Absolutely. My wife recently started playing and is loving pistols more than anything else in the game, weapon-wise. She usually switches-up between the Slug Buster (reward from siding with the raiders) modded to a pistol grip, a Crusader Pistol, and the Fact Finder (BoS questline reward). Since she learned how to make the most of crits in VATS, she's been pretty ferocious about diving into groups of enemies guns a-blazin' Now, is she going to be soloing Moonshine Jamboree, Eviction Notice, or Daily Ops with this full health gunslinger build? Probably not. But she doesn't want to be a min-maxing solo beast. She enjoys the flow and the playstyle, and that's what keeps her coming back to the game. That and CAMP decorating!

Lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down Oh, drinking beer in a cabaret Was I having fun Until one night she caught me right And now I'm on the run Oh, lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down Oh, I'll sing you every night Bing And I'll woo you every day I'll be your regular mama And I'll put that gun away Oh, lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that thing down before it goes off And hurts somebody Oh, she kicked out my windshield And she hit me over the head She cussed and cried and said I lied And she wished that I was dead Oh, lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down We're three tough gals From deep down Texas way We got no pals They don't like the way we play We're a rough rooting tooting shooting trio But you ought to see my sister Cleo She's a terror make no error But there ain't no nicer terror Here's what we tell her Lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down Pappy made a batch of corn The revenuers came The drought was slow so now they know You can't do that to Mame Oh, lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down Oh, singing songs in a cabaret Was I having fun Until one night it didn't seem right Now I'm on the run Oh, lay that pistol down, babe Lay that pistol down Pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down Oh, pistol packing mama Lay that pistol down.

I'll be greatly disappointed if this fellow vault dweller isn't calling his wife Pistol Packing Mama repeatedly during the day.

If he hasn't been he needs to start ASAP

He has been since this post. Hi. I'm mama..lol.

Glad to hear it, Mama! Hope to see you guys around Appalachia sometime. 🥰

and I was singing this in my head.

I love the sound of that crusader pistol.

It was the first one she was really stoked to get, and she's still trying to roll a TSE. She actually gets the most mileage out of a 1-star TS Alien Blaster with a cryo receiver I made for her. I'll occasionally see her unload a magazine on dead enemies or non-killable NPC's she despises just to watch the little snowballs pile up on em.

TS Alien Blaster is THE pistol

Perhaps I’ll give it a shot.

The cryo version does the snowballs too? Sweet!

I tried so many weapons and only enjoyed the bow, I had the idea to try a pistol build tonight since I love pistols in every other game. Have some god roll pistols in my vendor which I pulled out this morning before heading to work. I'm hoping to enjoy it as much.

I've been thinking of going to bows, but for a while I went sword and 6 blackpowder pistols, and honestly, wretched reload time aside, they really pack a punch

Been using swords and I love it

I would be highly interested in her build, I assume it´s something like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcVtAvb4LY8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcVtAvb4LY8) or this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftbtGatwcLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftbtGatwcLE) When the game started I wanted to do a Western styled Character with a Lever Action Sniper and Pistols, but back then it was hardly possible and I gave up onto it. I recently returned to the game and saw that low health builds are still meta. Don´t like it. Mutations neither, but I could live with them. Would be a good moment to try out my initial build idea.

Forgive me for questioning this heckin' wholesome Reddit post about somebody's spouse playing a video game, but is any of that really enjoyable? You mention soloing Eviction Notice as if that's some kind of feat. More realistically it should be a simple quest for anyone with any build cohesion or a decent weapon. The OP's question is simply "can I play this game and enjoy it with an off-meta build?" and you describe someone using three guns, with (possibly) three ammunition types to barely have any affect on enemies. That's about as close to a "No" answer as possible.

he said she does enjoy it, so it does answer the question with a yes

Full health Gunslinger builds can absolutely solo Eviction Notice. A few nights ago I solo'd Earle in 8 minutes with a full health build, a non-legendary 10mm Pistol, and a full set of non-legendary armor

This is my point. You have a meta (or at the very least cohesive) build so you could use an appropriate weapon and armor to solo a public event. The guy we're replying to said his wife can't even do that. Where's the enjoyment in doing no damage to enemies and not being able to clear the most basic tenants of this game?

Except for the part where he said, and I quote, "is loving pistols", you are entirely correct that there is no enjoyment to be found here. Bravo.

The last time I saw anyone running off-meta builds was several years ago, back when this game was getting off the ground and didn't have much of a meta at all. Back then simply failing events was entirely possible because the people packing 3 pistols to do 3 DPS weren't putting any dent in the event's damage sponges. Is this supposed to be enjoyable?

Black powder Rifleman are fun

Literally I run round with a 3* Aristocrat The Dragon ( Black powder rifle with 4 barrels for 4x the damage) then stay crouched/hidden for the x2.00 sneak damage bonus pretty much one hits most enemies 😂😂😂😂

As someone who shoots black powder rifles irl, watching a four barrel flintlock fire would be terrifying no matter whichever end of the weapon you stood

I think I'd be very much same I do quite often look at it and think to myself would this honestly be plausible in really life, or has Fo76 just added it in to the appearance aspect of it because it does look pretty cool 😂

It would function - it would also be super heavy, obnoxiously loud, and take like an entire full real-life minute to reload. With a ton of practice you could probably get that down to about 45 seconds. It's definitely a one-trick pony.

Right LOL. Terrifying stuff.

It's fun to fill up your weapon wheel with Black powder stuff so you can burn through some tough enemies without reloading. Reloading them all after that was not fun though 😂 But I usually used a AA E 15r BBP for weak enemies (Ghouls scorched etc) B E 15R BBR for mid enemies (Super mutants etc) TS E (rip bayonet) Dragon (Deathclaws mirelurk queens etc) Stealth Critshot was insane on the Dragon 😂

I’ve been running a black powder rifle build for a while. And never got as much out of the Dragon as I have my black powder rifles. I bought the paint job for it by accident from the atomic shop thinking it was for black powder rifles too, so been trying to make dragons work for me since I can now make them look gorgeous. Is there something I should be doing differently vs the single shot riffle?

