Want to be well-dressed and have a complete Fallout New Vegas character creation guide, but don’t know where to start? Here is a complete guide to creating the perfect Fallout New Vegas character.
You may know that Fallout New Vegas isn’t really all that different from a game of Dungeons and Dragons, but there are some styles and details that make it feel fresh and different. The new Character Creation system is an example of this. It’s definitely a change, but the most successful characters are the ones that adapt and use it to their advantage.
I’m an avid videogamer and have been for years, all of my friends know that I’m always to be found playing Fallout New Vegas no matter what time it is. But whenever I play it, I always get stuck on the character creation. The problem is that I have no idea what to put in the different fields. I do know that my Courier looks like a skeevy, one eye guy, but I don’t know what the rest of his stats should be and how to use them. So, I decided to write a guide for new players on how to create their own character.
Nathan Garvin’s character creation guide for Fallout New Vegas.
(Choose an area; you may also use CTRL + F to fast locate anything particular.)
- I. The Beginning
- 1. Extreme Mode
- Attributes of S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
- 1. Surgical implants
- 2. Fortitude
- 3. Observation
- 4. Perseverance
- 5. Attractiveness
- 6. Psychic abilities
- 7. Adaptability
- 8. Luck
- 9. My Personal Characteristics and Attributes
- III. Abilities
- 1. Base
- 2. Tag!
- 3. Stabilization
- 4. Books
- 5. Skill Points Breakdown
- 6. Trade
- Energy Weapons, No. 7
- Explosives are number eight.
- 9. Guns
- 10. Pick a lock
- Medicine is number eleven.
- 12. Weapons of Melee
- 13. Make repairs
- Science is number fourteen.
- 15. Be sneaky
- 16. Remarks
- Survival is number seventeen.
- 18. You are unarmed.
- I’ve tagged 19 skills! (as well as why)
- 20. Allocation of Skill Points
- IV. Characteristics
- 1. Designed to Destroy
- 2. Quick Shot
- 3. There are four eyes
- 4. Pleasant to be around
- 5. Strong-Armed
- 6. Kamikaze attack
- Loose Cannon is a loose cannon. is number seven on the list.
- 8. Tiny Frame
- 9. Discipline Trigger
- Wasteland in the wild is number ten.
- V. Perks
- Perks at Level 2
- Perks at Level 4
- Perks at Level 6
- Perks at Level 8
- Perks at Level 10
- Perks at Level 12
- Perks at Level 14
- Perks at Level 16
- Perks at Level 18
- Perks at Level 20
- Perks at Level 22
- Perks at Level 24
- Lever 26 Benefits
- Perks at Level 28
- Extra Benefits
- Perks of My Personal Build
- The New Vegas Medical Center Run is number six on the list.
- Books number seven.
Email address: theendbringer (at) hotmail.com Please keep the following in mind while contacting me: If you’re going to contact me about this guide, make sure the subject line says “FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS,” otherwise I’ll probably delete it as spam. I have no connections to Bethesda, Obsidian, Fallout: New Vegas, or any of the other companies participating in the game. This is a fan-made, non-profit guide. If you want to share, replicate, or cite this tutorial, go ahead. Credit would make me happy, and receiving an email would make me pleased. Allow your conscience to lead you, as it does for all decent people. I understand that this is a non-profit FAQ, but creating FAQs is a time-consuming task. Donating to my PayPal account to express your gratitude for this FAQ and/or support for future FAQs would be an above-and-beyond gesture. It would be very helpful if every person who downloaded my FAQs contributed a cent. Now, without any more begging a la PBS… My PayPal Account Page This FAQ was written in Notepad and looks best on a plain text editor. The default text is Lucida Console at size 10, although any fixed-width font will function… if not with the intended aesthetics preserved. Â
Introduction
(Return to the top) Hello, youngsters! Another Fallout game means another FAQ on Fallout Character Creation. If you read my last Fallout 3 FAQ, you’ll have a decent idea of how this one will be structured and what it will attempt to accomplish. If not, continue reading. This FAQ is intended to assist you in creating characters that have the best chance of surviving in the Wasteland, or at the very least to provide you with an understanding of how the SPECIAL stats, perks, and skills work so you can make an informed decision about how to best build the character you want. It’s mainly educational, but I do have my own ideas about how to accomplish things and what works best. Whether you choose to follow it or not, I hope you get a better understanding of how you want to play the game. If that’s the case, it doesn’t matter whether you do things my way or not. I’m a bit of a power gamer, and I like to concentrate on a broad build over specialization… or, to put it another way, I strive to make the most strong character I can. After all, although a guy who can talk his way out of a battle is great, and a gunslinger has his place, a character who can do both is clearly superior. Right? All of this being said, this is a FAQ published shortly after the game’s release, and I’m sure I haven’t covered all the game has to offer, so anything I’ve suggested should be considered preliminary and subject to change. Also, if you read the last Fallout FAQ I created, you’ll see that it progressively grew in size and included more material that wasn’t strictly character-building-related until it became a complete FAQ/Walkthrough. This time, we’ll see how things go. Â
Hardcore Mode is a game mode that allows you to push
(Return to the top) Hardcore mode, which introduces major gameplay modifications, is included with New Vegas. Weight for ammunition, the necessity to mind food (FOD), dehydration (H20), and sleep deprivation (SLP) meters, as well as a slew of additional changes, such as the requirement to use a Doctor’s Bag to cure crippled legs, or go locate a real doctor, are just a few examples. This makes the game considerably more tiresome to play, and I believe it exists more for the sake of difficulty and realism than for any narrative value. On that point, playing Hardcore mode caused me to hurry through the narrative and explore less. I skipped most of the side quests and locations, and I wouldn’t suggest it for a first time playthrough. Whether you do play Hardcore mode, save before going out exploring, and as you discover new places, evaluate their resources to see if it’s worth your time to venture out there. Reload if necessary. In terms of how Hardcore mode influences my build… It mostly affects perk and skill point distribution rather than SPECIAL stats. It also means I’ll have to be more selective when purchasing implants. I’d rather have Sub-Dermal Armor and Monocyte Breeders than many of the SPECIAL stats, and because I wasn’t killing Super Mutants for gear, and therefore Caps, I was a bit more frugal with my expenditures. If you’re fortunate, you can rake in some Caps without wasting time by playing at the different casinos on the Strip. That’s right, time doesn’t flow in the gambling mini-games. Aside than that, I stick by my overall Hardcore-friendly build. The only things I would change are a few Perks and the order in which abilities are prioritized. Obviously, in Hardcore Mode, survival is a more essential ability. Â
Attributes of S.P.E.C.I.A.L
(Return to the top) Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck are ingeniously constructed into the anagram ‘SPECIAL,’ which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Attributes provide a variety of benefits based on the attribute, but they always provide a 2 point boost to associated abilities for each point in that attribute. If your Strength is 5, for example, your Melee Weapons skill will get a 10 point boost. The only exception is Luck, which grants a one-point boost to all of your abilities for every two points in Luck. This also implies that each skill begins with a +2 boost when calculating your skill points (for your minimum of 1 in each attribute.) But, I’ll get to it later. I’ll give you a quick rundown of each characteristic, as well as the benefits it provides. My construction option for that characteristic, as well as a grade, will be included below the chart detailing the subtleties of the impacts of that feature. Because it ‘grades’ the characteristic in terms of significance, the grade is rather arbitrary. By looking at the amount of points my project needs, you may get a sense of the grade that attribute will get. Â
Implants
(Return to the top) In New Vegas, instead of Bobbleheads, you’ll find Implants. Anyone who has played Fallout 1 or 2 will be familiar with the idea of paying cash to have your character surgically enhanced. For every point of Endurance you have, you may acquire one Implant (not counting points gained from gear worn or from getting an Endurance-boosting Implant). Naturally, this implies that, at the very least, you shouldn’t use Endurance as a dump stat, and at the very most, if you’re a power player, you should aim for a high Endurance to acquire as many Implants as possible. The Implants, as well as the Caps they cost and the benefits they provide, are mentioned below. It’s worth noting that purchasing an Implant grants you a benefit that corresponds to that Implant, which is how I’ll categorize the Implants mentioned below. Furthermore, I am not aware of any major downtime connected with these procedures. Even if the operation shortens time by three hours, you should not starve to death or get dehydrated as a result of it. o=============================================================================================================== o=============================================================================================================== o=============================================================================================================== o=============================================================================================================== |Sub-Dermal Armor | 8,000| +4 Damage Threshold | o=========================================================================================== Obviously, the Sub-Dermal Armor Implant is more powerful than a Toughness perk, and how can life get much better than health regeneration for Hardcore players? On the other hand, with a build like mine, where Charisma is a dump stat, gaining enough Endurance to increase Charisma may seem pointless. Doctor Usanagi of the New Vegas Medical Clinic sells the implants. To learn how to go to this region with a new, low-level character, go to the IMP001 section. Â
Strength
(Return to the top) Melee Weapons are one of your skills. Your sheer physical force is measured by your strength. It has an impact on how much you can carry, the strength of all melee strikes, and your ability to use a variety of heavy weapons. “Strength determines how effortlessly a cowboy can carry his saddle and larger weapons, as well as how much assistance he’ll provide in a bar fight.” Strength plays a larger significance in New Vegas than it did before. If you played Fallout 1 or 2, you’ll recall that weapons had a minimum Strength requirement in those games as well. The same may be said about New Vegas. Strength also boosts your melee damage and carrying capacity, as well as giving you a bonus to your Melee Weapons skill. The most significant thing it does, in my opinion, is to restrict the weaponry you may employ. If you don’t have enough Strength to wield a weapon, your aim will sway, and your VATS hit rate will be comical. It may slow down your attack rate with melee weapons. Now, in terms of unarmed combat, melee combat, and explosives, this is just a minor disadvantage. With, example, a Fat Man, you don’t need a lot of precision most of the time. The wider spread hurts, but with an explosive or Minigun, there’s already some inherent inaccuracy built in. With a Sniper Rifle, however, precision is much more important, and because higher damage weapons do more damage across a larger Damage Threshold than lower damage weapons, you’ll want to utilize the bigger, badder firearms. You’ll get by with a six Strength, but if you truly want the nice weapons, you’ll need to find a method to go up to eight (for example, the Anti-Material Rifle.) Only super-heavy weaponry will confuse you above this, and I’m prepared to overlook them. ================================================================================================================= o=====o============o=================o======o==========================o | 1 |.5 | 160 | +2 |Wet Noodle | | 2 |.5 | 170 | +4 |Beached Jellyfish | | 3 | 1.5 | 180 | +6 |Doughy Baby | | 4 | 2.0 | 190 | +8 |Lightweight | | 5 | 2.5 | 200 | +10 |Average Joe | | 6 | 3.0 | 210 | +12 |Barrel Chested | | 7 | 3.5 | 220 | +14 |Beach Bully o=====o============o========================o==========================o My Build: I placed *FOUR* points into Strength, which is a very low number, but bear with me. My Strength will rise to five with the Implant, and it will improve even more if I put on some Power Armor (preferably T-51b or Remnant Power Armor). If I choose the Weapon Handling perk, I’ll essentially increase my Strength to eight for weapon handling… or, to put it another way, I’ll reduce the requirements to six. In any case, this barely meets my Strength requirements. I don’t want to specialize in Melee Weapons or Unarmed since I don’t have any Strength-dependent perks, so the additional damage doesn’t bother me, and because you can store treasure on NPCs, the increased carrying capacity doesn’t bother me either—even on Hardcore mode. I’ll have the larger damage-dealing weapons by the time I need them. *** Grade Â
Perception
(Return to the top) Explosives, Lockpicking, and Energy Weapons are some of the skills you may learn. Perception decides whether red compass marks show and provides a boost to the Explosives, Lockpick, and Energy Weapons abilities (which indicate threats). “A sharp-eyed cowboy can always tell when a stick of dynamite is ignited close… or when a varmint is sneaking up on him.” The main benefit of perception is that it extends the range over which you can detect threats—red marks on your compass. Granted, this is only helpful for evading or ambushing/sneaking up on such danger. Even so, if you’re a distance fighter, this is helpful for determining where your opponents are before engaging them. That’s correct, it’s straight from the old FAQ, and it’s still true in New Vegas. However, there are a few modifications in New Vegas that reduce… or rather, eliminate… the usage of Perception. First, as long as you have a line of sight, you may simply activate VATS to detect opponents well outside of your range and locate them. You may acquire a perk that highlights opponents when you aim with one side kick and a perk that greatly improves your detection range with the other. Both of these advantages negate the importance of a high personal Perception score. You don’t need a high Perception to find-and-kill-enemies with the new iron sights, and you can successfully snipe outside of VATS lot simpler. To be sure, it has tactical applications and is a prerequisite for certain perks, but you don’t need nearly as much Perception this time around. In fact, since one buddy has a wider range of Perception, you’ll see adversaries on the compass far sooner than is necessary. Knowing that there are hostiles on the other side of a mountain doesn’t help much, does it? In any event, not until you figure out a means to get to that side of the mountain. |Score|Skills| Description | o====o====o=========================================================================================== o=====o======o====================o My Starting Build: I start with a Perception of *FIVE*. **Credit: Â
