Fallout New Vegas Perks Guide – Best Perks

In our Fallout New Vegas Perks Guide, we have detailed everything you need to know about all the best perks in the game and their effects.

Along with the new story, new characters, and new city, Fallout New Vegas featured new powerful perks that your character can pick after gaining a few experience level. These will improve your performance with V.A.T.S and grant you action points.

As the game has been developed on the same engine as Fallout 3, so you can expect a lot of perks from the previous title to be featured in the game along with the addition of these new powerful perks.

Fallout New Vegas Perks

Before you start reading on all the perks, read our guides on Stats and Traits and Skills and Attributes to understand more about what benefits these perks can bring you.

  • Implants
  • Standard Perks
  • Unnamed Perks
  • Companion Perks
  • Challenge and Special Perks
  • Standard Perks

Standard Perks

These standard perks can be found in the wild, easily. Here is a list of all of them:

Name Level Other Requirements Ranks Benefit
Black Widow/ Lady Killer 2 1 It unlocks new dialogue options and increases damage to opposite sex by ten percent.
Cherchez La Femme/ Confirmed Bachelor 2 1 It unlocks new dialogue options and increases damage to opposite sex by ten percent.
Friend of the Night 2 PE 6, Sneak 30 1 Now you’ll be able to see in low-light conditions in lesser time.
Heave, Ho! 2 ST 5, Explosives30 1 Throwing weapons will now have a greater and a faster range.
Hunter 2 Survival 30 1 Your critical damage is 75% increased on animals.
Intense Training 2 10 Now you’ll be able to put a point in your Special attributes.
Rapid Reload 2 AG 5, Guns 30 1 Reloading speed increased by 25%.
Retention 2 IN 5 1 Duration of skill magazines is increased
Swift Learner 2 IN 4 3 Earned experience points will now always be 10% more.
Cannibal 4 1 Now you’ll have the option to eat a human corpse when you’re in the sneak mode.
Comprehension 4 IN 4 1 Your points for reading magazines will be doubled, and you’ll get an extra point for reading books
Educated 4 IN 4 1 Every time you advance a level, you’ll gain 2 extra skill points.
Entomologist 4 IN 4, Survival 45 1 Your damage against mutated insects will be now 50% more.
Rad Child 4 Survival 70 1 More Irradiation will increase your healing bonus.
Run ‘n Gun 4 Guns 45 or Energy Weapons45 1 If you’re walking and running then your accuracy penalties for one-handed ranged weapons will be decreased.
Travel Light 4 Survival 45 1 Your speed while wearing no or light armor will be increased by 10 percent.
Bloody Mess 6 1 Death animations are changed and now your overall damaged is increased by 5 percent.
Demolition Expert 6 Explosives 50 3 Explosives damage increased by 20%
Ferocious Loyalty 6 CH 6 1 Your companions’ DT will increase once your HP is below 50 percent.
Fortune Finder 6 LK 5 1 Now you can find more bottle caps at the stockpile
Gunslinger 6 1 Your accuracy of one-handed weapons for V.A.T.S will be increased.
Hand Loader 6 Repair 70 1 Now you can recover more shells and hand load recipes are also unlocked.
Lead Belly 6 EN 5 1 Radiation caused by the food and water sources will be decreased by 50 percent.
Shotgun Surgeon 6 Guns 45 1 The targets damage threshold for you will be decreased by 10 points.
The Professional 6 Sneak 70 1 The sneak attack critical of most of your weapons (pistol,smg,revolvers etc.) will be increased by 20 percent.
Toughness 6 EN 5 2 Damage Threshold is increased by +3.
Vigilant Recycler 6 Science 70 1 You’ll be able to recover most of your used ammunition (Energy Weapons). Also, it unlocks more recycling recipes.
Commando 8 1 Accuracy of two-handed weapons is increased. (V.A.T.S)
Cowboy 8 Guns 45, Melee45 1 Dynamites, hatchets, knives, lever-guns and the revolvers have more damage.
Living Anatomy 8 Medicine 70 1 Bonus is increased by 5 percent against humans and non-feral ghouls, also now you can see the damage threshold and the health of your targets
Pack Rat 8 IN 5, Barter 70 1 Item weight will be decreased by half for any item less weighing than two pounds.
Quick Draw 8 AG 5 1 The speed of holstering or equipping a weapon will be increased by 50 percent.
Rad Resistance 8 EN 5, Survival40 1 Radiance resistance is increased by 25 percent.
Scrounger 8 LK 5 1 You will find more ammunition in the crates.
Stonewall 8 ST 6, EN 6 1 Damage Threshold is increased by +5 to all the melee and un armed attacks.
Strong Back 8 ST 5, EN 5 1 Carry weight is now +50.
