Quick Answer: A Fallout 76 Tesla Cannon build in 2026 mixes three perk groups: universal ranged cards (Tank Killer, Center Masochist, Number Cruncher), explosive cards (Demolition Expert, Grenadier), and Stabilized for accuracy. The cannon hits for 285 to 314 energy damage at level 50 depending on the wiki, but burns 5 fusion cells per shot, so a 60-cell magazine is only 12 shots. Fit Huge Ampacity and the Direct Current muzzle. Per the Fandom wiki and r/fo76 players, Mortimer in the Crater Core sells the plan for 750 Gold Bullion at Raider Ally. Applies to Season 26 "Beware the Blood Moon!" and the October 20, 2026 update (version 1.7.27.11).
The Tesla Cannon is the weapon other players notice at a public event. One trigger pull drops a lightning bolt on the target, splashes energy damage around it, and tags every enemy in the blast for you. It is also easy to build badly, because it fires slowly and spends ammo fast, so minigun advice doesn't transfer cleanly.
This guide covers how to get the plan now that its season has ended, the stats from both community wikis, which mods matter, the perk cards that scale it, and the ammo bill.
What Is the Tesla Cannon in Fallout 76?
The Tesla Cannon is a shoulder-fired heavy gun that shoots arcing electricity. It arrived on December 3, 2024 as a reward on the Season 19 board, "Gleaming Depths - The Scientific Forge", which ran until Season 20 started on March 18, 2025. Every one of its muzzles, receivers, barrels and scopes was a separate reward on that same board.
The Fandom wiki classes it as an explosive heavy gun. Its game keywords include WeaponTypeHeavyGun and WeaponTypeRanged, and its weapon wheel icon is the missile launcher icon. That classification is why explosive perks matter here: the cannon behaves like a launcher that hits instantly.
Three facts shape everything else:
- It uses fusion cells, 5 per shot. Both wikis list a 60-cell magazine, which works out to 12 shots per reload.
- It is not a legendary drop. fallout.wiki lists it as legendary-craftable only, so the only way to put stars on one is legendary crafting at a weapons workbench.
- You probably can't buy one from another player. The Fandom wiki's keyword list for the cannon includes NonPlayerTradable, so plan on crafting your own.
How Do You Get the Tesla Cannon Plan in 2026?
The season board that first handed out the plan closed in March 2025, but the cannon didn't disappear with it.
Mortimer at the Crater Core. The Fandom wiki's Tesla Cannon page) lists the plan as "Purchasable from Mortimer in the Core for 750 Gold Bullion at Raider rank Ally." r/fo76 players confirm it in several threads, and players note that most season-pass weapons end up in the Crater's bullion stock after their boards close. One caveat worth knowing: fallout.wiki's own Mortimer inventory list doesn't show the cannon yet, and at least one r/fo76 player at Ally reported not seeing it. If it's missing, check that your Raider reputation is fully at Ally, not just close to it.
Getting there takes two things:
- Ally reputation with the Raiders. This comes from the Wastelanders questline and Raider daily quests at the Crater.
- 750 Gold Bullion. If you're short, our Fallout 76 gold bullion farming guide covers the fastest weekly routes.
Mortimer also sells the cannon's mod plans in the same menu, according to r/fo76 players who bought the full set there.
Legacy Seasons. Since The Slasher update on September 15, 2026, Bethesda has run an older season board alongside the current one. In its Legacy Seasons announcement, Bethesda wrote that it is "bringing back one past season to sit alongside the current season so that everyone has a chance to earn rewards that they might have missed out on." The first Legacy Season is Season 4, "Armor Ace and the Power Patrol in Cold Steel". The next one was picked by a community vote in August 2026 and starts with the Winter update. Bethesda says it plans to keep rotating old boards, so Season 19 could come back. For now, Mortimer is the reliable route.
What Are the Tesla Cannon's Stats in Season 26?
