FALLOUT WASTELAND WARFARE WEAPON TIER LIST v5.2

This is going to be very different from the other lists, as what I'm doing here is a ranking of the weapons in tiers. One thing I MUST make clear, though: there isn't THAT much difference between the tiers (except D-tier); a Bolt Action Pipe Rifle isn't so much worse than a Combat Rifle that you're crippling a model by choosing it for character reasons.

Here's the explanation of each category: Rank S is broken and should always be the first choice... And probably needs rebalancing, as there's rarely a reason to take anything else. Rank A is almost always the correct choice. Rank B are solid, but most aren't quite as good as A - or there are other reasons it's not in Rank A, such as limited availability, but every model who can should take it. Rank C is only useful in very specific circumstances. Rank D... avoid Rank D weapons.

Note that this works in reverse for creating scenarios, where if you want them to be chumps which get mowed down in droves (and don't give the heroes good loot!), go for Rank D. If you want them to be deadly, reach for A.

Note that this doesn't include anything about Criticals, because so few models have access to them. It also doesn't have unique weapons like Kellogg's Gun because those are generally limited to one model (who should always take them if they can!) and are almost always better than similar weapons. The exception... well. you'll see.

 

Any weapon that has a Legendary variant will be discussed in the entry itself, at the end. Though right now I will say if any weapon adds a Blue die, it uses the Star at a 33% chance (except for Poisoner's but... don't use Poisoner's) and it's a solid choice for any Heroic models regardless of its other traits, as it leaves the Bottles free for AP generation.

First, though, I'm going to include my personal criteria of how I rank weapons. 

RANGE
Range isn't often a factor; longer = better, and if the weapon has lopsided dice in a range band it helps if the longer one has more dice. Assault Rifle is worse than the Marksman Carbine for this reason, and hey, it's also cheaper!

DAMAGE
1 Damage weapons are inherently bad. They can BECOME good with the right added dice or the correct price point, but the reason they're bad is simple: Strong Armor. Strong Armor is a common mechanic across several popular factions and exists in almost every faction, and 1 Damage weapons are at serious risk of just being ignored by anyone with Strong Armor - and can potentially be ignored by ANY model in the game with a lucky roll. When an entire category of weapons is as matchup dependent as 1 Damage weapons are, it makes choosing them an immediate liability when you could spend a few Caps more for reliability. 

DICE
I personally rank dice as Green > Black > Yellow - Blues are variable enough that they don't really count except on the weapon itself. This is gonna take a bit and involve a fair amount of math, so buckle up.

 

Greens are best because all the damage in the world don't mean nothing if you don't hit, and even having 7 in a given skill is ONLY a 65% of success. Increasing your odd of hitting = increasing damage output. Each Green die is between +5-10% (depending on the model's skill) to your chances; 'nuff said. Greens also have no blank sides, meaning that it can always contribute to the roll. The only time you should be ignoring Greens entirely is if you're in the 8-10 stat range; at that point you're maxing out your odds and can't ignore a "No hit" result, which is 15%.

 

Blacks are superior to Yellows because added damage is better than armor breaking by around +5-10%, which is significant over the course of a game. Compare a typical 2 Damage weapon adding one result of either with the following Armor sets:

 

2 Armor. +AP has 33% of 1 damage and 67% of 2; +Damage has 25% of 1, 33% of 2, and 42% of 3 - that's a 75% of 2+ damage.  

 

3 Armor. +AB has a 25% of being ignored, 33% of 1 Damage, and 42% of 2; +Damage has only a 16% of doing all 3, but a 33% chance of doing 2, a 25% of doing 1, and a 25% of being ignored - that's a 50% of 2+ damage.

 

4 Armor. +AP has a 50% of being ignored (!!), 33% of 1 damage, and only 16% of 2; +Damage has a 42% of being ignored, 25% of 1 Damage, and 33% of 2 - that's 58% of pushing through, versus 50% for the +AP.

 

Strong Armor reverses the formula and makes Yellows more consistent. 3+1 vs +AP is 25% ignored and 75% 1 Damage, versus +Damage of 50% ignored, 33% 1 Damage, 16% 2 Damage. But even so, that 50% is consistent enough, when most Strong Armor only lasts as long as the Power Armor equipped to the model...

The Black's one downside is that it has 25% of blanking out versus 16% on the Yellow; however, there are cheap reroll mechanics for Blacks and not so many for Yellows - and the Yellow ones are the same cost but are worth less as there's less chance of actually using them.

So it isn't that Yellows are bad. No added die is bad, and as shown against Strong Armor the Yellow matters a fair bit. But Yellows are the least good. 

AREA OF EFFECT
Because you center the AoE on a model, they're not hard to avoid and difficult to use; stay away from choke points - or alternately try to force your opponent through them. An Orange AoE is 50mm wide, which tells you exactly how much clearance there is around any given base size; it's best to shoot them at 30mm bases and affect as many models as possible. 

But therein lies the problem, as only a fistful of AoEs are bigger than Orange. Unless your opponent makes a mistake (and you shouldn't count on that), you'll only hit one model with your chosen AoE weapon. Stacked on top of this is that most AoE weapons are Limited Use or pay a 100% price premium for the possibility of hitting multiple models and you'll understand why I like them, but don't rate them too highly. For the most part.

PRICE

These days I use the Bolt Action Pipe Rifle as my yardstick: 10 Caps for 18" and 2 Damage with a selection of dice. If it's more expensive than that, I want to know WHY - more range, added dice, special effects - and if it's cheaper it has to be worse. So far I ain't been disappointed.

