Fallout 4 has dozens of achievements included in the base game and its DLC packages. Many of them revolve around completing the various main quests and those for the game's factions. That means achievement and trophy hunters will need to complete multiple playthroughs to get them all. There are also some that appeal to collectors and explorers, requiring intense scouring of the game's map.

Several of these achievements stand out as harder than the rest, requiring either more time, effort, or luck to complete. These can stump players and hold them back from 100% completion of the game; though, luckily, there are some ways to get around the difficulty of these achievements. These are Fallout 4's ten hardest achievements to complete, along with some methods to get through them more easily.

10 Prankster's Return Requirements Some Prior Skill Point Investments

Experience And A Bit Of Luck

The Prankster's Return achievement is a callback to one from previous Fallout games, which saw players place an active explosive in someone's pocket. The goal remains the same here, as the challenge will only be completed when the player successfully pickpockets a grenade or mine into the inventory of an NPC.

The difficulty here is twofold. First, players must have at least two points in the Pickpocketing perk, one that many players usually overlook. It's easy enough to access, since it only requires players to have one point in perception to reach, but rarely will anyone invest points in this perk except for the sake of this achievement. Next, players must acquire an explosive and successfully put it in the pocket of an NPC, which has a good chance of failure every time. Ultimately, this will blow up whatever poor soul you are pickpocketing, so don't do this to any important characters.

9 Touchdown! Doesn't Have An Obvious Goal

You'll Probably Get This One By Accident

Touchdown! is an odd case, because while the actual accomplishment of this achievement isn't super difficult, it can be difficult for players to even realize what it is they need to do. The description, "score a touchdown," is hardly helpful, and players who see it next to the Home Run achievement might assume it similarly has to do with finding and using ancient sports equipment.

But no. The Touchdown! achievement simply requires that the player be killed by a mini nuke, either by a Super Mutant Suicider or by an enemy wielding a Fat Man launcher. Blowing one's self up does not work, though interestingly, the game will sometimes count it as complete if a follower is downed by an enemy explosion. The title of the achievement is in reference to how the Suiciders spike their mini nuke into the ground when in melee range of a player, and the mini-nuke's football-like shape.

8 ...The Harder They Fall Is The Most Combat-Heavy Achievement

Hunting Down The Game's Biggest Foes

The next achievement, ...The Harder They Fall, is the first on this list that will require some amount of combat prowess. It entails hunting down and killing 5 giant monsters in the wastelands, fearsome foes that won't die easily. Only boss monsters like Super Mutant Behemoths and Mirelurk Queens actually count toward this achievement, meaning that hunting Fog Crawlers and Hermit Crabs in Far Harbor won't do anything for you here.

These kills will only count toward the achievement if the player deals the last bit of damage, so cheesing these beasts by leading them into groups of Brotherhood Knights or relying on your companions won't work.

Finding these foes isn't necessarily the problem, as plenty can be found all across the map. But taking them on is another matter entirely, since each possesses powerful ranged and melee attacks that can kill the player quickly, especially on higher difficulties. They're also faster than one would expect, and rarely alone. The best strategy for taking them on is to find areas to lay down mines to cripple their legs, before shooting from cover and moving backward when necessary.

7 Docile Takes Time And The Right Equipment

A Tough Challenge Out Of The Wasteland Workshop

The Wasteland Workshop is one of three DLC packages for Fallout 4 that introduce new settlement features and mechanics. It primarily focuses on capturing and taming the creatures of the wastes, such as Radstags, Yao Guai, and Deathclaws. Players can construct cages and lure these creatures into them to secure them at different settlement locations.

So not only does this achievement require multiple levels of investment, but also several rare components, and the time it takes for five creatures to get trapped.

But capturing the critters is only half the battle for the Docile achievement. Players must also tame their captive mutants using a beta wave emitter, another settlement feature which can only be built by those with the Wasteland Whisperer and Animal Friend perks. So not only does this achievement require multiple levels of investment, but also several rare components, and the time it takes for five creatures to get trapped. The nice thing is that certain tamed creatures can be used to guard your settlements, so there is a nice payoff to this one.

6 Legend Of The Wastes Requires Some Serious Commitment

The Sole Survivor Keeps On Surviving

Legend of the Wastes is pretty straightforward as far as achievements go, simply requiring the player to reach level 50. But this is easier said than done, as reaching such a high level takes plenty of exploring, fighting, and the completion of quests. For players on lower difficulty modes, where leveling up is less frequent, this achievement will likely take nearly the whole main quest's runtime to reach.

Many previous Fallout games had level caps that would have made level 50 impossible, but not Fallout 4. You can level up as high as you wish, as long as you keep gathering experience.

