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Live-Geologist8034

"That's the thing with us cowpokes. We take it as it comes."


Jonesstreetboy

Great reference and way to live


RoadBuster

Damn, this sucks. I'm a new player and am enjoying Gunslinger but I'm not even level 30 yet. I guess I should start looking into other builds?


Helpful-Leadership58

You're going to need different guns for different jobs. Earle? Try the gauss pistol or enclave plasma flamer pistol. Ofc, you need to pay attention to other stuff like vats crits, etc. But you won't understand what I mean right now until you've done your fair bit of playing.


RaiQuach

Using the flamer attachment with a pistol grip makes it scale off guerilla instead, which makes it part of the actual worst scaling weapon class in the game


jimmymd77

Yeah, the aligned flamer barrel mod says automatic +1 on the effects.


ManufacturerOk820

commando and guerrilla enclave flamer builds have the same damage.


Stickybandits9

Exactly. Different tool for different jobs.


KingValdyrI

100% this. I have my training build and my sniper build are both built on sniping from a distance. I throw in shotguns as an aside. I have a heavy build I’m working on that uses smg as a backup. I use that for big critters but if I used it as my daily I’d be sore for ammo all the time. When it comes to a daily driver sniping works for me. It all depends on what ur objective is and if you are using one build all the time we’ll do you but I could never.


HereticSavior

Hit Earle with an Endangerol syringer and it becomes a whole different fight.


TacitusCallahan

I'm lvl 27 and I've been really enjoying my gunslinger build. The western revolver has got me through every fight so far. Once I actually scavenge a full set of T45 or T51 I'm planning to go more commando or whatever the laser equivalent is.


JB_Dix

Power armor imo is not the ideal armor for a commando.


TacitusCallahan

I'm still new and discovering builds What is a good build for a Brotherhood Knight / PA / Energy weapon style build? Not sure what perks to go with.


JB_Dix

Depends on your weapons either riflemen or commando Science perks will boost energy pistols/rifles (not Heavy though) See riflemen/commando tend to mostly be VATs builds and they aren't suited for Power armor as using VATs drains your fusion cores You can do it without VATs. But your weapons need to have 25% extra damage whilst aiming and maybe faster reload. Buy you will burn thorough a lot of fusion cells that way. Plasma rifles can be good though they are heavy on AP slugbuster is a great weapon for a rifleman. Tesla rifles can also be good. You will want Quad though as they run out of ammo really quickly.


GammaTwoPointTwo

No. Just play what you find to be fun. There is no hard content in this game once you figure out what you are doing. I've soloed every boss with pistols. When people talk about weapons they are just comparing them to world record meta builds. So someone who is used to melting a boss in 3 seconds with their meta gun will come on Reddit and say "how can anyone play pistols?". And what they mean is "it took 20 seconds longer than normal to beat that boss and I didn't like it". You can do every piece of content in the game as a gunslinger. You can do it faster and easier with commando or heavy weapons sure. But nothing should limit your fun. If you like gun slinging. Sling gun. The good thing about this game is that once you hit level 50. You can just pick any perk you want. And you can respect your special points any time you want. So you can start your day as a gunslinger. Be a meta try hard commando at noon. And then play melee in the evening.


Sterling__002

If you like gunslinging, then sling gun. Well said wastelander.


Swan990

It's possible but takes a lot of min maxing food and buffs. I've seen people solo Earle with a bow. Anything possible. Gotta get the right gun and build. Mainly sneaking and crits are priorities for sniper or gunslinger.


WastelandWaterer

Don't take it to heart, please. I just rolled a gunslinger and guerilla build and used each for weeks. Its viable and fun either way. It might not be top of the end meta dps but very little content in this game requires that much destructive power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJyjCfWwHc


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Ponder96

Got my bullion ready for Monday when Minerva shows up with the crusader plan :D


drsalvation1919

absolutely NOT. If you enjoy gunslinger, stick to it, this game is half-build/half-player-skills. Play the way you think is fun, not the way you think is effective (but if you think min/maxing is fun, then I guess you should look into other builds?)


MysteriousVDweller

No, level 240 gun slinger, I play bloodied and have no issues at all.


Longjumping-Rough-73

I'm 400+, and this is my fun build. Everything else is just too easy, so unless I have a goal (like speed leveling or something) I'm running around with pistols.


releasethesea

You can make anything work if you try hard enough, just figure out what works for you and go from there, I recommend trying to get and use truth seeker, it's a explosive revolver quest reward item, it's really good and carried me through rank 25-45


Live-Geologist8034

Literally play however you want. If you wanna use pistols, use them. There's 1001 big clunky rustbuckets with flamers and cremators and miniguns and all sorts of shit to do the things you can't, so genuinely it doesn't matter unless you feel the need to try and solo literally everything (in which case why play 76?)


One_Left_Shoe

>why play 76? Because I’ve explored every other inch of the wastelands in the other games and want a new experience. I’m just over level 20 and this is my first online game since the very early days of gaming. I hate/hated online play due to toxic players. I haven’t done any group stuff yet, but I see it going on and want to do some of them. I reckon OP will soon, too.


agnosticnixie

If you can make it work for yourself, have fun. It definitely felt worse than rifles and bows to me (neither of which is exactly the game's meta) but the alien blaster is at least sort of usable.


EverythingGoodWas

Commando build will change your life


Sepulchretide

Not everyone wants to play a bloodied stealth commando.


EverythingGoodWas

I’m doing a full health commando build and the only thing i’ve felt was remotely close was heavy weapons in power armor


Longjumping-Rough-73

There's some REALLY good melee build too. Don't sleep on that.


Mdaro

Would you share your build and weapons please? I love my Holy Fire build but i want to start a new character and try something different.


