Fallout 76 weapons/Comparison

Damage types
There are different types of damage, depending on the weapon of attack:

Overview
Almost every weapon in Fallout 76 is able to be modified by attaching various modifications. Each modification will impact how the weapon performs, and some provide a visual change. The most desirable of these mods are legendary effects. These mods cannot be crafted onto or removed from a weapon, but grant significant bonuses.

All weapons in Fallout 76 have a randomly generated condition bar, the same weapon may have a different amount of condition and a different condition bar length. Player characters with higher Intelligence can craft weapons with larger durability bars. Players with higher Luck can influence the condition of found weapons.

Additionally, a weapon's level determines the base damage output and condition of the weapon. An example would be the combat rifle having a base damage increase by increments of 4 between level 20 and 50 leaving an unmodified level 50 combat rifle to have an additional 12 base damage over the level 20 counterpart and having a slightly longer condition bar. Higher level weapons also have higher build and repair costs.

Perks that affect weapons
1 requires power armor

Other weapon perks include:

Crafting and durability are affected by the following perks:

Weapon types
Keywords that influence the weapon's interactions with various perks and buffs. These can be altered on several weapons through weapon modification.

Automatic
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are treated as automatic weapons. Automatic weapons are affected by applicable perks like Commando or Guerrilla.


 * ¹ These weapons require an automatic receiver/barrel modification in order to be considered automatic.

Semi-automatic
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are treated as semi-automatic weapons. Semi-automatic weapons are affected by applicable perks like Rifleman or Gunslinger.


 * ¹ These weapons will not be considered semi-automatic if they have an automatic receiver/barrel modification.

Ballistic
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by either Bobblehead: Big Guns or Bobblehead: Small Guns and Guns and Bullets #3:

Energy
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by Bobblehead: Energy Weapons, Tesla Science #7 and Unstoppables #5:

Laser
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by Guns and Bullets #2:

Plasma
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by Guns and Bullets #9 and Tesla Science #2:

Melee
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by Bobblehead: Melee

Explosive
Including all standard and unique variants, the following weapons are affected by Demolition Expert, Grenadier, Bobblehead: Explosives, Tesla Science #3 and Unstoppables #3:

Thrown
The following weapons are affected by the Fire in the Hole perk:

Scoped
Including all standard and unique variants, weapons with the following mods attached are affected by Astoundingly Awesome Tales #10 and the Sniper perk. Weapons without the following mods are affected by Guns and Bullets #7. Rifles without the following mods are affected by the Long Shot perk.

Modular weapons
Modular weapons can be configured as either rifles or pistols, depending on the grip/stock modification.

Thrown
All thrown grenades deal 1 damage on a direct hit, separate from their main explosion damage.

Syringers
These weapons are used to apply buffs or debuffs. They are classified as ballistic weapons, however ballistic damage buffs will only apply to the on-hit damage, which is <1.

Optics
These weapons do not deal any damage directly and are solely used for scouting long distances.

Cameras
This weapon does not deal damage directly and is solely used to take pictures.

Chainsaw
This weapon is technically just a weapon. It does not scale with any perks, like the Camera or Binoculars.