Build Guide: Small Guns with critical hits, sneak and crippling
Playstyle: Human | V.A.T.S. | Crit Build | Crippled Damage | High DPS | Bloodied | Full Life
With the update on September 2nd, 2025, the perk cards are now largely finalized, so I can now present more build guides again without them becoming obsolete after three months. The main focus was on being able to play significantly more different weapons with one build.
This build plays Bloodied as a human, but with minor changes, it can also be played with full health or as a ghoul. The primary weapons are small guns (which are rifles, pistols and also shotguns). Heavy weapons are generally possible, but with an optimized build, there are other options that this build doesn't include. As a bonus for increased damage, the build uses stealth, critical hits, and crippling. New here is crippling, which gives us an additional bonus of up to 345%. This makes the build playable with or without stealth, making it useful in events or daily operations. With Sneak (+2x), you now get a decent bonus through Covert Ops (+50%), Sandman (+100%), Follow Through (+40%), and Suppressor (+50%), and you will take less damage.
Full Life & Ghoul: Skip the Nerd Rage perk, swap Bloodied for something like Aristocrat or Two Shot, and use Vanguard armor instead of Unyielding.
Weapons
Any rifle or pistol can be used. Shotguns are also possible, as they are also considered "small guns". In this guide, I'll be using an assault rifle, as this is among the most powerful automatic rifles in Fallout 76 currently. But I also play single shot rifles e.g. leveraction rifle and hunting rifle. The options are now more varied than with the old perk cards.
The legendary mods on these rifles are mostly the same:
- Bloodied (up to 130% bonus damage at 5% HP)
- Explosive (+20% bonus damage + Demolition Expert)
- V.A.T.S. Enhanced (-35% action point cost in VATS)
- Bully's (+25% damage per crippled target body part)
Note: For most enemies, this means +150% bonus damage from the head, torso, arms, and legs. Some enemies have fewer (EN-06) or more "limbs" (Ultracite Terror), and the damage scales accordingly.
I also tested Vital (+50% damage on critical hits), but Explosive usually performed better. At close range, if you want to remain undetected (e.g., in West Tek), a Vital mod can of course make sense instead of Explosive. Just try it out for yourself. I currently like the Explosive version best.
Armor
I'm using the Secret Service Armor with the following legendary mods:
- Bloodied
- Powered (3x); Poisoners (1x), Fireproof (1x)
- Thru Hikers
- Rangers (2x)
Limit Breaking (3x)
With this combination, the build achieves good SPECIAL stats, has good AP acceleration, reduces the weight of chems & food/drinks, increases ranged damage and scores more critical hits.
Perks
Strength to 9:
| Easy Target 2* | 75% more damage against crippled enemies |
| Bandolier 2* | 90% less weight on ballistic ammo |
| Scattershot 2* | 20% of the damage dealt to a limb is applied to all limbs on your target. Grants fast crippling. |
| Arms Keeper 2* | Reduces all weapon weight by 75% |
Perception to 10 (+5 Legendary PER):
| Number Cruncher 3* | 2% increased damage per AP cost. Thats +18% on the Assault Rifle, +78% on the Hunting Rifle and +46% on the Leveraction Rifle. |
| Down Ranger 3* | 20% more damage to far enemies. "Far enemies" can be measured in camp foundations. More than 3.9 foundations counts as "far". |
| Tormentor 2* |
You deal 20% more damage per crippled limb your target has. Since all body parts are "limbs" (head, arms, legs, torso) this is a buff of about 120% in average on a crippled enemy. |
| Tank Killer 2* | Your ranged weapons ignore 40% armor. |
| Ground Pounder 2* | Your small guns (rifles, pistols, shotguns) reload 20% faster and have 30% more hip fire accuracy. Hip fire accuracy is VATS usage or shooting without aiming down sight. |
| Fast Fighter 2* |
Your movement speed bonus is also applied to your reload speed. This bonus is applied by the "Speed demon" mutation. |
| Skeet Shooter 1* |
Your small guns have 45% better accuracy and spread. |
Note: Concentrated fire is not mandatory for targeting limbs in VATS anymore if we have more than 5 perception. You can still use this perk, but the listed perks seems more useful to me.