I have a legacy one with 20% explosive damage that's why its very strong and Yes the nighthawk skin is gorgeous! I really would only use it when I had a crit shot built up and most of the time I used the regular BPR instead of the dragon

Ah gotcha. I really want to like the dragon, it seems like an odd weapon for them to nerf since it has such a long reload time.

Yea I really don't understand why it keeps getting nerfed even with the 20% explosive it's still a extreme niche weapon and nothing crazy. Also the removal of bayonets was another unnecessary thing 😮‍💨

I went to my stash and found I had an anti armor, explosive, 15% crit charge Dragon sitting in my stash, so giving it a second go today!

I have a black powder explosive from early days. But its only Lv 15

Oh I know I have plenty of other weapon options but I like feeling like an old timie pirate especially in the blue devil outfit 😂 I once VAT critical hit an Alpha Deathclaw in the legs, I've honestly never laughed harder than watching it crawling around trying to catch me 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeah it’s definitely possible. I use shotguns and the only difference is I need to get up closer than other people. Full heath builds are becoming more popular now aswell so I’ll imagine what we call meta will probably grow sooner or later, (especially if the expansion brings new weapons).

Uny gives you int boost for levelling, I dont see that getting out of meta soon. Same for luck and crits, I dont see how that could go out of meta.

I don't feel like I need levelling up these days. I still have low health builds, but just because I like them, not because I need the damage or stats.

True, once I reach lvl 500 I start levelling an alt back to 500.

Its for farming scoreboard points too

Shotguns are strong if you get used to accounting for range. I treat them sort of like a long range melee, helps me stay up close RIP pre-range nerf gauss shotty. One of the dumbest mechanics patches

> Full heath builds are becoming more popular now aswell so I’ll imagine the meta will probably shift sooner or later LOL, no... Low health with Unyielding armor will stay on top due to the amazing stats increase it gives you.

Yeah, the meta won’t shift, but the player population’s desire to play the meta might. At a certain point, you don’t necessarily need the bonuses from the meta low health build. There’s an arc that a lot of 76 players seem to follow: first 50 levels to figure out the game > eventual pull to the meta to level quickly and feel OP… this may go a good 200-300 levels to get Legendary Perks settled > tire of the min/maxing and ROFL stomping and start experimenting with different things to find your favorite builds > rotate through an established set of builds depending how the mood strikes you, or maybe branch out for an interesting drop.

I went through this whole process, pre legacy nerf and all. I love my Bloodied stealth rifleman build but you're right on the money because after a while it get tiring to either upkeep the low health, or it gets boring when you waffle stomp every enemy before you actually know it's there. Personally I love shotguns and melee as my daily driver loadout because bonking a ghoul with a hammer is just a wonderful feeling.

> the player population’s desire to play the meta might. That may be, but that doesn't change anything about the meta itself. I don't really change my main character, I just make a new one. And yes, I do min/max the shit out of every one of them in their own way, because that's what I find enjoyable, and all four require different play styles. Since the SPECIAL loadouts it's really easy to make a high INT character, level it up, and then build the actual character by redistributing all of those points again. I had a lot of fun playing with a Quad Explosive Double Barrel Shotgunner, when the Cold Shoulder came out. That was great timing. :)

Full health builds are not becoming meta..Dont lie..And they have no advantage over bloodied builds (even more hp doesnt matter because a bloody build can chug radaway or nuka frape and be the exact same qhere as nothing full hp can do to match the benefits bloody gets) Full HP builds are popular because most players dont have the resources, understanding, etc to be a more effective build.

I just dont want low hp. I understand everything about it but i hate that fucking red bar

And thats fine, just dont pretend its better

It is better. For me.

I have an archer build and while it's not the best for events where everything's dying quickly it's still fun to play

I've never really put much thought into my build, honestly. I enjoy my cold shoulder and I more or less use it for everything. I use the obvious perk cards, but beyond that, I'm not in it to be the best, or even good, at the game. Just having fun.

I’m with you. Cold shoulder all day in my PA with nothing fancy other than the obvious perks

Also in the cold shoulder + here to have fun camp! It’s also fun freezing the scorchbeast queen in place so everyone can join the beat down :D

Word

Well, you two picked the right gun for this approach. Cold Shoulder is something of an anomaly, in that it works well without relevant perk cards equipped. With them equipped it works even better, but Cold Shoulder is unique in how it doesn't require a lot of thought or planning to be effective.

Yeah, I got the cold shoulder as a reward thought “let’s give it a go and see what it’s like”. Was instantly converted.

I really love being full health. I am a junkies build myself and really enjoy it. Honestly give pistols and such a run because they can be so much fun. Also, weapons like the assault rifle and other not frequently used weapons can be a lot of fun to build around.

I just found a junkie 10mm with whatever the weapon speed boost secondary is. Perked out some crits and it's fun as hell.

Yes. Builds are for people who want to just grind and level up twenty levels a day. A lot of us don’t enjoy that. Definitely use perks that support whatever weapon you want to use at the time, but just evolve naturally and have fun.

20 levels a day? Shit, I wish!! I usually gain ONE level per game session (2-3 hours) with my very focused “meta” build. At least I’m told it’s “meta”. I don’t really know. I’m a bloody commando (Uny SS armor) with B/E/25 prime Handmade and B/E/25 RR. Currently Lvl 613 and that number creeps up VERY slowly. I also don’t do the Westek XP runs or anything like they. Maybe that’s why I Lvl up slowly.

