Fallout New Vegas Best Builds: SPECIAL, Traits, Skills and Perks

A character in Fallout New Vegas is settled by a handful of choices made in Doc Mitchell's house and then by one perk every second level, so the Fallout New Vegas builds that hold up over a full playthrough are the ones planned around requirements rather than around a favorite weapon. This page lays out five: a Guns sniper, an Energy Weapons specialist, an Unarmed brawler, a stealth character and a Speech-heavy diplomat who carries a pistol. Each one gives a starting SPECIAL spread that adds up to the 40 points the game hands you, two traits, three tag skills, a perk for every even level, the named weapons to walk toward and the companions whose perks suit the build.

Every perk level and requirement below comes from our perks guide, every trait from our traits and statistics page, and every weapon location from our unique weapons guide. The builds are written for the base game and its Ultimate Edition on PC and console; where a DLC changes the arithmetic, the text says so.

How a Build Works in New Vegas

The seven SPECIAL attributes start at 5 each with 5 more points to place, 40 in total, and no attribute can go below 1 or above 10. Every point matters twice: our attributes and skills guide ties each of the 13 skills to one attribute (Unarmed to two), and each skill starts at 2 plus twice its attribute plus half your Luck rounded up. Intelligence also sets your income: you gain 10 skill points a level plus half your Intelligence, so an Intelligence of 4 pays 12 points a level and an Intelligence of 8 pays 14, with the odd half-point arriving on even levels. Educated (level 4, Intelligence 4) adds 2 more a level, and skills cap at 100.

You may take up to two traits, or none. Each of the ten on our traits page is a trade with no level requirement, and Old World Blues adds six more, of which Skilled (+5 to every skill for 10% less experience) is the one build guides reach for. Three tag skills each gain 15 points at creation. Perks arrive at every even level, so the base cap of 30 gives 15 perks and the cap of 50 that the four story DLCs (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road, 5 levels each) unlock gives 25. The standard perk table on our perks page runs from level 2 to level 28, which is why every build below stops there and treats levels 30 to 50 as room for the perks it skipped.

SPECIAL can be raised after creation in two ways. Intense Training (level 2, no requirement, ten ranks) adds one point per rank at the cost of a perk pick. Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Clinic sells an implant for each attribute at 4,000 caps, plus Sub-Dermal Armor (+4 DT) for 8,000 and the Monocyte Breeder for 12,000; she is on our doctors and vendors guide. The catch is that she will fit only as many implants as you have points of base Endurance, and the Endurance implant itself does not add a slot, though a point from Intense Training does. That single rule is why four of the five builds below start Endurance at 6 or higher. Where a build says a perk needs a point you did not start with, the implant is the intended fix. For how these four systems fit together, see our traits, perks and SPECIAL guide.

Build 1: The Guns Sniper

A critical-hit rifle build that wants Perception 6 and Agility 6 for Sniper at level 12 and Perception 6 and Luck 6 for Better Criticals at 16. Luck at 8 feeds every skill and the critical rate; Strength stays at 5 and gets fixed later, because the rifle this build ends on is heavy.

Weapons: Ratslayer from Broc Flower Cave is the early rifle, a silenced, night-scoped varmint rifle with a x5 critical multiplier and a Strength requirement of 3. The Gobi Campaign Scout Rifle in the locker at Sniper's Nest (Strength 6, Guns 75) carries the middle of the game. The anti-materiel rifle asks for Strength 8 and Guns 100; this build reaches it with the Strength implant and Weapon Handling, which lowers every weapon's Strength requirement by 2. Hand Loader recovers more spent casings and unlocks the hand-load recipes at the reloading bench, both covered on our crafting guide. Companions: Craig Boone, recruited in Novac after One for My Baby, brings Spotter, which marks hostiles while you aim, and ED-E from Primm brings Enhanced Sensors, which extends your detection range.

Build 2: The Energy Weapons Specialist

Energy Weapons runs off Perception, and its two best perks, Meltdown and Laser Commander, both want the skill at 90, so this build tags it and keeps Intelligence at 6 for the points. The start is slow: energy weapons and their cells are scarce early, which is why the AER14 Prototype and the Q-35 Matter Modulator, both reachable at Energy Weapons 25, are the first two stops.

Weapons: the AER14 Prototype lies in the common area of Vault 22 (Strength 3, two cells a shot) and the Q-35 Matter Modulator sits behind a locked shipment-room door in REPCONN Headquarters (Strength 2, one cell a shot, half what a plasma rifle burns). Pew Pew, the laser pistol from the Legend of the Star quest at Sunset Sarsaparilla Headquarters, is the sidearm. The YCS/186 at the Mercenary Camp does 140 damage a shot at Strength 5 and Energy Weapons 75. Meltdown makes anything you kill with an energy weapon explode, so keep your distance from your own kills. Companions: Arcade Gannon from the Old Mormon Fort fights with a plasma pistol and brings Better Healing, 20% more from every consumable, and ED-E's Enhanced Sensors lets you target cloaked enemies in VATS.

Build 3: The Unarmed Brawler

Build guides tend to favor Unarmed over Melee Weapons for a close-range character, because Unarmed is the one skill seeded by two attributes, Strength and Endurance, and Endurance also buys the hit points and the implant slots a brawler needs. Luck 9 drives the criticals that Built to Destroy raises further. Two late perks read attributes this spread does not start with: Better Criticals wants Perception 6 and Slayer wants Agility 7, so the Perception point comes from Intense Training at level 2 and the Agility point from an implant.

