Build Guide: Ghoul Commando with onslaught (and Pistols)
Since March 18, 2025, you can now become a ghoul and receive new perks and abilities. This brings with it advantages and disadvantages. Along with the ghoul, a new mechanic has also been integrated into the live version of Fallout 76: Onslaught. This mechanic also opens up entirely new possibilities for both ghouls and humans.
This Commando (automatic rifles) Build even allows for effective play with pistols. This is mainly due to the fact that pistols received significant buffs to their base damage in the last update and can now be played without the need for extra perk cards. However, you should make sure to use automatic pistols.
Base: Ghoul Glow & Non-Feral
In this build, we make sure our Ghoul Glow (green health bar on the HP bar) is as full as possible. If the glow gets low, we use Toxic Water or Toxic Goo. You should always have plenty of these with you and make them available on the fast track. Toxic Water can be obtained in many places, such as the Blackwater Mine, Radiant Hills, Toxic Valley, etc. You can also get Toxic Goo in West Tek and, in small doses, from the Toxic Gooler Cooler (this season's 20 reward).
It's also important not to become feral. Feral is represented by the bar above the AP bar in the bottom right. The fuller the bar, the less feral you are. So, the bar should always be as full as possible. This can be achieved through chems and "The Fix," although we currently only get a few of these once in the Ghoul quest. Tip: The psychobuff fills the bar particularly well.
Armor
The armor is Secret Service armor with the legendary mods: Aristocrats, Powered, Thru Hikers and Ranger's on the 4th slot. By using 5x Thru Hikers, the build saves the Travel Pharmacy perk cards in Strength and Thru Hiker in Endurance. For good damage through Aristocrats you should own about 35k+ caps most of the time.
It doesn't really matter which armor you use; the first mod can be anything else. I found Aristocrats to be a good choice. Radiation absorption from the environment is very low, so I prefer to use Toxic Goo to gain radiation. Chameleon armor, for example, is also possible to further improve your stealth ability. If you have learned it already, "Lucid" is also very good. Just Unyielding has no advantage here, since you're not playing with low health. The radiation is absorbed immediately, so you can't play Bloodied as a ghoul.
Ghoul Commando Build with Automatic Pistols
Automatic Weapons
This build uses a Fixer with Furious, Vital, Swift, and Pin Pointers. It also uses the "Ticket to Revenge" railway rifle with the first legendary mod Furious and double magazine capacity (unfortunately, we can't install a fourth legendary mod here), which you get from the "Seeking Shelter" quest in Skyline Valley. The third weapon is a 10mm automatic pistol, also with Furious, Vital, Switft, and Pinpointers. Since this pistol has an automatic receiver and a supressor, it pairs well with a stealthy commando build.
For the Commando variant, the weapons should be automatic and use Furious on the first legendary mod slot. This gives us a base damage bonus on this build that scales up to 100% with the charge mechanic. See also: onslaught: New Buff for all Builds
The other legendary and mechanical mods are variable, and you can customize them to your liking. The goal here is to reduce AP consumption, reload quickly, and also increase damage on critical hits.
Skillset / Perk Cards
The perk cards marked in italics are new Ghoul perk cards.
"High Glow Values" means a value of >=180. The glow is your Ghoul Shield, which reflects your hit point bar. So, if you have 240 HP and your Glow bar is filled to 75% or more, your value is above or equal to 180 and you have "high glow." If you have more HP, this percentage will naturally decrease.
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S
Strength
2 + 5 legendary = 7 Points
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|---|---|
| 3* Easy Target | +75% ranged damage to crippled targets. |
| 2* Bandolier | Ballistic weapon ammo weighs 90% less. |
| 2* Scattershot | 20% of the damage dealt to a limb is applied to all limbs on your target. |
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P
Perception
14 Points
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|---|---|
| 2* Tank Killer | Your ranged weapons ignore 40% armor. |
| 1* Skeet Shooter | Your small guns have 45% better accuracy and spread. |
| 2* Ground Pounder |
Your small guns reload 20% faster and have 20% more hip fire accuracy.
Datamining:
Hip fire is VATS usage or shooting without aiming down sight. |
| 2* Fast Fighter |
Gain 50% of your bonus movement speed as reload speed.
