OP Plasma Caster V.A.T.S Crit Build | Fallout 76 Builds


(QUICK NOTE: These Builds are usable but NOT updated past the Steel Reign update. Until I get a chance to update all the builds, these should be thought of as more of a build starter)

The Plasma Caster in Fallout 76 is probably my most used Weapon out of all the Heavy Guns. It does incredible amounts of damage, has utterly insane accuracy for a Heavy Gun, not to mention the easiest critical hits of your life. Here I will show you my setup for the Plasma Caster in Fallout 76, and provide details on how to best use this weapon!

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

Perk Cards (Solo No Power Armor)

Fallout 76 Plasma Caster Build

Perk Cards (Solo Power Armor)

Fallout 76 Plasma Caster Build

Perk Cards (Team No Power Armor)

Fallout 76 Plasma Caster Build

Perk Cards (Team Power Armor)

Fallout 76 Plasma Caster Build

Legendary Perk Cards

Fallout 76 Gauss Minigun

NukesDragons has a FANTASTIC Fallout 76 Character Builder, and if you’re looking to create a build concept BEFORE you go for the real thing, definitely check out:

NukesDragons Character Build Planner & Calculator

Weapons

With the Plasma Caster, typically the Legendary Perks mimic the popular perks of the other weapons, so you’ll want to keep an eye out for these in particular. 

Remember, the Plasma Caster can only be obtained once you’ve bought it from the Gold Bullion Vendor Regs after you’ve completed the Wastelander’s Story, and it is CRAFTED as a Legendary weapon, however many stars on it are completely random and RNG based.

Legendary Main Effects:

  1. Bloodied : More Damage the Lower your Health it
  2. Junkie’s : More Damage the more Addictions you have
  3. Anti-Armor : Ignores 50% of your enemies Armor
  4. Two Shot : Fires 2 projectiles per 1 shot

Legendary Major Effects:

  1. VATS Critical Shots do +50% Damage (Amazing for Plasma Caster)
  2. 50% Limb Damage
  3. +33% VATS Hit Chance

Legendary Minor Effects:

  1. VATS Critical Meter fills 15% Faster
  2. 25% Less VATS Action Point Cost
  3. 15% Faster Reload
  4. 1 Agility
  5. 1 Perception

Armor

When it comes down to armor, you have 2 choices and there is one better than the other, you just might not like it. Power Armor is substantially better as a Heavy Gunner build not only because of the tankiness it provides, but the Heavy Gunner perk until Intelligence called “Stabilized”. This perk alone makes it worth rocking Power Armor over regular, BUT, because I know a lot of folks prefer no PA over wearing PA, I have both armor types available to look over.

Under Armor

Under Armor can be one of the most essential pieces to your build, simply because it adds so much straight up damage resistance and SPECIAL bonuses. Remember, you DO NOT receive under armor bonuses while in Power Armor, you will only get the benefits from the Power Armor itself.

The best one you’ll want to try and get is the Secret Service under armor providing:

  • +15 Damage resistance
  • +15 Energy Resistance
  • +15 Radiation Resistance

With Shielded Lining:

  • +4 Strength
  • +2 Perception
  • +4 Endurance

If you can’t get this under armor yet, which new players won’t for a good while, stick with any others you can get along the way, modding them with what you can! (Collect those plans!)

Regular Armor

Regular armor is totally up to the user on which they wear, but when we’re talking about Heavy Gun builds… well, actually any build pretty much, you’re going to want to go with Secret Service armor, which is purchased with Gold Bullion after completing the Wastelander’s main campaign. It provides an insane amount of armor, better than anything else, and the ONLY problem is that you need to buy it at the extremely expensive price and then HOPE you roll some good perks on it.

