The Mojave Wasteland is a harsh and unforgiving place. To survive, you need more than just a trusty weapon and a stylish cowboy hat. You need the right perks. In Fallout: New Vegas, perks are the key to customizing your character and building the ultimate wasteland survivor. Choosing wisely can transform you from a struggling Courier into a legendary figure, capable of taking on any challenge. This guide will outline some of the New Vegas best perks, taking into account various playstyles and build archetypes, helping you craft a character that dominates the desert. Keep in mind that the idea of the “best” is subjective and heavily depends on your personal preferences and desired gameplay.
Understanding Perks in New Vegas
Before diving into the perk specifics, let’s clarify how they work within the game. As you wander the Mojave, completing quests and defeating enemies, you’ll earn experience points. Accumulating enough experience leads to leveling up. Each level grants you a crucial reward: the opportunity to improve your skills using skill points and, most importantly, to select a perk.
Perks offer a diverse range of benefits. Some directly enhance your combat abilities, boosting your damage output or improving your survivability. Others are more utilitarian, aiding in exploration, resource gathering, or even social interactions. Each perk has its own set of requirements. This could include a minimum level, a certain value in one or more of your SPECIAL stats (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck), or a specific skill level.
Therefore, planning your character build in advance is crucial. Knowing what perks you want to acquire later on will help you focus your skill points and SPECIAL stats accordingly. Blindly picking perks can leave you with a powerful character who lacks the specific abilities you need to thrive.
Top Tier Perks: Essential Choices for Most Builds
Certain perks are so universally useful that they are considered must-haves for almost any build. These perks provide a significant advantage, regardless of your combat style or roleplaying preferences.
One excellent early game choice is Intense Training. This perk grants you a point to add to any SPECIAL you desire. Why is this good? It provides unmatched flexibility, especially in the early game when your stats may be lacking. If you are one point short of being able to wield a weapon properly, or use the perks that require it, then Intense Training can easily solve that problem. If you don’t see any immediately apparent issues to solve, you can also put it towards your luck stat and begin raking in the wins at the casinos along the strip.
The Educated perk is a cornerstone for rapid skill progression. Each level, you’ll receive extra skill points to distribute. The more skill points the better, as it allows you to raise the many different skills available to the Courier such as, Guns, Speech, Lockpick, and more. The sooner you grab this perk, the greater the long-term benefit.
The Comprehension perk allows you to get two skill points per skill book you level. This essentially doubles the skill points you can get from finding skill books. Why is this good? It makes skill points go a long way. When should you take it? After you find a few skill books.
Combat-Focused Perks
The Mojave Wasteland is a dangerous place filled with hostile creatures and even more hostile people. If you plan on surviving for long, you’ll need to become proficient in combat. These combat-focused perks will significantly enhance your ability to dish out damage and withstand attacks.
Finesse is invaluable for builds that rely on critical hits. It grants you an increased critical hit chance. A flat percentage increase to crit is always welcome, no matter the build or situation. It is especially good for crit builds.
Speaking of critical hits, Better Criticals further enhances your critical strike potential. Critical hits do much more damage with this perk. Why is this good? It works well with Finesse, providing a very significant damage boost. Also good for crit builds.
Whether you’re hiding in the shadows or wading into a firefight, Toughness makes you significantly more resilient. Damage resistance is very useful for all builds. What do you gain from this? More defense against attacks.
The Jury Rigging perk stands out for its utility in maintaining your equipment. Jury Rigging allows you to repair almost any item in the game. Why is this so valuable? Cheaper repairs, keeps weapons and armor in top condition. You can fix a very expensive item such as a Power Armor, by sacrificing a much cheaper item, like a suit of Leather Armor.
For aggressive players who favor high damage output, Fast Shot is an excellent choice. It allows you to shoot faster, but with decreased accuracy. The upside is high damage per second, especially in close-range combat. Fast Shot is a great choice for all close-range builds.
Stealth & Utility Perks
The Mojave is not all about fighting. Sometimes, the best way to survive is to avoid conflict altogether, or to find creative solutions to your problems. These perks enhance your stealth capabilities, improve your exploration abilities, and give you an edge when dealing with the environment.