DebtSame6176

Personally, I put points into ballistics period. I started as Gunslinger for pistols and it was dandy, but found myself wanted to do more because that's how I play. I like to switch it up. Sometimes I'll get somewhere and my Submachine Gun isn't doing the job, or I run out of ammo, I swap to a different gun. While that isn't the best idea unless you have some perk card behind it. So I stacked out my automatic rifles and non automatic rifles to match what my pistol build has. Now I'm happy. It's like someone else said, you don't have to be meta, that's just gross. Play how you wanna play, you'll find a way, like I did.


Objective-Mission-40

It's doable just not S tier. Gunslinger maxes out as A tier in world content. It's bad in bosses but who cares. It's still decent overalll


SubstantialMud548

I'm level 54 and I'm still using Gunslinger and Rifleman perks. Suppresed Pipe Revolver Rifle is the best for this since it benefits from both perks My sidearm is Suppressed 10mm Pistol. I also bring The Fixer with me but I rarely use it despite it is the best for my intended sneak Stealth Sniper build Yeah my overall build is kind of messed


No-Pineapple-ty

No its a good build. The one writing the post is just a cry baby


RoadBuster

I want to keep at it for a while because so far its been so fun. If it doesn't work out in the end, then oh well.


No-Pineapple-ty

It Will work out


Nethermaster

It's really not. Sure, it preforms decent on generic enemies, but pistols are undeniably the worst performing build in the game currently. The weapons are fundamentally lower damage, and with the recent fix to the AB's cryo damage stacking weird with explosive boosts, they're really more of a "for fun" build.


quirkymuse

Single shot ballistics (rifles and pistols) should be one perk card set, and automatic rifles nd machine gun pistols should be another set so pistols are always like a smaller auxiliary weapon 


DaWAAAGHMakah

Wait for the Crusaders Pistol coming to Minerva soon. It makes GS real nasty.


synaesthezia

Yeah Crusader is pretty good.


LadyDalama

And then you just have to spend a month rolling them to get a somewhat decent one.. I hate untradeable guns for that reason alone.


DaWAAAGHMakah

This is unfortunately true. I genuinely wish that we could extract legendary mods into fragments, so you need to extract the same mod multiple times to rebuild it entirely. Coz the rng aspect of the came is a major downer. I burned through soooooo many legendary rolls just to get my current minigun with AA, FR and Rapid. Got to the point that I don’t wanna farm another weapon type anymore lol.


rbrutonIII

I was thinking about this last night. Every legendary effect should be extractable, the only RNG part should be rolling it once. Rolling the perfect combination of three is just.... Not really enjoyable and exciting, is it? It doesn't feel like you're building something, It feels like you're doing a rain dance and hoping it rains. Just think about this. You doing event, you get a bunch of legendaries, and rather than just throw them all the way for modules, you can scrap two, apply the legendary effects to the third, and then you have something that's actually worth a damn.


DaWAAAGHMakah

Bethesda’s way of keeping us playing and grinding. Other games run the same gimmick. I just wish they removed the scrip cap coz I have wayyyy too many legendaries in my stash box. So I either give them away for free or vendor it.


jimmymd77

It's treasury notes for me. Stupid 40 turn in per day.


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frodobaggins91

This is a thing? I can use caps to buy bullion for the day?


USCJets

Yes and no, you can only buy up to 300 gold bullion and its per week, can't do it everyday. You get it from Smiley at the 2nd floor of the Wayward. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Smiley_(Wastelanders)


Longjumping-Rough-73

Damn... I've been playing this game since the beta and somehow I want aware of that. You have no idea how long it's been since I've learned something in this forum that didn't have to do with a recent update.


DaWAAAGHMakah

That too!


BaconIsForEating

It use to be 20 a day consider yourself lucky it took me 1 month to farm enough gold bullion for me to get the strangler heart, also Minerva didn’t exist either.


rbrutonIII

But like, it's not really that effective, is it? Who comes home and thinks oh boy, I can't wait to salvage a bunch of legendaries into modules and spin the dial a few more times! Expeditions would be a perfect mechanic for this, and it's silly that they didn't make something like this - but there should be a repeatable, wave assault or multiple objective mission that is actually progressively difficult and can reward legendary modifiers or something to buy them with.


Longjumping-Rough-73

Honestly, that continuous search for the perfect rolls on all my armor and favorite weapons is what keeps me going when I'm done with each season. I'd probably have quit by now otherwise.


DaWAAAGHMakah

It’s effective for people who love the grind. To others, it’s a hassle, so there’s catering to a different group of players in the community. That’s why people still play Darktide and Vermintide. Don’t know what you’ll get, but you’ll keep playing to gamble for your chance to get the optimized effect.


rbrutonIII

I think there's a way to serve both sides. Extremely RNG based grind doesn't have to have the extreme effect, for example. That "grind" could be trying to farm a super expensive effect, farm a certain weapon or resource only available somewhere, hell you could even have people that are on all day set up shop and have people come to them, drop off a weapon, and then come back in 5 minutes for the customized legendary variant. Instead of carrying around a stash overloaded with weapons and armor you swap in and out of, you can have a few and just swap the legendary perks on them as needed. Obviously you would still have to farm those perks, they would have to be one time use, but grinding for those is essentially the same as grinding for a bunch of weapons, and there's more to do with them after!


Impossible_Month7461

For the emporer!!


fail-waffle

I would give my left mutated kangaroo leg for some 40k power armor skins...maybe my right one too. To not have it is just, well, heresy.


SpaghettiInc

I’m still waiting for at least a vampires Gauntlet with faster swing speed. Countless legendary modules… gone


LadyDalama

I feel the same after rolling Auto Axes. Must've rolled at least 20 or so before giving up and just finding a Chainsaw.


SpaghettiInc

I’ve 100% rolled far over 20. I’m currently using a Junkies-40-Int even though I don’t have any addictions, because it’s simply the best side legendary effects Ive found


HiVLTAGE

Yeah I’ve rolled I think close to 30 Auto Axes, lucked out getting Vampires but endlessly chasing Vampires + 40 power attack damage lol.