Endurance
(Return to the top) Unarmed Endurance and Survival is a test of your entire physical fitness. Health, environmental resistances, and the Survival and Unarmed skills all benefit from having a high Endurance. “You can’t keep a good cowboy down, especially if he’s an endurin’ type with a six-shooter the size of all tarnation.” Endurance boosts your health and certain resistances, as the name implies. Because your radiation resistance is unaltered, it’s likely that your poison resistance is the same as it was in Fallout 3. Endurance is particularly important in New Vegas since you only get five Hit Points each level (as compared to ten in Fallout 3). Most significantly, your Endurance affects how many stat-boosting Implants you may get in New Vegas. There are nine Implants in all, one for each point of Endurance you have. This does not include any additional Endurance you may get via an Implant. You’ll need a strong beginning Endurance if you want to get as many Implants as possible. Because this characteristic also improves your Survival, it’s an excellent choice for Hardcore mode players. |Score|Hitpoints|Poison/Rad Resistance|Skills| Description | o====o================================================================================= | 1 | 120 | 0% /0% | +2 |Basically Dead | | 2 | 140 | 5% /2 percent | +4 |Crumbly | | 3 | 160 | 10% /4 percent | +6 |Do Not Bend | | 4 | 180 | 15% /6 percent | +8 |Handle with Care| | 5 | 200 | 20% /8 percent | +10 |Stain-resistant | | 6 | 220 | 25% /10 percent | +12 |Hardy | | 7 | Tough-as-nails | | 8 | 260 | 35 percent /14 percent | +16 | Tough-as-nails | | 8 | 260 | 35 percent /14 percent | +16 | Bulletproof | | 10 | 300 | 45 percent /18 percent | +20 |Unstoppable | o=====o=================================================================================== My Build: In Endurance, the more the merrier, thus I start with a whooping *EIGHT* Endurance. This enables me to get all of the game’s implants save the Charisma Implant. ***** (excellent) Â
Charisma
(Return to the top) Bartering and public speaking are two of your skills. Charisma improves people’s perceptions of you and provides boosts to both the Barter and Speech abilities. “You’ll find some smooth-talkin’ cowboys out there with a voice that sounds like an angel’s harp,” says the author. New Vegas is no different from any previous Fallout game in terms of charisma. It’s a dump stat for me, and I rely on Speech and Barter to get me through the discussions. o====o=====o================================================================================== o=====o======o==================o | 1 | +2 |Misanthrope | | 2 | +4 |Old Hermit | | 3 | +6 |Creepy Undertaker | | 4 | +8 |Peevish Librarian | | 5 | +10 |Substitute Teacher | | 6 | +12 |Cheery Salesman | | 7 | +14 |Diplomat | | 8 | +16 |Movie Star | o=====o======o==================o My Personality: In Charisma, I begin with *ONE* point. There’s no compelling reason to begin with more. Get a high Intelligence and just utilize Speech if you want to be a silver-tongued devil. *Noteworthy Â
Intelligence
(Return to the top) Science, repair, and medicine are some of the skills you’ll need. Science, Repair, and Medicine are all affected by intelligence. When you level up, the higher your Intelligence, the more Skill Points you’ll be able to distribute. “A clever cowboy can repair anything, from sucking the poison out of your rattler bit to sucking the poison out of your rattler bit.” Intelligence is a strong attribute once again… and although its potency has been decreased, the truth remains that a character with greater Intelligence will have better talents, which may lead to a variety of positive outcomes. Not only will you pass more [Intelligence] tests, but you’ll also pass more skill checks, and there are a lot of them in New Vegas. Simply stated, a more intelligent character is more adaptable and powerful. Yes, half-points roll over to the following level, so if you have a 9 Intelligence, you’ll get 16 skill points on one level and 17 on the next. |Score|Skill Point per Level|Skills| Description | o====o========================================================================================== | 1 | 10.5 | +2 |Sub-brick | | 2 | 11 | +4 |Vegetable | | 3 | 11.5 | +6 |Cretin | | 4 | 12 | +8 |Knucklehead | | 5 | 12.5 | +10 |Knowledgeable | | 6 | 13 | +12 |Gifted | | 7 | 13.5 | +14 |Smartypants | | 8 | 14 | +16 |Know-it-all | o=====o=====================o======o=============o My Starter Build: I have *NINE* Intelligence. As in Fallout 3, my first goal is to raise this nine to a 10, which entails visiting the Emergency Service Railyard, passing over Primm Pass (if feasible), and continuing north until I reach the New Vegas Medical Clinic. The lower my level when I do this, the better off my character will be in the long run, thus I try to postpone gaining experience until I get the Intelligence Implant, after which I play the game as usual. That is, normal for me. **** is the highest possible grade. Â
Agility
(Return to the top) Guns and stealth are two of his skills. Your Small Guns and Sneak abilities, as well as the amount of Action Points available for V.A.T.S., are affected by Agility. “It’s because that fella is agile when he shoots the other man six times before they can get off a shot in a firefight.” In New Vegas, agility is more of a mixed bag than it was in Fallout 3. Action Points are still useful, but because VATS no longer makes you indestructible, they may become a burden. When you have time to pull off several safe shots, it’s generally preferable to utilize VATS sparingly than to spam VATS all the time. It is preferable to be able to utilize VATS more often than to take more shots in VATS. You may also kill opponents more efficiently from a distance with the improved iron sights, reducing the requirement for VATS this time around. |Score|Action Points|Skills| Description | o====o=========================================================================================== | 1 | 67 | +2 |Walking Disaster| | 2 | 69 | +4 |Accident Prone | | 3 | 71 | +6 |Oaf | | 4 | 73 | +8 |Butterfingers | | 5 | 75 | +10 |Under Control | | 6 | 77 | +12 |Catlike | | 7 | 79 | +14 |Knife Thrower | | 8 | 81 | +16 |Knife Catcher | | o=====o=============o======o================o My Build: I start with *SIX* points of Agility, which I increase to seven with the Frame Size: Small trait. When I acquire the Implant, it’ll ultimately reach eight, which is enough in terms of Action Points and reload speed. *** Grade Â
Luck
(Return to the top) All abilities are required “Some people profess not to believe in luck, yet you’ll hear them remark, ‘That fortunate son-of-a-gun!’ after they lose a duel.” Luck is a valuable ability, particularly when Intelligence is low. You will get a half-point boost to all of your abilities (rounded up) from Luck, which will reach +5 if you reach nine Luck, making nine the final score for Luck. Given this, Luck has the potential to provide the greatest skill boost of any attribute, and the fact that each point also corresponds to your critical hit probability makes it a very appealing attribute. o====o========================================================================================================== | 1 | 1 percent | +1 |13 Pitch-black Coats| | 2 | 2 percent | +1 |Broken Gypsy Mirror | | 3 | 3 percent | +2 |Sickly Albatross | | 4 | 4 percent | +2 |Spilled Salt | | 5 | 5 percent | +3 |Coin Flip | | 6 | 6 percent | +3 |Stacked Deck | | 7 | 7 percent | +4 |Lucky 7 | | 8 | 8 percent | +4 |Leprechaun’s Foot | | 9 | 9 percent | +5 |21-Leaf Clover | | 10 | 10 percent | +5 |Two-Headed Coin Flip | | 10 | 10 percent | +5 |Two-Headed Coin Flip o====o===============o======o====================o My Personality: I start with *SEVEN* Luck, which I increase to nine with the Implant and a level 2 Intensive Training perk, which is just what I need. Even critical-hit-happy builds should be pleased with this, and I can’t imagine taking a point away from another S.P.E.C.I.A.L. condition for a single point of critical hit %. ***** (excellent) Â
My Personal Characteristics and Attributes
(Return to the top) I’ll buy all of the Implants, and I’ll almost certainly end up in Power Armor. I hate calling my character a sniper since shotguns are just as much fun, but I’d be an idiot not to take use of the new iron sights. Besides, given that you’re taking damage in VATS, you’d be better off avoiding Deathclaws and relying on the range advantage of your weapons to win battles. Overall, the build may be characterized as a skill-junkie who uses guns. In the game, I’ll be able to manage a variety of circumstances, but this character will shine in direct confrontations. With Implants and characteristics taken into account, the simple number is my beginning score, while the number in parentheses is my final score. Perception 5 (Strength 4) (6) 8th Endurance (9) 1st Charisma (2) 9th Intelligence (10) Luck 7 Agility 6 (8) Agility 6 (8) Agility 6 (8) Agility 6 (9) Â
Skills
(Return to the top) Picking locks, hacking computers, fighting with different weapons, sneaking, communicating with NPCs, and so on are all skills that define how proficient you are at certain tasks. Your abilities are just as essential as your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. characteristics and perks. Â
Base
(Return to the top) With the exception of Luck, which provides, you start with two points in each skill and earn an extra two points every S.P.E.C.I.A.L. characteristic in related skills. Each point of Luck is worth 5 points (rounded up). Â
Tag!
(Return to the top) After being tested early in the game, you choose three talents to tag. Unlike the previous two Fallout games, this doesn’t quadruple your rate of skill point growth; instead, it gives those abilities a 15-point boost. Â
Leveling
(Return to the top) Per level, you earn 12 skill points plus half of your Intelligence score. You get additional skill points if you get the bobblehead from Rivet City early. Â
Books
(Return to the top) You may earn skill boosts from books throughout the game in addition to perks, levels, and intelligence. Unlike Fallout 3, you now earn three points for each book instead of one (or four, with Comprehension). Of course, with advantages like this, you can’t expect to discover as many as this, but even three or four is a substantial amount of skill points. Â
Skills Points are broken down into categories.
(Return to the top) There are 13 abilities in the game, each of which may be increased to a score of 100, giving the game a total of 1300 points. You won’t be able to achieve 100 in all of your abilities due to a variety of reasons, including a shortage of Bobbleheads and a decrease in the amount of skill points each level, but you will be able to reach 100 in many of them. Here’s a breakdown of where our talents stand at level one with this build. SPECIAL BASE Implants in their totality (+Luck) +Luck) +Luck) +Luck) +Luck) +Luck) + 2 2 +4 8 1 9 barter Weapons of Energy 2 10 +4 16 3 19 2 10 +4 16 3 19 2 10 +4 16 3 19 Explosives 2 10 +4 16 3 19 2 10 +4 16 3 19 2 10 +4 16 3 19 Guns 2 14 +4 20 3 23 +2 14 +4 20 3 23 +2 14 +4 20 2 10 +4 16 3 19 Lockpick 2 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 Weapons used in melee combat 2 8 +4 14 3 17 2 8 +4 14 3 17 2 8 +4 14 3 17 2 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 2 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 Sneak 2 14 +4 20 3 23 Sneak 2 14 +4 20 3 23 Sneak 2 14 +4 20 3 Speech 2 2 +4 8 1 9 +2 2 +4 8 1 9 +2 2 +4 8 4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 2 16 +4 22 3 25 Unarmed Now that we know that, let’s calculate how many points we may anticipate from leveling and Tag! skills, and evaluate where we stand. +493 Base Skill Points + 271 Base Skill Points 29 Levels/17 Skill Points —— At level 30, you have 809 skill points. We may achieve an average of 62 in each skill with 809 skill points. Simply stated, it won’t enough, so we’ll have to specialize and play favorites. Of course, you’ll need a good FAQ-writer to inform you about the talents in order to accomplish so successfully… Â
Bartering (Charisma)
(Return to the top) The price you receive for buying and selling things is affected by your Barter ability. The greater your Barter skill, the cheaper your pricing on bought goods will be in general. When you sell goods, the greater your Barter, the more Caps you’ll receive, and the less Caps something will cost when you buy them. In addition to this helpful feature, Barter may frequently be used in place of Speech, enabling you to negotiate for better deals and incentives. Barter, on the other hand, may not be the best option for everyone. Repair may actually save you money if Barter does not cover all of your Speech checks (and vice versa). To make Barter work in Hardcore level, you usually have to locate items to sell, which involves exploring or hunting/killing opponents, both of which cost time and resources. If you have the points to invest, it’s a great talent to have, although I usually ignore it. *** Grade Â
Weapons of Energy (Perception)
(Return to the top) Your effectiveness with any weapon that utilizes Small Energy Cells, Micro Fusion Cells, EC Packs, or Flamer Fuel as ammo is determined by your Energy Weapons skill. Flamers have been reassigned to the Energy Weapons category, rather than the now-defunct Big Guns category. Still, as main weapons, Energy Weapons compete directly with Guns. Explosives may have their own specialty, but if you want to use a ranged weapon, you have two options: guns or energy weapons. The majority of conventional energy weapons are Laser Pistols, Laser Rifles, Plasma Pistols, and Plasma Rifles, all of which are short to mid-range weaponry by default. There are shotgun-like weaponry, a Gauss Rifle that replaces a Sniper Rifle, and even a cannon-like weapon. There are fewer kinds of ammunition, which is both a benefit and a drawback. You won’t be able to acquire Armor-Piercing ammunition, and more powerful weapons burn through their ammunition rapidly (the Gauss Rifle, for example, uses five ’rounds’ of ammunition each shot). Overall, I favor guns since they seem to have a larger ammunition variety and greater proportional damage. Not to mention the fact that they are easier to get by. Still, a damage-boosted Gatling Laser with the Laser Commander perk wreaks devastation, and a Multiplas Rifle dispatches foes with gratifying speed. **** is the highest possible grade. Â
Explosives are a kind of explosive (Perception)
(Return to the top) The Explosives skill affects how easy it is to defuse enemy mines and how effective explosive weapons are (all mines, all grenades, Missile Launcher, Fat Man, etc.) When it comes to disarming mines, you’ll definitely feel the delay, but isn’t that enough of a motivation to improve a skill? No, it’s the fact that the Bureau of Explosives now regulates all weapons that… well, create explosions? Now it’s a talent worth considering, since explosives are a diverse and frequently powerful arsenal of weaponry capable of quickly overcoming opponents’ Damage Thresholds. Of course, it’s still a limited-use, frequently costly arsenal of weaponry… and definitely not one to employ against the majority of foes. Rather than stockpile hefty and costly Explosives, I’d rather shoot a Deathclaw with an Anti-Material Rifle. In fact, I’d rather use Guns to do everything that Explosives can, which is why I don’t use them. *** Grade Â
Weapons (Agility)
