Top Ten Best Weapons in Fallout 76 2023 | What You Need (2024)

The online multiplayer of the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 76 is nothing to scoff at. You have these crazy scenarios to beat and fears to conquer while learning to survive. Luckily, weaponry goes a long way in your survival.

However, no weapon is made equal; some are strong to the point where they feel broken good, while it will be hard to find success with others.

In this article, we will be listing the top 10 best weapons available in Fallout 76 so you can enjoy them to your heart’s content. With that said, let’s jump in and get started!

10. Hand Made Rifle

This is a well-designed weapon that was constructed by Appalachian survivors right after the events of the Great War. It houses the 5.56 bullet rounds and is capable of providing good and stable damage in all three ranges.

While we won’t recommend you use it as a sniper, it can still be a pretty good substitute. Having said that, this gun isn’t that rare to find.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Handmade Rifle in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
15 / 25 / 35 / 45	30 / 35 / 40 / 45	5.56 Round
Legendary Drop	Legendary Craft	Clip Size
		20
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
40	120	71
AP cost	Value	Weight
32	90	8.0

How To Obtain

You can obtain a Hand Made rifle from the following locations:

• Inside the Big Bend tunnel, there’s one in the side tunnel close to the system’s western exit, while the other one is in the right direction near the skeleton.
• Beneath the locked gate (level 3) – head under the Burrows on the northern side, and you’ll be able to find it.
• Inside the Charleston Capitol Courthouse, on top of the shelf of the empty filing cabinet located in the shooting practice room.
• On the roof of the Amelia Espresso building within Berkeley Springs. It’s located on the eastern side of the roof, while the building itself is located near the local church.
• You can also find one in the salon within the Berkeley Spring vicinity.
• The following vendors sell the Hand Made rifle – albeit periodically:
  • Grahm
  • Sunny
  • Watoga vendor bot
• The following enemies carry this gun:
  • Mothman Cultists
  • Settlers
  • Raiders
• It is a random drop from the Crowned boss enemies.

Aside from all these, you can also craft the gun once you acquire its plan, that is.

Crafting Recipe

The Hand Made rifle can be crafted by using the following materials:

Once you’ve gathered the mentioned materials, head to a Weapons Workbench along with the Plan: Handmade gun, and create the Handmade rifle.

9. Gatling Gun

This weapon is an absolute beast. With a turn of that crank, it’ll spit out bullets directly into anything it’s facing. It’s only a mid-range weapon, but anything caught in that range is going down.

Anything that lowers this weapon’s weight is a good perk, as well as something to up the damage. Play around with the drops you get and your own perk loadouts to see what happens.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Gatling Gun in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Automatic Heavy Gun	N/A
Level	Damage	Ammo
20 /30 / 40/ 50	43 / 57 / 72 / 86	5mm Round
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		250
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
20	120	55
AP cost	Value	Weight
30	175	18.0

How To Obtain

This weapon can be obtained from one of the following sources:

• This weapon can be acquired by finishing Defiance Has Fallen Quest. However, you’d only get a short version of the gun instead of the full weapon.
• Another short version of the Gatling Gun can be obtained in the Lucky Hole Mine. Just head through the blue door to find a cultist wrathwing located on to of an alter. There’s a guaranteed drop chance on this one.
• This weapon can also be obtained from the Mothman Cultists in the Mothman Equinox event. However, this is only possible for the duration of the event.
• Another short version of the gun is located inside the Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06. Just head inside its southern expansion and find the hacker 2 cells within the cooling tower.
• The Plan: Gatling Gun is periodically sold at Watoga Shopping Plaza
• Can be found as random loot from mid to high-tier enemies and drops.

Crafting Recipe

The Gatling Gun can be crafted using the following parts:

8. Gauss Rifle

This is a high-powered energy weapon that will decimate foes in your hands. It throws materials out at enemies at such a high speed that they can’t help but fall when hit.

You can buy it, but it also drops from high-level enemies. Make sure you’re keeping an eye out for it when you’re in the endgame.

The best way to mod this weapon is to increase its power and add a bonus for sneak attacks. Using perks that boost the damage, increase accuracy, and generally enhance rifles in your hands is good.

