STRENGTH

[15 POINTS]

Take 45% less damage from your opponents' melee attacks

Your melee weapons ignore 75% of your target's armor

Your melee weapons weigh 60% less, and you can swing them 30% faster

Your punching attacks now do +20% damage

Your one-handed melee weapons now do +10% damage

Your one-handed melee weapons now do +10% damage

Your one-handed melee weapons now do +10% damage

Strength is the most important attribute for melee characters. It increases your melee damage directly, as well grants increased maximum carry weight which is critical for any build in Fallout 76

PERCEPTION

[1 POINT]

Reap twice as much when harvesting flora

Perception is the least important attribute. We won't be using V.A.T.S. at all, and Accuracy is irrelevant for a melee character

ENDURANCE

[13 POINTS]

Your limb damage is completely eliminated

Eating human, Ghoul, Super Mutant, Scorched, or Mole Miner corpses restores even more Health and hunger

Radiation now regenerates even more of your lost Health!

Gain improved Health regen between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m

You no longer take Rad damage from swimming and can breathe underwater

The greater your Rads, the greater your Strength (max +5 STR)!

Endurance another extremely important attribute for this build. It allows you to use the build-defining Perk cards which grant all the bonuses related to radiation including Health regeneration

CHARISMA

[4 POINTS]

When adventuring alone, take 20% less damage and gain 30% AP regen.

Charisma has one very important Perk for solo players - the Lone Wanderer. It grants very high damage reduction bonus which is critical for non-Power Armor users

INTELLIGENCE

[4 POINTS]

Melee weapons break 30% slower and you can craft Tier 3 melee weapons. (Plans required)

Stimpaks restore 15% more lost health.

Intelligence is not really that important here. You may as well remove the Makeshift Warrior and spend the points elsewhere, but it actually is one of the Perks that come in handy and you won't have the problem of losing your weapon in midst of a brawl

AGILITY

[5 POINTS]

Action Points regenerate 45% faster

Gain +6% (max 36%) damage for 30s per kill. Duration refreshes with kills

Sprinting consumes 20% fewer Action Points

Adding a few points into Agility is quite important and makes your sprinting much more effective. Since you are a melee build you need to get in close-range as soon as possible and both Marathoner and Action Boy helps greatly. At the same time, Adrenaline is one of the most cost-effective Perks in the game, granting up to 36% increased damage for just one point

LUCK

[14 POINTS]

The negative effects of your mutations are reduced by 75%

15% bonus damage means enemies may explode into a gory red paste

Gain an 18% chance to deflect back some of the enemies' ranged damage

While below 30% health, gain a 45% chance to avoid damage

You will never mutate from rads and Radaway will never cure mutations

Luck affects all actions you take. It provides the Starched Genes Perk which is a must-have for end-game content in this build. Mutations are way too powerful to ignore them. Also, Luck provides very important defensive and offensive Perks which we also recommend taking

ARMOR: Which armor you pick is up to you, but getting a full set of Bolstering armor parts will greatly increase your defenses

WEAPON: Bloodied/Suppressor's/Furious Deathclaw Gauntlet is what you should be looking for. Also, Mole Miner gauntlet is quite decent, and easily obtainable starting at level 20

CHEMS: Med-X (DMG Resist +25) and Psycho (DMG Resist +25, Damage increased by 15%) are the best Chems for Unarmed builds. Don't overdo it though as you don't have any Perks that help you deal with Chem addiction

Mutations are an extremely powerful addition to this build, and they make this build truly shine. If you manage to get any of the mutations listed below, remember to pick up the Starched Genes Perk on rank two.

1. Talons - the best mutations for this build. It directly increases your punching damage and bleeding damage at the cost of reduced weapon accuracy
2. Healing Factor - increases your Health regeneration by an astounding 300% but reduces the effect of Chems by 55%. With Class Freak, this is negligible
3. Grounded - which grants 100 additional Energy Resistance, but reduces your Energy Damage by 20%
4. Electrically Charged - grants a chance to electrically shock enemies when they hit you with a melee attack