RIFLES

RANK A

COMBAT RIFLE

16 Caps Damage 2P (20" total 8" Black Yellow/12" Green Yellow )

The Combat Rifle is a good blend of cost, range, damage, and accuracy.The one downside is that now it's more expensive than some of those other alternatives at 16 Caps - at twice the cost of an Assault Rifle, you now need to make sure that if you're giving the model a Rifle it can leverage the CR's stats well enough to use it, or if it couldn't use a Bolt Action Pipe Rifle better.

Explosive: +3 Caps gets you a Blue with a 2" blast radius. Wunderbar.

Troubleshooter's: At +1 Cap, if your local meta has a lot of robot-using factions around, it's worthwhile.

LASER RIFLE

30 Caps Damage 2E (24" total 12" Blue Black /12" Blue Yellow)

The Laser Rifle is the Energy equivalent of the Combat Rifle - a solid weapon at any range, long or shot. It targets the often weaker Energy defense stat, and even cuts through regular armor like butter. Also, there is a 17% of setting the target on Fire, which deals an extra unblockable damage at minimum - pretty solid, but not common, and you may want to spend those two bottles reducing even more armor instead.

Relentless: YAAAS. +2 Caps for Shooting Quick Actions? The first Laser Rifle you buy should always be Relentless.

 

MARKSMAN CARBINE 

14 Caps Damage 2P (18" total 6" Black/12" Yellow Green) 

What makes the Marksman Carbine stand out is that it allows Shooting as a Quick Action, and has a roughly 12% chance to generate an AP on any given Long range shot. At its price, it's very competitive against the top two best guns, and well worth considering on any model that doesn't have any Quick Actions. 

SNIPER RIFLE

26 Caps Damage 2P (24" total 4" min 12" Yellow/12" Green Green Black)

At first glance, it's an inferior, physical version of the Laser Rifle. That first glance is wrong. First, it's on the Advanced table, giving it much greater availability. Second, it has insanely good accuracy with two Greens at long range. Third, it has a solid chance of spiking upward in damage despite no fickle Blacks; around 45-50% of 3 damage. 

RANK B

 

BOLT ACTION PIPE RIFLE

10 Caps Damage 2P (18" total 8" Green Yellow/10" Black)

Solid generalist weapons that have bumped up in value a bit, now that the Combat Rifle is more expensive. With 4" of range over the AR, you're potentially getting one more round of firing at close combat types in, as well as more flexibility in placement. What keeps this in B, even with the advent of other rifles like the Cowboy Repeater, is its place on the Wasteland table - which is sorely lacking in decent guns. 

Crippling: +6 Caps is a lot, but a Blue that can bust a model's skills at 18" is good. A possible sidegrade to a Combat Rifle on a character. 

Junkie's: +3 Caps for +Black is golden in Raiders. Elsewhere... it's not that great.

COWBOY REPEATER

11 Caps Damage 1P (20" total 12" Black Black Yellow/8" Black Black +Bottles = damage)

This is cheap and can spike to ridiculous amounts of damage - especially if upgraded with a reroll mechanic. On average it's a 2P 20" gun, which is better than the BAPR, and a good reason why it costs 11 Caps.

GAUSS RIFLE

42 Caps Damage 3P* (24" total 12" Yellow/12")

The most expensive gun in the game, and only some Power Armors are more expensive than it. For that, you get 3 Damage at 24" range, with the option to add +1-2 Damage for each Action you spend not shooting. Honestly, it's so very expensive, but for a high Rifles sniper it's a reliable 6 damage every round which is quite frightening.

 

GRENADE LAUNCHER

35 Caps Damage 2P AoE 2" (18" total 8" Yellow Green/10" Yellow)

These guys are budget Missile Launchers with three big differences: Not Heavy, not Heavy Weapons, and a smaller radius. The range is quite nice, and it effectively deals 3 damage to what it hits - these are both strong selling points to it over the Flamer. Having one of these on a decent Rifles guy is a solid investment.

HUNTING RIFLE

20 Caps Damage 2P (22" total 10" Yellow Yellow/12" Green Green)

Hunting Rifles are the poor man's Laser Rifle, but do have two major points over the Laser Rifle and Sniper Rifle: cheaper with solid accuracy at Long Range and reliable Armor busting at Short Range.

Hunter's: Beasts aren't as common as Robots. For +2 it's fairly priced, but very meta dependent.

LASER MUSKET

14 Caps Damage 2E (16" total 10" Green Yellow/6" Black)

These guns are very good, especially at the price. While their range isn't stellar, being cheap Energy weapons is always great. Being on the Advanced Table is also a win.

Kneecapper: +2 Caps and a Blue for hindering movement? Good stuff, and probably Preston's first choice.

PLASMA RIFLE

19 Caps Damage 2E (18" total 6" Green Yellow/12" Black)

The Plasma Rifle loses a 6" of range to the Laser Rifle, in exchange for... being 11 Caps cheaper. That's a reasonable tradeoff. The main benefit is that it deals Adaptive damage; that is to say, it targets the lower of a model's Armor stats. This is actually good; targeting a 2 instead of 3 is a 33% increase of damage, and it has dice in all ranges to capitalize on that. Especially on models with Strong Armor, such as the common Enclave Trooper Armor and T-45, that extra kick can matter quite a bit. But a lot of models just have flat even Armor in all stats, such as Survivors, so depending on the target you're paying a premium over the Combat Rifle for an ability that usually (but not always!) is useful.

RANK C

ASSAULT RIFLE

8 Caps Damage 2P (14" total 6" Black Green/8" Black)

Being the cheapest Rifle (tied only by the regular Pipe Rifle!) gives this gun a purpose it was lacking before. The BA Pipe Rifle has longer range, the Combat Shotgun has better damage close in and slightly longer range as well (but the AR has that extra Black die at long range), and the SMG may be more accurate.. however, two Caps can be significant when spread across multiple goons firing guns. 

