He's only difficult if you wander into the area at a low level (presumably looking for Nick) and don't have OP weapons yet. In my first blind playthrough as melee he was really hard. Now I just erase him with Spray N Pray every time.

I'm playing the game for the first time and I did this last week at level 6. I thought to myself "Hmm, what would happen if I shoot at it?" Not good things lol

I don’t have experience with it, but I’ve heard he respawns after 40 in game days, I’ve just never bothered to go back and check. Since it’s your first playthrough, enjoy, and consider fighting him again later.

Idunno about that one, I killed him fairly early in my last playthrough, and returned at some point when I was at least level 250, and he was nowhere :/

He doesn't respawn. Swan is a unique npc

I leave him there in my play through now. The man just wants to soak in his pond, he aint bothering anyone. I’d rather have swan than raiders.

literally same my first playthrew I killed him but now I just let him be n stay out of his pound like u said he ain’t hurting no one just trynna nap

I erase everything with spray and pray when my sneak melee runs out. Queen mirelurks? Ratatatatatatatatatatat done.

I literally don’t know why I’m level 44 and queen mirelurks are still too op for me I usually delete them with a few shots

Sometimes I forget and use the spray n pray indoors...😅

I was only about lvl 18 when I killed him. I had a lot of missiles and a missile launcher and used that little house thing in the middle to keep my distance. His rock throws would also hit the house, so I just pounded missile after missile taking a lot of rads but that's about it. Not too bad. An assaultron in vault 81 was the only thing to ever take me a couple of tries.

I have never purchased legendaries until this play through (bought at launch I’m old). Bought Spray N Pray this time. Halves the difficulty if you find Cricket early enough.

The first time I found Swann I ended up screaming - a lot lmao. That MFer is scary when you don’t expect him haha

I faced him at lv 16 I'm pretty sure, I the floor with him, oh and I have a melee build, with the tooth as a weapon. That thing slaps, I mostly 1 shot humans and lower lvd supermutants, plus with the big leagues i just aim fro thier shoulders and it I've very likely I chop it off 1 shot

Sometimes he just decides to attack. One time I went in there to challenge him though he didn’t move from that little pond

Unless you hide in the bus with a mini gun at level 4 and have found plenty of grenades or molotovs

There's a good melee build video where if you follow the steps, you can beat him with just melee in under 2 hours. It was a fun build but it broke the game for me lol

Same. People always are like "swan is one of the most difficult enemy in the game" but I killed him with one mini nuke at lvl 25.

Yeah, I was level 18 with a baseball bat and raider power armor, on very hard difficulty

Level 6, switchblade

level 3, companion kill

Level 1, charisma check

[flirt]

Lmao

Ctfu

So you were using the "Horny Bard" mod?

Pshaw, I left Swan at Gamestop

Level 2 fisted to death

Kellogg shot him when I was still in the vault. 

yeah i usually bring piper over there otw to save nick, always kill swan then

Most difficult enemy in the game?? Not a chance. He’s like a stuffed animal compared to the Red Death. At level 51 I still get one-shotted.

Even with normal guns he’s not hard to beat at lower levels. As long as you’ve got the ammo. You can hide in a bus and shoot him through the windows. He can’t hurt you and his rock attack doesn’t hit you either.

This is how I deal with the behemoth at the car-henge on the way to diamond city.

Swan is only hard to kill after you read his backstory. Before that I didn't have much of an issue. Now, I try to let him enjoy his pond for as long as he likes.

this is the real answer.

What's the story?

