Fallout 76 PTS - Big Changes Are Coming To Pistols

[@beastabuelos6421]

Wow. Bethesda is going nuts lately. And some of those other perk changes look crazy too.

[@KFCArbiter]

Its crazy how stagnant builds and perks in general have been for years and now suddenly we're getting these huges changes

[@guymecha1237]

@@KFCArbiter Too true I'm so happy changes we've wanted for years are finally droppping

[@NeatWolf]

Glad to see the new team keeps delivering. So hopefully we're going to see even more variety in weapons players use. Happy to see that "METAs" are not getting touched but instead everything else is getting buffed - which is the way to go. Maybe one day they're going to make you like the Assaultron Head? :P

[@KnightDakenKross]

I have a quad salvaged assaltron head. With this new buff, "reloading" it 20 times, will do an immense amount of damage. And ghouls will heal from rads. So will be a perfect weapon

[@Nilon241]

I think you've just discovered a fantastic synergy - since there's also a Ghoul Perk that increase your reload speed based on your glow - which you can get by just reloading the SAH.

[@eeeeee7766]

Yep, I was going to say this, I've heard of someone get like 100k damage on a crit to a weakspot.

[@TudonJaime]

Also battle loaders reloads the Assaltron head to max when you melee. But I’ve heard the quad is glitched on it so it shows big numbers of damage but doesn’t actually do that much. I haven’t tested the damage myself so don’t know if that’s still a thing

[@creeperkiller9k975]

These are really good changes, now you can have like a rifle and pistol dual build without having to sacrifice points in agility and if you have points in agility to spare you can use the changed perks to improve all weapon types.

[@Shepard229]

Huge oversight if I'm reading it right. Furious is now 5% damage per stack of Onslaught and allows you to stack it +9 times. The perk cards also are based on Onslaught and give you +3 stacks per card. So 21 stacks if you put all cards. That means furious is 105% damage, as well as 105% reload, 63% fire rate, 63% weak spot damage, and 63% damage to close targets, right?

[@SekiberiusWelkesh]

Getting rid of a need of perks for pistols will finally give them the niche of being the perfect backup weapons, capable of doing maximum damage out of the box with little to no perk investment.

[@NachoCheese2]

I just switched my build from pistol only to rifleman with pistol backup (reload or swap instances) after seeing that most people said pistols were like the bottom tier of damage and gun usage, I love pistols In All games and love to always have one at least

[@TheRoibm]

I love these changes. Pistols in most games are used beside a main weapon like a rifle, shotgun, heavy gun etc. Now you can have a sidearm in F76 without having to waste 9 perk points to keep it up with your main gun. I think its way better than just putting gunslinger perks into PER.

[@Teh_Bean]

Fancy Single Actions are going to be really good with these changes. Can't be primed, but they can have any first star legendary and +30% fire rate and reload speed. Plus a cool skin.

[@bull6034]

Can you put a 4 star legendary on them? If not, I think normal SARs might still be better.

[@COLDFIRE_0284]

This is the most excited I’ve ever been for an update in FO76. Long overdue love for pistol builds!

[@abcdefgcdefg5178]

I think the ultracite cores going in the ammo box makes me more excited than the ghouls or pistols 😂

[@WarAuthority]

I've had 400 on me for the past few years lol finally a place to keep them.

[@abcdefgcdefg5178]

@WarAuthority I had to make a mule when I wad level 50 because someone gave me 200 ultracite cores lol

[@WarAuthority]

@@abcdefgcdefg5178 I made close to 800 2 years ago lol.. realized I had no place to put them after

[@abcdefgcdefg5178]

@WarAuthority oh god, I'm so sorry lmfao, that's like 2 mules worth 😂😂

[@abcdefgcdefg5178]

@WarAuthority what system you play on?

[@NauticalStu]

Thanks for the vid! Turtle focused on the ghoul part first so it is good to see part of the rest of the changes here

[@ryanscott5622]

I would love to see shotguns get an adjustment

[@EricFletcher-ty8bq]

If they do the pepper shaker will get op

[@ianhorn5466]

I'd virtually given up on revolvers for my pistol user, looks like I'll have to break them out again when these changes come in.

[@BladeRunner-23]

Mr Sandman change is huge for the sniper build.

[@KrystianRuadan]

We need dual weilding pistols!!!!! Weelding, wheelding... whatever it is! 😂

[@Darkness-n7v]

Ive been holding hod tier 10mm's since season 1. Glad its finally getting some love.