Incendiary: Incendiary on an added Blue = good. AR = mediocre. +5 Caps = bad. There are better choices.

 

ANTI-MATERIEL RIFLE

37 Caps Damage 3P Heavy (24" total 4" min range 12" Black/12" Black Yellow Green Green)

The AMR is strong, especially at Long range. Slightly cheaper than the Gauss Rifle for overall stronger damage (with an auto-Armor break stat included!), one might wonder... why is this not higher? Well, it's Unique, for one thing - only one per force. It's also Heavy, so only one shot per activation for an overall lower damage output than the Gauss or Laser Rifles. Last, it's worst at 12" or closer, which experienced players might recognize as "the range that a major portion of the game takes place at." In most factions the models with access to High Tech are characters with better things to do.

 

COMBAT SHOTGUN

10 Caps Damage 2P (16" total 6" Black Black/10")

With double blacks at Short range, it can hit HARD close in. But it lacks any dice at its long range, which is barely longer than the AR's - and arguably speaking the AR's extra green at close range is just as valuable as an extra black.

Freezing: For +2 Caps adding a Blue with Frozen is... okay. Frozen isn't the best, and its temporary span makes it worse than Crippling or Kneecapper (which at least last the entire fight on the chance it procs), but it's not bad.

Plasma: +2 Caps gets you a Blue that changes it to Energy damage. Pretty reasonable, as most models have lower Energy, and the Blue is added to Long range.

DOUBLE BARRELED SHOTGUN

12 Caps Damage 3P Heavy (12" total 4" Black Blue Green/8")

DB Shotguns are a weird tool. They're one of the few weapons that hit 3 damage, but are Heavy meaning they can only be fired once per model's activation. However, at close range they have a 33% of inflicting Stun and a 16% of removing the Heavy for a second shot. Overall they have uses, but are situational - they're best used on models that might not WANT to spend two actions attacking, like objective runners.

 

INSTITUTE LASER RIFLE

10 Caps Damage 1E (20" total 12" Black Green Yellow/ 8" Black Green)

The ILR has deceptively okay damage, with both a Black and Yellow die at short range and targets often-lower Energy Armor. They're cheap, and commonly available on models that can make use of them. I prefer the Pistol version, but these are a great choice for the models that can take them.

Deadeye: +4 Caps for a Green. It's not... a bad deal.

RAILWAY RIFLE

20 Caps Damage 2P (20" total 10" Blue/10" Yellow)

At Short Range, the Railway Rifle has a Blue die with a guaranteed effect - Bottles are damage, Stars are Armor Piercing, and Clouds are Stun. This can get nasty (especially with doubles!), but it's random what you get. Being on the Wasteland table, however, makes them the strongest Rifle on a significant number of models.

SUBMACHINE GUN

10 Caps Damage 2P (14" total 8" Black Green/6" Green)

SMGs are short-range accurate Rifles for quite cheap - the best comparison is to the Assault Rifle, where you're basically swapping the Short/Long range bands and the Long range Black for a Green. Honestly? A little better than the AR. ENOUGH better? Considering the low stat models that you're likely going to reach for if you're using these... yes?

TRAIL CARBINE

24 Caps Damage 2P (22" total 10" Black Yellow Green/12" Black Green) 

The Trail Carbine is a direct upgrade of the Combat Rifle and Hunting Rifle. That's... good. It has Black Green at all ranges, and is only 2" shorter than the longest possible range. That's... also good. It's 24 Caps, and that's a problem; it's a bit too expensive to arm an "elite cadre" of troops with it, and it's a bit too low on other benefits to compete with other, more expensive rifles that more expensive characters can get. I don't dislike it, but at 50% more cost than a Combat Rifle it only has maybe 20-30% more combat performance - and the Hunting Rifle's two Greens can turn a Mediocre Rifles skill into a stellar one. 

RANK D

ASSAULT CARBINE

10 Caps Damage 1P (22" total 12" Black Yellow Yellow/10" Black Yellow)

Bozhemoi. With all those Yellows and a Black, it's PROBABLY going to land that 1 Damage even though relatively thick armor (barring Strong armor). It has a reasonable (maybe 15%?) chance of generating an AP, but it gives no way to spend them.

CARAVAN SHOTGUN

12 Caps Damage 2P (16" total 8" Black Yellow/8")

The Combat Shotgun has effectively the same stats (it loses 2" of Short range but gains a Black) for 10 Caps. It would be a perfectly fine SIDEGRADE to the Combat Shotgun (as that's a reasonable tradeoff), but as an UPgrade? No, no it is not. 

FLAMER 

24 Caps Damage 2P AoE 2"  (8" total 4" Green Blue/4" Blue)

As the shortest range Rifle, with the Grenade Launcher now available, is the Flamer worth it? On the one hand, it's a non-Grenade, non-Heavy Weapon AoE and has a 100% chance of landing a Special (66% AP, 33% Fire, 16% extra damage), which makes those double results even deadlier. On the other hand, 8 inches? You're in melee range then, and anything you'd be shooting at should already be dead or close to it. On the third hand (should have stocked up on RadAway!) it's in the High Tech table, which frankly has better options. Don't use this. At least for now. (fingers crossed it gets into the Wasteland table! Flamethrowers aren't that hard to make!)

 

HUNTING SHOTGUN

9 Caps Damage 2P (18" total 8" Black Green/10")

The Hunting Shotgun is a marked-down Bolt Action Pipe Rifle that swaps a close range Yellow and long range Black for a close range Black. It's also Unique, so only one in a list. The main virtue it has is that it has a great amount of Critical damage, but that only really matters for Heroic models (or drug users). I... don't think it's very good.

