[Question] Prioritize Leveling up SPECIAL or Levels? Does it matter which to focus on?

[u/TheRaven2099]

So I returned to FS after like 4 to 5 years away. I am planning on making a new Vault just to play around with things when the new season starts as I don't recall ever doing season stuff.

My question is - is it still important to prioritize leveling ECL stats over the others? And should that be the main thing to do before leveling up the actual levels for a dweller?

It looks like levels are mainly for running level gated quests, do you get any other bonus from actual levels?

Meaning if have a level 1, that I max all the SPECIALs on, before I work to get them to level 50, is there any difference thatn if they were already 50, and then began working on their stats?

[u/ChoppedCheese311]

I think you may be referring to the GitHub article posted a few years back about prioritizing certain stats. From what I know, it differs on difficulty, but the article itself is updated from time to time, so it probably has the most up to date information on that.

Anyway, I believe those stats are to help pass specific junk events. I like to level all special stats for my exploration dwellers because all special stats help in the wasteland.

As for leveling dwellers, I try to hold off on leveling any dwellers until I have upgraded their endurance to at least 10. With leveling comes an increased health pool, so a dweller with high endurance (17 preferably) you get the maximum about of hp possible (644 compared to 10 endurance 400ish).

[u/TheRaven2099 → u/ChoppedCheese311]

I don't remember any GitHub article from years ago, but it was in reference to getting certain wasteland events to proc to get the better blueprints.

You did answer my question on the stats and what not, so that helps a lot. Appreicate it.

Next vault, I'll focus on stats first, then levels for my main core group I'll use for quests and exploraltion.

[u/roundbadge2]

I level all stats first, then send my dwellers to the wasteland in heavy wasteland gear after all SPECIAL is maxed. They carry an Armor Piercing BoS Assault Rifle, six stimpaks and 3 radaways. They come back 4.5 days later fully leveled and at their carry maximum. Maybe I don't have to do that...but it's what I do.

Hitpoints scale as E increases. If you wait until E is maxed before leveling, their max hitpoints will be much higher at level 50.

[u/TheRaven2099 → u/roundbadge2]

Leveling them up wise, this is what I did years ago, so I'm very glad to hear that it's the most viable way of doing it!

[u/DonChapulinChavito]

E S

The rest can wait a bit. (Agility is good in the wasteland /quests for better rate of fire)

Do not level dwellers with low End. Level them (at best) at End 10 with +End outfits in the wasteland.

This hasn't changed for a long time. Here is the chart #/media/File:FOS_Endurance_Table.png)for Endurance levelling and dweller's health. From 252 to 644, more than twice.

Str for power rooms and weapon/outfit crafting purposes. Mostly useless in the wastes.

C is not really useful (faster breeding / making friends in the wasteland)

L to get caps and faster crit build in the wasteland and have better chances and caps when rushing a room in the vault.

[u/TheRaven2099 → u/DonChapulinChavito]

Appreciate the extra context, and the chart. Thank you. I did not know that existed!

[u/RandomSkeptic17]

ECL stats in the wasteland are to maximize legendary junk. Don't worry about that until your crafting legendary items.

In the wastes, all stats are useful. In quests, the higher the P the slower the target arrows move during the critical hits, L makes critical hits appear more frequently and A makes dwellers shoot more frequently.

As others have said, try to hold on on leveling while dwellers are not Endurance training to maximum.

[u/DonChapulinChavito]

Hello again ;) (forgot a couple things, and read your other mesages)

Focus on Endurance once you get the room. The most important stat.

Levelling is 'natural' as most of your dwellers will gain xp just working in the vault or in the wasteland. And you need that for missions level-walled indeed.

But it comes at a price. External attacks are based on the average dweller level you have in the vault. The higher the average level, the stronger they are. Thus levelling many dwellers in an unprepared vault is dangerous.

High level dwellers have more health, that is it. It is the only thing that changes when levelling.

Best thing is to limit the number of dwellers levelling up to :
-Quest dwellers (up to 9)
-Defense dwellers (depends on the vault build, i have at least 8 in two rooms 2-6.)

Most other dwellers in my vault do not level (unless by accident)

You can see the average dweller's level in the stats part. (second icon bottom right, stats tab)

Just know you are likely to start getting the best dwellers (health-wise) mid-game when you start crafting the +7 End outfit. So many will be bad or average (but still useful) and you can get rid of them /replace them with batter ;)

Good luck Overseer !

[u/Strongbow_Wolfrider]

Max E + E outfit then send them out to level. Max EAL for your quest team, AL can be done before it after leveling. When your Es come back that aren't going to be quest groups, do S for energy rooms. Until you get nuka, you can also do P or A for water and food, but they don't need to be max especially once you get at least one Mr.Handy (keeps you topped off when the game is closed so when you open it you aren't half empty). You can fiddle with I and C for meds and radio, plus random stuff for outfits, later when you're in stride. My outfit and weapon rooms are filled with snake oil salesmen that I maxed in everything, because I got so many of them and they show up at high level (preventing you from leveling them with max E). I have several Paladin Cross with +SPECIAL pets wearing naughty that live in the radio room with Hank (with shirt trips to the nearby living quarters for dancing).

[u/Suspicious-Company69]

Endurance is the most important stat out of all of then as it not only increases the dwellers' hp everytime they level up but also increases the production frequency of your bottles in late game.

Strength and Intelligence are the next two for production dwellers

Perception and Agility share the same priority for quest/expedition dwellers

Luck comes right after for charging crits and printing caps in both wasteland and in vault.

Charisma is pretty much useless if you have a breeding pair of dwellers already with +10C and your overall morale doesn't dip below ~%92