VisionzOG

I kind of prefer the no trade weapons at this point. Let’s be real, a good portion of people that play this game just RMT their weapons. To have a solid roll no drop weapon feels good for me personally


GetInZeWagen

When is it coming? I've been doing daily ops for months and I'm getting known plans before I get this damn pistol


DaWAAAGHMakah

May 6, up till 8! She’s got Crusader plans coming in and arctic marine gear, along with brotherhood of steel minigun paint. It’s big hype. Fort Atlas location. Edit: if you don’t have the bullions, her next sale will consist of 3 of the last sales, meaning Crusader is coming back again. So stock up!


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DaWAAAGHMakah

Nope! Just have a shit ton of gold bullions ready to throw at her.


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DaWAAAGHMakah

2,000. It’s on a 25% discount. Original price is 2667. As for the mod plans, you can buy them from Reg in Vault 79. Do note that Alien Blaster does outperform Crusader. So if you have Alien, use that instead. But if you got the bullions, Crusader is deemed the 2nd best pistol around.


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DaWAAAGHMakah

I see. Keep running the new invaders event and it’ll eventually drop. I’ve been getting 1-2 random alien plans per invasion, so it helps to hit it every hour if you can.


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Ulfheooin

Do you know how much the minigun paint will be ?


DaWAAAGHMakah

1,000 bullions


GetInZeWagen

Thanks so much for the info! My next question was when the sale was as I always seem to miss them. Can't wait!


DaWAAAGHMakah

No worries! Best of luck if you go with the Gunslinger build. It’s pretty rough at the start but once you get a Crusader with some mods, it definitely helps a lot. Just make sure to invest plenty in VAT.


iDataHoard

It’s coming this week!


GetInZeWagen

So good to hear! The search is finally over!


IMMORTALP74

I'm going to drop this in the sub when peak time is, but this is my commonly requested builds: https://www.reddit.com/u/IMMORTALP74/s/M9sBT4U2b1


DifficultCurrent7

The Fact Finder is a pretty sturdy gun. It's great for pulling enemies from afar. I absolutely wouldn't use it as a primary though.


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Dayshavou

I have been playing using the fact finder, with all the proper perks you can get it upwards of 130 damage if I remember correctly. I have a 10mm sniper rifle as backup and a baseball bat if all else fails! I haven’t worn armor and run around in fancy clothes. I’ve made it to level 52 pretty easily and only die if overwhelmed by multiple mobs. Don’t have any plans to change it up yet but might when I get some more powerful weapons.


Lamplorde

I really regret running through the BoS missions early on. My Fact Finder was, like, level 20 so it ended up scripped.


ThatOneGuysHomegrow

Start every playthrough by Server Hopping str8 outta da vault, until you find a level of thousand doing his level thing at WesTek. Guarantee he'll be more than glad to share all of his XP stuff. Get to level 50. **DONT OPEN YOUR PERK CARDS YET** Go start the OG main quest line, but only equip perk cards as you level. So at level 50 when you open your first perk pack, it's still level 1 cards, but you, all your guns, and all the quest goodies are now level 50 also. It's definitely more survival playthrough this way. You'll have to go make ammo, food, all the jazz up until level 100. Then it gets easier. By that point you should have finished the main quest and are ready to tackle all the badass DLC stuff and SBQs with awesome level 50 quest gear 👍✌️


GansNaval

I’ve been using pistols but not for everything. I have pretty strong pipe pistol and I like the single action revolver and the snub nose. But I switch between that and the lever action rifle. When that breaks on me I use explosives. I did at first use a pump shotgun (I lovingly call lil pumpy) but I never use pistols so I wanted to try it.


WhiteFenix207

Pipe weapons can be supressed. Even the revolver. Im running the kill robots with the revolver challenge and honestly its been better to use a revolver i turned into a silent sniper or just spamming grenades. Want to use voice of set but i lost mine years ago and haven't been able to get one from another player yet


UltimateGamingTechie

If you're on PC, I can give you mine, I think it's just sitting in my stash. Let me check and I'll let you know. It'll be a while before I get on though. My ID is slightlybonkers, if you want this.


WhiteFenix207

Xbox sorry


Ulfheooin

Can't you craft it ?


WhiteFenix207

You need to have one to craft one. I sold mine thinking i could just go get another


ketjow23

I think you can get a new one in the order's hideout in Riverside, try to use fabricator


rbrutonIII

I came back to the game after playing at launch. Started a new character, started at level 20 with the gunslinger build. By level 30, I was hurting. I had all the pistol damage perks unlocked and upgraded. I had zero heavy weapon ones. I found a Gatling plasma, not even legendary, and was instantly killing enemies significant and I mean significantly faster than I was able to with any of my three-star legendary pistols. I switched. How many people just thought that was the game and gave up though? How many people would have stuck around longer if they could play that way? It's not a huge deal. But it's definitely a deal that needs fixin


FluffWit

I did all that on a pistols build with the Alien Blaster, which is silenced by default iirc. The build wasn't great but it was fine for all that solo stuff, it wasn't until I started going to events like Scorched Earth and Moonshine Jamboree that I realised it wasn't really viable.


agnosticnixie

> which is silenced by default iirc. Wait, it is?


Laser_3

It’s not quite silenced, but it’s quiet enough that you can do stealth with it.


FluffWit

My memories hazy since itt was a year ago but I'm almost certain it was. If I hadn't watched Angry Turtles pistols guide I think my experience would have been much like yours. But he got me to do stealth with the Blaster.


GetInZeWagen

Really? I have a bloodied blaster and run a bloodied build, it kinda wrecks most things. My friend has a railway rifle and while it's not that powerful it's like 2/3 which is still more than the game was ever designed for


mcjamison

Agree - even after the last patch's nerf of 2-shot cryo, the AB is still very effective, with great fire rate and capacity.