The last great thing about this weapon is that the ammo is easy to craft. There’s nothing silly that you need to do, just basic ammo that’s easily available.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Gauss Rifle in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Non Automatic Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
35 / 45	125 / 140	2mm Electromagnetic Cartrige
Blast Radius	Area Damage	Effects
Inner:100 Outer:125	15%	Hold To Charge
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		5
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
67	204	60
AP cost	Value	Weight
30	200	8.0

How To Obtain

The Gauss Rifle can be obtained from one of the following sources in Fallout 76:

• Sold in the Military Wing command center in the Whitespring bunker.
• Sold by the vendor bot in Watoga Station.
• Dropped by the following enemies:
  • Deathclaws
  • Scorchbeasts
• Found on a middle shelf of a workstation in Silo 4. Look within the rectangular crate to find it.
• Found in a small shed in the back she’d of the Abandoned Mine Shaft 4.

Crafting Recipe

The Gauss Rifle can be crafted using the following parts:

7. Black Diamond

This is a ski with some shards of metal attached to it. While it might seem a bit weird, it’s also incredibly powerful. It also adds to your base strength stat, which can only be good when you need to smash enemies over the head.

A quest line in the main game will see you pick this weapon up. Pay attention and complete every objective you’re given in every quest. To boost this weapon, equip mods and perks that boost damage output, particularly your melee damage.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Black Diamond in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Melee	One-handed
Level	Damage	Ammo
15 / 25 / 35 / 45	35 / 40 / 45 / 50 +5% ×STR	N/A
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Speed
		Medium
AP cost	Value	Weight
30	40	3.0

How To Obtain

The Black Diamond can only be obtained as a reward from the Flavors of Mayhem quest for Rose at the Top of the World.

This is done as a part of the Raiders Quest within the original quest line of Fallout 76.

Unfortunately, this weapon is non-craftable. Therefore, you can only keep it safe after completing the mission.

6. Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm utilized 10mm ammo which is found in abundance in the world of Fallout 76. This weapon is automatically leveled to the player’s character – allowing a level 10 player to receive a level 10 copy and vice versa.

Unfortunately, there’s no current in-game method of crafting this weapon. However, its damage is no joke since it packs the power of a minigun in a small shell. Having said that, some damage boost perks go a long way with it.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Perfect Storm in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Automatic rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50	17 / 19 / 23 / 28 / 34 8 per second (3 sec)	10mm Round
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		30
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
91	120	60
AP cost	Value	Weight
28	96	4.5

How To Obtain

This weapon is obtained as a completion reward for the Cold Case quest. This one is given by Miss Annie at Wavy Willard’s Water Park and is relatively easy to clear in terms of difficulty.

5. The Dragon

This is a named weapon in Fallout 76 that is basically the best in the game. It’s a modified version of the Black Powder Rifle, which does an additional 200 points of damage on top of your base output.

This makes the weapon powerful by default. There’s no denying that. However, perks and mods can push it to the next level.

You can make this into your one-stop shop for killing bosses. If you play around with the additional components, you can put them on it.

Stats

Here are all the stats for The Dragon in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Non-Automatic Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
35 / 45	200 / 225	.50 Caliber Ball
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		1
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
1	228 / 419	68
AP cost	Value	Weight
28	200	6.0

How To Obtain

Unfortunately, obtaining the Dragon as a legendary weapon from the following areas is impossible:

• Enemy Drops
• Quest Rewards
• Purveyor Picks

Having said that, here are all the sources for The Dragon in Fallout 76:

• The following vendors can sell The Dragon:
  • Grahm
  • Vendor Bots in the Berkeley Springs Station and the Watoga Station.
  • Free States Vendor in the Whitespring Resort.
• The Dragon can be handed as a reward from the following:
  • Treasure Map cache.
  • Event: Collision Course.
• The following sources can drop the Dragon:
  • Scorchbeast Queen
  • Progenitor Wendigo
  • David Thorpe (During the Key to the Past mission)
  • Fog Crawlers
  • HoneyBeasts
  • Civil War Reenactor
• The Dragon can be found in the following areas:
  • Thunder Mountain Power Plant
  • Uncanny Caverns
  • Garrahan Mining Headquarters (within the CEO’s office)

How To Craft

Unfortunately, The Dragon can only be Legendary Crafted. Which requires you to have the following materials in order to proceed:

4. All Rise

This is the legendary sledgehammer of your dreams. All Rise reduces the weight of this weapon and boosts the player’s health. There’s literally nothing to hate.

