A comparison of ranged weapons

[Shneekey]

So, there's a lot of weapons with a lot of mods. Not every weapon will be useful for every build or even every scenario, but there are some... clear outliers, let's say. Let's go over some of the weapons that I, personally, feel are pretty good *for what they do, when you get them*. I'm specifically only going over ranged weapons because I haven't done a melee build yet.

First off, let's talk about the first gun you get in the game, the 10mm pistol. It's a very solid 'starter' weapon. It isn't going to be the last weapon you use (unless you want to consider the Deliverer and using a specific Stealth Gunslinger VATS build), but very solid. One of the lesser known facts is that for Commando builds, this weapon CAN go full-auto, but you need Gun Nut 3 to do so, which won't unlock until level 25, by which time you've outgrown it.

Now, the humble Pipe Pistol. While generally considered a 'trash' weapon, and with some legitimate reason, there is three things I'd like to mention about this gun. First, it uses the cheap and commonly found .38 ammo, FAR more common than the 10mm ammo. Which can make this an early-game "until I find something better" gun. Second, you can't help but find one, they are so common. And three... specifically for Commando builds, you only need Gun Nut 2 to max out the mods for an Automatic Pipe Pistol to beat out the SMG in every category. While not the last weapon you will use, this will hold you until you can get Problem Solver or Splattercannon. Rifleman builds will find this to be their first true rifle, although you're going to drop it like a bad habit as soon as you get something better.

So yea, Submachine Guns SUCK. the Automatic Pipe Pistol deals the same damage, for the same investment in Gun Nut (level 2), at a third of the weight, firing a cheaper and more plentiful (and lighter in Survival) ammo. Not even the Explosive legendary is going to save Spray n Pray from the junk heap. Even as a Commando, avoid this category, it's one big trap. Save your .45 ammo for the Combat Rifle.

.44 Pistol. You can find a snubnose just north of Sanctuary along the river, and it is a great weapon for Gunslinger builds not bothering with a heavy investment in Stealth. It isn't going to be the last weapon you ever pick up, but it deals significantly more damage than your 10mm and can be acquired before you hit up the scripted part with Preston. The ammo will be rare at first, but this is a gun you can use as an emergency 'kill that now' button.

Double-Barrel Shotgun. Okay, so its rate of fire and reload time kinda suck. Fine. It's still the first shotgun you get. Riflemen especially will find this a useful 'GTFO' button. Both barrels from this, at least in the early game, and just about anything will be having a Bad Day. Sadly, it is entirely and completely outclassed later on, but for babby's first shotgun, it's not bad.

The Hunting Rifle is going to be the Sniper build's first serious toy. The only problem is that it is bolt-action and uses .308 ammo. You'll also need Gun Nut 3 to put a Suppressor on it, which is level 25. For when you first find it, it is pretty damn good. Unfortunately, even as a sniping toy, it is rather outclassed by both the Combat Rifle and the Handmade Rifle, not to mention the Gauss.

The Combat Rifle, when you first find it, is your first all-purpose Rifleman toy. Before the DLC's, I'd have said that this is probably one of the best all-around weapons in the game for Riflemen or even Commandos. Sadly, it is very expensive to mod, requiring Gun Nut 4 for the best receivers. You can pick up Overseer's Guardian fairly early if you 'dive' for it, although it might take being a Water Mogul in Goodsprings to afford it at that stage. If you can find the ammo for it, it'll keep you happy for a while.

The Assault Rifle is, sadly, not able to compete with either the Combat Rifle or the Handmade Rifle. It also uses the oddly uncommon .556mm ammo.

The Combat Shotgun is the ballistic shotgun user's final stop. It can be modded for either full-auto or semi-auto for use in either Commando or Rifleman perk builds. However, unlike the Combat Rifle, you only need Gun Nut 3 to get the best semi-auto receiver and suppressor on this bad boy. Everyone talks about Explosive for pure damage potential, but Friendly Fire Isn't, and too close, you'll get yourself in the back-blast. I tend to prefer either Plasma-Infused or Freezing because they both still give a damage bonus per shot without the risks. Le Fusil Terribles isn't a bad one if you have bad luck with Legendary farming, 25% bonus damage is a good chunk of damage. Not as good as Two Shot or one of the others already mentioned, or Wounding, but it's better than nothing.