(Return to the top) Guns measures your effectiveness with any weapon that utilizes standard ammo (.22 LR,.357 Magnum, 5mm, 10mm, 5.56mm,.308,.45-70 Gov’t, and so on). The Guns skill includes a very large number of guns, as well as an equally ridiculous number of ammo options. The 9mm Pistol, Hunting Rifle, Assault Carbine, Light Machine Gun, Riot Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, and.. Anti-Material Rifle are among the stalwarts. It’s a very versatile and potent weapon skill set. It competes directly with Energy Weapons for your main ranged weapons, and which you prefer is mostly a personal preference. There are, however, a few weapons that stand head and shoulders above the others. With the Shotgun Surgeon perk, the Riot Shotgun can really demolish opponents, and it has genuinely amazing reload and fire rates. And the Anti-Material Rifle is one of the game’s most powerful single-shot weapons. Its.50MG ammunition is frequently available in Armor Piercing rounds, which makes it even better at tearing Radscorpians, Super Mutants, and Deathclaws to pieces. Because sniping in Fallout: New Vegas is so much more rewarding, weapons like the Brush Gun, Sniper Rifle, and Anti-Material Rifle can truly shine. Of course, to use most of these weapons successfully, you’ll need a high Guns skill, which means you can’t simply dabble with it; you’ll need to master it to get the most out of it. ***** (excellent) Â
Pick a lock (Perception)
(Return to the top) Lockpicking is a talent that allows you to unlock locked doors and containers. It’s a succinct explanation of a rather simple ability. You’ll discover a variety of locked boxes, doors, crates, and other items with varying degrees of difficulty. Obviously, you’ll want to get inside them, which will require varying degrees of Lockpick ability. This is a helpful, though not necessary, talent for everyone to possess. Thankfully, if you obtain Comprehension, you can simply raise your score to 80 and utilize a Locksmith’s Reader Magazine when you come across a [Very Hard] lock. o==============o===============o |Lockpick SKill|Lock Difficulty| o======================================================================================= | 0 | Very Easy | | 25 | Easy | | 50 | Average | | 75 | Hard | | 100 | Very Hard | o=================================================================================== ***** (excellent) Â
Medicinal plants (Intelligence)
(Return to the top) The Medicine skill affects how many Hit Points you’ll get back after using a Stimpak, as well as how effective Rad-X and RadAway are. This ability, despite its obvious value, may be overlooked. There’s always another option, whether it’s wearing an Environmental Suit, seeing a doctor, or just using additional Caps. It’s more helpful in Hardcore mode to be able to tolerate these annoyances, although a high Medicine score isn’t required in a regular game. ** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** (Hardcore Mode) Â
Weapons used in melee combat (Strength)
(Return to the top) Your effectiveness with any melee weapon, from a basic lead pipe to the high-tech Super Sledge, is determined by your Melee Weapons skill. Melee Weapons is pitted against Unarmed once again, and it loses. Although the Paralyzing Palm isn’t as powerful in New Vegas as it was in Fallout 3, it does provide Unarmed an advantage. Furthermore, many of the stronger perks shared by the two (Piercing Strike, Slayer) require a high amount of Unarmed points. Melee Weapons, to its credit, controls the Ninja, Unstoppable Force, and Super Slam perks, but it seems to be the loser in this battle. A Super Sledge is likewise difficult to compare to a Displacer Glove or a Ballistic Fist. Your natural tendency is to concentrate in one or the other, but New Vegas forces you to focus on both, while Guns and Energy Weapons may be handled separately. **Credit: Â
Renovate (Intelligence)
(Return to the top) The Repair talent enables you to keep any weapon or piece of clothing in good working order. Repair also enables you to make goods and ammo for Guns at reloading benches. For many of the same reasons, repair is still a smart idea in New Vegas. However, there has been one major modification to the skill’s operation. You no longer need to raise your Repair skill to 100 to restore an item’s condition to 100. The greater your level, the more you can repair when combining things, but if you have enough of them, you can fix anything to your heart’s delight. Furthermore, certain weapons and armor are very uncommon, making Repair repairs difficult. In reality, most armors are simpler to repair by just going to an NPC and paying them to do it for you than than searching for some armor to fix yourself. That leads us to the topic of weaponry. Making Weapon Repair Kits, which is more cheaper and easier than other ways, is, in my view, the finest approach to repair weapons. As far as I’m concerned, this is the last skill level for Repair. *** Grade Â
Science is a branch of knowledge that is (Intelligence)
(Return to the top) The Science talent is used to hack restricted computer terminals and reflects your combined scientific knowledge. At workbenches, it may also be used to recycle Energy Weapons and ammo. You’ll come across terminals of various difficulty that you’ll wish to hack, much like Lockpick. For the [Very Hard] hacks, you may also build your Science skill up to 80 and then fill in the remaining 20 points using a Programmer’s Digest, much as Lockpick. Stimpaks need a score of 70 and components that are more difficult to acquire than just paying the Caps for the Stimpak, thus the making is rather pointless. Everything else, such as ammunition recycling and Doctor’s Bags, usually has a considerably lower threshold. |Science SKill|Hack Difficulty| o================================================================================================= | 0 | Extremely Easy | | 25 | Easy | | 50 | Average | | 75 | Difficult | | 100 | Extremely Difficult | o=============o===============o ***** (excellent) Â
snare (Agility)
(Return to the top) It’s simpler to stay unnoticed, take an object, or pick someone’s pocket if you have a high Sneak skill. If you attack while undiscovered, you’ll get an automatic critical hit. Sneak is a useful ability for stealing treasure, scoring sneak attack criticals, and sneaking past opponents when you’d prefer avoid (or at least postpone) a battle. Most things can be taken by being patient and waiting for witnesses to leave, and sneak attack criticals are easier than ever to score given that you have iron sights and don’t have to get as close. Because to these variables, you don’t need a very high Sneak score, but if you want to sneak anywhere near an opponent, much alone past one, you’ll need the Silent Running perk, which needs a mandatory minimum investment of 50 Sneak. To be honest, you’ll need a Sneak score of 70+ to be very excellent at sneaking, and because opponents in New Vegas are usually more mobile, you won’t be sneaking up to a hostile adversary to get a melee or unarmed sneak attack very frequently. *** Grade Â
Remarks (Charisma)
(Return to the top) The Speech talent determines how much you can sway someone via conversation and get access to information they may not want to give otherwise. Many missions can only be completed—or may be completed more easily—through Speech. So long as you’re prepared to spend points in it, this talent essentially removes the requirement for Charisma. Alternative quest answers are invaluable and common, and a character build that doesn’t contain at least 80 points of Speech is, in my view, missing the purpose of a Fallout game. When your score reaches 80, you may supplement it with magazines for when you need a higher Speech check. ***** (excellent) Â
Survival is a must (Endurance)
(Return to the top) Food and drink give you more Hit Points if you have the Survival talent. It also aids in the creation of edible goods around campfires. The use of this ability is entirely dependent on one factor: are you playing in Hardcore mode? If that’s the case, you’ll want to get this talent since it will improve the usability of consumables and enable you to make better, healthier consumables at campfires. You don’t need to eat or drink if you’re not playing on Hardcore mode, so you may as well simply take a Stimpak to heal. Seriously, 15 points of Survival causes Purified Water to replenish 15 more H20, so 100 points of Survival reduces the amount of food and water you need by half, which is a wonderful thing. *Noteworthy ***** (excellent) (Hardcore Mode) Â
Armed and unarmed (Endurance)
(Return to the top) Fighting without a weapon or with weapons intended for hand-to-hand combat, such as Brass Knuckles, Power Fists, and Displacer Gloves, requires the Unarmed skill. Unarmed, the other melee skill, has a few advantages over Melee Weapons. For starters, both the Slayer and Piercing Strike perks, which are needed for melee-type characters, require a high Unarmed skill. Power Fists are widely available at Camp Golf, and even Spiked Knuckles outperform low-end Melee Weapons. The fact that most builds need high Endurance plays directly into the Unarmed talent right away. On the other hand, in order to obtain the entire variety of helpful perks in New Vegas, you’ll either have to suck it up and waste a lot of skill points on Ninja, or you’ll have to do without. Still, if pressed, I’d prefer have Unarmed Weapons than Melee Weapons. The fact that Unarmed Weapons usually weigh less also helps. *** Grade Â
I’m tagging skills! (as well as why)
(Return to the top) Now that Repair isn’t as important, I usually start with Tag! Science, Lockpick, and Speech, which enables me to accomplish quests and explore new areas straight away. Survival takes the role of Speech as a marked ability in Hardcore mode. Â
Allocation of Skill Points
(Back to Top) I prefer to start out with Lockpick and Science in the early levels, just so I have access to more areas and have to do as little back- tracking as possible. Companions can, for the meantime, pick up the combat slack. While playing in Hardcore mode I focus on Survival until it’s 80 or so, and just rely on Wasteland Survival Guides to do the rest. Either way, I typically get Lockpick and Science up to 50 before switching off to Speech, Sneak, and whatever weapon I am specializing in. Once those are up to 50, I generally put another level into all of the previously-mentioned skills to bring them up to 65 or so. Then I let books do the rest of the work for Science, Lockpick, and Speech while continuing to build on my specialty weapon. Below I’ve listed several sample builds, all using the same SPECIAL stats, but with differing skills to reflect different focuses. Guns Build <———————————————————————-> Barter: 8 Energy Weapons: 19 Explosives: 19 Guns: 100 Lockpick: 80 Medicine: 27 Melee Weapons: 17 Repair: 50 Science: 80 Sneak: 50 Speech: 80 Survival: 27 Unarmed: 25 —— Total 582 Skill Points Remaining: 227 Note that with this build I can make a somewhat sneaky sniper who can handle any lock, hack any computer, and succeed at any Speech check. With 277 points left over BEFORE any books are calculated, you can further improve them, perhaps by brining their Sneak up into the 70’s. Raising their Medicine will make them more hardy in combat and giving them Barter will allow them to harvest Caps more efficiently. You can even add to Explosives to make them more versatile in combat, although I wouldn’t suggest Melee Weapons or Unarmed, as both require a high number of perks in order to make them good. Also note that there are plenty of points left over for this build to be used in Hardcore mode. Energy Weapons Build <———————————————————————-> Barter: 8 Energy Weapons: 100 Explosives: 19 Guns: 23 Lockpick: 80 Medicine: 27 Melee Weapons: 17 Repair: 50 Science: 80 Sneak: 50 Speech: 80 Survival: 27 Unarmed: 25 —— Total 586 Skill Points Remaining: 223 Not much of a change this time, just switching out Guns for Energy Weapons doesn’t really change much.. at least not on the skill point end. Melee Build (full melee) <———————————————————————-> Barter: 8 Energy Weapons: 19 Explosives: 19 Guns: 23 Lockpick: 80 Medicine: 27 Melee Weapons: 80 Repair: 50 Science: 80 Sneak: 80 Speech: 80 Survival: 27 Unarmed: 90 —— Total 663 Skill Points Remaining: 146 This is a more drastic change, obviously, and if you go for a full melee build you really should cater to both Melee Weapond and Unarmed to get the best perk picks. You won’t have nearly as much wiggle room for skills or perks, and with my build you’re settling for Displacer Gloves unless you raise Strength, perhaps with an Intensive Training or two, or you lower another attribute. Versatile Combatant Build <———————————————————————-> Barter: 8 Energy Weapons: 19 Explosives: 100 Guns: 100 Lockpick: 80 Medicine: 27 Melee Weapons: 17 Repair: 50 Science: 80 Sneak: 70 Speech: 80 Survival: 27 Unarmed: 90 —— Total 748 Skill Points Remaining: 61 A versatile combatant is a character who is good at ranged (Guns or Energy Weapons), Explosives, and melee (Unarmed, in this case). The perks will be tight, as well the as skill points, and as you can see you have just enough left over to bring Survival into shape for Hardcore mode. I can’t really think of a more combat-focused build, at least, not a more versatile one that also allows you to handle story elements. In this case the build is probably overly general, but if you’re willing to use a Displacer Glove and settle for doing all your sniping out of V.A.T.S., this is as good of a combat-only oriented build as I can imagine. Of course, a great deal of patience will also be required for this build to mature. Â
Traits
(Return to the top) After a short hiatus in the last Fallout game, traits return in Fallout: New Vegas. They’re basically extra benefits that have both good and bad consequences for your character. When creating your character, you have the option of choosing up to two, although you may select fewer if you want. Â
Designed to Destroy
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place The Flamer that burns twice as brightly lasts half as long as the Flamer that burns twice as long. All weapons have a +3% chance of Critically Hitting, but equipment condition degrades 15% quicker. At first glance, a 3% critical rate does not seem to be all that impressive, but it is equivalent to three points of luck, and over the duration of the game, you will rack up a lot of hits. On the other side, 15% weapon deterioration is a bit of a bummer. But here’s the catch: Early weaponry will be abundant, enabling you to recombine and repair them at your leisure. More costly weapons, such as the Riot Shotgun, may wind up costing thousands of Caps to repair, which isn’t ideal. Weapon Repair Kits, on the other hand, may be made at a Workbench and used to repair weapons for a small number of Caps using a range of materials available from almost any merchant. This will save you hundreds of Caps, negating the disadvantage of this attribute. **** is the highest possible grade. Â
Fast Shot
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place You can shoot 20 percent faster with Guns and Energy Weapons, but your shots are 20 percent less precise. Both accuracy and shooting speed are essential to me, and I can’t see willingly losing either. There are greater qualities to be found. **Credit: Â
Four Eyes
(Back to Top) Req: PER < 10 Ranks: 1 While wearing any type of glasses, you have +1 PER. Without glasses you have -1 PER. Glasses are plentiful and cheap.. but the fact that you can also just wear a hat for the same bonus makes this trait less useful. Oh, and the fact that Perception isn’t terribly useful in this game. Grade: ** Â
Pleasant to be around
