================================================================================ Fallout: New Vegas - Weapons Guide by Ken Egervari ken.egervari [.AT.] gmail [.DOT.] com Game......................Fallout: New Vegas Guide...........................In-depth FAQ Platform.........................PC/X360/PS3 Version.................................1.17 First Published............November 09, 2010 Last Updated...............November 16, 2010 ================================================================================ Table of Contents ================================================================================ Use CTRL-F and copy-paste the content inside the []'s to quickly find a section. 1. Introduction ....................................................[1-00] 1.01 - About This FAQ ...........................................[1-01] 1.02 - Credits/Thanks ...........................................[1-02] 1.03 - Updates and Revisions ....................................[1-03] 2. Weapons .........................................................[2-00] 2.01 - Best General Purpose Gun .................................[2-01] 2.02 - Best General Purpose Energy Weapon .......................[2-02] 2.03 - Best Sniper Weapon .......................................[2-03] 2.04 - Best VATS Weapon .........................................[2-04] 2.05 - Best 1HKO Weapon .........................................[2-05] 2.06 - Best Anti-Robot Weapon ...................................[2-06] 2.07 - Best One-Handed Weapon ...................................[2-07] 2.08 - Best Ammo-Conservation Weapon ............................[2-08] 2.09 - Best Unarmed Weapon ......................................[2-09] 2.10 - Best Melee Weapon ........................................[2-10] 3. Charts ..........................................................[3-00] 3.01 - VATS Total Damage Chart ..................................[3-01] 3.02 - VATS Total Damage vs 15 DT Chart .........................[3-02] 3.03 - VATS Total Damage vs 30 DT Chart .........................[3-03] 3.04 - Average DPS Chart ........................................[3-04] 3.05 - Average DPS vs 15 DT Chart ...............................[3-05] 3.06 - Average DPS vs 30 DT Chart ...............................[3-06] 4. Builds ..........................................................[4-00] 4.01 - Versatile Ranged Weapon Build ............................[4-01] 5. Last Words ......................................................[5-00] 5.01 - Contact Info .............................................[5-01] 5.02 - Copyright Info ...........................................[5-02] 5.03 - Coming Soon ..............................................[5-03] ================================================================================ 1. Introduction ================================================================================ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.01 - About This FAQ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The main purpose of this FAQ is to detail all the best weapons in a given situation, provide an objective commentary and analysis to help you select the best weapon for the job at hand, and provide you with their exact in-game locations to help you quickly find them. There are a lot of choices and options in Fallout: New Vegas, as the weapon system is surprisingly very deep. This guide mostly focuses on ranged weapons, although there is a section on melee/unarmed weapons. This FAQ is aimed at helping new and experienced players alike. If you need to, check the "Credits" and "Copyright" sections at the bottom of the document. Lastly, I hope you learn something, and please ALWAYS have fun! :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.02 - Credits/Thanks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * To GameFAQS for hosting this FAQ. * To fallout.wikia.com @ http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki, for all the fantastic statistical information about weapons and other related information. * To mmSNAKE for his mathematical analysis on Gobi vs. Plasma Caster, where he showed that Plasma Caster+ does in fact deal slightly more damage than Gobi over a 5 second span * To SomethingToPonder and Kroo for helping with the exact damage calculations concerning weapons that have multiple projectiles like the Multiplas Rifle. * YOU: For reading this FAQ! ;) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.03 - Updates and Revisions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.17 - November 17, 2010 -------------------------------- * Because the patch fixed the DT of several enemies like Deathclaws and Securitron MK II's, I removed the charts against 60 DT and added charts for 15 DT, which are much better suited if you have version 1.2 of the game. * Fixed all references to 30 DT targets and replaced them with 15 DT references. * Added a note about Brush Gun become the #2 general purpose gun in the game, surpassing This Machine as a result of the patch changes. Version 1.16 - November 15, 2010 -------------------------------- * Added Multiplas Rifle as the third best 1HKO weapon * Added more statistical information for 1HKO weapons concerned normal damage and critical hit damage * Commented that Brush Gun is the 3rd best sneak attacking weapon in the game, and the best sneak attacking weapon for Gun users Version 1.15 - November 13, 2010 -------------------------------- * A big overhaul to the damage formulas. Now these are much more accurate for weapons with multiple projectiles. * Add VATS Total Damage Charts vs 30 DT and 60 DT targets * DT Bonus for .45-70 SWC is now included in all the DT charts * Added .45-70 HP ammo to the various charts Version 1.14 - November 12, 2010 -------------------------------- * Added Average DPS Charts vs 30 DT and 60 DT targets * Added All-American to all stats tables, just to show people how useless it is, even with .556mm AP ammo Version 1.13 - November 12, 2010 -------------------------------- * Added Average DPS Chart * Several additions and clarifications to various sections. Version 1.12 - November 12, 2010 -------------------------------- * Re-added indenting to the FAQ. If the GameFAQS people don't like it because it takes 1562 more bytes on their server's hard disk space, they can go to hell. * Added VATS Chart Version 1.11 - November 10, 2010 -------------------------------- * Renamed Anti-Materiel to Anti-Materiel. Thanks to Barticle for that! * Added Service Rifile as a cheap repair option for Gobi and Sniper Rifle+ Version 1.10 - November 10, 2010 -------------------------------- * Mostly spelling and grammar fixes * Added more information about Gobi's damage, and how it compares to Plasma Caster+ * Added "Versatile Ranged Weapon Build" Version 1.00 - November 09, 2010 -------------------------------- * Start of the project ================================================================================ 2. Weapons ================================================================================ In Fallout: New Vegas, the developers took care to create a combat system where different weapons excelled in different circumstances. So in this section, we'll look at the best weapons available for each type of situation. This FAQ assumes your character has the Hand Loader perk to bring out the best in your weapons. This perk is easily one of the best perks in the game, and if you're using guns, it's highly recommended that you should get it. For some weapons, additional perks are also taken into consideration. If you do not have these perks on your character, the analysis presented here will not be accurate, and you should make decisions according to the perks you have rather than follow this advice blindly. If in doubt, restart your character and get the necessary perks ;) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.01 - Best General Purpose Gun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When people say, "What is the best weapon?", this is what they probably mean. When I think of a best all-around gun, I think that weapon should have the following characteristics: * Has access to plentiful and cheap ammo * Does not need to be repaired often * Can be repaired cheaply without Caps or Weapon Repair Kits * Has fantastic regular damage * Has fantastic critical damage * Has fantastic DPS (damage per second) * Has a decent range * Has low AP requirements in VATS * Has high Damage/AP * Reloads ammo quickly There's a lot of excellent weapons to choose from that satify most or all of this criteria. But in the end, it comes down to two weapons: Gobi and This Machine. 1. Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Gobi is a Sniper Rifle, it is balanced in such a way that you can use it as a general purpose weapon. That is its main attractive quality over the basic Sniper Rifle. When using basic ammo, Gobi does 60 damage, which is very high among all the weapons in the game. The only weapons that do considerably more damage per shot are weapons like the Anti-Materiel Rifle (110) or the YCS/186 (140). Most of the other high-quality weapons hover around 60-75. With the Hand Loader perk, you can craft .308 JSP Hand Loader ammo, which adds 50% more damage on top of the regular ammo with no drawback. This should be your standard ammo as it enables .308 weapons to become some of the best in the entire game. Break down all of your .308 rounds and convert them .308 JSP Hand Loader ammo regularly. There is never a good reason to use the regular .308 ammo! While .308 is fairly common, you'll want to buy it in bulk from Quartermaster Bardon at Hoover Dam. If you have a good reputation with the NCR and a reasonable barter skill, you can buy ~230 rounds for a little over 1000 caps: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Quartermaster_Bardon What sets Gobi apart from 'more powerful' weapons, though, is its 5x critical multiplier. If you have a character with 10 luck (highly recommended) with the Finesse perk, you'll score critical hit 75% of the time, even without sneaking. Equip a "1st Recon Baret" which adds 5% to your critical chance (you get this helmet after finishing Boone's quest in Novac) and you will score a critical hit with Gobi 100% of the time. Thus, Gobi will do much more damage than mostly every other weapon in the game in practice except for the Plasma Caster or Pew-Pew... despite what the statistics say in your Pip-Boy. You should expect to do 90 damage per shot and 261 DPS, but since you'll score a critical hit every shot, in reality you'll do 225 damage per shot with 398 DPS. That is why Gobi is THE best all-around Gun in the game - period. Even though Gobi is a Sniper Rifle, don't be afraid to use it like a normal gun. You are not required to use the scope in order to score a critical hit. You can shoot from the hip and get fantastic results. You'll end up conserving a lot .308 JSP Hand Loader ammo in the end compared to using 'This Machine' because you'll be doing a lot more damage per hit. Having the ability to use the scope is just an added bonus, and you'll get lots of free kills before the fight truly begins. A lot of people marry themselves to the Anti-Materiel Rifle because it does amazing burst damage, but Gobi isn't too far behind and the ammo is cheaper and more readily available. Even despite that, Gobi can fire 6 times very rapidly, which makes it far superior to the Anti-Materiel rifle. The Anti- Material Rifle has a horrible rate of fire, and has low DPS as a result. Unlike the basic Sniper Rifle, Gobi can be used in VATS a bit more easily. Because it uses 33 AP per shot instead of 38, it will allow most builds to get 3 or 4 shots using VATS. It's not the best VATS weapon by a long-shot, but it'll work well enough without having to change weapons to kill fast- moving cazadors and other annoying enemies, which are very hard to shoot outside of VATS. Also, Gobi lets you fire 6 times instead of 5 before having to reload. This is surprisingly useful for general purpose combat. Gobi reloads ammo very fast as well. Considering the insane amount of damage you'll be doing with each shot, 3-4 shots