 

PIPE RIFLE

8 Caps Damage 1P (18" total 10" Black Green Yellow/8" Black Green)

If I had a Rank F, this'd be there. It's basically Physical versions of the 1 Damage Institute Laser Rifle, which is the problem - it doesn't target Energy Armor, so it's leaning on its dice to deal with any serious Armor, and anyone with at least 3 Armor can feel pretty safe. At 8 Caps, this just ain't worth it, still. 

Irradiated: Irradiated is Radation done well - for reasonably cheap you MIGHT land extra damage depending on matchup. But the Pipe Rifle is just a bad platform. 

Staggering: A Blue die with Stun for +6 Caps sounds good. The problem is that it's attached to the Pipe Rifle. 

 

SERVICE RIFLE

10 Caps Damage 1P (20" total 12" Black Green Blue/8" Green Blue)

So. The Service Rifle DOES have a decent chance of generating AP with every shot, somewhere between 20-30% if I'm doing my maths right (three dice is tricky!) The main problem is that it's a 1 Damage weapon without a fistful of Black dice and doesn't give any way to USE said AP. If you've got a solid gameplan for what to do with all that extra AP, then feel free to use these. Otherwise I'd rather have a better gun to make solid use of the AP that I generate natively.

PISTOLS

RANK S

.357 Magnum Revolver

8 Caps Damage 2P (10" Green Green Black)

Double Greens ensures that models with even middling Pistols skill of about 4-6 (which you would recognize as the majority of the game) can reliably hit, and even 7 likes the increased odds. Having a Black and being on the Advanced table are also top adds. This is absolutely one of the first guns that should be picked from, aside from...

 

HUNTING REVOLVER
7 Caps Damage 2P (12" Green Green)

It swaps a Black for -1 Cap cost, 12" range, and a 16% of landing Stun. I honestly think this is the better Pistol of the two, but there are arguments for either.

RANK A

12.7mm Pistol 

4 Caps Damage 1 (12" total 8" Black Black Black/4" Black Black)

For dirt cheap this thing packs a punch at a fair range - even at Long it's almost 2P damage, and it can spike to crazy high values. CAN. It's the Power Fist of the Pistol range. 

 

ALIEN BLASTER

9 Caps Damage 2E (12" Black Green)

Alien Blasters are better Laser Pistols, dropping the situational Yellow die for a more often useful Black die and adding 2" of range. The problem is that it's Unique, but it's well worth it - if you can justify it from an RPG view. 

A LIGHT BURNING IN THE DARKNESS

14 Caps Damage 2 (12" Black Black)

Giving Critical is no joke, and the Crit effect on this is quite solid and can even spike the damage up to very frightening levels, though being 3 instead of 2 makes it a bit slow. It's Unique (of course), and it's the same price as the Sequoia - which I think is a bit better.

COLONEL AUTUMN'S 10MM PISTOL

12 Caps Damage 2 (12" Black Yellow Blue)

This thing gives AP on Star results; that means it will on average generate 2 extra AP a game by itself. Combine it with Heroic and that is a TON of AP. And by itself it's no slouch, at the best pistol range with Black Yellow dice.

 

LASER PISTOL

7 Caps Damage 2E (10" Green Yellow)

For Rank A, Laser Pistols are IT. Commonly available, deal Energy damage, decent Range, add a Green die... Yeah, if you have a choice between this or any other pistol (aside from the Alien Blaster or other Unique), pick this.

Penetrating: +1 Cap for a Yellow. Would be good, except...

Wounding: +1 Cap for a Blue that causes Damage is just... really good. 

 

RANGER SEQUOIA

13 Caps Damage 3 (12" Blue)

If you have any model with 8+ Pistols, TAKE. THIS. GUN. Hell, it's good enough to start any given list with and even spring for Custom Grip. With a Star causing Stun and Injured Arm, max range for a Pistol, and THREE damage, its only 'downsides' are no Greens, its high price, and that it's (thankfully!) Unique except on an already expensive model in one faction.

 

RANK B

10mm PISTOL

6 Caps Damage 2P (10" Black Green)

10mms are the runner-up - if you don't want to shell for .357s, grab this. Black and Green dice are almost never bad.

Explosive: +3 Caps for a Blue that lands a 2" explosive marker is definitely A rank. 

Hunter's: Don't use Hunter's stuff unless your meta has a ton of beasts.

 

.44 Magnum Revolver

8 Caps Damage 2P (10" Black Yellow Green)

Adding a Yellow to the 10mm isn't bad. But adding a Green is definitely better.  

 

BOLT ACTION PIPE PISTOL

1 Cap Damage 1P (12" Black Yellow)

The BAPP has one virtue: It's dirt-cheap, the cheapest weapon in the game at only 1 Cap! As such, sticking it on objective runners in case they have an enemy in range and nothing else to do is never a bad choice.

Irradiated: +1 Cap for +1 (effective) damage is pretty great. Yes, it's matchup dependent, but you're not paying a lot for the added value.

Plasma: I think the card is supposed to have an added Blue, but in this case I don't think it's a good add - BAPPs are meant to be on cheap models and Heroic doesn't blend well with that.

PLASMA PISTOL

6 Caps Damage 2E (8" Black Green)

These are damned close to Laser Pistols - losing some range and exchanging the Yellow for a Black die, and at 1 Cap cheaper. But they have limited availability and that extra 2" of Range can matter sometimes.

RANK C

.44 REVOLVER

6 Caps Damage 2P (10" Yellow Yellow)

Yellow dice are... situational. They're helpful only when 1) your opponent rolls well on their Armor die, and 2) you roll well on the Yellow die - on top of that, Black dice have basically the same effect if you roll extra damage! They're not bad, but compared to the 10mm's Black+Green?