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place You’re a Good Natured person who prefers to solve issues with your intellect rather than with violence. Energy Weapons, Explosives, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed get a -5, while Barter, Medicine, Repair, Science, and Speech gain a +5. This is the game for you if you truly want to play a pacifist. Overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, making it more of a ‘roleplaying’ choice than anything else… which is a lovely way of saying it’s not worth choosing. **Credit: Â
Heavily armed
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place Your unarmed and melee attacks do greater damage, but your critical hit damage is lower. You’ll need Unarmed and Melee Weapons if you want to utilize this feature, which sounds terrible enough to me. You must also select between per-hit damage and critical hit damage. I think it’s fairly obvious that you’ll get more regular hits than critical hits, so that’s definitely not a terrible choice. You’re gimping yourself if you then go on and acquire Finesse, Better Criticals, and Ninja. **Credit: Â
Kamikaze
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place Two points of Damage Threshold isn’t a big issue in the broad scheme of things. With Power Armor and Toughness, you’ll be able to easily overlook this flaw. On the surface, it seems like you’re receiving two more points of damage each hit, but if your Damage Threshold remains greater than the opponents’ damage while Kamikaze slows you down, you’re not actually suffering. Many foes, such as Cazedors and Deathclaws, will quickly exceed your Damage Threshold. The two-point penalty fades into obscurity later in the game, but the ten-point increase to your Action Points enhances a VATS system that is nowhere near as powerful as it was in Fallout 3. *** Grade Â
Loose Cannon
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place You can throw weapons 30 percent quicker at the expense of 25 percent less range, from Frag Grenades to Throwing Spears. What do throwing spears and frag grenades have in common? They aren’t very powerful. This feature enables you to squander more of them at the expense of range. Granted, you’ll still toss thrown weapons very far, but this whole characteristic reeks of who-cares. *Noteworthy Â
Small Frame
(Back to Top) Req: AGL < 10 Ranks: 1 Due to your small size, you have +1 AGL but your limbs are more easily crippled. First lets look at the bonus. Agility is a fairly useful attribute, governing two skills and influencing your Action Points, draw speed, and reload speed. And what is the downside? More frequently crippled limbs? If you’re not playing in Hardcore mode, this is a no-brainer. Who cares about crippled limbs? Beds and Stimpaks are plentiful. If you’re playing in Hardcore mode.. who cares about crippled limbs? You can buy Doctor’s Bags at every doctor in the game. It seems like a small price to pay for a better SPECIAL stat. Grade: ***** Â
Discipline Trigger
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place You shoot 20 percent slower with Guns and Energy Weapons, but you’re 20 percent more accurate. Both accuracy and shooting speed are essential to me, and I can’t see willingly losing either. There are greater qualities to be found. **Credit: Â
Wild Wasteland
(Return to the top) — Requirement 1st place The most weird and ridiculous aspects of post-apocalyptic America are unleashed in Wild Wasteland. Not for the faint of heart or those with a severe disposition. Seriously. What decent Fallout game is complete without a slew of Monty Python allusions and extraterrestrial encounters? This perk may or may not benefit your build, however it should be read “Do you recall the old Fallout games? To make New Vegas more like them, choose this characteristic.” This is an intriguing option because of nostalgia. *** Grade Â
Perks
(Return to the top) Every even level in Fallout: New Vegas grants you a perk (starting at level 2). Perks are divided into groups according on their level requirements, with each even level unlocking additional benefits. S.P.E.C.I.A.L characteristics or skill points may also be required for perks. (The Entomologist perk, for example, requires level 4, Intelligence 4, and Survival 45.) Because there are fewer benefits to choose from in New Vegas, you should definitely be more selective about the ones you choose. Although there are less useless perks in New Vegas, I’ve kept my grading system from the previous FAQ for this one (getting rid of all the skill perks will do that). Your perk selections should be based on your build and should assist you in specializing in certain areas based on your abilities. I’ll make a note of where a perk’s grade changes from regular to Hardcore level. It’s worth noting that certain perks are also evaluated according on their availability; for example, Lady Killer isn’t a very excellent benefit. However, since it’s one of the few level 2 perks that really does anything worth noting, it’s ranked a little higher than it otherwise would be. And yes, I duplicated the explanation from my previous FAQ assuming the same values applied to perks in Fallout 3 as they do in New Vegas. Some benefits, such as Night Person, are just as bad, and for the same reasons, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to repeat the information. * Abhorrent This is a benefit that no one should choose. ** This is often a low-cost benefit. They sometimes offer just enough of a benefit unique to a character to justify the cost, but most characters will not find this perk helpful. *** Median This benefit is beneficial merely because to the absence of competition, or there is a compelling but not overwhelming reason to choose it. It may seem attractive on its own, but it pales in comparison to really exceptional benefits. **** Excellent A excellent perk for anybody to choose, or a benefit that is required for a particular build. ***** Excellent This is a benefit that everyone should take advantage of. Period. Â
Perks at Level 2
(Back to Top) Black Widow/Cherchez La Femme/Lady Killer Req: Level 2 Ranks: 1 In combat you do +10% damage against male/female opponents. Outside of combat, you’ll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex. You wont use this perk much in dialogue.. it just doesn’t have all that many uses. And what few it has, you can get the same results from other methods. Still, the +10% damage to the opposite gender is.. well, something, which is more than can be said for the other level 2 perks. Note that only ‘human’ enemies have a gender. This does not include Feral Ghouls, Animals, Insects, Robots, or Abominations. Since most of the affected enemies are either NCR Troopers, Caesar’s Legion Soldiers, Raiders, or Gang Members, it should be noted that there is a clear plurality of male-gender enemies that will be affected by this. Grade: ** (vs. females) Grade: *** (vs. males) <———————————————————————-> Friend of the Night Req: Level 2, Perception 6, Sneak 30 Ranks: 1 You are a true friend of the night. Your eyes adapt quickly to low- light conditions indoors and when darkness falls across the wasteland. First, you can use Cateye to duplicate this effect. Second, you have a Pip-Boy light. Third, it never gets too dark to really need night vision, three, you have allies that can illuminate enemies for you. Useless perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Heave, Ho! Req: Level 2, Explosives 30, Strength 5 Ranks: 1 Quite an arm you’ve got there. All thrown weapons fly farther and faster for you. Or you could just use a Grenade Gun or Missle Launcher. Seriously. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Hunter Req: Level 2, Survival 30 Ranks: 1 In combat, you do +75% Critical Damage against animals and mutated animals. Note that this category doesn’t include Ghouls, Insects, or Abominations. But if Big Horners and Geckos are kicking your ass.. well, quit playing. Once you get decent guns you’ll pop off Golden Geckos before they get anywhere near you, +75% critical damage or not. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Intense Training Req: Level 2 Ranks: 10 With the Intense Training perk, you can put a single point into any of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L attributes. Beyond equipment and Implants, this is the only way to raise an attribute, and it is arguably a worthy choice for a level 2 perk. If you don’t care for a gender-perk, get this instead. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Rapid Reload Req: Level 2, Guns 30, Agility 5 Ranks: 1 Rapid Reload makes all of your weapon reloads 25% faster than normal. This.. well, it’s mostly junk, but weapon reloads can be a problem. The faster you reload, the faster you’re firing, and it might be a consideration if your Agility is a flat 5. If you have a higher Agility, like, say you were actually following my build advice, you’ll reload fast enough. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Retention Req: Level 2, Intelligence 5 Ranks: 1 With the Retention perk, the bonuses granted by skill magazines last three times as long. As far as I’m concerned, skill magazines are meant to be used in order to pick a lock, hack a computer, or succeed at a skill check. This can typically be done just before interacting with the object or character that requires the check. There is absolutely no reason to require your skill magazines to last three times longer. They weigh nothing, and they are pretty cheap to buy, too. You don’t need this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Swift Learner Req: Level 2, Intelligence 4 Ranks: 3 With each rank in the Swift Learner perk, you gain an additional 10% to total Experience Points whenever Experience Points are earned. In New Vegas there are tons of quests, and many enemies give 50 XP, which was reasonably rare in Fallout 3. Add in the challenges, which give you bundles of experience, and you’ll find that you’re leveling up even faster in New Vegas than you were in Fallout 3! You don’t need to speed up the process and in so doing waste one of your precious perks. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 4
(Back to Top) Cannibal Req: Level 4 Ranks: 1 With the Cannibal perk, when you’re in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a corpse to regain Health. But every time you feed, you lose Karma, and if the act is witnessed, it is considered a crime against nature. If you want to be truly despicable, you can go ahead and get this perk. I would deride this perk more.. but in Hardcore mode it just might come in handy. Might. If it actually feeds you as well as restores your health. Either way, I’m not going to bother to find out. If you’re not in Hardcore mode, it’s absolutely useless. Grade: * Grade: ** (Hardcore Mode) <———————————————————————-> Comprehension Req: Level 4, Intelligence 4 Ranks: 1 With the Comprehension perk, you gain double the bonus from reading magazines and one additional skill point whenever a skill book is read. I was hesitant about this perk at first, and put it off for a long time on my first character. With skill books giving three points per book, Comprehension’s one point increase wasn’t as outstanding as it was in Fallout 3. Later into the game, when I had found perhaps a dozen books, I decided that Comprehension was indeed worthy of selection. But more than just the skill points from books.. the magazine bonus is what really makes this perk worthwhile. Very Hard terminals and locks are fairly rare in this game.. rare enough that you can just keep a magazine on hand for when you really need to pop a lock, or pass a Speech check. With the Comprehension perk, you only need to be within twenty points of 100 to pass such rare checks. This led me to the conclusion that checked skills like Barter, Speech, Lockpick, and Science could just be left at 80. Most of their benefit is there all the time, but when you REALLY need more than 80 to pass a check, you can just pop open a magazine. This effectively saves you scores of skill points that you can put into skills that need to be high all the time.. like Sneak, or Guns. Grade: ***** <———————————————————————-> Educated Req: Level 4, Intelligence 4 Ranks: 1 With the Educated perk, you gain two more skill points every time you advance in level. This perk is best taken early on, to maximize its effectiveness. Sure, it’s not as good as it was in the last game, but now that there are less skill points to go around, it actually becomes more important. I look at it this way. If you get it at level four, you will have 26 levels to reap the benefits. That’s 52 skill points.. enough to bring up a single skill. That’s one more thing your character can do well, whether it’s Barter, Energy Weapons, Guns, Explosives, Lockpick, Science, Sneak, Repair, or what have you. I don’t know about you, but I like my character being able to do things. Grade: ***** <———————————————————————-> Entomologist Req: Level 4, Survival 45, Intelligence 4 Ranks: 1 With the Entomologist perk, you do an extra 50% damage every time you attack a mutated insect, like the Radroach, Giant Mantis, or Radscorpian. Giant Radscorpians suck in this game, but not enough that I can really suggest picking this perk. Later on you’ll have weapons that can handle their Damage Threshold, and they’re just never become the same level of threat that Deathclaws become, although the extra damage against Cazedors is somewhat welcome. It doesn’t come high on my list of potential perks, but if you’re just getting wasted by bugs later in the game.. and you have good weapons and armor, maybe it’s worth a look. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Rad Child Req: Level 4, Survival 70 Ranks: 1 You truly are a rad child. As you go through the increasingly devastating stages of radiation sickness, you will regenerate more and more health. Yeah, there’s an Implant for that now, and frankly, it’s better to avoid becoming heavily irradiated. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Run ‘n Gun Req: Level 4, Guns 45 OR Energy Weapons 45 Ranks: 1 The Run ‘n Gun perk reduces accuracy penalties with one-handed Guns and Energy Weapons while walking or running. Lets think about this critically, shall we? Most one-handed guns aren’t very strong, at least not against armor, and certainly not compared to rifle-grip guns. And there’s another way we can negate this penalty.. by stopping and aiming. Yeah, that defeats the purpose of the whole thing, but if you are running around shooting wildly at an enemy with a one-handed gun, then there’s something you did wrong at some point in the encounter. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Travel Light Req: Level 4, Survival 45 Ranks: 1 While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster. Light armor or ‘no armor’ is not very good armor, and 10% isn’t a huge speed boost. I gotta say, even for Hardcore mode folks, I wouldn’t pick this perk. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 6