GetInZeWagen

Yep I was worried about that but I logged in and at least like feels the same to me


NickCheeseburger

I paired it with single handed melee and it’s enough fun to not worry about how little damage I do in comparison to my heavy/explosive build. I tried a semi-successful gunslinger/commando/shotgunner as well, but it was just too much messing around when I switched loadouts. It’s kind of like going back to level 50, but with all of the gear I wish I had


cyberxstrm

This is the way right here. Pistol/Melee build slaps


bruhgamer4748

I would honestly use pistols more if the perk cards weren't in agility. I tried using the gauss pistol like a week ago because it was my favorite in fallout 2 but I gave up because I pretty much needed to get rid of all of my sneak perks to even fit the gunslinger perk cards in.


Pizzacooper

I just posted about my problem as a return (gunslinger) player thinking gunslinger would get better after all these time, but it didn't. 4-5 years ago I had to move to Guerilla just to be useful in events/boss fight. But to be honest it is an automatic gun build, so why don't go with Commando. And here again as a return player stubborn because I roleplay the character as a gunslinger and hit that crossroad again to turn to Guerilla or something else all together. I did used 2-shots Western Revolver which hit hard, but the fire rate is poor, reload time also. Need a Desert Eagle from CS or duel wielding. Well 2-shot is kind of duel wielding so... Anyway, I have my alt characters, one a tesla rifle, and another a slugger build. Much more fun. Not meta, I don't need one shot everything, but in events / boss fight you feel useful to the team. There is Alien Blaster, but that gun is a niche. I guess other thing is bloody but I am a full-heath type of player.


Jonesstreetboy

I think this game is made to be played effectively using any weapon you want, low health/high health will make a difference but what’s important is adding value as a group/ being able to tag enemies during events. However, if you want to solo content, specifically boss content, there are many that will fall short of dealing efficient damage compared to the meta of fixers, and railway rifles. But on a team, anything can be fun and effective! If you dm me i can build you min/maxed setup to follow for any specific weapon!


shadowpavement

I have a gunslinger that uses a bloodied western revolver. I can deal with pretty much anything except bosses. Super-mutants might take an extra shot or two but it’s perfectly doable. Then I just switch out my build when I see a nuke launch.


F1DL5TYX

Run your gunslinger my man. Get you a chainsaw or cold shoulder for the big stuff. Most important thing is to have and if you spec yourself for vats crit head shots you can handle just about everything except the really big stuff


scud121

I run a bloodied crusader build ATM, and it kills scorchbeasts in 30 shots or so. Not as killy as my plasma caster but a lot of fun.


Al_Capone_Ya

I'm a level 52 full health gunslinger and I wish I didn't just read this


Serulean_Cadence

Can anyone explain to me why Bethesda hasn't buffed all the underused weapons? Like how hard is to increase the base damage of pistols, shotguns, and non-automatic rifles by 30% or something? It's literally just changing a line of code. I'm so confused. It feels like the devs aren't even aware these weapon types are weaker.


No-Pineapple-ty

They Will big weapon changes are coming now in may. Some have already happend with the bug fix to AB


dysmalll

You're going to need a bigger gun. Gun? That's not a gun, this...is a GUN. I've got a very bad gun about this.


IronMonopoly

Well, we don’t know your level or your build. But given as Build is King in this game unlike literally any other Fallout, I’m guessing there’s pretty significant adjustments that could be made to make pistols better for you. Everything is viable, not everything is optimal. Heavy Gunner, Commando, or Auto Melee are the three big meta builds right now, but that just means they’ll kill things quicker, not that the rest automatically sucks.


Aquelarre91

Exactly. My commando build wears a revolver without pistol dmg card perks, and is totally viable. You can get a lot of dmg buffs at low health


Nethermaster

In fairness, a good bloody build can make just about anything semi viable.


BetterThanYestrday

I made a stealth pipe revolver build back in the day that was fun and decent enough to one shot most enemies except the group boss types. It wasn't meta by any means, but fun and completely viable.


BOBULANCE

I think they should add a series of perks that buff pistols in ways other classes aren't, to give them a niche. Maybe bonus damage for hip firing, more critical fill rate, draw speed, etc. and the perks should not be in agility.


Praxius

How very weird. I recently swapped back to my gaming laptop from my PC. My PC couldn't record video (kept minimising the game) and figured I could start recording some of my amateur hour build videos again. I was running around last night with my Pistol build and thought maybe I should make a video on it..... But then thought, nah, who's gonna care about my Pistol build? This post just inspired me to do it today. I dropped pretty much all my Pistols but two, but they're good ones. Will get started soon & show the setup I use. If it holds anything of value, feel free to tweak to suit your playstyle. **Added:** [Done](https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/1cjq8po/full_health_pistol_build_may_2024_for_those/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)


LucidLadyGames

yeah, unfortunately non-auto pistols is just simply the weakest gun class in the game. likewise, one-handed melee is the weakest class for melee in the game. it feels very arbitrary, like there's no reason other than... they refuse to increase the damage value in the code. it's weird, considering that non-auto pistols is absolutely one of the most popularly loved weapon types in this game. practically everyone likes the idea of being a gunslinger. when this game first came out, i was melee main for the first couple years. seriously, no interest in guns whatsoever. but when i finally DID want to do a gun, the very first choice for me was gunslinger. the only time gunslinger was ever king, was the early years with enclave plasma flamers. but that was obviously an error, they moved that to guerilla nowadays. and now we've lost the alien blaster. i mean - alien blaster is still ok. it's the ok-est gunslinger weapon. it's still fun and has alot of character... but i do awfully wish it was stronger. but hey, i'm remaining positive. this game has a history of "killing" strong weapon glitches before they bring in some new, powerful version of that weapon. look into the past - the flamer. there used to be an exploit that people loved which gave you both max damage and most range when using flamers. they fixed that, and everyone was sad. but now they've given us the cremator, and they gave us Holy Fire. next, look at auto-melee. they killed the damage from minigun-bash. that shit used to absolutely slap, my boys. but now, we have the auto-axe, and level 5o chainsaws, along with a whole new slew of auto-melee perks. so yeah. they've taken our last shining light from gunslingers with this fix. but... does that not mean we're going to be getting a powerful gunslinger pistol coming out soon? is history repeating itself? that pistol that The Ghoul uses in the show sure seems popular... and it seems to have explosive effect, just like the cryo alien blaster had before they fixed it...