Super Slam! 8 ST 6, Melee Weapons 45 1 Your target will most probably be knocked down by the melee weapons.
Terrifying Presence 8 Speech 70 1 Used for intimidating the enemies.
Here and Now 10 1 You instantly level up again.
Animal Friend 10 CH 6, Survival45 2 The hostile animals will become friendly at first rank and will help you in fights.
Finesse 10 1 Cost of AP is now decreased by 10 percent.
Math Wrath 10 Science 70 1 Reduces all AP costs by 10%
Miss Fortune 10 LK 6 1 This may incapacitate a target in vats by Miss Fortune.
Mister Sandman 10 Sneak 60 1 Extra Bonus, will kill a sleeping NPC at once.
Mysterious Stranger 10 LK 6 1 May kill a target in Vats.
Nerd Rage! 10 IN 5, Science 50 1 Damage Threshold is increased by 15, and the strength is also increased by 10 but your health is decreased by twenty percent.
Night Person 10 1 When it is between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM your intelligence and perception will be +2
Plasma Spaz 10 Energy Weapons70 1 AP cost is reduced by 20% for all the plasma weapons.
Fast Metabolism 12 1 The hit points are restored by 20 percent with stimpaks.
Ghastly Scavenger 12 Cannibal perk 1 You’ll now be able to eat Super Mutants or the Feral ghoul’ corpse when you’re in the sneak mode to regain the hit points.
Hit the Deck 12 Explosives 70 1 Damage Threshold is now +25 against explosives.
Life Giver 12 EN 6 1 +30 hit points.
Long Haul 12 EN 6, Barter 70 1 You can use fast travel, even if you’re over-encumbered.
Piercing Strike 12 Unarmed 70 1 15 points of damage threshold for every melee and unarmed attack.
Pyromaniac 12 Explosives 60 1 The fire-weapons will now have 50 percent more damage.
Robotics Expert 12 Science 50 1 Now you can shut down a robot if you sneak on him, also your damage on them is increased by 25 percent.
Silent Running 12 AG 6, Sneak 50 1 You can now do sneakups while running too.
Sniper 12 PE 6, AG 6 1 V.A.T.S, chances of headshots are increased.
Splash Damage 12 Explosives 70 1 Explosive’ effecting radius is increased by 25 percent.
Unstoppable Force 12 ST 7, Melee Weapons 90 1 The damage caused to the enemies while they block is increased for your melee and unarmed attacks.
Adamantium Skeleton 14 1 Fifty percent of the damage taken on your limbs is decreased.
Center of Mass 14 Guns 70 1 Torso damages are increased by 15% (VATS)
Chemist 14 Medicine 60 1 2x Chems durability.
Jury Rigging 14 Repair 90 1 Now you can repair the items with roughly items too.
Light Step 14 PE 6, AG 6 1 Mines and floor traps will not work.
Purifier 14 1 Melee and unarmed weapon attacks against super mutants, spore plants, spore carriers, death claws, feraghauls and centaurs is increased by 50 percent.
Action Boy/Action Girl 16 AG 6 2 +15 Action Points
Better Criticals 16 PE 6, LK 6 1 The critical hit damage is increased by fifty percent.
Chem Resistant 16 Medicine 60 1 Addiction rate is now almost half!
Meltdown 16 Energy Weapons90 1 After death, the enemies will release a harmful energy if the cause of their death is your energy weapons.
Tag! 16 1 +15 points for the respective skill
Weapon Handling 16 ST < 10 1 The strength required for weapons is 2 points lower.
Computer Whiz 18 IN 7, Science 70 1 You have 4 more chances to hack into a terminal once it locks down
Concentrated Fire 18 Energy Weapons60, Guns 60 1 V.A.T.S accuracy improved by 5%
Infiltrator 18 PE 7, Lockpick70 1 If you have a bobby pin then you can pick any broken lock.
Paralyzing Palm 18 Unarmed 70 1 An unarmed VATS attack can now paralyze an enemy for thirty seconds
Explorer 20 1 All locations are marked on your map.
Grim Reaper’s Sprint 20 1 20 AP will be increased if you perform a kill in V.A.T.S
Ninja 20 Melee Weapons80, Sneak 80 1 The critical chance of melee weapons and unarmed will be increased by 15 percent and damage with melee weapons and unarmed sneak attacks will be increased by 25%.
Solar Powered 20 EN 7 1 Outside only, from 6:00 Am to 6:00 PM. You’ll get +1HP and +2Stregnth by every 10 seconds
Laser Commander 22 Energy Weapons90 1 The damage is increased by 15 percent and the critically hit rate is also increased by 10 percent, only for laser weapons.
Nuka Chemist 22 Science 90 1 The Nuka-Cola recipe is now unlocked.
Spray ‘n Pray 22 1 Friendly weapon damage reduced by 25%
Slayer 24 AG 7, Unarmed90 1 Melee and unarmed attacks are now 30 percent faster.
Nerves of Steel 26 AG 7 1 AP regeneration is now 20 percent faster.
Rad Absorption 28 EN 7 1 The radiation will be -1 after every twenty seconds.