(Back to Top) Bloody Mess Req: Level 6 Ranks: 1 With the Bloody Mess perk, characters and creatures you kill will often explode into a red, gut-ridden, eyeball-strewn paste. Fun! Oh, and you’ll do 5% extra damage with all weapons. Okay, the aesthetics are cool, but that’s no reason to get a perk. 5% damage against everything is nice, though. Considering the fact that other damage increasing perks only affect certain weapon types, or certain enemies, a pure, honest, damage boost is special. There’s also the nostalgia factor, for us old school Fallout players. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Demolition Expert Req: Level 6, Explosives 50 Ranks: 3 With each rank of this perk, all of your explosive weapons do an additional 20% damage. Guess what? This perk isn’t so useless anymore. Explosives now encompasses all the weapon types it originally should have, and 20% is a huge damage bonus, that goes a long way. Make your Explosives even more spectacular or.. if I may.. get more bang for your buck with the Demolition Expert perk. That said, if you don’t consider Explosives a big part of your build, you shouldn’t consider this perk a priority. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Ferocious Loyalty Req: Level 6, Charisma 6 Ranks: 1 The power of your personality inspires die-hard loyalty from your followers. When you drop below 50% Health, your companions temporarily gain much greater resistance to damage. Three problems with this, well, four, really. First, you have to rely on your companions to make the most of this perk. Second, if you drop below 50% of your health, the enemies are clearly attacking you, and not your companions. Third, it’s a duration effect, so you can’t even strategically keep your health below 50% so your allies reap the benefits. Fourth, it requires six points of Charisma, which is just about a waste of five S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points, as far as I’m concered. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Fortune Finder Req: Level 6, Luck 5 Ranks: 1 With the Fortune Finder perk, you’ll find considerably more Nuka-Cola caps in containers than you normally would. More caps. Yay. You’ll get plenty of caps killing things and selling thier loot. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Gunslinger Req: Level 6 Ranks: 1 While using a pistol (or similar one-handed weapon), your accuracy in V.A.T.S. is significantly increased. If you plan to use one-handed ranged weapons-and V.A.T.S.-you should definately pick up this perk. Now that V.A.T.S. is less useful and perks are more precious, I just can’t bring myself to buy this perk. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Hand Loader Req: Level 6, Repair 70 Ranks: 1 You know your way around a reloading bench and don’t let good brass and hulls go to waste. When you use guns you are more likely to recover cases and hulls. You also have all hand load recipes unlocked at the Reloading Bench. If you are just nuts about making your own ammo, sure. It has a steep Repair requirement though, and frankly, you can just buy most cases for free from merchants! In fact, I have to say it’s probably just as easy to convert a form of ammo you don’t use later in the game, like 5.56, 9mm, or 10mm rounds and get the raw materials for creating better, rarer ammo. Or you can just buy it. I really don’t see a point for this. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Lead Belly Req: Level 6, Survival 40 OR Endurance 5 Ranks: 1 With the Lead Belly perk, you take 50% less radiation every time you drink from an irradiated water source. *Sigh* Okay, if you’re not playing Hardcore mode, this perk is safely useless. If you are playing Hardcore mode.. there has to be a better way to reach water, right? I mean, you can create quantities of Purified Water.. You can drink alcohol, other beverages? Still, I can admit that there might be the need to do this once in a while.. but still, you can surely get to a doctor before you die of radiation poisoning and just pay the 100 damn caps. In fact, it’s cheaper to drink irradiated water and just pay a doctor to fix you than it is to buy purified water! Still.. this perk allows you to drink twice as much.. If you choose the Rad Absorption perk along with this one, you’re pretty much all set for water, but I have to think that there are plenty of water sources out there that aren’t irradiated in the first place. Grade: * Grade: ** (Hardcore Mode) <———————————————————————-> Shotgun Surgeon Req: Level 6, Guns 45 Ranks: 1 Your precision with a scattergun is something to behold. When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target’s Damage Threshold. If you use Shotguns, you need this perk, period. Shotguns function something like automatic weapons, firing numerous, low-damage shots at a time. This makes the Damage Threshold reduction absolutely crucial for Shotguns, and the fact that SMGs and Assault Rifles don’t have a perk like this really argues for the supremacy of the Shotgun. Combine this with Slugs, and you’ve got a good combination. I’ve managed to kill a Deathclaw in three shots with this perk and a Riot Shotgun, which is a pretty nice feat. That said, you can probably just use a Brush Rifle or an Anti-Material Rifle, which, although they don’t have any perks designed for them, do enough damage to negate an enemies Damage Threshold anyways. Grade: **** <———————————————————————-> The Professional Req: Level 6, Sneak 70 Ranks: 1 Up close and personal, that’s how you like it. Your Sneak Attack Criticals with pistols, revolvers, and submachine guns, whether Guns or Energy Weapons, all inflict an addiational 20% damage. The high Sneak requirement on this is somewhat accounted for by the fact that you’d need a decent Sneak to get within range for these weapons. I have to be honest, this isn’t a great perk. It’s a 20% damage bonus that only applies to sneak attack criticals, and only to a variety of guns that aren’t really suited for sniping (or for doling out huge amounts of damage, in any event). Surely perks like Finesse and Better Criticals put this to shame. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Toughness Req: Level 6, Endurance 5 Ranks: 2 With the Toughness perk, you gain +3 to overall Damage Threshold. This perk may be taken twice, with the second rank granting an additional +3. Here’s how Damage Threshold works. If an enemies weapon can’t overcome your Damage Threshold, you only take a small fraction of that weapons’ damage. Many enemies use fairly typical weapons and thus do fairly low damage. A suit of Power Armor (typically granting you 20 some Damage Threshold) is about the best you can shoot for. With two of these perks, the Implant, and Remnant Power Armor and Helmet, you can aspire to the upper 30’s. Many enemies, however, will do much more damage than this. A Deathclaw, Cazedor, Giant Radscorpian, or an enemy with a high-end gun will still do plenty of damage to you, regardless of your Damage Threshold. This perk will help you mitigate a bit of damage from every attack, but three points off a 50 damage attack is less impressive than Fallout 3’s base 10% damage resistance. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Vigilant Recycler Req: Level 6, Science 70 Ranks: 1 Waste not, want not. When you use Energy Weapons, you are more likely to recover drained ammunition. You also have more efficient recycling recipes available at the Workbench. Just like the Hand Loader perk, but for Energy Weapons. Eh. There’s a quest you can do which will net you a good bit of free Energy Weapon ammunition that respawns over time. Also, there are fewer types of Energy Weapon ammunition, and less need to convert such ammo. I don’t suggest picking this perk, even if you love Energy Weapons. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 8
(Back to Top) Commando Req: Level 8 Ranks: 1 While using a rifle (or similar one-handed weapon), your accuracy in V.A.T.S. is significantly increased. V.A.T.S. might not be the prime-and-only combat solution in this game, in fact, as often as it’s a godsend it’s a liability, but it does have its uses. In New Vegas, rifle-grip guns are by far the dominant branch of weapons. One-handed weapons typically lose the damage battle by a wide margin. While this was excusable to some extent in Fallout 3, you really need that damage this time around, and no, being able to run faster with a one-handed gun doesn’t make up for their lack of power (especially not with the Agility this build calls for.) The bottom line, V.A.T.S. may not be king, but it has its uses, and if you use V.A.T.S., and use two-handed weapons, this perk is calling to you. It’s better than Gunslinger, in any event. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Cowboy Req: Level 8, Guns 45, Melee Weapons 45 Ranks: 1 You do 25% more damage when using any revolver, lever-action firearm, dynamite, knife, or hatchet. Promising on paper, as 25% is a big chunk of damage, there’s just one catch. Most of the weapons this applies to are so weak that they still won’t be better than other guns you can just buy. You can go ahead and have your cowboy. I’ll keep my Anti-Material Rifle. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Living Anatomy Req: Level 8, Medicine 70 Ranks: 1 Living Anatomy allows you to see the Health and Damage Threshold of any target. It also gives you a +5% bonus to damage against Humans and non- Feral Ghouls. Ah, another pre-Fallout 3 perk that makes its return in New Vegas. First lets dicuss the damage. 5% isn’t much, and the fact that it applies only to humans and non-feral Ghouls means you can safely ignore it, as it’s only as effective as, say, Black Widow. On the other hand, being able to see an enemies Health and, more importantly, their Damage Threshold is a huge advantage, especially on your first playthrough. When you see a that a Super Mutant Master has a 20 Damage Threshold, or a Giant Radscorpian has a 36, you begin to understand why your Cowboy Repeater wasn’t hurting it. Once you’ve played the game a bit, however, you start to understand this intuitively, especially after playing with this perk. Anybody knows that a Deathclaw is going to have a high Damage Threshold, and even without knowing the exact number of hitpoints, you can always see an enemies health bar in V.A.T.S. For veteran players, this perk becomes much less useful, although anomalies exist, and once you have played the game more you’ll realise that getting a bigger, stronger gun is always the answer. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Pack Rat Req: Level 8, Intelligence 5, Barter 70 Ranks: 1 You have learned the value of careful packing. Items with a weight of 2 or less weigh half as much for you. At first this perk almost seems silly, and it does have some flaws. For one, if you’re not playing in Hardcore mode, it’s a complete waste of a perk. If you are playing in Hardcore mode, however, it still requires what can be a brutal and potentially wasteful amount of points in Barter. On the other hand, anything that weighs less than a pound will weigh, well, half as much. This comes with an important implication for Hardcore mode players; most of your vital food, ammo, and crafting components will weigh half as much, allowing you to stock up and carry around twice as many, which is worth its weight in gold. Worth more, really, gold isn’t very good for drinking. Right Crassus? With this benefit you have to weigh it against the Strong Back perk.. if you’re not going to carry more than fifty pounds of supplies, you might as well get that perk instead. Also if you have some allies, you can just load them up full of gear. So, this perk does have its issues, but if you just want to be sure you are carrying as much gear as possible.. Grade: * Grade: ** (Hardcore Mode) <———————————————————————-> Quick Draw Req: Level 8, Agility 5 Ranks: 1 Quick Draw makes all of your weapon equipping and holstering 50% faster. With the base of five Agility this perk calls for.. maybe.. but with anything higher you’re going to be doing just fine on your own. And, since this game allows you to be the sniper more successfully and from a safer distance, chances are you’ll have your gun out before the enemy anyways. Don’t waste your perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Rad Resistance Req: Level 8, Survival 40, Endurance 5 Ranks: 1 Rad Resistance allows you to — what else? — resist radiation. This perk grants an additional 25% to Radiation Resistance. 25% is a fairly large amount of radiation resistance, but there are plenty of enviromental suits in the game, and of course.. Rad-X. You can take a perk to permenantly gain resistance, or take a pill to get the resistance when you need it. Even if you get irradiated, it only costs 100 Caps or some RadAway to fix you up. If you’re the Hardcore mode survival type, just wait for Rad Absorption. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Scrounger Req: Level 8, Luck 5 Ranks: 1 With the Scrounger perk, you’ll find considerably more ammunition in containers than you normally would. Buy your ammo, instead. Problem solved. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Stonewall Req: Level 8, Endurance 6, Strength 6 Ranks: 1 You gain +5 Damage Threshold against all Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks and cannot be knocked down in combat. Sure, +5 isn’t a big deal when it applies to only melee attacks.. but honestly most of the enemies that will blast through your Damage Threshold are things like Cazedors, Deathclaws, Radscorpians, and to some extent Nightstalkers and Geckos, all of which use.. you guessed it. On the other hand, five damage probably won’t slow most of them down much (especially the poisonous ones), and I’ve yet to be knocked down in combat.. save from an explosive. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Strong Back Req: Strength 5, Endurance 5 Ranks: 1 With the Strong Back perk, you can carry 50 more pounds of equipment. It was in my build for Fallout 3, but with half the perks there’s no way this one is getting back in. Sure, carrying extra stuff is nice (perhaps even vital, in Hardcore mode), but otherwise it’s not a big deal. If you are playing Hardcore mode and having the ammo-weight blues, give this and Pack Rat some consideration. 50 pounds of equipment can go a long way. Grade: * Grade: ** (Hardcore Mode) <———————————————————————-> Super Slam Req: Level 8, Strength 6, Melee Weapons 45 Ranks: 1 All Melee Weapons (except thrown) and Unarmed attacks have a chance of knocking your target down. This is pretty simple, knocking enemies down will buy you some breathing room and allow you to score more hits.. and the biggest issue of melee in New Vegas is easily the fact that enemies can retaliate more successfully (especially compared to a sniper-build). If you are making an Unarmed, or especially a Melee Weapons build, you should consider this perk. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Terrifying Presence Req: Level 8, Speech 70 Ranks: 1 In some conversations, you gain the ability to initiate combat while terrifying a mob of opponents, sending them fleeing for safety. Seriously? Do I even have to discuss this one? Ah, I guess there are.. uh.. some second generation mutants out there who might not understand when suck rears its ugly head. Okay, how often will this help you against Cazedors, Super Mutants, and Deathclaws? What’s that? Never? Okay then. You don’t need to scare off NPCs, they tend to be weak enough. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 10