If you can’t get Secret Service armor just yet, don’t worry about it, as long as you have armor like Combat Armor, Brotherhood Recon, or Marine Armor. Speaking of perks, these are the ones you’ll want to look out for:

Legendary Main Effects:

  1. Unyielding
  2. Bolstering
  3. Vanguard’s

Legendary Major Effects:

  1. Any of the +1 to SPECIAL
  2. Powered

Legendary Minor Effects:

  1. 50% More durability
  2. Receive 15% less Limb Damage
  3. Ammo Weight Reduced by 20%
  4. Weapon Weight Reduced by 20%
  5. Food, Drink, and Chem Weight reduced by 20%
  6. Junk Weight Reduced by 20%

Power Armor

Just like regular Armor, Power Armor also has it’s “better” versions that are pretty much just superior to the rest. If you’re rocking Power Armor with you Heavy Gunner’s build, you’ll want to get T-65. The T-65 Power Armor provides the absolute highest amount of damage resistances as possible, but also costs a fortune in Gold Bullion to purchase all the plans, so once again, use what you can. T-60, X-01, and Ultracite Power Armors are quite easy to come across just by completing the Enclave and Brotherhood questlines.

For Power Armor Mods (because you’ll definitely want to mod them to make them the best) you’re wanting to look for:

  • Helmet: Internal Database – +2 Intelligance
    • Targeting Hud – Highlights Living Targets
  • Torso: Emergency Protocols – Benefits from being Bloodied
    • Jet Pack is also helpful
  • Arms: None of them will really help out a lot, don’t waste bullion
  • Legs: Calibrated Shocks – Carry weight +50 per mod

Buffs

This is for those of you that enjoy going out and absolutizing maximizing the damage output you can deal with your builds. Little do a lot of folks realize, taking the right foods and drastically boost the performance of your build, making it beyond worth it to gather these quick items.

Food/Soup

  • Grilled Radstag: 
    • Super Easy to make, increases Carry weight by +20
  • Pumpkin Pie: 
    • Max Health +40
  • Smoked Mirelurk Filets: 
    • +250 HP and +30 Carry Weight
  • Blight Soup:
    • Critical Damage +20%
  • Megasloth Mushroom Soup: 
    • Critical Damage +20%

    Drink

    • Ballistic Bock:
      • +15+ Ballistic Damage at the cost of 15% Condition Cost for 5 Seconds
    • Firecracker Berry Juice: 
      • +10% Critical Damage
    • Hard Lemonade: 
      • +30 Max AP and +10 AP Regen
    • Steeped Tea Thistle/Sweet Mutfruit Tea:
      • Critical Hit +20%

      Mutations

      • Marsupial
        • Carry Weight +20%, +Jump Height
      • Adrenal Reaction
        • Higher Weapon Damage the lower your HP
      • Speed Demon
        • +20 Faster Movement Speed +20% Faster Reload

        Drugs

        • Overdrive
          • +15% Damage, +15% Critical Damage
        • Pyscho
          • +25 Damage Resistance, +15% Damage
        • Pyschobuff
          • +25% Damage, Strength/Endurance +3, Max HP +65

        Magazines & Bobbleheads

        Thing about Magazines is that there are SO MANY of them that is can make it difficult to pick and choose between them all, whereas Bobblheads are quite a bit easier as there are FAR less. Here are just my few suggestions:

        Magazines:

        • Guns & Bullets #3 – “Little Guns for the Ladies”
          • +30% Critical Damage with Ballistic Guns
        • Live & Love #2 – “Nuke-The-Man”
          • +5% Damage when in a Team
        • Tesla Science #7 – “U.S. Army Goes to Space”
          • +30% Energy Gun Critical Damage
        • Tesla Science #8 – “10 Number 1 Hits!!!”
          • +15% Critical Damage
        • Tesla Science #9 – “Future of Warfare”
          • +30% Heavy Gun Critical Damage

        BobbleHeads:

        • Big Guns
          • +20% Damage with Heavy Weapons
        • Energy Weapons
          • +25% Damage with Energy Weapons
        • Explosive
          • +30% Damage with Explosives

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