Super Mutants are some of the most grotesque and violent factions in Fallout, and they've ravaged the wasteland for decades in an attempt to turn more humans into their numbers with FEV. However, not all strands of FEV are the same, and as such, Super Mutants across a Post-War America can have varying degrees of intellect, strength, and power.
As such, we've taken a look at all Super Mutant variants in Fallout, and ranked them based on which faction is the most powerful. These requirements come from how smart they are in battle, how divided their numbers are, and what assists them in overpowering those who wish to kill them or those they wish to kill.
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Nightkin
Once the Apex of Mutants, Fallen into Dissarray Due to Stealth Technology Addiction and a Loss of a Leader
- Featured in: Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas
The Nightkin were born of the Master and were created as the apex of their race. Noted for their intellect, strength, and sense of pride, these Super Mutants were supposed to be the finest evolution of humanity. Except that peak was short-lived, for the Master's death scattered the few Nightkin that were created, and forced them into evasion from hostiles that would want them dead.
The Nightkin's strength wasn't just from hulking muscles, but instead from the stealth technology that they were provided with. The Master gave them Stealth Boys that allowed them to sneak through the West Coast, but this technology provides addictive habits that left the Nightkin weak, for it provided them with schizophrenia, brain damage, and incurable paranoia.
Appalachia Super Mutants
Pre-War Super Mutants, Created by West Tek, Are Some of the Earlier Prototypes
- Featured in: Fallout 76
West Tek managed to release FEV into the Appalachia region even before the Great War, but even with military intervention, most managed to survive through the nuclear hellscape. By 2102, Super Mutants had their numbers thinned, but the Enclave's involvement in the development of FEV in the region caused more to come to fruition. This outdated strain isn't as strong as other variants, especially when it creates just a standard Super Mutant with no special variants to note.
The Appalachia Super Mutants can be considered the weakest of the variants across the American regions simply because of the date at which they were created. It's unlikely that these Super Mutants were not culled by the Brotherhood of Steel, who had taken the region over the decades since the Vault Dwellers of Vault 76 left to rebuild Appalachia, and there are no real distinctions of strength from these variants that make them any more of a threat than the common raider.
Commonwealth Super Mutants
Super Mutants Created by the Institute Are Physically Weaker, and Not the Brightest
- Featured in: Fallout 4
Enter the Commonwealth, where the Super Mutants here are seen as a persistent threat that have outlast their creators. The Super Mutants of the Commonwealth were born from the Institute, a boogeyman organization deep underground that used a found FEV sample to create them during the research into Gen 3 Synths. Discarded and given to the surface, these Super Mutants are hostile, with some sense of intelligence.
The Super Mutants of the Commonwealth hold their strength due to their rabid numbers, unique weaponry, and their aided companions with the mutant hounds that they train. This group draws its strength from sheer numbers alone, but even then, they're considerably weaker than other variants because they were developed from just a sample of FEV rather than the whole buffet. Still, these Super Mutants are not weak, and there's still a level of intellect there that might not be of complete sense, but it's noted in the tactical territory they try to take and the limited speech they can hold.
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Capital Wasteland Super Mutants
The EEP Turns These Super Mutants Into Muscle-Bound, Raging Monsters
- Featured in: Fallout 3
FEV is not just one constant strain, and the Evolutionary Experimentation Program found in Vault 87 proves just that, for it has created a race of Super Mutants that have become blinded by rage. These Super Mutants are subjected to intense change, where they not only become asexual, but they also have absurdly thick skin, muscles that continue to grow and burst with age, and an unmatched hostility.
The Capital Wasteland Super Mutants have barely any intellect, and all they know how to do is fight. They're brutalists, intensely hostile, incapable of thought outside the fight ahead of them, and will wage war until there's not a single one of them left. This lack of thought makes them dangerous, but the stupidity they present means that there's no tactical genius to help them win past a few territories they claim through overwhelming numbers.
West Coast Super Mutants
Intelligent Super Mutants Created by the Master Prove a Unity of Strength
- Featured in: Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas
The West Coast Super Mutants were born of the FEV-II in California, and they were once the sole creation of the Master, a fanatic who mutated himself beyond recognition to build an army of Super Mutants to transform mankind. Under the Master's rule, the Super Mutants ravaged the West Coast, forcing more humans to join their numbers for the sole cause of ridding the world of war, since Super Mutants would be reformed humans that saw no reason to fight each other.
Thanks to this strand of the FEV, and the Master's genius, these Super Mutants had an intellect that other variants lacked, which gave them an edge on the battlefield for cunning tactics and the ability of thought without blinding aggression taking over. As such, the West Coast Super Mutants, even without the Master in the decades after his death, would still be considered stronger, even if the Unity and their army are divided permanently.
Super Mutant Behemoths
The Largest of the Super Mutants, Capable of Violence and Nothing Else
- Featured in: Fallout 3, Fallout 4
When a Super Mutant manages to survive through their lifecycle long enough, they will eventually grow further in size and muscle until they become hulking behemoths, capable of nothing but the rage inside of them. These ferals exist only for war, and they'll stomp and smash anyone smaller than them, which happens to be everyone, since they're almost 20 feet tall.
The Super Mutant Behemoths showcase a variant that has surpassed what was once thought possible with FEV, for they have regressed into a rage-filled state and a hulking size that makes them an unparalleled threat simply due to their impervious skin and brutal strength that could easily wipe out anyone not wearing Power Armor with just a single stomp.
Frank Horrigan
The Finest Soldier in the Enclave
- Featured in: Fallout 2
Special Agent Frank Horrigan is a member of the Enclave and perhaps their greatest invention. Frank Horrigan was always a large man, so when he came into contact with the FEV virus, the Enclave decided to use him for study, instead of putting him out of his misery. What was born was an Enclave loyalist, a Super Mutant who had been experimented on to the point where he was more of a cyborg than he was a human or a Super Mutant.
There is only one Frank Horrigan, and his custom-fitted Power Armor makes him a threat like no other. While he is the only Enclave Super Mutant, it's still a variant that stomps on all the rest. Nobody could match the brutal strength and tactics of Frank Horrigan, who has unattainable health, strength, and weaponry that make him the greatest single Super Mutant who has ever lived.
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