(Back to Top) Animal Friend Req: Level 10, Charisma 6, Survival 45 Ranks 2 At the first rank of this perk, animals simply won’t attack. At the second rank, they will eventually come to your aid in combat, but never against another animal. This perk was useless in Fallout 3, and it’s useless in New Vegas. There is simply no animal that is dangerous enough to need sanctuary from it, much less aid. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Finesse Req: Level 10 Ranks: 1 With the Finesse perk you have a higher chance to score a critical hit on an opponent in combat, equivalent to 5 extra points of Luck. An extra 5% chance to critically hit sure fits into my game plan. Actually, I can’t imagine anybody not having a use for an extra 5% chance to critical. I’d rather take a sure damage increase any day, but this is still a good perk. Think of it this way, taking Strong Back is good because it gives you the best part of having five points of Strength. Finesse does pretty much the same thing, but with Luck, a far superior attribute. Again, if you get perks like Better Criticals, this perk becomes that much more useful. Grade: ***** <———————————————————————-> Here and Now Req: Level 10 Ranks: 1 The Here and Now perk immediately grants an additional experience level, complete with all the advantages that brings. Or you could just level up like normal. If you’re like me, you hit level 30 well before you finished the game. This is a waste of a perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Math Wrath Req: Level 10, Science 70 Ranks: 1 You are able to optimize your Pip-Boy’s V.A.T.S. logic, reducing all AP costs by 10% In Fallout 3 this would have been a killer perk. In New Vegas, V.A.T.S. is less important. In any event, using more V.A.T.S. at once is risky. I would shoot for perks that replenish or regenerate your AP, rather than perks that reduce AP costs or raise your AP total. Sure, using VATS in short bursts works just as well (for example, taking two or three shots instead of five or six) but with more powerful, Damage Threshold defeating weapons, you wont’ get many shots off at once anyways. Also, think about this. Most characters will have around 100 AP. In fact, the only way you’ll get much more is by picking perks like Action Boy/Girl or the Kamikaze trait. TO that end, having -10% AP costs from 100 AP is like having 10 more AP.. which is patently inferior to the Action Boy/Girl perk. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Miss Fortune Req: Level 10, Luck 6 Ranks: 1 Just when your enemies think they have the upper hand, Miss Fortune appears to turn their world upside down. Appearing only in V.A.T.S., she has the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Two things about this, and it applies to Mysterious Stranger; the only ‘luck’ I want to rely on in this game is critical hits. And the fact that this perk only works in V.A.T.S., and then, unpredictably at that, makes me pass on it for something more certain. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Mister Sandman Req: Level 10, Sneak 60% Ranks: 1 With the Mister Sandman perk, when you’re in Sneak mode, you gain the option to silently kill any human or Ghoul while they’re sleeping. And, all Mister Sandman kills earn bonus XP. First, if they’re sleeping, you can probably just shoot them from a distance anyways. Second, when enemies are sleeping, they seem to have a greater ability to detect you. Hell, half the time I get detected it’s by sleeping characters. Third, most enemies you’ll want to kill wont be caught sleeping, so this is mostly useful for assassinating NPCs. And finally-how much XP are you really going to be getting from this in the long run? Don’t waste your perks. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Mysterious Stranger Req: Level 10, Luck 6 Ranks: 1 You’ve gained your own personal guardian angel… armed with a fully loaded .44 Magnum. With this perk, the Mysterious Stranger will appear occasionally in V.A.T.S. mode to lend a hand, with deadly efficiency. For the same reason that I won’t use Miss Fortune, I won’t use Mysterious Stranger. Sure, the extra damage in V.A.T.S. might be nice, but it can be done other, more reliable ways. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Nerd Rage! Req: Level 10, Science 50, Intelligence 5 Ranks: 1 You’ve been pushed around long enough! With the Nerd Rage! perk, your Strength is raised to 10 and you gain +15 Damage Threshold whenever your Health drops to 20% or below. I’ve actually used this perk before in New Vegas.. more for novelties’ sake than for any good reason. It was fun to mess around with a character who stuck to mid-strength weapons, but once they got injured whipped out a Minigun. It wasn’t horribly effective, mind you, just amusing for a spell. +15 Damage Threshold is pretty nice, but falling under 20% of your health is cutting it awful close.. I wouldn’t bother with this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Night Person Req: Level 10 Ranks: 1 When the sun is down, a Night Person gains +2 to both Intelligence and Perception (up to a maximum of 10). This perk directly affects your “internal clock” and remains active both inside and outside. The best part of this perk is the skill bonuses you’d recieve from the stat increases. If you get the extra skill points from the Intelligence when you level up at night.. maybe. But still, having a bonus half of the time.. eh. I mean, it’s not like it adds to your combat abilities, it lets you see threats further (at night) and gives you some extra skill points. There’s better out there. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Plasma Spaz Req: Level 10, Energy Weapons 70 You’re just so excited about plasma that you can’t (magnetically) contain yourself! The AP costs for all plasma weapons (including Plasma Grenades) are reduced by 10%. You remember Math Wrath? Yeah, it worked for all weapons, and still wasn’t that good. How is a perk that only works for plasma weapons going to fare? Not so well. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 12
(Back to Top) Fast Metabolism Req: Level 12 Ranks: 1 With the Fast Metabolism perk, you gain a 20% Health bonus when using Stimpaks. Stimpaks are cheap enough to buy, you don’t need this perk. If it increased the healing and other drug benefits, (perhaps H20 recovery), then it might be good for Hardcore players, but as it stands, it sucks. Heh. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Ghastly Scavenger Req: Level 12, Cannibal Ranks: 1 With Ghastly Scavenger, when you’re in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a Super Mutant or Feral Ghoul corpse to regain Health. Every time you feed, you lose Karma, and if the act is witnessed, it is considered a crime against nature. Much like the Cannibal perk, this perk is only remotely useful if you’re playing in Hardcore mode. Even then, this perk requires you to have Cannibal-a perk with arguable value as it is-and only works on Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls. Humans are more plentiful, and unless you’re just starving away on Black Mountain, Camp Searchlight, or Vault 34, there’s not really any widespread use for this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Hit the Deck Req: Level 12, Explosives 70 Ranks: 1 Your extensive familiarity with Explosives allows you to ignore a portion of their damage. Your Damage Threshold is increased by 50% against any and all Explosives–even your own. I don’t suppose this applies to the explosive corona caused by the Meltdown perk? Ah well. I can actually see this perk having its uses, albeit dependant upon your love of Explosives and your base Damage Threshold. If you use nothing but Explosives, and wear enough armor to give you.. about 30 Damage Threshold, then the frequency of friendly fire and the Damage Threshold bonus may well be worth the perk. If not, you can ignore this perk. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Life Giver Req: Level 12, Endurance 6 Ranks: 1 With the Life Giver perk, you gain an additional 30 Hit Points. Considering that you gain 20 hit points for a point of Endurance, this perk is pretty much on the same level as an Intensive Training perk spent on Endurance-minus the bonuses to resistances and the skills, and the ability to grab another Implant. The fact that Implants call for us to have such a high starting Endurance makes 30 extra hitpoints dispensible, and although it’s nice, I can’t see it fitting into most builds. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Long Haul Req: Level 12, Barter 70, Endurance 6 Ranks: 1 You have learned how to pack mountains of gear for the Long Haul. Being over-encumbered no longer prevents you from using Fast Travel. Sure, you might think this is nifty. After all, how wonderful would it be to just grab up all the loot you can carry and fast travel back to town? What about the implications for Hardcore mode? Hogwash. Crawling around scavenging the last few items in a room or on some corpses and then having to inch your way outside to fast travel is not a time saver. Just drop the excess and come back. Or store it on a companion. This is an illusory time saver, and unless you stored an ungodly amount of loot in a container, picked it all up, and then waddled outside to fast travel, you wouldn’t be doing anything. This isn’t a good perk, it’s just procrastination disguised as convenience. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Piercing Strike Req: Level 12, Unarmed 70 Ranks: 1 Piercing Strike makes all of your Unarmed and Melee Weapons (including thrown) negate 15 points of Damage Threshold on the target. Ignoring 15 points of Damage Threshold is huge, even ridiculous, especially considering that many Unarmed and Melee Weapons already do good damage. Combine this with the Purifier perk and you will be able to deal with Deathclaws and Super Mutants as well as any weapon-bearing character in the game. If you plan to fight Unarmed or with Melee Weapons, you need this perk. Grade: **** <———————————————————————-> Pyromaniac Req: Level 12, Explosives 60 Ranks: 1 With the Pyromaniac perk, you do +50% damage with fire-based weapons, like the Flamer and Shishkebab. This is a huge damage boost that effects a small variety of weapons. Still, the Heavy Incinerator can be fun. If you use Energy Weapons, and really have the desire to use a fire-based weapon.. well, you might as well get this perk. If you don’t fall into this narrow niche, ignore it. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Robotics Expert Req: Level 12, Science 50 Ranks: 1 With the Robotics perk, you do an additional 25% damage to any robot. But, even better, sneaking up on a hostile robot undetected and activating it will put that robot into a permanent shutdown state. This is still as good of a perk in Fallout: New Vegas as it was in Fallout 3, but with a few notes on the gameplay. First, it’s much harder to sneak to within melee range of enemies in New Vegas. Second, there aren’t nearly as many robots in the Mohave as there were in D.C., which makes this a less useful perk. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Silent Running Req: Level 12, Agility 6, Sneak 50 Ranks: 1 With the Silent Running perk, running no longer factors into a successful sneak attempt. Alright, lets be honest here. In order to Sneak effectively, you need a fairly high Sneak score. However, in Fallout: New Vegas, you don’t need to get within most enemies’ perception range to snipe them, making Sneak less obligatory. However, if you want to sneak near an enemy, much less sneak up to them, you’re going to need to be quick about it, as enemies wander around more regularly. To this end, you’ll want Silent Running. If all you want Sneak for is to get within the generous sniping range, or to grab an item off a shelf, you probably don’t need this perk. If you want to get closer to enemies, or to sneak past them at any decent speed, you need this perk. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Sniper Req: Level 12, Perception 6, Agility 6 Ranks: 1 With the Sniper perk, your chance to hit an opponent’s head in V.A.T.s. is significantly increased. If it has a head, you probably want to shoot it there for the bonus damage. If you only stick to melee attacks, or never use V.A.T.S., you can ignore this perk. If you play realistically however, this is a pretty good perk. Mind you it doesn’t just cover ‘sniping’. Popping a Super Mutant in the face with a few rounds of Shotgun Shells at mid range is also a good use of the Sniper perk. Grade: **** <———————————————————————-> Splash Damage Req: Level 12, Explosives 70 Ranks: 1 When you’re deep in enemy territory, you just start chucking grenades and hope for the best. All Explosives have a 25% larger area of effect. I’m rather skeptical of all these area of effect perks.. first, it seems just as likely to hurt you as not, and second, just how many enemies are going to find clustered together? Three, or four at the most? I don’t know, I’d rather just take Demolition Expert instead. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Unstoppable Force Req: Level 12, Strength 7, Melee Weapons 90 Ranks: 1 Your martial might is truly legendary. You do a large amount of additional damage through enemy blocks with all Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks. Just how many enemies actually block in this game? Human enemies that use melee weapons, which are, as a rule of thumb, usually easy to kill. Super Mutants, Cazedors, and Deathclaws won’t be blocking your attacks, so what use is this perk? And 90 Melee Weapons? Even a dedicated melee fighter can ignore this perk. Grade: * Â
Perks at Level 14
(Back to Top) Adamantium Skeleton Req: Level 14 Ranks: 1 With the Adamantium Skeleton perk, your limbs only receive 50% of the damage they normally would. Your limbs don’t take much damage throughout the game, unless you step on a mine or take a glancing blow from a missile launcher. You wont see much in the way of hit point preservation with this perk, if anything, you’ll just get crippled less. Sure, it can be handy in Hardcore mode, but doctors and Doctors Bags are not rare enough that this should be an ever-present concern for you. The fact that I still perk the Small Frame trait for Hardcore mode characters should say a lot about how I will grade this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Center of Mass Req: Level 16, Guns 70 Ranks: 1 You don’t fool around with fancy trick shots. Straight to the midsection and down they go. In V.A.T.S., you do an extra 15% damage with attacks targeting the torso. 15% is nice and all, but note the ‘in V.A.T.S.’ line. Also keep in mind that headshots tend to deal more damage.. if you’re close enough to pull off a V.A.T.S. shot with some expectation of success, you’re probably close enough to go for the head. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Chemist Req: Level 14, Medicine 60 Ranks: 1 With the Chemist perk, any chems you take last twice as long. There are few instances in the game when you will need to take chems, in fact, the most useful chemical in the game is Rad-x. You’ll find plenty of chems in your travels, enough that you can just take two instead of having this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Jury Rigging Req: Level 14, Repair 90 You possess the amazing ability to repair any item using a roughly similar item. Fix a Trail Carbine with a Hunting Rifle, a Plasma Defender with a Laser Pistol, or even Power Armor with Metal Armor. How does it work? Nobody knows… except you. This can be an incredibly useful, Cap-and-bother saving perk. First off, however, lets just say with a high enough Repair you can just make Weapon Repair Kits with fairly common components that can be purchased from most vendors (Duct Tape, Scrap Electronics, Scrap Metal, Wonderglue, and Wrenches), which, again with a good Repair skill, should restore about 25% of a weapons’ condition. This means you really don’t need this perk for any weapons in the game. Armor, however, has no easy fix, and you’ll really feel it when you want to repair your Remnant Power Armor, or your Combat Armor, Reinforced Mark II. Still, if you’re not in Hardcore mode you can just kill some SUper Mutants and sell their guns for the Caps you need, and even if you are in Hardcore mode.. wear less expensive armor (humble Vault Security Armor has a respectable 16 Damage Threshold, is light armor, and costs under 200 Caps to fix.) Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Light Step Req: Level 14, Perception 6, Agility 6 Ranks: 1 With the Light Step perk, you’ll never set off an enemy’s mines or floor-based traps. Land mines are pretty common. Fortunately, they’re also obvious, they don’t do a huge amount of damage-in the grand scheme of things, and you can disarm them with a simple button click. Not only that, you get experience and the mine itself when you do! Be observant, and you wont need this perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Purifier Req: Level 14 Ranks: 1 As a purifier of the wasteland, you do +50% damage with Melee and Unarmed weapons against Centaurs, Nightstalkers, Spore Plants, Spore Carriers, Deathclaws, Super Mutants, and Feral Ghouls. If you are going to be using Melee Weapons or Unarmed, you MUST get this perk. Deathclaws are bad enough, but capitulating and going toe-to-claw with them in melee combat is insane. This perk helps even the odds. Also, bonuses against Feral Ghouls and Super Mutants shouldn’t be overlooked, especially not a damage boost of 50%, which can really add up big with a Ballistic Fist, Displacer Glove, or Super Sledge. If you are a hybrid character and have access to a decent gun, you can ignore this perk, but for melee-specialized builds, this is gold. Grade: **** Â