Endurance on 10:
| Lifegiver 2* | Gain more max HP based on your END. This is a bonus of ca. +106 HP in this case. |
| Radicool 1* | The greater your RADs, the greater your Strength (max +5 STR). |
| Fireproof 3* | Take 45% less damage from explosions and flame attacks. Not to confuse with fire resistance which helps us to not being set on fire. |
| Starched Genes 1* | Grants to keep our mutations even when using Rad Away. |
| Thirst Quencher 1* | Increased Max AP based on END while not diseased. This are +69 Max AP in this case. |
| Natural Resistence 1* | Increased Elemental Resistances based on END while not diseased. In this case we get +32 cryo, +32 poison and +32 fire resistance. |
| Iron Stomach 1* | Increased Damage and Energy Resistance based on END while not diseased. This are +56 DMG and +56 Energy Resist in this case. |
Charisma to 4:
| Strange In Numbers 1* | Increases the positive effects of the mutations by +25%, if our team members are also mutated. You should always play on a public team. |
| Tenderizer 2* | Each attack makes your target take increased damage. 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. |
| Inspirational 1* | Gain more XP while on a team based on your CHA. In this case we gain about +23% XP. |
Intelligence to 4 (+5 Legendary INT):
| Nerd Rage 3* | While your Health is low, gain increased damage and AP regen. The damage buff and AP regen scales between 80% and 5% HP, the lower the better. 20% HP = +40% Damage + 15% AP Regen 5% HP = +80% Damage + 30 AP Regen |
| Demolition Expert 3* | Your explosions do +60% damage. This also includes explosive projectiles like used on the rifles in this build. |
| Science! 1 | Increase energy damage based on our INT. No matter which weapon you use. If you just want to use ballistic weapons, you don't need this perk. |
| Batteries Included 2 | Reduces energy ammo weight by 90% |
Agility at 10 (+5 Legendary AGI):
| Covert Operative 3* | Your ranged attacks do an additional +50% sneak attack damage. |
| Mister Sandman 2* | Increases sneak attack damage from silenced weapons by +100%. This works in this build with every silenced rifle. |
| Gun-Fu 1* | VATS swaps targets on kill with +30% damage to your next target. This is great on mobs and rank 1 should be enough here. |
| Escape Artist 1* | 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. |
| Adrenalin 2* | Gain +10% Damage per kill while on a kill streak (max 10). This grants a bonus of +100% after 10 kills. |
| Gunslinger 3* | Your ranged weapons do +12% weak spot damage. This affects damage shown in yellow numbers (mostly on the head). |
| Enforcer 3* | Your small guns (rifles, pistols, shotguns) gain a 15% stagger chance and +75% limb damage. Combined with the "Scattershot" perk, most enemies are crippled on the first shot, so that from the second shot onwards all bonus buffs against crippled enemies take effect. |
Note: High Agility makes for better Sneak ability, so you're less likely to be detected. This even get improved by low HP and uinyielding armor.
Luck to 9 (+5 legendary LCK):
| Class Freak 3* | Reduces the negative effects of mutations by 75%. |
| Serendipidy 1* | While below 30% health, gain a chance to evade based on LCK (No Power Armor). This results in a ca. +26% evade chance in this case. |
| Critical Savvy 3* | Critical Hits now only consume 55% of your critical meter. 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. |
| Better Criticals 3* | VATS criticals now do +100% damage. |
| Ricochet 1* | Gain a chance to Deflect ranged attacks based on LCK. In this case +32% Deflect Chance. |
| Four Leaf Clover 1* | Misses in VATS now contribute to the Critical Meter based on your LCK. Thats +72% Crit Meter Miss. |
| Good with Salt 2* | Food in your inventory will spoil 90% slower. |
Notes: High Luck is essential to land critical hits more often. I like to use "Good with Salt" and the Cryo-Freezer to make food buffs last longer. If you prefer to get buffs from the stash more often or don't use buffs at all, you can also use a different perk.
Legendary Perks
- Follow Through **** (Ranged damage from sneak attacks increases damage taken by the target by 40% for 10 seconds)
- Taking one for the Team **** (Enemies take 40% more damage when they attack you and you are in a team.) (Experience has shown that this legendary perk also stacks when you are hidden but the other team members are attacked, for example in events. )
- Legendary Perception**** (+5 PER and +5 PER skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Intelligence**** (+5 INT and +5 INT skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Agility**** (+5 AGI and +5 AGI skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
- Legendary Luck**** (+5 LCK and +5 LCK skill points. Skill points are capped at 15)
By using legendary SPECIALs we can use more points in the skillset than was previously possible. The legendary SPECIALs supplement the points defined for the skillset in the loadout up to a maximum of 15 in the skillset. In addition, the points are applied but cannot be used for perks. For example, if you choose 12 PER in the skillset and have legendary PER at 4*, you still only get 15 points for perk cards, but you have 17 PER in the Pipboy with the active SPECIALs.
Mutations
Mutations are crucial for your gameplay, critical hit damage, intelligence, AP acceleration, and much more. The right combination is therefore important.
- Adrenalreaction (+6.25% damage per Kill; Max 10 Stacks)
On the bottom right there is a new skull icon with a counter that shows the Bonus. - Eagle Eyes (-1 STR, +5 PER, +63% Critical Damage )
- Marsupial (-1 INT, +25 carry capacity, +400% jump height)
- Egghead (-1 END, -1 STR, +8 INT)
- Herd Mentality (-2 SPECIAL alone, +3 SPECIAL when in a team)
(so always play in a team) - Herbivore (Eat vegetables with no disease with 3X benefit )
(Negates the effects of meat food) - Speed Demon (+25% movement speed, +40% faster reload)
- Bird Bones (-65% falling speed, -1 STR, +5 AGI)
Additionally I use:
- unstable isotope
Buffs
Fully fed: +1 STR, +35 HP, +35 Disease Resist
Fully hydrated: +35% AP Regen, +1 END, +35 Disease Resist
You should always use these two buffs. Both are easy to maintain if you use Perfect Bubblegum (lasts 1 hour). Perfect Bubblegum is available in Foundation and Crater for gold.
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
Assault Rifle vs. Scorchbeast Queen
Fazit
This build currently represents the meta for me in the "small guns" category, meaning rifles in automatic and single-shot variants, pistols in automatic and single-shot variants, and also shotguns. For single-shot, you can also use a "reverse onslaught" build, but this variant works very well for Bloodied and also allows for the use of more perk cards.
Another big advantage of this build is the stopping effect of the Crippling. This quickly and effectively prevents large enemies from attacking you with full force.
What do you think of this build? Which variant do you like best?
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