Companion Perks

 

Name Companion Description
Better Healing Arcade Gannon The consumable sources will now get you 20 percent more health.
Enhanced Sensors ED-E Cloaked enemies can be seen in the VATS and enemies can be detected from far-away ranges.
Regular Maintenance Raul Weapon and Armor decaying rate is slower 50 and 75 percent.
Scribe Assistant Veronica Veronica can now be taken as a workbench too.
Search and Mark Rex Ammo, firearms and the chems are marked once you zoom in.
Spotter Craig Boone If you are aiming then the Hostiles are marked.
Stealth Girl Lily The sneak attacking critical will have their damage increased by ten percent, also the Stealth-Boy duration will be increased by 200 percent.
Whiskey Rose Cass The damage threshold is increased and you don’t have any side effects of consuming whiskey.

Companion Benefit Perks

The Companion Perks above are known as ‘Player Perks’ since the benefit goes to you, the Fallout New Vegas Perk player. These other set of perks benefit your companions to make them more efficient.

Name Companion Requirement Description
Blood of the Legion Rex Successfully insert Lupa’s brain into Rex +10 DT and +100 hit points
Bonds of Steel Veronica During I Could Make You Care, successfully convince Veronica to stay with the Brotherhood +4 DT
Calm Heart Cass Complete Heartache by the Number peacefully +50 hit points
Causeless Rebel Veronica Santangelo Veronica leaves the Brotherhood in I Could Make You Care Can do 30% more unarmed attacks
Camarader-E ED-E Find and gather eyebot upgrade circuit boards in the Divide Greater DT, greater laser damage, weapon repair, energy/microfusion cell crafting, more effective V.A.T.S. attacks.
Faithful Protector Rex Successfully insert Rey’s brain into Rex Damage dealt increases by 25%
Full Maintenance Raul Peacefully get Raul to give up his violent lifestyle during Old School Ghoul Equipment decays 75% slower
Hand of Vengeance Cass Finish Heartache by the Number violently + 15% Gun damage
Old Vaquero Raul Get Raul back into his gunslinger life during Old School Ghoul. 33% increase to rate of fire with revolvers and lever action
Unshakeable Tracker Rex Successfully insert Violetta’s brain into Rex +50% speed