Kneecapper: +1 Cap gets a Blue with a Leg injury ability. It's... OK, but at that range you'd rather have Crippling. 

FLARE GUN

5 Caps Damage 1E (16" total 8" Blue Green/8" Blue)

Flare Guns have Rifle range, and they can set an enemy on fire 33% of the time - these are both good things. The bad thing is their 1 Damage, though this is helped by being Energy. Weirdly, they scatter, but have no AoE so if they don't land on a model they... don't do anything? 

INSTITUTE LASER PISTOL

3 Caps Damage 1E (12" Black Green Yellow)

ILPs are dirt-cheap, have lots of dice, and have great Range for Pistols - these are all virtues, though its 1 Damage (despite Energy type) isn't great. Massed ILPs will definitely do great work, though.

Staggering: +4 Caps comes with a Blue that can Stun. Stun is good, but the ILP's main virtue is its bargain basement price. For a few Caps more you could buy a better Legendary for a Heroic model. 

PIPE PISTOL

2 Caps Damage 1 (12" Black Black)

For one Cap more than the BAPP, the PP has two Black dice instead of a Black and Yellow. This is... better, but any model you're giving one of these guns to should be as cheap as possible. If you have the spare points, upgrading BAPPs to PPs is solid.

Poisoner's: Poisoner's Blue works on mushroom clouds, not stars, which drops it to roughly a 16% chance. Even for only +1 Cap and for how painful Poison is, I'd give it a miss.

RANK D

GAMMA GUN

13 Caps Damage 3R (14" total 8" Green Yellow/6" Yellow)

Don't. Radiation damage is so very unreliable; against an enemy weak to it the Gamma Gun will tear them apart, but altogether too many models completely ignore it or have high Armor against it. At such a high price, too? Nope.

Deadeye: No. What MIGHT have been good is a reverse of the Irradiating where it might deal Physical damage, but... No. Being able to hit with these things was not the problem it had.

PLASMA DEFENDER

12 Caps Damage 2E (8" Black Black Green)

This... isn't where I'd want to put it, but at twice the price of a Plasma Pistol you're getting one more Black and +2" of range, and it's also Unique. That isn't twice as good as the Plasma, maybe like 40% more? Do not get this gun if you can just buy a Plasma Pistol. 

PULSE GUN

11 Caps Damage 2E (10" Black Yellow Yellow)

For +4 Caps over a Laser Pistol, you get a Laser Pistol that only works on Robots and non-degraded PA and an extra Yellow. This is a garbage bargain.

CLOSE COMBAT WEAPONS

Remember, with all melee weapons, that STR7+ bonus can make something mediocre and cheap into a nasty game-ender.

RANK S

THERMIC LANCE

35 Caps Damage 3P (Melee 6+ Yellow Yellow Yellow) 

Look. We all know that it's good. If dedicated melee model isn't using either this or one of the STR7+ club, there'd better be a good reason (and in this case I don't think budget IS a good reason). While it is the price of a weak model in most factions, there's no denying the quality increase to a single model's activation. Even its restriction isn't 'bad', because you'd only give this to models with insanely good Melee anyway. That it sums Strong + Regular Armor, along with throwing 3 (!!) Yellows at it, is even stronger. This bears watching, and may need a nerf.

RANK A

BATON

10 Caps Damage 2P (Green Green)

What makes the Baton brilliant is the two Green dice. All the damage in the world doesn't mean much if you can't hit, and increasing your odds to hit is rarely a bad choice.

Incendiary: +3 Caps for a Blue die that sets enemies on fire? Well worth it.  

 

MACHETE

1 Cap Damage 1P (Black Green)

Machetes are a direct upgrade to the Improvised Weapon, keeping the Green and adding a Black. This is a solid improvement for the price, especially if you think your objective runners might be hitting some unexpected obstacles like Mole Rats. What still gives it value over the Machete Gladius is that it's still so cheap.

Freezing: For any Heroic model that ISN'T a melee beater, this is a must buy - at 3 Caps it's the cheapest Blue die melee weapon and the Frozen effect isn't bad either.  

MACHETE GLADIUS

3 Caps Damage 1P (Black Black Green)

Go take a look at the Power Fist, below. What would make it better in the hands of a cheap throaway model? Why, adding a Green for no extra charge! Now, it can't Stun like the PF, so it's a sidegrade, but a worthwhile one - and since they're in different tables you may never have to choose between them.  It's also a great upgrade to Machetes, as the double Blacks can stack an additional damage reliably and even spike crazy high.

POWER FIST

3 Caps Damage 1P (Black Black)

Power Fists are super-cheap and for two Caps over the Machete swaps the green die for a black one, giving it a 75% chance of hitting 2 damage, and a decent 33% of hitting 3 damage in a single hit. It also has a solid 12% of inflicting Stun, which improves if you add another Black die in somewhere... like from STR 7+? What enhances them further is the Mod Heavy (treat one blank Black face as Damage) and the Perk Big Leagues (reroll one Black die) - for a total of 16 Caps you get a weapon that is reliably 3 Damage and can spike into the 5 Damage range often. The downside is that everything is going to the damage and nothing to your to-hit chance; all the damage in the world means nothing if you can't hit.

VERTIBIRD BLADE

22 Caps Damage 2P (Yellow Yellow Blue)

Where the Vert Blade excels is hunting power armor and big bots - with a 33% to sum Strong + Regular Armor, Enclave and Brotherhood alike should beware. Since it requires STR 7+, it effectively throws 4 dice at your opponents; what really puts it in the A tier is access in the Wasteland Table. The factions who do worst against Strong Armor are the ones who lack reliable access to the Advanced and High Tech tables; with this as a relatively cheap option it will do a lot of good work.

