There are plenty of deadly weapons in the game. You can use simple guns, lasers, swords, even nuclear catapults to disintegrate enemies. But common weapons are boring. So, today we will look into unique examples of existing items with which you can slay your foes.
Note that we will cover only weapons from the original game. Descriptions of the Gun Runners’ Arsenal and Courier’s Stash include info about additional weapons, so we will not provide them here. Only basic guns, only hardcore!
The article is divided into 5 paragraphs which are dedicated to a certain category of available weapons.
Unarmed
As you can understand, this section includes all items affected by your Unarmed skill. It sounds a bit strange but there are several such items:
- Cram Opener.
This is the improved variant of a regular bladed gauntlet. It has increased damage and crit chance as well as durability. It costs 800 caps, so you can earn a little money if you don’t plan to use this cold steel.
How to get: complete the mission by killing all leaders of Fiends, then wait a few days, and look for Little Buster’s dead body near the railroad at the entry to Old Mormon Fort. Or simply kill this NPC.
- Golden Gloves.
This weapon is the one and only variant of common boxing gloves. Similar to them, Golden Gloves inflict fatigue damage instead of lethal one. Means you can knock down your target without killing it. This weapon has the best fatigue damage in the game.
How to get: go to Lucky 38 and enter its casino part. There you want to find VIP apartments at the upper section left of the entrance. There look for a bar and a bookshelf behind it where this item is.
- Love and Hate.
This pretty stylish weapon is the variant of knuckles. It deals significantly more damage than a regular item. You can recognize Love and Hate by these words engraved on each knuckle. Remember that you can take this item to weapon-free areas if your Sneak is 50 or higher.
How to get: reach Bonnie Springs north of your starting location. The town is occupied by Vipers including two leaders of this gang. They will be hostile anyway. The weapon can be picked up from the leader’s body.
- Paladin Toaster.
Surprisingly, this energy weapon is categorized as unarmed one. It’s the version of zap glove. You know, such weapons deal moderate electric damage and have pretty high durability. Paladin Toaster also deals extra damage to robots and enemies with power armor.
How to get: make your way to Black Rock cave southeast of the eponymous mountain controlled by super mutants. The glove is on the body of a scavenger guarded by nightkins, so be ready for good battle.
Displacer gloves may seem weak weapons but Pushy is cool. It allows you to knock back foes and deal a lot of damage to them. This glove is fast as hell. So, it has the best DPS of all unarmed arms (sic!) from the original game!
How to get: find Ruby Hill mine which is located on the road to Jacobstown northeast of this city. There are plenty of lakelurks through which you have to wade. Pushy is on the body in the lowermost part of this location near the entry to another tunnel.
- Recompense of the Fallen.
A pretty unusual weapon made of NCR dog tags similar to common dog tag fists. It has the same appearance as a regular item but deals a little more damage. What’s good that it requires only 1 point invested in Strength.
How to get: the fist is in the rooms of Aurelius, a centurion who is at Cottonwood Cove directly east of NCR camp. You only have to enter his apartments and find the item on the table there.
Melee
All items from this category are affected by Melee Weapons as well as all perks and traits related to it:
- Blade of the East.
This is the one and only variation of a bumper sword that you can grab only during the battle for Hoover Dam. The sword has a unique effect which drains target’s health with the time. It also can perform a special attack with the chance of knocking down enemies.
How to get: start the final battle for aby faction except for Legion. Kill Lanius and loot his body to pick up Blade of the East. If you cooperate with Yes Man or Mr, House, this sword is cool against NCR soldiers and bosses.
- Chance’s knife.
This kind of a combat knife has a long history. It belonged to one of Great Khans who fought with Fiends. This story is revealed in All Roads novel. Chance’s knife has wonderful attack rate and DPS.
How to get: go to the tribe hamlet north of your starting location. Come back to the main road there and look south, so you should locate a trail and a hill. On its top, you will find a grave where Chance’s knife is. A shovel is necessary to grab it!
Chopper is the one and only kind of a cleaver. It deals high damage, especially to limbs. It also has higher crit chance and a special back slash attack. Though, its durability and others parameters are the same as common cleaver’s ones.
How to get: find the main house in Wolfhorn Ranch east of Nipton. This place is abandoned, so you can pick up Chopper without penalties. The exact location of the cleaver is on the oven right of the main door.
Oh, that’s our love. Figaro is the variation of a razor but it has so many benefits! It has higher damage, attack rate, crit chance, and crit damage. Durability is also higher. Additionally, you can take Figaro to weapon-free areas.
How to get: the item belongs to Sergio, one of the Kings. This guy is at the base of his gang at Freeside. You can either kill or rob him to get Figaro. None of these actions will make other Kings hostile.
- Knock-Knock.