in VATS is likely all you will ever need. To help with the AP expenditure, it's recommended to get Grim Reaper's Sprint at level 20 to allow you to use VATS continually throughout an encounter as it's very likely each enemy will die with only 1 shot. Action Boy/Girl taken twice will let you fire Gobi 4 times in VATS (this is optional). Gobi also has 50% more durability compared to the basic Sniper Rifle, so you won't have to repair it as much. Still, there aren't many cheap repair options even with the Jury Rigging perk. Buying fully repaired Service Rifles from Gun Runners for 645 caps for repair parts is probably the most efficient way to keep your Gobi in top condition. In the end, if you are the kind of person that hates switching weapons - which is not entirely recommended - you can't go wrong using the Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle throughout the entire game. You can find a Gobi at the Sniper's Nest. Not only is this hard to find on your own, you will need 100 points in your lockpicking skill to unlock the container that contains Gobi: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper%27s_Nest 2. This Machine ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Gobi is probably the best general purpose weapon in the entire game, it comes with two striking drawbacks that make it a bit bothersome for regular use. Gobi is only moderately effective in VATS because of its high AP cost and low damage per AP spent. It's also difficult to repair and has low durability, which forces you to repair it frequently to maintain peak performance. This Machine, while lacking Gobi's scope and 5x critical multiplier, solves both of those problems. It provides you with a nice alternative. Like Gobi, This Machine uses .308 ammo and it does 65 base damage per shot, which is a bit more than Gobi. You should craft .308 JSP Hand Loader ammo with the Hand Loader perk and use that exclusively. In practice, Gobi will perform much better due to its critical multiplier. Do not expect This Machine to do nearly as much damage as the Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle. When you use this weapon, you are doing so primarily because of ease of maintenance. Here's how both weapons compare when shooting from the hip with both .308 and .308 JSP ammo when the character has 10 Luck, the Finesse and Better Criticals perks and is using the 1st Recon Baret: .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 90.00 | 225.00 | 397.77 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 20.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 271.05 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 60.00 | 150.00 | 265.18 | | This Machine | .308 | 20.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 180.70 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' Gobi's clearly winning, but like I said, you're using This Machine for ease of maintenance while still having a very effective VATS weapon that can better abuse Grim Reaper's Spirit. Two things set This Machine apart from Gobi. The first is that This Machine is tied for the most durable weapon in the entire game, having 600 HP. It is very likely that you will only have to repair it once by the time you reach level 30, and that assumes you found it and have been using it regularly very early in your game. It is also much easier to repair with the Jury Rigging perk, as you can use cheap and plentiful Vermite Rifles, as well as many other types of common rifles found in the game to repair it. Secondly, This Machine is an excellent VATS weapon. In fact, without considering perks like Cowboy or the ammo hog Pew-Pew, it is one of the best VATS weapons in the game for all but the strongest enemies. This Machine is very efficient. It only costs 22 AP per shot, so getting 5 or 6 shots off in a VATS sequence is very easy for most characters to achieve. If you can kill an enemy in 1 hit, Grim Reaper's Sprint will give you that attack almost free. In this next chart, you'll see that This Machine and Gobi are virtually tied in VATS performance when the character has 125 AP, but This Machine can technically use VATS indefinitely against most enemies in the game due to its lower AP cost: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 90.00 | 225.00 | 3 | 675.00 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 5 | 670.31 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 60.00 | 150.00 | 3 | 450.00 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 5 | 446.88 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' While This Machine obviously doesn't work as a long-range weapon like Gobi, it is the one of the best medium-range, general purpose weapons in the entire game, particularly in VATS combat. Outside of VATS though, don't expect accurate shots at long range, since This Machine has a spread of 0.5. In Fallout: New Vegas, the lower the spread value, the better. This Machine's spread is high enough that shots will still miss their target even though your retical was spot on at long ranges, so move in towards your enemy a bit before firing. This Machine is extremely easy to find, so you'll likely be using This Machine for awhile before you can even get your hands on Gobi anyway. You can find it at Camp McCarran during a free-form quest called "Dealing with Contreras". Make sure to have 40 in Science with a magazine since the easiest way to resolve the quest is to hack into Contreras' terminal. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Dealing_with_Contreras Note: Brush Gun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because of the new patch, many enemy DT's has been cut in half. I think the designers intended it to be this way all along, but due to a bug, Deathclaws had 30 DT instead of 15, and Securitron MK II's had 60 DT instead of 30 in previous versions of the game. Now that almost all of the enemies have around 15 DT or less, .45-70 HP ammo has suddenly become MUCH better to use than it was in previous versions of the game. For this reason, This Machine has suddenly dropped in value and weapons like Brush Gun and Ranger Sequoia have risen in value with respect to VATS. For example, even against 15 DT targets, a Brush Gun using .45-70 HP is better than This Machine using .308 JSP, as shown in this table: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 94.50 | 263.25 | 5 | 683.44 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 67.50 | 202.50 | 3 | 607.50 | |*Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | 5 |*602.93 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 SWC | 37.5% | 94.20 | 233.70 | 4 | 586.05 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 5 | 569.53 | |*This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 75.00 | 221.25 | 5 |*557.81 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 HP | 37.5% | 48.13 | 251.56 | 4 | 497.66 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 | 37.5% | 72.50 | 188.75 | 4 | 464.38 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 45.00 | 135.00 | 3 | 405.00 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 50.00 | 147.50 | 5 | 371.88 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' And of course, .45-70 HP ammo slaughters This Machine if the enemy's DT is lower than 15, as it does 1128 VATS damage compared to 670. Even outside of VATS against a 15 DT target, it turns out the Brush Gun is slightly better using HP ammo too: .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 67.50 | 202.50 | 357.99 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G Magnum | 20.0% | 49.11 | 169.86 | 293.02 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 101.70 | 270.45 | 280.41 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G | 20.0% | 42.70 | 147.70 | 254.80 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 45.00 | 135.00 | 238.66 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 SWC | 30.0% | 94.20 | 233.70 | 228.56 | |*Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 20.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | *224.16 | |*This Machine | .308 JSP | 20.0% | 75.00 | 221.25 | *222.93 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 20.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 221.25 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 HP | 30.0% | 48.13 | 251.56 | 183.38 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 | 30.0% | 72.50 | 188.75 | 180.39 | | This Machine | .308 | 20.0% | 50.00 | 147.50 | 148.62 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' And of course, if you use SWC ammo, Brush Gun is much better. In addition to the overall boosts in damage and DPS, Brush Gun using .45-70 SWC offers the highest critical damage, making it the best sneak attacking weapon for gun users. It is also much more accurate than This Machine by a huge margin out of VATS. Brush Gun is simply better at everything - no exceptions. For all of these reasons, I unofficially declare Brush Gun to be a better general purpose weapon than This Machine. The only reason This Machine was better before was because of the rarity of .45-70 SWC ammo... but now that HP ammo is much more effective and can be purchased in mass quantities easily, there is very little reason to use This Machine now. In the future, I may very well remove the section discussing This Machine entirely. Note: Riot Shotgun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A lot of people drool at the sight of this mighty weapon, but I don't think it's all that great by the end of the game. It's first major problem is that this weapon is confined to close quarter combat. That alone takes it out of contention for being the best general purpose weapon. Secondly, the Riot Shotgun suffers from the same problems as Gobi in that all of it's repair options are rare and expensive. Even with the Jury Rigging perk, you can't even repair it with other shotguns! In fact, it's repair options compete with Gobi and Sniper Rifle+, which I think is horrible. You'll find all sorts of useless shotguns in this game, and yet, they'll be useless for repair purposes. At least you can sell the shotguns for caps so an NPC can repair the Riot Shotgun I suppose. Other than that, you'll have to rely on Weapon Repair Kits. Thirdly, while the Riot Shotgun offers very impressive damage outside of VATS, it is one of the worst weapons to use in VATS, even with its best ammo options. If a character has 125 AP, Riot Shotgun will only deal an average of 366.92 damage during it's VATS sequence. The Brush Gun does more than double that amount. Lastly, and more importantly, even with the Shotgun Surgeon perk, the Riot Shotgun will do less damage than Gobi against Deathclaws or Securitron MK II's. Guns like This Machine, Brush Gun, Anti-Materiel Rifle, Gobi and the Sniper Rifle+ - just to name a few - are simply more effective and efficient. These weapons can also be used in other situations as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.02 - Best General Purpose Energy Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think it's fair to say that energy weapon users got hosed in Fallout: New Vegas... probably because the developers thought they were too powerful in Fallout 3. While there are some standout energy weapons, there isn't one weapon that I would say is truly great in most areas. They are generally not very versatile like guns. Also, you'll often pay more in caps to get a similar effect for far cheaper with regular guns. Weapons like the Plasma Defender, Multiplas Rifle and Pew-Pew cost an insane amount of caps per shot. It is astonishing that the developers didn't properly balance energy weapons at all. Other than continuity reasons, I'm not sure why energy weapons are in this game from a mechanics point of view. They seem to offer no distinct advantages to regular guns. In fact, regular guns are so versatile that there isn't a single context or purpose that energy weapons excel at that guns can't. Nonetheless, you have a few choices, all with varying tradeoffs to consider. It's up to you to decide which characteristics matter most. 1. Plasma Caster+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The