So you have power armor. Do you know what to do with it? Thought not.

Power armor isn't just for end-game in Fallout 4; you can be racking around in a suit within an hour of firing up. You'll probably spend longer sculpting your cheekbones than you do without a set of the Wasteland's finest tech.

That doesn't mean you can just rampage through the whole game immediately, waving a mini-gun around and owning everything in sight; oh no! Bethesda doesn't make it that easy. For best results, absorb all the information we have lovingly collated for you.

How to get a working suit of Power Armor

Power Armor is composed of three elements - a frame, six individual modules (four limbs, torso and head), and a fusion core to power it. You'll need all three to get anywhere.

If you want a full set of Power Armor you have two options. Option one is to do loads of quests and save up heaps of cash, then head to somewhere like Goodneighbour to buy a frame, and hope you meet some high-level raiders who'll drop various modules.

Option two is to begin the second main story quest, When Freedom Calls. You don't even need to finish it! I know some players like to do everything else before they ever start the main story, but you'd be shooting yourself in the foot. After you exit Vault 114, speak to Codsworth, go to Concord, and rescue the settlers in the Museum of Freedom. Voila: one suit of Power Armor.

In a suit of Power Armor, you take reduced damage from multiple sources including radiation, and absolutely no fall damage. Apart from the altered UI, there's no downside to using Power Armor - but you need Fusion Cores to power it, so you can't just play the whole game inside one.

Controls inside the suit are the same as outside. You can exit your Power Armor at any time by holding Cross/A.

Get that suit and your butt to Sanctuary Hills or the Red Rocket station nearby, and we can take a look at what we can do with this baby.

Modding and repairing Power Armor

Take a look around any Workshop (or even some towns and wasteland locations) and you should soon spot a yellow armor crafting frame.

If you wander up to it you'll see that all you can do is transfer items between its inventory and your own (Square/X), adding them to the local Workshop pool - just like at any crafting station.

To get the most out of the crafting frame, you need to stand pretty near to it, and then exit your Power Armor.

When you do this, you'll see the previously greyed-out Crafting prompt (Cross/A) comes up when you approach. If not, get the Power Armor closer to the frame.

Now you can access the Power Armor crafting menu. In this menu you can repair damaged pieces by pressing Triangle/Y - which you should do right away.

You can also mod individual pieces. You need a lot of materials for Power Armor mods, and many of the better options require multiple perks such as Blacksmith and Science.

To start with, you can apply general upgrades (models) which provide bonuses like better damage resistance.

You can paint each piece, too. If you paint everything the same colour, you get a bonus. Collect Hot Rodder magazines to unlock new paint job options.

Finally, you can apply miscellaneous upgrades, which vary in effect from part to part; arm upgrades may grant better damage output, for example.

Swapping modules

The suit you pick up in When Freedom Calls composed of T-45 modules, but you can find other kinds of modules to insert into the frame. To swap pieces in and out, approach your Power Armor (not the crafting frame!) and initiate a transfer by pressing Square/X.

The most common modules to find, the Raider set, boasts less defense but has higher stats in other areas. Depending on your playstyle, you may want to collect a full set and swap pieces in and out depending on your situation; if so, build a crate in your Workshop to store parts, or you'll have encumbrance troubles. Or maybe you want to buy a second frame, and have two suits at once. Such bounty!

Perhaps the most important part is the Fusion Core. These are essentially batteries. You can buy them, find them as loot, and take them out of working generators in dungeons. When one is exhausted, the next will be automatically inserted without interruption.

If you run out of Fusion Cores and are stranded, just hop out and go looking for one. Manually insert the fresh Fusion Core when you return the same way you'd insert any module. Your Power Armor is indicated on the map with a flashing helmet icon, so you can find it again if you get lost.

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