Well, that’s not our love definitely. Despite this ax is more powerful than a regular one, it has half as much durability. Also, it is in very bad condition when you find it. However, Knock-Knock looks stylish, so grab it for the collection.
How to get: find the fire station in Camp Searchlight. The building is closed and the only NPC with the key is Logan. Complete his quest to enter the location or simply kill this NPC. You also can rob him.
Here we have the pretty interesting machete with increased damage and durability as well as tripled DPS. It looks like a regular machete but has an intriguing story. They say that this weapon was granted to its owner as a reward for eliminating Sun Dogs.
How to get: your way leads to Nelson which is right east of Novac. Liberator is the weapon of Dead Sea, one of the legionaries there. You can kill him during NCR’s quest or complete his own mission during Legion’s story to obtain this machete.
- Nephi’s golf driver.
While common golf clubs are pretty odd weapons, this one is stylish and well-looked. It deals a little more damage but has worse durability. Also, with Nephi’s golf driver you can perform a special attack which will always knock down targets.
How to get: simply kill Driver Nephi, one of Fiends’ leaders who is terrorizing the Mojave and NCR. We mentioned these bandits in the Cram Opener section, so you can get two unique items for the single mission.
- Oh, Baby!
Probably, it’s the most dangerous melee weapon. Oh, Baby! is a super sledge with high surface damage. It requires 8 Strength points but you can always sell this hammer for tons of caps. Its regular price is 6200!
How to get: you should move to Charleston cave near Jacobstown where a lot of night stalkers are. Try to pass them in stealth regime. Proceed to the southwest part of this cave and look for the dead nightkin near the west side.
- The Humble Cudgel.
It’s the variation of a common pipe with modified design and better characteristics. The Humble Cudgel deals more damage for more action points. It also has increased durability. We don’t suggest using it due to the extremely difficult path to this item.
How to get: well, you need to enter sewers at the north part of the Thorn near New Vegas. Then move to the center part of underground location to enter next level of sewers. You should find a Luke with the key to the last level of sewers where The Humble Cudgel is.
Guns
Yeah, you know that here we will describe deadly things that are affected by your Guns level:
- Abilene Kid LE BB gun.
Do you think BB guns cannot be deadly? Oh, kid. Here we go. This rifle has outstanding crit damage, so we really suggest taking all perks related to crits. Alternatively, you can perform sneak attacks with high crit chance to eliminate targets with this gun.
How to get: located Field’s shack slightly west of Nellis AFB. It’s abandoned, so don’t worry about karma. Inside you will find the weapon. With Wild Wasteland the gun will be inside the well right neat the shack.
- All-American.
This cool carbine is the most flexible weapon so far as it can use different types of ammo. Compared with regular guns it has increased rate of fire, accuracy, and zoom. Be sure to find this if you love guns.
How to get: your target is Vault 34 that is located directly south of Field’s shack described above. There is armory inside the vault. All-American is there but you need to unlock the terminal of Overseer to get there.
- Big Boomer.
Everybody loves shotguns, especially unique ones. This gun can fire much more shells at once, so you can deal plenty of damage simultaneously. It is faster and cheaper when it comes to action points. The only disadvantage is that you cannot take it to weapon-free areas.
How to get: there is Gibson scrap yard right near Novac. There is Mrs. Gibson. And she holds this shotgun. Means, you have to murder this old lady or rob her to get the gun. It’s pretty cruel but Big Boomer is cool.
- CZ57 Avenger.
This minigun has the best DPS on all weapons. That’s why you should find it regardless of extremely dangerous location. The gun also has better accuracy than regular miniguns. And it costs 8500 caps!
How to get: go into The Devi’s Throat literally. This place is in the far east part of the map. There are centaurs including evolved creatures and their leaders. There is high radiation level as well. The gun is in the trailer, you will see it.
- Dinner Bell.
Shotguns again! This one is the one and only variant of a hunting shotgun. You may say that it’s not so cool… But let’s reveal stats. Dinner Bell has better damage even in comparison with a fully-upgraded regular shotgun.
How to get: do you remember where the Thorn is? Find Red Lucy there and accept her task. Prepare for long expeditions for eggs of different creatures. The reward for this quest is our beloved Dinner Bell.
- Gobi Campaign scout rifle.
Here is the stylish sniper rifle with cool desert camouflage and decorations. Compared with regular sniper guns, all stats of this one are better. Reduced consumption of action points is really what all snipers need. But don’t forget that spare parts for this gun are rare.
How to get: find Sniper’s nest between Searchlight and Cottonwood. This location is quite small but you will not miss it. There is a locked chest with an extremely hard lock on it. Save before unlocking so far as you will not be able to open it after a failure.
- La Longue Carabine.
Before the patch 1.3.0.452, this gun had outstanding accuracy. But developers decided that it’s too strong, so now this carbine is slightly better than a regular cowboy repeater. It comes with a scope and extended magazine. And you cannot modify it at all.