closest thing to the best general-purpose energy weapon in the game would have to be the Plasma Caster+. For one, unlike a lot of energy weapons, it is extremely economical to use. Each shot only requires a single MF Cell, which amounts to 3 caps per shot. The damage per shot is excellent (65) and compares to other guns like This Machine. The DPS is also very high, reaching up to 299 DPS if modded with the Plasma Caster HS Electrode! Because the Plasma Caster is so economical, you should convert some of your MF Cells to use the Overcharge or Max Charge variants at a Workbench if you have a Science skill of 70. Alternatively, you can simply ask Veronica to do it. When using Max Charge ammo (the recommended choice, because it's the best bang for your buck), you'll be doing 115 damage per shot and 382 DPS unmodded. When modded with the HS Electrode, the DPS will jump up to 488! This is pretty much the best your going to get with energy weapons - especially at the bargain price of 7.5 caps per shot! There are a lot of minor drawbacks to this weapon, but none that are truly devastating. The Plasma Caster+ doesn't have very good durability, so you'll have to repair it frequently - especially when using Max Charge ammo. It's also a little difficult to repair. With the Jury Rigging perk, you can expand its repair options to include Flamers, Incinerators, and Heavy Incinerators, which are all quite common and useless... so repair away. You may still have to utilize Weapon Repair Kits though. Secondly, the Plasma Caster+ doesn't fire correctly in 3rd person mode. For some reason, the weapon fires towards the ceiling, thus missing it's targets and makes the weapon completely unusable. This will likely get fixed in a future patch. Lastly, it is not a very good VATS weapon at all. For some reason, sometimes non-critical hits do very little damage - a lot less damage than they ordinarily would in regular combat. Perhaps it's bugged and will be fixed in a patch as well :/ Regardless, this will surely make some fights much harder. It doesn't matter because in order take advantage of the Plasma Caster+'s insanely high rate of fire, you do NOT want to use this weapon in VATS anyway! Overall, the Plasma Caster is a fantastic weapon and compares favourably even to many of the best Guns (it even does more damage than Gobi outside of VATS, but lacks the Scope and the ability to do VATS combat): .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Plasma Caster+ | MF MC | 20.0% | 142.19 | 355.47 | 635.86 | | Plasma Caster+ | MF OC | 20.0% | 81.25 | 203.13 | 454.19 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 90.00 | 225.00 | 397.77 | | Plasma Caster+ | MF | 20.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 388.70 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 60.00 | 150.00 | 265.18 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' You can acquire the Plasma Caster+ at Silver Rush. That place gives you the opportunity to acquire 2 of the best energy weapons (the other being the Multiplas Rifle) relatively early in the game. Make sure to also purchase the Plasma Caster's only mod - the "Plasma Caster HS Electrode" - from Gloria or the Gun Runner kiosk near Freeside. It's a random spawn. Since some quests encourage you to kill the Van Graff's, you'll want to try and get this mod from Gloria to increase your chances before you start your killing spree :) BEWARE OF BUG: When doing the mission Birds of a Feather (a Van Graff mission receieved in Silver Rush), if you choose to save Cass, Jean Baptiste will pick up the Plasma Caster. Because of a glitch that makes his body unsearchable, if you do not acquire the Caster before killing him, it will be lost forever in his inventory! This happened to me! If that's the case, you are stuck with the Multiplas Rifle as your top weapon :/ 2. Multiplas Rifle ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second best general purpose energy weapon is easily the Multiplas Rifle. It does excellent damage per hit, has a fair range, is extremely easy to repair since Plasma Rifles are a dime-a-dozen, and the ammo is plentiful (just not cheap). The Multiplas Rifle is one of the best VATS energy weapons in the entire game, especially if you can get up-close to your target because you'll do at least 105 damage per shot, and 263 damage if you score a critical hit! Because the Multiplas Rifle uses multiple projectiles, it suffers major penalties when you go up against enemies with 30 DT or more. In these situations, you want to try and achieve critical hits whenever possible as straight-up VATS damage will not be as effective. The Multiplas Rifle also does excellent damage outside of VATS if you aim well, whether in medium to close range. It only takes 1 or 2 hits to crisp a Securitron MK II into a pile of goo, which is a feat only reserved for a few weapons in the game. By shooting out of VATS, you can take advantage of the fact that weapons with multiple projectiles deal way more damage when you score a critical hit. With the Multiplas Rifle, you'll deal a whopping 578 damage! Because this weapon is a shotgun variant of the regular Plasma Rifle and has a wide spread, you should strive to get into medium or close range of the enemy at all times to make sure all 3 rounds of plasma make contact. Otherwise you're just wasting ammo. Because of this, I would recommended wearing Power Armor and getting all the Damage Threshold bonuses you can if you're going to use this weapon exclusively. You're going to be in the thick of combat all the time. The only real drawback to the Multiplas Rifle - and it's a doozy - is that it uses 6 MF Cells per shot - 2 for each round of plasma and there are 3 rounds of plasma total. In a nutshell, it'll cost you 18 caps to fire each shot, so you'll want to use this weapon in VATS exclusively to make sure every shot counts. You'll be lucky to find around 1200 MF Cells as you progress through the game, so that gives you around 200 shots before you have to invest your own money into ammo. You'll most likely need to invest in MF Cells frequently. Having a character with high Luck and playing lots of Blackjack at the various casinos will make sure you got the caps to buy your ammo in bulk from Quartermaster Bardon at Hoover Dam: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Quartermaster_Bardon On the plus side, the Multiplas Rifle's attack with basic ammo is strong enough that you'll likely not upgrade your ammo to Overcharge or Max Charge for most situations. But, it couldn't hurt either against really tough targets. With Max Charge ammo, you'll do 184 damage per shot and 297 DPS. If you're blessed by the RNG gods to score a critical hit, you'll do a rediculous 459 damage in VATS and 1011 damage outside of VATS! This is by far the most critical damage you can do in the entire game - even more the YCS/186! This critical damage can be improved further by targeting the enemies head and doing a sneak attack. Since both situations multiply your damage by 2, you'll get 4x the damage - that's a total of 4044 damage! So while Multiplas Rifle is a fantastic VATS weapon, it's also an incredible Sneak Attack weapon as well. Maybe even the best in the whole game. It's really too bad it'll cost you 45 caps per shot in order to achieve this level of carnage, which won't become practical until you've amassed a lot of extra caps. Once you can afford it, nothing is going to stand in your way - not even a Legendary Deathclaw on the hardest difficulty! Another drawback to the Multiplas Rifle is its slow rate of fire outside of VATS. It is one of the slowest energy weapons available, taking about 1 second to fire in between shots. This really hampers the weapon's potential DPS to the point where using a Tri-Beam Laser Rifle or even a Q-35 Matter Modulator would be much better (and cheaper). Just be sure to stick to VATS as much as possible when it's hard to aim and time your shots, and you'll do fine. It's ironic that with the Plasma Caster, you generally want to stay away from VATS, but with Multiplas Rifle, you mostly want to be in VATS all the time ;) Probably the easiest way to acquire the Multiplas Rifle is simply by stealing it from Silver Rush, which has many other weapons and ammo for your thieving pleasure: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Silver_Rush 3. Q-35 Matter Modulator ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This weapon, while not the most impressive for its base damage, has a high critical modifier and does nearly 4x the base damage whenever you score a critical hit. So while a regular hit does 32 damage, a critical hit will do 125 damage with normal ammo. The Q-35 Matter Modulator has many drawbacks though. Firstly, it's VATS cost is very high (28) compared to other weapons of similar function, so you will need to take many Action Boy/Girl perks and additional energy weapon perks to make the best use of it. Is it worth using as a general purpose weapon? To put it simply: No. I only include the weapon in the section because I see it discussed on the forums as an alternative. It really drives me nuts that people don't understand that this weapon is terrible given logical and rational arguments, so I'm going to explain why it isn't a very good weapon right here and now by comparing the Q-35 Matter Modulator with This Machine - a completely legit and fair comparison. Let's say you have a character with 125 AP - not an unreasonable assumption. This Machine will get 5 attacks in VATS while the Q-35 will get 4. This character has 10 Luck, has the Finesse and Better Criticals perks and is using the 1st Recon Baret. We'll use .308 JSP ammo in This Machine and give the Q-35 Matter Modulator Max Charge ammo. The Q-35 Matter Modulator has a 2x critical multiplier - one of it's touted "amazing" advantages. In VATS, it has a 50% chance it will do 56 damage, and a 50% chance it will score a critical hit and do 218.75 damage. The total damage done by the Q-35 Matter Modulator for all 4 attacks is 549.50 damage. In contrast, This Machine only has a 1x crit multiplier, so it has a 75% chance it will do 97.50 damage, and a 25% chance it will score a critical hit and do 243.75 damage. The total damage done by This Machine for all 5 attacks is 670.31 damage. Here's a summary table: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 5 | 670.31 | | Q-35 MM | MF MC | 50.0% | 56.00 | 218.75 | 4 | 549.50 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' As you can clearly see, This Machine is 18% more effective! The situation just gets worse when you consider normal ammo: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 5 | 446.88 | | Q-35 MM | MF OC | 50.0% | 40.00 | 156.25 | 4 | 392.50 | | Q-35 MM | MF | 50.0% | 32.00 | 125.00 | 4 | 314.00 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' Since the Q-35 was specifically built for VATS combat, and we can see that it fails at it quite hard, I'll put this matter to rest. My other beef with the Q-35 is that it's damage is wildly inaccurate. If you score a critical hit, the damage is very impressive. Otherwise, the damage is abysmal. In fact, if the target's DT is high, it will do hardly any damage at all - even with Max Charge ammo! With the Q-35, you are essentially "gambling" for critical hits, which do not occur often enough in practice to justify using this weapon. The best you can hope for is 50% in VATS and 40% out of VATS. I just don't see any reason to put up with this weapon when other weapons can achieve reliable damage every hit, like the Plasma Caster+. This leads me to believe that the Q-35 was really meant to be a sneak attack weapon only, where criticals are at least assured. How you pull this off without a scope and a spread of 0.2 is beyond me. I guess the developers want you to sneak with Silent Running? There's no way you successfully do that for the whole game. You're going to get into trouble... and then what? Honestly, if you want to sneak attack things, use Gobi. At least you won't be screwed if your sneak doesn't work out the way you planned, because unlike the Q-35, Gobi is actually good! If you do plan on using the Q-35, you