Fallout 76 is an RPG through and through. It features extensive quest lines, experience points to level up your character, and rare weapons in Fallout 76 to track down and use against your foes. It’s the latter that most stumble over.
When’s the last time you landed a worthwhile legendary weapon in Fallout 76? When’s the last time you stumbled upon a rare weapon worth telling your party about?
We’re here to help you one-up your merry band of vault dwellers and secure a rare weapon of your very own!
.50 Cal Machine Gun
A personal favorite, the .50 Cal Machine Gun is one of the earliest heavy weapons you’ll find in-game, alongside the slow-firing, heavy-hitting Gatling gun. But here’s the thing, the .50 Cal Machine Gun, which is modeled after an M2 Browning .50 Cal typically mounted on military personnel vehicles, is relatively rare.
You can begin using the .50 Cal Machine Gun at level 25, but you’ll likely find your first earlier than that. One of the first you’ll find in Appalachia will be near Clarksburg Shooting Club just northeast of Grafton.
If you head down the two-lane road to the north of the shooting range’s robotic clerk, you’ll stumble upon a pick-up truck with sandbags situated around the backside and exterior. In the back of the truck, mounted on a makeshift bipod, is the .50 Cal Machine Gun.
So, what’s so special about the .50 Cal Machine Gun? It deals 20 damage per shot with a fire rate of 91, which equates to over 180 damage every second. In close-quarters, you’ll mow down super mutants and Scorched alike.
Black Powder Weapons
In a world filled to the brim with laser weapons, plasma weapons, and heavy machine guns, why would any choose to wield a Black Powder Pistol or Rifle? Because they’re damn fun, that’s why.
The Black Powder weapons in Fallout 76 tear through enemies, albeit slowly, with up to 150 damage per shot, though with an excruciatingly slow rate of fire. Is 150 damage per shot not enough for you? Let me tell you about ‘The Dragon‘, which is a legendary Black Powder Rifle with four barrels, which does even more damage per shot.
If your build leans towards stealth or long-range shooting, Black Powder weapons, in combination with a stealth modifier, can lead to one-hit-kills.
So, where do you score Black Powder weapons in Fallout 76? Personally, I acquired my first Black Powder Pistol from the Purveyor. But if you don’t want to spend any currency, you can find all three types of Black Powder weaponry at two separate locations. The Philippi Battlefield Cemetery, just west of the Clarksburg Shooting Club near Grafton, features one building with Civil War-era memorabilia, including Black Powder firearms.
That’s one spawn. The second is in the forest by Helvetia, which is east of Sutton or along Route 89 from Morgantown. You’ll find a few Scorched milling about, but they’re fairly easy to dispatch, and then you can loot the brown cabin which holds a display case inside.
Guitar Sword
I’m not totally convinced the Guitar Sword is super rare, as both my wife and I have one and neither of us has any clue where we picked it up along our journey. But hey, it’s a pretty cool-looking melee weapon with a unique model and a heavy hit.
If you’re keen on using melee weapons and you want a Guitar Sword to strike down foes in style, you can find this bad boy – the sixth most powerful melee weapon in the game – shortly after leaving Vault 76. It’s a static spawn location directly east of the vault entrance, at North Kanawha Lookout. You’ll find the Guitar Sword casually leaning against a blue door.
Alien Blaster
Finally, we have perhaps the rarest weapon of all in Fallout 76: the Alien Blaster. You’ll notice the Alien Blaster is featured in every modern Fallout title, and it’s never all that powerful. Despite its relatively weak damage output, the Alien Blaster is iconic, fun to use, and its unique in-game model makes it almost a collectible to many players.
In Fallout 76, the Alien Blaster puts out 15 damage per shot, uses Alien Blaster Rounds, which are nearly impossible to find after your initial discovery, and offers a relatively high rate of fire for a one-handed weapon of its type.
All-in-all, the Alien Blaster is a trophy gun.
Alien Blaster Spawn in Fallout 76
But where you can find the Alien Blaster in Fallout 76?
To obtain the Alien Blaster, head north, to Toxic Valley, then find the obliterated house between the .50 Cal Machine Gun spawn we touched upon earlier and the Philippi Battlefield Cemetary. Near this house, you’ll note a lake filled with toxic water. It’s here that the Alien Blaster spawns.
If you’re having trouble finding the spawn location, start at Graninger Farm, then look southwest towards the butterfly icon on your in-game map.
You’ll want a Hazmat Suit and/or plenty of Rad-X, as you’ll dive headfirst into the toxic lake water to loot a broken safe. Inside this safe, you’ll find the Alien Blaster and a Rusted Key for Freddy Fear’s House of Scares. The two are unrelated.
Alien Blaster Ammunition
But what about ammunition? The Alien Blaser comes with precisely zero rounds of ammo. You’ll need to visit Mount Blair Train Yard, down south in Ash Heap, to find the TNT Dome Key 2 inside a locker near the train tracks.
Then, you’ll head to TNT Dome 2, which is west of Vault 76, near Black Mountain Ordnance Works. Here, find Dome 02. Inside, you’ll find a table with plenty of Alien Blaster ammunition to collect, plus a crafting plan to modify the blaster. Do not leave the plan behind. It converts the Alien Blaster to fire Fusion Cells instead of Alien Blaster Rounds – a useful modification down the line.
Well, there you have it. Four rare weapons in Fallout 76, their spawn locations, and even a little tidbit of information as to their usefulness in-game.
Fallout 76 receives regular updates, and with them, new content. We’re sure Bethesda will introduce new weaponry at some point, and perhaps we’ll find a new rare weapon to rave about down the road.
Obviously you’re here because you play Fallout 76? But what about your best friend? Do they play? If not, send them our latest article, Should You Play Fallout 76 in 2021? The answer is yes!