Of course, playing on higher difficulties like Survival mode will make one level up faster, making it much more feasible to reach this high of a level. And there's a plethora of options to choose from when it comes to gaining experience. In Fallout, everything from crafting to killing to finding new locations will build up progress towards a new level. The higher a character's intelligence, the faster they will gather experience; or, for players with the Idiot Savant perk, lower intelligence will provide an increased chance of random experience gains.

5 ...They're Action Figures Will Take Some Serious Exploration

Finding Every Vault Boy Bobblehead

Across all the first-person Fallout games, collecting the Vault Boy Bobbleheads has been an optional challenge that provides players with some helpful buffs. There are twenty in total, each representing one of the 7 SPECIAL attributes and the 13 subskills present in the games before Fallout 4. These bobbleheads are scattered all across the map in all sorts of hiding spots, and being small, they are easy to miss.

Fallout 4 has a few bobbleheads in easy-to-find locations, such as the Museum of Freedom or Vault 114, but many of them are located in optional ruins and points of interest towards the exit. It takes a careful eye (and probably a guide) to locate each of them, which is necessary for the ...They're Action Figures achievement.

4 Beverageer Requires A Good Deal Of Experimentation

Having Fun In Nuka-World

The Nuka-World DLC for the game provides a whole new map to explore, all centered around an abandoned Nuka-Cola theme park. Part of the new mechanics that the game introduced was the ability for players to mix and match Nuka-Cola flavors, creating new consumables with unique effects when drunk.

A Nuka-Mixer station is required to do this, though they are easy enough to build and also already present in several parts of the park. The Beverageer achievement requires players to make twenty different new flavor combinations, each of which requires specific ingredients and, in most cases, a recipe. Only five of the fifteen D.I.Y. Colas come preloaded in the player's toolkit, so the other fifteen must be found in the park. The best strategy here is to pick up and store every Cola you come across, since they are the main ingredients in these custom versions, and thoroughly explore each section of the theme park for recipe books.

3 All Sugared Up Might Mislead Some Players

A good Follow-Up To Beverageer

All Sugared Up is a natural follow-up to the previous achievement, since it requires players to kill forty Nuka-World creatures while under the effects of Nuka-Colas. The thing is that only custom Colas count for the sake of this achievement, and similarly to ...The Harder They Fall, players must land the last hit.

Two things make this especially hard. One, on top of the custom Colas between tedious to create, many of their effects don't last that long. Two, the types of creatures that count for this are not clear, as certain mutants unique to Nuka-World are still counted as variants of Commonwealth critters. The best thing to do is to prepare several Nuka-Sunrises, which last the longest and provide combat benefits, and start by hunting down the near-twenty Gatorclaws in the Safari area of the park.

2 Eyes On The Prize Takes An Unreasonable Amount Of Time

A Serious Jump In Difficulty

Of all of Fallout 4's achievements, Eyes On THe Prize will likely take the longest regardless of what players do. It's another one unique to the Nuka-World DLC, and it requires players to earn 100,000 tickets at the Nuka-Cade. This borders on absurdity, as most methods of acquiring tickets provide only a couple hundred at a time at best, meaning dozens if not hundreds of games must be played.

Several large rolls of tickets can be found around the different areas of the park, though not nearly enough to reach the 100,000 goal.

Unfortunately, there isn't a real trick to this. The fastest game to play and win tickets from is Bandit Roundup, which requires players to shoot targets as they move through a small course. This can be done easily with an explosive weapon, ensuring maximum points and close to 1,000 tickets per game. Play it 100 times, and this achievement is yours.

1 Benevolent Leader Is The Most Difficult Achievement By Far

Keeping The Commonwealth Happy

Benevolent Leader is the most difficult achievement to unlock in Fallout 4, and it isn't even close. Most of these achievement are tedious or require a lot of investment, but they are doable. Benevolent Leader is one that, for some players, seems impossible to achieve, even when all the right steps are taken. Essentially, it requires that a large settlement reach the maximum happiness level of 100, which is much easier said than done.

Certain NPCs, like Mr. Handys and Mama Murphy, cannot ever reach 100 happiness, making this goal impossible to reach in settlements where they are present.

If all the needs of the settlers in a location are met in of food, water, shelter, and defense, the settlement will cap out at 80 happiness. To get higher than that, players must build shops, add animals, or build some of the happiness-inducing contraptions from the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC. This all takes considerable resources and funds to accomplish, as well as time. The happiness of a settlement rises as players spend more time playing, and it can take real-life hours for a settlement to go from 80 to 100 happiness. It's one of the biggest pains in Fallout 4 to accomplish, and has no real effect in-game.