The Best Weapons In Fallout Shelter

Summary

• Fallout Shelter
  evolved from a promotional tool to a popular game, drawing in a devoted fan base since its release in 2015.
• Top-tier weapons like the Fire Hydrant Bat and Dragon’s Maw offer high damage for successful wasteland exploration in the game.
• Crafting unique weapons like Burnmaster and MIRV can provide players with strategic advantages in combat scenarios.

Fallout Shelter is a desktop and mobile game within the Fallout franchise, later released for last-gen consoles as well. Introduced in 2015, it is available under a free-to-play model. Initially seen as a promotional tool, rather than a serious game launch, the game has evolved into a popular live service model game, garnering a devoted and sizable fan base over time.

Wasteland combat against creatures is something no player can avoid when playing Fallout Shelter. And of course, the better the weapons a vault dweller is equipped with, the greater the chances they will survive encounters in the wasteland. When it comes to top-tier weapons, there is quite a wide choice of legendary options available to choose from.

Updated 15th of December 2024 by Mac Wheeler: Despite the fact there have been no major updates to Fallout Shelter since this list was first published, some additional weapons have now been added to it. These new weapons are somewhat unique, and more suitable for early-game activities such as equipping a full team for completing quests, or equipping dwellers who will be defending the vault. This means stat-wise they won’t necessarily be the very best, but in the early game stage, they are the best, simple to obtain options. They are great weapons for new players, or veterans who are starting over.

14 Wild Bill’s Sidearm

Based On The Smith & Wesson .32 Pistol

• Damage: 1-6
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500
• Crafting Requirements:
  • Globe: 2
  • Giddyup Buttercup: 1
  • Wonderglue: 1

Wild Bill’s Sidearm is a coll pistol, that is modeled on the Smith & Wesson .32. It shares its graphic with all other similarly modeled pistols in the game, but as a legendary weapon, it offers slightly better damage modifiers.

It isn’t a particularly high-damage weapon, especially considering it is legendary tier. But it is the highest-damage .32 pistol in the entire game. Aside from being lootable and craftable, Wild Bill’s Sidearm is also carried by certain legendary dwellers, including Mister Burke and also James.

13 Kneecapper

Decent Legendary Shotgun

• Damage: 6-11
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500
• Crafting Requirements:
  • Gold watch: 2
  • Shovel: 2
  • Wonderglue: 2

Kneecapper is essentially a sawn-off shotgun. Meaning this is a short-range, but high-damage hand cannon in Fallout Shelter. Although it must be said that as shotgun weapons go in this game, it doesn’t do the highest damage, even though it is a legendary item. But it does have decent minimum damage.

One of the best things about this legendary sawn-off shotgun is the fact it can be obtained in many different ways. It can be found by vault-dwellers that are sent out exploring the wasteland, or found as quest loot. Additionally, it can be awarded when opening lunchboxes, and it can, of course, be crafted. With its quite high crafting requirements, it is probably not worth making this weapon, and only using it if it is looted.

12 Henrietta

A Unique Rifle

• Damage: 13-16
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500
• Crafting Requirements:
  • Globe: 3
  • Military duct tape: 1
  • Shovel: 2

Henrietta is one of the only weapons in Fallout Shelter that has its own unique graphic. Most weapons are part of a group, which shares graphics, making Henrietta something of an oddity. This is a lever action rifle that seems to have had some modifications. Its stock is carved and shaped, and it has an additional under-barrel grip added.

The weapon has a place to store ammunition built into the stock, and also has a silencer or suppressor fitted. It isn’t the highest-damage rifle in the game, but it is a cool weapon despite this. Aside from being crafted, this rifle is also carried by the legendary vault dweller Old Longfellow. It must be said that the crafting requirements for this weapon are quite low, considering its stats, and could well be a good weapon for a quest team member to carry in the early game.

11 Ed’s Custom Power Fist

With A Powerful Punch

• Damage: 16-22
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Camera: 3
• Globe: 3
• Giddyup Buttercup: 4

Ed’s Custom Power Fist is a really cool melee weapon in Fallout Shelter. Especially when paired up with some form of power armor as the dweller’s outfit. It doesn’t do amazing damage – there are better melee weapons in this regard – but it just looks cool. It was added in the 1.15.0 version of the game.

Players need to be aware that only one dweller can use a melee weapon on a single combat target at once. However, dwellers equipped with ranged weapons don’t suffer from this penalty at all. This is why most Fallout Shelter players only have one melee dweller per team. Overall, for players who prefer cool factor over maxed-out stats will love watching their dwellers punching enemies with Ed’s Custom Power Fist.

10 Relentless Raider Sword

Get Stabby In Revenge

• Damage: 16-28
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Wonderglue: 4
• Giddyup Buttercup: 3
• Gold watch: 3

The coolest thing about the Relentless Raider Sword in Fallout Shelter is that players get to use a Raider weapon against Raiders. Anyone who has played the game for more than a few hours will know how annoying a poorly-timed Raider attack on a silo can be. It’s nice to get to stab them with their own weapon for some payback.

That being said, the Relentless Raider Sword is a solid weapon in its own right. With damage at the upper range of all weapons in the game, it can make a great weapon for a tank that is backed up by other dwellers carrying ranged weapons. Don’t forget, all melee weapons suffer from the penalty of only one melee dweller being able to attack an enemy at a time.