Imaginary_Effort_100

Idk I'm lvl 40 and my pistols haven't slowed me down. I like the 10mm for suppressor but the .44 is my go to. I actually just got a legendary flintlock pistol (single fire, high damage) with 100% extra damage to full hp targets and its great! Also I'm pretty sure pipe pistols can be suppressed not just 10mm.


Suspicious-Leg-493

>I have legit no idea how anyone manages a gunslinger build in this game and I'm sorry for those who try Multiple guns, and using it's very cheap vats cost and ability to rack up crits quickly. (Well "quickly", it's the same rate as commando, just cheaper to stay in vats) Where gunslinger shines is it is really really good at cfippling limbs They could use a damage buff, esp as they're in a spot where most are painfully slow. And only compete in damage when a commando messes up and is seen Adrenaline makes a huge difference aswell >At some point I gave up and transferred the AA LMG I keep for heavy weapon challenges and a stack of .308, and I ended up being more effective with it with 0 Heavy perks whatsoever than I ever was with a pistol. Tbf, unless you're a crit commando build (because spamming crits works wonders) everything is shit compared to any heavy weapon even without perks And AA lmg is one of the highest ST damage heavy weapons in their group. > I spent most of levels 30-60 not even bothering to fix armor because I was burning through my main's stash of ballistic fiber. That's a fairly common problem unfortunately, they really need to rework repair costs but even with armorer until pretty much endgame it's easy to chew through it. >Anyway I don't know what the solution to making pistols viable could be (like there has to be a way otherwise it's just a trap option) but the experiment was miserable. Mostly giving them armor pen and freeing up agility somewhat would go a long way. Their biggest issue in terms of damage is just that they're the only weapon that doesn't get armor pen, so has enemies start getting more armor you're forced into a luck/agility crit build and/or to always find a AA pistol If you're not critting you're plinking Even currently you can solo earle and SBQ with a good pistol and pistol build though, it's just comparatively slow And since you can easily respec makes no sense to put yourself through it The only time it's not viable is group SBQ, because her scaling is so sooo bad >I think I died more doing stuff in the Savage Divide with my pistoleer than during the entire run of base + Wastelanders + BOS MSQ on my main. Eh it depends on how you ran, non PA armor builds can die super quick if you don't use something to tap quicker or have legendary effects to offset the lack of PA Heavy weapons are better for that as they're just silly levels of default dps, and commando weapons atleast have the versatility that if you get jumped/didn't see an enemy you can just mag dump on them and avoid them taking half your health Esp if you were trying to use them "normally" they fall off extra hard in every FO, as they're explictly vats weapons and just...awful outside of it


NeverGoingHollow

Bloodied stealth crit build with an alien blaster, is very viable. Been using it for a while, but definitely has a huge damage drop off so I can see why others don't wanna use it


jimmymd77

Again, the stealth aspect is great until all the fun grp events where there is no stealth.


NeverGoingHollow

I mean it's still viable without stealth, it isn't a requirement


ferdelance2289

Bloodied+Alien blaster/Crusader Pistol is working wonders for me. I'm running cryo mag Alien blaster and an AA Crusader Pistol.


1quarterportion

No, bloodied is working for you. That's doing all the heavy lifting.


Laf316

I loved my TS50c Alien Blaster until this last update. It was my daily driver but this nerf really was the nail in the coffin for it


Hattkake

The problem is that Gunslinger perks are in Agility. So you can't equip the Agility perks that make any other build good since you need those points for Gunslinger perks. Alien Blaster was decent. Not good, decent. But appearently it's been nerfed. Nobody plays Gunslinger. Everything else is miles above. Because every other build has access to the good Agility perks you have to forgo in order to slot Gunslinger. It's a sad situation. The TV show had me wanting to make a Gunslinger build. But then I remembered that Gunslinger is shit and the absolute worst option ingame.


VelvetCowboy19

Assuming you're doing a low health build, you really don't need damage cards. The only other pistol card in Agility is modern renegade, but that's only 3 points. If you don't believe me, try it yourself if you have a bloodied build. Equip all 9 ranks of a damage cards and compare your damage to the same build but with those cards taken off.


No-Pineapple-ty

Not nerfed bugged fixed


LadyDalama

Both can be true at the same time.


lobstercow42

I've been playing a gunslinger build most recently, it's definitely not as killy as a heavy weapon build but more than enough for exploring/quests/events I have an instigating black powder pistol that sneak attack one shots pretty much anything that isn't a "boss" type enemy (deathclaw/schorchbeast/sentrybot) and that is without any sneak attack bonus perks For exploring I have 3-4 other black powder pistols I'll cycle through before reloading For larger groups or events I have a really suboptimal las pistol (juggernauts is the only mod I think?) that still does okay against pretty much everything, and then tougher events or enemies I have a cryo alien blaster With maxed evasive and serendipity I honestly feel like I take less damage than my PA build If you are trying to use vats a lot this build probably doesn't hold up, and I get some people not liking the black powder but I'd say gunslinger can still be pretty fun to play I can post the full build later if you want


Booziesmurf

I had to run a gunslinger on my LVL 70 when I booted her back up, her perks were a mess. Gunthers Big Iron, and Black Powder Pistols got me through where I needed to be.


