Fallout 3 weapons

Introduction
This page constitutes a comprehensive reference to attributes of all Fallout 3 weaponry.

All values are accurate with a predominate ±1 margin of error unless otherwise defined with an approximation (≈) prefix. All values reflect weapon durability of 100% CND (condition), appropriate skill at 100. For Melee Weapons, damage stats are calculated based on a Str of 0. For every 2 points in Str, add +1 to the DMG / HIT amounts in the table below. See the Strength page for more information on how Strength affects Melee Weapons damage.
 * Please note that melee weapons are the only ones whose base damage is affected by a SPECIAL stat. All other base damage stats are only affected by the condition of the weapon and your skill.  Luck affects your critical hit chance, which will affect the MDPS stats below.

PLEASE NOTE: We've recently made many changes to the stats on this page based on user requests and a desire to provide more useful comparative information. In particular, before you go nuts changing this page because the DMG or DPS stats below don't match the DAM stat in the in-game user interface, please note that the DAM stat is no longer displayed on this page because it's equation is unknown and it appears to mislead players as to the relative damage-dealing ability of many weapons. We have replaced the DAM stat with DPS (damage per second), which is an easily understood equation and allows an accurate comparison of the damage-dealing ability of all sorts of weapons.

Column Explanations

 * DMG / HIT or SHOT: This information comes straight from the GECK and shows the damage caused by a single click of the mouse/trigger. For most Small Guns, that's a single bullet, but for shotguns it's a single shell (containing several small BB-like projectiles), and for the Gatling Laser it's a single beam.  This stat is most useful for comparing semi-automatic weapons like rifles, where you can see the full damage caused by a single shot, regardless of how long it takes to load and fire the next one.
 * DPS: This stands for damage per second and also comes straight from the GECK. It is a GECK-calculated number that you cannot change manually.  It takes into account things like reload time and weapon animation to provide you with a single common basis of measurement (1 second) to compare weapons of different fire rates, as well as ranged weapons vs. melee/unarmed weapons.  This stat is most useful for comparing automatic weapons like assault rifles and the minigun because those weapons fire several shots per second.  You will note that the DPS for some weapons (like semi-automatic rifles) is often less than the DMG / SHOT.  This is because it takes some weapons more than 1 second to fire one shot and load another.
 * SPRD: This is the Min Spread stat from the GECK (the Spread stat is not used). It refers to the accuracy of a ranged weapon.  0 means the weapon fires perfectly straight, though gravity may still make bullets drop over time.  Anything above 0 means the shots may deviate from center by that many degrees.
 * CRIT % MULT: The multiplier applied to your character's critical hit chance. This modifier applies to each individual attack you make (e.g. each 5mm bullet fired from your Minigun).  For example, if your character has a critical hit chance of 5%, and the weapon you're using has a CRIT % MULT of x2, then each shot has a 5% x 2 = 10% chance to critically hit.  Please note that, for automatic weapons (assault rifles, SMGs, Miniguns, etc.) the Crit % Mult stat in the GECK is divided by the GECK's Fire Rate stat, hence the very small multiplier for automatic weapons.  This is done to compensate for the sheer number of bullets being fired.
 * CRIT DMG: The amount of damage that is added when you score a critical strike. The damage bonus is added after armor, effectively making it bypass the target's armor. The more specialized Sneak Attack Critical also ignores armor but does so on both the base damage and critical bonus, often doing considerably more than a regular critical-strike.
 * MDPS: This is the modified damage per second that takes critical hits into account. It assumes a non-VATS attack, a Luck of 5, no perks (Finesse, Survival Expert, etc.), 100 skill and 100 weapon condition.
 * HP: This is the Health stat from the GECK. It determines how fast a weapon breaks down.  The more HP, the slower the rate of decay.

Unique - A designation for any of the "named" versions of common weapons, the unique moniker is used within these charts to define which common weapons can be used as spare parts for repairs - unique weapons are listed in green.

For more information about ammo, see: Fallout 3 ammunition.

Melee Weapons

 * Damage calculated under Pyromaniac (1 Rank)

Small Guns

 * Pistols are affected by Gunslinger
 * Rifles are affected by Commando
 * Automatic Pistols (SMGs) fire in 4-round bursts in VATS
 * Assault Rifles fire in 3-round bursts in VATS
 * Hold a SMG of Assualt Rifle while traveling but switch to a .32 pistol when fighting weak animals to conserve ammunition

Energy Weapons

 * Pistols are affected by Gunslinger
 * Rifles are affected by Commando
 * Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol fires in 2-round bursts in VATS.
 * Cryolator is not listed, it was removed from the final version of the game

Direct-Fire

 * Damage calculated under Pyromaniac (1 Rank)
 * ¹ Damage is unaffected by Pyromaniac
 * Miniguns and Gatling Lasers fire in 8-round bursts in VATS
 * Flamers fire in 3-round bursts in VATS

Area-of-Effect

 * Area-of-Effect weapons have a Crit % Modifier of 0, which eliminates any chance to critically hit with them.

Explosives

 * † Damage is unaffected by Demolition Expert
 * Damage calculated under Demolition Expert (3 Ranks)

Custom Built Weapons

 * Schematic CODE.
 * Cryolator, also a custom-built weapon, was removed from the game

Downloadable content weapons
These weapons will appear in the upcoming Fallout 3 downloadable content. Once implemented, they will be rolled into the other lists with a flag to note their limited access.

Unused weapons
Cut content, these weapons are only available through console commands.

Non-player weapons
This information is presented here to compare the weapons used by companions and other NPC helpers. They are not to be used by the player.