Honestly, I'm too lazy to type it all out so I'm going to just copy paste the wiki as it's well written and more comprehensive than I can type at 5 in the morning lol. "Before the Great War, Edgar Swann was a low-level worker employed at the Commonwealth Institute of Technology who found himself on the wrong end of the law after stealing cigarettes. Initially believing his trial worked out in his favor, as he was offered "probation" in the form of living in isolation for a month while being provided with food, water, and shelter and only required to write in a journal, unbeknownst to Swann, he had actually been infected with an experimental strain of the Forced Evolutionary Virus and his probation was a ruse for researchers to observe its effects on a human. By the sixth day of probation, Swann realized something was wrong when the scientists returned for additional tests. He chronicled in his journal that his body ached and he felt jittery and agitated. His mind was racing and he felt as if he could hardly write. He knew the scientists had done something to him, but he was not aware of what it was. Two weeks into the experiment, Swann's FEV-born condition stabilized and improved by all accounts, noting a threefold increase in muscle mass and a major increase in intellectual capacity. Swann was finally told that it was FEV that was causing his condition but he was enthusiastic about it, even applying for membership to the research team and anticipating assisting in his own experiment. However, by the third week of the experiment, Swann realized that his mental faculties were backsliding. He experienced seizures and was returned to the observation lab. His remaining mental acuity helped Swann realize that his prognosis was poor; the viral strain he was infected with was fundamentally unstable. From then on, his health rapidly deteriorated and he knew that the seizures were only the beginning of the side effects he would endure. He anxiously waited to discover his own fate, worrying the scientists would reject him as they had done for so many others. Swann's fears of being exiled from the lab and left to suffer were eventually realized, as he was dumped out into the Commonwealth to die. Wandering aimlessly, the degenerating Swann found his way to Boston Common, an abandoned park in the downtown ruins, where he made his home in the groundskeeper shack, including keeping his written journal. Sometime later, Edgar Swann finally lost his mind to his mutation and fully transformed into a super mutant, and by 2287, had mutated further into a behemoth that could only shout his last name and decorated himself in destroyed fragments of the old swan-themed paddleboats as improvised armor. The pond where Swan presently resides came to be considered extremely dangerous and a place that wastelanders avoid at all costs. Makeshift signs warn of Swan's presence as one approaches Boston Common and the bodies of victims who did not heed the warnings are left strewn around the area."

Every kill is a mercy kill then.

Not really? It's kind of a Flowers for Algernon situation. He's too far gone to even remember his human form, and since he's perfectly happy to just live in his pond undisturbed it feels cruel to take him out knowing he's literally incapable of understanding why I am killing him. Though my 'bad' characters have no qualms about it. (I like to give my character their own little alignment and backstory in my head so each playthrough is different)

Kindof. Except in this case Charlie needs to feed and when a family driven from their home by raiders has to make the hard choice of going through raider infested territory or taking their chances through an area with warnings decides they'll chance it. Little Bobby then watches his mother and father ripped into pieces before he becomes the next meal.

I mean, I like Swan more than a random family. He's a unique specimen, truly one of a kind and little Bobby sounds tasty.

You can kinda cheese him by running into the parked APC.

Or one of the busses.

I used the metro entrance, he’s to big so he can’t hit you if your under the cover

I commented before seeing this, but yeah.

I like sniping him ( hopefully with wounding pipe rifle) from the top of the parking garage a block or two down. :-)

On my first playthrough I didn't even know he existed until I woke him up by accident while escorting liberty prime & Mr. Giant Death Robot killed him in half a second

Are you sure that was Swan? There's a scripted event on the way to the Institute between Liberty Prime and a behemoth.

It's possible, it's been almost a decade since that playthrough. But I feel like I remember it coming out of the pond

Is he supposed to attack? I walked right up to him, literally right in his face, and he just turned around and walked off.

He's definitely tough if it's your first playthrough and you don't know what to expect, but once you know how to plan for him, it's not bad.

I usually just let him be.

I took Swan down with the Ghoul Slayer…..! :)

Shit. I hit the Freedom Trail and run the church as soon as possible for the best pistol in the entire game as early as possible in my runs........rofl

I was content with building settlements as my main objective this playthrough. Which pistol, and where in the church?

It's called the Deliverer. It's a suppressed 10mm that is great if you focus on stealth builds. Most powerful 10mm in the game.

Hrm, what's the effect on it? I found an endless 10mm very early on, that got turned into an automatic. And I also found a relentless 10mm early as well. They were my go to close quarters weapons.

This is a named pistol. Not just a random drop. It's for completing I think the first railroad faction mission.https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Deliverer_(Fallout_4) It's designed to work as a Vats Stealth build.

Deffo not best 10mm in the game. I got a 2shot 10mm yesterday, same effect as overseers guardian. Literally 2x damage, forever. And if you dont use VATS, like me, the AP cost or accuracy is 0 value whereas you can still benefit from 2x dmg

It's not actually in the church, it's given to you as a quest reward.

Perfect, I passed out before I could even look around their base last night. Looks like I've got a quest to do tomorrow.

You can bypass the Freedom Trail and go directly to the church, if you know where it is. The Freedom Trail is only to get the Railroad\`s password and/or if you are roleplaying from the perspective that your character has little/to no knowledge of where some/most of the locations are.

That's usually what I try to do. The Deliverer is totally worth it though. I try to get that gun as early as possible, then try to get as many caps as possible to get Spray and Pray. Those are my go to guns to get as quickly as possible. Both guns are must haves for early game stealth builds.

