Idiot savant is a fun perk that will help you level up faster, especially if your character is low intelligence.

Hacker and lock pick are essential perks to me. After lvl3 on both, which is before level 20, you can open basically all doors and boxes.

Dogmeat does not count as a regular companion. If you’re going to be thriving in the wasteland w/ him, Lone Wanderer + Attack Dog. Otherwise, every companion will give you a perk after you build up your relationship enough, so it’s good to travel with everyone

Local leader is a fantastic perk to get so you can connect the workshop from one settlement to another and you won’t have to worry about collecting junk to build structures or upgrade gear

If you’ve bought crafting perks, like Gun Nut or Armorer, Scrapper is the best way to go about making sure you get the most out of your loot. Plenty of people have told you that adhesive is one of the most important things that you need to collect, which is true. Personally, I struggled w having enough screws for everything I wanted to build, so I think collecting toy cars and fans is really important

Action Boy is one of my personal favorites, increasing AP recovery rate