are basically accepting the trade-off that you will do less damage compared to your other choices in order to conserve ammo more efficiently while having a weapon that is easy to repair at the same time. I guess that is something good about the Q-35. Despite all of this negativity, choosing the Q-35 Matter Modulator as your leveling weapon is a pretty solid option because of the low strength requirement. To use a Plasma Caster+, you need 100 in energy weapons and 8 strength to satisfy its requirements, so you can use the Q-35 before you are able to use power armor and before you can buy your strength implant. You can actually start with a character that has as little as 3 strength! In the end though, the Q-35 Matter Modulator is just not worth it when you have easy access to a Plasma Caster+. You can find the Q-35 Matter Modulator at REPCONN Headquarters: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Q-35_Matter_Modulator 4. Pew-Pew ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pew-Pew, is a brilliantly fantastic weapon in almost all respects. Not only does it deal solid damage and DPS, it's highly accurate and comes with a 2.5x critical multiplier. It is definitely the best Laser-based weapon hands down, and makes the rest of them look like child's toys. All this power comes at a price. The Pew-Pew uses a hell of a lot of ammo. It sinks 15 Energy Cells per shot. When compared to the damage output of 3 Energy Cells in a Plasma Defender (which is also quite steep), I can only conclude that this is not a very efficient use of ammo. This rules Pew-Pew out of contention for the top general purpose energy weapon. When playing the game through to level 30, you'll likely find around 1500 Energy Cells throughout the wasteland. This gives you around 100 shots. Keep in mind that each shot with Pew-Pew will cost you 30 caps. If you want to use Overcharge ammo for the +25% damage bonus, each shot will cost you 45 caps. If you want to use Max Charge ammo for the +75% damage bonus, each shot will cost you 75 caps. It seems you have to pay to play with Pew-Pew. Each shot with Gobi using .308 JSP ammo costs 6 caps by comparison. Still think energy weapon users didn't get hosed? The Overcharge ammo is especially a huge rip-off. On the bright side, you'll find lots of Laser Pistols to repair Pew-Pew. It is one of the easiest elite weapons to repair, and you don't even need the Jury Rigging perk. For those who have 12,000 spare caps laying around and don't mind investing in a quality weapon, one could hardly go wrong with buying 6000 Energy Cells. That's how many cells it's going to take to fire this great weapon 400 times! If you are willing to invest the caps into this weapon, taking the Laser Commander perk is a no-brainer. You'll get an additional 15% damage (as if the base damage on Pew-Pew wasn't enough) plus an additional 10% chance to score a critical hit! The Laser Commander perk was made for this weapon specifically (most of the other laser-based weapons in New Vegas are pretty abysmal) since Pew-Pew gives a 2.5x critical multiplier - half that of a sniper rifle! Don't forget to get Finesse and Better Criticals too. If your character has 10 Luck, all the necessary perks and has the 1st Recon Baret equipped, you'll score a critical hit 75.0% of the time outside of VATS and 87.5% of the time in VATS. This is the highest possible critical chance you can obtain with a weapon other than Gobi or Sniper Rifle+. I will admit, doing an average of 499 DPS with Max Charge ammo with critical hits factored in on nearly every shot is truly a sight to behold. Nobody can fault energy weapons for not having the potential for greatness... you just need to be bloody rich to afford the upkeep. Given these stats, Pew-Pew becomes the #1 weapon to use in VATS, and one of the best weapons to use in regular combat. For most of us though, it's not very practical to use Pew-Pew... and the Plasma Caster is almost as good. Perhaps the Plasma Caster+ is better in some ways because it's clip size is much larger (10 instead of 2). You can get the Pew-Pew at Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters by talking to Festus and giving him 50 star battle caps: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sunset_Sarsaparilla_star_bottle_cap Note: Alien Blaster ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- While an Alien Blaster certainly does the most damage out of all the energy weapons, you have a limited supply of non-replenishable ammo. This makes the Alien Blaster a horrible choice for general purpose combat, even though it's technically the absolute best energy weapon in the game, period. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.03 - Best Sniper Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're inclined to use sniper rifles - and you should - there are lots of options availabe in Fallout: New Vegas. Despite the stats on the the YCS/186 or the Anti-Materiel Rifle... it turns out that the plain, old Sniper Rifle is actually the best sniper weapon in the entire game. 1. Sniper Rifle+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unlike all the unique weapons, normal weapons give you the ability to add mods. There is one very good mod for Sniper Rifles - The Suppressor - which causes enemies to be completely oblivious to your attacks and will just stand there helpless... waiting to be picked off. Because of the Suppressor mod, an upgraded Sniper Rifle turns out to be the most effective sniping weapon in the entire game. In fact, it kind of breaks the game and makes many areas too easy. There's also a mod to lower it's weight to just 3 pounds, which is not bad at all. The Sniper Rifle also does a little more damage compared to Gobi. They are comparable regardless, but with a proper sneak attack with Better Criticals, you'll be able to kill a deathclaw on the hardest difficulty level in a single shot! Like This Machine and Gobi, regular Sniper Rifles use .308 Caliber Rounds, so you'll want to use the .308 JSP Hand Load ammo for maximum damage. Never use plain .308 rounds. One small annoyance - and it's not really a problem with the weapon - is the stupidity of your companions. Especially ED-E. He just loves to charge into battles, playing that stupid music of his and blowing your cover in the process. Be sure to keep allies in passive mode and have them stay way behind you, although ED-E will get you into trouble anyway unless you tell him to wait. I guess the developers had to find some way to balance Sniper Rifle+. An actual drawback to Sniper Rifle+ is that it degrades very quickly due to its poor durability. Like Gobi, Sniper Rifles are not easy to repair, even with a Jury Rigging perk because most of the repair options are rare and expensive. It becomes doubly so if you intend on using Gobi and Sniper Rifle+ at the same time, which many people do, including me. Still, probably the cheapest way to repair your Sniper Rifle+ is to buy fully repaired Service Rifles from Gun Runners for 645 caps. You'll need the Jury Rigging perk to pull this off. Also, if you ever find yourself forced into medium to short-range combat, a basic Sniper Rifle is definitely not the weapon of choice. You'll probably want to switch to Gobi, This Machine or a Brush Gun to finish them off in VATS. The best place to acquire two Sniper Rifles is in Vault 34's Armory. You'll be heading to the armory for lots of other quests anyway, so might as well get those Sniper Rifles!: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_34 One way to get a Suppressor is to buy one from the Gun Runners kiosk near Freeside. The other is at the 188 Trading Post's "Arms Merchant" (that's her name). Just warp there, cross the bridge and talk to her - she's by the truck during the day. NOTE: It *is* annoying to get the shops to spawn the Suppressor though, as their inventory's stock is random. In one playthrough, I had to refresh the inventory 8 times to get the Suppressor... while in another playthrough, I got the Suppressor on the first attempt. So if you don't see an item called "Sniper Rifle Suppressor", wait 24 hours and keep checking their stock. Good luck! http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper_Rifle_Suppressor#Locations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.04 - Best VATS Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VATS combat has been nerfed in New Vegas in comparison to Fallout 3. In New Vegas, VATS shouldn't be used exclusively. Nonetheless, it's still an important and necessary part of the game. There are a variety of enemies that are extremely difficult to hit without VATS, such as: * Cazadors, which fly around and from side-to-side, making them difficult to hit at long-range. They are also difficult to take out when they swarm you. * Giant Mantis', which almost seem like they are programmed to jump at the exact moment you fire * Nightstalkers, which are invisible before they attack but can be seen in VATS if ED-E is one of your companions The game mechanics in VATS combat work differently from regular combat. Instead of using the weapon's rate of fire to dictate your damage potential, the VATS system uses Action Points (AP) instead. AP governs how many actions you can take, and thus how much damage you can deal while using VATS. Some weapons which are really good at firing from the hip actually do less damage in VATS because they use a lot of AP per shot. The Riot Shotgun is a great example of this. Likewise, weapons that have poor DPS surprisingly perform much better in VATS because they are very efficient when it comes to AP usage. The Multiplas Rifle is a great example of this.

The best VATS weapons need to have a really good balance between doing a lot of damage while expending a low amount of AP per shot. With the Grim Reaper's Sprint perk, you regain 20 AP for every kill in VATS. So, if you can kill a target in a single shot and only expend around 20 AP to get the kill, that VATS attack will essentially be free. This perks enables you use VATS repeatedly as long as you are using the right weapon. Two weapons really shine in VATS: This Machine and Brush Gun. Both weapons have great base damage and have very low AP costs (22 and 23 respectively), which makes them excellent candidates to exploit the Grim Reaper's Sprint perk. Both This Machine and Brush Gun do ~3.25 damage per AP spent in VATS, which is the highest ratio among all the weapons. However, after all the number crunching, and taking ammo, perks and upkeep costs into consideration, it turns out that the Brush Gun is the best VATS weapon to use in Fallout: New Vegas. 1. Brush Gun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the regular .45-70 Gov't ammo packs a mean punch and is generally excellent, the .45-70 SWC Hand Load ammo crafted with the Hand Loader perk is far superior. This ammo offers 20% more damage plus -6 to the target's DT (defense threshold). While .45-70 SWC Hand Load ammo is quite good... by itself, it would not be enough to outperform This Machine. For Brush Gun to become the best, you must also take the Cowboy perk, which gives a +25% damage increase to all lever- action weapons (which Brush Gun qualifies). When using the Cowboy perk and SWC Hand Load ammo, you should expect to deal a whopping 113 damage per shot and 303 DPS. Mathematically, this is almost as good as using an Anti-Materiel Rifle using .50 MG Match Hand Load! (Except you won't have to put up with *any* of Anti-Materiel Rifle's drawbacks, such as its horrible rate of fire or its insanely low DPS). Since Brush Gun does a base damage of 75 per shot - 10 more damage than This Machine - when combined with the 45% damage boost, you will do roughly ~13% more damage compared to This Machine in VATS. And that doesn't even account for the -6 DT either! When attacking heavily armored targets like Deathclaws, Brush Gun does 18% more damage - a very noticeable upgrade! Here's a comparison between Brush Gun and This Machine against 15 DT targets to illustrate the damage increase: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 94.50 | 263.25 | 5 | 683.44 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | 5 | 602.93 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 5 | 569.53 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 75.00 | 221.25 | 5 | 557.81 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 50.00 | 147.50 | 5 | 371.88 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' As you can see, even when This Machine uses .308 JSP, it does less damage than the Brush Gun regardless of which ammo you are using. The Brush Gun is not limited to being a VATS-only weapon however - it is an excellent weapon in its own right. It has a fantastic, low spread of 0.03, which is on par with a Sniper Rifle. If you have the skill to hit things out of VATS, the Brush Gun is highly effective and is more accurate than This Machine. The Brush Gun also deals much more normal damage, critical damage and has a higher DPS compared to This Machine outside of VATS: .