At long last, the Fallout franchise’s first-ever, official playable Ghoul character is here, available in the free Ghoul Within update for Fallout 76. This update introduces all-new, Ghoul-exclusive buildcrafting tools that provide a wealth of roleplaying opportunities for players who transform their character into a Ghoul. However, while the existing foundation of Ghoul-exclusive buildcrafting tools in Fallout 76 already provides a distinct experience compared to the default, human playable character, there is still plenty of room to build upon this foundation with additional buildcrafting tools that give Ghouls a chance to compete with the existing meta in Fallout 76.
Since Ghouls are unable to utilize some of the best one-star legendary mods in Fallout 76, like Bloodied, Unyielding, and Overeater, Ghouls arguably aren’t able to compete with the meta human builds just yet. Consequently, with Ghouls having no choice but to use off-meta legendary mods, it seems like Ghouls are the obvious culprit behind the buffs and reworks for off-meta legendary mods that are being experimented with on Fallout 76’s current Public Test Server (PTS) build.
The Unwritten Rules of Fallout 76’s Playable Ghoul Explained
Transforming into a Ghoul in Fallout 76 will present new mechanics and playstyle opportunities that players will want to take into consideration.
Fallout 76’s Legendary Mod Buffs Could Be a Game-Changer for Ghouls
Despite countless balancing changes over the years, the Bloodied, Unyielding, and Overeater one-star legendary mods have dominated Fallout 76’s endgame meta. Even with all the new Ghoul-exclusive buildcrafting tools that are now available, these three legendary armor and weapon mods’ reign has endured.
Overall, having a limited variety of meta builds is problematic on its own, but what makes things especially unfortunate is that Ghoul builds are incompatible with these meta one-star legendary mods. In other words, players who transform their character into a Ghoul won’t be able to compete with the meta human builds when it comes to optimum DPS and survivability until further balancing changes or new buildcrafting tools are introduced.
Fallout 76’s Off-Meta Builds Are Set to Receive Some Major Buffs
Until new Ghoul-exclusive legendary mods potentially come to Fallout 76 to compete with the human-exclusive mods, some of the existing legendary mods could stand to benefit from some buffs, since this would benefit both Ghouls and humans. Based on changes in Fallout 76’s current PTS , it seems as though the latter option is already being explored.
In the current PTS, most of the off-meta legendary one-star mods in Fallout 76 are being fully reworked or having their existing effects improved. Apart from some legendary mods that are having their unintended behaviors addressed, the majority of these upcoming balancing changes will generally provide buffs for each of the affected legendary mods.
According to the patch notes for Fallout 76’s current PTS, beyond buffs for off-meta legendary mods, there are also notable buffs coming for shotgun and rifle builds, and a variety of Perk Card reworks. These changes from the PTS are expected to arrive alongside Fallout 76’s Fishing update in Summer 2025, or earlier.
While the PTS is subject to change and doesn’t officially represent what will make it into Fallout 76’ s future updates, the potency of some of the current legendary mod buffs in the PTS goes to show that these upcoming buffs are much-needed and long overdue. For example, the Junkie legendary weapon mod currently provides 10% weapon damage for each addiction the player has, capped at 50% additional damage for having 5 addictions, while in the current PTS, the cap for Junkie is being raised to 100% at 10 addictions.
Some of these legendary mods have existed in their current state for multiple years, diluting the loot pool with legendary gear that doesn’t quite live up to its namesake. Considering how players who transform into a Ghoul in Fallout 76 have no choice but to use these off-meta legendary mods now that Bloodied, Unyielding, and Overeater are off-limits for Ghouls, it seems like the Ghoul playable character is the obvious culprit behind these upcoming buffs.
Fallout 76
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