Fallout 76’s Season 20 Update Marks a Big Item Off Players’ Wishlists

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 30, 2025 374 Views 6 Min Read
Fallout 76’s Season 20 Update Marks a Big Item Off Players' Wishlists



The main attraction of Fallout 76’s upcoming Season 20 update will naturally be the new playable Ghoul character, though this isn’t the only thing coming in this update that players can look forward to. Aside from a new Season full of unique Ghoul-themed rewards coming in Fallout 76’s Season 20 update, one specific weapon type is set to receive some long overdue buffs that have remained at the top of many players’ wishlists.

Fallout 76’s Season 20 and playable Ghoul update still doesn’t have an exact release date, though the update is expected to arrive sometime in early March. Several balancing changes are planned for this update, notably including buffs for pistol weapon types that have the potential to finally make them viable in Fallout 76’s endgame content.

Fallout 76 Gleaming Depths Raid Rewards Unique Legendary Weapons Sad Truth edit GAMERANT

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Fallout 76’s Gleaming Depths Raid Weapons Prove a Sad Truth About Unique Weapons

Fallout 76 has a wide variety of unique weapons for players to earn, although these weapons generally suffer from one big disadvantage.

In the upcoming Season 20 update, several of Fallout 76’s SPECIAL Perk Cards related to pistols are being reworked and/or removed. While this may seem like pistols are being nerfed, nearly every pistol in the game will receive several other buffs to account for their respective Perk Cards being removed. More specifically, various pistols in Fallout 76 will receive one or more of the following buffs in the Season 20 update:

  • Increased base damage
  • Increased sneak damage multiplier
  • Increased VATS critical hit damage multiplier
  • Reduced VATS Action Point cost

These pistol buffs and other features coming in the Season 20 update are currently available for playtesting on Fallout 76’s Public Test Server. Players who own Fallout 76 on Steam can access the PTS for free.

Aside from the weight of carrying around ammo, pistols are generally one of the most lightweight weapons in Fallout 76 without needing to rely on perks or legendary effects that reduce their weight. Considering that inventory management can be a constant struggle in open-world games like Fallout 76, these upcoming buffs for pistols will be a huge boon, whether players plan on running a dedicated pistol build or packing a sidearm as a backup weapon.

Pistols are Perfect for Stealth and VATS Builds in Fallout 76

Not only are pistols generally lightweight, but a handful of them have the benefit of being silent weapons, either naturally or by equipping a suppressor mod. By default, stealth builds in Fallout 76 can take advantage of a damage modifier that doubles the weapon’s damage, and this can be further increased with certain Perk Cards and buffs.

Compared to other weapon types, pistols categorically have some of the lowest Action Point costs while using VATS in Fallout 76, so the upcoming decrease to their AP cost will sweeten the deal even further. The best part about stealth and VATS builds in Fallout 76 is that they aren’t mutually exclusive, so combining them can significantly increase players’ damage.

Pistol Builds Are Finally Getting Their Turn in the Spotlight in Fallout 76

With all the buffs coming in Fallout 76’s Season 20 update, pistols will be stronger than ever before, and no longer having to rely on specific SPECIAL Perk Cards means that players with pistol builds will have a few spare Perk Cards slots to equip additional buffs. Overall, these buffs have the potential to make pistols finally viable in endgame content, possibly even giving Fallout 76’s meta builds some healthy competition.

Despite being highly versatile weapons, pistols in Fallout 76 have generally always paled in comparison to other weapon types when it comes to damage output. However, after years of fans requesting balancing changes for pistols, Fallout 76’s upcoming update will finally mark this item off players’ wishlists by delivering some powerful, long-overdue buffs to pistol builds.

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