Perks at Level 16
(Back to Top) Action Boy/Girl Req: Level 16, Agility 6 Ranks: 2 With the Action Boy/Girl perk, you gain an additional 15 Action Points to use in V.A.T.S. Action Boy/Girl has been split into two ranks, radically diminishing the effectiveness of this perk. On top of that, you have LESS perks with which to choose from, further exacerbating the situation. If that wasn’t enough, having a high Action Point total isn’t as useful in New Vegas. All of these conditions add up to one conclusion: you can look elsewhere for your V.A.T.S. perks. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Better Criticals Req: Level 16, Perception 6, Luck 6 Ranks: 1 With the Better Criticals perk, you gain a 50% damage bonus every time a critical hit is scored on an opponent. Your critical chance is determined by your Luck-1 point of Luck equals a 1% chance of landing a critical hit. This doesn’t increase your chance of landing a critical hit, instead Better Criticals improves the damage you deal when you do land a critical hit. Therefore the usefulness of this perk is directly related to how high your luck is. With sneak attack criticals, the Sniper perk, or the Finesse perk, Better Criticals becomes greatly useful, but it really depends on your build. No character is hurt by having high luck however, so it stands to suggest that most characters could benefit greatly from this perk.. And since you need a Luck score of 6 for this perk, if you can get it, you might as well. This perk is especially useful for players who have the Laser Commander perk, for obvious reasons. Grade: ***** <———————————————————————-> Chem Resistant Req: Level 16, Medicine 60 Ranks: 1 Having the Chem Resistant perk means you’re 50% less likely to develop an addiction to chems, like Psycho or Jet. First, why you would ever need to use Psycho or Jet is beyond me. Secondly, addiction isn’t a big deal. You can always get your addiction cured at a hospital, or you could just reload. If doubling the duration of chems didn’t appeal to you, this shouldn’t either. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Meltdown Req: Level 16, Energy Weapon 90 Ranks: 1 Meltdown causes foes killed by your Energy Weapons to give off a corona of harmful energy. Note: this can cause a chain reaction. Another Energy Weapons perk, this one is more of a general perk, as it applies to all Energy Weapons, rather than either lasers or plasma weapons. I can’t question the power of Energy Weapons, but I can and will question the usefulness of this perk. Seeing enemies explode into a corona of energy when they die is awful fun, but the explosion has a fairly short radius, although it can do good damage. The bad part is that you can catch yourself in this blast, making it a hassle any time an enemy gets close to you in combat. Sure “Don’t let them get close”, yeah, whatever. In any event, blowing yourself up is not fun, and this perk doesn’t make energy weapons exceptionally more powerful. On top of that, there’s not all that many situations in which you’ll find enough enemies close together to cause a useful explosion, much less a chain reaction. It’s slight usefulness is offset by the hassle of having to keep away from enemies to avoid catching yourself in the blast. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Tag! Req: Level 16 Ranks: 1 The Tag! perk allows you to select a fourth Skill to be a Tag skill, which instantly raises it by 15 points. Skill points are good, I think we can all agree with that. But there is a limit. A 15 point skill perk is arguably less useful than Comprehension.. even if you don’t find 15 skill books, and it is certainly less useful than Educated, which can give up to 52 skill points. Sure, I like skill points, but I won’t sacrifice a perk for such a small return. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Weapon Handling Req: Level 16, Strength < 10 Ranks: 1 Weapon Strength Requirements are now 2 points lower than normal for you. Strength isn’t a great attribute.. in fact, the only reason I both with it is because you NEED to have Strength to use weapons effectively. This perk gives you, essentially, two points of Strength. Or at least the better benefits of having two Strength. This perk allows me to start out with four Strength, and let Power Armor and an Implant get me to the equivilent of eight.. which allows me to wield all the weapons I care to wield anyways. Grade: *** Â
Perks at Level 18
(Back to Top) Computer Whiz Req: Level 18, Intelligence 7, Science 70 Ranks: 1 Fail a hack attempt and get locked out of a computer? Not if you’re a Computer Whiz! With this perk, you can attempt to re-hack any computer you were previously locked out of. Words can hardly describe how useless this perk is. Okay, yes they can. This perk is damn near worthless. A 10 skill point perk seems fanastic by comparison. Here’s a way to get the benefits of this perk without wasting your perk pick on it: before you hack a computer, save. If you get locked out, reload. Bam, no need for this perk. And considering 90% of the computers you encounter in this game lock a door (which you can pick) or disable turrets (which you can destroy) there’s no great fear of getting locked out of a terminal in any case. Dont waste your perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Concentrated Fire Req: Level 18, Energy Weapons 60, Guns 60 Ranks: 1 With Concentrated Fire, your accuracy to hit any body part in V.A.T.S. increases slightly with each subsequent hit on that body part. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that most of the time taking more shots in V.A.T.S. at one time is a bad thing. You know, the sitting duck thing? This isn’t an issue if you’re up on a ledge sniping, but then again, you don’t really need that much accuracy in that case. Point is, you won’t be taking as many consequetive shots in V.A.T.S. in this game, meaning you don’t need this perk, even if you use a fast weapon. Grade: ** <———————————————————————-> Infiltrator Req: Level 18, Perception 7, Lockpick 70 Ranks: 1 With Infiltrator, if a lock is broken, and can’t normally be picked again, you can attempt to pick it again one more time. This includes locks previously broken by a “Force Lock” attempt. This perk sucks for the same reason Computer Whiz sucks. Why anybody would be forcing locks in the first place is a mystery, and if you are going to bother forcing locks, why wouldn’t you save first? Save and reload, and save a perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Paralyzing Palm Req: Level 18, Unarmed 70 With Paralyzing Palm, you will sometimes perform a S.P.E.C.I.A.L. V.A.T.S. palm strike for 30 seconds. Note that in order to perform the Paralyzing Palm, you must be completely unarmed. Paralyzing Palm was the great unequalizer in Fallout 3.. but that was back when V.A.T.S. kept you safe from reprisal. In Fallout: New Vegas, running into a pack of Deathclaws and hoping for a Paralyzing Palm to even the odds is tantamount to commiting suicide.. but against one or two enemies, it can eliminate one threat and let you concentrate on another, or put down an enemy quick-like for a coup-de-gras. It will keep an enemy down longer than a knockdown attack, and it remains useful.. unless you don’t use Unarmed attacks. Grade: **** Â
Perks at Level 20
(Back to Top) Explorer Req: Level 20 Ranks: 1 When you choose the Explorer perk, every location in the world is revealed on your map. So get out there and explore! You can find all the areas on the map by yourself. You even get little icons that will guide you to them when you’re close. Along the way, you’ll get to explore the wasteland, which is the meat of the game. You’ll find skill books, get experience, and find loot. Also, it must be noted that this perk doesn’t make your character stronger in any way. Download a world map and search for places yourself, save yourself a perk. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Grim Reaper’s Sprint Req: Level 20 Ranks: 1 If you kill a target in V.A.T.S., 20 Action Points are restored upon exiting V.A.T.S. V.A.T.S. has been reduced in this game, and so has Grim Reaper’s Sprint. Still, it’s not abyssmal. In the grand scheme of things it’s better to take fewer, safer, smarter shots in V.A.T.S. With this perk you can finish off an enemy in V.A.T.S. and recharge your AP a bit. You’ll do most of your fighting outside of V.A.T.S., certainly, but popping an enemy in the head with an Anti-Material Rifle at the right time can be a very effective way to exterminate threats and thin the crowd. Grade: *** <———————————————————————-> Ninja Req: Level 20, Sneak 80, Melee Weapons 80 Ranks: 1 The Ninja perk grants you the power of the fabled shadow warriors. When attacking with either Melee or Unarmed, you gain a +15% critical chance on every strike. Sneak attack criticals do 25% more damage than normal. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. First, lets just dispense with formality by noting that if you had to choose, Ninja is better than Grim Reaper’s Sprint, especially with Sneak Attack Criticals being so much easier to get. However, it only really shines if you’re a melee character, whether Unarmed or Melee Weapons. A +15% critical rate is huge, and with a high Luck, Finesse, the 1st Recon Beret, and this perk your critical hit rate can aspire to 35%. Of course, a gun-using character will almost certainly get more use out of the sneak attack critical damage, as.. frankly.. they can just pull them off easier. Which brings us to Ninja’s glaring problem.. it’s skill requirements are outrageous. Sneak is a fair skill, but 80 points is a huge investment, and Melee Weapons.. well, they just kind of suck. This hurts a melee character enough, but it’s downright prohibitive for a ranged character. Still, if you can afford it, it’ll do good things for you. Grade: **** <———————————————————————-> Solar Powered Req: Level 20, Endurance 7 Ranks: 1 With the Solar Powered perk, you gain an additioanl 2 points to Strength when in direct sunlight, and slowly regenerate lost Health. As tempting as two points of Strength are, I’d rather have two points all the time from Weapon Handling, and just buy the regeneration Implant. Grade: ** Â
Perks at Level 22
(Back to Top) Laser Commander Req: Level 22, Energy Weapons 90 From the humble Laser Pistol to the might Gatling Laser, you do 15% more damage and have +10% chance to critically hit with any laser weapon. If you decided to use Energy Weapons, you might want this perk. Lasers are generally weaker than plasma weapons, but the bonuses from this perk do a good bit to close the gap. Turn your Tri-Beam Laser Rifle into a destructive force! Okay, seriously, no laser weapon will become so strong from this perk that it will easily overcome the Damage Thresholds of stronger enemies, but the bonuses are nice, nonetheless. Especially with Gatling Lasers, which do little damage per hit, but fire fast.. the more chances you have of each little laser dealing critical damage, the better off you’re going to be. Grade: **** <———————————————————————-> Nuka Chemist Req: Level 22, Science 90 You have unraveled some of the greatest mysteries of Pre-War masters: formulas for developing special Nuka-Colas! This perk unlocks special Nuka-Cola recipes at the Workbench. I’ve not been impressed by workbench-related perks yet, so why would I be impressed by this? Simple put, I wouldn’t. You can make Nuka-Cola Quartz, Nuka-Cola Victory, and Ice-Cold Nuka-Cola.. all of which are novelties, but not great items in their own right. There simply aren’t enough perks for this kind of profligacy. Grade: * <———————————————————————-> Spray and Pray Req: Level 22 Your attacks do much less damage to companions, allowing you to liberally spray an area with reckless abandon. I’ve frankly never had a problem with killing my own companions. Maybe I’m just more careful? Or maybe I use long-ranged weapons that call for precision, and not reckless abandon? If you’re in Hardcore mode, there is more call for this perk.. If you use tempermental weapons, anyways. Grade: * Grade: ** (Hardcore Mode) Â
Perks at Level 24
(Return to the top) Level 24, Unarmed 90, Agility 7 are required for Slayer. The slayer is on the move! All Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks have had their speed raised by 30%. Ah.. In New Vegas, the good old Slayer reappeared in a new guise. This perk is required if you employ Melee Weapons or are unarmed. It gives you a 30% boost in damage output. I’m not sure what more to say. Ignore this perk if you don’t utilize Melee Weapons or Unarmed assaults. **** is the highest possible grade. Â
Perks at Level 26
(Return to the top) Steely Nerves Level 26, Agility 7 are required. You recover Action Points considerably faster with the Nerves of Steel perk than you would otherwise. A strong offensive, as I’ve previously said, is the greatest defense in New Vegas. Alternatively, high terrain beyond the enemy’s grasp and a better ranged weapon. It’s generally preferable to take fewer shots when the circumstance arises while utilizing V.A.T.S. As a result, regenerating more Action Points is preferable than having more to use all at once, making Nerves of Steel a better perk than, say, Action Boy. *** Grade Â
Perks at Level 28
(Return to the top) Level 28, Endurance 7, Rad Absorption Requirement The Rad Absorption perk causes your radiation level to gradually decrease over time. In regular mode, you have access to physicians who will diagnose and treat any Rad issues you may have for a pittance of 100 Caps. This spares you the resource-sucking journey back to town in Hardcore mode. Even better, you can eat any irradiated food you choose and drink from any water source you desire. You’ll just become better with time. This offers up a lot of choices for eating and drinking on the move, and it makes things a lot easier on the go. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until level 28 to get it… at this point, you should have either completed the game or had enough resources that hunger and dehydration aren’t a threat. Even if it’s late, it’s still a nice benefit. *************************************************************************************************** (Advanced Mode) Â
Extra Benefits (Under Construction)
