Carl's Fallout 4 Guide
for PC, Xbox One, and PS4

I'm writing a Guide to Nuka World, piece by piece. Here are the newest/most popular pages:
See a full list of guides on the Nuka World page. I've written over a dozen in just a week and plan to continue. There is much more to this DLC, it will just take time to write it all. Check back for more. Comment on the appropriate page if you have a tip to share with other readers.

Fallout 4: Companion Perks

Likes and Dislikes List for All Companions

Pick a Companion
Ada and Dogmeat have no follower perks nor affinity so do not belong on this list.
CaitCodsworthCurieDanseDeacon
GageHancockMacCreadyNickOld Longfellow
PiperPrestonStrongX6-88

Getting your character to max affinity with each companion (except Dogmeat and Automatrons) will unlock a special perk that is a permanent boost to your character. Many players will want to max affinity for all of the companions who have Perks useful to their build, or one they'd like to have a romance with. Here is a master list of their likes/dislikes in order to help you to avoid doing things they do not like while around them, and to gradually improve your relationship when they're following you.

Befriending your Companions: Affinity
Each action taken around the companion (whether following them or not) will result in your score going up or down. Getting to +1000 will result in the companion's unique perk being unlocked, giving you a permanent boost. At max relationship status, some companions are available for romance, as well, which will let you sleep with them and get the Lover's Embrace buff, resulting in a 12 hour +15% increase to XP gains instead of the usual 10%.

Being x refers to dialog choices, which can have a big impact on affinity. Use your best judgment when talking to Quest NPCs to decide if this or that dialog choice is mean (sarcastic) or violent (start the fight). However, with everyday actions (particularly chem use, armor/weapon mods) you can farm more affinity by doing them regularly. Expect 'hated' and 'loved' to greatly decrease or increase gains in follower affinity, while liked/disliked will be a step forward/back.

Some Companions hate or like it when you help certain Factions. I've noted those that have strong feelings about this, so you can send them off to another location and work with a different companion when you're doing faction quests. Radiant quests, being repeatable, are a good source of affinity for some companions.

Some actions will rarely be taken, such as when you heal Dogmeat, as you can only have one follower at a time - it'll be rare for the dog to be injured in town, though you may try causing that yourself if you have the spare Stimpaks! For now, it works and you can heal him over and over with companions who like that action in town. No one dislikes shooting the dog. Commonwealth decency standards are remarkably low.

If a companion likes you in the nude, you can fast travel over and over without wearing any armor and with them following you to gain affinity quickly. Those who like drugs are generally easiest to befriend, as well as those who like modifications to gear.

There are a variety of quest interactions that are highly specific and cause a +/- modification depending which companion you have around. I did not list every condition that causes a gain/loss but stuck to the major ones.

Getting the Perk
Once you hit 1,000 you should see that the companion 'Idolizes' you. This means you now have the new Perk if there are no other conditions. Danse requires Blind Betrayal to be complete, and some Companions must be talked to for the Perk to kick in. Some companions will have a quest for you once you reach a certain level of Affinity.

Cait

Where to Meet Cait: Combat Zone, after clearing it.
Companion Perk: Trigger Rush - AP Regenerates 25% faster when your hit points are below 25%. Currently bugged and only triggers when the character is below 25 AP and then regenerates AP only 8% faster - a joke. PC players can download a mod to fix it here. When fixed it will work wonderfully with armor that slows time when HP is low.

Raising Relationship with Cait

Cait LikesCait Dislikes
  • Picking locks
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Picking Pockets
  • Wearing no clothes
  • Being selfish
  • Being violent
  • Chem use (before quest)
  • Chem addiction (before quest)
  • Giving items to those who ask (before quest)
  • Helping the Brotherhood
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Being generous
  • Being mean
  • Being peaceful
  • Chem use (after quest)
  • Chem addiction (after quest)
  • Giving items to those who ask (after quest)
  • Helping the Minutemen
  • Helping the Railroad


Codsworth

Where to Meet Codsworth: He's in Sanctuary at the beginning of the game.
Companion Perk: Robot Sympathy - Grants +10 Damage Resistance against energy attacks from robot enemies. Highly specific, eh? Overall one of the weaker perks here but Codsworth is fairly easy to please.