So far, we've been talking about vanilla weapons, because I've been trying to go in order of when you can reasonably expect to find them. But now, let's head out to the Far Harbor DLC and discuss the Radium Rifle, and its legendary counterpart, the Kiloton Radium Rifle. While the ballistic damage is less than a Combat Rifle, it also packs a serious radiation damage punch. This makes this weapon situational, as there are several enemy types which are immune to, or even heal from, radiation. It also requires steeper perk investment, particularly in Science! to mod it up. The Explosive property of the Kiloton version does help it be more useful against opponents immune to radiation. This can be a solid choice for Commandos, but not so much for general Riflemen or specific Sniper builds.

Speaking of DLC's, let's talk about Nuka World, which has some of the best weapon categories in the game now. First, for you Commandos and Riflemen and Snipers out there, the Handmade Rifle is going to replace your Combat Rifle. While more perk-intensive to mod, it's not like you aren't going to be investing heavily in Commando/Rifleman anyway. The Splattercannon and the Problem Solver are two legendaries with the same affix, and one which makes any Commando build complete. Snipers may have to work to farm legendaries for their beloved Instigating affix. It does use the newly included 7.64mm ammo, a standard large-caliber NATO round roughly equivalent in size to the .308. Having said that, between farming everyone using these toys, and the vendors here, you shouldn't have many troubles keeping ammo in the bin. My pick for 'best all-around generally useful gun', and the standard which any weapon will need to beat to be considered worth using.

Next, also from Nuka World, is the Gunslinger's high-damage toy, the Cowboy Revolver. Basically an upgrade in every way to the .44 pistol, and being more perk-intensive to mod (but again, you were going to take Gunslinger anyway, so it's a non-cost), this is your end-game toy for the Gunslinger who prefers to meet their foes out in the open instead of sneaking around like a Deliverer build.

An odd mention that I'll give is the Railway Rifle. This thing shoots out spikes which deal some solid damage, and can be upgraded to fully automatic. Commando builds might want to try this out, because it doesn't take a hit to damage when you kit it out for full-auto, making it the single highest damage-per-shot of any Commando-compatible weapon in the game. The ammo is cheap, and you can loot it off the corpses of your targets.

I haven't really played much with energy weapons, however the Laser Gun is definitely superior to the Institute version thereof, so ditch those blue-beam traps. It's an extremely versatile weapon with the ability to go Sniper, general Rifleman, Gunslinger, or Commando. It isn't bad, any way you go, assuming you can keep it loaded. There's plenty of uniques to choose from as well. For Commando builds, assuming you can keep it loaded, you only need Science! 2 for Maximized/Improved Auto/Sharpshooter's Grip/Reflex Sight/Amplified Beam Splitter is an unusual but highly effective close-ranged weapon. Once you get Science! 3, you can use the Overcharged capacitor instead. 35 damage a shot is going to beat anything else out at level 17 for automatic weapons.

Plasma weapons can have some serious bang for their buck, and shotgun fans may want to use this in Scattergun mode for the highest damaging 'shotgun' effect in the game. It also deals both ballistic and energy damage, so it will be more generally useful in virtually any scenario, if you can keep it loaded. It tends to fare poorly as a sniper, due to the slow projectiles.

We can't talk about guns without talking about the Gauss Gun. With the highest per-shot damage of just about any direct-fire weapon in the game, it is a classic sniper's end-game choice, and with good reason. It can have a suppressor on it, god alone knows why, which means it can take advantage of the Sandman/Ninja perks and everything else a good stealth sniper has. It ain't cheap to fully kit out, and it ain't cheap to keep supplied with ammo, but when you absolutely, positively need a weapon that can one-shot most things in the Commonwealth, here you go.

I'd now like to go back to the Nuka World DLC for a strange, if surprisingly powerful, indirect fire toy, the Thirst Zapper. Yes, this squirt gun is useless when you first find it (except for one very important plot-driven point), but once you unlock the recipes from Project Cobalt, Quantum ammo for this thing does about as much damage as a Fat Boy, for FAR lower weight and movement costs. Getting the Nuka Cola Quantum to make the ammo might be difficult to find in bulk, but this is your backup 'all those things need to go away now' toy, you won't be firing it too frequently.