9 Fire Hydrant Bat

Plucked From The Sidewalk

• Damage: 19-31
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Chemistry Flask: 3
• Military Duct Tape: 3
• Shovel: 3

The Fire Hydrant Bat was added to Fallout Shelter in the 1.6 update. Its addition to the game was quite a surprise for veteran players, as it is now the highest-damage weapon available. Of course, it has the aforementioned melee weapon penalty, so it’s not all sunshine and roses.

Considering the crafting requirements for this melee weapon, it is a real bargain. It is also a fantastic weapon to equip to defense dwellers, especially for small room defenses. For example, if a room can only house a single dweller, equipping them with the Fire Hydrant Bat means that the room has the most DPS possible for its defense against Raiders.

8 Burnmaster

Close Quarters Weapon

• Damage: 15-20
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Camera: 4
• Chemistry Flask: 2
• Giddyup Buttercup: 2

The Burnmaster is a flamethrower that is intended to be used as a close-quarters combat weapon. It does a minimum of 15 damage per shot, making it the least damaging of all of the heavy weapons in Fallout Shelter. Yet despite these poor stats, it is still effective.

The reason why the Burnmaster is on this list is because it is so easy to craft. Sure, there are much better weapons, but not at this crafting cost. It is also available quite early in the game. Players will generally use the Burnmaster until they have access to better heavy weapons.

7 Destabilizer

Alien Blaster Weapon

• Damage: 18-23
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Camera: 3
• Military Duct Tape: 3
• Chemistry Flask: 2

The Destabilizer is an alien blaster pistol and needs an alien power source to use as ammunition, which can be problematic to find. It does a decent 18 minimum damage, which makes it the most damaging of all of the pistols in Fallout Shelter.

This is a good choice of weapon if the player can find or craft enough power sources to keep up with ammo needs. This will depend on how well-developed the colony is overall. The crafting cost is quite low as well, and it should be able to craft one or more of these by the mid-game.

6 Dragon’s Maw

Unique Plasma Thrower

• Damage: 22-27
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Chemistry Flask: 3
• Globe: 3
• Military Circuit Board: 3

The Dragon’s Maw has the overall highest maximum damage of any weapon in Fallout Shelter. There are other weapons that do a little more maximum damage, but when it comes to sustained DPS the Dragon’s Maw’s is the king. This is an excellent weapon to send a dweller out into the wasteland with.

However, this is a single-target weapon, it does no AOE damage. This means that quite often, damage is wasted when a single shot is overkill to take down the target. Therefore, when in combat with groups of wasteland creatures, it can be a better idea to use an AOE attack weapon, even if it does lower damage than the Dragon’s Maw’s.

5 Charon’s Shotgun

Great Damage Up Close

• Damage: 13-18
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Shovel: 3
• Gold Watch: 2
• Military Duct Tape: 2

Charon’s Shotgun has a drum magazine and an automatic fire mode. It doesn’t do as much damage as some other weapons, but the low crafting cost means that it can be produced in numbers to equip several vault dwellers who are being sent to explore wasteland locations.

The ammo cost for the Charon’s Shotgun is quite cheap too. It is a good choice as a general-purpose weapon until the player gains access to better options at a later stage in the game.

4 Miss Launcher

More Like A Grenade Launcher

• Damage: 20-25
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Microscope: 4
• Gold Watch: 3
• Military Circuit Board: 2

The great thing about the Miss Launcher in Fallout Shelter is that it does AOE damage. With great DPS that does splash damage, it is perfect for combating creatures in the wasteland that spawn in groups.

The Miss Launcher acts more like a grenade launcher, even though it is described as a rocket launcher, as the projectiles are simply blasted out of the barrel, rather than being self-propelled. Overall, this is a weapon that every player will want to have in their armory at some stage.

3 Lead Belcher

A Typical Minigun

• Damage: 19-24
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Shovel: 4
• Gold Watch: 3
• Military Duct Tape: 2

The Lead Belcher is a fun weapon to equip vault dwellers with in Fallout Shelter. It has a very high rate of fire, although it does pretty low damage compared to many other weapons. It has 6 separate barrels and is fed by a belt mechanism.

This weapon was placed so high up this list because it has such a low crafting cost. Many other top-tier weapons are not available until later game stages, but the Lead Belcher can be accessed quite early on, and will likely be a weapon most players will depend on at some stage for their vault dwellers going on expeditions to use.

2 MIRV

It’s A Nuke!

• Damage: 22-27
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Chemistry Flask: 3
• Military Duct Tape: 3
• Shovel: 3

An iconic weapon from the Fallout franchise, the MIRV is a portable tactical nuke launcher. It does very high maximum damage, and this is also an AOE weapon as well. This is one of the best weapons that a player can equip their vault dwellers with before sending them out to the wasteland to explore.

Unfortunately, the player won’t gain access to the MIRV until quite late in the game, although they will be able to use one of the lesser variants much earlier.

1 Vengeance

Pew Pew Laser!

• Damage: 21-26
• Rarity: Legendary
• Value: 500

Crafting Requirements:

• Microscope: 5
• Military Circuit Board: 3
• Giddyup Buttercup: 2

Many Fallout Shelter players see Vengeance as being the best of all the end-game weapons in this popular game. It is a single-target laser weapon that does excellent damage. Multiple blasts hit the target for each shot. A nice bonus is that if the original target dies before all of the blasts have been fired, it will automatically target the next enemy.

The crafting cost is pretty high for Vengeance. But once the player can build at least one, it will be a game changer for how well their vault dwellers perform in combat whilst out in the wasteland.