There are dozens of ways to build your character in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fallout: New Vegas and this feature is one of the things that makes the Fallout franchise so uniqꦐue. Pistols are a great choice of weapon, especially since they work well both with and witho♌ut stealth.

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There are lots of little things you need to know to create an effective pistol build, such as which SPECIAL stats to invest in and what armor to wear. If you l♛ike pistols and want to know how to build a character exclusively around them, then you're in the right place because you'll find an in-depth guide on pistꦕol builds below.

Updated June 22, 2024, by Christopher Padilla: If you wanna be the deadliest gun-hand in the Mojave, we've got the information you need right here. We've added some extra gear options to customize your gunslinger as well as more information to the guide, as well as re-evaluating which Traits and SPECIAL stats to favor at character creation.

How To Play A Pistol Character

New Vegas Character Using A Pistol

Pistol builds are versatile, and you can play them in a variety of ways. You can incorporate stealth into your playstyle if you want, but it's not necessary to create a powerful character since it's easy to aim with a pistol in the heat of combat. However, stealth will give you a boost to damage because of sneak attacks.

You can sneak up to your enemies or run into the battle with your weapon drawn, but either way, you should prioritize the use of VATS since this build includes a high Agility stat. You'll have lots of Action Points to work with, and you'll easil𒁏y get headshots.

Generally speaking,🔜 your ideal engagement ranges are the mid and clo🌌se ranges, outside of melee range, where you're at the most accurate and in least danger of getting stabbed. Further out, pistols are far less reliable, both in and out of VATS.

If enemies get too close, they're hard to aim at and even VATS shots at 95 percent can miss regularly. The Hunting Revolver (GRA) modded with a scope a🦋llows you to hit at longer ranges, as it effectively turns the pistol into a sniper rifle.

Levelling Gear

Fallout New Vegas the town of Goodsprings

You start the ga𝐆me as a headshot-🎀addled courier with little to your name:

  • If you have the Courier’s Stash DLC, you have a strong head start with the Weathered 10mm Pistol and the Lightweight Leather Armor.
  • If you don’t, pistols are a fairly common drop, so just grab whatever pistols suit your main skill (Guns or Energy Weapons).

For protection, try to avoid heavy armor because they have a penalty to Agility. Other than that you’ll want to focus on DT for protectio♒n or bonuses to the Gun♋s or Energy Weapons skills.

Once you get to Primm, if you have a ludicrously high Lockpicking skill, a safe in the Bison Steve Hotel can be unlocked for the Lucky Revolver, which will suit you for a good 💛chunk of the🌠 game.

If you don’t have the requisite Lockpicking skill, save up your Caps until you get to Novac where you can buy That Gun for around 1000 Caps, depending on your Barter skill﷽ and reputation. Either one should support you for a good chunk of the game.

The Strongest Gear For A Pistol Build

New Vegas Aiming A Pistol In First Person

The gear you'll need for a pistol build isn't complex, simply a pistol and a sturdy set of armor. However, there's some gear that easily outperforms others, so here's everything you should♋ strive💦 for with this build.

The Strongest Semi-Automatic Pistol

New Vegas Joshua Graham Talking To The Courier

A Light In Shining Darkness is one of the strongest pistols in New Vegas. It's a unique .45 Auto Pistol that deals 33 base damage, has a higher critical chance🍒, and features less spread. A faster fire rate is an🐭other great trait of this firearm.

You can get A Light In Shining D𒊎arkness by killing Joshua Graham in Zion or 🎐after finishing the Honest Hearts questline.

The Strongest Revolver

Chief Hanlon In Dialogue Discussing The Burned Man

If you’re taking the Cowboy perk, you’ll want a big iron at your hip, and the Hunting Revolver is the biggest. If you have the Gu🌱n Runners Arsenal DLC, be sure to pick up the Hunting Revolver (GRA) instead, which can be improved wi🐟th mods including a scope which turns it into a sniping weapon as well.

The easiest way to get this without a high Sneak skill is to talk Chief Hanlon into killing himself at the end of the Return to Sender quest, after which he’ll drop the pistol. Take it somewhere with no witnesses, 🐽and then add it to your inventory.

Its special variant, called the Ranger Sequoia, has the highest per-shot damage of any pistol.It’s also difficult to get if you want to stay friendly with the NCR, since it’s held only by NCR Ve🍌teran Rangers aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnd Ranger Hanlon and can only be acquired by murder or theft.

The Strongest Energy Pistol

New Vegas Sunset Sarsparilla Headquarters On The Map

Pew Pew is a unique Laser Pistol you can earn by talking to Festus inside the Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters after you have 50 Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottlecaps in your possession. Pew Pew deals 75 base damage per shot, but in exchange for its incredibly high damage, each shot consumes five Energy Cells, and you h𒁏ave to reload after every two attacks.

This weapon is particularly strong if you want to one-shot your enemies.

The Strongest Light Armor For A Pistol Build

Ulysses With His Back To The Camera Showing The Flag On His Back

In the base game, your best option for Light Armor is the Vault 34 Security armor, which gives the highest DT of its class without DLCs. Your options open up a lot more with the DLCs. In Honest Hearts, Joshua Graham’s armor gives a nice three perc𝓡ent boost to Crit. Chance and a robustꦉ DT.

