Highlights

• The Institute faction won't leave your soul free of sin, and other factions will perish.
• Nothing like being a good guy with the Minutemen.
• If you want to have the best equipment, you can't go wrong with Brotherhood of the Steel.

The Fallout series has long established itself as one of gaming's powerhouse franchises and, alongside The Elder Scrolls, sits proudly as one of Bethesda's greatest accomplishments. From its humble roots in turn-based strategy on PC to its modern-day status as a household name, Fallout boasts a quality that very few can deny. This standard of quality can be seen in the 2015 release, Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 offers four key factions, each with its own quests, items, story, characters, and experiences. But which faction is the best? While this is very much subjective and varies from person to person, here is a comprehensive list of the pros and cons of each joinable faction.

Updated on April 20, 2024, by Caitlin Thursfield: With the Fallout TV show hitting screens, old and new factions have popped up in the wasteland. Factions are a fundamental part of the Fallout universe. Some we've grown to love and cherish. Others, not so much.

Fallout 4 might not have the most outstanding factions, nor do they affect the surrounding environment. Still, they have their perks. Whether it's powerful weapons or your favourite companions, each faction has something to draw you in. Unfortunately, they also have something to push you away.

We've revisited this list to give it a quick polish in case you decide to take a trip back to the Commonwealth.

4 Minutemen

The Minutemen are almost the default faction to align yourself with, offering the simplest road to story completion. They're the first group you meet, where you help them secure and protect the museum in Concord. They operate on the idea of helping the Commonwealth "at a minute's notice."

The Pros

• The morally good choice.
• Allows you to stay neutral with other factions.
• Gain access to the Minutemen squad reinforcements and artillery air strikes.

They offer the most clear-cut “good ending” in the game, allowing you to explore the wastelands guilt-free. Pursuing the Minutemen's ending will also allow you to continue completing missions for the Railroad faction and The Brotherhood of Steel, assuming they maintain relations with each respective faction.

Aligning with the Minutemen will also unlock the Minutemen squad reinforcements and the ability to call in artillery strikes during encounters. These abilities will give you an extra edge in combat in the wasteland. This makes the faction an excellent choice for those who want to leave as many options available as possible.

The Cons

• A lot of building and not a lot of action.
• Not the most exciting or unique storyline.
• The weapons and armor aren't as powerful as other factions'.

You will have to eliminate the Institute faction to complete their story. The Minutemen quest line also requires the crafting and base-building mechanics to create settlements, which may be enough to persuade you otherwise.

The weapons and equipment attained through the Minutemen cannot hope to compare to the likes of the Brotherhood of Steel, and their technological prowess pales in comparison to the Institute. While they may be seen as the good guys, they certainly are not the most powerful.

3 Brotherhood Of Steel

Since the Fallout series began, the Brotherhood of Steel has always been a powerful, well-armed militia focusing on the collection and preservation of technology. In Fallout 4, however, they've leaned more into the militaristic aspect and less on preservation. Under new leadership, they believe the synths to be abominations and are making an active effort to hunt down and destroy all of them.

The Pros

• Gain access to impressive weapons and armor.
• Gain access to the Prydwen and a merchant.
• Play through one of the most interesting endings of the game.

One fairly clear plus to siding with The Brotherhood of Steel is their impressive weaponry — including their iconic power armor — and the awesome airship base that houses various NPCs. You can also earn access to a very nice suit of power armor much faster and easier than other methods, such as spending caps. The Brotherhood of Steel can provide you with mods for their energy weapons courtesy of the faction's unique merchant, Proctor Teagan.

If you want to become a powerhouse in battle, it's better to wait until the end to betray the Brotherhood. Of course, given this faction's historical nature, some long-time fans of the series would have no problem letting the Brotherhood achieve their goal.

The Cons

• You'll have to destroy the Railroad and the Institute.
• You have to complete quests before you can access the best weapons.
• It's a morally-questionable faction to side with, given their views on Synths and Ghouls.

Completing their quest line will mean the destruction of both the Railroad and Institute factions, removing the opportunity to interact with either in the post-game. As well as this, the unique merchant, Proctor Teagan, requires the completion of certain quests within the faction to unlock access to his exclusive weapons.

The Brotherhood's constant focus on hoarding technology can be really off-putting, portraying them as hypocrites who step on others to reach the top. If you're fans of companions like Nick Valentine and John Hancock, you're not likely to share the same ideals as the Brotherhood, either.

2 The Railroad

With ideals opposite to the Brotherhood of Steel, the Railroad is a modernization of the historical Underground Railroad. They believe the synths deserve a proper life and have secret systems for liberating and freeing them from Institute and Brotherhood scrutiny.

The Pros

• The most morally-noble faction to side with.
• The best faction for a stealth-based loadout.
• Has the most accessible trader for powerful armor.

The Railroad faction possesses an extremely noble goal. This is to liberate all Synth life, which they consider to be sentient and valued, from oppression. The Railroad will also provide access to the best armor upgrades attainable within the game with the least hassle. Joining up with the Railroad also allows you to maintain good relations with the Minutemen. The Railroad will also allow you to cater more towards stealth, with access to better Stealth Boys.

The very idea of supporting a revolution from a mysterious hideout makes the Railroad a pretty intriguing faction in its own right. If you want to roleplay a good character, you will definitely find it fitting to side with the Railroad during the final moments.

The Cons

• You don't have much choice outside of stealth upgrades.
• You have to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel and the Institute.
• Endgame quests can be tedious and frustrating.

A more cut-and-dry drawback to joining the Railroad is that the unique merchants don't cater well to playstyles beyond stealth. While armor upgrades offered by the Railroad are extremely helpful, the selection of weapons and supplies from their merchants cater far less to action playstyles than the Brotherhood of Steel or the Institute. Joining the Railroad also means destroying the Institute and the Brotherhood of Steel, locking them out of accessing those quest lines and NPCs.

Another rather disappointing part of siding with the Railroad is that its endgame quests, along with those of the Minutemen, aren't really that great. This can be quite frustrating, especially when the Railroad seems like the right option to take but doesn't have the content required to justify this decision.

1 The Institute

The main campaign, following the search for your son, will eventually lead you to the last faction's secret society. They created the Synths, believing them to be the next step toward the life of the future.

The Pros

• Gain access to free healthcare.
• Call on Synth reinforcements.
• Gain access to powerful weapons.

The Institute, being the most scientifically advanced of the factions, can offer full healing, free of charge, including the removal of radiation damage. You can also call upon Synth reinforcements to aid in battle, much like the support you can call in from the Minutemen. The Institute's unique merchant offers a decent selection of energy weapons. So, if that's your weapon type of choice, it would be wise to side with the Institute.

Synths within the game world will no longer be hostile. Maintaining relations with the Minutemen is possible if you can convince them to stand down during the mission “Pinned.” Their endgame quests are fairly entertaining and more fleshed out than other factions in the game.

The Cons

• You have to destroy the Railroad and the Brotherhood of Steel.
• The most morally-questionable route.
• You'll lose access to other faction merchants.

Aligning with the Institute requires eliminating the Railroad and the Brotherhood of Steel. This will result in losing access to the Prydwen airship that houses the merchant Proctor Teagan and, more importantly, the ability to buy mods for energy-based weapons. So, before making an enemy of the Brotherhood of Steel, buy all the mods you need.

Another con to siding with the Institute is purely a moral one. The Institute creates Synths located in the wasteland, acting as humans to manipulate and control the societies of the wasteland. This makes them, by default, the antagonists in the story. As a result, they should not be sided with unless this character path is what you desire.