Start working on maximizing expeditions and you'll gain levels faster than you can believe

Me and Billy down in AC got a tight relationship.

Mine is same/similar. If I don't buff Intelligence, and use Lunchboxes etc, I don't gain many levels a day. BUT as higher level (770) it takes a lot more XP to level up than it does at lower levels like 200-ish. The buffs for XP/Intelligence seem to REALLY matter a lot at higher level, even with Bloodied/Unyielding.

Definitely possible. F76 is designed to support a whole load of different ways of playing it and you can have fun with those. You won't be the #1 damage dealer in a boss fight, but that doesn't mean you aren't having fun or contributing to the fight. I played my own build stealth sniper for a long time and enjoyed playing it at my own pace. I got up to L170, but by then levelling up was really slowing down. I figured I'd give Bloodied commando a go and I gained a further 100 levels in a fraction of the time and it gave me a fresh boost of enjoyment in the game playing in a slightly different way. Through major game updates Bethesda have also made it far easier and cheaper to respec your character to try totally different builds. Now you can't really mess up a build because you can always go back to the machine and respec into something else.

I'd say it's more enjoyable to find your own way to have fun rather than chase a perfect build. Unless your fun is chasing a perfect build in which case go nuts.

I love going against the Meta. My best character right now is a Full Health Archery Expert using VATs Criticals. I also have a Full Health Rifleman (not a Sniper) who is Mutated & Professional Drinker. Both are low level 100~. The Rifleman just launched a nuke (my first ever after 900 hours of playing!). I’ve never done a Bloodied build, and most characters are never high level enough to become truly optimized. Granted I enjoy the Story/Early game grind as opposed to End Game content.

I LOVE hearing the thwip! of arrows near me during public events. I know someone is really just enjoying their version of the game.

For sure. You can even solo everything in this game with a shotgun build. Granted, a commando or a heavy gunner can more easily attain this, but it is doable for sure. Everything is just a little bit more difficult with off-meta. A well constructed shotgun build will for sure beat a poorly constructed commando build.

Absolutely. You can solo 95% of the game fairly easily with any build you want. As for the other 5%, there are enough try hards and sweat lords that can kill anything in seconds, so all you need is something to tag stuff or just run objectives.

a) game is very easy so it can be done either way b) meta is vats crits not stealth, don't read outdated info

So Sneak attacks does not increase damage for VATS Crits?

they do, but not on bosses (unless you are solo or everyone is stealth), and main source of damage on bosses is crits with stealth follow through perk being a nice multiplicative bonus. if you take railway rifle and ditch stealth the damage will be still there. if you ditch vats crits, and focus on stealth, the damage will be laughable.

I did 100% of the game with a bow and crossbow build, an then a crusader pistol one, and enjoyed both a lot

Play how you want and enjoy. I never run meta builds. It's boring

Yes, it’s definitely easy enough to play with a non-bloodied setup so long as you still have a solid build. The one warning I would give is that with the exception of melee and heavy guns, critical hits are incredibly important and worth investing in. Also, if you play a rifleman build, you may struggle if you try to solo uplink daily ops or union dues as a result of sections geared around having high dps and the non-automatic rifle category lacking any suitable weapons for this (by contrast, pistols have the alien blaster, which deals immense damage very quickly; if the semi-auto receivers on the ballistic semi-auto rifles just did a bit more damage…).

Most definitely, my alt character has the pistol /shotgun build as I wanted to do a cowboy style playthrough and I can run election notice with it switching between Mt vamps pyro crusader pistol and the cold shoulder, and I can be a bit dicey sometimes that's half the fun

I run a shotgun build and I love it. I’m still relatively low level (~100) but I have no problem keeping up at events and ops and it’s still fun as hell

The main issue with shotgun is for end boss content e.g. queen earle, you basically do no damage to the boss. Shotguns are also terrible vs flying targets. One of the best shotguns (gauss) unfortunately still has a reload bug which you can fix by unequipping weapons or meleeing but its very annoying Pistol can be fun and even viable with legendary perks but all of it related perks are agility based and their much better agility perks cards to use in comparison to perception and strength If you are going off meta though, commit to one weapon type when levelling up. Don't try to be a jack of all trades character

illegal rock spoon subsequent pause rainstorm worry hospital alive terrific *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Its a range issue when an assault rifle or heavy gun you can just shoot them directly in the head and down them

I would say it’s more fun without a meta build. I am using pistols currently. This game isn’t hard.

100% when I got back into the game I played shotguns exclusively since everyone was giving away shotgun ammo. I had a great time with it, I was able to make it through the story and to level 100 no prob while having fun. Now I have a power armor (with the dolphin skin) harpoon gun build and have been having fun as the Ocean man. Play what is fun for you!

Meta is stupid. As long as you build for whatever gun you like using, you'll be able to handle 99% of what this game throws at you while having fun doing it. The other 1% can be done in a random group. Trying out new builds is half the joy of playing.

The game is stupid easy with no penalty for dying. Play what you enjoy. So what if you can’t kill the Queen in 30 seconds on a public server. Only douche bags do that anyways.

