Fallout 3 | Rifle Tier List

The backwater is a definite contender for S tier. That 5x crit multiplier is nothing to sneeze at. Plus the super common ammo type; only potential issue is repairing it which is really no object.

Chinese AK is op wtf do u mean

Interesting watching this as i've just installed FO3 again after years of not playing it and i'm just in the process of tweaking the guns in the geck. I have of course cheated terribly with the Perforator and turned it into a semi auto, single shot with the same range and accuracy as Ol'Painless, changed to 10mm with 20 mag size and wanted damage inbetween Ol'Painless and Lincoln's rifle at 38 damage, x2 crit chance and the same fire rate as Ol'Painless. - I'm going to have some fun with that. I popped it in the men's restroom in Megaton 🙂 As for the other guns, not too much changed except slightly increasing accuracy and damage on some, (like the xuanlong chinese assault rifle) and tightening the spread on the Terrible shotgun and increasing the range a bit. Also changing the repair lists to be alot more forgiving and adding extra health to most armour and weapons. Currently trying to decide if i want to try adding a LOAD of carryweight to the strong back perk so i don't have to use the modav carryweight command. After changing some of the enemy level lists that'll probably be all the changes i'll do.

I like your videos but I've put an ungodly amount of hours into fallout 3 and i just have to say this is an awful list especially with the assault rifles, so bad so that it almost makes me not wanna watch the other fallout 3 lists

Explain to me how your new Vegas fanboy without explaining me your new Vegas, fanboy by low ranking almost every fallout three weapon

Backwater is an easy s tier for me. Literally makes light work of anything that crosses your path.

S tier is a high-dmg Chinese assault rifle (console commands only but since you've started on exploits with winterized guns, I don't feel bad on mentioning this). It's not exactly a debug weapon, it's a test weapon for Anchorage dlc.

If you know what you're doing you can get several chinese weapons out of the Anchorage sim too.

You omitted to state that the reservist's rifle is 50% more durable than the standard sniper rifle. Which is a big difference as sniper rifles deteriorate fast and are rare. This in itself warrants it placed atop the rifle list. The 3 round mag is no biggie when sniping. Head shots are key and when sniping.....shoot then hide while you reload. Reposition for your next attack. Reservists rifle is better than the rest.

Can't believe theres no Service Rifle or Carbine Rifle in Fallout 3 and 4.

On their own the supressed assaultrifles are average but with the stealth suit you are invisible and impossible to detect and thus making both of them prettymuch the best weapons in the game.

the railway rifle is the best gun in the game. it's not the most powerful, it's just the most satisfying to use. who doesn't remember scoring their first wicked VATS hits with it?

Railway rifle and sniper rifle are the goat when it comes to damaging high value enemies, both cripple limbs very good and have alot of damage

The disrespect for the xuanlong is criminal…..

The Small Guns skill gives you zero sway at 100 Small Guns.

I think I have different version of F3. Every time I use the Sniper Rifle outside of VATS it was absolutely trash, it rarely hit anything at long range. As for the 5.56 guns I always found the Assault Rifle to be more accurate and last longer before breaking than the Chinese Assault Rifle while the Chinese seemed to do slightly more damage and was more effective at close range.

The fact the Xulong is considered B-tier. Makes this list F-tier

Lincoln's Repeater is absolutely S tier. You can get it super early in the game, and it's low action point requirement gives you loads of shots for a VATS build.

I loved the perferator

You know, i'm not really opposed to a unique weapon that requires a long, involved scavenger hunt to obtain-- those kinds of mysteries can make the weapon itself seem so much more special.

Its just that in this case, it was the Xuanlong AS, a gun with the distinguishing factor of being very slightly shootier than its non-unique variant.

Can you please do the unarmed and melee tier lists?!🙏🏻

I really wish you could get the rail way rifle and infiltrator at mick and ralphs

Dude a well maintained Chinese Assault rifle will carry you the whole game lol A tier. Xuanglong variant S tier.

Tale of Two Wastelands made Ol' Painless even better with Armor Piercing rounds (easy to make) and crits.

Could stand against Deathclaws only with crits so I was pretty happy

Lincoln's Repeater is definitely S-Tier. Used that gun throughout a whole playthrough and I actively avoid it on some runs since it's just so good.

Xuanlong assault rifle is S tier

Bro what? Chinese Assault Rifle carried for me.

The Perforator is a beast on a steath build.

The assault rifles in 3 were some of the least satisfying guns in that game, the pitiful spread and horrible damage made them unusable for me

Lincoln Repeater is the best gun in the game, IMO.

