Stepping out of the Vault for the first time into the Commonwealth in Fallout 4 can be a little daunting, especially for new players. Plucked from their cozy pre-war suburban life, the Sole Survivor must contend with mutated foes, Synths, and raiders as they travel, all of which will have far better equipment initially. However, thankfully, there are some great quests that can be done at lower levels to make life a little easier in post-apocalyptic Boston.

There is no shortage of side quests in Fallout 4, covering everything from helping pre-war robots fix their ship to becoming a comic book vigilante. But not all quests should be attempted at lower levels, and the further south from Sanctuary the Sole Survivor travels, the tougher the enemies will become. These quests are perfect when just starting out, either because of how easy they are to complete, and therefore gain XP, or because the rewards are very helpful in early-game Fallout 4.

10 Pool Cleaning - Diamond City

Rewards: 75+ XP & 100-200 Caps

When first arriving in Diamond City and becoming acquainted with the settlement, I always make sure to head to the far side of the area to talk to Sheng Kawolski. Sheng is the young boy running Diamond City's water purifier, and he has an easy quest which is a great way to get some XP and caps. Sheng offers to hire the Sole Survivor for a job and begins the quest “Pool Cleaning,” which can be completed very quickly.

Sheng needs five items of junk cleared from Diamond City's water supply, requiring a dip into the irradiated water. The young entrepreneur will offer to pay 100 caps for this task, but those with high enough Charisma will be able to get a better price with three speech checks. Sole Survivors with a Charisma of eight will be able to persuade Sheng to pay 125 or 150, while a Charisma of nine is needed for the final check for 200 caps.

9 Painting The Town - Diamond City

Rewards: 150+ XP & 100-300 Caps

Staying in Diamond City, not too far from Sheng's, the settlement's caretaker can be seen painting the large wall that protects the residents (formerly the left field wall at Fenway, known as the Green Monster). When spoken to, Abbot will ask for help getting new paint for the wall, pointing the Sole Survivor in the direction of Hardware Town and beginning the quest “Painting the Town.” Heading over to Hardware Town a "settler" will be outside, begging for help, but this is part of a raider ambush.

Instead of heading through the front door, I usually swing around the back of Hardware Town and enter through the loading dock. This lets me sneak up on the raiders, reversing their ambush and making the fight much easier.

Once the raiders have been dealt with, cans of yellow and blue paint can be collected. There is a paint mixer at the back of the warehouse which can be used to make green paint and, for this, Abbot will reward 200 caps, or 300 with a speech check. However, he can also be given blue or yellow, which he will angrily accept, with a reward of only 100 caps.

8 Public Knowledge - Goodneighbor

Rewards: 400+ XP, 200-400 Caps, Massachusetts Surgical Journal & Intelligence Bobblehead

Heading over to Goodneighbor and speaking to the general store owner, Daisy, the Sole Survivor can gain a quest that takes them to Boston Public Library to return an overdue book. The quest itself is very simple and just going inside the library and returning the book to the returns machine will complete it and gain XP and caps from Daisy. However, clearing the library of Super Mutants nets a lot of XP and there is some great loot at this location.

Along with the book from Daisy’s quest, “Public Knowledge,” there are six overdue books inside the library with another three in a Pulowski Shelter across the street, which can be used to get the Massachusetts Surgical Journal. The Intelligence Bobblehead is inside the computer room at the end of the main hall and inside a locked storage room is plenty of ammo and a steamer trunk containing leveled loot.

7 Pull The Plug - Thicket Excavations

Rewards: 200+ XP & 50-125 Caps

Not too far east from the Red Rocket Truck Stop is Thicket Excavations, a flooded quarry and home to a seemingly decent man named Sully. When spoken to, he will immediately hire the Sole Survivor, offering 50 caps, but that amount can be increased with speech checks, and asks that they dive into the water and find the leaks. Under the water, three leaks can be repaired by closing valves, after which the pump can be started and trigger a mirelurk attack.

Sully's logs reveal his true intentions and allegiance, as he speaks of his 'crew' and the easy picking of nearby traders.

However, what makes “Pull the Plug” great is that it will pay off later in a playthrough. After the Sole Survivor gets to level 12 and waits 24 hours, if they return to the quarry, it will be filled with raiders. This is Sully's gang, and they are raising mirelurks, and clearing them out means more XP and more loot later.

6 Diamond City Blues - Diamond City

Rewards: 400+ XP, 800-1,000 Caps, Up To 60 Each Of Jet, Buffout, Psycho & Mentats

Returning to Diamond City, there is a hidden Fallout 4 side quest that can be started by visiting the Colonial Taphouse. “Diamond City Blues” is a great quest to pick up early and has multiple ways it can conclude. It is also a very profitable quest with the chance to loot around 800 to 1,000 caps as well as a large haul of chems which are worth over 9,000 caps.

