The Fallout series has some pretty insane weapons, and Fallout 4 is no different. In the latest installment of the franchise, the world is filled with all kinds of weapons you can find, use, and modify. However, not all of them are all that useful. Though there are plenty of insanely powerful weapons in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Commonwealth, there are just as many that are straight up horrible. Sure, when you're starting out, commonly found items are useful to ward off low-level enemies before you find more useful weapons, but once Death Claws and other horrendous wasteland monsters get involved, you'll want something more powerful.

Most of the stuff you find lying around are useless weapons, often capable of little damage against enemies. The most powerful weapons in the game, usually acquired through a special mission or alliance, not only deal a ton of damage, but also have a special ability which gives an advantage in combat.

We've gathered up some of the most useless and most powerful weapons in Fallout 4. Our rules are simple, we're measuring the damage and special abilities of all Fallout 4, weapons excluding those that can only be acquired in DLC.

Here are Fallout 4's 8 Most Powerful (And 7 Most Useless) Weapons, Ranked.

POWERFUL: PIPE GUN/RIFLE

The Pipe Gun might seem unassuming at first, but looks can be deceiving. After all, it might be one of the most common weapons in all of Fallout 4, but Pipe Guns have something that puts them above other common firearms, customizability. Pipe guns have more customization options than any other firearm in the game, which is great for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it takes less materials to turn a common pipe gun into a full-fledged rifle that's reliable, lightweight, and deadly. Even better, because of how common they are, especially when looting raiders, you can constantly get the materials for upgrades and modifications. They might be weak on their own, but it doesn't take much to turn a pipe gun into one of your go-to weapons.

WORTHLESS: ROLLING PIN

Though a rolling pin in Fallout 4 can also be modified, why would you want to? It's... a rolling pin. Even with spikes or an aluminum upgrade, the rolling pin has to be one of the most useless weapons in the game. Seriously, who wasted their time finding or modifying one of these?!

The standard rolling pin only does 11 damage at a medium speed and still manages to use up 25 action points. The sharp, spiked, and aluminum upgrades only adds three damage each, not worth using the adhesive and screws. Also, the idea of using a rolling pin as a weapon, though funny, is just plain silly. If you ever come across this pointless weapon in Fallout 4, just scrap it for the wood. You're better off that way.

POWERFUL: THE LAST MINUTE

Like we mentioned, the special abilities of weapons are a huge advantage in Fallout 4. An excellent example of this is "The Last Minute," a special version of the Gauss Rifle. A Gauss rifle shoots bullets using electromagnets, allowing for incredible projectile speed as well as the option to charge each shot for more damage. That already sounds awesome on its own, but "The Last Minute" takes things even further.

In addition to having a capacitor booster, which increases the ammo capacity and damage, "The Last Minute" also has a crippling effect. The special ability of the weapon causes 50% more damage when shooting at limbs, which is incredibly useful in stopping enemies from getting away or slowing them down. This legendary weapon is one you have to earn and buy after completing the the "Old Guns" quest.

WORTHLESS: SWITCHBLADE

There's a reason that raiders are so easy to beat: they carry crappy weapons. Though pipe guns have their usefulness and raider bosses often have great rifles, your average raider is usually found with nothing more than a simple pistol and/or a switchblade. The latter is probably one of the most useless bladed weapons in the game.

Though the switchblade is fast, it only deals eight damage and has very little customization. In fact, the only modification you can add is a serrated edge! There are a few perks that can go with the switchblade, but nothing specific to it that makes it worth carrying. Raiders need to start carrying better weapons, since this one is worth more as the material you can get from scrapping it.

POWERFUL: BOTTLECAP MINE

The bottle cap mine is kind of a unique weapon, but it's pretty useful no matter how you look at it. If you find one in the wasteland, it is both an incredibly powerful anti-personnel mine and a rather valuable find. If you use the mine, it has a range of 93 and causes 301 damage.

If that wasn't cool enough, if the area is clear enough after using the mine, you can raid the area for all the bottle caps it drops. In other words, you can cause a ton of damage and actually get paid for it. Even better, crafting the mine doesn't require any bottle caps itself: just a lunchbox and some common materials. Yu can take out enemies and create money at the same time.

WORTHLESS: POOL CUE

Alright, so this one is a bit of a technicality since a pool cue isn't completely useless. In a pinch, a pool cue and similar weapons definitely have their uses. For example, if you're low on ammo and find a pool cue, it can serve as a way to get past an enemy and find some ammo. Otherwise, the pool cue is one of the weakest melee weapons in Fallout 4.

Literally, it's one of the absolute weakest. Not only does it deal low damage and have low customizability, the Fallout Wikia literally describes it as one of the weakest! Seriously, there's no reason to make a pool cue one of your go-to weapons, or even to use it beyond the place you found it originally. You can make it barbed or sharp and even pair it with a perk, but it's not worth it in the long run.

POWERFUL: KELLOGG'S PISTOL

Here's another awesome legendary weapon; one that you get by just going through the main story of the game. This pistol might seem like a regular gun, but it has a lot of history behind it. The gun was given to Kellogg as his only means of protection as a child and was the very gun used to kill your spouse in the beginning of Fallout 4. That's just the history of the gun - the damage it can deal is even greater.

The pistol might only deal 48 damage, but it can be heavily modified, resulting in higher damage, higher accuracy and a higher rate of fire. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The greatest attribute of Kellogg's pistol is that it refills your action points with every critical hit, meaning you can almost continuously used VATS as long as you cause critical damage.