Weapons: Love and Hate, the spiked knuckles on the Viper gang leader at Bonnie Springs, needs only Strength 3 and Unarmed 50. Pushy, the displacer glove on a dead Jackal in Ruby Hill Mine, knocks targets back and wants Unarmed 100 at Strength 2, so it is the endgame glove. The Paladin Toaster in Black Rock Cave rounds out the list. Four unarmed moves on our perks page are taught rather than picked: Legion Assault from Lucius at Unarmed 50, Ranger Takedown from Ranger Andy at Speech 30, Khan Trick from the Great Khans and Scribe Counter from Veronica once she has formal wear. Companions: Veronica from the 188 Trading Post fights with a power fist and doubles as a workbench through Scribe Assistant; Lily from Jacobstown adds 10% to sneak attack criticals with Stealth Girl.

Build 4: The Stealth Character

Sneak attacks are guaranteed criticals that double a ranged hit and quintuple a melee or unarmed one, so this build spends everything on landing the first shot unseen. Agility 9 seeds Sneak and Guns and, with Small Frame, becomes 10 at creation. Perception 6 is the gate for Friend of the Night, Sniper, Light Step and Better Criticals, and Luck 9 covers the rest.

Weapons: Ratslayer again, because a silencer and a x5 critical multiplier are exactly what a sneak attack wants. The Professional adds 20% to sneak attack criticals with pistols and revolvers, which makes Lucky, the .357 revolver in Primm with a x2.5 critical multiplier, the sidearm; the Mysterious Magnum follows once you meet the Lonesome Drifter near the Sunset Sarsaparilla billboard (Strength 6, Guns 50). Sneak has its own reading: the Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual on our skill books guide raises it for good, and La Fantoma! on our skill magazines guide lends 10 points for a lock or a pickpocket. Companions: this is the build that travels lightest. Lily's Stealth Girl stretches Stealth Boy duration and adds 10% sneak critical damage, and ED-E's Enhanced Sensors flags enemies before they see you, but a second body in the corridor is the usual reason a sneak attack turns into a firefight.

Build 5: The Diplomat with a Pistol

Speech checks in this game are thresholds, not rolls: meet the number and the line always works, and the highest checks, against General Oliver at Hoover Dam, ask for 100. Speech itself is seeded by Charisma, but many of the game's dialogue checks read Intelligence or a skill rather than Charisma, and Charisma's other job is companion nerve, 5% more damage and Damage Threshold for each companion per point, up to 50% at 10. This build splits the difference at Charisma 6, which is also the requirement for Ferocious Loyalty and Animal Friend, and puts Intelligence at 8 for 14 skill points a level. Good Natured hands Speech, Barter, Medicine, Repair and Science 5 points each at the cost of 5 from each of the five weapon skills, a trade a talker can afford.

Weapons: the diplomat's arsenal is the set of pistols that can be talked out of people. The Mysterious Magnum changes hands on a Barter check of 50 during Talent Pool, no shot fired. Lucky waits in Primm, That Gun in the locked storage room of Novac's Dino Bite gift shop, and Maria comes off Benny at The Tops if the conversation goes the other way. Black Widow or Lady Killer opens dialogue options as well as adding 10% damage against the opposite sex, and Terrifying Presence adds an intimidation line to conversations. Ranger Andy teaches Ranger Takedown for a Speech of 30. Companions: at Charisma 6 every companion hits 30% harder and takes 30% less, so this is the build that keeps two on the payroll. Boone and Cass make a strong pair, Cass bringing Whiskey Rose and either Calm Heart or Hand of Vengeance depending on how Heartache by the Number ends; Raul from Black Mountain suits a pistol carrier, since Regular Maintenance slows gear decay by half and Old Vaquero, if he returns to gunslinging, speeds up revolvers by a third.

What to Avoid

Charisma is the usual dump stat, and several of the build guides consulted for this page start it at 1; for a solo character it costs little: Speech and Barter can be leveled without it. It only becomes a mistake if you plan to lean on companions, because it takes 5% off their damage and Damage Threshold for every point you did not buy, and it locks Ferocious Loyalty and Animal Friend. Strength is the other stat people dump and regret. The anti-materiel rifle, Oh, Baby! (Strength 8, Melee Weapons 100) and Mercy (Strength 8, Explosives 100) all sit at Strength 8, and Weapon Handling only closes 2 of the gap. Low Endurance is quieter but worse: it caps how many of Doctor Usanagi's 4,000-cap implants you can ever carry.

Hardcore mode changes which traits are cheap. Ammunition has weight, stimpaks and RadAway heal over time instead of at once, doctor's bags heal crippled limbs only partially, companions can die for good, and you have to eat, drink and sleep. Small Frame's easily crippled limbs, harmless in normal play, mean more doctor's bags carried and more trips to the doctors on our vendors guide. Kamikaze's 2 points of Damage Threshold are missed when healing arrives slowly. Built to Destroy's 15% faster wear is a repair bill that Raul's Regular Maintenance or Full Maintenance mostly cancels, so pair them if you take it. Fast Shot burns ammunition that now weighs something. And because a dead companion stays dead, the Charisma and Ferocious Loyalty that a solo build ignores are the two things keeping Boone alive at Hoover Dam.