Now, I haven't played around too much with Heavy Weapons, but for those who love it loud and proud (Ad Victorium!) there's a couple of solid choices. Unfortunately, the class really doesn't have a lot of variety, so your choices of a viable heavy weapon are very limited.

Minigun is the first one you'll find in this category, right at the beginning of the game. That's because, without some kind of hefty affix, it also SUCKS. It consumes ammo like candy, and the damage per shot is one of the worst in the game. Finding one with the Explosive property makes this gun FAR more effective, Plasma Infused and Freezing work as adequate substitutes for less risk of killing yourself if something charges you. But without something like these legendary affixes, this gun is the least powerful entry-level Heavy Weapon. Oh, the Ashmaker sucks, don't bother. Finding one with the Furious effect on it might be tough, but makes for an interesting option. Damage can ramp up pretty quickly. Not sure how it would compare to Explosive or Plasma Infused, though.

The Harpoon Gun from Far Harbor is a good idea with a poor execution. The basic idea is that it let Heavy Weapon users get into the Sniping action. Unfortunately, it really doesn't follow through. Just use a Gauss Rifle.

The Broadsider was another weapon that was a good idea with poor execution.

Flamers, in general, suck. Unless you find one with the Kneecapper property, in which case they suddenly become at least useful to incapacitate enemies trying to close in. Such as, for example, Sergant Ash, found in Far Harbor. With as many hits as this thing dishes out, the Kneecapper effect will proc in fairly short order. Mind you, this isn't one to be used to try and kill opponents, but it is superior for crippling them. Best used with the song 'Do You Believe In Magic' playing, for some reason.

Missile Launchers, sadly, don't perform all that well for the size and weight, especially not in Survival mode where the weight of the missiles is just crippling. Basically, it's a long-ranged direct-fire grenade launcher. Granted, the targeting computer can help, but this is, at best, a backup weapon, not your primary weapon, and it competes with the next entry.

The Fat Man. The big boom bad boy of the game. Just watch out, because getting caught in the blast radius will lead to having a Bad Day. Modding it into a Nuka-Nuke Launcher makes more sense than the MIRV upgrade, and applying that to the Big Boy will cause enemies to have a Very Bad Day.

The Gatling Laser is pretty much the end-all-be-all of heavy weapon design. Sure, it runs on Fusion Cores, but you've probably already invested in perks to find more of them and make them last longer because you're probably pairing this with a suit of Power Armor. And of course, for those who are very concerned about ammo consumption, there's always Aeternus from the Nuka World DLC for infinite ammo code. I'll be honest? If you find one with the Furious effect (the same one on the unique Handmade Rifles?) go with it.

In conclusion, I would like to state for the record that the statements herein are explicitly my opinions only, and not to be taken as some objectively true statement. You are free to disagree with the opinions and comment with your opinions.

[Bob Loblaw]

Most powerful* ranged weapon is an enraging legendary. Just hit the strongest enemy with a crit, and sit back while he frenzies. Kneecapper .38 is great for melee enemies.

[MageThis]

Tl;dr except the disclaimer and have no comment on the disclaimer.

[wellsoul2]

In the early game I usually modify the pipe revolver to a rifle with a scope.
It has decent damage and you get 6 shots rather than less with the hunting rifle.
Plus it uses .45 ammo which is a bit more common.

[SpeedFreak1972]

maybe not the greatest however I love a fully kitted .50 hunting rifle with scope and marksman stock.

[Shneekey]

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

maybe not the greatest however I love a fully kitted .50 hunting rifle with scope and marksman stock.

Eh, the .50 ammo is stupid rare and expensive, and the .308 Combat Rifle, much less the Handmade Rifle, takes it out behind the woodshed.

Mind you, I was a big fan of the AMR back in the day, I'd have loved for this to be more viable. And there's nothing stopping you from using it, but it is decidedly less powerful than most of your other late-game sniping tools (gauss, handmade...)

