Highlights

  • Fallout Shelter is a fun colony-building game with live service aspects, initially seen as a marketing ploy.
  • Training dwellers' attributes like Intelligence, Charisma, Agility, Perception, Endurance, Strength, and Luck enhance quest success.
  • Strength determines carrying capacity and weapon damage; Agility mitigates damage and speeds up attack rate. Luck improves loot and crit rate.

Fallout Shelter is a game that can be played on both desktop and mobile. It is rooted in the Fallout series, and debuted in 2015 as a free-to-play experience. Initially perceived somewhat as a quirky marketing ploy, it leaned towards being a promotional tool rather than a comprehensive game. However, the game has now evolved into an excellent, fun-to-play colony-building game, with live service aspects such as a cash shop.

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Central to the gameplay of Fallout Shelter is dispatching vault dwellers into the wasteland or on quests. Before venturing forth, these dwellers must undergo leveling, and appropriate equipment needs to be chosen for them. Additionally, their attributes require fine-tuning to alter their performance during quests in order to ensure both their success, and their survival.

7 Intelligence

Leveled Up In The Classroom

Classroom In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Medbay, Science Lab
  • Vault Effects: None
  • Main Effects: None
  • Quest Effects: None

For gamers aiming to send vault dwellers on a quest, Intelligence will not directly influence the quest's success. Nonetheless, it does influence the accumulation of experience points earned by the dweller for completing quest activities.

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The primary benefit of training Intelligence lies in speeding up the leveling of vault dwellers. However, for optimal effectiveness in wasteland quests, other statistics prove to be more beneficial. Put simply, Intelligence can be nice to have for questing, but not at the expense of other stats.

6 Charisma

Leveled Up In The Lounge

Lounge In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Living Room, Radio Studio, Barbershop
  • Vault Effects: None
  • Main Effects: More legendary junk, improved chance of successful NPC encounters
  • Quest Effects: None

Charisma holds less significance than other stats for dwellers dispatched on quests in Fallout Shelter. Unless the quest has multiple NPC interactions, then Charisma is not worth training for a vault dweller that is going to become part of the core questing team.

During wasteland exploration, Charisma primarily aids dwellers in negotiating their way through certain situations, potentially circumventing combat encounters. This does apply to quest encounters as well. Additionally, it contributes to the likelihood of discovering legendary junk while on a quest. In short, Charisma has some benefits for questing vault dwellers, but fewer than other stats.

5 Agility

Trained In The Athletics Room

Athletcis Room In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Diner, Garden
  • Vault Effects: None
  • Main Effects: Provides damage mitigation
  • Quest Effects: Faster attack rate

Agility is a valuable attribute for dwellers embarking on quests or wasteland expeditions in Fallout Shelter. Training extra Agility levels makes for a faster attack rate during quest combat encounters. However, the primary advantage of high Agility lies in its capacity for mitigating damage, with dwellers sustaining less harm as their Agility increases.

This stat is trained by sending a vault dweller to the Athletics Room. It can take some time to train, but it is highly beneficial to train the Agility of quest-bound dwellers. Bolstering Agility can significantly improve their chances of survival across multiple quest combat encounters and mean fewer stim packs are being used.

4 Perception

Leveled In The Armory

Armory In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Water Treatment, Water Purification
  • Vault Effects: None
  • Exploration Effects: Looting more weapons, outfits, and recipes
  • Quest Effects: Easier crit arrow use

Perception stands as one of the game's pivotal statistics, alongside Strength, influencing a vault dweller's performance during wasteland and quest combat in Fallout Shelter. While Strength dictates the inflicted damage, Perception enhances the likelihood of scoring critical hits. Therefore, investing time in training a dweller's Perception in the Armory prior to sending them on a quest can be highly advantageous.

Perception significantly influences the quantity and quality of loot acquired by the dweller in the wasteland. Heightened Perception not only increases the frequency of discovering loot locations, but also increases the chance of higher level loot being found, including valuable items such as recipes, weapons, and outfits.

3 Endurance

Leveled In The Fitness Room

Fitness Room In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Nuka-Cola Bottler
  • Vault Effects: Gain more hit points when leveling up
  • Main Effects: More legendary junk found, provides radiation damage mitigation
  • Quest Effects: Extra HP

Endurance functions nearly identically in Fallout Shelter as it does in other Fallout games. Higher Endurance for a vault dweller correlates to higher overall health. Furthermore, as dwellers progress in levels, they accrue additional health points with each level, and higher Endurance will mean they gain more points in these instances.

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On quests and in the wasteland, Endurance provides radiation resistance and enhances the likelihood of discovering legendary junk for dwellers. Collectively, a blend of Strength, Perception, and Endurance boosts a vault dweller's prospects for surviving all the game's quest combat encounters.

2 Strength

Leveled In The Weight Room

Weight Room In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: Power Generator, Nuclear Reactor
  • Vault Effects: None
  • Exploration Effects: Locker open chance improved
  • Quest Effects: None

Strength holds significant importance for vault dwellers slated for quests and wasteland expeditions. It is always worth leveling up Strength in the Weight Room for the core questing dwellers the player uses. These dwellers can then be assigned to Power Generation rooms when they are not being sent on quests.

During quests and in the wasteland, Strength serves dual purposes. Firstly, it directly influences the dweller's carrying capacity. Secondly, it determines the damage output of the dweller's weapon. Both these improvements are valuable in helping dwellers complete quests.

1 Luck

Leveled In The Game Room

Game Room In Fallout Shelter
  • Room Bonuses: None
  • Vault Effects: More caps earned as rush rewards and better rush success chance
  • Exploration Effects: Find more loot, and higher chance of legendary junk and loot items
  • Quest Effects: Crit rate speed

Luck serves as a vital dweller attribute for players to increase before dispatching them on quests or into the wasteland in Fallout Shelter. Training Luck is done by sending a vault dweller to the Game Room. Luck yields a vault-wide effect that enhances efficiency and cap production.

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On quests and in the wasteland, Luck exerts influence across all actions. In combat, high Luck will speed up how quickly the player fills the critical hit generator. Elevated Luck significantly heightens the likelihood of discovering high-quality loot and legendary junk. Hence, every dweller designated for questing and exploration should possess at least a modicum of Luck. High Luck is a must-have stat for getting the best out of questing dwellers.

Fallout Shelter

Platform(s)
Android , iOS , PC , PS4 , Switch , Xbox One
Released
June 14, 2015
Developer(s)
Bethesda Game Studios , Behaviour Interactive
Genre(s)
Simulation