Fallout 4 Bobblehead Locations: All 20 Vault-Tec Bobbleheads and When to Collect Them

Fallout 4 Bobblehead Locations: All 20 Vault-Tec Bobbleheads and When to Collect Them

Fallout 4 Bobbleheads boost your SPECIAL stats and enhance abilities, including boosting critical damage for various weapon types, giving you easier lockpicking and longer-lasting fusion cores for your power armor. The timing rule is critical: a SPECIAL bobblehead only pushes that stat from 10 to 11 if you pick it up after the stat is already maxed. Grab it early and the extra point is wasted. Hunt the perk bobbleheads whenever you like, but save the SPECIAL ones for late in your playthrough.

Step 1: Understand the SPECIAL cap before you collect anything

SPECIAL stats normally max out at 10. According to GamesRadar's guide, there are 20 Fallout 4 bobbleheads in the Commonwealth, and they take you above the 10 point max to 11 if you find one after you reach it. A bobblehead found while the stat is still below 10 is effectively absorbed by the cap: if you find one below 10 you can't then go above it later, and that extra point is gone for good.

Of the 20 bobbleheads, some raise SPECIAL stats and the rest enhance abilities. Your strategy follows directly from that split:

• Collect perk bobbleheads as you find them. There is no downside.
• Deliberately delay the SPECIAL bobbleheads until late game.
• Check your Pip-Boy SPECIAL screen before every SPECIAL pickup.

Step 2: What you need before you set out

Bring:

• Access to the wider Commonwealth map. You might have to do some exploring to reach them.

Step 3: Where to find all 20 bobbleheads

There are 20 Fallout 4 bobbleheads to find, and you might have to do some exploring to reach them. Eurogamer's guide lists all 20 locations and includes a Map Genie map of every bobblehead location.

Step 4: Grab the perk bobbleheads early

Fallout 4 Bobbleheads boost your SPECIAL stats and enhance abilities, including boosting critical damage for various weapon types, giving you easier lockpicking and longer-lasting fusion cores for your power armor.

Step 5: Save the SPECIAL bobbleheads for late game

Each SPECIAL bobblehead adds one point to its stat. Before collecting each one, open your Pip-Boy and confirm that stat is already sitting at 10.

If it is not maxed, leave the bobblehead where it is and come back later. Only collect once you have hit 10, so the pickup registers as the 11th point. If you find a SPECIAL bobblehead below 10, you can't then go above it later.

Step 6: Track and confirm your collection

Here are all 20 Bobblehead locations in Fallout 4.

Common mistakes that cost you permanent stats

• Collecting SPECIAL bobbleheads too early. Picking one up below 10 wastes the extra point forever. Delay them without exception.
• Rushing areas unprepared. You might have to do some exploring to reach them.
• Mixing up SPECIAL and perk bobbleheads. Know which of the 20 you are walking toward before you enter the room.

If you have already collected a SPECIAL bobblehead below 10, the point is permanently lost: if you find one below 10 you can't then go above it later.

Finish your Commonwealth collection