Fallout 76 Gunsmith Perk Guide

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Shannon Sawyer

Shannon is in the world's of Three-Dog, 'Fighting the good fight' for Fallout 76. Despite public opinion, she loves the MMORPG Fallout world and knows just about all there is to know about the Fallout Universe as a whole. She's engaged with the lore right back to the Interplay days, and she's here on Wasteland Gamers to pass on that knowledge to you!

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Fallout has plenty of weapons you can use to defend yourself, but there are two ways of going about it: up close and personal and long-range. If you don’t feel like hitting a Deathclaw with a stop sign, it’s time to strap yourself with guns, but only recently, from Fallout 3 and onwards, have you been able to craft weapons and ammunition, and that roster of armaments has expanded up to Fallout 76.

You will be crafting if you’re not relying on quest rewards and loot to pick up your new weapons. In Fallout 76, that’s where the Gunsmith Fallout 76 Perk Card comes in.

Welcome to our Fallout 76 Gunsmith Perk guide.

Key Details Up Front

• Gunsmith Perk: A Perk Card that slows the breaking of guns and allows players to craft more advanced guns.
• What Attribute is the Card and What Level Can It Be Obtained?: Gunsmith is an Intelligence Perk Card obtained at Level 11.
• What Else Does Gunsmith Do?: It allows the player to add modifications to guns (as long as the player has the plans for the gun and mod).

The Gunsmith Perk

Gunsmith is an early-game Intelligence Perk Card unlocks at level 11 with 5 Ranks. Each rank of Gunsmith has the following effects:

• Rank 1: Guns break 10% slower, and you can now craft Tier 1 guns (Plans required).
• Rank 2: Guns break 20% slower, and you can now craft Tier 2 guns (Plans required).
• Rank 3: Guns break 30% slower, and you can now craft Tier 3 guns (Plans required).
• Rank 4: Guns break 40% slower, and you can now craft Tier 4 guns (Plans required).
• Rank 5: Guns break 50% slower, and you can now craft Tier 5 guns (Plans required).

Gunsmith has quite a few ranks and a significant price of 5 Intelligence to equip the max rank of this card. Remember, in Fallout 76; you are not locked into your S.P.E.C.I.A.L Score or what Perk Cards you have equipped at any time.

I keep a lower-tier Gunsmith Card (Rank 2) when I am exploring and a Rank 5 Card to switch out while crafting at my C.A.M.P. What rank you decide to keep while traveling will vary from build to build, and how which other Perk Cards you want under your Intelligence attribute.

The Guns

While Gunsmith is not necessary to craft all guns, there are specific guns and modifications, usually higher quality and high-powered ones, that you will need to equip this ability to craft.

You’ll also note that the Gunsmith Perk Card says you need Plans to craft your guns, but we’ll put a pin in that for the moment.

Each rank of Gunsmith unlocks different tiers of weapons and mods. The list by Tier is as follows:

Tier 1:

Modifications:

• Pipe Bolt-action Mods
• Pipe Gun Mods
• Pipe Revolver Mods

Tier 2:

Modifications:

• Pipe Bolt-action Recon and Night Vision Scopes
• Pipe Revolver Recon and Night Vision Scopes

Tier 3

Modifications:

• 10mm Pistol Recon Scope
• Hunting Rifle Recon and Night Vision Scopes

Tier 4

Modifications:

• Combat Rifle Recon and Night Vision Scopes
• Railway Rifle Recon and Night Vision Scopes

Tier 5

Modifications:

• Assault Rifle Recon and Night Vision Scopes
• Combat Shotgun Recon and Night Vision Scopes
• Anti-Scorchbeast Mods For All Guns

Gunsmith is essential to maintaining your guns and unlocking some higher-end weapons that can pack a punch. This list is a small taste of the weaponry you can find in post-apocalyptic Appalachia.

But this is not the end of customization for your loadout. We still haven’t covered modifications.

Gun Modifications

Modifications could only be bought and added to weapons in previous titles, such as Fallout: New Vegas. In Fallout 4 and New Vegas, that still is an option, but what you’re more likely to do is modify weapons yourself with the use of plans.

This is not limited to your basic guns either; pipe guns, energy guns, melee weapons, and even unarmed weapons can also be modified for better stats and different playstyles.

The list of modifications is massive, so let’s take a look at a couple of modifications for one of the early game weapons and a staple of the Fallout games: the 10mm Pistol:

The 10mm Pistol is one of the first machined pistols outside of pipe guns that you’ll find in Fallout 76. It has a total of six categories of modifications (not including cosmetics); these include the following: receiver, barrel, grip, magazine, sights, and muzzle.

