In this guide, we’re going to talk about a unique pistol in Fallout 76, Alien Blaster. It’s by far one of the most effective pistols in the game, but only in certain situations, so let me show you how to get it and how to really make the most of it.
With the recent Invaders from Beyond alien-themed event in full swing, the plans for the weapon and mods may be dropped as rewards for the event. So this is a great opportunity for new players to access it.
Gameplay
If you’ve ever wanted to try a pistol, this is your chance. Unfortunately, it’s a single-shot weapon, so you have to click every time you shoot. But the weapon fires fast enough that you can fire quickly with a single mouse click.
Bullets have flight time and can hit objects in between, so keep this in mind if you’re shooting normally. But if you use VATS, then the shot will automatically track the enemy, so generally VATS is the best choice for Blaster.
It’s a weird and interesting weapon, and it’s really fun to see the ball target enemies. If you configure it correctly, it works very well and I’ll show you what you need.
One thing to note is that Cryo Weapons may become debuffed if PTS changes make their way into the main game. So now is the perfect time to see Blaster at its most powerful.
How To Unlock It?
The easiest way to get an Alien Blaster is to pick it up from the world. You can find it at Toxic Pond, an unmarked spot in Toxic Valley area.
Here you need to look for the destroyed house and a pond to the north of it. In the pond, you will find a broken safe underwater. If you have enough Fallout 76 Bottle Caps, it’s a good idea to buy and wear Hazmat Suits or Power Armor to reduce the radiation when you pick it up.
This is a guaranteed spawn point and should be there unless someone has already taken it. If it’s lost, you can try server hopping to find a world that still has it. After learning the plans for the weapon, you’ll start obtaining them from legendary enemies.
Main Mod
It only has a few mods, but the most important one is Cryo Mod. Besides slowing down enemies, this will cause your shots to create a small cryo explosion. This is one reason Blaster is so effective.
Other mods like Scope or Barrel are great for improving range or accuracy, but Cryo Mod is a must if you want to try out Blaster properly.
I must stress that you can only find plans for the magazine mods through Invaders from Beyond Event, so it pays to do as many as you can before you have plans for the mods. Other mods you can get by scrapping Blasters repeatedly until you learn them.
Best Legendary Effect
For the legendary effect of this weapon, the most important thing is Two-Shot, for the first legendary star. Because you’re relying on a small cryo explosion, like any other Explosive Launcher, Two-Shot is the best. It’s close to Bloody’s raw damage, but Two-Shot is more effective in actual combat.
Since you’re using something like VATS, something like VATS Enhanced for increased VATS accuracy, or Lucky for extra critical damage are both really good choices for the second star. Also, Rapid for faster fire rate will help, but usually weapon fires fast are fast enough.
For the last star, something like Lucky which adds more critical damage or VATS Enhanced which costs fewer Action Points are two better options. And since you have to reload often, Rapid for faster reload will also help, although Speed Demon mutation will make you fast enough, anyway.
How Are Your Perk Points Allocated?
Since Alien Blaster is a single-shot pistol, you’ll need Gunslinger perks under Agility. Unfortunately, Agility has a lot of useful benefits, so you have to sacrifice other things to increase the damage. But overall, it’s worth the investment.
If you get three or four perk points, remember that it’s most efficient to spread those points across all three perk levels. A perk from Gunslinger, Expert Gunslinger, and Master Gunslinger gives you 30% extra damage for just 3 perk points.
Additionally, using Demolition enhances explosion damage from Cryo Mods. Grenadier increases the size of the explosion. So get as many levels as possible for both.
Since Blaster is also an energy weapon, a few levels of Science will further increase your damage. Critical Savvy and Better Criticals give you more effective critical damage, so they work well with any VATS weapon.
How To Collect Enough Ammo?
Although Alien weapons have unique ammo types that other weapons don’t have, it’s not too bad to make. Generally speaking, if you use the perks I talked about before, you should get more than enough ammo.
Another method is to repeatedly play Expeditions or Daily Ops to collect ammo. Alternatively, you can use Ammo Converter to convert cheap ammo into Alien Power Cells.
Most pistols are pretty bad compared to Rifles. The exception is the Alien Blaster, so if you want to play as a Space Cowboy, Blaster is a superb choice. It’s fun to use and very effective in combat. So, try it and see, it will bring surprises to your life!