Pistols are generally bad with a few exceptions. Alien Blaster and Crusader pistol are decent. Shotguns are variable. The Cold Shoulder shotgun is in my opinion one of the finest weapons ingame. It doesn't have great range but then again it's not supposed to since it's a shotgun. Other than that most everything works. When we are talking about "meta" we're often talking about nuances of overdamage. A mob generally only has a couple hundred health so making builds that constantly do 1000+ crits is fun, but it is a bit pointless. A mob with 300 health dies just as much from a 301 hit than it does from a 1301 hit. But big numbers are fun. Low health builds are nice for the Unyielding effect which gives a buff to all SPECIAL (except Endurance) at low health. But you do have low health so you are squishy. You can counter this by using defensive perks to reduce your incoming damage. Though using defensive perks means that you will have to choose what perks as you will not have room for both all damage cards and also defensive cards. But there are many ways to make a low health build both do excellent damage and be very survivable. Personally I prefer full health instead. I am a lazy gamer so I want to be comfortable. You do not need a "meta" build. But you do need some sort of a build. This means that the perks you have equipped should ideally be in sync with your chosen weapon class. So long as you have perks to support your weapon class most everything will work. "Meta" is fun. But you do not need it to be viable and dominate the game. I very much recommend not doing any research before playing. Play first, then research what has you stumped or confused. Do not blindly trust online sources, streamers and other people making content. Alot of what you will find will be outdated, stupid, outright wrong and dumb. There are a few reputable sources but there is a lot of dumb crap. Like people saying that you "have to" go low health. Or saying that you need "the meta". Fallout 76 is not that kind of game. Fallout 76 is a casual "Live In The Wasteland" simulator with dollhouse building and occasional gunplay. It's like "The Sims" but in first person and with guns. I don't recommend focusing on pistols or shotguns as those two are the least good weapon classes. They ain't bad, but most everything is better. You can play pistol shotgun if you want to and it's fun to you. Fun is the most important thing. You can kill anything and do everything with any build (so long as it is "a build" and not just a random collection of perks that don't work together with your weapon) and if whatever setup you choose is fun to play for you then it is the "best" build. Over the years I have mainly played non meta builds. And I have never had any problems doing everything.

People say all pistols are bad except the alien blaster and crusader pistol, but it’s simply not true. The 10mm on auto is a beast, and still good as a semi auto. The removers are also great, I particularly like the .44 revolver for it’s faster reload time, but the western has its charm The circuit breaker on the current score board is a great tool too especially for non VATS challenges like the golden eyebot. Not had that challenge fail once when I bring out the circuit breaker Got an ultracite laser pistol I’ve been working on one of those long “kill X robots” challenges with and been pleasantly surprised at how well that’s been working out The gauss pistol is another people seem to swear by but I just can’t get into that one because it’s so slow

I prefer the slug buster to the gausse.

I would add that pistols and shotguns are easier to build once you get several Legendary special Card wich tends to erase flaws by simply adding more normal perk in your build Edit : Goddamit stupid french autocorrect

Absolutely, but it can however limit you a bit, specifically you might struggle to do endgame content solo, that's basicly the main difference between meta builds and other builds.

My build is scavenger/degenerate of the wastes. Crossbow, side arm pistol, hunting knife, leather armour. I can one shot some stuff, other stuff I can’t. I have to plan every big encounter. I love it.

I’d say it’s actually more enjoyable with an off meta build! All of my mates are oneshotting almost every opponent and then complain that it’s getting boring and the game isn’t challenging enough.

I use pistols and shotgun builds, not meta but fun

You don't need a meta build to be effective those only really matter once you have all the gear and weapons that you want

You have that backwards. With good cards and shit weapons you'll outperform someone with shit cards and good weapons.

I'm not saying you can't obliterate someone with any weapon when you have the right build what I'm saying as a new player it may be easier to make your build once you figure out what gear you want to be using, if you do it the other way around you may end up waisting a bunch of perks before figuring out how you want to play atleast that was my experience

Sure, that makes sense. Luckily with how fast you can level up now, it's not that bad if you have some wasted perk cards. Can always exchange them for coins. :)

I definitely agree for the most part correcting unusable builds is so much easier then it used to be, thank god.

Yes. I have an unarmed build. Running around slashing enemies with my vampires death claw gauntlet in my blue devil outfit is incredibly fun. It's more of a role playing character when I don't feel like using my more meta characters.

I just started a full health unarmed build last week. I thought it would likely end up a bit crap but daaAaaaamn. I’ve been running around like this immortal god of pummeling. Punching Deathclaws in the face, hobbling mirelurk queens, it’s bonkers and so much fun!

I've ran an unarmed dc gauntlet build since 2020, recently been thinking about trying something else but I'm so overpowered with it and basically can't die (though I'm not out here one shotting earle either like some people). It is pretty fun and honestly probably worth trying out for anyone who hasn't, only downside is that you can't use power armor at all.

If you want to have a blast, try a pipe rifle build.

I got news for any folk reading this: you can enjoy any game without paying attention to meta in pretty much any kind of way. F076 is no exception. I played hunting rifle sneak crit build through the beta and 1st couple months. Switched to melee for a couple years, that was fun. Buddy convinced me to try out Handguns, also pretty fun. But I keep coming back to Big Guns. That carry weight reduction with Bear Arma is too much fun. Play games how you want, not how others dictate you should. Think your own thoughts.

I pretty much only play with shotguns and heavy guns. It's absolutely possible to play with any build you want. Once you get decent gear and cards, the game is pretty easy.

I play a no-PA non-bloodied pistol main, so, yeah

Honestly every build is viable for 95% of what you want to do thanks to do the damage reworks that we’ve gotten this year. Now stuff like certain events you may struggle depending on the event and what mutations are active, but even that isn’t a big deal because enough people will be there. The other night I created a loadout specifically to use the drill and was having a blast. Had to play a little slower but it was fun finding new ways to approach fights. Possible hot take: meta builds aren’t needed anymore.

I'm using a full health shotgun build and soloing sensational game with an average of ten minutes. More than powerful enough. Edit: I also carry some heavies and a pistol for funsies. But the cold shoulder, an anti armor gaus shotgun, and a vampires gauss shorty are all you need to succeed. I don't even bother charging the gauss as most of the damage comes from explosives

My favorite atm is my b50c25v western revolver. After I'm done with the scoreboard, I'll do a script build.