[ghpstage]

The double barrel is strictly mediocre used as a standard firearm, but built for crit damage and optimised for VATS you don't even need to invest any perks for it to be mind bogglingly powerful. When used with supporting crit/VATS type perks, the only reason it doesn't immediately send you to the ending credits is because you need to get close to use it.

The splitters for lasers and plasmas offer trivial damage increases in return for completely gutting the weapons performance, both in open play and VATS. It may be worth it if you have a wounding variant, but not otherwise.

The automatic combat shotgun is badly gimped too. The strongest automatic receiver needing a higher gun nut rank to create, weighing more, doing far less damage with a much lower range, costing far more AP to attack all while having.... a lower RoF than the single shot advanced receiver....
Its usable, but its a slap in the face to Commando users, and you'd probably be better off with a combat rifle as a result.

[Kameraden]

Western Revolver is perhaps the end all beat all weapon in the game. You can get around 190 range, and do around 200-300+ damage per shot, with low AP cost per VATs attack. With the option to use a scope, it's is surprisngly functional despite it's low rate of fire. Easily better than the .44 Revolver.

That being said. If I had to choose, I'd choose between the Radium Rifle, Combat Rifle, and Handmade Rifle, for different reasons, as best all around weapon you can use.

[Xyzzy]

tldr but you are wrong about 10mm gun, point1. My 10mm lasts me throughout the game with upgrades, and yesterday after failing to kill deathclaw with .45 sniper rifle I then killed it with my 10mm, which by now lev 40 causes bleeding.

[Kameraden]

Originally posted by Xyzzy:

tldr but you are wrong about 10mm gun, point1. My 10mm lasts me throughout the game with upgrades, and yesterday after failing to kill deathclaw with .45 sniper rifle I then killed it with my 10mm, which by now lev 40 causes bleeding.

10mm Pistol isn't a bad weapon. Deliver is better though. That being said, I always carry a rapid fire pistol with me when I carry a rifle. If I'm using a .44 Revolver or Western Revolver, I don't normally carry any other weapons, being it's a do anything, kill anything OP weapon.

[Xyzzy]

gotta love the Wastelanders Friend, 10mm, yeah and the Deliverer, but I'm not with Railroad this time. yeah Western .44 is tops.

[Fawkzi]

I love the 10MM pistol. I used it all the way up until I got the railroad version. Fully upgraded the 10mm comes close to the railroad version in terms of damage. Also not all sub machine guns suck, the spray and pray SMG is a beast for early game. It's got superior damage to any other SMG in the game (That I've seen) and the explosive rounds make stupidly short work of enemies in tight spaces, works wonders on groups of charging ghouls, especially when faciing the ♥♥♥♥-tillion ghouls in the national guard training facility.

[Tavman (4)]

Don't forget you can get an Instigating Laser Gun in the early levels of the game.

[DouglasGrave]

There is actually one way in which the western revolver falls behind the standard .44; its action point usage (one of the statistics for whcih they don't give you a listed number).

As a sniper, I stuck with the hunting rifle for the long term. Its fire rate is slow, but I don't worry about that too much for sniping, and its ammo type is cheap and plentiful enough that I don't worry about using it. The combat rifle loses a bit of range and either damage (if you use a calibrated powerful receiver) or bonus critical damage (if you use .308).

I avoid energy weapons because they can make a messy pile out of the bodies and sometimes lead to a bug where those piles aren't ever properly cleaned out like regular corpses (it doesn't happen very frequently, but I don't want it happening at all).

[Claybot]

Originally posted by Shneekey:

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

maybe not the greatest however I love a fully kitted .50 hunting rifle with scope and marksman stock.

Eh, the .50 ammo is stupid rare and expensive, and the .308 Combat Rifle, much less the Handmade Rifle, takes it out behind the woodshed.

Mind you, I was a big fan of the AMR back in the day, I'd have loved for this to be more viable. And there's nothing stopping you from using it, but it is decidedly less powerful than most of your other late-game sniping tools (gauss, handmade...)

Expensive yes not that rare. I use it all the time in my builds, started seeing it at level 12 in my latest game and yes I'm playing survival.

[Lord Falco]

you forget weapons:)
like the tesla rifle, i dotn see any of the wepaons added by automatron