Datamining:
This bonus is applied by the "Speed demon" mutation. |
| 3* Number Cruncher | Your weapons have 2% increased damage per AP cost. |
| 2* Down Ranger |
You do +15% ranged damage to far enemies.
Datamining:
"Far enemies" can be measured in camp foundations. More than 3.9 foundations counts as "far". |
| 2* Tormentor |
You deal 20% more damage per crippled limb your target has.
Datamining:
Since all body parts are "limbs" (head, arms, legs, torso) this is a buff of about 120% in average on a crippled enemy. |
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E
Endurance
8 Points
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|---|---|
| We don't need starched genes as a ghoul, as we don't receive random mutations and don't use RadAway (which can still remove mutations). | |
| 3* Hardy | Take 45% less damage from explosions. |
| 2* LifeGiver | Gain more max HP per point in END. |
| 2* Chem Fiend | Any chems you take last 100% longer. |
| 1* Glowing Gut | Irradiated food and drink grant 100% more rads. |
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C
Charisma
6 Points
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|---|---|
| 1* Strange In Numbers |
Positive mutation effects are +25% stronger if teammates are mutated too.
Datamining:
You should always play on a public team. |
| 3* United Ordeal | While in a team with another ghoul, you gain +3 to all S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats. |
| 2* Tenderizer |
Each attack makes your target take increased damage.
Datamining:
Each hit increases the damage to an enemy by 0.1%, reaching a maximum of 100% after 1000 hits. This stacks with all other players who have this card equipped and are fighting the same enemy. It also stacks with the legendary perk "Taking one for the team." It's very effective in boss fights. |
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I
Intelligence
2 + 5 legendary = 7 Points
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|---|---|
| 2* Batteries Included |
Energy weapon ammo weighs 90% less. Note: (since this build also plays Energy Rifles; optional)
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| 3* Science Monster | While you have Glow, gain 15% bonus damage for 10 seconds upon getting hit. |
| 2* Good With Salt | Food in your inventory will spoil 90% slower. |
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A
Agility
9 + 5 legendary = 14 Points
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|---|---|
| With the Guerrilla Expert, Gunslinger Expert, and Guerrilla Master perks, we increase the damage of Furious Weapons (+9 stacks) by an additional +11 stacks. This gives us a bonus of 20 stacks. Per stack, we receive +5% damage with Furious, so +100% bonus damage at 20 stacks. You can see the stacks as a number in the bottom right after a hit. | |
| 1* Escape Artist |
Sneak to lose enemies, and running no longer affects stealth.
Datamining:
Sneak to loose enemies, and running no longer affects stealth. Means your steps don't cause noise anymore. When you crouch enemies will loose track. This effect can be triggered every 3 seconds. |
| 2* Guerrilla Expert | +1% reload speed per Onslaught stack, +3 max stacks. |
| 2* Gunslinger Expert | +1% ranged weak spot damage per Onslaught stack, +3 max stacks. |
| 3* Gunslinger Master | Gain Onslaught stacks over time and spend them on attacks, +10 max stacks. |
| 3* Covert Operative | Your ranged attacks do an additional 50% sneak attack damage. |
| 2* Mister Sandman | Your silenced weapons do an additional 100% sneak attack damage. |
| 1* Gun Fu | V.A.T.S. swaps targets on kill with +30% damage to your next target. |
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L
Luck
15 + 5 legendary = 15 Points
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|---|---|
| We skill 5 points over 15 to be able to deal more criticals. Critical Meter fills faster. As a ghoul, we receive a +150% bonus on critical hits from perks | |
| 2* Faulty Spots | Weak point damage is increased by 15%. |
| 3* Class Freak | The negative effects of your mutations are reduced by 75%. |
| 1* Ricochet | Gain a chance to Deflect ranged attacks based on LCK. |
| 3* Better Criticals | V.A.T.S. criticals now do +100% damage. |
| 3* Critical Savvy |
Critical Hits now only consume 55% of your critical meter.