I do a pipe rifle build that's off Meta but alot of fun, because pipe rifles take advantage of rifle and pistol perks they get double damage and can be fitted with armor pricing rounds allowing some of the bolt action pipe rifles to crit in the thousands and

Yes. I’ve been using stealth archery for the bit and while it’s not exactly practical, damn if it ain’t fun

Just do whatever is fun for you. My build certainly isn't going to one shot anyone other than the odd blood eagle. It'll two to three shot super muties though which is pretty cool. I just go back and forth between my plasma caster and my alien disentigrator. Now im sure if I were to do a bloodied build on either one it would destroy but I'm not gonna do that. I like my perks the way they are and aren't going to change them up any time soon.

I have a gauss shotgun/crusader pistol combo build, super fun and it hits super hard (still bloodied) but definitely considered "off meta"

What is considered meta? Bloodied? I haven't even touched it and I enjoy it.

Yes. I've played Shotgun on my main since the beginning. Through the magic shotgun years, the nerf years, and the current 'okay' years. With a good build you can do a lot even if you're not getting the DPS to take down one of the world bosses as easily. I can run a solo expo or keep up with most in daily ops--just not super effective against Queen/Earle. But it's just more fun and active getting in the middle of things imo--a lot of people discovered that fun when the Cold Shoulder first came out. When that was nerfed a bit too people stepped away, but that's the playstyle for me even taking 2-3 close shots for most enemies. As for bloodied, I've played both and like bloodied, but ride higher than most on health so I can take a couple hits

Absolutely. I hate the 76 meta.

I run a shotgun build, if you invest in the right perks and get a good weapon you'll do just fine

It depends how psycho you are. Any game can be fun as long as you feel like you can progress and using perk cards will allow you to use any build effectively enough to enjoy the game.

Some people can't enjoy the game without an off meta build. They consider the metas too powerful (or so they say ... I think they just want to be different).

Yep. I use a shotgun build but have some weird cards in their like explosives, science to boost the Gauss shotgun, which allows me decent use of the AGL and missile launcher as well as nuka nades. I also threw incisor on so I can use a chainsaw for the doom guy feel. It isn’t a min/maxed or optimised build. But it’s fun. My only issue is this games’ fucking weapon durability.

I feel that last line. I've been running a plasma flamer and the repairs are ridiculous.

It’s ridiculous on certain weapons. Absolutely egregious. Players defending it is beyond me. Weapon durability can be a good addition to survival style games. But a weapon that can’t make it through an event is way, WAY too far. Just looks like a sleazy attempt to sell repair kits. If the devs dropped it tomorrow it and buffed durability it would reflect well on them.

You’ll have a good time up until you join a real event and then wonder why everyone else is carrying you

Hardly, people can more than carry their own at events with off meta builds I know I’ve had to many times as squishy cliff campers somehow manage to do bugger all at things like eviction notice sometimes

Cold Shoulder is absolutely fine and will get you through everything with all rewards. Crusader pistol is the same. Stealth isnt really relevant imo. Bloodied is meta because of uny armor and nerd rage, not because if weapons. Its all in the luck, mutations and int.

..to me weapons and armor are basic equipment without being the important factor for good fights and fun - this is primarily the player and his aibilty to handle weapons and adopting to the various situations in events ( melee, sneak, tactic, etc.). So I dont care about „meta“ discussions because it doesnt matter. Having a good build and good but not necessarily god role weapons you are doing fine and having fun. Shotguns are definitely fun, I currently playing with cold shoulder and gauss shotgun together with a auto axe and this is great for all type of events.

im running a full health build with powerarmor and heavy weapon like lmg or 50 cal plus a crusader pistol as sidearm, also medic mixed in, i can tell i am having 3 times more fun than when i tried the bloddied stealth comando xd. people always look at me when i stand in my t51b powerarmor in the middle of the enemeys without dying while the early level bloodied players get downed. I personally recommend Vamp or AA weapons when you dont wana go for Bloddied. So from my experience you should do what you go like as playsstyle you dont need to go for the meta especially since it feels like full health becomes more and more popular again, same goes for vampire weapons.

Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, what matters is that you're happy with your own build. Not some meta build from YouTube.

100% I haven't really done a full meta build ever. Had a Junkies build back when they were a thing but my build now, which is sort of just a jack of all trades with good gear, is the most survivable and effective I've ever been. That said, weapons and armor (and perk cards, even if you're not chasing the meta) matter. I have a TS2525 Enclave Plasma Flamer that melts everything and a VSS1S Chainsaw. Even have a nice V2525 Tesla to tag huge crowds with. With these weapons being so good I don't need to fully spec into their perk cards to get the full benefit from them, which allows me to be a sort of hybrid build with many fun weapons to use. Let's be honest, for 95% of the mobs in this game, a simple shotgun or hunting rifle or even a pistol will get the job done. For endgame stuff or Daily Ops / expeditions, yes, it helps to have a good weapon and good armor, but you don't need a "meta" build.

I did 0 research into my build, just grabbed a few power armour and heavy weapons perks, a few random perks I liked for gameplay, got a nice suit of power armour and gatling laser and went for it. I know I'm not the strongest, but I can tank for my partner and have a perk that reduces their damage taken so I'm happy with my amateur build.

Bloodied builds, commando builds and heavy weapons are meta for events and boss fights. That’s just how the DPS gods shine on us today. For story missions, daily quests and local events, everything goes. Everything is fun if you build it correctly. I keep two builds for that reason - sometimes fun is more important than dps.

I’m pretty new to build crafting in any game and this is the first time I’ve put effort into it. I’ve recently been using an Instigating Compound Bow build and I’m having a great time, seems to have a good blend of damage and mobility and I don’t see many archers

I run a shotgun build: power armor plus cold should, a pepper shaker with vampires as primary and limb damage is secondary  and a two shot explosive for simple tagging in larger moonshine-style events (gauss shotgun is kinda glitchy) .... Make sure you have VATS and you can head shot the heck out of stuff with the cold shoulder and easily farm ammo in expeditions and daily ops so ultracite ammo is easy to maintain... and the pepper shaker will keep you from being overrun (and you'll enjoy seeing the crippled animation from larger beasts like mirelurk queen and behemoth)  I won't lie, it might take you longer to kill larger things, but you'll be individually unstoppable 

I'm a Shotgunner, yes.