The two community wikis disagree on base damage, so this table shows both. Everything else matches.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Weapon class | Heavy gun (explosive heavy gun on Fandom) |
| Damage type | Energy |
| Base damage, level 30 / 40 / 50 | 175 / 224 / 285 (fallout.wiki) or 193 / 246 / 314 (Fandom) |
| Area damage | 10% of the shot |
| Blast radius | 200 inner / 200 outer |
| Magazine | 60 fusion cells |
| Ammo per shot | 5 fusion cells |
| Shots per magazine | 12 (default ampacity) |
| AP cost | 19 |
| Range | 252 |
| Weight | 13 |
| Reload time | 3.33 seconds (fallout.wiki) |
| Sound | Loud |
| Stagger | Medium |
Two numbers matter more than base damage. The 12-shot magazine means you reload far more often than the 60 on the stat card suggests. The 10% area damage means the blast is a tagging and finishing tool, not your main damage. Most of every hit lands on the target you aimed at.
Which Tesla Cannon Mods Are Best?
The cannon has four mod slots that matter: muzzle, receiver, barrel and ampacity (magazine). All stat numbers below are level 50 values from the fallout.wiki Tesla Cannon page), cross-checked against Fandom.
Muzzle: Direct Current for almost every build
| Muzzle | Effect |
|---|---|
| Stock Assembly (default) | Standard blast on impact |
| Direct Current | Reduces enemy Damage Resistance by 10% for 6 seconds |
| Alternate Current | Replaces the blast with chain lightning that jumps to nearby enemies on a direct hit |
Direct Current is the pick for bosses, raids and group play. One caveat: both wikis describe a 10% Damage Resistance debuff, while the Nukes & Dragons planner lists a much smaller Energy Resistance debuff, so treat the exact size as unconfirmed. Players still favor it. In a recent r/fo76 thread, one called the cannon's chain lightning "probably the most lackluster aspect of it" and recommended Direct Current "since it provides a debuff for everyone to use."
Alternate Current only makes sense if you mostly fight packs of weak enemies in the open. Even then, the Grenadier perk on a blast muzzle usually covers a crowd better.
Receiver: pick damage or accuracy
| Receiver | Damage (lvl 50) | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Solid State Series III | +30 | +20% hip-fire accuracy, no ammo penalty |
| Spark-Gap Series III | +20 | +30% critical damage, +25% hip-fire accuracy, lighter, -10% reload speed |
| Wave Oscillator | +25 | Uses 6 cells per shot |
| Wave Oscillator Triple-Resonant | +50 | Uses 6 cells per shot, -20% reload speed, -30% hip-fire accuracy |
Solid State Series III is the best default. It adds +30 damage, improves accuracy, and keeps the cost at 5 cells per shot. The Wave Oscillator line gives the biggest number (+50 on Triple-Resonant), but the sixth cell per shot cuts a 120-cell magazine from 24 shots to 20 and raises your ammo bill by 20%. Only take it if you craft fusion cells in bulk. Spark-Gap III fits a VATS crit setup, and it is what the Season 26 Nukes & Dragons ghoul build above runs, paired with Nikola Series II and Huge Ampacity.
Barrel: Edison for damage, Nikola for speed
- Edison Series II: +30 damage, but -20% reload speed, -20% hip-fire accuracy and a 20% wider cone of fire.
- Nikola Series II: -40 damage, but a faster attack speed and a 30% tighter cone of fire.
- Default barrel: +25% sighted accuracy and no penalties.
For a big-hit build, run Edison II with Stabilized to offset the accuracy loss. For VATS or faster firing, take Nikola II. For event tagging, the default barrel is fine.
Ampacity: always take Huge
| Ampacity | Capacity | Shots (5 cells) | Shots (6 cells) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default | 60 | 12 | 10 |
| Large Ampacity | 90 (+50%) | 18 | 15 |
| Huge Ampacity | 120 (+100%) | 24 | 20 |
Huge Ampacity carries a -20% reload speed penalty, but doubling the shots per reload is worth far more than a slightly slower reload. For sights, the Recon Scope tags targets at range and the Night Vision Scope gives +10 magnification. Both are optional.
What Are the Best Perks for a Tesla Cannon Build?
The cannon draws from three perk groups at once. Most of its damage comes from cards that work on any ranged weapon, so start there.
Perception: the ranged damage core
- Tank Killer (2 ranks): your ranged weapons ignore 40% armor.
- Center Masochist (3 ranks): +75% ranged damage to the torso, which is where a slow, aimed shot usually lands.
- Number Cruncher (1 rank, 3 points): 2% more damage per AP cost. At the cannon's base 19 AP, that reads as +38%, and it pairs well with mods that raise AP cost.