WORTHLESS: POLE HOOK

Depending on how much you like melee weapons, this one might be a bit up in the air. The pole hook is a fish hook that has been repurposed as a melee weapon. The speed is slow, but the damage is high and can be made even higher by adding the puncturing modification, adding an additional 36 damage to the standard 68.

That might sound like a pretty good speed/damage tradeoff, but in the larger scale of things, there are better weapons out there. Some bladed weapons will deal way more damage with way more speed and do not require any modification to do so. Plus, the pole hook uses up way too much AP for how slow and weak it is.

POWERFUL: RIGHTEOUS AUTHORITY

Like a lot of unique weapons in the game, the "Righteous Authority" is acquired through special requirements. It is given to you by Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel if you complete "Call to Arms," though there are a few other ways to get it. The weapon is a unique version of the standard laser rifle, modified by Paladin Danse himself.

Amongst a few modifications that can be further improved upon at the weapons workshop, the "Righteous Authority" has a rather useful perk. The weapon uses the lucky modifier causing damage for critical hits to double. On top of this, "Righteous Authority" also makes the critical meter fill 15% faster when using VATS to fire weapons.

All these perks are fantastic, and with the right modifications, you can turn the "Righteous Authority" into one of your best go-to weapons.

WORTHLESS: WALKING CANE

There seems to be a bit of a recurring theme with the worthless weapons on this list, doesn't there? Common items found in everyday life don't always make for good weapons, despite the fact that a lot of apocalyptic weapons are crafted from them. That said, we doubt anyone would find a walking cane useful as a weapon in the apocalypse.

And yet, it is included as a melee weapon in Fallout 4. Who thought players would want this? We're surprised that this is a weapon and not just an item meant to be scrapped for materials. The speed is medium and the damage is only ten, increasing by four with added spikes or barbs. Even with modifications, there are far better weapons out there, making the walking cane incredibly worthless beyond materials.

POWERFUL: FLAMER

What's more awesome than a flamethrower? Well, in any other situation, not much, but because it's in Fallout, it might not be the highest on the list. That said, the flamer is still one of the coolest and most powerful weapons in Fallout 4. Unlike the flamers in previous games, this one has a higher fuel capacity and benefits from the heavy gunner perk, as it is considered a heavy weapon.

The flamer deals 12 damage, something that might not seem like much, but becomes insanely powerful when fired at a rate of 90. Even better, the flamer has a ton of modifications that can be added to increase the ammo capacity and damage. And the best part of it all? You don't need any perks to make these mods, so you can get the best flamer without even trying!

WORTHLESS: FLARE GUN

You might have noticed that we tend to favor projectile weapons over melee weapons. While that is true, since they are superior, not every gun is worth picking up. For example, there's the flare gun, which isn't, as you might imagine, great for dealing damage. To be fair, it is not meant to to do so - rather it is instead used to summon nearby Minutmen or even Veritbirds.

That said, the flare gun is still pretty useless. There might be one or two situations in which assistance is needed, but seriously, can any of you Fallout 4 players out there honestly say you used the flare gun more than once? With a fire rate of 3 with only 10 damage, don't bother keeping this thing around.

POWERFUL: ALIEN BLASTER PISTOL

One of the coolest weapons in all of the Fallout franchise can be found amongst wreckage of an alien ship and the aliens who flew it. After tracking down the spacecraft, you can take out the aliens that attack and take one of their guns. What makes an alien blaster pistol so powerful is the fact that it can be modded for continuous use.

See, while an alien pistol comes with ammo, the ammo is (surprise) of an alien origin. This means that once the ammo runs out, it can no longer be used. But, with maximum "Science!" perks, you can modify it to run on fusion cells, thus ensuring you can use it forever. The alien blaster pistol deals 50 damage at a fire rate of 100, way better than a flamer, and can take advantage of various perks.

WORTHLESS: SILVER SUBMACHINE GUN

We're not saying that a submachine gun is worthless, not at all, but the silver submachine gun? Completely pointless. It is given to you after completing missions as the Silver Shroud, a pulp radio hero who was never seen without his signature submachine gun. Now, you'd think that after completing so many missions or the fact that it is paired with an entire outfit might mean the silver submachine gun has a special perk with it.

But no, there is literally nothing different about the silver submachine gun except the color. It's just shinier than a standard gun. That's it. Are you kidding?! It has so many requirements and then does nothing and doesn't get any special mods?! And no, we're not counting "looking cool" as a perk. Seriously, why was there no reward for this thing?!

POWERFUL: THE BIG BOY

Before we get into this specific legendary weapon, let's talk a bit about the standard version of a "Fat Man." The "Fat Man" is sort of like a grenade launcher, but instead of launching grenades, it launches mini-nukes. Yes, that's right, miniature nukes that you can just casually toss around. It's freaking awesome, and "The Big Boy" only makes things better.

Dealing 2691 damage with a range of 117, the Big Boy is already pretty powerful. Add to that its incredibly powerful perk and you have yourself the power of a god in weapon form. "The Big Boy" can shoot multiple mini-nukes at once while only using up one, starting with two with the option to mod up to 12 at once. Because of this, "The Big Boy" is the highest damage rate from a single shot in the entire game. However, it is incredibly expensive to acquire.

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What's your favorite weapon in Fallout 4? Let us know in the comments!