Raising Relationship with Codsworth

Codsworth LikesCodsworth Dislikes
  • Armor Modifications
  • Weapon Modifications
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Being generous
  • Being nice
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Speech checks for money
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being selfish
  • Chem use
  • Chem addiction


Curie

Where to Meet Curie: Vault 81, after you complete Hole in the Wall
Companion Perk: Combat Medic - Once per day, you'll heal 100 health when your life drops below 10%. Theoretically you can still be one-shot, but this Perk can at times save your life.

Raising Relationship with Curie

Curie LikesCurie Dislikes
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Being nice
  • Being mean
  • Being peaceful
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Helping the Railroad
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being selfish
  • Chem addiction only


Danse

Where to Meet Paladin Danse: Cambridge Police Station, save some Brotherhood soldiers then complete Tour of Duty
Companion Perk: Know Your Enemy - A great perk - deal +20% damage to ghouls, mutants, and synths. The hatred of all things foreign is strong in you! The quest Blind Betrayal (which comes up in the BoS quest chain) is required to get this Perk.

Raising Relationship with Paladin Danse

Danse LikesDanse Dislikes
  • Power Armor entry
  • Vertibird entry
  • Armor Modifications
  • Weapon Modifications
  • Being nice
  • Being violent
  • Helping the Brotherhood of Steel
  • Helping the Minutemen
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being mean
  • Being peaceful
  • Chem use only


Deacon

Where to Meet Deacon: Join the Railroad and complete the Tradecraft Quest.
Companion Perk: Cloak & Dagger - Increases Sneak Attack damage by 20%. It changes the multiplier by 20% over base, so from 2.0 to 2.4 for ranged and 3.0 to 3.6 for melee sneak attacks - toss in Ninja to get huge sneak attack damage, and for (ranged only) mister sandman with silenced weapons for 6.3x damage. I've read of a bug stating that the order you take them matters - try to have some ranks in Ninja/Mister Sandman before reaching max affinity with Deacon.

Raising Relationship with Deacon

Deacon LikesDeacon Dislikes
  • Hacking
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Lockpicking
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Speech check for money
  • Being nice
  • Being mean
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Being violent
  • Chem use
  • Chem addiction
  • Killing Settlers or Railroad (even for quests) will turn him against you.


Gage (Nuka World DLC)

Where to Meet Porter Gage: Follow the Main Quest of Nuka World and complete An Ambitious Plan.
Gage's Companion Perk: Lessons in Blood - Your relationship with Porter Gage grants you +10 Damage Resistance, and you'll permanently gain +5% more XP per kill in combat. As an added bonus, and without becoming friendly with him, Gage can sell you ammo and other items at any time although he only carries 100 caps. This shopkeeper benefit is only available while you're in Nuka World.

Raising Relationship with Porter Gage

Gage LikesGage Dislikes
  • Refusing to help Settlements
  • Modifying your weapons
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking Locks
  • Stealing
  • Asking for more caps during quests
  • Being selfish, violent, and mean during speech
  • Helping Settlements under attack
  • Chem addiction
  • Chem use
  • Donating items to others
  • Drinking alcohol
  • Being generous, nice, or peaceful in speech


Hancock

Where to Meet Hancock: Goodneighbor. Do The Big Dig Quest (from Bobbi No-Nose), then he'll join.
Companion Perk: Isodoped - With 25% of the bar filled with Radiation, you'll fill your crit bar 20% faster. Works wonderfully with weapons such as Righteous Authority and anything with the Relentless Legendary Mod, such as Kellogg's Pistol.

