How to use V.A.T.S. in Fallout 76

If you’re a fan of Fallout, you probably know what V.A.T.S. is. If you aren’t aware, V.A.T.S. is known as the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System and it is there to help you target your enemies, making it easier to get the kill. While in the previous games V.A.T.S. stopped time, giving you the ability to think about your shots, they have reworked it a bit in Fallout 76.

How to us V.A.T.S

It is very simple to activate V.A.T.S. All you need to do is press L1 on PlayStation controllers, LB on Xbox controllers, or the Q key if you are using a keyboard. When the system activates, the closest enemy to you in your line of sight will be outlined in bright green. This will let you easily see their location. You can use the D-pad on either system on the directional keys to switch targets while the system is active. At the bottom of your screen, you will see a bar for your critical meter. When the bar is filled, you can perform a critical attack by pressing the key next to where it says critical.

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The best perk cards for V.A.T.S

There are a few perk cards that you can purchase through the level-up system in the game to enhance the capabilities of V.A.T.S. Traditionally, this system does not let you target specific limbs on an enemy’s body without the help of a perk card. When considering a V.A.T.S. build, you should get the following perk cards:

• Concentrated Fire – Allows you to target specific limbs on an enemy’s body. This perk also increases your damage if you continuously shoot the enemy in the same spot.
• Awareness – Gain the ability to see a target’s resistances while in V.A.T.S.
• Psychopath – Makes each kill have a chance to refill your critical meter. When fully upgraded, each kill has a 15% chance to have this occur.
• Mysterious Stranger – This perk makes it so a mysterious stranger can appear while you are in V.A.T.S. to shoot enemies for you.
• Four Leaf Clover – Makes it so each hit while in V.A.T.S. has a chance to refill your critical meter. When combined with the Psychopath perk, your critical meter will refill extremely often.
• Grim Reaper’s Sprint – Any kill that you get while in V.A.T.S. has a chance to refill all of your Action Points. This chance is 35% when the perk is fully upgraded.
• Better Criticals – Increases the damage your critical hits deal by up to 100% when the perk card is fully upgraded.

As you can see, you can create a strong build around V.A.T.S. as long as you have the right tools. These perks can be combined with other ones not mentioned above to increase your damage capabilities even more.