The Freefall Legs are unique pieces of armor in Fallout 4.
Background
In September 2077, after starting his internship at the Mass Fusion building in Boston, Massachusetts, Jack Rockford encountered a problem with the structure's elevators malfunctioning and a lack of emergency stairs to use in case. Inspired by the integrated hydraulics in power armor that can counter the shock force of even the longest falls, Jack created a scaled-down model using military-issue combat armor that utilized kinetic repulsion to achieve the same results, the Freefall Legs.
By late October, looking for a way to show them off to his colleagues, Jack planned for bringing the Freefall Legs out at a Christmas party on the building's roof and locked them in his office safe until then. However, on October 23, 2077, Jack was in his office when nuclear weapons devastated the city. The resulting damage to the building trapped him in his office for days. Jack couldn't rely on his invention to help either as he managed to lose the key to the safe beforehand, eventually resulting in Jack dying to dehydration/starvation while the Freefall Legs remained locked in the safe for the next 200+ years.[1]
Characteristics
A pair of combat armor leg pieces, both carrying the Acrobat legendary effect which grants them an individual 50% reduction to limb damage; when worn together, fall damage is negated completely, similar to wearing a suit of power armor.
Stats
The Freefall Legs provide the regular combat armor leg defense plus 2 DR 
(when regular legendary items offer a bonus of 2 DR and 2 ER 
).
The legs variant that spawns is random (standard, sturdy, heavy) and has randomly-generated armor mods as well. This is also decided for each individual leg, meaning it's possible for both legs to be different variants than the other and have different mods.
Location
The armor pieces are located in a safe in a small room near the top of the Mass Fusion building's interior. They are typically inaccessible to the player character unless one has a set of power armor equipped with a jet pack. While using a jet pack, releasing the jump button will reset one's upward momentum; doing so shortly after the initial boost can get the player twice as high in almost half the AP cost. About four jumps should get the player character up to the highest level where the safe and the armor is located. Utilizing Nuka-Cola Quantum and Jet will make the ascent much easier.
Alternatively, one may exploit the physics engine in a way that allows them to run into a vertical wall but stay put; this is most easily done in the corners of the room where tiles have fallen off.
Notes
- The Freefall Legs' fall damage negation will only work when both of them are equipped, i.e. they cannot be mix-matched with any non-unique Acrobat leg armor. See legendary armor effects.
- The Freefall Legs provide (if worn individually) a decreased chance of being crippled.
- It appears entering the alcove with the Freefall Legs is what triggers their spawning within the safe, and as such locks them to their current randomly generated tier. Because of this it is recommended to make a save while in the first of the two alcoves, before making the jump for the second, as this allows one to continually reload until the legs spawn in the desired variant.
- The armor pieces may not spawn within the safe if the player character enters the alcove using console command tcl. This can be solved by turning clipping back on via the same console command, and then walking to the edge of the alcove facing the central shaft until the panoramic riff plays. The Freefall Legs will now be in the safe even if the player character had previously opened an empty safe.
Behind the scenes
- The fall damage negation effect of the Freefall Legs and the name of their creator (Jack Rockford) are references to the Boots of Springheel Jak, a unique item from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, itself a reference to Spring-heeled Jack from British folklore.
- Their purpose of helping an individual survive a long fall with minimal coverage may also be a reference to the Long Fall Boot from the Portal series.
Gallery