How to get: La Longue Carabine is held by NCR’s officer Sterling from McCarran. There are no ways to obtain this gun peacefully. Note that NPC will move to Forlorn Hope after killing all leaders of Fiends.
This revolver is strong so fat as it uses only 17 action points. Surely, it’s more powerful than all regular Magnums. Lucky is cool for stealth playstyle because you can use it as holdout gun if you have at least 50 Sneak.
How to get: enter Primm and find the main hotel there. You are looking for the shop with gifts which is located left of the main door. Lucky is in the locked safe in the back part of this shop. You need 75+ Lockpick to open this safe.
This gun has a long story similar to Chance’s knife. It’s revealed in All Roads comics. Even more, this gun is the Courier’s main rival because Benny tried to kill the protagonist using Maria. As usual, the gun has increased stats compared with regular 9mm pistols.
How to get: Maria belongs to Benny, so you can grab it only from his body. Means, you should either kill or rob this NPC. Note that you cannot pick up the pistol if you decided to spare Benny’s life in the Tops or in the Fort.
- Mysterious Magnum.
Do you remember the Mysterious Stranger? This odd guy appears during combats and can kill anybody with his powerful pistol. The gun we are talking about is a reference to Stranger. It’s the improved variant of a regular Magnum with a pretty high cost of 3200 caps.
How to get: during Talent Pool mission you will encounter the Drifter near El Dorado gas station. He sits under the billboard and holds Mysterious Magnum. The gun can be obtained by passing a check with Barter 50+ or simply by killing/robbing this NPC.
This rifle is made for snipers. It has all available improvements including night scope with a wonderful zoom of 3,5x, better magazine, and silencer. Ratslayer has significantly higher crit multiplier, so you want to use it with crit-related perks.
How to get: find Broc flower cave north of Searchlight and enter this location. The item is in the lab on the topmost level of this cave. Prepare for plenty of rats including giant ones. Wild Wasteland here acts against you adding even more giant rats.
- That Gun.
The ultimate variant of a .223 gun can exploit armor piercing bullets which are wonderful against well-protected foes. That Gun has amazing crit multiplier similar to Lucky. Also, this weapon is quite unusual because you can buy it only for 1750 caps.
How to get: it’s located in the Dino shop in Novac. As we mentioned before, you can buy it from Cliff. To steal That Gun, open the storage room in this shop but remember that unlocking it and grabbing the gun leads to penalties. You cannot obtain the item after an unsuccessful steal.
- This Machine.
There are a few reasons you should grab this gun. At first, it comes in the best condition and can be repaired with parts of all battle rifles. At second, it’s wonderful at short-range and mid-range fights. Finally, it looks pretty saucily with this anti-communistic title.
How to get: you only have to finish the mission Dealing with Contreras. It will not appear in your journal because it’s unmarked. You can start this quest in McCarran after dialogues either with Boyd or Conteras.
- Vance’s 9mm SMG.
Everybody knows about Bonnie and Clyde. Fallout offers its own version of this story but main heroes are called Vikki and Vance. One of their weapons you can collect. This unique SMG has high attack rate, DPS, and, of course, damage.
How to get: firstly, you must have 50+ Science to notice that the SMG was stolen from the casino in Primm. Then go to the hideout where you should unlock the safe with 100 Lockpick or talk to Wins and pass the check with 55+ Speech.
Energy
Let’s continue. Our next category features guns which depend on your Energy Weapons parameter:
- AER14 prototype.
This laser rifle is the next version of regular guns of this type. It uses 2 projectiles per shot instead of only 1 but it also has twice DPS. You cannot modify AER14 prototype but can repair it with spare parts from regular laser rifles.
How to get: enter Vault 22 and proceed to the common area on the 5th floor. This vault can be found near the road to Jacobstown east of the city. The gun is right on the floor, you will notice it by human skeleton.
- Alien blaster.
Yeah, here it is. Simply the best gun. It can disintegrate any enemy after headshot and it always performs crits. The only problem that you will find only 140-270 energy cells for this gun, so we recommend using it wisely and frugally.
How to get: it’s possible to find Alien blaster only with Wild Wasteland active. Move to Horowitz Farmstead northwest of New Vegas and then go a little to the north. You will find a spaceship and extraterrestrials. Only their leader holds this gun.
- Euclid’s C-Finder.
Here is quite unusual energy gun. It didn’t shot at all but targets certain zones where the Archimedes II will fire. The power of this laser is devastating. It’s better to leave the affected area ASAP. You can use Euclid’s C-Finder only once per day.
How to get: find Max in Freeside and buy this gun for 1000 caps. The price is 25 caps for characters with 45+ Barter. At night, you can rob Max with karma loss. Note that this weapon works only if you charged the orbital laser during That Lucky Old Sun.