- Grenadier (2 ranks): 50% larger blast radius at rank 1, twice the radius at rank 2, for all explosive heavy guns. An r/fo76 player noted that Direct Current plus Grenadier can tag enemies through walls, which helps in tunnel events and Daily Ops.
Intelligence: Demolition Expert and Stabilized
Demolition Expert is listed as a Tesla Cannon damage perk on both wikis. Bethesda's Ghoul Within release notes set it at three ranks, with rank 2 at 40% and rank 3 at 60% explosive damage.
Stabilized is the best utility card. Since Patch 1.7.21.25, it reads: "Big guns gain 30% accuracy. Double in Power Armor." The cannon's base accuracy is low (69 on fallout.wiki, 54 on Fandom), so this card matters more here than on most heavy guns. Older guides still say it ignores armor. That effect was removed.
Science! boosts energy damage based on your Intelligence, and the Season 26 build above runs it, but neither wiki lists it as a Tesla Cannon damage perk. Test it before you build Intelligence around it. Batteries Included cuts energy ammo weight by up to 90%, which only matters for a large cell stockpile.
Strength: Bullet Storm is a slow ramp
Bethesda's C.A.M.P. Revamp notes define Bullet Storm as one stack "for every 30 ammo spent up to 10 stacks", with each stack worth 3%, 6% or 9% by rank, resetting "when you reload or change weapons". fallout.wiki lists it for the cannon, Fandom doesn't, and Season 26 cannon builds on Nukes & Dragons run it. A Steam discussion is split on how much it does for slow guns.
If it stacks on ammo spent as worded, 5 cells a shot means one stack every 6 shots. Huge Ampacity gives you 4 stacks per magazine. Lock and Load keeps half your stacks through a reload, so you'd climb toward 7 or 8 stacks only after several full magazines. That's a real bonus for long boss fights, but it costs hundreds of cells. Take it after the Perception core, not before it.
Easy Target (3 ranks, +75% ranged damage to crippled targets) works with any ranged weapon and pairs well with One Gun Army. Arms Keeper (2 ranks) is your weight perk, cutting all weapons except grenades by 50% or 75%. Bear Arms no longer helps: it only adds bash damage per Bullet Storm stack.
Luck and Endurance: One Gun Army and Bullet Shield
- One Gun Army (Luck, 3 ranks): heavy guns gain a 12% stagger chance and +75% limb damage.
- Bullet Shield (Endurance, 4 ranks): up to a 20% chance to deflect incoming projectiles for 6 seconds after firing a heavy gun.
Legendary perk: Far-Flung Fireworks
Far-Flung Fireworks gives enemies killed with a ranged weapon a 10% to 20% chance to explode. fallout.wiki notes that Demolition Expert raises that damage and Grenadier widens it, so it fits this build well.
Recommended card list
| SPECIAL | Card | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perception | Tank Killer | 2 | Ignores 40% armor |
| Perception | Center Masochist | 3 | +75% torso damage |
| Perception | Number Cruncher | 3 | Damage per AP cost |
| Perception | Grenadier | 2 | Double blast radius |
| Intelligence | Demolition Expert | 3 | +60% explosive damage |
| Intelligence | Stabilized | 2 | +30% accuracy, +60% in Power Armor |
| Strength | Arms Keeper | 2 | 75% lighter weapons |
| Strength | Bullet Storm + Lock and Load | 3 + 2 | Optional ramp for long fights |
| Luck | One Gun Army | 3 | Stagger and limb damage |
| Endurance | Bullet Shield | 2-4 | Deflect chance while firing |
Fill the remaining points with your usual survival cards.
How Much Does the Tesla Cannon Cost to Run?
This is the cannon's real price, and almost nobody mentions it. Per the fallout.wiki Fusion Cell page):
- Crafting: before perks, 4 copper, 8 lead and 4 plastic at a Tinker's Workbench make 30 fusion cells. At 5 cells a shot, that is 6 cannon shots per craft.
- Ammo Converter: 30 standard cells cost 250 ammo points.
- Drops: destroyed Protectrons can drop fusion cells.
A 24-shot Huge Ampacity magazine needs 120 cells, which is four base crafts or 32 lead per reload. Lead is the bottleneck, and our Fallout 76 lead farming guide covers the best spots. Ammosmith (Agility, +80% rounds per craft at rank 2) and the Ammo Factory legendary perk both raise the yield, so run them while you craft, then swap back.
