Fallout 4 Best Heavy Weapons [Detailed Comparison]

Heavy weapons are hard-hitting and deal tons of damage to your enemies. Naturally, if you want to pack a mean punch, these are the weapons you want to use. These weapons are graded based on their versatility, usefulness, and overall damage. If you add special effects to these weapons, they become even stronger than before.

No matter what your preference is, you will find something in this guide that you like. There will be lasers, mini-nukes, and explosives just to name a few. With that being said, let’s get started on today’s guide about Heavy Weapons.

Best Heavy Weapons Compared

Here is a comparison table of my best Heavy Weapons in Fallout 4 . Each stat can be sorted to view the highest and lowest values, which has been done for your convenience:

No.	Weapons	Damage	Fire Rate	Range	Accuracy	Weight
1	Sergeant Ash Flamer	13	90	47	53	16.1
2	Mini Gun	112	313	95	26	22.9
3	Brandon’s Cryolator	23	90	203	77	19.7
4	Partystarter Missile Launcher	150	2	203	65	21
5	Admiral’s Friend Harpoon Gun	330	2	143	63	16.3
6	The Gatling Laser	155	45	251	63	39.5
7	The Fat Man Mini Nuke	922	1	117	63	30.7
8	Big Boy Mini Nuke Launcher	922	1	117	63	30.7

Before we start, this list is going to include both non-unique and unique weapons from Fallout 4’s base game and DLCs. However, where appropriate, I will mention a few legendary variants that are worth seeking out.

This list will mostly focus on weapons that are compatible with the heavy gunner perk – which means that some weapons are not included despite being considered heavy. You can put points into your starting stats accordingly if you are planning to do heavy weapons build.

Sergeant Ash Flamer – Far Harbor DLC

Best Flame Thrower.

Most players consider the Flamer to be a bad weapon due to its low base damage. Once you upgrade it, the damage is decent, but the range is reduced which is quite unfortunate. That said, the biggest upside is that its ammo is readily available. Plus, it isn’t that heavy so you can carry tons of ammo without overburdening your inventory.

Attribute	Value
Damage	13
Fire Rate	90
Range	47
Accuracy	53
Weight	16.1

Its unique perk also makes dealing with various creatures you encounter easier. The kneecap effect has a chance to cripple enemies’ legs, making them prone to fall over. This makes dealing with Deathclaws that much easier as they are totally immobile against you.

Ultimately, Sergeant Ash Flamer is a great weapon to deal with creatures in short-range or enclosed spaces. You need to have the Far Harbor DLC to get this weapon, but it is worth it if you ask me.

Minigun

Highest Fire Rate.

Typically, the minigun is the first heavy weapon that you can encounter and use. Because for what it is, the minigun is actually pretty good. It possesses a high rate of fire and has fairly cheap and light ammo. Plus, it has enough damage to tear through most weak enemies.

The problem you’ll encounter though is that the minigun has pretty low base damage, ranging somewhere between 8 and 11. While this isn’t a problem when facing enemies with low damage resistance, it becomes an issue when facing enemies with high armor.

Attribute	Value
Damage	112
Fire Rate	313
Range	95
Accuracy	26
Weight	22.9

However, if you can get a minigun with the legendary effect that increases damage, the weapon can become much more powerful. Things like the incendiary, mighty, or plasma-infused effects can significantly boost your damage. You can also obtain explosive variants which are ridiculously strong and scale from the heavy gunner perk. If you can get your hands on an explosive minigun, it’s quite possibly one of the most overpowered weapons in Fallout 4.

Recoil Compensated Cryolator

Best Cryo-Based Heavy Weapon.

Despite the rarity of cryo-cell ammo, the Cryolator as a heavy weapon is superb. Once it’s fully upgraded, the crystalizing barrel will allow you to double the weapon’s damage effectively. On top of that, it is also compatible with a heavy gunner and demolition expert perks. The upgrade also ensures improved ammo efficiency, damage, and the overall range of the weapon.

Attribute	Value
Damage	23
Fire Rate	90
Range	203
Accuracy	77
Weight	19.7

Like some of the other explosive weapons on the list, you can deal excellent amounts of damage, and thus it’s highly recommended that you craft the crystalizing barrel in addition to acquiring both the heavy gunner and demolition expert perks.

This isn’t higher up on the list because its ammo – the cryo-cell – is difficult to come across. Your best option is usually to get it from weapon vendors like in Diamond city. Even if they have cryo-cells, their high value causes them to be extremely expensive. With enough ammo, the Cryolator is a strong weapon and recommended for your playthrough.

Partystarter Missile Launcher

Best Missile Launcher.

This missile launcher has the assassin effect embedded into it, allowing you to deal 50% increased damage to human enemies. Given how ubiquitous human-type enemies are in Fallout 4 – ranging from Raiders to Gunners – you should be dealing more damage to all these types of enemies.

Otherwise, as far as the base model of the launcher is concerned, it’s sort of hit or miss. On the one hand, you’re getting decent base damage before perks clocking it at about 150. You also get cool customizations like the quad barrel, which increases the magazine size by 4 times. The targeting computer allows you to fire rockets that lock on to your enemies.

