Wanna be an unstoppable tank in the post-apocalypse?

Fallout 4’s Commonwealth is a harsh wasteland, surrounded from end to end by raiders, mirelurks, deathclaws, and bloatflies that just want to rip your limbs to shreds. As your pre-war character steps out from Vault 111, it’d be insane for them to not want the best protection available to keep their head attached as they look for their missing son.

Luckily, Bethesda is generous enough to provide you with a suit of power armor fairly early into the game, complete with a minigun to turn your enemies into a beehive. They’ve gone above and beyond to make the power armor feel like an absolute beast as you trek your way across the destroyed streets of Boston.

However, Bethesda being Bethesda, they’re not exactly the best when it comes to making life easy for the players. Fallout 4’s power armor could stand to have a few more tweaks and improvements to make things much more fun. Thankfully, we’ve got modders to save the day.

Here are the 10 best mods for power armor that are absolutely essential when doing a power armor playthrough.

10. Power Armor Animation Changes

Suit up, soldier.

A staggering difference between vanilla animation and mod animation.

The slow and clunky power armor brings a nice touch of realism and immersion to the world of Fallout 4. But, while that’s all nice and dandy, the obscenely slow animation of entering and exiting the power armor kinda gets annoying after the 5th time. A faster animation does exist in the game files, but Bethesda decided to lock that animation only for when you are in combat.

Power Armor Animation Change by somberX fixes this issue by making the faster entry and exit animation the default for every situation, even outside of combat. The difference is like night and day. The vanilla animation takes roughly 15 seconds to get in and out of the power armor. Meanwhile, this mod cuts that time by half, getting in and out in only 7 seconds. 

And if that’s not fast enough for you, this mod also provides an instant entry and exit animation. This one kinda warps you through the armor’s back so you will be sacrificing immersion for this. I still believe the “Fast” animation is what everyone should go for. It strikes the perfect balance of immersion and quality of life and it’s absolutely essential for power armor players.

Power Armor Animation Changes enhances your gameplay by providing:

• Faster animation
• Smoother transition from entry to gameplay
• Optional “Heroic” idle stance

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4408?tab=description

9. P.A.M.S - Power Armor Movement Sounds

Experience the true sound of power armor.

You can feel (and hear) the difference in weight.

If you’re an audiophile like me, then you would find the vanilla movement sounds incredibly lacking. The sound of each step in your power armor simply felt underwhelming and you don’t feel like the badass mobile tank that you are. Fortunately, we’ve got the perfect mod to fix that.

P.A.M.S - Power Armor Movement Sounds by ONIXer is a wonderful little audio mod that changes the bland noise of your power armor to something much more heavy and metallic. You can definitely feel the power coursing through your ears with every step you take.

The mod comes with a few variations to fit your preference. PAMS Heavy changes the sound to be much heavier and weighty. Light is somewhere in the middle of vanilla and heavy. As for me, I prefer the light version. The heavy version can be a bit distracting to gameplay sometimes. There are also versions that add hydraulics or robotics sounds if that’s your preference.

P.A.M.S - Power Armor Movement Sounds immerses you with:

• Immersive power armor sound
• Feel like an invincible war machine

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/1544/?tab=description

8. Power Armor Material AND Paint (PAMAP)

The paint and material mod are now two separate modifiable slots.

Now you can have decent protection while having a hot-rod paint job.

I don’t know what was going through Bethesda’s mind when they decided to put the material and paint modifications on the same slot. Logically speaking, you should be able to paint the power armor after lining it with your desired material. We all just want to pimp our power armor without gimping its stats, Bethesda. What’s so wrong with that?

Thankfully, a mod author by the name of Mcgan also shared my frustration. His mod, Power Armor Material AND Paint (PAMAP) works simply to separate the material and paint, giving each their own slot. Now you too can don your Hot Rod-themed power armor without sacrificing your defense from explosions.

This is a simple, yet excellent mod and is a must-have for any power armor enthusiast.

PAMAP makes your experience more enjoyable by:

• Logically separating paint and material mods from the same slot
• Letting you pimp your power armor without losing defensive stats

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4619?tab=description

7. Power Armor HoloHUD

A more compact and less intrusive power armor HUD.

Fallout 4’s power armor HUD is strange. During the day, it’s transparent (for whatever reason) and at night, the HUD is solid in color. This odd inconsistency is not only distracting and immersion-breaking, but it also blocks a huge chunk of the screen with that ugly HUD. Of course, some people like the aesthetic which I get. But for me personally, I much prefer a cleaner and more compact HUD when I’m wearing my power armor.

Power Armor HoloHUD by maximluppov aims to do just that. The mod takes away the metallic look of the HUD and rearranges the various dials to make it as compact as possible, allowing for a better view of your surroundings.

If you’re like me and use immersive HUD in your gameplay, then this is a great mod to complement it. I, for one, can’t play Fallout 4 with the HUD turned on anymore. You start to realize just how distracting the HUD is whenever you want to soak in the scenery.

Install HoloHUD if you want:

• Cleaner and compact power armor HUD
• A better view of the Commonwealth
• Less distracting and inconsistent HUD

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/29969?tab=description

6. Take Your Cores

The fusion core transferred from the power armor to the player's inventory automatically.

Adjust the timing and distance for when you get your fusion core back.

Remember the good ol’ days when your younger sibling would take your 3DS and play with it without permission, so you passive-aggressively hid all of the game cartridges so he won’t be able to play anything on it anymore? Yeah, me neither.