[@toastappreciator2691]

Ive been running a revolver cowboy build for years now and I’m 100% gonna become a ghoul because I wanted to be like the one from the show, was almost gonna change my build because it just won’t keep up in raids but hearing this has made me a very happy man.

[@JK.Fraser]

So this means that pistols will be a sidearm you can incorporate in other builds, without spending all your points. Interesting. Also it sounds like with the perk overhaul a LOT more builds will be viable for every type of weapon.

[@salamifinger9510]

Headshots do count for Pinpointers. Its only the torso that is not receiving the Dmg. Buff

[@TheIdiotfilter]

Interesting but one question: is Sneak actually working at the moment? It doesn't seem to be functioning for me. I don't get the 'Sneak damage bonus x' on screen anymore

[@djay6651]

These changes should really boost my Mistress of Mystery build.

[@jaysworld0007]

They need to make changes to the weapon wheel. Like the fast action to stims. We could now use all directions the same way without having to click on them.

[@mtnd02.06]

They should have kept it the way fallout 4 had it, or even 3 and new vegas, because even on controller all those schemes worked pretty good. The weapon wheel scheme feels too loose when selecting items, one minute im selecting Orange Mentats for the Vats hit chance and the next thing i know my selector uses Psycho instead because i nudged it ever so slightly when letting go of the joystick. Ive used so many items i DIDNT even choose because the selector is too damn sensitive

[@jaysworld0007]

In a perfect fallout game imo. We'd have all four directions for fast actions and the rest would be move and click as they are now. The way it is now is just dumb asf. Long press for this, press and click for that. It's just not very well thought out. They'd get so much accomplished with a long time fallout player in the dev department. Edit: What I mean for fast actions is that we can assign what we want to those four, up, down, left, right.

[@pz7510]

all in favor of this, pistol skills being crammed into agility along with everything else you need from agility was always really shitty

[@prince_julius]

Thanks for testing! Hope you feel better.

[@wiggle_plays]

Thanks!

[@wizology_]

I was a pistol build before they nerfed the alien blaster , I might go back now , gonna see how this buffs the alien blaster

[@BobBigWheels]

It was always silly separating auto from semiauto. Especially with the cramped agility. Hope they do that change for rifles and big guns. The explosive and non explosive split

[@Saintbow]

It would be silly and a step back for the game if they buffed the rifles the same way they are buffing pistols. Right now everyone is using rifles, they are in a good spot and have been for 5 years. If they gave rifles the same buff, you would be destroying the buffs for pistols, and they would not get used again.

[@PetrolPaladin]

@@Saintbow I think he's saying they should just get rid of Rifleman altogether, and let Commandos use Semi-autos without having to switch perk cards. It would be nice to open with a black powder and swap to a Fixer for follow up shots.

[@MidKnightXMB]

Not exactly the change I was looking forward to for pistols, but hey, looks like pistols are gonna be more useful now. I can actually use my Gunslinger build for real now.

[@beastabuelos6421]

Just curious, what were you looking for? I just wanted them to put the gunslinger and guerrilla cards in perception. This seems much better than that to me

[@MidKnightXMB]

@beastabuelos6421 exactly what I would have wanted as well

[@marioalex6700]

​@@MidKnightXMB these changes make pistols the only weapon type that doesn't require you sepc into it to do good damage, so there literally is no excuse to not have one as a backup weapon (even if your a heavy gunner)

[@SekiberiusWelkesh]

@@MidKnightXMB I think the change they're pushing forward is better, it gives pistols their own niche as a backup weapon.

[@mistermeaty7436]

Depends on if they have great accuracy and long range. I don't see myself using a pistol when i can use a holy fire for close range and gat plasma for medium​ range@@marioalex6700

[@zunar_j5_933]

Ohh a quad salvaged assaultron head is absurd! Seen it deal upwards of 30k crit. Not practical, but it’s fun.

[@Kid47483]

Good job at buffing the not-so-common builds lately.. Next, non-auto melee.😊

[@Bec-Son]

i love these buffs already, because the perks for certain guns made no sense on what is what since the system is so overlapping

[@willblake72]

Good thing your 10mm is quad so you didn't have to reload after every enemy 😜 lol I suffer from the same addiction. Thanks for the thorough rundown. I'm looking forward to the AP changes.

