Highlights
- The Solar Armor in Fallout 76 is an end-game armor that allows players to passively heal themselves and nearby players with a set bonus of regenerating 4 HP/s while the player's health is above 60%.
- The Solar Armor is slightly weaker in terms of damage and energy resistance compared to other popular end-game armor sets, but it can be mixed with additional builds and does not rely on specific legendary armor effects.
- While the Solar Armor's healing rate is relatively small and slow, it can be enhanced by combining it with the Empath mutation and other active healing methods such as the Friendly Fire Perk, Team Medic Perk, and Medic's Legendary weapon effect. It is best used in group activities or with multiple players in close proximity.
The Solar Armor is one of many ways that players can play a support role in Fallout 76, especially with its benefit of healing capabilities being a passive ability. The Solar armor is considered an end-game armor in Fallout 76, and it provides players the ability to heal themselves and nearby players effortlessly. Part of what makes the Solar armor an effective part of any build is that players can also invest in other ways to heal nearby players and stack them all together for the best results.
Like the other Legendary Vault Steel armor sets in Fallout 76, players will need to spend Gold Bullion, Legendary Scrip, and other highly valuable resources to obtain and craft the Solar armor. When wearing all five pieces of the armor, players will have access to its unique set bonus as well as any legendary effects and mods on each of the individual armor pieces.
How the Solar Armor Compares to Other Healing Sources and Armor Sets in Fallout 76
- Damage Resistance: 260
- Energy Resistance: 170
- Set Bonus: Regenerates +4 HP/s for the player and nearby teammates while the player's health is above 60%
The Solar armor does not have any Radiation or other Status Effect resistances without specific mods or Legendary armor effects. Comparing its base damage and energy resistances to other end-game armor set in Fallout 76, Solar armor is slightly weaker than the other popular armor sets, but not by much. Since the armor’s set bonus doesn’t rely on having any specific legendary armor effects, players can generally mix it together with additional builds in Fallout 76. However, it does require players to be above half-health, so this excludes Fallout 76’s meta Bloodied build.
On its own, the Solar armor isn’t the most effective method for players to heal themselves or other players because the amount healed is very small and slow. Unlike most of the other healing methods, the Solar armor’s set bonus is a static number instead of a percentage of each player’s max health. The Solar armor heals at a rate of four health/second, and for reference, this is only around 1% of the health of a max-level player with fifteen Endurance.
The Empath mutation can take the Solar armor’s healing properties to the next level for players who want to provide a support role to their teammates, although it meanwhile compromises the host’s health. There are ways to both improve the positive and reduce the negative effects of the Empath mutation, although there is no way to fully remove the penalty that the host of this Mutation will receive, so it's not a necessity for support builds in Fallout 76.
The Friendly Fire Perk, Team Medic Perk, and the Medic’s Legendary weapon effect in Fallout 76 are a lot cheaper to obtain than a full set of Solar armor, but they are all active methods of healing while the Solar armor’s healing is both passive and continuous. Other than requiring players to actively manage their teammate's health, these other healing sources have a lot better healing properties than the Solar armor. There’s nothing stopping players from combining as many of these healing methods together as they desire, so all together they can offer impressive healing capabilities.
The Solar armor is best used for playing with an intimate group of friends or when doing activities with multiple other players in close proximity, like Daily Ops and Public Events in Fallout 76. The armor’s set bonus pairs extremely well with other methods of healing nearby players, although it can be underwhelming on its own. The main upside to using the Solar armor is that players can essentially use whatever build they want on top of it since many of the additional ways to heal other players don’t conflict or require much further investment. Solar armor is generally worth the investment for anyone who isn’t playing solo, however, there are stronger armor sets and more efficient healing methods available.
Fallout 76 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