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 20.0% | 164.06 | 410.16 | 441.53 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 112.50 | 281.25 | 302.76 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 20.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 271.05 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 20.0% | 93.75 | 234.38 | 252.30 | | This Machine | .308 | 20.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 180.70 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' In fact, the Brush Gun deals the 3rd highest critical damage in the game, only behind the YCS/186 and the Multiplas Rifle. This makes it the best Sneak Attacking weapon for Gun users. While there's a lot to like about the Brush Gun, there are two major disadvantages that might cause you to use This Machine anyway. The first problem is that .45-70 Gov't ammo is not at all common. It is very likely you will only find around 75-100 bullets by looting ammo from containers and corpses as you progress through the game. Furthermore, most vendors do not sell the basic .45-70 Gov't ammo that enables you to craft the SWC ammo easily - they only the Hollow Point version, which is not very effective against really heavily armored targets like the Securitron MK II or Mr. Gutsy despite the high damage and DPS that is reported by the Pip-Boy. Still, .45-70 HP is best used to kill random enemies with 14 DT or less, just so you can acquire the cases for crafting SWC ammo. Because the latest patch lowered the DT of most heavily armored targets in the game by half, it turns out that using .45-70 HP is now slightly better than using This Machine with .308 JSP ammo in VATS. .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 94.50 | 263.25 | 5 | 683.44 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | 5 | 602.93 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 5 | 569.53 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 75.00 | 221.25 | 5 | 557.81 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 50.00 | 147.50 | 5 | 371.88 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' Conclusion: .45-70 HP ammo is actually pretty good and shouldn't be wasted just to make SWC ammo - use it up! The easiest way to acquire lots of .45-70 Gov't ammo is to breakdown regular .308 ammo, which can be purchased in bulk cheaply, to get 3 out of the 4 components at the Reloading bench. Then, you'll just have to find cases... and that's actually quite a painful process. The best locations to acquire .45-70 Gov't are to: * Buy .45-70 Gov't Regular rounds from Knight Torres in Hidden Valley, a Brotherhood of Steel outpost. She's the only one that regularly sells normal rounds from what I can tell. - Buy .45-70 Gov't HP rounds from Alexander at the Gun Runners outpost underneath the 188 Trading Post overpass, or Gun Runners near Freeside. Then, use them up in regular fights to get cases. - Pickpocket from Regular and Veteran NCR Rangers in various NCR locations. Camp Golf is probably the best spot as several Veteran NCR Rangers exist in the resort building and sitting down next the table by the tents. - Pickpocket from several members of the Great Khans in Red Rock Canyon. - Pickpocket Orris, the bodyguard for hire in Freeside. You have to avoid helping the Kings to make sure he sticks around. - Loot the various footlockers found in tents at Camp Golf. The second problem is the Brush Gun's ammo reload time. Each bullet has to be inserted individually, so inserting 6 bullets takes several seconds. Hopefully after 6 shots the battle is over... but if it isn't, you'll have to find cover before firing again. Since This Machine reloads quicker, it doesn't have this problem. A lot of people use This Machine instead for this reason too. However, if you can put a little effort into getting the ammo, Brush Gun is actually a better 'general purpose' weapon than Than Machine, and would give you the strongest VATS weapon in the entire game save Pew-Pew. I give this weapon two thumbs up! The easiest way to get a Brush Gun is to simply purchase one at the Gun Runners kiosk near Freeside: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Gun_Runners 2. Gobi and This Machine - A tie ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gobi can also be used as a VATS weapon even though it's AP cost is 33, just because it does a huge amount of damage. It is generally on par with This Machine with respect to VATS damage, so feel free to use either Gobi or This Machine as your .308 VATS weapon of choice. NOTE: As the enemy's armor gets tougher, Gobi is a much stronger choice even though it uses 33 AP. If in doubt, use Gobi. 3. Multiplas Rifle ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Multiplas Rifle is probably the 3rd best option, and for energy weapon users it's easily the best choice - especially at close range. The Multiplas Rifle has three big drawbacks that keep it from scoring higher in my lists. The first is that you'll have to spend 45 caps per shot using Max Charge ammo to fully realize the damage potential on this weapon, which is much more expensive than using Brush Gun, Gobi or This Machine. The second drawback is that the Multiplas Rifle's damage barely comes close to the Brush Gun using .45-70 SWC, and is simply slaughtered by .45-70 HP against low armored targets: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 164.06 | 410.16 | 5 |1127.93 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 112.50 | 281.25 | 5 | 773.44 | | Multiplas | MF MC | 25.0% | 183.75 | 459.38 | 3 | 757.97 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 93.75 | 234.38 | 5 | 644.53 | | Multiplas | MF OC | 25.0% | 131.25 | 328.13 | 3 | 541.41 | | Multiplas | MF | 25.0% | 105.00 | 262.50 | 3 | 433.13 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' When you are up against high armored targets with 15 DT, such as Deathclaws, the Multiplas Rifle's VATS damage goes *WAY* down in comparison to the Brush Gun, despite the crazy number of caps you'll spend per shot: .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 94.50 | 263.25 | 5 | 683.44 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | 5 | 602.93 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 5 | 569.53 | | Multiplas | MF MC | 25.0% | 105.00 | 380.63 | 3 | 521.72 | | Multiplas | MF OC | 25.0% | 75.00 | 271.88 | 3 | 372.66 | | Multiplas | MF | 25.0% | 60.00 | 217.50 | 3 | 298.13 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' It's unfortunate that energy weapon users are completely hosed when it comes to VATS damage because all of their weapons either cost too much to fire or use multiple projectiles, which lowers their VATS damage considerably. The last drawback is the Multiplas Rifles's range. In VATS, it's often best to target enemies while being far away. With the Multiplas Rifle, you'll get better results the closer you are to your target. Weapons like Brush Gun allow you to use VATS from a safe distance. For all of these reasons, and just due to general versatility, Brush Gun is considered a much better VATS weapon. Note: Pew-Pew ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pew-Pew with the Laser Commander perk is technically the *best* VATS weapon in the entire game IF you use EC Max Charge ammo. It will be approximately 11% more effective against 15 DT targets compared to the Brush Gun using .45-70 Gov't SWC. Against 0 DT targets, the Brush Gun still wins. The main problem with Pew-Pew, and the main reason why I don't include it as the best VATS weapon in this FAQ, is that each shot with EC Max Charge ammo costs 75 caps. It's just not worth using Pew-Pew as a general VATS weapon when you can use Brush Gun for a much smaller investment for basically the same results. So we'll just stop the discussion right here. If you have 20,000 caps to burn on ammo, then by all means, use Pew-Pew instead of Brush Gun... although I don't see the point. I'd just thought I'd mention it for completeness. Note: YCS/186 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the YCS/186 technically does more damage per AP spent in VATS, it requires a whopping 40 AP per shot, thus rendering Grim Reaper's Sprint more- or-less useless. Also, it's been said that the YCS/186 is bugged in VATS and does less damage than it should anyway. In fact, playtesting shows that Gobi does more damage, so don't use the YCS/186 in VATS mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.05 - Best 1HKO Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes you just wanna kill something in one hit in a 1-on-1 situation. These weapons will do that nicely. 1. YCS/186 Gauss Rifle ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside of VATS, the YCS/186 has the single most powerful shot in the entire game at 140 damage for the modest expenditure of 4 MF Cells. It sounds like a lot of ammo, but compared to most other energy weapons, it's actually quite a bargain. With Max Charge cells, you'll bring the damage up to 245, which is absolutely devastating - especially when you score a critical hit (which will most likely be the case). Critical hits go for 428.75 damage. To put it simply, you point the YCS/186 at something? - It dies. You point it at something else? - It also dies. Here's a chart listing all the top 1HKO weapons against a target that has 15 DT (the likeliest situation that you are going to need these weapons for). The list is sorted by the normal damage it would deal - not factoring critical hits - meaning it's the worst possible, guarenteed result for each of these weapons and ammo combinations: .---------------------.------------.--------.--------.----------------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | DAMAGE | AVERAGE DAMAGE | |---------------------|------------|--------|--------|----------------| | YCS/186 | MF MC | 40.0% | 218.75 | 292.25 | | YCS/186 | MF OC | 40.0% | 156.25 | 208.75 | | YCS/186 | MF | 40.0% | 125.00 | 167.00 | | Pew-Pew | MF MC | 75.0% | 124.69 | 237.89 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 Match | 20.0% | 109.25 | 136.85 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF MC | 20.0% | 105.00 | 270.38 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 101.70 | 135.45 | '---------------------'------------'--------'--------'----------------' As you can see, the YCS/186 blows away the competition here, even with Pew-Pew, Multiplas Rifle and Brush Gun thrown into the mix. The YCS/186's main drawback is that you must reload it after every shot, which takes a significant amount of time. It also has a nasty kickback, which makes aiming the next shot in your scope a big problem when your targets are moving. For this reason, once enemies are alerted to your presence and are rushing towards you, you should switch to a close-quarters weapon or a VATS weapon. Feel free to get another shot off if you can, but you want to be prepared. Good choices for this style of play are This Machine, Brush Gun or the Multiplas Rifle. In VATS, it has been reported that the YCS/186 is bugged and does less damage than it's supposed to. This often makes Gobi a superior choice to use when using VATS, at least until things get patched up. The YCS/186 can be found very easily if you're willing to trek all the way to Brooks Tumbleweed Ranch, which is west of Freeside/The Strip. Once you arrive at Brooks Tumbleweed Ranch, head north-east from there until you see a merc camp with 5 mercs. You can use a Sniper Rifle+ to make short work of them without any retaliation. One of those mercs has the YCS/186 on him. