Fallout 76 weapons list and stats

How do you get weapons in Fallout 76? Fallout 76 has more stuff trying to kill you than ever before, and it's not just the mutated fauna as other players are likely to shoot first. You'll need good weapons to defend yourself, like melee weapons, ranged weapons, and maybe an explosive or two. Perhaps the only way to get an enemy off your back for good is to make them eat a Fat Man nuke.

While the weapons aren't massively different in how they shoot compared to the weapons from Fallout 4, they now have levels in addition to the multiple mods you can add to them. There's a couple of other things to keep an eye out for as well, like your weapon condition.

If you need a hand getting up to speed, our Fallout 76 weapons guide will explain how to make weapons in Appalachia, where to find weapon mods and much more. If you're playing your very first Fallout game after watching the new TV show, you may also need a beginner's guide to help you get started. If so, take a look at our Fallout 76 guide.

On this page:

• How to craft weapons in Fallout 76
• How to get the bow in Fallout 76
• Obtaining mod recipes in Fallout 76
• What are exceptional weapons?
• Fallout 76 weapon stats

How to craft weapons in Fallout 76

At any weapon workbench in Fallout 76, you can make your own weapons provided you have the relevant materials. You'll also need the recipe for the weapon in question. Weapon recipes can be found by scavenging the world or by breaking down weapons

The workbench is also where you repair items, which is important because broken weapons do nothing for you. Weapons in perfect conditions can be scrapped for an increased chance to obtain the recipe for that weapon.

Keep an eye on condition

One of the stranger and unexplained things about Fallout 76 is that no matter which weapon you create or find in the wild, it will have a different maximum condition. Even if you have two weapons that are the same type, have the same stats, and don't have any modifications attached to them, the maximum condition can differ.

That isn't to say modifications don't do anything at all, as they definitely affect your condition. Weapons also degrade quite quickly, so make sure that you have a fair quantity of junk to repair your gear with.

How to get the bow in Fallout 76

With the Wastelanders update, some new weapons were introduced in Fallout 76. One of them is the bow and the easiest way to it is to buy the recipe. The recipe can be found at either one of the vendors in the new settlements: the raider stronghold at the crashed space station in the northern part of Appalachia, or the settler town of Foundation near Spruce Knob to the south.

You can buy the plans for the bow for roughly 300 caps once you have got a relationship status of at least "cautious". Once you've bought it, make sure you've read the recipe. The recipe will be listed in the machine guns list and is crafted in the tinker workbench.

If you want to save on caps though, there's a quest at the Wayward that if you complete, you'll get the recipe for the bow.

Getting the compound bow

Do you want something with a little more punch? There is a compound bow that you can get, but you need to put in a lot more work to get it. Keep doing favours for one of the two factions (Settlers or Raiders) to increase their approval of you to "ally".

This is the highest rating and will give you access to more items via their vendors. Find out more about the factions in our Fallout 76 factions guide.

Obtaining mod recipes in Fallout 76

The simplest way to grab modification recipes in Fallout 76 is to scrap weapons. You'll get a random recipe for a mod that you can then craft and attach to your weapon of choice.

These mods can do anything from putting a new sight onto a gun, to turning a machete's blade into a serrated blade to add a bleed effect per hit. It's worth gathering some extra gear whenever you see a workbench nearby, just so you can nab those recipes.

What are exceptional weapons?

Naturally, there are certain weapons that are just flat out better than others, or indeed "Exceptional". The ways you obtain them are either based on completing certain Events or quests in Fallout 76. These weapons are usually based off a particular base weapon, say a Snubnosed .44 Pistol, and add more stuff on top of that. These weapons can't be scrapped either, so you don't need to fret too much about anything other than maintaining them.

Some of these weapons, namely the Voice of Set and Blade of Bastet, can be upgraded at weapon workbenches as you increase in level as well. Below are all the Exceptional weapons that are in the game, as well as where to find them.

Fallout 76 weapon stats

There are a huge number of weapons that you can create at workbenches. Each one has an associated level with it, so naturally the better the level, the better the stats. It's also worth noting that the corresponding bullets for ranged weapons can be created at Tinker's workbenches.

There are three tables below that describe all of the ranged weapons, melee weapons, and all of the legendary weapon effects in Fallout 76.

• Ranged weapons
• Melee weapons
• Legendary weapon effects

Ranged weapons

Melee weapons

Legendary weapon effects

Sometimes you'll randomly find some especially good weapons out in the field, mostly on legendary enemies. If an enemy has a star next to its name and is randomly restoring its health, these are the enemies that have a good chance of dropping legendary gear.

You may receive good weapons as part of a quest reward too in Fallout 76. Given that they're randomised drops, we can't give you much more advice  than that to track down legendary weapons, but here are the ones we've seen in the game thus far:

That's it for our guides on Fallout 76 weapons. If you need more help, check out our pages on the Power Armor locations, Treasure locations, terminal hacking, lockpicking and perk cards.