[@danielesalvatori1670]

Fantastic changes especially for the single action revolver but I hope to see some modifications for it and above all the possibility of being able to apply the Fancy Single Action Revolver skin or even give us the possibility of modifying it like the other weapons

[@ixlness]

Those are some substantial changes. I am looking forward to the perk updates yet again!

[@Kid47483]

Imagine last shot for single action pistols. Time for some Big Iron!

[@horridfuture3835]

Finally. I’ve been begging for weapon buffs ever since the major damage modifier changes years ago.

[@nukacolanut6095]

Of course... I scrapped a bloodied, explosive, less vats 10mm today...lol! Im excited! I would love to see dual wielding... that would be awesome!

[@GremlinSciences]

They clarify 44 [revolver] to set it apart from the other numbers, otherwise it would be a bit confusing seeing "44: 35->20" Technically, the name of the gun in-game is the 44 _magnum,_ so I don't know why they didn't call it that, but it's Bethesda so they probably have some stupid reason they won't admit to.

[@diegogodet1889]

hey Wiggle one question i have is how are we going to boost the dmg on the pistols now like for example how it works with Commando boosting automatic rifles or are they going to change all specific weapon type perk cards ? Also finaly we can make a viable cowboy/cowgirl build with revolvers and shotguns

[@RealJesseSmoke]

I guess Tank Killer is a pistol user's only damage perk card now

[@Ian-ry2ow]

Wooo my babies the single action and the ab are going to be opaf!!!

[@FaLL_F0r_0MeNs]

These changes are amazing! Hopefully this means they will add the 45 auto pistol soon!

[@chill_will9816]

Finally getting 2 handed/akimbo fighting doesnt seem like as much of a pipe dreammthese days

[@LeonardoSilva-u4k]

GONNA HOP TO THE PTS SERVERS NOW

[@Zero_The_Crow]

The change to Concentraited Fire and other changes are gonna royally disrupt my current build. Gonna need to redo a lot when these come out if a few other things dont get tweeked as well.

[@tylersmith7498]

WHATT , I never thought id see the day that i got exited about pistols in 76 😎

[@StrayC70]

So, they decided to remove the weapon-specific perks. I don't even know whether to be happy or sad.

[@andrewpauly4783]

This is amazing. It will allow us to use pistols without wasting 9 perk points just so they keep up with our main weapons

[@NachoCheese2]

Same here especially after having to maneuver my cards and perk card picks since I just changed my build form pistol only to rifleman with sidearm support pre pistol change log news (1-2 days ago) i don’t know if I should feel happy or upset that I just spent like 1 hr figuring out what perk cards I needed just to find out that half my pistol cards r gone and now I have to spend more levels picking out more specific build cards or farming cards per level up since my leveled up pistols cards r getting removed…

[@sephirothdoug]

@@StrayC70 it is very good man, like... I play shotguns, and now I can have a long range weapon like a secondary pistol and do a lot of damage without using any pistol perk card, or using bows to stealth fights, and pistol to crowd control

[@StrayC70]

@@sephirothdoug I have 4 characters with different types of weapons and different playing styles. I'm afraid that with the cancellation of the weapon perks and with the universal build, 3 of them will be obsolete.

[@digitalphreak]

@@andrewpauly4783 I prefer being able to main a pistol. It looks like pistol love but it seems like theyre being marginalized because they cant buff them to be equal to bigger weapons because that just wouldnt make sense. It ONLY makes sense if you have to take up card slots to justify the damage.

[@EricFletcher-ty8bq]

Good to see pistll get some love and be viable as a choice

[@sudilos1172]

Finally! I just scrapped a Golden painted Fact Finder thinking. “Damn, I miss hand cannons from Destiny. So Meaty, Serious. Capable. Deadly , if limited in ammo.”. Maybe Fallout Snagged some Destiny 2 devs

[@Frank_Horrigen]

It makes sense - I don’t know a single person who uses a pistol build, but they are cool. Kinda excited about the rebalancing and shifts from the same thing - opening up a bit more play styles with the ghoul mechanics too. Exciting stuff 👍

[@takewhataway]

Not a lot use it because its system is crap for years. We, the pistol lovers have been asking for years for this change and im glad they finally do something about it. Ive been collecting godroll pistols because ive been daydreaming about times like this lol

[@Frank_Horrigen]

@ I love that - I typically squirrel away god rolls for that same reason. I think I have a few pistols around that will be fun for experimenting

[@takewhataway]

@@Frank_Horrigen 😁 Lets hope they dont ruin this (too much) when its up in adventure server

[@blairc64]

Things might have a slightly higher ap cost, but we HAVE just had a huge set of AP bonuses added lately.