Raising Relationship with Hancock

Hancock LikesHancock Dislikes
  • Being generous
  • Being peaceful
  • Being violent
  • Chem use only
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Theft
  • Wearing no clothes
  • Being selfish
  • Being mean


MacCready

Where to Meet MacCready: Goodneighbor - inside The Third Rail. Hired for 200-250 Caps.
Companion Perk: Killshot - Adds a flat +20% to hit an enemy's head in VATS. Super-potent in combination with the Sniper Perk, which also stacks additively, meaning you can make headshots at great distances. This + Deacon's Cloak and Dagger Perk are incredibly potent together in a sniper build.

Raising Relationship with Robert MacCready

MacCready LikesMacCready Dislikes
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Speech checks for money
  • Theft
  • Being violent
  • Helping the Minutemen
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Being nice
  • Being mean
  • Being peaceful
  • Chem addiction only
  • Giving items to those who ask


Nick Valentine

Where to Meet Valentine: Do the Quest Getting a Clue, he is in Vault 114 which is found following the main quest from Diamond City.
Companion Perk: Close to Metal - Gives you one more chance at hacking terminals, while also reducing the time for a terminal to reset by 50%, bringing it down to 5 seconds. Why bother with rank 4 of hacker when you could have this!

Raising Relationship with Valentine

Nick LikesNick Dislikes
  • Hacking
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Being nice
  • Being mean
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being peaceful
  • Being violent
  • Helping the Brotherhood of Steel


Old Longfellow (Far Harbor DLC)

Where to Get Old Longfellow - Do the Far From Home Quest in Far Harbor, then accept him as a guide for Walk in the Park.

Unique Perk: Hunter's Wisdom - Lowers the damage and energy resistance of animals and sea creatures by 25%, increasing your ability to damage them.

Raising Relationship with Longfellow

Longfellow LikesLongfellow Dislikes
  • Drinking Alcohol
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Helping Settlements
  • Being Peaceful During Conversations with Other NPCs (Quests)
  • Being Selfish During Conversations with Other NPCs (Quests)
  • Chem Use
  • Donating Items
  • Chem Addiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Pickpocketing
  • Refusing to Help Settlements
  • Being Generous
  • Being Violent

Piper

Where to Meet Piper: Diamond City, she'll be at the entrance. Complete the Story of the Century Quest to befriend her.
Companion Perk: Gift of Gab - You'll get double XP for discovering new locations and successful Charisma speech checks. A useful Perk to get early in the game, but will help you to level regardless of when you get it.

Raising Relationship with Piper

Piper LikesPiper Dislikes
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Lockpicking
  • Being generous
  • Being mean
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Helping the Minutemen
  • Helping the Railroad
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being selfish
  • Being peaceful
  • Being violent
  • Helping the Brotherhood of Steel


Preston Garvey

Where to Meet Preston: Museum of Freedom, in Concord. He'll join after The First Step which is after When Freedom Calls
Companion Perk: United We Stand - Deal +20% damage and gain +20 Damage Resistance any time you're fighting 3 or more enemies (which is almost always). Obviously it's a very strong perk, particularly early in the game when +20 DR really matters, though the damage boost is the main draw here. As much as people hate on Preston, they should probably grab this one then send him off to a farm they rarely visit if they don't want his quests.

Raising Relationship with Preston Garvey

Preston LikesPreston Dislikes
  • Weapon Modifications
  • Being generous
  • Being mean
  • Being peaceful
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Helping Settlers
  • Helping the Minutemen
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Picking owned locks (theft)
  • Theft
  • Pickpocketing
  • Being selfish
  • Being violent
  • Chem addiction only


Strong

Where to Meet Strong: Trinity Tower, after the Curtain Call Quest. Near the tower, you'll pick up a distress signal on the radio.
Companion Perk: Berserk - Deal +20% Melee Damage when your HP is below 25%. Similar to Cait's Perk, only for melee despite the image for this Companion Perk showing a gun.

Raising Relationship with Strong

Strong LikesStrong Dislikes
  • Cannibalism
  • Murdering NPCs
  • Being generous
  • Being peaceful
  • Being violent
  • Power Armor entry
  • Vertibird entry
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Lockpicking
  • Picking owned lock (theft)
  • Speech checks for caps
  • Being selfish
  • Being mean
  • Helping the Brotherhood of Steel


X6-88

Where to Meet X6-88: Do the main quest, join the Institute and finish their chain to the point of Mankind-Redefined.
Companion Perk: Shield Harmonics - Gain +20 Energy Resistance. Like Codsworth's Perk, only not as specific and double the value. It stacks with it, however, and will give you +30 against Robotic opponents such as Assaultrons.