In Dead Money, you can get the Sierra Madre Armor, Reinforced, which has the highest DT of🔜 all Light Arm🤡ors in the game, at 18 DT.

In Lonesome Road, one of the end rewards is the Courier Duster, which varies depending on which faction you’re siding with in the Mojave. Two variations, Blackjack (Independent/Yes Man route) and Old World Justice (Mr. House route) are quite g🍸ood, giving +1 Luck and Poison Resistance or +1 Agili꧃ty and Radiation Resistance, respectively.

Regardless of your allegiance, you also get Ulysses’ Duster, which gives +1 Charisma and a hefty five percent boost to Crit. Chance.

The Strongest Medium Armor For A Pistol Build

The X-13 Research Facility On The Map in Fallout: New Vegas.

The Stealth Suit Mk II is very useful while wielding pistols for a variety of reasons. First, it's a medium armor piece, which is the ideal armor type for a pistol build since it's not too heavy, but still provides decent protection.

Second, the Stealth Suit Mk II increases your stealth speed by 20 percent and your Sneak skill by 15 points simply for wearing it.

Along with all of the advantages above, this suit will even heal you automatically using Stimpacks when your health gets low. You can acquire the Stealth Suit Mk II by visiting the X-13 Facility in the Big Empty insi♏de t♎he Old World Blues DLC.

You'll also need to complete a few tests to improve the Stealth Suit Mk II, so it'll🅠 grant you all the bonuses listed above.

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The Strongest Heavy Armor For A Pistol Build

The locations of the Hidden Valley (left) and 188 Trading Post (right), shown on the Pimp-Boy 3 billion

Your options are fairly limited when it comes to Heavy Armor, since most of them carry an Agility penalty, but if you’re insistent on being a Gunslinger in shining armor, your best non-powered option is from the Honest Hearts DLC, which gives you the Gecko-backed armor cra𝐆fting recipe.

You can craft a Gecko-backed Metal Armor with 90 Survival, which provides a nice suite of Resistances and 17 DT. It’s made from Metal Armor,🅰 Reinforced, and the tanned hid🔯es of the fire, golden, and green geckos.

If you have Power Armor Training from the Brotherhood of Steel questline, your options open up a bit more. The T-51b is sold by the Brotherhood after completing their questline. The Remnants Power Armor is earned from arcade Gannon’s quest, For Auld Lang Syne. Neither have an Agility Penalty and the latter has the highest DT of any ar♚mor in the gౠame.

Stats For A Pistol Build

New Vegas Character Aiming A Revolver At An Enemy

There are lots of stats you need to know about to build a powerful pistol build, including skills, perks, and traits, among others. Here's every stat you need to adjust while using pistols as your primary weapon type.

The Best SPECIAL Stats For A Pistol Build

The Perception Special Stat During Character Creation in Fallout: New Vegas.

Agility is the most essential since it governs your damage with ballistic weapons, and the majority of pistols are ballistic. However, Luck is also useful if you plan to use VATS and critical hits regularly. Perception is necessary for a few perks t🥃hat make this build extra powerful.

Here's a suggested spread of SPECIAL stats to start with:

SPECIAL Stat

Number Of Points

Strength

5

Perception

6

Endurance

5

Charisma

4

Intelligence

4

Agility

9

Luck

7

The Best Skills For A Pistol Build

The Skills Menu After Leveling Up in Fallout: New Vegas.

You'll have the chance to select three skills after creating your character. Each of the selected skills will gain 15 points, which is quite a boost. Additionally, you earn ten skill points to allocate every time you earn a level, plus an extra point per every point of Intelligence you have.

Each skill can reach up to 100. The most powerful skills you can use for a pistol build may vary slightly depending on your preferences, but overall they'll usually be the same. Guns or Energy Weapons are the first two skills you should prioritize since they iওncrease your damage with pistols.

The Repair skill is also useful so that you can repair your pistols when they break and at 70 skill, you gain can get the Hand Loader perk, which allows you to craft powerful custom ammo. Finally, it's worth considering the Sneak skill because you may ༒want to combine pistols with steal😼th for the extra sneak attack damage.

The Best Perks For A Pistol Build

The One Way Or Another Perk In The Level Up Menu of Fallout: New Vegas.

Perks are a powerful tool you can use to improve your build further. You earn a perk every two levels you gain, so there's a lot of room to improve your character with them. A lot of perks are universally useful regardless of your build, but not all of them.

There aren't many perks that fit a pistol build exclusively, but there are quite a few that are uniquely useful for this weapon type.

Perk

Requirements

Number Of Ranks

Effect

The Professional

Level 6, Sneak 70

1

Grants 20 percent extra damage from critical hits with sꦺubmachine guns, revolvers, and pistols.

Run 'N Gun

Level 4, Guns Or Energy Weapons 4

1

Grant꧙s half the spread while walking or running and wielding a one-handed ranged weapon.

Gunslinger

Level 6

1

Grants 25 percent extra ✤accuracy with all one-handed weapons.

