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Radiation has given you a Mutation! You gain positive and negative effects. Using RadAway has a chance to cure any Mutations.— In-game notification
FO76 Mutated

Mutations are a type of effect in Fallout 76.

Characteristics[]

Mutations are acquired by the player when exposed to radiation. They provide both positive and negative effects. Mutations are semi-permanent effects that provide both positive and negative effects. Whenever a player takes radiation damage, they have a chance to gain a mutation, equivalent to 5% per 5 points of radiation damage. This can occur from being struck by excessive background radiation from a source such as zones devastated by nukes, irradiated creatures, radioactive waste, etc. Players cannot acquire a mutation from radiation until level 5. If a mutation is acquired from radiation damage, another mutation cannot be acquired until the player leaves that server.

It is possible to acquire up to 18 of the 19 available mutations at the same time. The exceptions are Carnivore and Herbivore, which prevent one another from being acquired.

The Class Freak perk will reduce the negative effects of a mutation by 25/50/75%, while Strange in Numbers will grant a 25% increase to the positive effect if teammates are also mutated. Mutant's legendary items will only activate if the player is mutated.

Removal and prevention[]

Every time the player uses RadAway, RadAway: diluted or a decontamination shower, there is a chance that a randomly selected mutation will be removed. They can keep using RadAway for more attempts to remove a mutation. Mutations cannot be removed through death. However, a percentage of rads is removed upon death. Nuka-Grape, brahmin milk, or the perk cards Healing Hands, Rad Sponge and What Rads? can also be used to remove rads without risk of curing mutations.

The Starched Genes perk allows for locking mutations, as it reduces/eliminates both the chance of becoming mutated and their removal chance. Radiation protection gear (e.g. hazmat suit) reduces the chance of mutation.[verification overdue]

Mutations list[]

Players may be affected by the following mutations:

Mutations
Mutation Positive effect(s) Negative effect(s)
Adrenal Reaction +Weapon DMG at low HP Max HP -50
Bird Bones AGI +4, Fall from heights more gradually STR -4, take extra limb damage
Carnivore Eating meat provides double the hunger satisfaction, HP restoration, and consumable buffs, with no disease chance Eating plant-based food does not satisfy hunger, restore HP, or apply buffs
Chameleon Invisibility in combat if unarmored and standing still[1]
Eagle Eyes Critical Damage +50%, PER +4 STR -4
Egg Head INT +6 STR -3, END -3
Electrically Charged Chance to shock melee attackers Small amount of damage done to player
Empath Teammates take 25% less damage Player takes 33% more damage
Grounded Energy Resistance +100 Energy Damage -50%
Healing Factor Health Regeneration while not in combat +300% (Regardless of hunger level) Chem Effects -55%
Herbivore Eating plant-based food provides double the hunger satisfaction, HP restoration, and consumable buffs, with no disease chance Eating meat does not satisfy hunger, restore HP, or apply buffs
Herd Mentality All SPECIAL stats +2 when grouped All SPECIAL stats -2 when solo
Marsupial Carry Weight +20, +jump height INT -4
Plague Walker Poison aura scaling with your diseases Only works if you are carrying a disease
Scaly Skin Damage and Energy Resistance +50 AP -50
Speed Demon Movement speed +20%, faster reload +20% +50% drain on hunger and thirst while moving
Talons Punching attacks do 25% more damage + bleed damage AGI -4
Twisted Muscles Melee Damage +25%, better chance to cripple limbs Gun accuracy -50%
Unstable Isotope Medium chance to release a radiation blast when struck in melee Minor damage to player during the radiation blast
Cut content Rad Walker Radiation aura scaling with your radiation.[2] Does not affect targets already taking radiation damage. Radiation healing reduced by 50%

Serums[]

By consuming a mutation serum, the corresponding mutation will be applied to the player and its negative effects will be nullified for 1 hour. If the player already has that mutation, then the negative effects of the mutation will be suppressed.

Serums and their recipes are sold by the MODUS science terminal in the Science Wing of the Whitespring bunker. Other players may also sell serums via a C.A.M.P. vending machine.

Suppression[]

Even with the Starched Genes perk, the positive effects of current mutations can be suppressed by Rad-X for 10 minutes. To avoid the suppression effects of Rad-X, the diluted version or RadShield can be used to gain Radiation Resistance. If the player already has a mutation, the respective serum will suppress the negative effects of the mutation for 60 minutes. For example, consuming a marsupial serum while already having the Marsupial mutation will temporarily remove the Intelligence debuff.

Notes[]

Generic non-player characters from the major factions (Settlers, Raiders or the Brotherhood of Steel) may occasionally comment on specific mutations that the player has acquired. For example, if they have the Marsupial mutation, NPCs will comment on their increased jump height.

Changelog[]

  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Prior to patch 1.0.3.10, which fixed the issue, the Herd Mentality mutation could prevent the sharing of other perk cards with the group.[patched]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Prior to Fallout 76 patch 1.0.4.13, the Strange in Numbers perk could increase the effect of some mutations excessively. For example, combining it with the "Bird Bones" mutation can cause the player's fall speed to be reduced so much that it is possible to walk on air.[patched]
  • Prior to patch 1.1.2.9, mutation serum recipes had a chance to be dropped by the scorchbeast queen.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Prior to patch 1.1.4.3, which fixed the issue, the Class Freak perk card had a bug on the effects page of the Pip-Boy, where it would not show any reduction to the Empath and Herd Mentality negative effects while it is for the other mutations. For Herd Mentality, it seemed to only be a visual bug, as the negative effect of having SPECIAL reduced by 2 when solo and in a combination of rank 3 Class Freak did not reduce SPECIAL at all when equipped. For the Empath negative effect, this was a confirmed bug, as the +33% of damage was not reduced at all.[patched]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Prior to patch 1.1.4.3, which fixed the issue, the Grounded mutation with the Class Freak perk (sometimes) said energy guns do 12% less damage (the correct amount) and sometimes it said 50% less damage (the standard amount) but the energy gun damage is always 50% less.[patched]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Prior to patch 1.2.2.9, which fixed the issue, Chameleon often glitched, and would render the character invisible from the player regardless of whether or not they were holding their weapon, wearing armor, or in motion. At times even just the character's exposed skin was rendered invisible, while their clothing remained visible.[patched]

Behind the scenes[]

Mutations were originally planned to have a cosmetic impact on the player, changing their appearance temporarily or permanently.[3][4]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Must be unarmored, stationary and not attacking for effect to work
    Weightless legendary armor will not count against Chameleon.
  2. Rad damage:
    0: 0-100 rads
    10: 101-200 rads
    20: 201-300 rads
    30: 301-400 rads
    40: 401-500 rads
    50: 501-600 rads
    60: 601-700 rads
    70: 701-1000 rads
  3. Concept art by Christopher Ortega
  4. The Making of Fallout 76 - Noclip Documentary (21:50)
    Jeff Gardiner: "But yeah, you'll get these mutations. And they're mostly gameplay - some of them are visual. But they're mostly gameplay side stuff that like tweak your character a little."
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