You can get this weapon through a quest in the game, so there’s no need to farm for it or anything. As with all weapons, boost your damage output, and you’ll give this beast the power you really want it to have.

Stats

Here are all the stats for All Rise in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Melee	Two-handed
Level	Damage	INC
30 / 40 / 50	65 / 75 / 85	+5% * STR
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Legendary Effects
		Lightweight
AP cost	Value	Weight
45	70	20.0

How To Obtain

This weapon is given out as a reward for completing Mayor for a Day quest in the Watoga area. Consequently, there’s no way of crafting the weapon aside from Legendary crafting.

3. Hunting Rifle

The Hunting Rifle is steady and dependable. You’ll be picking these up all over the game world, so there’s no need to look for one actively.

Keep an eye on the perks and mods; it can make a big difference. You may not see the point in this weapon early on, but it can slay all foes pretty damn fast in the mid-game.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Hunting Rifle in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Non Automatic Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
1 / 5 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50	40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70	.308 Round
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		5
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
3	132	65
AP cost	Value	Weight
28	40	6.0

How To Obtain

The Hunting Rifle can be obtained from the following sources:

• Sam Blackwell’s Bunker – on top of the table located at the backside of the archival room.
• As a drop from Scorched since they often use the shorter variant of the weapon.

Crafting Recipe

You can craft The Hunting Rifle by obtaining and using the following parts:

2. Assault Rifle

The Assault Rifle comes packed with side-mounted magazines, anti-aircraft style sights, and fires off 5.56mm rounds. While it’s not the most lethal weapon in the game, it’s certainly good enough to hold its ground.

Just chuck an automatic receiver, and you’ll be able to enjoy Commando perks instead of the usual Rifleman ones. The Assault Rifle also possesses a charging handle on the right side.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Assault Rifle in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
30 / 40 / 50	26 / 29 / 33	5.56 Round
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		20
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
40	120	71
AP cost	Value	Weight
32	105	8.0

How To Obtain

The Assault Rifle can be found at the following sources:

• At the Crimson Prospect: Head to the northeastern tower and move towards the same room as Randy’s terminal to find it lying on top of a dining table.
• At Harpers Ferry: Within the armory next to the minigun. Usually located on top of the shelves.
• At Sugar Grove

This weapon is a common sight in Appalachia and can be found being carried by the following enemies:

• Raiders
• Scorched
• Settlers
• Super Mutants

1. Combat Shotgun

Shotguns are known as the most lethal short-range weapons. They have huge crosshairs and can nearly 1 shot enemies with no effort whatsoever.

However, combat shotguns are an even bigger best in terms of offensive capabilities. The gun goes through both semi-automatic and full-automatic channels.

Its magazine is also nothing to scoff at. This weapon is hard to beat as the premier rapid-fire high-capacity shotgun in Fallout-76. Having said that, it’s usually found in Appalachia.

Stats

Here are all the stats for Combat Shotgun in Fallout 76:

Type	Class	Icon
Ranged	Rifle
Level	Damage	Ammo
20 / 30 / 40 / 50	60 / 70 / 80 / 90	Shotgun Shells
Legendary drop	Legendary craft	Clip Size
		8
Fire rate	Range	Accuracy
20	36	16
AP cost	Value	Weight
35	125	7.0

How To Obtain

The Combat Shotgun – or its variants can be obtained from the following locations:

• Found at the southern side entrance to Watoga.
• Found in the barn of Southhampton Estate; just head upstairs to grab it.
• Found as a random drop from Mole Miner Diggers.

Crafting Recipe

The Combat Shotgun can be crafted from the following materials:

Conclusion

All in all, certain weapons in Fallout 76 are pretty strong in terms of their firepower while others are rather weak in comparison. However, such weapons can make up for it in other stats.

What a weapon lacks in firepower, it can more than provide for it in attack speed and accuracy, but certain weapons can best even that. Therefore, we always recommend you try a weapon out before determining its ranking.