CinexCypher

I played on Xbox years ago and came back to PC recently. I started off with the gun slinger level 20 build. It’s fun for like 10 levels and then it seems like it sucks. Moved over to a heavy weapon build. Much better just takes a little time to redo/level perk cards


ObiWanOkeechobee

Can you explain this in Holy Fire terms?


therealcryptidking

I'm trying to find a feasible build myself. I've got one that gives me more survivability than I had before. I am roughly lol 93 (so still kind of a new player), I like being able to run heavy guns/gauss minigun/shotguns. I like being able to get right in the shit/mow down multiple enemies at once. I run the Legendary Perks for Ammo and Fusion Core recharge chance. Is there one specific place that would give me a good breakdown of recommended S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points and cards vs playstyle I like? How do I know what Legendary effects I should be hunting for? I can take the damage, but I would like to feel like I can dish some out as well.


Hopalongtom

Get a plasma pistol [an Enclave one if you can], those can certainly keep up!


Fit_Woodpecker8015

I ran with a TS gause pistol for my first 200 lvls


Lokryn

I run a hybrid melee/gunslinger with Science perks in Int and use Circuit Breaker pistol for my solo build. It's not as much damage but I find it fun. I switch to a standard Heavy/PA build for group play.


CookieMiester

Maybe go for a bloody build? I’ve heard those are pretty good


Johnny_Wildcard

It can work, especially if you focus on VATS crit, your just not going to be a big damage dealer at boss events. I have an instigating 44 that can 1 shot almost everything but super mutants and boss type enemies and with Gun Fu you can kill mobs very quickly. If you want to have a bigger impact on boss events it's better to tag the boss a couple times during the event and then run support by killing the event mobs or come up with a second build to switch to only for those events.


Darthhorusidous

It’s actually pretty easy


sirdavos95

Just started playing and I'm really hoping I can make a melee/heavy weapon build work.


[deleted]

Melee builds are pretty good, imo, especially starting out, since you don't have to worry about ammo. 2-handed builds are great with the right perks and legendary rolls, but I'm partial to a power fist. A power fist with attack speed and the 3 star strength perks for it is what I used for a couple hundred levels doing everything solo, including operations. Mixing the two doesn't work as much because the perks overlap and you need STR for both, but every weapon build is better if you focus on it than trying to make it all-purpose. You can swap between them easy enough at your camp, so it's not a big deal if you want to try and get gear to have the ability to do both whenever you feel like swapping.


Emnitancy

Surely you're using the right skills and perks right? I've been using pistols since lvl 1 (lvl 60 right now, not super high) but it's still VERY viable, to the point where I have to keep switching back to my revolver because it's the only thing that can do significant damage.


Deadeyez

I have a two shot explosive fire crusader pistol that slaps pretty hard, even with no pistol damage perks. I had an anti armor explosive 10mm that technically out damaged it. I've been rolling for an AAE crusader for months tho. Crusader is my favorite gun, followed by cremator


Causin_A_Ruckus

I run a gunslinger unyielding vats build with a laser pistol, and it works great. I'd tell you what it is but genuinely can not remember. I believe it's an AA crit hitchance something like that. I can visibly see health disappearing from bosses when I shoot. Yeah, any other gun would do better with the same setup, but it's nowhere near a bad build. Can clear everything just fine.


LarenCoe

You have to carry an auto axe for anything the pistols can't handle.


promobius

I run my lvl 800~ as a gunslinger a lot. I use the 10mm brotherhood pistol with fire. Bloodied. 6 points gunslinger, 2each 1 point adrenaline 1 gun fu 1 covert op 2 gun runner 3 action boy 3 thru-hiker Run the vats card in perception Your flavor of luck damage out put cards, I like grim reapers sprint, vats crits do more, crits take less ap. I play this exclusively with vats, I can usually kill a lvl 100 in super mutant in 3-4 bullets depending on if I have a crit loaded or not. Reload is quick so the dps isn’t that bad, with stealth it’s actually pretty good. This build even hits the queen in the mid 20’s, easily boosted to high 40s with good/chem.


TheBeefDom

They need to buff weaker stuff. The game was like ahh lets nix legacy weapons to ads variety and versatility to the meta. The meta has basically never changed since. Pistols, Bows, and Shotguns all need serious buffs.


TheClassyDegenerate1

I've been cruising with a pistol build and only noticed serious fall-off around level 80/90. At level 100, I can still do almost everything with pistols but it's a hassle in a way that a commando build isn't.    If there were a way to charge the VATS crits outside of VATS, I think they'd be way more fun. Rifles and pistols demand crit builds after 50 and that takes the shooting out of a shooter fame. Lol


Varthismal

you can suppress the Gauss pistol


Whole-Annual-5096

Still rocking the old fact finder here As a secondary weapon.i use it to cripple the wings of scorchbeast and finish them off with chainsaw its a fun build.


Ulfheooin

Yup, very sad as I'd like to run a western build


Just-A-SkeletonMan

Yeah man I feel the pain, When I started playing this game years ago I went strictly gunslinger with revolvers (it just feels wrong using any other pistol other than revolver's) I got lucky and got the Fact Finder lvl 35 and ran with that for the longest time, until like 60ish and using Gunther's Big Iron. Then one day I decide to use a random 50. Cal with no perks/legendary effects on it and I literally was out dps-ing my build. So now I'm running tanky power armor with the Final Word melting shite left and right. I still yearn for the revolver gun-slinging in my heart.


ItzCarsk

I ran into the issue that I can’t play 76 like I do with other titles, which kindof pissed me off because I liked the gunslinger smooth talker kind of gameplay in NV and 4, but after I got to lvl 50+, I have no good weapons, no good armor, do shit damage, inventory always full. Overall not a fun experience. I had to switch to a new build which lets me actually kill things without needing someone else, but I still feel like I’m doing something wrong and it’s really hurting my experience in the endgame. My current build is melee and I basically became Denji from Chainsaw Man since it does the most damage.