(Back to Top) Additional perks are quest-based or challenge-base perks that you get for completing specific quests and challenges. Some quest-based perks may be missable, and obviously if you don’t buy a certain Implant, you won’t get the related perk. Challenge-based perks unlock automatically when you meet the conditions.. usually killing so many of a certain type of enemy, or inflicing a certain amount of damage with a certain weapon. <———————————————————————-> Abominable Kill enough Abominations (Deathclaws, Centaurs, etc.) and you’ll get this perk, which increases your damage against this class of enemy. There are multiple ranks of this perk. <———————————————————————-> Agility Implant Buy the Agility Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Agility (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Animal Control Kill enough Animals (Bighorners, Coyotes, Geckos, etc.) and you’ll get this perk, which increases your damage against this class of enemy. There are multiple ranks of this perk. <———————————————————————-> Beautiful Beatdown Inflict 10,000 damage with Unarmed weapons to obtain this perk, which reduces the AP Cost of Unarmed attacks in V.A.T.S. <———————————————————————-> Bug Stomper Kill enough Animals (Giant Ants, Radscorpians, etc.) and you’ll get this perk, which increases your damage against this class of enemy. There are multiple ranks of this perk. <———————————————————————-> Charisma Implant Buy the Charisma Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Charisma (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Endurance Implant Buy the Endurance Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Endurance (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Enhanced Sensors While ED-E is a companion, the player can detect enemies at an increased range. Additionally, enemies will appear on the player’s compass and can be targeted in V.A.T.S. even when cloaked. <———————————————————————-> Intelligence Implant Buy the Intelligence Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Intelligence (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Lord Death Kill anything. Alot of anything. You’ll get a damage bonus against everything. There are multiple ranks of this perk. <———————————————————————-> Luck Implant Buy the Luck Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Luck (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Mutant Massacrer Kill enough Super Mutants and you’ll get this perk, which increases your damage against them. There are multiple ranks of this perk. <———————————————————————-> Monocyte Breeder Buy the Health Regeneration Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get this perk (12,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Perception Implant Buy the Perception Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Perception (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Ranger Takedown In Novac you can find Ranger Andy, a retired NCR Ranger who is a down on himself. Succeed at a Speech challenge and convince him he doens’t suck and he’ll teach you this perk. <———————————————————————-> Regular Maintenence While Raul is a companion, the Condition of weapons and armor decays more slowly. <———————————————————————-> Scribe Assistant While Veronica is a companion, the player can craft Workbench items through Veronica’s dialogue. <———————————————————————-> Spotter While Boone is a companion, hostile targets are highlighted whenever the player is actively aiming. <———————————————————————-> Stealth Girl While Lily is a companion, the duration of Stealth Boys is increased by 200% and all Sneak Attack Critical Hits do an additional 10% damage. <———————————————————————-> Strength Implant Buy the Strength Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +1 bonus to your Strength (4,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Sub-Dermal Armor Buy the Sub-Dermal Armor Implant from the New Vegas Medical Clinic to get a +4 bonus to your Damage Threshold (8,000 Caps). <———————————————————————-> Â
Perks of My Personal Build
(Back to Top) These builds correlate to the builds mentioned in the skills section. Guns Build w/Energy Weapons w/Unarmed <———————————————————————-> Level 2 Intensive Training (Luck) 4 Educated 6 Toughness (1) 8 Commando 10 Finesse 12 Sniper 14 Comprehension 16 Weapon Handling 18 Better Criticals 20 Shotgun Surgeon* Toughness (2) Toughness (2) 22 Silent Running* Laser Commander Piercing Strike 24 Toughness (2)* Grim Reaper’s Sprint Purifier 26 Grim Reaper’s Sprint* Nerves of Steel Super Slam 28 Nerves of Steel* — Paralyzing Palm 30 — — Slayer This build makes for a pretty proficient Guns-user, who is also adept at sneaking. This can arguably be called the ‘sniper’ build, as it is mostly designed to take advantage of the good range of Guns weapons, and the ability to make shots from stealth using the iron sights. Comprehension is taken late, as this build may not have Lockpick, Science, and Speech up to 80 before level 14, and certainly not by level 6, when it becomes sensible to pick it. The perk picks from level 20 on are fairly optional, as they just make the character better are sneaking and shooting.. although you can easily sacrifice this specialization and pick up plenty of Energy Weapons perks if you so choose to make a combined-arms build. You could also grab some Demolition Expert perks and spend your skills in exposives instead, or even focus on Unarmed and get a slew of perks to make you quite deadly in ranged and melee combat. And these are, of course, merely the combat oriented versions. Note that Rad Absorption is a good perk to tack on to Hardcore Mode characters, as well as convenience perks such as Pack Rat or Strong Back. Obviously this requires you to be more frugal with the skills, and practically precludes dual-combat-focusing, especially on Guns and Unarmed. Personally I favor more towards the Guns build, which is pretty easy to get off the ground and flexible enough to accomodate some alternative perks, as your whimsy demands. Energy Weapons Build <———————————————————————-> Level 2 Intensive Training (Luck) 4 Educated 6 Toughness (1) 8 Commando 10 Finesse 12 Sniper 14 Comprehension 16 Weapon Handling 18 Better Criticals 20 Silent Running* 22 Laser Commander 24 Toughness (2)* 26 Grim Reaper’s Sprint* 28 Nerves of Steel* 30 — The build doesn’t change very much when we switch our focus to Energy Weapons. In fact, the only thing we need to change out is Shotgun Surgeon (which was optional anyways) with Laser Commander. It’s very easy to make a Guns-and-Energy Weapons build, but it is also pretty redundant. Note that the Energy Weapons and Unarmed build works just as it did with Guns.. just with Laser Commander instead of Shotgun Surgeon, perhaps at the cost of a second Toughness. Melee Build (full melee) <———————————————————————-> 2 Intensive Training (Luck) 4 Educated 6 Toughness (1) 8 Super Slam 10 Finesse 12 Piercing Strike 14 Purifier 16 Better Criticals 18 Paralyzing Palm 20 Ninja 22 Weapon Handling 24 Slayer 26 Intensive Training (Strength) 28 Intensive Training (Strength) 30 Comprehension You really don’t have much wiggle room with perks if you want to make a truly bad-ass melee fighter. I don’t even bother with Unstoppable Force, as everything else is really just better. If you want to get the most out of your weaponry you’ll get two Intensive Training perks for Strength.. or perhaps just take a point from something else.. in the long run you may just have to give up some Luck to this end so you can reduce the number of Intensive Training perks you recieve. Still, this is how the build looks with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes listed earlier. Melee Build (Strength +1 Build) <———————————————————————-> 2 Intensive Training (Strength) 4 Educated 6 Toughness (1) 8 Super Slam 10 Finesse 12 Piercing Strike 14 Purifier 16 Better Criticals 18 Paralyzing Palm 20 Ninja 22 Weapon Handling 24 Slayer 26 Comprehension 28 Toughness (2) 30 — This is the full melee build with Luck sacrificed for Strength. The starting stats in this case are shown below: Normal STR +1 Build Build Strength: 4 5 Perception: 5 5 Endurance: 8 8 Charisma: 1 1 Intelligence: 9 9 Agility: 6 6 Luck: 7 6 Versatile Combatant Build <———————————————————————-> This is where things get interesting, from a perk-choosing perspective. Do you go with Energy Weapons’ Laser Commander, or the Shotgun Surgeon? Either? Both? Do you make any concessions for Explosives? It almost seems like you have to sacrifice most of the melee perks to make Unarmed work. Perhaps get rid of Commander and keep Purifier, Piercing Strike, and Slayer? This build may be trying to do too much, but I’ll leave it up to you to settle the specifics, as your preferences and play style demands. Â
The New Vegas Medical Clinic Run is an annual event that takes place in Las Vegas.
(Return to the top) My initial objective is to go to the New Vegas Medical Clinic as soon as feasible. This is eerily similar to the Rivet City run from Fallout 3, but we can get our extra Intelligence before we reach level two this time. At the very least, we’ll try our best, and because this is a pretty significant section of the book, I’ll do my best to assist you in getting there. For hardcore players, you may choose to postpone this trip and instead quest your way to the New Vegas region. Before you go, save your game. You never know what may happen out in the Mohave, so stay cautious and save your character before venturing out. 1) To begin, drive south east out of Goodsprings till you come to Jean Sky Diving. From here, follow I-15 east until you reach train lines. If you encounter any aggressive Powder Gangers, you may wish to exit I-15 sooner. Unless you go too near to the bloatflies in the desert, they will generally leave you alone. 2a) Get on the train lines and head south for a while until you arrive at the Emergency Service Railyard. You have two choices from here. Primm Pass is located in the hills to the north east. This location is often patrolled by a Blind Deathclaw, so reload if it catches you. If not, continue east until you come across some north-south routes and take them north. 2b) You’ll have to take the long way if you keep discovering Deathclaws in the pass and the game won’t let you dump them. Continue south on the railroad through Nipton until you reach a road that runs east-west. Instead of following the road, go through the hills to the north of the road, where there are Viper Gangers lined up in ambush. This will allow you to go around the opponents. Continue east on the road until you see a road sign directing you to turn north to locate Novac. For the foreseeable future, you want to continue north along these routes. 3) There SHOULD be a merchant caravan going north via this area. Caesar’s Legion Recruits will assault them. Keep an eye on the battle but don’t get involved. Loot the corpses once the battle is done. It doesn’t matter who wins, and none of this stuff is going to be very helpful, but it will sell for enough Caps to allow you to bet for a small fortune afterwards. If you want to be secure, accompany the caravan up to Novac and let them deal with any villains you encounter. 4) In any case, look for Novac along the road with the train lines running beside it. The HELIOS One power plant is also located north of here. Cross the desert to the east of the HELIOS One facility, avoiding any Fire Ants you come across, until you come across another north-south route. 5) You’ll be on I-95, which will go north and connect to I-93 at the 188 Trading Post, which is well named. Surprisingly, our trip is almost complete. Continue beyond the 188 Trading Post on I-95 west, then north towards New Vegas’ fringes. As you approach closer, you’ll pass under a few underpasses and see billboards advertising the casinos on the strip. 6) Once you start seeing a lot of standing structures, you’ve arrived at New Vegas’ fringes. Checking to the west for the lights of New Vegas in the not-too-distant distance may provide visual confirmation. Between the Crimson Caravan Company to the west and the Mole Rat Ranch to the east lies the New Vegas Medical Clinic. With a total of 60 experience, I was able to reach this region. Now that you’ve arrived, all you need is… hmm… 4,000 Caps to purchase a gleaming new Implant. There are two viable options for doing this. Scavenging… I mean, ‘prospecting’ for treasure and selling anything you discover. This path seems to be the most logical, however it may be counter-productive since you will most likely have to explore new places and/or kill things. The second option is to go west to the East Gate of Freeside. Locate the Atomic Wrangler in Freeside. If you are assaulted by thugs, just return to the Freeside door and let the Bodyguards for Hire deal with them. Save your game at the Atomic Wrangler and earn money by playing slots, blackjack, or roulette. Save if you win; reload if you lose. Is there a better method to earn money in Fallout: New Vegas than this? No, I don’t believe so. Sure, reloads have a waiting time.. an anti-cheating mechanism, to be sure.. but it’s a simple method to earn money without leveling up.. as long as you don’t complete too many challenges by mistake, that is. I was 4,200 Caps wealthier in 20 minutes and on my way to receive my Intelligence Implant. Note: If you don’t leave the game to reload, you may skip the waiting time. Â
Books
(Return to the top) In this part, I’ll list all of the books I’ve discovered so far in the game… which isn’t very many. Please feel free to report any books you come across. I realize these instructions are imprecise, if not non-existent, but at this stage, I’m more concerned about establishing their approximate position and keeping track of how many I discover than with describing precisely where they are. o=============================================================================================================== REPCONN Headquarters Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual o=============================================================================================== o=============================================================================================================== o=============================================================================================================== [ ] Southern Nevada Wind Farm Guns and Bullets [ ] Abandoned BoS Bunker o======================================================================o Raul’s Shack ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( Vault No. 34 ================================================================================================================= [ ] REPCONN Headquarters Tumblers Today o================================================================================================== [ ] Wolfhorn Ranch Wasteland Survival Guide o==================================================================================================== [ ] Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm [ ] Lone Wolf Radio [ ] Campground at Mosquito Mountain [ ] Platform for Scavengers
- Return to the Fallout New Vegas page.
Welcome to the character creation guide for Fallout: New Vegas by HearthStats. This guide will teach you how to create the most powerful character possible in the game. Along with a complete list of all the perks and levels, this guide will teach you how to create the ideal character.. Read more about fallout: new vegas character creation female and let us know what you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best starting skills for Fallout New Vegas?
The best starting skills for Fallout New Vegas are as follows:
1. Lockpick
2. Speech
3. Sneak
What is the best build for Fallout New Vegas?
This is a difficult question to answer, as there are many different ways to play Fallout New Vegas. The best way to find the best build for you would be to try out different builds and see which one works well for your playstyle.
Is charisma useless in Fallout New Vegas?
Charisma is a stat in Fallout New Vegas. It affects how much people like you and your speech skills.
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