RANK B

BALLISTIC FIST

16 Caps, Damage 2P (Black Black)

It does a lot of damage with double Blacks on top of base 2 Damage - that's good. It has a 16% of letting you push your enemy 4" and follow them - that's good. But 16 Caps is a LOT when a PF+Heavy+Big Leagues costs the same; though you could add Heavy and Big leagues to it that's +13 Caps for a good but expensive weapon.

 

BLADE OF THE EAST

25 Caps Damage 2P 4" AOE (STR7+ Yellow Blue)

Where the BotE stands out is its AOE effect - that's a big big area. It's nice that it has a 33% of Stun and even 16% of summing Strong + Regular Armor without overlapping the Bottles that Heroic want for AP as well. As part of the STR7+ Gang it has its own flavor without overpowering them, thanks to being Unique. Its only problem is that the opponent has to oblige you by clumping close, which isn't always easy.

 

BOARD

8 Caps Damage 2P (Black)

Black dice are good, yes. But this isn't ALWAYS the best choice; high STR models with STR-based Melee would prefer either a Vert Blade or a Power Fist stacking the Mods; lower STR models would prefer a usually prefer a Baton, COS, or Machete if they're skimping on Caps.

Bloodied: +1 Cap for an extra black die when the target's almost dead? This is a bad trade.  

CHINESE OFFICER'S SWORD

7 Caps Damage 2P (Green)

As a basic weapon, this doesn't compare well to the Board, even with its Bottles = AP. Where it comes into its own is by adding a Mod - a Stun Pack is only 3 Caps and will generate a ton of AP. But you need a way to use that AP reliably...

Relentless: +2 Caps to give a model a Quick Action is solid. With the aforementioned Stun Pack, this turns the model into a melee fillet making nightmare.  

 

SHISHKEBAB

15 Caps Damage 2P (Black Yellow Blue)

Finally, a decent Energy melee weapon! Still expensive, but the extra Black die is welcome here, and the 33% of inflicting Fire (and thus more damage is definitely not bad at all. At this point, it's probably going to be a fairly rare weapon, but it's not bad in the slightest. 

SUPER SLEDGE

30 Caps Damage 3P (Blue Yellow Yellow)

The only thing keeping these out of A rank is their cost. With 3 Damage, 2 Yellow dice, and a 33% of inflicting an Injured condition, these things are brutal with a capital "B" in the right hands - Super Mutant Brutes, T-60 BoS Knights, and so on. But oftentimes massed cheaper weapons like Batons or Lead Pipes are better.

RANK C 

CATTLE PROD

3 Caps Damage 1E (Black Green Blue)

The value add here is that it Stuns on a Bottle - so about 55% of the time you'll be removing enemy AP. As an Energy weapon in the Wasteland table, it also has some value, and it's cheap enough that you can take it without much of a wince.

DEATHCLAW GAUNTLET

15 Caps Damage 2P (Green Yellow Yellow)

These guys are overall solid melee weapons; the problem is that the Shishkebab exists and is in the same Wastland Items table. Still, trading a Blue + Black for a Green and Yellow is situationally useful, plus it looks cool.

 

HUGE CLUB

21 Caps Damage 2P (STR 7+ Black Blue Blue)

Huge Clubs are unusual but good as the OG Daddy of the STR7+ Gang. With two Blue dice they have a very reasonable chance of landing their Special effects - either a Pushback (which allows the model to Push into the enemy as well) or a Stun, or both! I honestly prefer the Super Sledge for a few Caps more, but these aren't bad in their own right.

 

As per James Sheahan, the Huge Club is supposed to be a PUSH, not an AOE.  

 

IMPROVISED WEAPON

0 Caps Damage 1P (Green)

What puts this weapon on the list is simple: Access. Every model has this, and dedicated ranged models should probably use it in melee unless their Shooting skill is 2 points or more higher than their ranged skill - don't give 'em Close Combat weapons unless you have to or have a few spare Caps for Machetes.

LEAD PIPE

9 Caps Damage 2P (Blue)

Lead Pipes are great because of their 50% of landing a Special Effect - either Stunning an enemy or inflicting an Injured condition. On dedicated melee models with a solid chance of hitting (thus not needing the Baton's bonus), this can be devastating. Plus, even if the damage is reduced to 0 the Special Effect still goes off, which makes them useful even against highly Armored opponents. But it's a tradeoff; would you rather do more damage or pick a weapon that would hinder an enemy yet not remove them?

Penetrating: +4 Caps gets you a Yellow die. That's not bad, but the main reason to swing Lead Pipes is their Blue die effects. You can leave this at home if you've got Caps to spend on other things.  

 

PIPE WRENCH

6 Caps Damage 2P (Yellow)

They're in basically the same place as a Board, but are slightly cheaper; their Yellow dice is worse, but that's what you get the discount price for!

Bloodied: +1 Cap for an extra black die when the target's almost dead? This is a bad trade.  

Troubleshooter's: On the other hand, in the right meta, this is the very correct choice - at only 7 Caps it's very cheap for what it does.

 

REBAR CLUB

18 Caps Damage 2P (Black Yellow Blue)

The Rebar Club is the weak sister of the STR7+ Gang. It's certainly not BAD, and swapping a Yellow for a Black at 4 Caps less than the Vertibird Blade is good, but with only a 16% to sum Strong + Regular Armor, this seems like a meta-dependent choice. It's also Unique, making it a bit worse than the other choices. 

SLEDGEHAMMER

12 Caps Damage 2P (Yellow Yellow)

Sledgehammers... are okay. But they're competing directly with the Lead Pipe, Board, and Baton on price point, which doesn't favor them at all, and all they're adding is Yellow dice - albiet 2 of them.

Irradiated: THIS, on the other hand, is very favorable. +2 Caps for generally adding +1 damage a swing? That's hard to argue with. 

