When you talk about Endgame in Fallout 76, the topic of Legendaries will always come up. They are what will set you apart from the other Level 50 players out there aside from your build. In fact, they are often what people center their builds around. They are the literal leg on the pile you need to face some of the later challenges and walk away with at least some of your stim pack supply and ammo unspent.

The trick, however...Is getting the ones you want.

How to get Legendary Weapons and Armor

I wish I could tell you there was a specific location to go to or a very particular enemy to kill to get ahold of some of the better effects in the game. Unfortunately Legendary’s are not a guarantee, even less a guarantee the effect you’re looking for is going to be on a weapon or armor piece you were wanting it on.

Legendary effects come off drops from a Legendary enemy, which themselves have a star ranking. I am told that you want the three-star enemies in particular as they have the potential to drop better loot. 

These enemies can be found in Nukezones, during certain random open-world events, and sometimes just out in the wild mixed in with normal enemies. It’s like whenever the game is feeling it. Some days you encounter one per area you hit, other days you won’t see a single one your entire play session.

They can also be received as rewards for quests and events completed in the world, again at random, save for the unique SMG, the Perfect Storm, which is always received for completing the quest at the Water Park. If the stars are right you will also find them in boss level loot chests. Again, entirely random. 

But I did this and got nothing I wanted! What now?

Say at the end of the day, you farm a few locations and came up with some Legendary pieces that don’t compliment your playstyle, or are just too low level to be good. Do not despair. Hitch up your boots, we’re going to Berkley. 

South of the Berkley ruins you will find one of the many train stations that act as resupply locations. Here you will find Purveyor Murmrgh (I call her Mimi). On your way in, or if you stopped by any train station prior, you probably passed by a rather complicated looking vending machine. 

The purpose of this machine is for you to take any and all Legendary pieces of gear that you don’t want, and convert them into Scrip. You take these scrips and go inside and see Murmrgh. Now you can use that Scrip to take a chance on her random selection of Legendary gear, depending on how many scrips you’re willing to spend. Once again, there are no guarantees on what you’re going to get. 

I personally like to think Mimi doesn’t really understand the guns themselves, and just hands over the ones she thinks are worth your Scrip. She’s funny like that.

Now that we all know how to get them, let’s discuss the Legendary Effects out there that are worth having.

10. Two Shot

What is awesome about this Effect

Getting an extra shot in one burst used to be a pretty big deal, making the Two Shot Explosive combo very much coveted. There are still some who sing its praises today despite the fact that the developers made some balancing adjustments here and there to make it less of an I Win combination, particularly in PVP situations.

Effect details

• Each time a round is fired, the weapon shoots twice the normal number of projectiles. Each projectile from the Two Shot weapon has base damage that is 62.5% of the base damage of a projectile from the normal weapon.
• The meta formerly was this Effect paired with Explosive in 3 Star Legendaries. There have been some nerfs since to this makeup putting it at number 10.

9. Quad

What is awesome about this Effect

We switch it up where Two Shot fired off double than normal, Quad expands how much you can fire before having to reload, which is really kind of nice for some of those weapons out there with really small ammo capacity, like my personal favorite the BOS Recon Rifle.

Effect details

• Quadruple ammo capacity. More ammo for the shooting. Just puts it right there in your magazine.

8. Suppressors

What is awesome about this Effect

If you’re like me, you originally thought Suppression meant noise suppression, but no. Suppression is putting the heat on an enemy so they can’t get off a shot. In this case, since most enemies don’t really utilize cover (except Scorched) to suppress upon, it means they deal significantly less damage for a few seconds.

Effect details

• Reduce your target’s damage output by 20% for 3 seconds

7. Furious

What is awesome about this Effect

When initial damage fails to bring a target down, the only option is to inflict more damage. And what’s better than more damage? Increasing your damage as you deal damage, pounding your enemy again and again and again until it stops moving!

Effect details

• Damage increased after each consecutive hit on the same target
• +5 damage per stack, 9 stack maximum for a total of +45% damage
• Stacks reset to 0 after not hitting the target for 10 seconds
• Stacks are not lost on missed attacks
• Stacks are reset on target swap
• Shotguns and other multiple projectile weapons test each individual projectile.

6. Anti-Armor

What is awesome about this Effect

An enemy's damage resistance can really get in the way in the late game. I’ve spoken of in other articles how at the higher levels some enemies just seem to sneeze off the damage dealt with regular, off the rack weaponry.

Anti-Armor helps with punching a hole into their defenses allowing that damage to start going where it needs to, directly into their health and not soaked up by their resistances.

Effect details

• Ignores 50% of your target's armor
• It only alters physical and energy damage resistance, not radiation or poison resistances.
• If the Stabilized or Tank Killer perk is equipped, the perks armor reduction bonus is halved.

5.Unyielding

What is awesome about this Effect

Many players in Fallout 76 like to play it dangerous, especially when it comes to builds that utilize effects that require certain requirements to activate. Like being dangerously low on health to gain incredible statistical boosts, permanently capping their HP with radiation damage to ensure they are always at maximum performance.

Gaining an additional +3 to all stats is nice, and the well-seasoned player often has little to worry about when it comes to their health. Those who walk the path of the glass cannon know their limits and how to push them. 

Effect details

• Gain +3 to all stats except END when low on health

4. Medics

What is awesome about this Effect

There are very few ways for a player to take on the role of a healer in a group. Most regulate themselves to the role of that guy who stabs a downed player with a stim or specializes in the perk that turns a Flamer into a healing beam when used on players. For everyone else, there’s Medic equipment.  

The Healing of a critical shot is based on the critical damage dealt, which makes the effect on a Shotgun the version you will want.

Effect details

• VATS criticals will heal you and your group

3. Chameleon

What is awesome about this Effect

Having a piece of armor with the Chameleon effect is like having a never-ending stealth boy on your person and allows you to lay in wait to score those sweet sweet sneak attack hits, which can end a battle as soon as it begins in the possession of a clever player with the right tools in hand.

Effect details

• Blend with the environment while sneaking and not moving

2. Vampires

What is awesome about this Effect

This may be a personal preference, but I like the idea of getting back as good as I give in combat. The Vampires grade of weapon effects warrants a brief bit of health regeneration, roughly 2HP per 2 “ticks”, which stacks with itself per hit you inflict upon an enemy, lending to its effect being warranted by how fast and how often you hit your target.

Effect details

• Gain brief health regeneration when you hit an enemy

1. Bloodied

What is awesome about this Effect

And at Number One, to the surprise of no one! The Bloodied build is the current meta in the Fallout 76 player base, and is also another case, like Unyielding, of risk versus reward. When your health is low, the weapons attacks deal significantly more damage. Combine a Bloodied weapon with a piece of armor with the Unyielding quality, with health capped to below 20% and you have a very effective glass cannon build.

Effect details

• Does more damage the lower your Health
• Below 80%: +25% damage
• Below 60%: +50% damage
• Below 40%: +75% damage
• Below 20%: 100% damage 

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