[@dereksnelling3005]

Glad for this pistol love.

[@majnabunny]

i have a quad black powder pistol in my stash..... i think i may well be using it more

[@PeefSpogdar]

concentrated fire not being required now is hot

[@dynastyjumpzz]

I really dont like the change to tenderizer because I dont like to rely on others for more damage. Hopefully people will or already understand that it is a must have

[@Rpground]

I would like Bows/Crossbows to get this treatment. Seems everything is getting buffs and fixes and while everything is now starting to feel really strong, bows are easily being left behind. The supposed "buff" they were supposed to get this patch turned out to be a nerf because everything got massively inflated hp and defences so it just didn't keep up. Not even Pin-Pointers lets me one shot super mutants anymore with an instigating compound bow.

[@justinbliss4703]

Try a bloodied last shot I can one shot most things. Trying to get pyromainiacs for it but haven't been lucky😅

[@Rpground]

@@justinbliss4703 I hate bloodied, though. I used to be able to one shot super muties at West Tek, but it's not even close after the update and it's driving me nuts that not even the 4 star mods make up for the damage loss.

[@justinbliss4703]

@Rpground I get that. Some weapons are only viable with bloodied which is really sad design but I think there's more perk changes, weapon buffs and balance next update. Hopefully bow gets some love

[@Rpground]

@@justinbliss4703 Well, on the PTS pistols are getting some love, so hopefully.

[@jjk9999]

what is an onslaught attack, stacks, and weakspots?

[@justincary4803]

For the enclave automatic plasma rifle going down to 18 from 30 AP per shot I'll take it. I have been asking for years for them to lower energy weapons AP cost. And you're actually looking at them backwards You're going from a pistol to a rifle That's why the AP is increasing.

[@_The_Black_Cerberus_]

If the AP cost doesn’t change with the ultracite automatic barrel I’m going to have to change my 3rd star I got reduced AP cost equipped

[@themartyguy]

Guess I just have to put 2x +2 perception mods on my armor. Silly change especially when there’s nothing for heavy gunner there besides maybe grenadier

[@dynastyjumpzz]

No instead use sensor array for +2 P and herd mentality for another +2-3

[@snowmcsnow4732]

Time for dual wield guns and dual wield one handed melee

[@gear302]

Nice, looks a bit over tuned, but ignites the hope of using gunslinger again.

[@izeckx]

For a better test, could you do this with non legendary weapons? Legendary perks really change how a weapon performs and alters the results

[@Guild0fGamers]

I like a lot of these changes, but I’m hoping that gunslinger and guerrilla become pistol exclusive, there’s already amazing builds for heavy guns, automatic rifles, and energy weapons, those guns don’t need buffs. Give pistols their useful niche!

[@brunossace4317]

So live in march? Excited

[@sephirothdoug]

So, you don't need a dedicated pistol build anymore? And guerrillas look better to shotguns now, can you make some test plz?

[@kitkami]

I like to run gunslinger now and then on my commando to switch things up. I like it but i always was ok with it not doing the most damage.

[@MerrillDragonAge]

Game needs a new ballistic pistol. Sonething like the Skorpion vz 61.

[@Stoppie_October]

You can finally have a pistol as a secondary instead of another rifle

[@Mestari1Gaming]

9:46 I wish we could get that Mac-11 machine pistol that is shown in the Master Guerilla perk card as a brand new weapon if Fallout 76 at some point.

[@digitalphreak]

Ive been playing a pistol dedicated character for about 8 mos now. Level ~770 and I have used all the pistols in their best form of mods/leggos even 4 star. 1000% they did something to the **effective** range of the laser pistols. Its effective range was reduces SIGNIFICANTLY in the update. And my problem with that nerf is that they did not compensate and add damage and from what it looks like... they still suck compared to before the RAID update. I could get "95" in vats from the center position on everything at lets say.. eviction notice. Now i have to fire and let that number ramp up before i see any decent damage yet its still worse than before. So.. idk wtf they did but im super annoyed about it.

