Introduction
Fallout: New Vegas. The name alone conjures images of sun-baked desert landscapes, morally grey choices, and the constant threat of mutated creatures lurking just around the corner. While many players gravitate towards laser rifles or powerful melee weapons, there’s a certain chaotic joy to be found in specializing in the Explosives skill. Picture this: clearing out entire rooms with a well-placed grenade, setting elaborate traps for unsuspecting raiders, or simply unleashing a mini-nuke on a group of Deathclaws. Sounds fun, right?
This guide is your comprehensive roadmap to becoming a true Explosives expert in Fallout: New Vegas. We’ll delve into the essential skills, crucial perks, devastating weaponry, and clever tactics needed to dominate the Mojave Wasteland with explosive force. Forget finesse; we’re going for maximum impact! Buckle up, Courier, because things are about to get explosive.
The Core of the Build: Skills and Stats
To truly excel with explosives, we need to lay a solid foundation of skills and stats. This isn’t just about tossing grenades; it’s about crafting a character perfectly suited to wreaking havoc with controlled demolition.
Primary Skills
Explosives: This is the lifeblood of your character. Every point you invest in Explosives directly translates to more damage, a wider range of usable explosives, and more crafting options. Don’t skimp on this skill. Prioritize leveling it up early. The earlier you invest, the higher your damage multipliers will be, allowing you to eliminate threats with relative ease. Investing early also ensures you’ll be able to pass skill checks that may open up new dialogue options or reveal hidden locations. This is your bread and butter, your raison d’etre, your reason for existing in the Mojave. Treat it with the respect it deserves, and it will reward you with satisfying explosions.
Survival: Many may question the need for survival in an explosives build, but the truth is that this skill allows you to craft different types of ammo, and cook food to replenish HP. The ability to craft different types of dynamite for different scenarios can be invaluable when facing off against certain enemies, and the ability to replenish HP quickly can be the difference between life and death.
Lockpicking: Although it may seem disconnected from a build that revolves around blowing things up, lockpicking provides essential utility. Being able to access locked rooms and containers can give you an edge by providing access to more resources and useful loot. There are also plenty of locked doors that hide secrets which may assist you in your journey, or help you get the upper hand over your enemies.
Secondary Skills
Speech: While our primary focus is blowing things up, sometimes a well-placed word can be as effective as a well-placed grenade. Speech allows you to talk your way out of (or into) situations, persuade NPCs, and even manipulate events to your advantage. You might be able to convince a bandit leader to leave you alone, negotiate a better price for your explosives, or even talk someone into walking into your perfectly laid trap. It adds a layer of finesse to an otherwise destructive playstyle.
Science: Science is another surprisingly useful skill for an Explosives expert. It allows you to hack terminals, disable security systems, and even craft your own explosives. The ability to craft high-quality explosives can give you a significant edge in combat, and hacking terminals can provide valuable information about enemy positions and weaknesses. It’s the perfect complement to your explosive expertise, adding a touch of intellectual firepower to your destructive arsenal.
Repair: Maintaining your gear is essential for any character, and an Explosives expert is no exception. Repair allows you to keep your weapons in top condition, maximizing their damage output and preventing them from breaking down at the worst possible moment. It also lets you craft essential repair kits, ensuring you can always keep your explosives in tip-top shape. A well-maintained arsenal is a deadly arsenal.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Allocation
Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are the foundation of your character, dictating their strengths and weaknesses. Here’s a suggested allocation for an Explosives build, designed to maximize your destructive potential:
- Strength: A decent Strength score is necessary for carrying capacity and handling heavier weapons. A value of six is a good starting point.
- Perception: Perception influences your Explosives skill, as well as your ability to detect enemies from a distance. A value of five is ideal at the start.
- Endurance: Endurance is crucial for survival, increasing your health points and resistance to damage. Start with seven points in this category.
- Charisma: Charisma is generally the least important stat for an Explosives build. Three points is sufficient for most interactions.
- Intelligence: Intelligence dictates the number of skill points you receive per level. Five points is a great base.
- Agility: Agility influences your action points in V.A.T.S. and your weapon handling. Seven points can be very beneficial.
- Luck: Luck affects your critical hit chance and can influence skill checks. Seven is an ideal base to start with.