SPEAR

4 Caps Damage 1P (Black Yellow Green)

What makes the Spear interesting versus the other 1P damage weapons is adding the Quick Action for Melee and giving AP on Bottles - at a 20% chance of generating one and no upward limit on how many it can make, a Spear model has a good chance of going into a stabbing frenzy. I kinda wish it had an 2" reach instead (to let models behind a line of defenders stab in front), but it is not without merit.

STUN BATON

25 Caps Damage 2E (Black Blue Green)

Stun Batons are the only melee Energy weapon, which is unique. They also have a Special die on top of their Black and Green, which removes a Ready token or inflicts Stun if the target has no Ready tokens. These are all good, but at 25 Caps? 

TIRE IRON

12 Caps Damage 2P (Yellow Green)

I like Greens.But this has the same problem as the Sledgehammer

Crippling/Staggering: The problem with both of these is that the Lead Pipe exists and is much cheaper. Yeah, it doesn't have a Yellow Green roll, but Mods exist.

RANK D

ASSAULTRON BLADE

3 Caps Damage 1P (Black Yellow Green)

The Machete Gladius kinda kicks this one in the fork. 

Plasma: Blue die changing the damage to Energy is good, and at only +1 Cap it's not overpriced. But I'd rather have a Freezing Machete.

 

BASEBALL BAT

1 Caps Damage 1P (Black Yellow)

Just... don't. Swapping a Green for a Yellow is a bad trade, especially on the models you'd be putting 1 Cap melee weapons on. Yes, they have a Special Effect, but no Special die, so they're leaning on the unlikely roll of a Bottle from the Yellow or Black dice.

Hunter's: The Hunter's Hunting Rifle is a good joke. This is a bad one. 

 

DOG TAG FIST

2 Caps Damage 1P (Yellow Green)

A unique rule that MIGHT let it do extra damage, 16% chance of causing Stun, a Damage 1 weapon with no Blacks... Leave this one in the barracks, or better yet dig those dog tags out and get them to their loved ones. Your slaves would want to know if YOU were dead, right?  

 

FIRE AXE 

10 Caps Damage 1P (Black Black Black)

Look, I get it. 3 Blacks are very, very spikey - you could in theory roll 7 damage off a chump attacker. In practice? They have an average of 2.5 damage, which is equal to the the Board's, but at the risk of rolling really badly. 10 Caps is just... don't. Buy a Board instead - or say your Fire Axe model has a Board. Or a freaking Machete Gladius, those things are actually pretty damned fair.

NAIL BOARD

1 Caps Damage 1 (Black Yellow Yellow)

These are marginally better than Baseball Bats, with 2 Yellow dice, but not enough better to actually move them out of D Tier.

Junkie's: For Raider Pyschos, this is a definite contender, and the Caps saved by only paying 4 for a melee weapon is no joke. Probably the first Psycho should buy this baby. 

Troubleshooter's: Still don't think it's worth it.

RIPPER

6 Caps Damage 2P (Yellow)

Rippers are anti-armor melee weapons, which have a Yellow die and replace the STR7+ bonus die with a Yellow as well. This is not a good tradeoff.

Poisoner's: Ugh, Poisoner's is bad, and Rippers are bad. It's like a crap cupcake frosted with puke preservatives! 

 

HEAVY WEAPONS

RANK A

MISSILE LAUNCHER

52 Caps Damage 2P 4" AoE Heavy (24" Black Yellow)

Let's be clear: If you're not taking a Missile Launcher, you'd better have a good reason (and once again, budget is a good reason!). They're simply better than the other options, with a big AoE, 3 Damage to their actual target, and have a Scatter if they miss - which given that decent AoE means it's likely to still hit something.

 

Going up in price relative to the other options means that it's more of a tradeoff, moving them out of S-Rank, but it's still a solid, well-rounded weapon that won't disappoint you. 

RANK B

BROADSIDER

31 Caps Damage 2P 2" AoE Heavy (24" Black Yellow)

A budget Missile Launcher? Well, at 21 Caps less that's QUITE a discount, and the main thing it loses is that massive 4" AoE, downgraded to a 2" AoE - still quite useful if only as a deterrent to your opponent bunching up a lot of targets. Being Unique isn't even a thang, since it's not like you can bring a bunch of these anyway! It's also less than the Grenade Launcher, with a longer range.

 

GATLING LASER

30 Caps Damage 1E Walked Fire(5) Heavy (24" total 12" Black/12")

Gatling Lasers are definitely not awful. The low single hit damage is made up for by the low average Energy Armor that models have, especially the ones you'd be hosing with Gatling Laser fire. The problem is that Strong Armor laughs at them, making them only good at taking out weak models.

Anything with Walked Fire has a very unique rule about multiple shots hitting the same target: each successive attack reduces the target's Armor by 1 against that attack, as long as the new attack hits. This means that (in theory) if you hit all five times you could knock even a model with 4 Armor to nothing, but the odds of that are miniscule - hell, even the odds of an STR 8 model hitting twice in a row is about 56%. This is a good ability, but it's honestly a 'if it happens, use it', where you can't rely on it too often unless the model has seriously jacked STR. Even then, Strong Armor still laughs.

I know I wasn't going to mention Criticals, but both these and Miniguns replace their normal, entire Walked Fire effect with a single 3-damage hit. Don't wishfully interpret that the Critical only applies to ONE of the shots and you still get the other four.

 

HEAVY INCINERATOR

35 Caps Damage 3P 2" AoE Fire in 4" AoE Heavy (14" total 8" Yellow/6")

Heavy Incinerators are... good, but different from most Heavy Weapons in that it's not a stand-off weapon. Instead, it's all about melting faces at medium-close range, and it's GOOD at that. Being Heavy actually favors this usage; it lets you kite the enemy as they close in, shooting fire in their faces til your own melee models can charge them. Even upped in price, this is a solid choice.

