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Summary
Unless players receive them early through trading with another player or randomly while suffering radiation damage, completing the Enclave questline inFallout 76will introduce them to Mutations. These provide players with some of the best buffs inFallout 76, although they often come with negative effects that players should carefully consider when choosing their Mutations.
With the rightperk loadouts inFallout 76, players can make Mutations a permanent enhancement to their character, as well as increase their positive effects and decrease their negative effects. There is no limit to how many Mutations players can stack together, although some of them aren’t worth suffering the negative effects associated with them.
S-Tier
These Mutations inFallout 76provide universal, must-have buffs that players can mix into any existing build. For Instance, Adrenal Reaction is part ofFallout 76’s Bloodied Meta, where, when combined with Bloodied Legendary weapons and the Nerd Rage perk, players can increase their weapon damage by over double. Investing into this playstyle by regularly having low health will give players a permanent damage increase, though this Mutation can also be handy in a pinch when a player’s health naturally gets low in the middle of a fight.
At max rank, the Starched Genes perk will prevent players from accidentally losing or gaining any Mutations.
When it comes to Carnivore and Herbivore, these Mutations are two sides of the same coin, whereas utilizing both of them would be counterintuitive. In general, Carnivore is best for players who utilize food buffs for melee builds, while Herbivore is best for players who utilize food buffs for critical hits inFallout 76’s version of VATSand/or stealth builds.
A-Tier
Unlike how the best Mutations provide universal buffs for any build, these Mutations provide buffs for highly specialized builds. Consequently, these Mutations are only recommended for players who are committed to builds that primarily utilize only one weapon type, as they will often debuff other weapon types until players cure themselves of the Mutation.
B-Tier
The B-tier Mutations are somewhat of a neutral ground, where they aren’t the most useful, but they also don’t have much of a tradeoff. Aside from their unique effects, these mutations can prove especially useful for players who are looking to increase the number of Mutations that they have in order to receive the full benefits from the Mutant Legendary armor andLegendary weapon effects inFallout 76.
While the Chameleon Mutation’s invisibility can be a game-changer for stealth builds inFallout 76, it requires players to not wear any armor, which ultimately means missing out on several additional buffs from any Legendary armor effects. For Electrically Charged, Unstable Isotope, and Plague Walker, the damage from these Mutations is so small that they aren’t very reliable.
C-Tier
Both C-Tier Mutations come with steep tradeoffs that players will likely need to invest in multiple perks to reduce their negative effects, though these Mutations can still be useful for specific builds. It’s worth mentioning that the Bird Bones Mutation also reduces fall damage, though this is mostly redundant for players who usePower Armor inFallout 76, as Power Armor eliminates all fall damage, as well as limb damage.
The Strength In Numbers perk will increase the positive effects of Mutations if players are on a team with other Mutated players, while the Class Freak perk will reduce the negative effects of Mutations.
D-Tier
Much like the C-Tier Mutations, the D-Tier Mutations also come with burdensome negative effects. Yet, even after investing in perks that reduce these negative effects, the positive effects of these Mutations can still be underwhelming, so they are only recommended for players who have the means to cure them after their temporary use cases.