This allocation provides a balanced foundation for your Explosives build, allowing you to deal significant damage while remaining relatively durable. Feel free to adjust it based on your personal preferences and playstyle.
Perks: The Key to Explosive Power
Perks are special abilities that you unlock as you level up, and they are absolutely essential for maximizing your Explosives potential. These perks will transform you from a mere grenade-tosser into a true master of demolition.
Essential Perks
Demolition Expert: This perk is absolutely critical. It increases the damage of your explosives by a significant percentage. What’s even better is that it can be taken multiple times, and the effects stack. Take it as soon as possible and as many times as you can.
Splash Damage: This perk is very simple, it increases the radius of your explosive attacks allowing you to clear out more enemies in a single blast.
Pyromaniac: Pyromaniac increases the damage dealt by all fire based explosives, which can be devastating against any foe that’s weak to fire.
Useful Perks
Bloody Mess: While not strictly tied to explosives, Bloody Mess is an excellent perk for any character focused on dealing massive damage. It increases your damage output and adds a satisfyingly gory visual effect to your kills. Seeing your enemies explode into a cloud of blood and giblets never gets old.
Pack Rat: This perk reduces the weight of ammo and is invaluable due to explosives generally being a bit on the heavy side. This allows you to carry more, so you don’t run out of ammo too quickly.
Toughness: Having high damage resistance can make you incredibly hard to kill, and is important to surviving if an enemy manages to get too close to you.
Perk Leveling Guide
Choosing the right perks at the right time can make a huge difference in your effectiveness. Here’s a suggested perk selection order:
- Levels two through ten: Prioritize Demolition Expert. It’s the single most important perk for an Explosives build, so grab it as soon as possible. Then, try and pick up Pack Rat and Bloody Mess.
- Levels ten through twenty: Continue maximizing your explosive damage with perks like Splash Damage and Pyromaniac.
- Levels twenty and beyond: Focus on utility perks like Toughness.
Gear: Arming the Explosives Expert
The right gear can make all the difference in the wasteland. Here’s some gear you should try and collect for the challenges ahead.
Weapon Selection
- Early Game: Dynamite is easily accessible and deadly enough to start with. Frag Grenades are also a must-have.
- Mid-Game: When you can afford it, grab a Grenade Launcher, Time Bombs, and other high damage consumables.
- Late Game: The Fat Man is the ultimate explosive weapon. The Thump-Thump is an automatic grenade rifle with devastating power.
Armor
- Early Game: Look for light to medium armor that provides decent Damage Threshold (DT) without sacrificing mobility.
- Mid Game: Consider power armor if you can find or purchase a set. This allows you to shrug off tons of damage, but can be difficult to acquire.
- Late Game: Continue using Power Armor as you gain access to stronger sets.
Consumables
- Buffout, Med-X, and other stat-boosting consumables can significantly enhance your combat effectiveness. Food that replenishes health also help a lot.
Gameplay Strategies and Tactics
Now that you’ve built your character and armed them to the teeth, it’s time to learn how to use your explosive power effectively.
- Combat Tactics: Distance is your friend. Don’t let enemies get too close. Use cover to your advantage, and always be aware of your surroundings. Use V.A.T.S. to improve your accuracy when throwing grenades. Explosives can hurt you too!
- Questing and Exploration: Many quests can be solved more easily with explosives. Use them to clear obstacles, open locked doors, or simply eliminate your enemies in a spectacular fashion. Keep an eye out for locations that are rich in explosives and crafting resources.
- Challenges and Weaknesses: An Explosives build has its weaknesses. You can run out of ammunition quickly. Some enemies are resistant to explosives. You can accidentally blow yourself up. To mitigate these weaknesses, carry a variety of explosive types, prioritize crafting and scavenging for ammo, and always be mindful of your surroundings.
Conclusion
An Explosives build in Fallout: New Vegas is a chaotic, destructive, and incredibly fun way to experience the game. By focusing on the right skills, perks, and gear, and by mastering the art of explosive warfare, you can become an unstoppable force in the Mojave Wasteland. So, grab your dynamite, load up your grenade launcher, and get ready to blow ’em away! Go out there and create some chaos, and let your enemies know that you are the master of demolition!
Now, go forth, Courier, and make the Mojave a little bit more explosive. And be sure to share your favorite Explosives build stories and tactics in the comments below! Happy detonating!