The receiver applies to damage and hip-fire accuracy, barrel for range and aimed accuracy, grip for recoil and bash damage, the magazine for the amount of ammunition fired before reloading and how quickly you reload, sights for long-range targeting, and muzzle for extra effects.

Some of these modifications will be available without Gunsmith equipped, such as the Calibrated Receiver, increasing critical shot damage. However, the higher-end upgrades like the Tweaked Automatic Receiver that adds both critical shot damage and automatic fire will only be available with certain ranks of Gunsmith (with this particular mod, Rank 2).

I like automatic receivers, as I am at a fairly high level with plenty of ammunition to spare. If I were to build a 10mm Pistol for my playstyle, I would go with the Powerful Automatic Receiver and Swift Magazine for the extra ammo capacity and reload speed.

There’s nothing more annoying than having to reload an automatic weapon with a low magazine capacity and wasting precious seconds reloading and getting spit at by a Snallygaster. I also don’t use scopes for pistols as they can slow the aiming process and make it hard to see my target when an enemy charges, but a Reflex Sight doesn’t require me to fire from the hip when an enemy gets in melee range.

But this is my personal experience. You can also deal with those close-combat enemies by equipping a Bruising Grip that adds more effective bashing damage or an Aligned Grip that will give you a better handle on recoil and hip-fire accuracy. It all depends on what feels right to you.

This is a sample of options for a single pistol, although not every gun has a modification list that is as extensive as the 10mm Pistol. But if you want to be able to customize your guns, you’re going to need Plans and Mods.

Finding Plans and Modifications

There are two ways to upgrade your guns: finding the specific plans that will allow you to change your weapon to that specific modification or finding that modification itself.

Players can find plans in many places across the wasteland. You can find them randomly as little blue folders out in the wild on tables or the occasional corpse that’s either been sitting around or died by your hands. They can also be purchased at vendors at varying prices or player C.A.M.Ps.

Here’s a handy tip, check the suitcases around train stations. Sometimes players will drop plans they don’t want and can’t sell just to get them out of their inventory and are willing to pass them along to whoever needs them.

You can also find modifications themselves. These are one-time physical consumables that can be put onto a gun even if you don’t know the plan. While not as efficient as plans, you might get lucky and stumble across a modification you haven’t found the plans to or can’t afford. If you find a modification you don’t need, you can scrap it for certain materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, lead, etc.

You will be more likely to receive mods as quest rewards or find them out in the world than in shops. Both plans and modifications can be rewards for main quests, side quests, daily quests, and events. The more you participate in the world, the more you will unlock.

Crafting

Now that you have your plans, it’s time to make your guns. Find any Weapons Workbench in the world at your C.A.M.P or another player’s home to begin crafting.

Materials and their quantities can vary from gun to gun, but these are a few primary materials you’ll want on hand when you begin crafting:

• Steel
• Adhesive
• Aluminum
• Oil
• Screws
• Springs
• Gears
• Copper
• Wood

What components you will need and how many will depend on the gun, for example, a 10mm Pistol doesn’t require wood in its construction, but a Short Pump Action Shotgun does (you can even see the wood on the shotgun’s stock in weapon preview). You can find your components by scavenging out in the wasteland, buying junk from merchants, or claiming a workshop.

You’ll also notice that there are different levels that each gun can be crafted, often starting at level 5 and going up in intervals of five. You’re not going to get the full power of a gun from the get-go due to power scaling, so over time, you’ll find yourself scrapping old guns for a new, more powerful one. Higher-level guns also require more supplies to make, so make sure you have what you need on hand and in surplus before crafting.

There’s no need to get attached to one gun; the game’s ethos is scavenging, trashing the old for something new, but remember that Legendary Weapons cannot be scrapped and can only either be sold for caps or scrip.

However, Legendary Weapons have special effects that can change the gun dramatically and can be upgraded with mods like every other gun. Pay attention to the effects to get the most mileage out of your modifications.

FAQ:

Conclusion

Guns are the primary weapon of the Fallout series; even a melee-focused player can’t bring down a Scorchbeast without firing a few shots into the air. Gunsmith will allow you to create guns that will bring down tougher enemies and help in the long run of maintaining your weapons.

Using Gunsmith to test out different builds and to see which mods feel good is part of the fun in Fallout 76, so get crafting and happy hunting!