In Defense of Fallout 76’s Bobbleheads

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 18, 2025 2 Views 7 Min Read
In Defense of Fallout 76's Bobbleheads

Fallout 76 being a multiplayer game in an otherwise exclusively single-player franchise naturally means that it varies from past games in the franchise in several ways. One such difference between Fallout 76 and its predecessors is the potency of certain buildcrafting tools, like Fallout 76’s perk cards, as well as minor, temporary buffs via consumable items. With past Fallout games often being criticized for letting players achieve omnipotent builds that trivialize the game’s RPG elements, the limits Fallout 76 places on players’ builds are arguably necessary for the sake of a balanced multiplayer experience, despite being initially considered a downgrade.

A prime example of how Fallout 76 limits players’ builds is the potency of buffs from Vault-Tec bobbleheads. In Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, bobblehead consumables provide permanent buffs to players, incentivizing players to collect every bobblehead in the game to upgrade their builds. In Fallout 76, bobbleheads aren’t permanent and only one bobblehead buff can be utilized at once. However, despite being much less potent, Fallout 76’s bobbleheads have a few unique advantages over bobbleheads from previous Fallout games, ultimately making them a happy middle-ground.

Fallout 76 Vault 76 with Ella Purnell Lucy MacLean Fallout Show GAMERANT edit

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Fallout 76’s Bobblehead Buffs Have Unique Advantages Over Past Games

Fallout 76’s Bobbleheads Have Become a New Trading Currency

One of the biggest advantages of Fallout 76’s version of bobbleheads is that they respawn often, they can be purchased from select vendors and even earned as a reward for completing certain activities, allowing players to stock up on bobbleheads and use them as a trading currency. Similar to past Fallout games, Caps are the main currency in Fallout 76. However, unlike past games, Fallout 76 imposes a maximum limit of 40,000 Caps for all players, making additional currencies a necessity.

Outside of Caps, Fallout 76 players generally use leader bobbleheads, skill magazines, berry mentats, and bobby pins, among other collectible items, as trading currencies. As long as players have the inventory and stash space to collect them, using other collectibles as a currency allows players to make exchanges that potentially exceed the value of 40,000 Caps, which is often necessary when trading for some of the rarest items in Fallout 76, such as rare apparel items or God-roll legendary weapons.

When trading for highly valuable items, players should consider enlisting the services of a courier in Fallout 76, who will act as a third-party mediator to prevent trading scams.

Fallout 76’s Bobblehead Buffs Help Combat Controversial Omnipotent Builds

In general, Fallout 76’s version of bobblehead buffs are much weaker than those from past Fallout games because the buffs are only temporary, and players can only use one at a time. While this is admittedly a downgrade compared to how Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 let players permanently stack every bobblehead buff together, this is a necessary step toward combating the overpowered builds in Fallout games that often undermine the RPG elements.

Equipping the Curator Luck Perk Card in Fallout 76 will extend the duration of bobbleheads and magazine buffs from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.

Instead of having a one-size-fits-all build in Fallout 76, players are encouraged to make separate builds that specialize in a limited variety of weapons and SPECIAL skills. Otherwise, players will generally have to sacrifice parts of their builds in Fallout 76 to achieve a well-rounded endgame build.

Ultimately, while the potency of their buffs may not be as powerful as those in past Fallout games, Fallout 76’s bobbleheads still have some redeeming qualities that arguably make up for this. Especially considering that balancing is a much more delicate matter in online multiplayer games, Fallout 76’s bobbleheads are a happy middle-ground that has turned into a valuable currency despite not being as powerful as buildcrafting tools.

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