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/YCS/186_Gauss_rifle 2. Anti-Materiel Rifle ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This weapon is discussed a great deal on forums everywhere. It's often touted as the best weapon in the game by many. It's certainly potent, but doesn't quite measure up to the YCS/186. It does have a few things going for it however. The Anti-Materiel Rifle uses .50 MG rounds, which typically shred through just about everything. They are even more powerful than .308 rounds. Unfortunately, .50 MG's ammo variants are not quite as good. The best of the bunch is the custom-made .50 MG Match Hand Load provided by the Hand Loader perk. It boosts your damage by 15% while reducing the weapon's spread by 35%. The Anti-Materiel Rifle is already extremely accurate, so it's doubtful the player will see any meaningful difference due to the spread reduction, but a 15% damage increase is always nice. The Anti-Materiel Rifle can also use .50 MG Armor Piercing rounds, which can be purchased from any of the Gun Runners merchants. These are almost as effective as the custom Hand Loader rounds, but the Match Hand Load rounds will deal more damage against lightly armored targets while dealing about the same damage to heavily armored targets. When using .50 MG Match Hand Load, you should expect to deal 127 damage per shot with the Anti-Materiel Rifle. You'll often be scoring a sneak critical hit too, so you'll be doing 265 x2 damage per shot if your critical hit was successful. That's a little more than Gobi's first shot, which only does 226 x2 damage in the same situation. One nice thing about .50 rounds is that you can buy them in bulk for just 6 caps per round. So even though it's not quite as good as the YCS/186, it's a bit more economical to use unless the targets are really tough. Anti-Materiel Rifles have several disadvantages. For one, they are not good for anything other than 1HKO's and 1-on-1 encounters. Their rate of fire is abysmal, so once the enemy comes charging, you must switch to a different weapon like Gobi, This Machine or Brush Gun - or face the consequences. The Anti-Materiel can't be used in VATS very well either. Another drawback is that while the Anti-Materiel Rifle has a scope, it doesn't get the critical multiplier like a regular Sniper Rifle+ does. This isn't a problem when sneaking, but afterwards, it is at a significant disadvantage when compared to Sniper Rifle+ or Gobi. To make matters worse, the Anti-Materiel Rifle barely does more damage than a character who is spec'd to use the Brush Gun. Remember, the Brush Gun does 113 damage. After the first shot, the Brush Gun quickly jumps in the damage lead with its superior rate of fire while the Anti-Materiel Rifle is still busy setting up for its next shot. By then, the Brush Gun will have dealt around 226-339 damage. Probably the easiest way to acquire an Anti-Materiel Rifle is to go to the Gun Runners kiosk near New Vegas, suck it up, and buy it for ~6500 caps. Although for the same price, you can buy a Brush Gun instead ;) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Gun_Runners 3. Multiplas Rifle (Sneak Attacking only) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- It turns out that because of the way critical damage works with multiple projectile weapons, it's possible to rack up on insane critical damage with the Multiplas Rifle. With regular ammo, the Multiplas Rifle will deal 577.50 * 4 (2310) damage if you sneak attack an ememy in the head. With Max Charge ammo, the Multiplas Rifle will sneak attack for 1010.63 * 4 (4042.52) damage! The YCS/186 has no chance in hell to deal this level of damage, and this enables you to take out ANY enemy in the game - including Legendary Deathclaws - with a single hit if you can be stealthy enough. If you find yourself in a situation where you can sneak attack an enemy to score a guarenteed critical hit, the Multiplas Rifle is actually much better to use than going with the YCS/186 or the Anti-Materiel Rifle and is the best gun in the game for this purpose. Of course for regular attacks, the YCS/186 and the Anti-Materiel Rifle are superior... and that's ultimately why I listed them first. Here's a chart with all the best 1HKO weapons in the game ordered by critical hit damage. As you can see, the Multiplas Rifle completely obliterates the competition. .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Multiplas Rifle | MF MC | 20.0% | 183.75 | 1010.63 | 296.76 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF OC | 20.0% | 131.25 | 721.88 | 211.97 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF | 20.0% | 105.00 | 577.50 | 169.58 | | YCS/186 | MF MC | 40.0% | 245.00 | 428.75 | 215.62 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 20.0% | 164.06 | 410.16 | 441.53 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 HP | 30.0% | 153.13 | 356.56 | 359.78 | | YCS/186 | MF OC | 40.0% | 175.00 | 306.25 | 154.02 | | Pew-Pew | MF MC | 75.0% | 142.50 | 285.00 | 498.75 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 112.50 | 281.25 | 302.76 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 Match | 20.0% | 126.50 | 264.50 | 69.00 | | YCS/186 | MF | 40.0% | 140.00 | 245.00 | 123.21 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 SWC | 30.0% | 105.00 | 244.50 | 246.71 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 20.0% | 93.75 | 234.38 | 252.30 | | Sniper Rifle+ | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 93.00 | 232.50 | 372.00 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 | 20.0% | 110.00 | 230.00 | 60.00 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 | 30.0% | 87.50 | 203.75 | 205.59 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' It has to be noted that the Anti-Materiel Rifle is not a very good sneak attacking weapon, as you can see that the YCS/186, Brush Gun, Ranger Sequoia and Pew-Pew are all more effective. Against a target with 15 DT, like a Deathclaw, the order of effectiveness really doesn't change much except for that the Anti-Materiel Rifle goes up to 5th place with Pew-Pew and Brush Gun still besting it. This is generally why I have such a low opinion of the Anti-Materiel Rifle - it's actually a pretty terrible weapon due to its inferior versatility. .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Multiplas Rifle | MF MC | 20.0% | 105.00 | 931.88 | 229.82 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF OC | 20.0% | 75.00 | 665.63 | 164.16 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF | 20.0% | 60.00 | 532.50 | 131.33 | | YCS/186 | MF MC | 40.0% | 218.75 | 402.50 | 197.85 | | YCS/186 | MF OC | 40.0% | 156.25 | 287.50 | 141.32 | | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 75.0% | 124.69 | 275.63 | 475.78 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 101.70 | 270.45 | 280.41 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 Match | 20.0% | 109.25 | 247.25 | 61.28 | | YCS/186 | MF | 40.0% | 125.00 | 230.00 | 113.06 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.06 - Best Anti-Robot Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robots have different type of armor and a high damage threshold. You often need specialized weapons to take them out as regular weapons like Shotguns and the like just won't cut it. Sometimes This Machine won't hack it either. This section covers some of your options in taking out high-armored robots, like Sentry Bots or Securitron MK II's. 1. Pulse Gun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is *the* weapon to kill Robots, as it only takes 1 or 2 hits to kill any robot with it. Each shot will cost you 10 caps due to the gun consuming 5 Energy Cells, but the effects are very much worth the cost. If you ever want to take out Mr. House's entire army of Securitron MK II's... this is the weapon you want to do it with. Each consistently dies in 1 hit, which is pretty stellar. No other weapon can claim that except for the YCS/186. All other weapons, such as Gobi, Brush Gun or Plasma Caster need to rely on criticals in order to kill a Securitron MK II successfully in one hit. Outside of the purpose of killing robots (or those wearing Power Armor), this gun is useless. Luckily it only weighs 2.00 pounds, so you're not really punished for lugging it around everywhere you go. You'll never know when it might come in handy! You can find the Pulse Gun in Vault 34's armory, like many other excellent weapons: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_34 To get access to the key that open's the locked footlocker, you need to initiate Veronica's personal quest "I Could Make You Care": http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/I_Could_Make_You_Care 2. Others ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you don't have the Pulse Gun, use the YCS/186, Gobi or an Anti-Materiel Rifle - in that order. It'll work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.07 - Best One-Handed Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I haven't quite figured out why anyone would want to use a pistol. They generally do less damage compared to Rifles and other types of weapons, and never seem to offer any significant advantages. It's not like you have an energy shield or something else in your free hand. The only advantage that I can think of is that you run faster. If someone knows, be sure to send me an email ;) Anyway, if you do happen to require a pistol, there are a lot of options, all with various tradeoffs. When just comparing damage output, the Alien Blaster easily wins outright... but it's ammo is limited and it's non-replenishable. This fact pretty much rules it out of contention for practical use. The other options are not much more practical, however. The two best pistols in the game are Pew-Pew and Ranger Sequoia. In fact, they are almost equally good if you don't factor in Max Charge ammo. Once you include Max Charge ammo, however, Pew-Pew comes on top. 1. Pew-Pew ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Energy Weapon users, you're going to want to use Pew-Pew. In terms of raw damage, DPS, critical hit chance, low spread, VATS, etc., this weapon has it all. There are two drawbacks though: 1. It's very hard to acquire, and will take you many hours until you eventually find 50 of the 100 star bottle caps. 2. It uses A LOT of ammo, and will cost you 30 caps per shot - 75 caps if you should want to use Max Charge ammo. For a more detailed discussion about Pew-Pew, see section 2.02. 2. Ranger Sequoia ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For gun users, the Ranger Sequoia is the cream of the crop. It simply demolishes the competition. It is simply quality at its finest. For starters, it has a base damage of 70, which is the highest among all the Gun-based pistols. It's not just the highest, but it's nearly 30 points higher than the next in line - The Mysterious Magnum at 42. The damage is noteworthy too because even among the rifles, only the Anti- Materiel Rifle and the Brush Gun have a higher base damage - 110 and 75, respectively. Conclusion? This is one powerful pistol! Since Ranger Sequoia is part of the Hunting Revolver family, it also gets a 25% damage bonus with the Cowboy perk! Who would have thought the Cowboy perk could be so useful? :) When using custom .45-70 Gov't SWC ammo, you can expect to deal 105 damage per shot and 247 DPS. Remarkably, it does almost as much DPS as This Machine! Ranger Sequoia is superior in many other ways too: - It is the most accurate pistol, in and out of VATS at long ranges since it has a low spread of 0.1. - It deals the most critical damage out of any other pistol (62 damage) and is 7th best sneak attacking weapon in the entire game! Critical hits with this weapon are capable of taking out extremely tough enemies! If you like the Ranger Sequoia, you should probably consider taking "The Professional" perk, which adds another +20% damage whenever you get a sneak attack critical. With Better Criticals and Cowboy, that's a total of +95% damage from just perks alone. - It has a 1.5x critical modifier, which is the most out of any of the high damage pistols. High Luck and the Finesse perk can be used to further boost this advantage. The Ranger Sequoia will deal 244.50 damage on a critical hit. - It offers 2.33 damage per AP spent in VATS, making it tied for the best guns-related pistol to use in VATS. Even better, Ranger Sequoia using plain .45-70 Gov't ammo is better than Pew-Pew using normal regular EC or EC Overcharge ammo. It comes pretty darn close the level of damage of Pew-Pew using Max Charge ammo too... at a fraction of the cost in caps. .