But someone certainly turned that scenario into a mod. Take Your Cores by darkconsole allows you to automatically retrieve the fusion core used after getting out of your power armor. Not only is this mod convenient, but it also prevents NPCs and settlers from wearing your power armor without permission, which is an annoying design choice in itself.

So if you don’t want to see some random settler taking your superexpensive toys and playing with them without your permission, maybe consider getting this mod.

Get this mod if you want to:

• Stop manually retrieving the fusion core yourself
• KEEP THOSE DIRTY SETTLERS AWAY FROM YOUR TOYS

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14773?tab=description

5. No Aggro Impact Landing (Power Armor)

Cause an earthquake in the middle of town and not get shot.

Jump around town in full power armor and face zero repercussions for it.

In power armor, you are effectively a walking tank. Every step you take spells death to your enemies. No one in their right mind would ever pick a fight with you...unless you drop from a two-foot ledge in power armor.

This mod by mm137 is a godsend. Realism is important, sure, but it gets really annoying when the entire population of Diamond City decides to open fire because you caused a magnitude 6 earthquake in the middle of town by accident. 

This mod disables aggro from non-hostile NPCs when you drop from a ledge that’s a smidge too high. With this mod, you can effectively parkour around the city like a tank on red bull.

This mod allows you to:

• Jump around without catching aggro
• Not cause a scene by accident

Get this mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9019?tab=description

4. The Brotherhood Power Armor Drop Team

Never fear. The brotherhood's got your back. Ad Victoriam!

Your power armor being dropped by the brotherhood to your location.

What’s more badass than wearing power armor? How about having your power armor airdropped to you by your fellow brothers and sisters for you to start wreaking havoc on the freakshows of the Commonwealth. Ad Victoriam!

This mod by EdmondNoir is one of the best mods if you’re doing a power armor AND Brother of Steel playthrough. Imagine being in a firefight against a group of super mutants and they’re starting to overwhelm you. Just call in a power armor and turn the tides in an instant!

But in all seriousness, this mod is perfect because walking around in your power armor can be slow, tedious, and drain your fusion cores. I play mainly in Survival mode so this is a huge problem for me. Thankfully, this mod fixes all those issues and makes me fall in love with the brotherhood even more. (Btw, you don’t have to side with the brotherhood to use this mod. Read more on the Nexus page).

This mod allows you to:

• Call in your power armor from anywhere
• Feel like a badass Brotherhood of Steel soldier
• Travel without power armor while having access to it

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22286

3. Hellfire X-03 Power Armor

The power armor that brings out the pyromaniac within us.

It even comes with fire or radiation AOE options!

How can you possibly make a top 10 best mods for power armor list without featuring the absolutely stunning power armors created by the talented modding community? Fallout 4 features a lot of good power armors, but after the X-01, things get a bit stale. Sometimes you just want to wear something new.

The Hellfire X-03 Power Armor mod by unoctium was inspired by the Enclave’s Hellfire Armor from Fallout 3’s Broken Steel DLC and is one of the most badass looking armor ever. It lives up to its name with its specialized AOE fire (can also be plasma) attack and the pyro-styled helmet.

The power armor presentation itself is very lore-friendly, relating the armor to the Enclave from Fallout 3 as well as its antagonist. If you’re a fan of the Enclave or tired of the X-01 power armor, then I highly recommend getting this mod.

Get the Hellfire X-03 mod if you want:

• Another upgrade to the power armor roster
• Burn your enemies alive with AOE fire
• Look and feel like the juggernaut from hell

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26251/

2. Enclave X-02 Black Devil Power Armor

Be the Batman that the Commonwealth needs, but not the one it deserves,

Find the armor abandoned in a secret location full of enemies and dangers.

At first, I was going to put the Hellfire X-03 Power Armor above the X-02, but this new take on the Enclave’s X-02 Power Armor by C1ph3rr is just so good, I had no choice but to put it in 2nd place. This is, in my opinion, the best version of the Enclave X-02 power armor mods and it shows. It really shows.

The Enclave X-02 Power Armor codenamed: “Black Devil” lives up to its name with the absolutely gorgeous, yet absolutely menacing design. The armor itself is inspired by the Enclave’s power armor from Fallout 3; so again, if you like the Enclave or want a new power armor in your roster, this is the one to get.

The mod comes with the Tesla version of the armor to add the energy-infused feel for those maining energy weapons. The textures of the power armor are crisp and detailed and are definitely one of the best-looking power armor mods out there.

Get this power armor if you like to:

• Roleplay as a secret Enclave soldier
• Be the devil roaming the streets of Boston
• Be Batman.

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/53545?tab=description

1. Excavator Power Armor

Just look at this absolute unit of a power armor.

Find both versions aptly hidden within the quarries of the Commonwealth.

Fallout 76 may not have been the greatest game to have come out from Bethesda’s game factory, but goddamnit, they’ve got some real sick power armor designs. In my opinion, one of the best unique-looking power armor from Fallout 76 is definitely the Excavator Power Armor.

Developed by newermind43, this mod brings the Excavator Power Armor from Appalachia to the Commonwealth along with its glorious construction-themed design. While the X-03 and the X-02 were cool and badass, the Excavator Power Armor just feels different. Instead of feeling like Batman or a pyro from hell, you instead feel like a bulldozer just ramming your way through hordes of Commonwealth scum.

The mod author did a great job in bringing this power armor to Fallout 4 by building it from the ground up. This is a very high-quality mod and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s planning to go for a power armor playthrough and settlement building (cause it just makes sense).

Get the Excavator Power Armor to:

• Excavate the insides of your enemies
• Become one with your bulldozing spirit
• Clear out the Commonwealth one scum at a time

Get the mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41884?tab=description

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