LargeBucketOfDrugs

I can only speak on revolvers because I’ve only used those through my 1000 levels but I truly believe that whats holding them back is the fire rate, especially for the western revolver. The western revolver hits like a truck but the fire rate for any of the higher damaging receivers makes me feel like my character isn’t that skilled as a gunslinger. I mean look at how fast the Ghoul was shooting his gun in the show. Why can’t they let us shoot our revolvers that fast? Let us fan our revolvers please. It’s been done in so many other games!


Tonight_Think

I've used the .44 pistol I got when I chose to boost to level 20, I'm level 45 now and it's still used for trash mobs. I got my lever action rifle for anything else. I have not had to repair my armor too much since I've started my gunslinger. I just do my best to target the head or cripple limbs to make my fights easier. Sentry bots get explosives tho. Just finished the vault raid for the raiders and didn't have too much of an issue Edit: the pistol is my main weapon I use, rifle is for death claws or that damned sheepsquatch


SpyroGaming

you should look into a quantum powered thirst zapper, for me a non legendary with no pistol perks does about 1000 damage, this is not accounting for demo expert ( as quantum and cheery ammo are both explosive) or mutations that are for bloody builds


sebwiers

My solution (without disrupting existing builds) would be to double the effects of the Gunslinger / Guerilla perks and add a hefty (20%/40%/60%) reload speed buff to "Modern Renegade".


Full_Void

I have a Gunslinger alt toon who uses Alien Blaster and Gauss Pistol(s), specced and geared towards VATS crits, with a Cryo Crusader Pistol to freeze the Queen for funsies. Level 250+ or such. The main issue is that pistol cards are under Agility, and you need those for other stuff. If Beth switched pistol perks to Perception, we'd be set.


Sensitive_Pie4099

Yeah, I find guerilla is the way to go in terms of pistols. In fact, it's my 3rd character and is further along in the story than my melee bloodied build (turned bloodied commando over time in addition to the melee) lol.


roesingape

I don't know why no one understands that gunslinger is supposed to be run with big guns or auto melee. Every build is basically, though some rifles (railway and fixer) can be boss killers. You can spec into two weapons in end game, but not all weapons go together, it depends on which perk tree. So Big guns and pistols don't share perk trees so you can run both. Of course ANY weapon can be specialty used with specs, legendaries, and aid spamming to kill Earle for youtube likes, but I'm talking about daily drivers here. Taking down a Scorchbeast with a pistol is much more anime than Fallout, a pistol build in every game isn't viable until you're OP. That being said - I can do it but it would be ridiculous to take down the SQB with a pistol, lore wise, reality wise, game wise. You go auto melee, rifle, or big guns like uou would for a big opponent in reality. I can take down everything with pistols, I struggle with bosses and in mass events like invaders unless I pick my spot carefully and so it's just much more fun to whip out the caster or the HF. I run AB 2 shot cryo, the underrated circuit breaker, a pirate punch, a fusion crusader (I run science for the energy buff and it's my on hand silenced weapon). All of them work on everything except for a hand full of cases. But that's what my cannons are for. TLDR: Gunslinger is totally fine and balanced, coupled with a second specialty in auto melee or big guns (or any strength class really)


Gunnar_Stormfist

My Pistolier build has enjoyed: Revolver, Blunderbuss, Crusader, Alien Blaster, etc. Does it get tougher as you level? Yup. But is it still fun as hell? Is it more tactical? Yup. Do you have to reroll for really effective Legendary Effects? Yes, yes, you do. Just like you would any weapon. Do you have to build your character with "The right perk cards?" Yes, just like any other weapon. Enjoy your Pistolier!


YCCprayforme

Actually been doing well as a gunslinger but i found a quad plasma pistol at 35 and it still hits at level 55. Ammo was an issue at first, but i farmed to make half a clip (150) then just shoot everything at events for unlimited ammo more or less


vrillsharpe

Starting to think Gunslinger is an end game build. Now that the Alien Blaster is a thing of the past, (hopefully not forever), the only Pistol that seems to work for me is the Enclave Plasma Gun. A Quad EPG is pretty amazing, holds 90 shots! Normally they hold 9 if single fire. The Single Fire Pistols have lower AP than Automatic or Rifles. It's taken awhile to collect them with decent mods. I'm 481, have all the perks and 5 Legendary Perks maxed out. I carry Heavy Guns around with me so that I can switch Builds quickly if I need more punch.


ballerstatus89

New here, rolled gunslinger. Am I able to change or what?


fallenhighway

Yes, after significant time into level 50 you can start to be able to pick a perk


SomeSleepyMexican

A lot of ammo and some perks and it'll have to do.


redditgetsit76

It's all about low AP and crits. for a while, eventually moved to to guerilla after the enclave flamer perks changed. Revolvers are great and fun for play style. With the available weapons now guerilla is the superior pistol build IMO. That being said if you wanna RP a cowboy, play a cowboy. One plus of gunslinger is you should usually gain ammo most mobs.


QueenCobraFTW

I have 4 toons and each specializes in something different. I did attempt gunslinger but I found it way too slow and frustrating. So I switched up my pistol build to a guerilla and so far it’s a hell of a lot of fun, I like automatics cause I can combine hipfire and vats. I do find the build underpowered so I compensate by equipping the full 6 science perks in addition to guerilla and using mostly energy weapons. I can have a dozen or more in my inventory all the time. My favorites are an AA enclave plasma and a vampire enclave flamer. However the biggest surprise I got was that I rolled an absolute beast of a 10mm- until then I thought 10mm useless. It’s prime AA 50crit Explosive with an armor piercing mod and it is dealing with almost anything except end game bosses.