 

TESLA CANNON

35 Caps Damage 2P 2" AoE  Heavy (24" total Black Yellow)

A budget Missile Launcher? Yeah, so what? At 17 Caps that's QUITE a discount, and it deals... Physical damage? Uh. I would think a Tesla Cannon would deal Energy damage. I'm going to assume that this is a mistake, because an Energy AoE weapon would have a fair bit of value even at only 2". As it's on the High Tech table, though, it's also harder to get to - but gives the Enclave and BoS valuable options.

 

RANK C

JUNK JET

10 Caps Damage 1P (16" total 8" Black Black Green/8" Black Green)

Junk Jets have one very important niche: As a secondary weapon on high STR beaters in large games. In small games, buying one of these is an opportunity lost to buy something better: A Missile Launcher or Heavy Incinerator or similar weapon. In larger games, you may be approaching a hard limit on Caps but want to give your Sole Survivor Loner or Brute or Raider Vet in PA a ranged weapon, but also  something that might actually hit. Give them a Junk Jet! Since it doesn't have Heavy they can actually pour a fair volume of fire if necessary, without a big Caps outlay.

Freezing: If you're going to be taking one, you may as well be taking the best - and at only +2 Caps this is definitely it.  

 

LIGHT MACHINE GUN

18 Caps Damage 2P Heavy (24" total 12" Black Yellow Yellow/Black Yellow)

This is tentatively placed here, as it's not bad. But with only one shot dealing 2 damage, even with the chance of extra damage if that stack of yellows bypasses all their armor, I'm not really sure if it's worth it even at the price. This is something I'd want to test more carefully.  

 

MINIGUN

23 Caps Damage 1P Walked Fire(5) Heavy (24" total 12 Black/12")

Worse Gatling Lasers. Absent some compelling reason like Ack-Ack, probably best to leave these in the armory - even if Gatling Lasers went up in price. If you're equipping a heavy weapon model, you don't want to skimp.

RANK D

FAT MAN

45 Caps Damage 4 AoE 4" (18" total 10" Black Yellow Yellow/8" Black Yellow Yellow)

Things hit by the Fat Man will die - even above the 4 Damage, within an Orange AoE of the impact victims will suffer an extra damage as well as Stun. All that sounds good, right? 

Well... kinda? There are three catches: First, it ALWAYS scatters at least 2". Second, that range means it's really risky to use, even with a 4" minimum. Third, it's a discard-after-use weapon. This means you're paying 45 Caps and a valuable Heavy Weapons slot for a Grenade - albeit one with a long range. This is not great tradeoff, as powerful as the Fat Man is... even with a 15 Cap markdown in price.

 

Seriously, do like we all do in the actual games: Use it once or twice for giggles, realize that you're gonna kill yourself a lot more than your enemy, and put it on a display.

 

INCINERATOR

22 Caps Damage 2P 2" AoE 2" Fire Heavy (12" total 6" Yellow/6")

Spent 13 Caps more and buy a real Incinator - a Heavy one - or buy a Flamer for someone who can use Rifles and get another Heavy Weapon. This MIGHT have a niche if it weren't locked to High Tech, or it didn't have Heavy.

GRENADES

Grenades are... not all that great, mostly for reasons explained in the AoE section - if you're paying 5 Caps for a Baseball Grenade you can use once for 3 Damage, or 6 Caps for a 10mm Pistol you can use multiple times for 2 Damage, the 10mm is the clear winner. Stuff like the Cryo Grenade, Throwing Spear, or Long Fuse Dynamite are cute, but not reliable. I place all of 'em them in D Tier, with the exception of the Synth Relay Grenade in B - but that's discussed in depth in the Institute overview.

MINES

Mines do one thing: control a zone. They aren't DPS; what they do is dissuade your opponent from moving a model through an area. As such, any models which use them shouldn't be too expensive, or have anything better to do with their Actions than drop a mine - and the same goes for the mines as well. Fragmentation Mines are the only ones currently viable IMHO, and that only at C tier. Yes, Bottlecap Mines deal 3 Damage, but the goal isn't DPS, and you don't want to spend 10 Caps on something that can be avoided. Pulse Mines are useless against anything without a Synth or Robot symbol - this fails at doing its job of zoning against anything else, for only 1 Cap cheaper than the Frag Mine which works against anything.

CHANGELOG

v5.2 - moved Plasma Rifle to B. Moved Machete, Machete Gladius, Power Fist, and Vertibird Blade to A. Moved Ballistic Fist to B. Moved Improvised Weapon and Lead Pipe to C.

 

v5.1 - Added a MASSIVE section on how I rate weapons, including a big part on the math of Black v Yellow dice. Added the Hunting Revolver and moved it and the .357 up to S thanks to double Greens, as well as the Ranger Sequoia down to A - it's good, but it requires a high Pistols model or the Custom Grip mod to make it great.

 

v5.0 - added Wave 5 weapons except the Hunting Revolver - whoopsie!

 

v1.1 - Moved Gauss and Board up to B. Explained more about how the tier lists aren't that different from each other.

v1.2 - Revised Gatling Laser and Minigun to include the Walked Fire increase to AP. Talked more about Missile Launcher vs. Gauss Rifle.

 

v1.3 - Movements for the points change: Assault Rifle D > C. Bolt Action Pipe Rifle C > B. Combat Shotgun B > C.  Bolt Action Pipe Pistol C > B. Machete C > B. Power Fist D > B. Pipe Wrench B > C. Chinese Officer Sword C. Shishkebab B. Missile Launcher S > A. Heavy Incinerator A. Fat Man D.