“ The Caesar has marked you for death, and the Legion obeys! Ready yourself for battle! ” — Legionary assassin, before attacking the Courier

Legionary assassins are high-end assassins living in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. They work for Caesar's Legion.

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Background Edit

Legionary assassins are small groups of four elite killers for Caesar, usually led by a decanus, praetorian guards or a centurion, dispatched to eliminate the Legion's enemies.

The first type of group is composed of:

1x decanus (leader)

2x veteran legionaries

1x vexillarius

The second type of group is for eliminating Caesar's greater enemies, composed of:

1x centurion (leader)

1x prime decanus

1x veteran legionary

1x vexillarius

The last type of group is for Caesar's greatest, most hated enemies, composed of:

1x praetorian guard (leader)

1x veteran decanus

1x veteran legionary

1x vexillarius

During these assassination missions, praetorian guards are allowed to use firearms in the place of their unarmed weapons.

Characteristics Edit

Legionary assassins begin to appear if the player character obtains a Shunned or worse status with Caesar's Legion. They will travel across the wasteland from their original spawn point towards the player character's current location, not stopping until they encounter them. As a result, they can end up attacking the player character almost anywhere in the wasteland. Assassins may also attack other non-player characters they pass near while searching for the Courier, such as NCR settlements or traveling merchants (as with all non-player character vs non-player character combat, this only occurs if the player character is currently in the same active map cell as the non-player characters).

Legionary assassins typically attack in four-man groups, including a Recruit-Prime-Veteran-Decanus, a Legion vexillarius, one veteran legionary and after:

a veteran legionary

a centurion

a praetorian guard

Legionary assassins may also appear after aiding the Legion's enemies, namely the NCR, by successfully completing the quests Three-Card Bounty, I Put a Spell on You, I Don't Hurt Anymore, or any other quest that improves the reputation of the player character with the NCR.

They will have weapons and armor depending on the Courier's standing with Caesar's Legion and their level. The weapons can range from simple 9mm pistols, caravan shotguns and machetes to 12.7mm pistols and sub-machine guns, assault and marksman carbines brush guns, thermic lances, or a super sledge.

As of patch 1.4.0.525, legionary assassins level with the player character, up to level 45. At higher levels, this gives them very high health on par with a non-player character companion. Additionally, the praetorian and veteran assassin may be equipped with Legion centurion armor instead, making them all the more difficult to kill.

Interactions with the player character Edit

Interactions overview Edit

Inventory Edit

Decanus Edit

Vexillarius Edit

Centurion Edit

Praetorian Edit

Veteran Edit

Spawn points Edit

Notes Edit

If the player character also has a bad reputation with the New California Republic, NCR Ranger hit squads can also be encountered at the same time as legionary assassins.

One of the earliest opportunities for assassins to begin tracking the player character is while traveling towards Novac, where they will attack the Courier if they kill the legionaries and Vulpes Inculta in Nipton.

Legionary assassin parties can end up inadvertently attacking outposts or NCR garrisons such as the 188 trading post while tracking the Courier.

If a player character's reputation with Caesar's Legion is Vilified, the initial dialogue with the assassins may no longer occur, even with the Terrifying Presence perk. It is advisable to carefully navigate one's surroundings if several 'friendly' ticks appear on one's compass close together, as it could be a pack of assassins that will immediately turn hostile as soon as they spot the player character. This means that one will not able to get the first shot (via dialogue) unless one sees them coming. If this is not the case, they could quickly kill a level 20-30 Courier who is unaware of their location.

The initial dialogue with Legion assassins may not occur if Boone is in the party, because Boone will shoot them before the dialogue is triggered, turning them immediately hostile.

If a player character's reputation is below Vilified, assassins will usually initiate dialogue and can be scared off through a Terrifying Presence dialogue choice. The lead Legionary will ask the Courier, "Do you ever give up?" to which they may reply, "Not while there's still spines unshattered." This will cause them to cry for help, and flee.

Groups of legionary assassins may be attacked by other creatures at their spawning point or when tracking the player character. This can result in a three or even four-way battle between the player character, the assassins, and creatures or other factions.

Groups of assassins can occasionally spawn on terrain impassable to non-player characters (such as on mountains or in valleys), in which case they can turn non-hostile as if the player character had hidden from them. This may be associated with the "lead" dialogue-initiating assassin being unable to approach the player character due to terrain since other assassins are non-hostile until the leader concludes dialogue.

Legion assassin teams commonly spawn at the easternmost Powder Ganger camp, but they only charge in once the player character has engaged the Powder Gangers, if hostile. This can lead to the player character being caught in a crossfire between both sides.

If the player character's reputation with Caesar's Legion is Vilified, and the player character is at a high level, assassins appear more frequently (about one group every day).

Assassins will not spawn while the player character is wearing faction armor that affects Legion reputation (e.g. NCR ranger patrol armor or Legion recruit armor).

They do not drop Legion ears when killed, making them useless for the unmarked quest An Ear to the Ground.

Legionary assassin attacks do not occur randomly. For example, if a player character fast travels to a location and is ambushed by assassins, they will still ambush the player character if a save is reloaded and the location traveled to again.

Legionary assassins may sometimes spawn outside Ranger station Charlie, causing a crossfire between a ranger and the assassins.

They may spawn atop HELIOS One after the Courier has activated the reflector control panel for That Lucky Old Sun.

Legionary assassins may be carrying blocks of C-4 plastic explosive, but they never seem to be equipped with detonators.

Appearances Edit

Legionary assassins appear only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs Edit

PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 [verified]

PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 [verified]

PC [verified]