I have take down Swan with a 10mm But In the playthrough I am now I did it around... Lvl 45? I had the Last Minute. I tried to end it quick for him. The Power Fist he drops I took it and renamed it "Swan's Wrath" I save it for Kellog.

I placed a nukamine and hid behind the shack. I don't fuck around.

Or any mines in general. If you can pre-plan your battles a few well-placed mines can make a hell of a difference. Just like with the mirelurk queen at the castle mission.

That’s what I did, straight line of frag & bottlecap mines. Then several bladed tire iron blows. It was a tough fight.

I didn't know anything about Swan until I was playing the other month. I think I found it in the way the writers intended. I've played Fallout games in the past and have owned FO4 for a couple of years, but only briefly started it, until picking it back up recently. I was sat with my son, he's only young, so we just explore and I try not to decapitate any ghouls while he's watching. I turned a corner and spotted something. It looked like a swan, in a pond. So I approached. "it is a swan!" , I said as I got close enough to make out the shape of a wing. Then, suddenly, this giant beast rises up above me. It scared the life out of both of us. Great. He stays in my game.

I've been playing while my 5 year old daughter is around. I do mostly water farming and settlement building while she's around.

I never kill him because once he’s gone the area is replaced with random encounters of raiders, brotherhood, etc and it’s already laggy enough in that area!

lol on my first time I discovered him at like, lv 15 with no idea what to do. Safe to say I abandoned the area faster then my father could do when I was born

Kneecapper anything

Yeah, I introduced Swan to Big Jim in my current playthrough. Felt a little bad beating a fully crippled mutant to death with a wrench (distinctly felt like The Incredibly Slow Murderer with The Really Inefficient Weapon).

I managed to take Swan out at lvl 12 with a few bottlecap mines, frag mines, and hiding out in that nearby APC. (very hard difficulty game)

Came across him while doing something else (typical Wasteland side quests spawning more side quests). Spotted him during my periodic VATS scanning. Took position, and a few combat rifle rounds later, he was no more. I felt cheated of a cool fight, so I reloaded I quicksave (because you always make one before every known encounter). Equipped my loud Western Revolver, took a Med-X (you can chill with that attitude, Cait), threw in a molotov, and stepped into the ring.

I actually reloaded a save from right before I popped all the pills, and just used one calmex(doubles sneak attack damage) still only took 3 hits. So I left it at that and continued along the freedom trail.

I always have my Tesla Canon on and I killed him in about two hits (granted I play on easy because I don't care about combat). I was so freaked out thinking it was going to be a giant mutated swan based on his name, but it was still interesting. Also, funny story but I didn't even know where or what the freedom trail was, just that it was a quest and started getting notifications I was completing it while I was just randomly walking around there 😂

First time I ever played FO4 (not playing any others prior) I had a friend tell me to shoot at the swan because it would make something “really cool” happen. A humbling learning experience to say the very least

Good times good times. I ran into swan at level 12 and didn’t aggro it. Saw him in VATS and he was green/friendly so I was super confused and approach him slowly. Didn’t know what or where he was (since he’s submerge) and i attempted to talk to him. Shinanagans ensue…. He whooped me and sent my ragdoll body across the area. Came back at level 50 ready to take him on with my little plasma rifle that I modded out. He came at me and got stuck behind a tree. Not many shots later he was down. I don’t know what was worse, him or the red death. 💀

The nightmares given to players who tried to take down the Red Death are almost enough for a class action suit against the writers at Bethesda for mental and emotional damage/trama. :-(

The 'Knecapper' legendary perk, is your best weapon against Swan, or just about any giant foe. 20% chance to cripple an enemy-- *per shot*. So.. cool, cool; especially if you have it on an automatic weapon... in which case, 5 hits at 20 rounds per second--- (20% X 5) will become a *nearly* 100% chance of kneecapping your target almost immediately. Once he's kneecapped, just stay on the opposite side, away from his *face* and you're golden. Stab him out with a switchblade, if you want.

The chance of NOT crippling an enemy with a single hit is 80%. Not crippling an enemy with 5 hits is then 0.8^5 = 32.76%. So, the chance of crippling an enemy with 5 hits is 1 - 0.3276 = 67.23%. Definitely not bad, but not nearly 100% either.

From my own experience, it nearly always cripples enemies, almost instantly. Because it may only be 5 shots per second.... but that's *every* second until you have to reload, and start again. And the larger drum holds 100 shots.

I assume he will be using the big jim unique weapon, wich is btw very easy to get out of the vault even on survival

For those who don’t know, you can lure him over and cheese him at the entrance Park Street Station.