If you’re looking to deal extra damage, Sneering Imperialist does bonus damage to a certain type of character in the game. Why is this good? Bonus for attacking factions. Good for when you need to wipe out an entire faction.
Encumbered by loot? The Pack Rat perk is a lifesaver. Pack Rat reduces the weight of all items. The result? More loot carried and less encumbered. If you like hoarding all the possible items in the game, then this is the perk for you.
Walking into traps can be frustrating and deadly. Light Step helps you avoid triggering traps. The result? Avoid annoying traps and explosives, increased survivability. This is useful for everyone, especially when exploring dangerous areas.
Having trouble with skill checks? Tag! allows you to tag another skill. Useful for skill checks, especially in the early game.
Roleplaying & Dialogue Perks
Fallout: New Vegas is known for its complex storylines and memorable characters. These perks allow you to delve deeper into the roleplaying aspects of the game, unlocking unique dialogue options and influencing the world around you.
The Black Widow (if you’re playing a female character) or Confirmed Bachelor (if you’re playing a male character) perk unlocks special dialogue options with certain characters. This will allow you to get in and out of certain situations depending on your character. Why is this good? Unique interactions, potentially useful for quests.
Want to scare people? Terrifying Presence allows you to scare people with dialogue. Useful if you want alternative solutions to conflicts, and intimidation tactics. This is the option if you are focusing on an intimidation build.
Niche & Situational Perks Worth Considering
These perks might not be universally useful, but they can be incredibly powerful in specific situations or for certain builds. If you’re playing a specialized character, these perks could be exactly what you need.
Them’s Good Eatin’ allows you to get healing when eating corpses. You can get by with very little supplies in the world if you have this perk. Why is this good? Can be useful in survival situations.
Living Anatomy displays the enemy HP. With this perk, you will always know exactly how much health the enemy has. Why is this good? Helps you assess threats, plan attacks.
Old World Gourmet allows you to get better healing with the items you eat in the world. Very useful if you play on a high difficulty. Why is this good? Can be useful in survival situations.
Looking for more critical hit damage? Miss Fortune does extra damage with luck. If you put all your stat points into Luck, this is a very useful perk. Why is this good? Can be useful in combat situations.
Perks to Avoid: Often Not Worth It
Not all perks are created equal. Some are simply not worth the perk slot, either because they offer minimal benefits or because their effects can be easily replicated through other means. It is always important to consider what your perk will do in the long term, not just in the moment.
Hunter only provides bonus damage against animals. You won’t find much use for this, as animals aren’t common.
Lead Belly reduces rads from drinking. However, the rads are easy to deal with, as there are many sources of medicine that get rid of radiation.
Swift Learner only provides bonus experience points. This perk is useless in the long run, because by the time you are halfway done with the game, you are already at the level cap.
Planning Your Build & Perk Synergies
Choosing the right perks is not simply about picking the most powerful individual options. It’s also about creating a cohesive build where your perks work together to enhance your character’s strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. Think about how your perks will synergize. For example, combining Finesse with Better Criticals creates a powerful critical hit-focused build.
A Gunslinger, focusing on pistols and revolvers, might prioritize perks that enhance critical hit chance, improve accuracy, and increase reload speed. A Melee Tank, on the other hand, would focus on perks that boost damage resistance, increase health, and enhance melee damage. A Stealth Sniper would need perks that improve sneak, increase critical hit damage with rifles, and provide bonuses to silenced weapons.
Conclusion
Perks are the heart and soul of character customization in Fallout: New Vegas. They allow you to mold your character into a truly unique and powerful individual, capable of thriving in the harsh Mojave Wasteland. By carefully considering your playstyle, planning your build, and choosing the right perks, you can create a character that is perfectly suited to your adventure. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different perk combinations to find what works best for you. The Mojave is your oyster, and the possibilities are endless. Choosing the right New Vegas best perks is crucial to surviving and thriving. Experiment, adapt, and become the legend you were meant to be.