[@jjk9999]

Yeah I've tried pistol builds a few times and even the best are piddling compared to everything else.

[@wolfredbeard5871]

Always paying attention to everything but what is broken

[@driven5729]

Whoever is in charge for these changes is insane. Let 'em cook!

[@DrexelQuake]

Cool changes. Meaning once the Ghoul comes to main game it will be a bit easier to become The Ghoul from the show haha. Shame I gotta wait till March haha

[@Lichdemonz]

Could you give us a link to the patch notes?

[@wiggle_plays]

bethesda.net/en/article/1U0DI4MTkfwSjueWAn4yww/inside-the-vault-a-ghoulvolution-public-test-server-update

[@Lichdemonz]

@@wiggle_plays Much obliged!

[@addictizz]

No gamma gun test? it seems like it got substantial buffs

[@kitkami]

Gunslinger seems odd to work with things other than pistols.

[@Lancars]

I don't understand why we have to wait for march for this when this is more of a hotfix thing.

[@ZestyFiestaSupreme]

You glossed over the fact the Crusader Pistol is getting nerfed here when it really needs a buff 3:00

[@CapAwesome76]

What all this does is going to make all the builds videos on youtube obsolete and new videos life. All builds post 2025 vs all the builds pre 2025. Bethesda basicly gave the comunity a was to not become stagnant cus we have covered everything in the game already lmao. This is good news all around.

[@illusion-]

I think the cost for the reworked cards are to high

[@dw42424]

so now builds with 3 perception for Concentrated Fire won't work lol. like seeing pistols get buffs but that perk card is an unnecessary change

[@wiggle_plays]

You can add perception other ways like underarmor, mutations, food, etc....

[@OnlineHipHopTV]

I have 3 perception on my heavy gunner for 1 rank of concentrated fire and grenadier. Guess I'm going to have to install the +2 perception on the helmet to unluck concentrated fire.

[@roguescholar5546]

Should be fine, I checked stats while in PA and with no bonuses to perception on my armor, and while not in a team, it’s sitting at 6 (would be 7 but for herd mentality). Does require a base of 3 (for concentrated fire) and eagle eyes mutation. So long as it’s not based on levels you’ve invested but on the number that shows in the Special stat page I can’t see there being an issue for builds.

[@jeffbarnesyout]

Finally. Pistols become viable. I'm not sure I'll ever try them but it makes so much sense. Otherwise, why have them in game?

[@angelosilva9761]

I don't know.. not a fan of the approach they are following, I would have rather preferred an higher simple base damage buff without touching all the other things. It just seems to add a useless complexity. Also 10mm auto would probably have an higher ap cost respect to how it is now but I'm not able to check it now. Still thanks for letting us know!

[@takewhataway]

You know what makes this real? You're testing it not as a bloodied build lol

[@nixarrowman78]

Non energy Automatic pistol builds, with literally only 1 gun

[@yeahok1455]

I wish we could dual wield pistols

[@KB-ee6qo]

Salvage assaultron head and ghoul build health and rads

[@carlaspinwall4247]

Radioactive powered armour too 😊

[@chris5942]

Just another thing for them to break and they won't be able to fix.

[@ScottPeterson-kc9uo]

It would be so nice to not have to build to one gun type at a time, overdue to remove all that nonsense so hopefully this does that😅😅

[@thepithso8128]

Gauss pistol 115-195 with 2.75 crit multy 😅😅 😅😅😅how to one-shot Zeus

[@Highwind2037]

They did it because of tv ghoul

[@andrewbrock3675]

I would have made gun bashing with a pistol equipped do insane damage. Legit like 100x. Would be real fun with battle loaders 4 star and a revolver.

[@JacobYaw]

FINALLY

[@Dmc1184]

even with the changes, no1 is going to use them

[@jameskeller3425]

now just allow us to crit outside of vats, there really trying to push everone to use vats it seems to me

[@OnlineHipHopTV]

Yeah I don't like the changes. VATS crit should've been for pistols and shotguns. Not automatic rifles and heavy weapons.

[@JamesWhite-m6n]

I think this is a great idea. It makes people step away from heavy gun builds.

[@Thing696]

Commando has always been the most common AND most powerful build. Heavy guns have been great for like 2 weeks…

[@Rorschach1998]

All it took them to fix pistols was a lore breaking character in a 🐕💩 lore breaking show, bravo bugthesda bravo.