The cannon draws from the same fusion cell stockpile as the Tesla Rifle and Laser Gun, so those guns compete for ammo. r/fo76 players often carry both Tesla weapons anyway, and one summed up the split: "The cannon is either a lightning sniper rifle or a carpet bomb." The rifle handles close-range work for fewer cells.
Tesla Cannon vs Tesla Rifle: Which Should You Use?
| Tesla Cannon | Tesla Rifle | |
|---|---|---|
| Class | Heavy gun | Rifle |
| Damage per shot (top tier) | 285-314 | 121 |
| Magazine | 60 cells (12 shots) | 15 rounds |
| Weight | 13 | 8 |
| Main perks | Ranged cards, Demolition Expert, Stabilized | Rifle and energy perks |
| Plan | Mortimer, 750 Gold Bullion (Raider Ally) | Vendor Bot Phoenix, Watoga Shopping Plaza |
Use the cannon for big single hits and wide event tagging. Use the Tesla Rifle for steady mob clearing on a lower ammo budget. Our Fallout 76 Tesla Rifle build covers that side. If you want explosive damage without fusion cells, try the launcher build.
How Do You Get a Legendary Tesla Cannon?
The cannon never drops as a legendary, so legendary crafting at a weapons workbench is the only way to add stars, and that uses legendary modules. Our legendary modules guide explains where to get modules and what each star costs.
For the first star, pick the effect that matches your health playstyle: Bloodied for a low-health build, Anti-Armor or Furious otherwise. The Season 26 Nukes & Dragons build runs Furious, Rapid, Lucky Hit and Pin-Pointer's.
How Should You Play a Tesla Cannon Build?
- Aim at the target, not the ground. Only 10% of the shot is area damage. Unlike a launcher, your direct hit does the work.
- Keep hitting one target with Direct Current. The debuff lasts 6 seconds, so switching targets drops it.
- Don't wipe events with it. Players complain that cannon users clear spawns before anyone else can tag them. Grenadier tags everything anyway, so you lose nothing by letting others shoot first.
- Run it in Power Armor if you can. Stabilized doubles to +60% accuracy, which helps the cannon's weakest stat.
- Reload on your own timing. At 3.33 seconds it's slow, so don't reload in the open during a boss attack.
FAQ
Where do I get the Tesla Cannon in Fallout 76? The plan was a Season 19 reward, and that season ended in March 2025. According to the Fandom wiki and r/fo76 players, Mortimer in the Crater Core now sells it for 750 Gold Bullion once you reach Ally with the Raiders.
Is the Tesla Cannon good in 2026? Yes, for big single hits and event tagging. It hits for 285 to 314 energy damage per shot at level 50, and Grenadier lets it tag whole spawns. It's expensive as a solo mob clearer because each shot costs 5 fusion cells.
Does Bullet Storm work with the Tesla Cannon? The wikis disagree, but Season 26 cannon builds run it. As worded, it stacks every 30 ammo spent, which is 6 cannon shots, and resets on reload. Lock and Load keeps half your stacks, so it only pays off in long fights.
How many fusion cells does the Tesla Cannon use? 5 per shot with most receivers, and 6 per shot with any Wave Oscillator receiver. A 60-cell magazine is 12 shots, and Huge Ampacity raises it to 24.
What is the best Tesla Cannon muzzle? Direct Current. Both wikis list a 10% enemy Damage Resistance debuff for 6 seconds, though the exact size is unconfirmed. Alternate Current swaps the blast for chain lightning, which players rate as the weaker option.
Can you trade a Tesla Cannon? Probably not. Its keyword list on the Fandom wiki includes NonPlayerTradable, so plan on crafting your own from the plan.
So, Is a Tesla Cannon Build Worth It in 2026?
Yes, if you can afford the ammo. Start with Tank Killer, Center Masochist and Number Cruncher, add Demolition Expert, Grenadier and Stabilized, then treat Bullet Storm as an optional ramp. Fit Direct Current, Huge Ampacity and either Solid State III or Spark-Gap III, and budget lead for fusion cells. Buy the plan from Mortimer for 750 Gold Bullion at Raider Ally instead of waiting for Season 19 to return as a Legacy Season. Built that way, the Tesla Cannon is a strong, loud pick for Season 26, not a cheap one.
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