Attribute	Value
Damage	150
Fire Rate	2
Range	203
Accuracy	65
Weight	21

On the flip side, there is no real way to increase damage without using perks and bobbleheads. Its ammo is incredibly heavy, clocking in at about 7 pounds per rocket. With these things in mind, you may find that there are better choices out there as far as explosive ordnance is concerned. Since humans are the most common enemy you’ll face, this launcher is absolutely worth it if you can hold its ammo.

Admiral’s Friend Harpoon Gun – Far Harbor DLC

Best Harpoon Gun.

It is a unique harpoon gun from the Far Harbor DLC that comes with the instigating effect. It allows the weapon to deal double damage to enemies provided they are in full health. Given that the Admiral’s Friend has a base damage of 150, this is outstanding since you can potentially deal 300 to an enemy that is at full health.

Attribute	Value
Damage	330
Fire Rate	2
Range	143
Accuracy	63
Weight	16.3

With the heavy gunner and bloody mess perk, the base damage can reach as high as 345. You can deal up to 690 damage to a full health enemy in a single shot. The frustrating part is its magazine size which contains only 1 harpoon before having to reload. This is a fair trade-off since the harpoons of this weapon are significantly cheaper than other ammo types.

Plus, compared to similar weapons in Fallout 4, the ammo is much lighter and retrievable. Meaning that you can get back the harpoon you just fired.

The Gatling Laser

Best Energy Weapon.

While it’s primarily a heavy weapon, the Gatling Laser also has the benefit of being one of Fallout 4’s best energy weapons as well. The stock versions are about on par with the minigun regarding fire and magazine capacity rate, but the laser has better upgrade potential. In addition, it has a superior and cheaper ammo source in the form of fusion cores.

To give you some idea, the Gatling laser’s base damage is 14, which already exceeds the maximum damage of a fully upgraded minigun. By equipping the relevant perks, you can raise the damage to 24. Once you equip the charging barrels customization, you can improve its damage all the way up to 66 while reducing the fire rate. It doesn’t end there; however, you can get the damage to 150 by using some perks after fully upgrading it.

Attribute	Value
Damage	155
Fire Rate	45
Range	251
Accuracy	63
Weight	39.5

This is insane, considering you can fire up to 500 shots before having to reload. These properties make the Gatling laser have efficient ammo usage. On survival mode, you should carry one of these around to make life easier for yourself. Not to mention it’s much easier to track down a fusion core for 500 ammo rather than collect 500 bullets individually.

The Fat Man Mini Nuke

Highest Damage.

Fans of the series will know that this entry isn’t much of a surprise when doing heavy weapons guide. This weapon has the highest listed damage of any weapon in the game, clocking in an astounding 468 damage. Keep in mind that this is before applying and upgrades or perks.

Like other explosive weapons, it can benefit from heavy gunner and demolitions expert, which can raise the base damage to about 1836. Provided you obtain the explosives bobbleheads, the fourth issue of scav, and the bloody mess perk; you can increase the damage to 2214.

Attribute	Value
Damage	922
Fire Rate	1
Range	117
Accuracy	63
Weight	30.7

Just to give you an idea of how much damage that is, some of the game’s toughest enemies – like the mythic death claw, don’t even have that much health. With this weapon, you can pretty much one-shot any enemy in Fallout 4. The major problem is related to its ammo. Mini nukes are extremely rare and are quite heavy, which means you cannot carry a lot.

Big Boy Mini Nuke Launcher

 Most Unique Heavy Weapon.

The Big Boy is the single strongest unique heavy weapon in Fallout 4. Much like the Fat Man, this is a mini-nuke launcher, but instead, it fires two mini-nukes simultaneously at the cost of one. As far as damage is concerned, the listed damage is only marginally higher, clocking in at 486.

However, the actual damage output appears to be noticeably higher and can two-shot the Marla Queen. Upgrading it with the customizations will enhance its damage by about 50%. You can also acquire all of the appropriate perks to quadruple the damage output.

Attribute	Value
Damage	922
Fire Rate	1
Range	117
Accuracy	63
Weight	30.7

Add in the explosive bobbleheads and the magazines, and you will have a Big Boy, which deals 3343 damage. Considering how powerful this thing could be, I recommend that you acquire it over the base model. Especially if you are playing in survival mode, where each mini nuke can weigh about 12 pounds. That way, you can get the best damage output relative to your ammo weight. You can purchase the Big Boy from Arturo in Diamond City. It is expensive but absolutely worth it.

Why Others Were Not Chosen

Here are some of the heavy weapons that didn’t make the cut:

• Junk Jet: Shoots junk at enemies, that too with a low damage output.
• Broadsider: No powerful legendary effect.
• The Striker: Doesn’t have very good accuracy or range.
• Nuka-Nuke Launcher: Incredibly difficult to obtain.
• Plasma Thrower: Useless if the Flamer Barrel isn’t equipped.

My Favorite

There are tons of amazing heavy weapons in Fallout 4 – some noticeably stronger than others. Depending on which build you’re trying, the Big Boy is a great weapon to use, especially in survival mode. If you are not a fan of using mini-nukes, the Gatling laser is the next best weapon to use. It not only has a fast rate of fire, but it also deals considerable damage in rapid succession.

That about does it for today’s list about the best Heavy Weapons. Let me know in the comments below about your favorite weapon to use.