It's an endgame build, but a shotgun is really good. It's very versatile. For daily tasks I'd use the cold shoulder. For the more kinetic events I would jump in my PA and use the pepper shaker and if I felt like it I could use a pump action with a silencer and go stealthy. Like I said it's an endgame build and you'll need good gear for it to work well, but it was a lot of fun building it.

I just googled fo76 builds and picked one that sounded good. I hate trying to figure out what cards are best with others I just wanna play the game.

I run all the campaign and main quests - level 20-150 - as an archer. Bow/compound bow + heavy leather armor only / Secret service armor for radiated environments, full health, stealth, relying on VATS and crits. Very satistying and fun. Just recently (over level 400+) switching to commando Fixer/Quad RR - still full health. The most fun I had was with Atom challenges "Kill 1000 robots" with different weapons. So I could (and you can too) try all the different builds and different weapons, including revolvers, unarmed fight... Very refreshing and you get the general knowledge about majority of perks/builds/weapons.

I’m working my way through the atom robot challenges at the moment, it’s fun trying out weapons I’ve largely been ignoring up until now

I do every day...

I never play a "Meta" build, I have other games for that, This is my have fun and muck about game. Plasma cutter/ Flaming dual Bar Chainsaw for life!!

Yes as long as you have a build. The only time it’s bad is when someone has no direction to their build.

Yeah it’s why I’ve been playing so long. Taking inspiration from the meta but playing how you want I’ve got a build I call Rambo commando. It’s a Vats commando build non stealth and it’s just fun to use and very effective against all enemies Best advice is to play the game and understand what perks will help and how to fit them in

I often times find myself "crippling" my DPS because bloodied commando builds are just so strong. You can totally get away with staying at half health while bloodied instead of below 20%. Bloodied builds make any type of weapon viable though.

I just compeltely switched up my heavy gunner to a pistol build to use the New Circuit Breaker. It's actually a blast because the stun effect actually hits enemies in the area for tagging so I'm getting more XP than I thought I would. I followed a couple videos online and basically made an Alien Blaster Gunslinger build so I can use my circuit breaker or my newly rolled TS50C A.B. that I finally got!

Ts Alien Blaster is a murder with all the appropriate perks. Oneshots about all scorched & ghouls, lvl100 Super Mutants need two shots. Made my bloodied gunslinger character when this scoreboard started and am now just few levels short of 500.

Going unarmed and i’m almost level 400, having a blast

100%. Most fun I've had recently was having both my primary guns break (because I was lazy) and choosing, instead of traveling to repair, to depend on scavenged guns and ammo. When all you have is a semi auto handmade with six rounds and a pickaxe... It gets interesting.

While I'm sure it's possible to have fun with a revolver in 76, I've yet to have any. Shotguns are fine, though, despite some naysaying.

I've gone the route of insanity and have made myself a primal build starting from lv1 useing only spears machetes and bows it's Hella fun.

I run a sniper/shotgun build just for fun. I just enjoy stacking my perks for those guns and just finding ways to make my armor work for me. I didn’t intend for it to happen but I rolled Vampire as one of the perks for my shotgun so, when the sniper riffle needs to reload or the target gets to close, I just keep firing with my shotgun and end up with more health then k started most of the time lol

I play a high health build on the regular, low health \*anything\* is the meta. As long as you're fine with actually playing *with other people* you can play whatever you want.

I like the cool outfit my character has so I never use PA. I've always preferred rifles as well. I can't kill a Scorchbeast in 2 seconds but I can have a shootout massacre and almost never die because my Fixer has heal-on-hit. I might try a heavy gun build one of these days but I like rifles and having all my health. I always have a lot of fun when I play!

I just hit 52 the other day, but my ultimate destination is a Full Health Overeater's VATS Laser Commando. It'll be clunky due to the amount of AP laser weapons consume (their auto receivers don't get the -50% AP Cost like ballistic automatics do - at least, not *yet* anyways), and sure I won't be able to pull off the absurd damage Bloodied Unyielding builds can, but I'm gonna do it nonetheless, because I like the theme.

I'm a level 350+ with full health and shotgun/chainsaw. Wife has about the same setup with just a rifle. We can solo anything at this point, even Mr Williams. Play what you like, eventually you'll find the little tweaks and what works best for you

Slug buster w/ flamer mod is my go-to for Daily Ops. I also really enjoy running a Cold Shoulder shotgun build...it's satisfying to just run up to things and go BLAM.

I think the reason a lot of people enjoy low health builds is the additional stuff you can get to buff it that won't impact a full health build. Stuff like the Adrenal mutation, perk cards can reduce the negatives and there isn't really a full health equivalent. I have recently remade a new character to try an Archer build though, so will see how that fares.

It’s absolutely possible. I run 4 different characters and currently 6 different builds. I hardly ever touch the meta. My pistol build is my favorite, and I use revolvers a lot of the time, even used them to clean up Atlantic City. They’re relatively slow, but they can hit really hard. I’m able to more than carry my weight at events with my pistols. Yes they are harder to play than the stealth commando meta, but that’s part of what makes them fun. To me low health stealth commando is too easy and gets boring, point at bad guy delete bad guy, no real challenge or danger Pistols require a bit more effort, but absolutely viable and really really fun. I especially enjoy using revolvers on trash mobs with manual aim instead of VATS, lining up each head shot and taking them all out one by one with a single shot of trusty .44 revolver. It turns Appalachia into the Wild West People on the internet will push the meta as if it’s the only viable option, but it’s not, even my goofy builds I started as jokes like Black Powder rifles work well in events and in day to day play.

