Legendary enemies are a major part of late-game looting in Fallout 4, as well as being the primary source of legendary weapons and armor.
Overview[]
Most creature types have a chance to spawn as a legendary variant, as well as tiered named variants leading up to the legendary creature. A legendary creature will almost always drop a weapon or armor piece with unique modifiers (marked in the Pip-Boy inventory with a star). For more information on these modifications, see legendary weapon and legendary armor effects.
In combat, legendary creatures are very powerful, as they are stronger than their non-legendary counterpart (see below for specific differences). They are often among the highest-leveled variants the Sole Survivor will run into at their particular level. For example, at level 30 it seems more likely to encounter a legendary super mutant brute (approx. level 22) than a legendary super mutant (approx. level 10), but the lower-level encounter is still possible.
If the damage from a weapon is not high enough to kill a legendary enemy and they survive a hit with less than 50% of their health remaining, they will mutate. This causes them to regain all health. A mutated legendary enemy gains a glowing aura to show that it has mutated.
Spawn chance table[]
The standard base chance of a creature spawning as Legendary increases with player level (managed by the LegendaryChanceQuest) and game difficulty:
| Player Level\Game Difficulty | Very Easy | Easy | Normal | Hard | Very Hard/Survival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 6 - 20 | 2.5% | 5% | 10% | 12.5% | 15% |
| 21 - 30 | 3% | 6% | 12% | 15% | 18% |
| 31 - 40 | 3.75% | 7.5% | 15% | 18.75% | 22.5% |
| 41 - 50 | 4.5% | 9% | 18% | 22.5% | 27% |
| 51+ | 5% | 10% | 20% | 25% | 30% |
Locations[]
- For the most part, legendary enemy spawns are random. The easiest way to increase the likelihood of them spawning is to set the game difficulty to maximum, as per the above table, level-up, and head to the most difficult areas, with multiple enemies.
- Legendary enemies may spawn in interior areas, allowing players to game the system: Quicksaving before entering the interior cell allows for completely rerolling the loot that spawns with a legendary enemy by reloading the quicksave. Reloading the autosave made upon entering the interior allows for rerolling the legendary effect.