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 87.5% | 98.44 | 249.38 | 3 | 691.52 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 SWC | 37.5% | 105.00 | 244.50 | 4 | 629.25 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 | 37.5% | 87.50 | 203.75 | 4 | 524.38 | | Pew-Pew | EC OC | 87.5% | 70.31 | 178.13 | 3 | 493.95 | | Pew-Pew | EC | 87.5% | 56.25 | 142.50 | 3 | 395.16 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' - It's easily repaired with Hunting Revolers and just about any type of pistol with the Jury Rigging perk. That's right - you can use all of those spare 9mm and 10mm's to repair your Ranger Sequoia easily. Like the Brush Gun, the Ranger Sequoia's only real drawback is it's ammo type. You'll be busy hunting for a reasonable amount of ammo to comfortably use the Ranger Sequoia. Unlike Brush Gun, where This Machine acts as a suitable substitute... all the other pistols are terrible. You can obtain the Ranger Sequoia from Chief Hanlon at Camp Golf during the "Return to Sender" quest chain. This is a long chain, but the Ranger Sequoia is a good reward for your effort! Make sure to choose to turn him in so he commits suicide. After the long speech he'll kill himself. When you can finally enter the room, open the door and look on the ground near his body for the Ranger Sequoia. It's not ON his body, but near it! http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Return_to_Sender 3. Mysterious Magnum ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of course, if you need to sneak something into a casino or into the Legion camp, the Mysterious Magnum is probably the weapon of choice. While not nearly as powerful as other weapons, it's plenty capable of handling whatever threats lie in these locations. The Mysterious Magnum's one advantage over Ranger Sequoia or Pew-Pew is that it's very economical, easy to repair and is not a total pain to get ammo for. You'll likely find 150 rounds all on your own, but .44 Magnum rounds can be purchased in bulk rather easily and cheaply. Mysterious Magnum's base damage is 42 - kind of miserable - but it can be improved. You can take the Cowboy perk to get an additional +25% damage. With that, you'll do 53 damage per shot and have 149 DPS. Unfortunately, the Mysterious Magnum still doesn't perform very well in VATS and still has problems cutting through high DT targets. What can you do? You can acquire the Mysterious Magnum from the Lonesome Drifter, a guitar playing cowboy with daddy issues, during the quest "Talent Pool". When you recruit him to play at the Tops Casino, be sure to pass the Barter check to get something in return for your troubles: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Talent_Pool -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.08 - Best Ammo-Conservation Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes you don't want to use weapons because of repair issues, because you don't have enough ammo, or you just want to save your high quality ammo for harder targets. This category goes to the weapon that is best at killing trash effectively while being easily and cheaply repaired and having access to a constant, natural supply of ammo. 1. Weathered 10mm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Without a doubt, the Weathered 10mm is the best weapon for this purpose. While Maria has a slightly higher DPS out of the box, and has a 2.0x critical multiplier, It's possible to upgrade the Weathered 10mm to be far superior. For starters, you can use the Hand Loader perk to create custom 10mm JHP rounds, which takes the base damage from 24 to a whopping 40! DPS is also significantly increased from 65 to 123! This almost puts the Weathered 10mm on par with the Mysterious Magnum. The best news of all is that you'll find about 800 or so rounds of 10mm ammo, which will allow you to craft 600 rounds of JHP - more than enough to kill all sorts of trash in this game. In fact, it's such an effective weapon that you'll find yourself using it against 50% of the lower-bound enemies in this game. It's that good! Because the Weathered 10mm only uses 17 AP per shot in VATS, it's Damage/AP ratio has been boosted dramatically to 2.35, which puts it exactly on par with the Ranger Sequoia (assuming no Cowboy perk or SWC ammo)! But that's not all! Unlike a lot of unique weapons, you can actually further mod the Weathered 10mm to add many exciting capabilities! For example: - 10mm Pistol Extended Mags gives +4 Rounds per magazine. - 10mm Pistol Laser Sight decreases bullet spread and adds a laser sight effect. - 10mm Pistol Silencer reduces limb damage but adds a silencer to avoid detection. To obtain the Weathered 10mm, You need the pre-order DLC from EB-Games or Gamestop. If the DLC is installed, you'll get it immediately at the start of your adventure: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Weathered_10mm_Pistol 2. Maria ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those that don't have access to the Weathered 10mm, your next best option is Maria, a unique 9mm Pistol. It's one drawback is that you need to progress the storyline up to the point where you kill Benny in order to obtain it. It's possible to progress the story where you don't kill Benny... and if so, you miss out on it indefinitely: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Benny -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.09 - Best Unarmed Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ballistic Fist ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This weapon is easily the best fist weapon in the game. When you have maxed strength and maxed unarmed skill, it does 104 damage! The one drawback is that you need a character with 9 strength to use it effectively. This is not a problem, because you'll probably want to make a character with 7 strength if you plan on using fist weapons anyway (you can get +1 strength from implants and +1 from armor). The Ballistic Fist is also the best fist weapon in VATs, as it offers the highest DMG/AP, Pushy falling slightly behind. The easiest and earliest ways to get this weapon is from Blake at the Crimson Caravan Company: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Blake Or from Torres in the Hidden Valley Bunker: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Torres 2. Pushy ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This one is not as potent as Ballistic Fist outside of VATS, but it's much easier to obtain, it's free, and it only requires 2 strength to wield it. You can find Pushy on a dead Jackal Gang member inside the Ruby Hill Mine. This is not an easy location to get to early in the game, but if you can deal with Cazadors on your way there, go for it. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ruby_Hill_Mine 3. Mantis Gauntlet ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another option is to craft a Mantis Gauntlet. This weapon doesn't have as high of DPS as the Ballistic Fist, but it does have a 3x critical modifier on it and (should) ignore target defense, making it ideal against heavily armored targets. It's best used on a character with lots of LUCK. It is also a very fast weapon as you can get in lots of attacks, but it is terrible when using VATS compared to Pushy or Ballistic Fist. Unfortunately, people report that it doesn't work so well against Deathclaws, so you're probably better off with Ballistic Fist anyway as it's non-critical damage is much higher than the Mantis Gauntlet, at least until this gets patched. You can learn about how to craft a Mantis Gauntlet here: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Mantis_Gauntlet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.10 - Best Melee Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Oh Baby! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ 3. Charts ================================================================================ This section presents several charts containing weapon stats in and out of VATS which you may find very helpful. All the charts in this section assume that your character has 10 Luck, has the Finesse and Better Criticals perks and is using the 1st Recon Baret for a helmet - the best possible setup. For the VATS tables, it is assumed that your character has 125 AP, which is what most characters will have. Nonetheless, it is a good number to approximate VATS effectiveness. For Laser-based weapons, the Laser Commander perk is assumed, which gives 15% more damage and an additional 10% critical hit chance. For the Brush Gun and Ranger Sequoia, the Cowboy perk is assumed, which gives an additional 25% damage. For the Riot Shotgun, the Shotgun Surgeon perk is assumed, which gives a -10 Bonus to your targets DT. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.01 - VATS Total Damage Chart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To give you an idea as to which weapons and ammo combinations perform the best in VATS, I'll present you with a chart that shows how much damage is made possible during the full VATS sequence with critical hits factored in completely. You won't find this chart anywhere else on the Internet! NOTE: The critical chance is improved by 5% for all weapons in VATS. This critical chance is also affected by the weapon's multiplier. NOTE: Plasma Caster is not included because it is bugged in VATS and usually does pitiful damage or misses completely. Do NOT use Plasma Caster in VATS! .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 164.06 | 410.16 | 5 |1127.93 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 HP | 37.5% | 153.13 | 356.56 | 4 | 917.66 | | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 87.5% | 150.94 | 301.88 | 3 | 849.02 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 112.50 | 281.25 | 5 | 773.44 | | Multiplas | MF MC | 25.0% | 183.75 | 459.38 | 3 | 757.97 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 90.00 | 225.00 | 3 | 675.00 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 5 | 670.31 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 93.75 | 234.38 | 5 | 644.53 | | Tri-Beam | EC MC | 52.5% | 104.65 | 149.93 | 5 | 642.11 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 SWC | 37.5% | 105.00 | 244.50 | 4 | 629.25 | | Pew-Pew | EC OC | 87.5% | 107.81 | 215.63 | 3 | 606.45 | | Q-35 MM | MF MC | 50.0% | 56.00 | 218.75 | 4 | 549.50 | | Multiplas | MF OC | 25.0% | 131.25 | 328.13 | 3 | 541.41 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 | 37.5% | 87.50 | 203.75 | 4 | 524.38 | | Pew-Pew | EC | 87.5% | 86.25 | 172.50 | 3 | 485.16 | | Tri-Beam | EC OC | 52.5% | 74.75 | 107.09 | 5 | 458.65 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 60.00 | 150.00 | 3 | 450.00 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 5 | 446.88 | | Multiplas | MF | 25.0% | 105.00 | 262.50 | 3 | 433.13 | | Q-35 MM | MF OC | 50.0% | 40.00 | 156.25 | 4 | 392.50 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm JHP | 25.0% | 39.60 | 101.48 | 7 | 385.48 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G Magnum | 25.0% | 89.36 | 106.61 | 4 | 374.67 | | Tri-Beam | EC | 52.5% | 59.80 | 85.68 | 5 | 366.92 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G | 25.0% | 77.70 | 92.70 | 4 | 325.80 | | Q-35 MM | MF | 50.0% | 32.00 | 125.00 | 4 | 314.00 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm | 25.0% | 24.00 | 61.50 | 7 | 233.63 | | All-American | .556mm | 25.0% | 26.00 | 65.00 | 6 | 214.50 | | All-American | .556mm AP | 25.0% | 24.70 | 61.75 | 6 | 203.78 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.02 - VATS Total Damage vs 15 DT Chart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the VATS Total Damage chart in section 3.01 is all well in good, it's only accurate against targets which don't have any armor. Most of enemies with no armor are pretty easy to kill except for Cazadors. A more practical chart is one that factors in the enemy's Damage Threshold (DT) values, because an enemy's DT will significantly reduce the amount of damage per shot that you deal to the target. In this chart, we'll assume that we are up against enemies with a 15 DT. Enemies like Deathclaws and Super Mutant Masters and are difficult to take out with SMGs or low-damage weapons. Some enemies like Giant Rad Scorpions and Sentry Bots have 18 DT, so this chart will give you a close enough approximation of what to expect against those. .