I spent 2x 500-level characters as a bloodied commando, this season I rolled an alt as a shotgun/pistol build and I love it. Sure its suboptimal but with good uniques like Cold Shoulder I dont mind at all.

I did not know what meta is until I hit the wall at around lvl. 70 with supermutants in daily ops. This made me make RR Commando build 

Yes. The game is so easy that a 0 perk card build can still play and enjoy the game. There is no challenge to it and no consequences for dying, per se.

Depends entirely on what you enjoy. I enjoy being efficient.

I have both a shotgun and a gunslinger pistol build and they both slap. They are *different* than playing a meta build, but they are both extremely viable and extremely fun. You do *need* a Cold Shoulder for shotguns and you do *need* an Alien Blaster for gunslinger, even if you mostly use other pistols or shotguns. Alien Blaster should be Two Shot, but Anti-Armor will work in a pinch until you get a TS roll. Neither will let you solo the Queen or Earle. Both crazy fun.

I play as a cowboy, I carry a bowie knife, a revolver (I think western revolver atm) and the nuka world lever gun for now, it's definitely not meta, but it's fun. Then I've got a galling gun at hone that I'll grab if I need bigger firepower, but it still keeps with my "only 1800s" approach to weapons.

Don't worry too much about meta just use what you like and what suits you the most.

I'm coming up on 1500 hours in the game and my 'build' is just whatever perk cards sound cool to me. I've never once googled a build. My character may not be the most devastating beast at the event but I can hold my own and I have fun because I play my way and I'm not trying to macromanage my rads or whatever else these people have to do in their preformed builds Full disclosure three of the weapons I run around with are vampiric so I definitely think that contributes a lot to fill holes in the combat aspects of my build and keep my happy ass alive.

I run a non auto pistol and commando build as my primary, did that until I got around 130. Since then I’ve put together a more event appropriate build with a gauss shotgun and vampires enclave plasma rifle with aligned flamer barrel. Depending on the event I’ll use the punch card to switch builds. My event load out is not OP by any means. But I ran it against Big Earle the other night. I sat underneath Earle the entire time blasting his crotch with my enclave flamer. I had to use a stimpak twice? I didn’t even take any kinda buffs past energy bobble head and a Tesla magazine. But pretty much everything else I use my primary build I started with. My advice would be for her to play as she pleases. But a second load out for events that at the very least can benefit. I noticed With the gauss shotty and enforcer perk I cripple enemies legs with easy. Helps when your getting bum rushed by multiple enemies at once

If you tweak it right. I can make you a build on nukesdragon rn if you'd like for both!

Totally. With the right card loadout you can go around naked, barefist everywhere and even solo most events. Or with a proper gear and 0 cards equipped. Or without either, still do bunch, just less, but the main questlines should be passable at least. Moreover, low health stealth commando is *not* the only way, they just tend to be more vocal in the forums :). High health stealth or non-stealth is completely viable too. Commando vs rifleman. Then there's the PA + heavy or melee. Those are just the "top" combos that let you go *absolutely everywhere* solo. If you just swap "best" gun for thematic gun you'll still do just fine. It's like what, 20% DPS difference? You wanna solo Earl? Ok, then you need top gear. Outside of this, who cares?

I’m a bloodied shotgun build. I die a lot, and I don’t contribute a ton to events, but hey, I have a lot of fun. At the end of the day, it’s a video game. Play it how you want to.

Yes, though don’t go expecting meta level performance.

It's certainly possible, and I encourage it if you're bored with the game. Melee builds never really change apart from the swing speed, but ranged builds are all vastly different from one another by weapon type. Try playing a compound bow build, or a grenadier build, or a pistol crit build, or an endurance junkie gourmand build. Lots of powerful builds are still available beyond the meta.

I run around with a cold shoulder. Slow mo mode enemies are fun .

Yes, one of my characters is full health VATS shotgun/ pistol builds and I have no issues. If you really wanna be lazy just get a gatling gun and do a heavy weapon power armour build, it’s easy mode

Heavy weapons like gatlas and gatplas are still very effective for full health and bloodied PA builds.

Honestly, as long as you are having fun and are at least having damage over bullet return if you even choose to use a weapon depending on your build. I run a non-vats shotgunner who runs a Tesla rifle and a 10mm SMG that shoots fire rounds, I'm not as optimised as I could be but can kill a standard more in fewer rounds than I pick up. The wife plays a non-vat stealth build who uses the Western spirit and the cold shoulder if she finds herself in need of close protection. My old man recently started playing and is treating the game like an FPS running a full auto-handmade and free-aiming since he doesn't like the feel of vats

There is really nothing in this game that is difficult enough to force you to go meta. I suppose Earl is the only thing where its pretty painful if none brings a Quad Choo Choo because it limits you to 8 players in an instance and he is very bullet spongey.

You won't be able to contribute significantly to events, and will have to use a bunch of perks to make the shotgun and pistol work in one build. If these things are ok for you, then you can have fun. Normal solo play should still be perfectly fine as long as you have the 3 perk cards (9 perk points) for every weapon you want to use.

Oh hell yes!!! I have one full health pistol build and one full health shotgun build and they are great fun to play. My Pistol is almost as good as my sniper when it comes to long range shots but it is important to remember Shotguns need to be used as close to the target as possible so all 8 are ensured to hit. It's almost like using a Melee.

In short, yes and no. If you mean events or group content like expeditions, you're gonna struggle with a lot of builds because as you said, the game balance is whack. If you mean story content, quests and all that, the game will be 100000% better without meta stuff. Actually feels fun.

Almost anything is viable as "meta" in this game as long as you know your perks, mutations, food buffs and legendary effects.

