The Big Boy is a unique weapon in Fallout 4.
Characteristics
A Fat Man with the legendary Two Shot prefix. This allows Big Boy to shoot two mini nukes at once for the cost of only one, giving it the most damage potential from a single shot in the entire game with the sole exception of the nuke, which is obtainable only through console commands.
Because the legendary effect is inherent to the weapon instead of being a mod on its own, Big Boy can be equipped with the MIRV launcher mod. This results in a shot from Big Boy launching a total of twelve[1] mini nukes, while only consuming one from the inventory. In this scenario, the blast radius of the mini nukes is substantially larger than normal, in addition to the nukes losing their mid-flight momentum and falling directly toward the ground after splitting. As a trade-off to its significant damage potential, the base caps value of the weapon lies at around 14,000+ caps (having 1 Charisma and no related perks such as ranks 1 & 2 of Cap Collector), making it one of the most expensive weapons in the base game.
With the Nuka-World add-on, one can acquire the Nuka-nuke launcher after completing the side quest Cappy in a Haystack by fulfilling John-Caleb Bradberton's request to end his life. Because the weapon's unique effect is actually a removable mod, it can be taken off and equipped on Big Boy. This means that one can effectively do double the damage of a regular Fat Man, and 50% more than Big Boy with standard mods, with the only downside being needing to craft the individual Nuka-nukes required for it.
Weapon modifications
- Launcher
Variants
- Fat Man - the standard variant found throughout the Commonwealth.
The Striker - a unique version that fires modified bowling balls instead of mini nukes.- Nuka-nuke launcher - a unique version that fires Quantum-enhanced nuka-nukes that deal 50% more damage than regular mini nukes.
Location
The weapon is located in Diamond City where it is sold by Arturo Rodriguez at Commonwealth Weaponry in the market during the daytime.
Notes
- Big Boy equipped with the MIRV launcher will shoot 12 mini nukes at once due to both of the mini nukes fired each splitting into 6 upon firing. Each individual nuke will then disperse into 12 bomblets upon traveling a certain distance and dropping on their target.
- Due to the way that the legendary Two Shot prefix is programmed, firing Big Boy with the MIRV modification causes the launched nukes to have a much larger blast radius and damage, comparable to 12 individual mini nukes.
- If the unique bowling ball launcher mod is removed from the Striker and then placed onto Big Boy, the Two Shot effect will actually result in one "gaining" modified bowling balls due to using a single one from the inventory while spawning two when fired.
Behind the scenes
The weapon's name is a reference to the real-world "Little Boy," the atomic bomb that was used during World War II to destroy the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
