Is a Gunslinger build viable?

[Rialm]

So when I played was when Fallout 76 arrived on Steam and before the weapon change. And playing with pistols was completely useless. Is it finally viable? Go Pistol + Critical? I don't think I will even reach or have the luck to get a super pistol but with a suitable pistol will be?

Or should I go for a Shotgun build? Is it still viable?

Thanks!

[Venom]

its not totally useless not the best, it can be fun and theres 2 ways to go.
Silent handguns or non silent.

[Mooman]

Depends on what you want to do.

Questing and world spawns, no problem. Solo bosses, kinda with a plasma flamer. Powerful with bugged weapon, 2 shot Cryo Alien Blaster. Ranged heal, pyro Crusader pistol or modded energy weapons. Play as a Cowboy/Cowgirl, revolvers got you covered. Pirate instead, sure with Blunderbuss and Black Powder pistol.

It won't be as quick dps and the low capacities can be problematic in horde style events but that's what adds the 'fun'.

[insert food here]

I did a pistol build back in the day. Was fine but nothing spectacular for the reasons already mentioned.

Shotgun build without either the Cold Shoulder or Gauss shotgun weapons is something i would not recommend though. Regular shotguns, and especially without Vats, are just extremely underwhelming at anything except barrel stuffing range.

[THAC0]

Mooman の投稿を引用：

Depends on what you want to do.

Questing and world spawns, no problem. Solo bosses, kinda with a plasma flamer. Powerful with bugged weapon, 2 shot Cryo Alien Blaster. Ranged heal, pyro Crusader pistol or modded energy weapons. Play as a Cowboy/Cowgirl, revolvers got you covered. Pirate instead, sure with Blunderbuss and Black Powder pistol.

It won't be as quick dps and the low capacities can be problematic in horde style events but that's what adds the 'fun'.

I honestly enjoy the feel nad play of my stealth pyro crusader pistol build pretty neat

[PotatoBasket]

I recently tried a stealth auto-10mm AA with gunslinger build - I have to say it's a lot of fun, but it's not viable for large groups without explosives. With grenades it's entirely viable, as with most other pistols.

Black powder, gauss, and crusader all give a different feel to the build but it had two huge failings; EXP and bosses. It's just as deadly as a lot of other builds for standard play but it is definitely the weakest; the funnest and second strongest form of pistoleer is the pirate - fully load your mouse wheel with BP pistols so you don't have to load them until later.

I wouldn't recommend pistols until later levels, ironically they're meant for low level starters. Sadly all of the revolvers kinda are kinda meh. Plasma mod is the only way to make it fully viable for all content. I hear the alien blaster is quite nice, atm, too, though I'm not certain laser/fire damage will remain as is.

[Zylli]

Unfortunately, pistols are just designed to be worse than other weapons in terms of DPS. The other problem with pistols is they use Agility perk cards. That stat is used for a lot of things, meaning your damage perk cards are going to suffer. Rifles and heavy weapons use perception and strength for their damage perks.

That said, if you just want to be able to complete all of the story missions and contribute meaningfully to public events and boss fights, it is possible to make a build work well enough for that. You won't be able to compete for top DPS, but you will probably have fun if that's what you're looking for.

[Machika]

All depends on what your attacking. Fodder animals and humanoids should not be a problem but stuff like bears rad scorpions super mutants mirelurk kings etc need powerful weapons.

[doublejesus]

I did it on the PTS with the level 20 boost and got all the way to 50 with first a western revolver then a plasma flamer. Every easily acquired pistol in the game is dog water except those two. Western revolver involves having aim because it's much more effective at long range than what vats will let you shoot early on. It helps that they had the 5% energy weapon damage to the science cards. As for live I they are the best pistols still. Of course the Plasma flamer is outclassed by the enclave plasma flamer but thats much harder to get. P.S. plasma/enclave flamer scales off gunslinger cards for some reason.

[nordmeyerx]

Nope. I tried it and it's not viable whatsoever and SUPER frustrating.

[SerialGamer]

My non-automatic gauss pistol deals 400+ damage per shot in my low-health build, and can one-shot most fanatics in stealth:

https://youtu.be/m4EVEz0Rwl0

Gauss pistol is my favorite of all the gauss weapons: longer range than gauss shotgun, bigger magazine than gauss rifle, and uses less ammo than gauss minigun.

Yes, Agility has to accommodate both Gunslinger and all the sneak perks, but you can make do.

[Mooman]

Going back to the OP in a shotgun vs. pistol runoff, go shotgun.

Pistols can be fun but shotguns have the Cold Shoulder available for stamps (Expedition currency). It is by far the most useful shotgun in game.

Shotguns excell at crippling via the Enforcer perk, good for big creature fighting. They have a high base damage for high crit damage and can get good crit rate via Four Leaf Clover perk. The aforementioned Cold Shoulder can freeze mobs adding even more utility. Shotguns also have the Pepper Shaker heavy gun for when you want to mix it up.

Pistols can't come close to shotguns for versatility. From my own experience my shotgun character is far more fun to play as he doesn't need as 'perfect' a build/gear. My pistol character is constantly changing perks and gear. For her the search is ongoing due to legendary RNG, but may end up going energy pistols if the PTS science perk change makes it to live.

[Rialm]

Mooman の投稿を引用：

Going back to the OP in a shotgun vs. pistol runoff, go shotgun.

Pistols can be fun but shotguns have the Cold Shoulder available for stamps (Expedition currency). It is by far the most useful shotgun in game.

Shotguns excell at crippling via the Enforcer perk, good for big creature fighting. They have a high base damage for high crit damage and can get good crit rate via Four Leaf Clover perk. The aforementioned Cold Shoulder can freeze mobs adding even more utility. Shotguns also have the Pepper Shaker heavy gun for when you want to mix it up.

Okay I will go with Shotgun!

Thanks everyone for explaining me!

[OranTruk]

But a two shot explosive Western Revolver is fun to keep on hand to shoot that 44 ammo. Add the Perk Cards and magazines like 2X ranged or sneak.

[lordoftheapes79]

The irony is that they're kind of both at their best with vats builds, but are both kind of awful for the Queen, tho a shotgun build can swap into a big gun build pretty easily for that one.

[Rialm]

lordoftheapes79 の投稿を引用：

The irony is that they're kind of both at their best with vats builds, but are both kind of awful for the Queen, tho a shotgun build can swap into a big gun build pretty easily for that one.

Yeah, I imagine I will take advantage of that. I've not played with big guns before.

A shame, I will love to play with a .44 Pistol like when I play FO4.

Thanks everyone again!