I still would use the r91 over the Chinese assult rifle. That thing looks disgusting. The wasteland melody mod looks WAY better.

One thing that wasn't really mentioned is how rare suppressors are in Fallout 3 compared to in later games. With a high sneak and the Chinese stealth suit, a player can literally stand in front of enemies of any difficulty and shoot them with a silenced weapon without being seen discovered. The infiltrator/perforator are the only automatic rifles that are silenced, and are to my knowledge the highest-damage silenced weapons by a long shot. They seem critical to any stealth build, and have always been S-tier to me, so much so that they're the whole reason for going into the Pitt.

Your opinion is actually....awful like....maybe it was your build? Idk but I enjoyed all of your other stuff. This one is just ...a massive hot take

>good damage and high dps
>quest to get it is satisfying
>shredding mutants with 5.56 never gets old


The Xuanlong assault rifle is the easiest S tier of Fallout 3

No way
Lincolns repeater has great damage and has 0 spread
And lets not talk about your ranking of the chinese ar

Rail road rifle is a freaking S class for the simple reason that it makes that choo choo sound when you shoot it

I know this is an old tier list and should be taken with a grain of salt, but some of the picks are way off. To be fair he didnt include possible perk combinations or go into thier stats.
Lincoln Repeater S Tier: Pro: Arguably one of the best wepons in the game in terms of damage, reload speed, fire rate, accuracy in VATS
Con: The rifle has kind of bad iron sights
Perferator S Tier: Pro: If you are going for a stealth build this thing can 2 shot a dealth claws if you have the better crits perk, commado perk, sniper perk, and are in stealth, easliy repairable
Con: Breaks quickly
Xuanlong S Tier: Pro: Hits like a truck, easily repairable, very common ammo type, and most of your fights in FO3 are close to mid range with a few exceptions situations
Con: Not accurate at long range
Everything is pretty accurate

The best stealth weapon in the game is ranked lower than the default hunting rifle? ok buddy.

I remember fallout 3 guns having too much shake and spread to be useful at even medium range if shot one round at a time. I'm almost always a semi auto player when I can be in games but I needed the Chinese AR to function in 3. Fortunately New Vegas solved those problems.

Complete the Pitt. Ammunition is no longer a problem. Its like if you have the DLCs and nowadays who would play Fallout 3 without them ammo isnt going to be problem very long. You can take on the Pitt fairly early if you know what you are doing then just fill up the ammo press with scrap metal and the ammo types you dont need. I remember having thousands of 44. rounds for my Lincolns Repeater.

Xualong will always be my go-to i understand someone giving it shit but it's just so much fun for those 15 minutes or so when it's in good condition

perforator plus Chinese stealth armor is fucking busted strong so its S tier for me bud

Assault rifle is just objectively the best weapon in the game on any difficulty. It does a fuck ton of damage and 556 bullets are really cheap and easy to find.

Assault Rifle works if you head shot people. Chinese one higher spread actually helps since you aim the chest and some bullets will find the head. Actually, you all are aware that some weapons are designed to have some spread.... right? Not every soldier in the world is a marksman.

I think its fitting that F3 weapons arent that good, since people there have spent 200 years trying to survive a nuclear apocalypse

I remember being able to kill anything with Lincoln's Repeater and the Backwater Rifle including Deathclaws and Enclave PA troopers so I think they should both be S-tier. Xuanglong was also damn good though not my go to against the highest DR enemies but still A-tier IMO. But overall great tier list!

Basic should be A tier simply because it has so much ammo and plentiful copies to grab and use to repair your current one.

I could be mistaken, but isn’t the backwater rifle potentially stupid powerful?

Hey man good video, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree on a few. Ol' Painless and the Xuanlong are easily at least A Teir; they've carried me through the mid game and into the late on some playthroughs. And Lincoln's Repeater is easily S Teir.

I do have a question for you (and others) though. Do y'all really have that much trouble finding .44 mag ammo? This is something I've heard multiple people say over the years, and I just don't understand it. I mean yeah in the early game it's rare but the .44 mags are mid-to-late game weapons. I've done several playthrough where my two main weapons are Lincoln's Repeater and the Blackhawk Revolver. Both use .44 mag ammo and by the end of the mid game I still had several hundred rounds on me at all times. The gun shop at Rivet City stocks it constantly; and I think Moria Brown, and the ghoul in Underworld have it sometimes. I just can't figure out why some people seem to have so much trouble finding them.

Xuanlong: has the highest DPS of any ballistic rifle

Ron: B-tier.