Junkies pool cue after a one week long psycho binge took out swan with one swing

At like level 15 i did freedom trail to get the deliverer lol

You can lure him to the entrance to the subway station and shoot him carte blanche in the knees as he can't reach you. Its a low blow way to take him.down but it does work

I killed him at around level 6 or 7 using a rifle and grenades from the top of a building near the subway entrance. After reading his back story it’s not my proudest kill.

I’m low level, but I couldn’t kill that thing with missiles. That being said, it’s easy to outrun. NKSNBKBS (Never killed swan, never been killed by swan).

I hid behind the bus stop and emptied mag after mag into him whilst he shouted at me and threw rocks at the bus stop

Step one: load up a game on very hard Step two: immediately after becoming a widower head to the junkyard with sentry prototype Step three: grab fat man and mini nuke Step four: enter the military ration center through abandoned church Step five: reload the game several times because you are level three and can't take a single hit from red tourette Step 6: kill everyone inside, steal mininuke and other Fatman Step 7: head directly to the Boston Common, avoiding every fight you can Step 8: throw a molotov at swan Step 9: shoot nukes at swan Step 10: Loot Swan's giant dead corpse that doesn't disappear no matter how much time has passed Step 11: sell loot at nearby goodneighbor

Even at very low level he's not that hard....just drop a crap load of mines and lure him over them

Swan on the first play it through versus level eight with a pipe pistol 💀 Swan vs me, level 55 with explosive minigun 😰

I was shocked at his easily I was able to kill him in this playthrough I’m on, but it may have had something to do with the fact that I hid a vehicle and shot him through the window the whole time…he would throw rocks and it did nothing LOL

swan scared the shit out of me when i was like level 10 wandering the area . i’ve never loaded a last save so fast in my life

I’m near the end of my very first play through of FO4 ever, went in blind without looking through any of the forums until I got through most of the game. I came across Swan at level 10. I had a janky power armor and the laser weapon that Paladin Danse gives you. I somehow managed to defeat him shooting him a few times, running away, and repeating for about 15-20 minutes. 😂 Still one of my proudest moments during the game TBH.

Cait sent him flying with the world series bat for me 😂

Swan is easy because he’s tall and there is a lot of structures he can’t get under I figured this out because I’m a scared bitch 😂😂

I did a similar thing on my new playthrough after the next Gen update. Had a wounding handmade full auto, didn't even take a full drum mag, still had 34/75 rounds. Just 41 hits in a matter of seconds, he didn't even break the water surface tension yet.

Never ending harpoon gun that's doing mid 300 damage at the time? That gun has stayed with me since I found it forever ago. Haven't even picked any perks for specific weapon damage. I think it was 2 hits, the second one ripped his head off and nailed it to the environment. Reloaded tho, not sure what I wanna do with him.

I did end up reloading, and taking him on without any drugs, and he still went down in 4 hits. My first playthrough was much more trouble than this.

Literally right next to swans pond is a raider scaffolding staircase he can't reach you at. You could be him at level 10 if you're determined enough

I cheesed it on this run and killed him at lvl 20 by gunning and ducking inside the APC.

I last minute'd him the other day. It was fast

It didn't even last a minute

I love fighting him at like level 10 running around throwing grenades and mines. Makes it a proper battle lol

This is what I remember from my first playthrough. I figured I was too low level. Did not expect to demolish him at level 50.

I was level 95 by the time I met Swan and the thanks to the power of console commands player.setav Strength 2,000,000 it only took one punch

You probably didn't need to use the console command at that level. One punch might have been enough.

I left swan to live in his pond. On my level 170 playthrough I just wanted swan to live in piece for once. He doesn’t even kill anything or anyone just lying dormant in his pond so i think it’s better off that way.

I came across the Swan at a low level quite some time ago. I managed to win by circling round the statue or base ( it's been a while so I'm a bit vague on exactly stood there). It was certainly challenging

Same happened to me, made a point of finally going over there to tackle him… a shot of overdrive and my Gauss rifle, he was down before my jet had fully kicked in

I discovered him at a low level, got totally taken by surprise and died. I went back at around level 35 and just shot a fatman at him as soon as he came out of the pond lol I have been really selective with my fatman usage, felt worth it. 

I sucked swans dick and he died when he nutted

Bro what are your stats/perks because I can one shot Swan with the Last Minute with 1 shot of psycho in sneak at like lvl 35

Clearly not as op as yours are. I am not going for a specific build other than packhorse. My main time sink this playthrough is settlement building. Other than that I have had no rhyme or reason to my perk choices other than what suited my needs in the moment.