much more recoil. The wiki says "as a general rule, Violent is strictly worse than Two Shot."
- Defiant: a weapon with a magazine of one is always on its "last round," so it is permanently doubled. But explosive weapons such as the Fat Man gain almost nothing, because the multiplier does not apply to explosive damage.
- Explosive: it suits low-damage weapons that fire fast or fire several projectiles. The wiki's example: a minigun with 8 base damage gets +15 from Explosive (23 total) against +2 from Powerful's +25% (10 total). It is area damage, so a torso hit applies 15 to every body part.
- Resolute / Deadeye: the slow-time effect carries over for a while even after you switch weapons.
- Penetrating: due to a bug it does not affect Energy Resistance.
Armor effects (29)
Every legendary effect adds +2 Damage Resistance and +2 Energy Resistance to the armor (armor page). The exception is Rad Powered, which gets only the +2 Damage Resistance. The table lists the randomly dropped ones; effects tied to one specific outfit (Atom's Bulwark, DiMA and similar) are left out.
| Effect | What it does | Drops on |
|---|---|---|
| Acrobat's | Falling damage -50%; two pieces prevent all of it | Legs |
| Assassin's | 15% less damage from humans | Chest, arms, legs |
| Bolstering | More resistance the lower your health (up to +35) | Chest, arms, legs |
| Cavalier's | 15% less damage while blocking or sprinting | Chest, arms, legs |
| Chameleon | Harder to detect while sneaking and not moving (Stealth Boy-style invisibility) | Chest, arms, legs |
| Fortifying / Champion | +1 Strength, +1 Endurance | Chest, arms, legs |
| Cunning | +1 Agility, +1 Perception | Chest, arms, legs |
| Lucky | +2 Luck | Chest, arms, legs |
| Sharp | +1 Charisma, +1 Intelligence | Chest, arms, legs |
| Duelist's | 10% chance to disarm a melee attacker on hit | Chest, arms, legs |
| Exterminator's | 15% less damage from mirelurks and bugs | Chest, arms, legs |
| Ghoul Slayer's | 15% less damage from ghouls | Chest, arms, legs |
| Hunter's | 15% less damage from animals | Chest, arms, legs |
| Mutant Slayer's | 15% less damage from super mutants | Chest, arms, legs |
| Troubleshooter's | 15% less damage from robots | Chest, arms, legs |
| Sentinel's / Titan's | 15% less damage while standing still | All |
| Martyr's | Time slows temporarily in combat at 20% health or less | Chest |
| Poisoner's | +25 poison resistance | Chest, arms, legs |
| Powered | Faster Action Point refresh | Chest, arms, legs |
| Punishing | Reflects 10% of melee damage back at the attacker | Chest, arms, legs |
| Safecracker's | Bigger sweet spot when picking locks | Chest, arms, legs |
| Sprinter's | +10% movement speed | Legs |
| VATS Enhanced | 10% less AP cost in VATS | Chest, arms, legs |
| Auto Stim (FH) | Automatically uses a stimpak when hit at 25% health or less, once per 60 seconds | Chest, arms, legs |
| Cloaking (FH) | A melee hit creates a Stealth Field, once per 60 seconds | Chest, arms, legs |
| Cryogenic (FH) | 10% chance to freeze melee attackers, once every 20 seconds | Chest, arms, legs |
| Incendiary (FH) | 30% chance to ignite melee attackers, once every 20 seconds | Chest |
| Rad Powered (FH) | +1 Strength per 133.3 rads (max +7 per piece) | All |
| Unyielding (FH) | Stats rise at 25% health or less (text says +3 to all, but Endurance is excluded in practice) | All |
Easy-to-miss points on armor effects (from the wiki)
- The SPECIAL effects (Fortifying, Cunning, Lucky, Sharp) stack. Putting them on several pieces adds up.
- Martyr's does not stack. Wearing several pieces can stop the slow-time effect from triggering, and the upgraded Nerd Rage! perk overrides it.
