Two Handed Melee Build | Fallout 76
(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)
And here we have one of my personal favorite weapon types in Fallout 76, Two Handed Melee weapons. These weapons in particular can deal some of the best possible damage in the game, AND (if you’ve got the right weaponry) you can easily one shot pretty much any enemy out in the wasteland.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
Perk Cards (Solo)
Perk Cards (Team)
Legendary Perk Cards
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:
Weapons
With Two Handed weaponry, there are some great weapons, and then some… not so great. For example, if you could choose between either a Shovel or a Grognak’s Axe, OBVIOUSLY you’d go with the shovel, because it can dig in the dirt. I’m kidding.
These are some of the Legendary effects you want to watch out for when getting some Legendary Two Handed Melee weapons.
Legendary Main Effects:
- Bloodied : More Damage the Lower your Health it
- Junkie’s : More Damage the more Addictions you have
- Anti-Armor : Ignores 50% of your enemies Armor
- Instigating: Enemies at full health take double damage
- Furious : Damage Increases every Consecutive Shot
Legendary Major Effects:
- 40% Faster Swing Speed
- 50% Limb Damage
Legendary Minor Effects:
- +1 Strength
- 90% Reduced Weight
- 1 Agility
Armor
With Two Handed Melee builds, I’d highly suggest looking through the benefits of using either armor OR power armor. Personally, I’d suggest trying to acquire full sets of legendary armor that include the perk +1 Strength on it, and then use some Strength buffed Shielded lining under armor, this will dramatically increase your Melee damage. Below I’ll show you what my personal favorite armor to wear is, it’s end-game stuff though so you might need to wear some of the basic stuff if you don’t have yourself the funds to purchase the expensive ones.
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 Two Handed Melee 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.
By the way, quick note, if you’re wanting to use a bloodied build with Two Handed Melee weapons (which is where Nerd Rage comes in handy, and damage goes crazy) you’ll want to definitely stick to either Unyielding or Bolstering if you’re dying a lot.
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:
- Unyielding
- Bolstering
- Vanguard’s
Legendary Major Effects:
- Any of the +1 to SPECIAL, ESPECIALLY +1 Strength
- Action Point Refresh Speed
Legendary Minor Effects:
- 50% More durability
- Receive 15% less Limb Damage
- Weapon Weight Reduced by 20%
- Food, Drink, and Chem Weight reduced by 20%
- 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 a Two handed Weapon 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%
- Glowing Meat Steak
- Melee Damage +10%
Drink
- Firecracker Berry Juice:
- +10% Critical Damage
- Hard Lemonade:
- +30 Max AP and +10 AP Regen
- Steeped Tea Thistle/Sweet Mutfruit Tea:
- Critical Hit +20%
Alcohol
- To be honest, ANY Alcohol that raises your strength is beneficial to melee builds
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
- Twisted Muscles
- +25% Melee Damage
- Healing Factor
- Slow Health Regeneration
- Carnivore
- No disease from eating meat and twice the benefits
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 Bobbleheads are quite a bit easier as there are FAR less.
Here are just my few suggestions:
Magazines:
- Grognak the Barbarian #1 – “Blood on the Harp
- +15% Melee Damage
- Grognak the Barbarian #4 – “In the Bosom of the Corsair Queen”
- +30% Critical Damage with Melee Weapons
- Grognak the Barbarian #6 – “Enter Maula: War Maiden of Mars
- -75% Weight of Melee Weapons
- Grognak the Barbarian #7 – “Fatherless Cur!”
- Melee Weapons lose condition 50% Slower
- Live & Love #2 – “Nuke-The-Man”
- +5% Damage when in a Team
- Tesla Science #8 – “10 Number 1 Hits!!!”
- +15% Critical Damage
BobbleHeads:
- Strength
- +2 Strength
- Melee
- +20% Damage with Melee Weapons
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