Challenge and Special Perks

These Fallout New Vegas Perks can be obtained by fulfilling a specific requirement:

Name Requirements Rank Description
Abominable Kill 50/100/150 abominations 3 Cause damage to Abominations (+3%,+6 or +10 %)
Animal Control Kill 50/100/150 mutated animals 3 Cause damage of +3, +6 or +10% to mutated animals
Beautiful Beatdown Kill 42 people unarmed and then cause 10k damage to the enemies, this too by unarmed weapons. 1 The AP cost of unarmed attack is decreased by ten percent.
Bug Stomper Kill 50/100/150 mutated insects 3 Cause damage of +3, +6 or +10% to mutated insects.
Camel of the Mojave Drink 100 water items 1 The hydration and healing of water items is 15 percent increased.
Day Tripper Use 25 addictive Chems 1 33% longer chem effects.
Dine and Dash Eat a total of 25 corpses with the cannibal perk enabled. 1 If cannibal is enabled then you can grab human remains
Fast Times Use turbo 20 times 1 50% durability of turbo items is increased.
Free Radical Use 20 RadAway 1 The RadAway effect is now 20 percent better.
Friendly Help Have a total of 15 myst stranger or Miss Fortune visits 1 Now you’ll mostly see mysterious stranger and Miss fortune at VATS.
Lord Death Kill 200/700/1000 enemies 3 Cause damage of +1, +2 or +4% damage on robots.
Machine Head Kill 50/100 robots (Glitched; rank is misreported to player, rank 3 is unachievable) 3 Cause 3 or 10% damage to the robots.
Meat of Champions You will get this perk when you cannibalize Mr. House, Caesar, The King and Aaron Kimball 1 It increases luck, strength, charisma, intelligence for 60 seconds each time a corpse is consumed.
Melee Hacker Kill a total of 125 enemies first (melee weapons only). Cause 10k damage at Rank 1 with one-handed melee weapons and 10k with two handed melee weapons at Rank 2. 2 Level1 attack speed is 5% increased, Level 2 attack speed is 10% increased.
Mutant Massacrer Kill 50/100/150 super mutants 3 Causes damage of +3, +6 and +10 to the Super Mutants.
Power Armor Training Finish For Auld Lang and Still in the Dark 1 Now you can wear all the Power Armor variants.
Set Lasers for Fun Use energy weapons and kill 64 enemies. Cause 25k damage with rifle-grip energy weapons at Rank 1 and 16k damage with pistol-grip energy weapons at Rank 2. 2 Critical hit chances are increased by 2 and 4 percent for all energy weapons.
Tough Guy Get crippled 50 times 1 All the limb attacks on you are decreased by 20 percent.

Implants

Available from Doctor Usanagi, these Fallout New Vegas Perks can be easily bought in return for caps:

Name Cost Rank Description
Agility Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Agility
Charisma Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Charisma
Endurance Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Endurance
Intelligence Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Intelligence
Luck Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Luck
Monocyte Breeder 12000 caps 1 Regenerate 1 health per 10 secs
Perception Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Perception
Strength Implant 4000 caps 1 +1 Strength
Sub-Dermal Armor 8000 caps 1 +4 Damage Threshold

Unarmed Perks

These Fallout New Vegas Perks have a unique unarmed attack.

Name Requirement Rank
Khan Trick Do all the Great Khan drug tasks 1
Legion Assault Talk to Lucius with 50 unarmed. 1
Ranger Takedown 30 speech, talk to Ranger Andy. 1
Scribe Counter Put either the Formal Wear or White Glove Society Attire to Veronica’s inventory. 1

If you still have the energy to check out any other guide, check out our Fallout New Vegas Skill Books Location Guide.

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Zawad Iftikhar is the founder of SegmentNext.com, an FPS enthusiast and a Call of Duty veteran, having participated multiple eSports competition.