Datamining:
Critical hits are only applied when the meter is full. The faster the meter is charged, the more critical hits can be dealed in shorter time. |
| 3* Glowing Criticals | When your Glow is high, Gain 50% bonus Critical damage in V.A.T.S. |
Perk Set
Click the perk cards to enlarge
Legendary Perks
Mutations
| Eagle Eyes |
Positive effects:
Critical Damage +50%, PER +4 Negative effects: STR -4 |
| Adrenal Reaction |
Positive effects:
+5% DMG per kill while on a Kill Streak; Max 10 stacks. On bottom right the bonus is display with a skull icon and number. Negative effects: Max HP -50 |
| Marsupial |
Positive effects:
Carry Weight +20, +jump height Negative effects: INT -4 |
| Egg Head |
Positive effects:
INT +6 Negative effects: STR -3, END -3 |
| Herd Mentality |
Positive effects:
All SPECIAL stats +2 when grouped (Alone in a public team is fine) Negative effects: All SPECIAL stats -2 when solo |
| Herbivore |
Positive effects:
Eating plant-based food provides double the hunger satisfaction, HP restoration, and consumable buffs, with no disease chance Negative effects: Eating meat does not satisfy hunger, restore HP, or apply buffs |
| Speed Demon |
Positive effects:
Movement speed +20%, faster reload +20% Negative effects: +50% drain on hunger and thirst while moving |
| Bird Bones |
Positive effects:
-65% falling speed, +5 AGI Negative effects: STR -4, take extra limb damage |
Food Buffs
In order to get maximum damage on critical hits, this build can use buffs in appropriate situations. It makes sense to buff the damage on critical hits, as well as the ap acceleration / and max AP to be able to act better in VATS.
AP Acceleration:
Either company tea or the combination of corn soup and hard lemonade . Company Tea usually does not stack with other AP regenerating food.
Currently it stacks with hard lemonade, which seems to be a bug.
For situations in which you need more AP for a maximum of 25 seconds, you can also eat several canned coffee and thus get more AP in this time (no acceleration).
More damage on critical hits:
Blight Soup (lasts 30 minutes) or Sweet Mutaberry Tea (lasts 60 minutes) +125% critical damage in combination with Strange in Numbers (+ mutated team members).
Furthermore you can buff the critical hits with the magazine guns and bullets 3 with +100% more damage for ballistic critical hits to a total of +225% (blight soup +125% & guns & bullets 3 +100% = 225% ).
There are also chems to improve the damage: Overdrive also increases the damage from critical hits by +30%
More ballistic damage:
You can also buff the general ballistic damage. You can use psychotats (+25% damage) instead of Overdrive, small guns bobbleheads (+20% ballistic damage for pistols and rifles) and ballistic bock (+15% ballistic damage).
With energy rifles you can then use high-voltage yeast wheat instead of ballistics bock.
Max Damage on Critical Hits Combo:
- Small Guns bobblehead (+20% ballistic damage)
- Magazine: Guns & Bullets 3 (+100% damage on critical hits)
- Company tea (more AP Acceleration)
- Blight Soup or Sweet Mutaberry Tea (+125% damage on critical hits)
- Overdrive (+30% damage on critical hits)
- Ballistic Bock (+15% ballistic damage)
Overall: Ballistic Damage Bonus +35% (20+15), Critical Damage Bonus +255% (125+100+30)
If you want to buff yourself for Earle (A Colossal Problem), you can drink Mutfix before Ballistic Bock, both of which stack in this combination.
The calculated bonus cannot be observed 1:1 in the game. There are many factors that come into play, such as other players, the environment and the opponents. The legendary perks Aftermath and Full Deployment also keep the bonuses going up and down.
Gameplay
Railway Rifle Ticket to Revenge vs Event AWOL
Automatic 10mm Pistol vs. Supermutants
Conclusion
The Ghoul is a good alternative to human full-life builds, as it has additional perk cards for better damage and even significantly more health thanks to the Ghoul's glow, which acts like a protective shield with the same values as the hit point bar. You can also play this build well with the rifleman variant in 2 loadouts: Build Guide: Ghoul Rifleman with reverse onslaught (and Pistols / Revolvers)
Both automatic rifles and pistols with onslaught, as well as single-shot rifles and pistols with the reverse onslaught, can be used very effectively. With these two loadouts, you can always switch depending on the situation and try out many different weapons, so it never gets boring. In boss fights, however, I would recommend the commando variant, as it is easy to maintain the rush with 20 stacks.
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