so what the point of handguns?

[Pak0tac]

So im level 39, 4 stars invested into handguns, 4 stars invested into heavy weapons
im using handguns of all sorts, the .44s, laser handguns, plasma handguns all are as upgraded as i can withing my skill level (which is pretty high), yet it appears they are pretty usless...
im going through the nuka world map now, and i REALLY am struggling with the local mobs, my handguns just cant keep up!

And when i use heavy guns, they work very well, but run out of ammo very fast... an upgraded minigan can chew through anything but i spent 1000 bullets in 10 minutes while clearing giant mutated lizzards. My mobile cannon is great, i love it, but it suffers from a chronic ammo deficency, so i cant use it as my main and not even secondary, but as a backup only. my flamethrower is the worst weapon i have, super low damage...
My bazooka is awesome, but yet again, enough ammo to only be used as backup
and fatman is... well.. for those momemts when you are just tired of that sh*t.

So... it appers handguns are pretty usless
Game is designed for rifles and automatic rifles as main weapons
large weapons for boss mobs or swarms
and handguns for... forget about them, they are not used for anything much at appears
and melee... oh the pain of using melee
i spend 2 points on melee, it just doesnt work.... the damage is low, you constantly beeing hit because.. melee range... so you spam stims, gets boring and you run out of stims really fast

[Pepper Pimienta]

Well Handguns are always gonna be naturally weaker then Rifles and all that in reality that is how they are hand guns have always pretty much been not as powerful. then again my pistols have been known to one shot some enemies but if you just spend points on nothing but handguns in the end they will turn out to be stronger then rifles. Plus handguns mostly rely on critcal hit chance. Also what is your main perks at the 5 main ones that you choose from in the beginning also determine damage of your weapons.

[Chaosium]

Haven't played survival have you? Pistols are much lighter than rifles, let alone heavy weapons whivh are outright unusable.

They are the best choice for a VATS and crits heavy playstyle, because pistols require fewer action points to fire. Couple that with high luck and you're good to go. You can do pretty much all the game with Righteous authority turned into a pistol

[Pepper Pimienta]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

Haven't played survival have you? Pistols are much lighter than rifles, let alone heavy weapons with are outright unusable.

They are the best choice for a VATS and crits heavy playstyle, because pistols require fewer action points to fire. Couple that with high luck and you're good to go. You can do pretty much all the game with Righteous authority turned into a pistol

this is true pistols of any kinda are more meant for what you said aka being able to hit off a large amount of damage in a short time and if you get your stuff just right you can one shot people all the time with pistols in vats. Also to the owner of the thread depending on what style your going by you can always look up pistol builds for fallout 4 to make your pistols most effectve.

[HummV_70]

I've ran with pistol perks and rifle perks in different play throughs.
Pistols are the way to go at higher levels and modded games for super tough and thick enemies.
Both have their place.
Give me a pistol in close quarters and a rifle at 300+ yards.
The game is what you make it.

[Pak0tac]

Originally posted by HummV_70:

I've ran with pistol perks and rifle perks in different play throughs.
Pistols are the way to go at higher levels and modded games for super tough and thick enemies.
Both have their place.
Give me a pistol in close quarters and a rifle at 300+ yards.
The game is what you make it.

well that was my strategy, handguns as mains and large weapons for the rest
problem is that the constant lacking of ammunition for large weapons, my handguns turned to be an all around universal weapon for everything, and now im really struggling

[Dinger]

some times that shotgun is just overkill inside buildins .. but a pistol

10 mm can dispatch pretty well .. and the ammo is very comon.. cheap..

[Pak0tac]

Originally posted by Dinger:

some times that shotgun is just overkill inside buildins .. but a pistol

10 mm can dispatch pretty well .. and the ammo is very comon.. cheap..

i sold my 10mm long time ago, it was maxed out with upgrades + explosive damage boost (rear gun), and it couldnt keep up against the mobs, when i entered nuka world, i left it behind

[JobeGardener]

Caesars legion had no problem practically taking over the Mohave with punching weapons.
Even Caesar himself wore his proudly.

[Salamand3r-]

You gotta shoot'em in the head.

Seriously though, pistols like the 10mm fire super fast, don't have a ton of recoil (once you deck them out), and headshots take things down super quickly. You just have to be hitting headshots for the +100%(ish) damage.

I find the high damage/low firing rate pistols like Kellogg's to be near useless against spongy enemies, as you'll take a ton of damage between shots, but fast pistols - even the pipe - are great for fast kills. Again, just make sure you are shooting them in the head.

Works even better with any of the locational damage mods, including Live Dismemberment (which is probably the most awesome mod in FO4 anyway).

[HummV_70]

there are literally 1000's of weapon mods, but I found this one to be simple and mostly balanced up to Level 100.

just a suggestion....
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18796

[Grendalcat]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Deliverer, modified with a suppressor, is very effective against humanoids and most other less than top tier enemies. You can often cut through a mob before they even know where you are. You do have to be a friend of the RR to get it.

As to the tougher enemies in Nuka World, either a laser gatling or gauss rifle handle them.
Gatling uses fusion cores, gauss rifle uses 2mm, I haven't had problems finding either.

[a Hippobottomus]

Keep in mind any energy-only weapon is already weaker than other types of weapons.

[West Dragon]

Non-automatic pistols have their own build that involves damage per second rather than damage per shot. Their shots require few action points, especially with the VATS Enhanced modifier.

So, when you invest in the perks Gunslinger, Gun Fu, Four Leaf Clover, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Critical Banker, and Better Criticals, you'll have yourself a VATS-based gun build that can clear an entire room of enemies with nothing more than a 10mm pistol.

[BlazeD]

I had a great pistol build. 2-shot 44 for up close, explosive pipe pistol sniper for long ranges(this was kinda lackluster as i didn't have any xplosive perks) and the deliverer, i think it was, for middlin' ranges. I made use of stealth, silencers, vats with grim reaper and that other badass luck perk. Luck character, that one was. Was OP.

[Lucifer69]

Pistols are extremely useful for vats users as they have the lowest cost. I usually like to have at least one freezing pistol on me for vats/ crit abuse. A cheap ol' pipe pistol does the job in a pinch. Freeze any uglies that may give me trouble and then clean up with Ol' Glory (my gatling laser).

Originally posted by Chaosium:

Haven't played survival have you? Pistols are much lighter than rifles, let alone heavy weapons whivh are outright unusable.

Wrong. The gatling laser uses fusion cores which are the most cost and weight efficient ammunition in the game. Final Judgement (rapid legendary) is easily god tier, and I'd rank it at, or near, the top. The minigun is god tier as well with explosive, and quite cheap to keep fed.

The only thing to out damage a rapid gatling laser is a junkie gatling laser, if you're willing to deal with addictions. Obviously explosives like the fatman/ mirv will beat it but are rare, and heavy as sin.

Edit: Take nuclear physicist to extend the use of fusion cores. You get an additional 125 shots per core at no extra weight. Just leave a single shot in each one and sell them for max efficiency and profit. My power armor and gatling laser paladin from level 5 to level 290 never had to leave his suit nor use any other weapon as the game throws cores at you.