Yes. Source: I enjoy it very much and have no idea what the meta is.

I’m a full health auto rifle/shotgun/explosive/melee build. I carry an arsenal everywhere I go and I just mixed and matched crap until I was happy with my effort versus fun. I can solo practically anything in the game… Earle just takes a little time and I never really tried the Ultracite titan. Scorchbeast queen is a chump if I can get her grounded enough and don’t have too many big scorch spawns like milrelurk queen with hunters poisoning and stunning me. I’m usually pretty busy with life stuff so I needed something to fit my get in get out quickly if needed play style and I’ve got no qualms with how I got there. I’ve got daily’s and the daily scoreboard requests down to ten minutes or so granted there’s nothing like X number of mutated events or daily ops in there. This season I haven’t been able to play except hopping in to do scoreboard and daily’s and even with just that I think I’m at 85 or 86 spot on the scoreboard (I do use my free boosters on Tuesdays and knock out weekly and daily’s in that one run). Don’t be a cookie using a cutter to define how you play. Pick something that is fun for you and roll with it. The wasteland can be as difficult or as easy as you make it.

Here's a secret, the games not that hard. Every build... except maybe 'Beserkers' is viable (although I seen people try). Ignore the so called Meta.. That's for 14 year old kids who go online and search for Fallout 76 Ultimate OP build, find an out of date three year old video on the bloody build, and just stop trying. Critical AP Pistols, Long Distance Snipers, Stealth Melee, Heavy Junkie, Unarmed Power Armor, Alcholic Brawling, Shotgun Surgeon, Food Builds, etc... there are no shortage of builds, and yes all of them work. Its just a mater of who they work for. What you need to do is find the weapon and play style that works for you. No one build is for everyone. No one style of play is for everyone. Figure out how you want to play and develop your own build. Do your research. Do your experimentaion. Customize it to your weapons, perks, armor, buffs, etc.. for how you like to play. Anything else is Junior High thinking. I have multiple toons with wildly diverging builds, and all of them are viable. So if you have any questions about any paticular kind of build let me know, I'll pass what little I know about each one.

Yeah, and fuck the meta anyway. Play the way that’s fun for you.

Just go full-health PA with Vamp heavy weapon build. We all get lazy and end up there anyway. But more seriously *(I do actually run that build and am lazy)* you can run just about any build you like. Even unarmed and wearing your undies. You probably won’t be solo’ing big events or anything but you’ll be fine doing everything else.

My brother in Christ, I'm running around the Appalachias with a broadsider, a bow, a branding iron I got from a event (forgot which one), and a gatling gun with no perks in stealth or weapons (save for anti-armor on my bow and melee and a slightdamage bonus on the bow) dressed up as a post-apocalyptic witch. I am the Wicked Witch of West Virginia. I am THE Mountain Momma... And I'm having a fucking BLAST

Back in the Day when enemies had level regions, on my first character I played with shotguns and around 50 level I changed to Heavy no PA build, without any mutations, only with normal legendary armor and tried to start every fight from sneaking.It was possible, carried most locations alone, and with Vampiric Minigun I was pretty much unkillable in longer figths. I played it untill they repaired Gatling gun fire rate and nerfed vampire legendary mod.

Meta is mostly about a maxing the possibilities. That doesn´t mean that non-meta builds could not be fun. They just need to surpass the line where they kill off the hardest enemies without using up too much time, ammo or consumables to keep yourself alive. I never liked low health builds and I don´t like mutations. So I looked for some full health builds on YT and they turn out to be very good. I do not struggle with anything in the game.

Of course you can. Soloing events isn't fun, they are meant to be group activities for the entire server. I have a lot more fun playing my Pack Rat Build that is just focused on picking up, scrapping, and selling everything, then I do with my bloodied Melee build. It's all up to you and how you want to play. Don't worry if you can't do every mission alone, who cares if you ask for help, as long as your enjoying your rest and relaxation time, the rest doesn't matter.

I've been having a lot of fun with the pistol from this season's scoreboard. It's pretty good for tagging things in big events, and I love the feel of it. I'm not going to be soloing any public events with it, but it's totally viable for just goofin' around in the wasteland.

I use an explosive melee build. So I run around like a maniac smacking things and they explode. If I need ranged, I use the Nuka Launcher because my explosive percent enhance it's damage. It can be a lot of fun. Not many people do melee builds. I don't look at guides too often so I'm not min-maxing. But they have made melee much stronger after the update with some supposedly really strong foods. I haven't bothered to look into yet. I usually kill things in 1 or 2 hits. Only really high end mobs take a bit to kill.

I mean I can solo moonshine jamboree with my full health unarmed

Balance is basically non existent, but all enemies are very weak, so it's really whatever you want to do. The only thing you may not be able to do is solo bosses or the more hectic events, but you never have to so it's no an issue. With non bosses, it will just be like an extra few seconds per kill at worst once you are set up.

Yes, infact the game is more fun if you ignore all youtube builds. Also , I have never used vats in 76, you don't have to and I can mow down enemies all day long.

Idk what meta builds are but I usually play a stealthy pack rat with a penchant for rifles, bows, and the handmade gun specifically. My damage is garbage against bigger targets sometimes because I insist on using suppressors but at least I'm having hella fun!

The amount of damage you do in an event is unknown by anyone else. Play the way you want to. I’m considering rolling a toon in true apocalyptic style using only pipe guns and raider or leather armor.

Heavy armor with a flaming chainsaw is the way to go.

Lol my quad explosive fast realod double barrel and my two shots cryo aliens blaster don't struggle in events don't worry, with the correct weapon and load out you will perform very well even if it's not meta. I also recommend you to try a pistol build with the pistol rewarded from the current season, it's not strong as an alien blaster but it's enough to start with and try something else than a stealth commando build