These weapons are legend-ary
Fallout 4 provides players with impressive, story-driven quests and pairs them with characters meant to illicit sympathy and friendship. However, more than half the fun of playing Fallout 4 comes from randomly running around the enormous world Bethesda has developed. And running around that massive world inevitably leads to combat with some of the Commonwealth’s many patrons.
Combat is wild and chaotic in Fallout 4. Enemies will run up and bash in your skull while their friends lob Molotov cocktails and fire mini-nukes. If you want to survive engagements that usually end in death, then picking the right weapon for the job is of utmost importance. You could head to any settlement or city within Fallout 4, spend a bunch of caps, and work with what you find.
You could also upgrade your weaponsmith perk through the roof and simply enhance weapons you find to their limit.
Or, you could keep an eye out for legendary Fallout 4 guns that possess perks you can’t fabricate at a weapon’s bench. Legendary weapons have a star next to their name and come with unique perks you can’t add with a mod. They should be hoarded and never sold, even if you don’t use them much.
#1: Ashmaker
- Ammo Type: 5mm
- Damage: 8
- Perk: Sets target on fire for 15 points of damage.
The Ashmaker is an intimidating mini-gun. It will rip through your average enemy in a few rounds and set them on fire for 15 points of damage every second.
We’re still determining what enemy exists in Fallout 4 that could handle such a beating. But if you ever find yourself facing down a deathless monster, introduce them to the Ashmaker.
#2: Mighty Plasma Pistol
- Ammo Type: Plasma
- Damage: 62
- Perk: 25% More Damage
The Might Plasma Pistol packs a punch like no other. Not only does it possess strong damage output, but it also carries a perk that gives it a blanket 25% increase in damage, regardless of whether you aim or not, whether you shoot it or beat someone with it. A 25% increase to all damage output is a wonderful perk to give you an edge throughout the dangerous wasteland.
#3: Salvaged Assaultron Head
- Ammo Type: Fusion cell
- Damage: 73
- Perk: Charged by reloading repeatedly. The more charges, the higher the damage. (Irradiates user)
One of the weirdest weapons we found, the Salvaged Assaultron Head, is an unorthodox weapon with a kickback. You’ll often come across deadly Assaultrons throughout Fallout 4 that can end fights a little too quickly. Not only do they rock your screen and health bar with their melee attacks, but their charged-up laser beam can also disintegrate players in a single shot.
Well, now you own that charged-up laser beam. Every time you reload the head, it gains an energy charge. You can charge it up to five times. After you’ve charged it, fire it to unleash a Kamehameha of science on your soon-to-be-dead enemies.
#4: Tactical Telsa Rifle
- Ammo Type: Fusion Cell
- Damage: 40
- Perk: Fires an electrical discharge that arcs between targets.
The Telsa Rifle is a gun you’ll need a good excuse to put down. It’s simply too good in too many situations. And it doesn’t run on gamma rounds which are harder to come by; it runs on fusion cells, which are pretty common.
The Tesla Rifle is true to its name. It fires out a tesla coil that attaches to several enemies at once and vaporizes their insides. Though its damage is only 40, we found this gun still one-shot most of the enemies we encountered. It also exploded their heads, which was unexpected.
#5: Never-ending Pipe Bolt-Action Pistol
- Ammo Type: .308
- Damage: 71
- Perk: Unlimited ammo capacity
We know, we know; you’re probably grumbling that we listed a Pipe Pistol on here. Just hear us out.
It’s got a never-ending clip of bullets. That has to make up for some of the crappiness that comes with Pipe Pistols.
While you still need to purchase bullets for the gun–it doesn’t come with infinite ammo–, having a bottomless clip of ammo is a convenient perk to have.
If you’re lucky, you’ll find other guns throughout the Commonwealth that carry the never-ending perk.
#6: VATS Enhanced Plasma Rifle
- Ammo Type: Plasma Cartridge
- Damage: 16
- Perk: Improved VATS hit chance, 25% less Action Point cost.
The VATS Enhanced Plasma Rifle is like a sci-fi assault rifle. It feels like something that belongs in Call of Duty, not Fallout. It has tight controls, fires very accurately, and comes with a nice perk. Although rifles usually take up way more action points by default, so this perk doesn’t help all that much. It brings the action point usage closer to a pistol.
#7: Explosive 10mm Pistol
- Ammo Type: 10mm
- Damage: 80
- Perk: Bullets explode on impact doing 15 points of area effect damage.
This was, and still is, our top three favorite guns to use in Fallout 4.
Yes, it’s a 10mm pistol, but it’s also so much more than that. Its bullets cause extra explosive damage, and that damage is AOE. If a raider is ducking behind a barricade, waiting for you to make a mistake, you can fire at the ground near the barricade. The explosive damage is enough to hurt the raider, flushing them out of hiding.
It may be housed in a meager pistol, but the explosive perk on this gun is highly underrated. We also took the liberty of fully upgrading our Gunslinger perk, which increases how much damage we do with pistols and their range and accuracy. So the explosive 10mm pistol works well for us.
#8: Hitman’s Hardened Handmade Rifle
- Ammo Type: 7.62
- Damage: 50
- Perk: +10% damage while aiming
The Hitman’s Hardened Handmade Rifle looks just like an AK-47. It’s one of the most grounded, realistic guns in Fallout 4. And while it won’t shoot lasers or slow down time when you reload, it will give you increased damage whenever you aim down the sights. And adding a 10% boost to damage just for aiming is a pretty easy way to increase your damage output.
#9: Kellogg’s Pistol
- Ammo Type: .44
- Damage: 125
- Perk: Refills your Action Points on a Critical Hit
You pick this gun up as you work your way through the main storyline of Fallout 4. Search for your son, Shaun, across the Commonwealth, and you’ll eventually run into the Institute. Uncovering the mysteries of the Institute will take you several days’ worth of gameplay, but throughout the journey, you’ll hear of a man named Kellogg. Eventually, you’ll have to face Kellogg and decide his fate. Regardless of your choice, you’ll most likely walk away from the encounter with Kellogg’s gun.
At first, Kellogg’s pistol may seem unassuming and bland, but it’s a power hitter. We put down many a Mirelurk Queen with this bad boy, and we couldn’t be happier with its perk. Our critical hit bar refills quicker with pistols–thanks to the aforementioned Gunslinger point dump–so we can perform critical hits frequently. Throwing this perk on top of our already frequent critical hit build allows us to fully embody the Gunslinger. We can put down several enemies with several critical hits before we even need to reload with this gun.
#10: Righteous Authority
- Ammo Type: Fusion cell
- Damage: 32
- Perk: Critical shots do double damage, and the critical meter fills 15% faster
Righteous Authority is one of the first legendary weapons you’ll encounter throughout Fallout 4. It’s given to you early on by a potential companion and should be used to the fullest. It’s a laser rifle that is hard to come by in the early game and does good damage. It also makes the VATS system more feasible in the early game as it charges critical hits quicker and doubles their damage. As you progress, it becomes less and less viable as a weapon you’d take with you. But its perk easily stands out amongst the competition.
Wrapping up
These are by no means all the legendary weapons you can find throughout Fallout 4. We didn’t even touch on legendary melee weapons, and there are plenty of those. Most of these legendaries are randomized across the wasteland and will spawn in a different place whenever you start a new save file. So the sooner you explore, the more you’ll come across.