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 87.5% | 124.69 | 275.63 | 3 | 770.27 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 94.50 | 263.25 | 5 | 683.44 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 67.50 | 202.50 | 3 | 607.50 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 59.06 | 305.16 | 5 | 602.93 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 SWC | 37.5% | 94.20 | 233.70 | 4 | 586.05 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 78.75 | 219.38 | 5 | 569.53 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 75.00 | 221.25 | 5 | 557.81 | | Pew-Pew | EC OC | 87.5% | 89.06 | 196.88 | 3 | 550.20 | | Multiplas | MF MC | 25.0% | 105.00 | 380.63 | 3 | 521.72 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 HP | 37.5% | 48.13 | 251.56 | 4 | 497.66 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 | 37.5% | 72.50 | 188.75 | 4 | 464.38 | | Q-35 MM | MF MC | 50.0% | 29.75 | 192.50 | 4 | 444.50 | | Pew-Pew | EC | 87.5% | 71.25 | 157.50 | 3 | 440.16 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 45.00 | 135.00 | 3 | 405.00 | | Multiplas | MF OC | 25.0% | 75.00 | 271.88 | 3 | 372.66 | | This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 50.00 | 147.50 | 5 | 371.88 | | Q-35 MM | MF OC | 50.0% | 21.25 | 137.50 | 4 | 317.50 | | Multiplas | MF | 25.0% | 60.00 | 217.50 | 3 | 298.13 | | Q-35 MM | MF | 50.0% | 17.00 | 110.00 | 4 | 254.00 | | Tri-Beam | EC MC | 52.5% | 25.90 | 71.18 | 5 | 248.36 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G Magnum | 25.0% | 49.11 | 66.36 | 4 | 213.67 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm JHP | 25.0% | 14.85 | 76.73 | 7 | 212.23 | | All-American | .556mm AP | 25.0% | 24.70 | 61.75 | 6 | 203.78 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G | 25.0% | 42.70 | 57.70 | 4 | 185.80 | | Tri-Beam | EC OC | 52.5% | 18.50 | 50.84 | 5 | 177.40 | | Tri-Beam | EC | 52.5% | 14.80 | 40.68 | 5 | 141.92 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm | 25.0% | 9.0 | 46.50 | 7 | 128.63 | | All-American | .556mm | 25.0% | 11.00 | 50.00 | 6 | 124.50 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' Once the DT has been factored in, Pew-Pew still remains king and weapons like Brush Gun and Gobi dominate the field much more strongly than they did before. Even Ranger Sequoia gets a huge boost because of the SWC ammo. On the flip side, weapons that use multiple projectiles, like the Riot Shotgun, Tri-Beam Laser Rifle and Multiplas Rifle sunk in effectiveness dramatically. Even the Shotgun Surgeon perk offered no real help. The Multiplas Rifle didn't make the top 2 VATS weapons because it simply gets nerfed in these situations. Besides Pew-Pew, energy weapons really got shafted here. When it comes to VATS, guns pretty much dominate this game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.03 - VATS Total Damage vs 30 DT Chart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generally speaking, if a target has 30 DT, VATS is really not the kind of thing you want to be using. It has to be said that sneak attacks with weapons like Sniper Rifle+ or Multiplas Rifle, or going for burst damage with weapons like Gobi or YCS/186 is much prefered. Nonetheless, I thought I'd include a chart illustrating the average DPS for the various weapons against a target with 30 DT, which is the DT for Mr. House's Securitron MKII's. Generally speaking, not much has changed from the 15 DT chart - guns like Brush Gun, Gobi and Ranger Sequoia have everything crushed. Likewise, guns like Riot Shotgun and Tri-Beam Laser Rifle become absolutely useless. .--------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.--------.--------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | # ATKS | DAMAGE | |--------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|--------|--------| | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 87.5% | 98.44 | 249.38 | 3 | 691.52 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 25.0% | 76.50 | 245.25 | 5 | 593.44 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 45.00 | 180.00 | 3 | 540.00 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 SWC | 37.5% | 76.20 | 215.70 | 4 | 514.05 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 25.0% | 63.75 | 204.38 | 5 | 494.53 | | Pew-Pew | EC OC | 87.5% | 70.31 | 178.13 | 3 | 493.95 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 25.0% | 52.50 | 198.75 | 5 | 445.31 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 | 37.5% | 57.50 | 173.75 | 4 | 404.38 | | Pew-Pew | EC | 87.5% | 56.25 | 142.50 | 3 | 395.16 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 30.00 | 120.00 | 3 | 360.00 | | Q-35 MM | MF MC | 50.0% | 11.20 | 166.25 | 4 | 354.90 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 25.0% | 26.25 | 200.16 | 5 | 348.63 | | Multiplas | MF MC | 25.0% | 36.75 | 301.88 | 3 | 309.09 |

| This Machine | .308 | 25.0% | 35.00 | 132.50 | 5 | 296.88 | | Ranger Seq. | .45-70 HP | 37.5% | 24.50 | 146.56 | 4 | 281.09 | | Q-35 MM | MF OC | 50.0% | 8.00 | 118.75 | 4 | 253.50 | | Multiplas | MF OC | 25.0% | 26.25 | 215.63 | 3 | 220.78 | | Q-35 MM | MF | 50.0% | 6.40 | 95.00 | 4 | 202.80 | | Multiplas | MF | 25.0% | 21.00 | 172.50 | 3 | 176.63 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm JHP | 25.0% | 7.92 | 51.98 | 7 | 132.54 | | All-American | .556mm AP | 25.0% | 10.45 | 47.50 | 6 | 118.28 | | Tri-Beam | EC MC | 52.5% | 18.20 | 18.20 | 5 | 91.00 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm | 25.0% | 4.80 | 31.50 | 7 | 80.33 | | All-American | .556mm | 25.0% | 5.20 | 35.00 | 6 | 75.90 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G Magnum | 25.0% | 17.87 | 17.87 | 4 | 71.48 | | Tri-Beam | EC OC | 52.5% | 13.00 | 13.00 | 5 | 65.00 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G | 25.0% | 15.54 | 15.54 | 4 | 62.16 | | Tri-Beam | EC | 52.5% | 10.40 | 10.40 | 5 | 52.00 | '--------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'--------'--------' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.04 - Average DPS Chart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A lot of places online will give you stats for base damage, critical damage and DPS for regular ammo rounds, but this data is often useless for in-game, practical purposes. This chart will give you a good visual of not only the damage you can expect for the various weapons with different ammo types, but it'll show you the Average DPS you will get with critical hits factored in based on the weapon's critical multiplier. In a nutshell, this information presents a far more accurate view of what actually happens in-game. Once again, you'll not find this anywhere else on the Internet! ;) Like this VATS Chart, this chart assumes that your character has the Finesse and Better Criticals perks, has a Luck score of 10, and is using the 1st Recon Beret. The Laser Commander and Cowboy perks are also assumed for their respective weapons. NOTE: Pew-Pew's Average DPS appears to be a lot higher than it actually is because while you'll get 2 fairly fast shots, you are forced to reload due to your small clip size. This actually really slows you down in practice, so the value is very deceiving. I indicate this with **'s next to it's value. In practice, Plasma Caster+ and Gobi both have a much higher DPS compared to Pew-Pew. .---------------------.------------.--------.----------.---------.---------. | WEAPON | AMMO | CRT % | BASE DMG | CRT DMG | AVG DPS | |---------------------|------------|--------|----------|---------|---------| | Plasma Caster+ | MF MC | 20.0% | 142.19 | 355.47 | 635.86 | | Pew-Pew | EC MC | 75.0% | 150.94 | 301.88 |**528.28 | | Plasma Caster+ | MF OC | 20.0% | 81.25 | 203.13 | 454.19 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G Magnum | 20.0% | 89.36 | 210.11 | 454.02 | | Tri-Beam | EC MC | 45.0% | 104.65 | 240.49 | 452.13 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 HP | 20.0% | 164.06 | 410.16 | 441.53 | | Gobi | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 90.00 | 225.00 | 397.77 | | Riot Shotgun | 12G | 20.0% | 77.70 | 182.70 | 394.80 | | Plasma Caster+ | MF | 20.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 388.70 | | Pew-Pew | EC OC | 75.0% | 107.81 | 215.63 |**377.34 | | Sniper Rifle+ | .308 JSP | 100.0% | 93.00 | 232.50 | 372.00 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 HP | 30.0% | 153.13 | 356.56 | 359.78 | | Tri-Beam | EC OC | 45.0% | 74.75 | 171.78 | 322.95 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 SWC | 20.0% | 112.50 | 281.25 | 302.76 | | Pew-Pew | EC | 75.0% | 86.25 | 172.50 |**301.88 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF MC | 20.0% | 183.75 | 1010.63 | 296.76 | | Q-35 MM | MF MC | 40.0% | 56.00 | 218.75 | 290.64 | | This Machine | .308 JSP | 20.0% | 97.50 | 243.75 | 271.05 | | Gobi | .308 | 100.0% | 60.00 | 150.00 | 265.18 | | Tri-Beam | EC | 45.0% | 59.80 | 137.43 | 258.36 | | Brush Gun | .45-70 | 20.0% | 93.75 | 234.38 | 252.30 | | Sniper Rifle+ | .308 | 100.0% | 62.00 | 155.00 | 248.00 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 SWC | 30.0% | 105.00 | 244.50 | 246.71 | | Lucky | .357 JFP | 50.0% | 46.88 | 117.19 | 225.59 | | YCS/186 | MF MC | 40.0% | 245.00 | 428.75 | 215.62 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF OC | 20.0% | 131.25 | 721.88 | 211.97 | | Q-35 MM | MF OC | 40.0% | 40.00 | 156.25 | 207.60 | | Ranger Sequoia | .45-70 | 30.0% | 87.50 | 203.75 | 205.59 | | All-American | .556mm | 20.0% | 26.00 | 65.00 | 202.80 | | Mysterious Magnum | .44 SWC | 20.0% | 63.00 | 157.50 | 199.63 | | All-American | .556mm AP | 20.0% | 24.70 | 61.75 | 192.66 | | This Machine | .308 | 20.0% | 65.00 | 162.50 | 180.70 | | Lucky | .357 | 50.0% | 37.50 | 93.75 | 180.47 | | Multiplas Rifle | MF | 20.0% | 105.00 | 577.50 | 169.58 | | Mysterious Magnum | .44 | 20.0% | 52.50 | 131.25 | 166.36 | | Q-35 MM | MF | 40.0% | 32.00 | 125.00 | 166.08 | | YCS/186 | MF OC | 40.0% | 175.00 | 306.25 | 154.02 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm JHP | 20.0% | 39.60 | 101.48 | 142.93 | | YCS/186 | MF | 40.0% | 140.00 | 245.00 | 123.21 | | Weather 10mm | 10mm | 20.0% | 24.00 | 61.50 | 86.63 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 Match | 20.0% | 126.50 | 264.50 | 69.00 | | Anti-Materiel Rifle | .50 | 20.0% | 110.00 | 230.00 | 60.00 | '---------------------'------------'--------'----------'---------'---------' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.05 - Average DPS vs 15 DT Chart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the Average DPS chart in section 3.04 is all well in good, it's only accurate against targets which don't have any armor. Most of those enemies are pretty easy to kill except for Cazadors. A more practical chart is one that factors in the enemy's Damage Threshold (DT) values, because an enemy's DT will significantly reduce the amount of damage per shot that you deal to the target. In this chart, we'll assume that we are up against enemies with a 15 DT. Enemies like Deathclaws and Super Mutant Masters and are difficult to take out with SMGs or low-damage weapons. Some enemies like Giant Rad Scorpions and Sentry Bots have 18 DT, so this chart will give you a close enough approximation of what to ex