What starts with Paul Pembroke asking for help confronting the person who is sleeping with his wife swiftly changes as a chem deal is discovered. But even better, “Diamond City Blues” will unlock another quest later, “The Marowski Heist,” if Paul is killed during the first quest. This second quest can also result in a lot of caps for the Sole Survivor depending on how the quest concludes.

5 Hole In The Wall - Vault 81

Rewards: 250+ XP, Syringer Rifle, Room In Vault 81 & Curie

There are seven Vaults in Fallout 4 to explore and Vault 81 should be top of anyone's list thanks to its facilities, ongoing unmarked quests, and great merchant, but it also has one of the best quests to complete at lower levels. “Hole in the Wall” will begin automatically after either rescuing the cat in “Here Kitty, Kitty” or donating blood and waiting 24 hours. After a young boy falls ill when bitten by an infected mole rat, the Sole Survivor will be sent into a secret area to find a cure.

Make sure to pick up “Fertilizer Woman” from Dr. Penske, who will reward 25 caps per bag of fertilizer, and “Maintenance Man” from Calvin Whitaker, who will reward 15 caps for each tool given.

The quest itself is a straightforward dungeon crawler to find the cure, with the only complications coming from contracting the mole rat disease. However, the rewards for “Hole in the Wall” are great, with plenty of loot and a new companion in the form of Curie. Curie has a great Fallout 4 companion perk for lower-level characters which heals for 100 hit points once per day.

4 Returning The Favor - Abernathy Farm

Rewards: 300+ XP, 100 Caps, New Settlement & 25% Merchant Discount

Abernathy Farm is a short walk southwest of the Red Rocket Truck Stop and almost directly south of Sanctuary. This large farm is home to the Abernathy family and, when spoken to, Blake Abernathy will explain that they have recently been attacked by a raider gang who killed his daughter and stole her locket. Blake will ask the Sole Survivor to travel to USAF Satellite Station Olivia to get the locket back and the quest “Returning the Favor” will begin.

The raiders are north of Thicket Excavations and there are usually six raiders in the area, with their leader using a minigun. Often, when I've arrived, there are a group of mole rats fighting the raiders, and one of the mole rats usually has mines attached to it which needs to be avoided or detonated. Returning the locket will result in XP and caps, but more importantly, Abernathy Farm will be unlocked as a settlement and Connie Abernathy will offer a 25% discount as a merchant.

3 Story Of The Century - Diamond City

Rewards: 150+ XP & Piper

A great quest to do as soon as possible is “Story of the Century,” which acts as Piper's recruitment quest. After arriving in Diamond City and speaking with Mayor McDonough, Piper will invite the Sole Survivor to visit her for an interview. The quest is very straightforward and there is a lot of fun to be had with the different answers that can be given to Piper's questions.

Examples of things that will gain approval with Piper are: sarcasm, helping people, picking locks that don't belong to anyone, and finding peaceful solutions.

What makes this an excellent low-level quest is how easy it is to complete, with 150 XP simply for talking to Piper, but also gaining Piper as a companion. Piper's companion perk, Gift of Gab, grants double XP when persuading people or discovering new locations. This is gained at max affinity with Piper, which is very easy to accomplish when traveling with her and doing good things.

2 The Big Dig - Goodneighbor

Rewards: 300+ XP, 300 Caps, Ashmaker & Hancock

Another companion recruitment quest that is best completed early is “The Big Dig”, which can be picked up in Goodneighbor by paying a visit to Bobbi No-Nose. Bobbi is planning a heist and hires the Sole Survivor to help, and the main part of the quest is a pretty normal dungeon crawl with good loot along the way. But just like any classic heist, there is a double cross. As it turns out, Bobbi wasn't telling the truth about who was being robbed.

“The Big Dig” can end in a few different ways, depending on choices made during the final confrontation. In the end, Bobbi can be betrayed or sided with, or even talked into leaving, which can impact the final rewards. Regardless, after the completion of “The Big Dig,” Hancock will be available for recruitment as a permanent companion.

1 Call To Arms - Cambridge Police Station

Rewards: 350+ XP, 50 Caps, Righteous Authority & Brotherhood Of Steel hip

Finally, the best quest to do at a lower level is “Call to Arms,” the second quest of the Brotherhood of Steel quest chain. After helping Paladin Danse and his team fend off an attack at the Cambridge Police Station, Danse will ask the Sole Survivor to go with him to ArcJet Systems. “Call to Arms” is a ridiculously easy quest with a mountain of great loot and serves as the perfect introduction to Fallout 4's Brotherhood of Steel and Danse.

ArcJet is full of Synths, nearly all of which drop fusion cells which are needed for energy weapons. Danse can tank a tremendous amount of damage and there is a section close to the end of the quest where he can be left to fight off hordes of Synths to allow their bodies (and loot) to accumulate. At the end of the quest, Danse will express how impressed he was with the Sole Survivor and give them Righteous Authority, one of the best Fallout 4 weapons.