Fallout 4 Idiot Savant build – is it worth it?

Part of the fun of Fallout 4 is experimenting with a ton of different builds to see what you enjoy the most. I’ve tended to favor rifle-based builds in my few playthroughs of the game, but for my next playthrough, I think I’ll be looking to try a melee build where I rush down my enemies. With that in mind, you may have heard of a build surrounding a particular XP perk. Here’s what the Idiot Savant build is in Fallout 4 and if it’s worth taking.

What is the Idiot Savant build in Fallout 4?

The Idiot Savant build in Fallout 4, as expected, revolves around the Idiot Savant perk. This perk requires 5 points in Luck to be taken, and will provide you 3x XP randomly for any action that can give XP, with the chance of this happening based on your Intelligence stat. The lower your Intelligence stat is, the better chance there is to have Idiot Savant trigger. Later levels of the perk can up this boost to 5x XP, and provide 3x XP for all kills for a short period after the Idiot Savant perk triggers.

With this in mind, you’ll be going for a build with 5 Luck, 1 Intelligence, and whatever else you feel might benefit the build. This will make the amount of experience you earn considerably lower, along with locking out later Intelligence-based perks along the perk tree. These perks you’ll lose out on relate to weapon mods, along with the perk Nerd Rage, which improves you when at 20% health or lower.

Is the Idiot Savant build worth using?

Speaking from experience, the Idiot Savant build is worth taking in Fallout 4. While you are locked out of a lot of weapon mods, I’ve never found a particular need to use them myself. They’re merely a nice bonus, should you want more out of your weapon. With that said, I would suggest keeping your Intelligence at 2 instead of lowering it to 1. You’ll only have a 10% chance to trigger Idiot Savant instead of 11%, but setting Intelligence to 1 will lock you out of the Medic perk, which improves the effectiveness of Stimpaks and RadAway. If you’re familiar with Fallout 4, then you know it’s invaluable.

If you plan to run the build, I’d advise tackling tons of side content early into the run. The lower XP from such a low Intelligence stat will be felt, even with bonus XP on random actions. Getting some early levels will make sure you don’t fall behind in power. Once you start triggering the occasional 5x XP boost from Level 2 of Idiot Savant, you won’t feel as much of a power gap.