- Bolstering raises the player's resistance, not the armor's. It gives +4 per 10% health lost, up to +35 at 90% lost, and it stacks across pieces.
- Unyielding: the text says "+3 to all stats," but in practice it excludes Endurance, because raising Endurance would raise the health baseline and switch the effect off. Endurance boosts (X-cell, Solar Powered) and perks that regenerate health or remove radiation interfere with it.
- Rad Powered: +1 Strength per 133.3 rads, up to +7 per piece (at 933.3 rads).
- Chameleon and Cloaking: Stealth Boy-style invisibility that works the same on any piece, and multiple Chameleon pieces stack, the wiki says. Your weapon and its sights also turn invisible, making aiming harder. It works on companions but can stop.
Do the damage-reduction effects stack between weapon and armor? (the wiki disagrees with itself)
The wiki's armor page says the damage reduction from the armor effects Hunter's, Ghoul Slayer's, Assassin's, Exterminator's, Troubleshooter's, Mutant Slayer's, Cavalier's and Sentinel's stacks with the weapon effect of the same name. But in the weapon table only Cavalier's and Sentinel's are damage reduction; the other six weapon effects are "+50% damage to the target." On top of that, the two wiki pages describe the stacking differently.
- Weapon page: the percentages add, so 15% on 7 pieces (weapon plus armor) gives 100% damage reduction and enemies flee.
- Armor page: they multiply, so 7 pieces leave about 32-33% of incoming damage.
I could not confirm which is the current behavior. If you want to build around this, check your actual damage taken in-game.
How to choose (my reading)
Everything below is my own reading of the numbers above, not a recommendation from the wiki or the developer.
- Check the weapon type first. Explosive, Incendiary, Plasma Infused and Violent are ballistic-only and Furious is melee-only. Make sure it is not on an energy gun.
- Flat bonuses belong on weak, fast weapons. Explosive's +15 is a bigger share on a low-damage rapid-fire gun (the minigun example). On a hard-hitting weapon Powerful's +25% can be larger.
- Target-specific +50% needs a known enemy. It shines when you know what you will meet.
- Effects that cost recoil depend on whether you can live with it. Two Shot is +25%, Violent +200%.
- Avoid conditions that turn an effect against you. Berserker's is weak with high resistance, Defiant is poor on explosives, and Penetrating misses Energy Resistance.
- For armor, pick by what stacks. SPECIAL effects and Bolstering stack; Martyr's does not. If you use Unyielding, do not pair it with Endurance boosts.
What this article could not confirm
- Japanese effect names. I did not check the in-game Japanese wording.
- Drop rates per effect. The wiki gives none, so I cannot say which effects are common.
- Whether the numbers still match the current version. The wiki states no game version, and the official update notes show no change to effects; that is as far as I can go.
- How the damage-reduction effects stack. The wiki contradicts itself, as shown above.
- The bug that spawns Martyr's and Unyielding on every piece. The armor page says they were meant to spawn on chest armor only, but it carries a "citation needed" tag.
Summary
Three points. First, an effect's value depends on the weapon it lands on. Check ballistic-only and melee-only effects first. Second, flat bonuses grow on weak, fast weapons; percentage bonuses grow on hard-hitting ones. Third, armor effects differ in whether they stack. SPECIAL effects stack and Martyr's does not. For a VATS-and-crits build see the Luck VATS build guide, and for a heavy-gunner setup the power armor heavy gunner guide.
Sources
- Fallout Wiki — Fallout 4 legendary weapon effects (effect list and notes; community wiki, edited September 27, 2026, no game version stated)
- Fallout Wiki — Fallout 4 legendary armor effects (effect list and notes; community wiki, edited May 15, 2026, no game version stated)
- Fallout Wiki — Fallout 4 legendary enemies (spawns and rerolls; community wiki, edited August 24, 2026)
- Steam — Fallout 4 official news (the August 18, 2026 update is the latest and does not mention legendary effects; official)