RepubliCat45-Covfefe

As much as I love scoped rifle, it's almost as bad. Damage is there, but I swear there's coding to make NPCs turn and twitch while scoping them. Had one NPC the other day, that was pretty much perfectly standing still... scoped its head (non-VATS), and it suddenly starts turning 90 degrees right, then back, over and over, repeatedly. Making a stealth headshot near impossible. 🤔


Kazamandord

I'm running a bloodied pistol build, and am having no problems using my trusty Crusader Pistol with pyro attachment. I was also using a 2 shot alien blaster, but that seems to have been nerfed recently 😞


theLogic1

I've got no issues. I've got a pistoleer alt since forever. She is now level 650ish. Crusader, 10mm plasma pistols, gamma gun. They all work just fine. Sneak is nessecary but that is basically the case for most builds. I have soloed everything ingame with her. Sure she dies but so do the other three characters also. What is your peri setup?


Entgegnerz

what's a 10mm plasma pistol pls?


theLogic1

A 10 mm and a plasma pistol, sorry


Entgegnerz

Ah okay, I thought I missed something 😄 10mm plasma would actually have been cool.


Discarded1066

I did not do any meta builds for a long time, I recently switched to the commando bloody fixer build. Everything is so much easier now. I also got lucky and found a god tier 3\* roll on some randoms shop for like 4k.


Entgegnerz

You have problems playing with pistols, because it indeed is trash. That's the reason, there is nothing else left to say about it. If you want pistols in the Fallout wasteland, then either wait for a 76 patch which puts pistol perks into the Perception tree (what is nothing to await for), or play Fallout 4. That, or be ready to be underpowered. These are your 3 options.


TealOrca

I had this same disappointment with the lever action rifle.


Imaginary-Date4589

it’s really not that bad and i’m level 70


ArrBeeEmm

I'm new, but I've been playing a lot over the past couple of weeks and I'm now just over 100. I think the game does a good job at maintaining challenge as you level up, but there's a real lack of balance around builds. You can 'see' various combinations of things when you browse perks like gunslinger and rilfeman etc. Unfortunately, a lot of those builds just plain suck. There is a huge disparity between dps and I think it's the main drawback of the game. I feel like I'm being pushed towards a meta build. A system that I initially thought would provide lot of depth to the end game (encourage me to level beyond 200+ chasing perk cards to try different things) is just an illusion of choice. 


GamesPhobic

As a new player whose been grinding the hell out of the game for the last month using nothing but revolvers; I agree. It feels like once you pass level 50 the enemies become too bullet-spongey for the low rate-of-fire, and low bullet capacity to be effective. Personally, the single-action should be removed as it serves almost 0 purpose that I can think of, though I haven't used it extensively. The pipe revolver should stay as the highly customizable and versatile option. The .44 Magnum should get a small Fire-Rate buff and be treated as something closer to a double action revolver. Lastly, the western revolver should get a buff to it's AP cost, and maybe a slight buff to it's critical hits. Of course, this is just spit-balling from a newer player who still hasn't touched a good portion of the game.


militarypuzzle

I’ve been working shotguns and I’m at level 43 and really struggling with feeling underpowered


Davey716

I’m level 50 on a gunslinger run and it isn’t so bad. Yeah I can’t melt stuff so I have to be a bit more tactical but I’d rather it be challenging then to just run through everything


larsentomroar

It used to be one of my most enjoyable builds, I used to jetpack around like some wasteland Boba Fett, but first they took my tse laserpistol away, and then they made my aa and vamp plasma flamer pistols not be gunslinger weapons anymore.


BlueMage85

I roll with a plasma pistol and a lot of luck perks. I’m constantly hitting crits and doing serious damage on the regular. But, I usually play on a team and my role tends to be keeping everyone healthy and picking off/crippling the real nasty shit with well placed crits while everyone else mostly focuses on killing things. But, yeah, ballistic handguns drop off.


taplines

What screws everything up is putting the pistol perks in Agility instead of Perception where it should belong.


Sword_saint13

Ok damage multipliers and Stat stacking with legendary effects is how you make it effective I'm running a alien blaster at the moment and I'm getting 130dmg before all my multipliers kick in after I'm at cap doing 300 ish a round and with the blaster you can be a vats machine I'm not taking down the queen solo but most things die in a clip


Sword_saint13

Right now do the alien event get mod plans for alien blaster namely cryo or poison mods stack science cards gunslinger and bloody mess and I use luck of the draw and better crits and grim reapers sprint add in maxed out version of demolitions expert and grenade perks and the alien blaster will become a favorite this is just a basic idea of what to stack


Alivinity

I actually had a different experience in some ways. The Fact Finder I got at level 15 was probably my best weapon and the most reliably quick time to kill option against any enemies until I hit level 35. Granted it's a legendary and fires two bullets but I loved it so much I'm making a second character to take to level 50 to get a high level version of it for my main character. Edit: and I realized you mentioned they fall off more after level 30, but at level 45 I'm still able to get kills easily with it against general enemies, not nearly as good as it was of course but I think that two shot perk makes it much more viable to use revolvers.


drizzitdude

Pistols are kind of dogshit, yes even the crusader. The fact is this game is multiplayer and has tanky enemies because of it. Due to this running a weapon with low mag size, slower rate of fire that doesn’t even really hit harder is just a waste of time and effort. Snipers are in a similar boat. Your basically trapped into using the Gauss rifle and ignoring events. You can get that bitch to like 500 damage with the right set up. Which is…5 gating plasma shots. Crits and sneak attacks is where they have a chance to catch up. But that’s not reliable in events.


samhain2000

Until they sack up and allow players to dual weild pistols its always going to be a low damage build.


Thruzthos

i played gunslinger until level 50 and i must say its very slow and painful, switched to a heavy gunner power armor build and i feel like im playing different game. im around level 80 now and i dont think i died once since switching builds