Raising Relationship with X6-88

X6-88 LikesX6-88 Dislikes
  • Power Armor entry
  • Hacking
  • Armor Modifications
  • Weapon Modifications
  • Speech checks for caps
  • Being selfish
  • Being peaceful
  • Healing Dogmeat
  • Wearing no clothing
  • Being generous
  • Being nice
  • Chem addiction
  • Chem use
  • Giving items to those who ask
  • Despite what you might think, doesn't mind you helping the Railroad


That's all, folks. Share any specific incidents your companion liked/disliked using the form below and you can help your fellow gamers. I didn't want the lists to be too overbearing so that people could get to the main ways to farm affinity and get these perks. Once I have pages on all these companions, which will be where I will detail how to get each of them, I'll link them here.

More Fallout 4 Guides

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Share Tips and FAQs (11)

Raed
You forgot Ada
24th July 2016 11:28pm
Carl
Sadly, unless they changed it, Ada does not have affinity nor a special follower perk, so she doesn't really belong on this list.
24th July 2016 11:47pm
hanteng
Acutally Hancock likes you being nude.
31st August 2016 9:00pm
Rey Francis
What if companion react on male character with no clothes
18th April 2019 12:44pm
Louis Cyphre
The in-game description of Codsworth' Robot Sympathy is incorrect.
It actually reduces damage from robot energy weapons by 10%.
Pretty good, if you ask me.
11th September 2016 6:26pm
Hans
Beeing Mean, Beeing nice is a little unspecific. Piper and Deacon often like it when your choose the sarcastic option.
20th January 2017 6:04am
Haydn
I love fallout 4
22nd March 2017 12:30pm
Haydn
The game is cool
22nd March 2017 12:31pm
Jaberkaty
Codsworth disklikes littering. I was dropping some items at Hangman's Ally when he made it known that he thought that was not cool. :)
12th February 2018 12:56pm
Pat
Nick Valentine, Codsworth, Preston Garvey and Piper all dislike giving chems to Mama Murphy.
Also, once achieving Close to Metal with Nick Valentine, there’s nothing I have found that will change that perk/relationship. He will still dislike what he dislikes and let you know.
30th July 2018 9:50am
Bim
Strong also likes it when you steal stuff
17th August 2019 3:09pm
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Far Harbor DLC Guides

See my Far Harbor Guide for new features in the DLC. There, you can also watch the trailer and view new weapons that can be found. The area is massive, so we can expect plenty of quests and exploration in a foggy, rugged area with new and challenging creatures to battle.

Pleae note there are different endings for this DLC, something we all wanted! It's like the actual end-game of FO4 in that you can choose the outcome.

Walkthroughs
Islander's Almanac Magazine Locations
Far From Home: Quest 1
Walk in the Park: Quest 2
Where you Belong: Quest 3
Best Left Forgotten: Quest 4
Ware's Brew Quest New
The Striker New

Automatron Guides & Walkthrough

The final quest Restoring Order (Mechanist Fight/Options) is now available. I've also released a page that describes Getting Started in Automatron to accompany the main page about the DLC. This covers how to make the Robot Workbench to begin making your own Automatrons, and walks you through the first two quests while providing some tips for fighting the Mechanist's creations. Quest 3 Walkthrough: Headhunting is also live on the site.

Robots in Automatron New
Mechanist's Lair, Eyebots, and Rogue Robots covers what happens after the Mechanist story is complete.

Perks & Bobbleheads

Now that I've written about all Perks in Fallout 4, I've put them all in a list, with how they work, what you can expect, and my own opinions on them. Hope this is handy! I've also compiled map shots of all Bobblehead Locations in the game. You can choose to explore the locations on your own or read descriptions for those I've taken notes about.

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