Cowboy

Level 8, Melee 45, Guns 45

1

Grants 25 percent extra damage with Hatchets, Knives, Dynꦍamite, Revolvers, and Lever-A🃏ction Rifles.

Math Wrath

Level 10, Science 70

1

All Action Point costs are ten percent less.

Finesse

Level 10

1

Grants a five percent critical chance.

Sniper

Level 12, Perception 6, Agility 6

1

Grants a 💮25 percent extra chance to hit ♌an enemy's head inside VATS.

Better Criticals

Level 16, Perception 6, Luck 6

1

Grants 50 percent 𒁃extra damage with all critical hits.

Meltdown

Level 16, Energy Weapons 90

1

Enemies killed by energy weapons explode, dealing damage relative to the original shot of the same type.🌄 This can cause a chain reaction.

Concentrated Fire

Level 18, Guns And Energy Weapons 60

1

Successive shots in VATS at the same body part give a 🌠꧃5 percent bonus to hit for every shot.

Grim Reaper's Sprint

Level 20

1

Restore 20 Action Points whenever you defe𓆏at an enemy while inside VATS.

Laser Commander

Level 22, Energy Weapons 90

1

15 percent bonus to dam💦age and ten percent Crit. Chance Bonus to all Laser Weapons.

Grunt (Honest Hearts)

Level 8, Explosives 20, Guns 45

1

Grants 25 percenꩲt extra💞 damage with 9mm Pistols, .45 Pistols, 9mm SMGs, .45 SMGs, Service Rifles, Machine Guns, Carbines, Launchers, Combat Rifles, Grenade Rifles, and Frag Grenades.

The Best Traits For A Pistol Build

The Fast Shot Trait Inside The Menu of Fallout: New Vegas.

Traits offer a trade-off, a beneficial effect at the cost of a negative effect as well. You can choose two perks at the beginning of New Vegas, but you can also decide not to select any traits or only take one. There are a few traits that fit aꦅ pistol b🐟uild perfectly.

Depending on your preferrence of weapons, take the Fast Shot or Trigger Discipline trait. Fast Shot increases the firing r🐽ate and AP costs in VATS for all firearms by 20 percent, but decreases accuracy in and out of VATS by 20 percent.

This works well for slower-firing weapons like revolvers since they tend to be accurate enough to take the penalty and throwing more lead downrange leads to a n𝔉ice in♚crease in DPS.

Conversely, Trigger Discipline🅷 gives a 20 percent accuracy bonus but gives a 20 percent increase VATS AP costs and lower firing rates, which works well on fast firing weapons like Semi-Automatics since they fire fast enough to trivialize the firing rate penalty but are often less accurate.

Never take Fast Shot and Trigger Discipline together. If you do, you'll end up less�♕� accurate and fire slower with all firearms.

Built to Destroy is a good damage booster, adding permanent three percent Crit. Chance bonus at the cost of all your 𓂃weapons degrading 15 percent faster. With your investment in repair, you can keep your weapons in good shape regardless, especially if you pick up the Jury Rigging perk while having Raul Te👍jada as a companion (see below) mitigates the degredation.

Alternatively, if you have the Old World Blues DLC, you can take the Skilled perk which gives +5 to all Skills at the cost of decreasing your EXP gains by ten percent. This is a trivial cost because enemies scale with your level and the Mojave gives more thaꦦn enough🅺 experience to get you to max level.

The Best Implants For A Pistol Build

The Medical Clinic On The Map in Fallout: New Vegas.

Implants offer another way to 𝓡increase your abilities after creating your character. You can travel to the New Vegas Medical Clinic and speak to Doctor Usanagi to purchase implants using Caps. You can install one implant for every point of E🧸ndurance you have.

You can't increaꦿse SPECIAL stats past 10, so keep that 😼in mind if you make permanent increases to your SPECIAL like from the Intense Training perk or the point you get at the end of Lonesome Road.

The Optics Enhancer, Reflex Booster, and Probability Calculator are all good options for a pistol build. These implants raise your Perception, Agility, and Luck by a single point instantly, while each costs 4,000 Caps to install.

If you plan to use stealth, then the M-5 Implant is also a good consideration since it increases your stealth speed by 20 percent. You can install the M-5 Implant at a cost of 10,000 Caps at The Sink in the Old World Blues DLC.

The Best Companion For A Pistol Build

New Vegas Black Mountain On The Map

Companions can aid your character in combat and make your overa🌊ll experience m🌱uch easier. Raul Tejada is by far the best companion for a pistol build since he wields a .44 Magnum Revolver. As such, Raul can become your cowboy sidekick. He can also keep your weapons in good shape for longer with his Regular Maintenance perk, which makes weapons degrade half as fast.

If you finish his personal quest (it's an unmarked quest that doesn't appear in your quest journal), it upgrades to Full Maintenance which further increases its mitigation, enough to offset the extra degredation from the Built to Destroy trait.

You can recruit Raul as a companion by rescuing him from Black Mountain, which is on the map above, as part of the Crazy, Crazy,🌳 Crazy quest.

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