- Missing laser pistol.
Well, you are not interested in this gun so far as it’s a quest item. It has the same stats as regular laser pistols with reduced damage and crit damage. It costs only 175 caps. Rubbish! However, iron sights for this gun are available.
How to get: start Pistol Packing after talking to Torres in the main bunker of Brotherhood. During this mission, you will enter the scorpion gulch where this pistol is. Look for the dead adventurer and a rock near it.
- Pew Pew.
Here we have another laser gun. Pew Pew looks quite strange with all that decorations but its stats are more important. It deals 6 times more damage than regular pistols! However, it also uses 5 cells per shot.
How to get: do you like collections? To obtain this gun, you have to collect 50 caps with star and bring them to Festus in the HQ of Sunset Sarsaparilla. This location is directly south of the Thorn. Long story short, Pew Pew is your reward for caps.
- Pulse gun.
Unlike other items here, this one isn’t affected by your skills. The gun deals only 5 points of regular damage but has extremely high bonus damage against robots and foes in power armor. Its principle is similar to other pulse weapons.
How to get: this item is in Vault 34 where All-American is. Enter the location and find the armory on the 1st floor. The safe with Pulse gun can be lockpicked with the maximum level of this skill or opened with the key of Blackwell which is located at Nellis AFB.
- Q-35 matter modulator.
The gun has a lot of differences from a regular plasma rifle. It uses only 1 cell per shot but has twice faster attack rate. Projectiles have increased velocity and the weapon exploits fewer action points. Finally, it’s more durable and less heavy.
How to get: it’s pretty simple if you have either 100 level of Lockpick or Science. Go to REPCONN HQ south of New Vegas. Explore the main level of this building and find the locked door with the computer near it. Here we go, you only have to unlock this door.
- Tesla-Beaton prototype.
The unusual variation of the Tesla cannon looks like a real prototype with its wires, and orange light. It deals a bit more damage but has half as much durability compared with a regular analog. Thus, we don’t recommend using it often. But it costs 12525 caps!
How to get: find the place where a vertibird was crashed. It’s in the canyon just southwest of the airport of Searchlight. The cannon is inside this helicopter near skeletons of soldiers. Prepare for the fight with hacked Enclave robots.
- Van Graff laser rifle and Van Graff plasma rifle.
Both guns are versions of common rifles made by Van Graffs. These items have less durability and deal slightly less damage. But you can use them even with 0 level of Energy Weapons. Normally, these are quest items.
How to get: you can choose between laser and plasma during Birds of a Feather when new employers hire you as a guard. After the mission, you must return the gun. Of course, it’s possible to destroy the shop or kill Van Graffs to return these weapons.
- YCS/186.
The wonderful Gauss rifle which is better than its regular variant. All stats are increased and we love greater accuracy with higher damage. Also, this gun can cripple limbs. The only disadvantage is an increased weight, from 7 to 8 pounds.
How to get: if you don’t have Wild Wasteland then this weapon will appear instead of Alien blaster in the same location. There will be troopers instead of aliens. So, yeah, you cannot grab both this gun and Alien one without using codes.
Explosives
Our final category reveals unique items which efficiency depends on your level of Explosives:
- Thump-Thump.
It’s the grenade rifle with unusual design and title as well as with increased stats. It suits all fans of explosives so far as it has a higher radius of AoE. Each grenade fired from this rifle also deals moderately higher damage.
How to get: at first, you should beat the mission Ant Misbehavin’. Then the gun will appear in Nellis array which is located inside Nellis AFB. You are looking for broken-down generators and skeletons near them.
This grenade machinegun is significantly different from regular ones. It uses 40mm grenades instead of 25mm analogs. Means, you will deal lot damage at the cost of more often recharges. Mercy and ammo also weigh more than regular analogs.
How to get: oh, yeah. This gun is located in Dead Wind Cavern north of Nipton. There are plenty of deathclaws including legendary ones! Mercy can be found near a corpse of Brotherhood paladin equipped with a few grenades and power armor.
Hands down it’s the best alternative for common missile launchers. Annabelle has a guidance system, requires fewer action points and less level of Strength. If you are going to use such weapons be sure to find the gun.
How to get: go to Blackrock Mountain east of your starting location. There will be several super mutants including the one on the radio tower. Deal with this foe and collect Annabelle from the corpse.
- Holy Frag Grenade.
Regular frag grenades are common and you can find them almost anywhere. But these unique alternatives are much powerful. Their effect is similar to mini nukes’ one. You understand what it means: tons of damage and radiation.
How to get: you must have Wild Wasteland. Go to Searchlight and find the church there. Grenades are on the base floor protected by several geckos. If you don’t have the trait you will find regular mini nukes there.
And now… Try to find them all!
