The Ultimate Fallout New Vegas Unarmed Tier List

[@jesuschristhomeslice9492]

I always give Veronica a ballistic fist, she kills 90% of the enemies I encounter in 1 hit. Speaking of Veronica, companions tier list when?

[@therealpizzagirl]

Veronica with a ballistic fist is just game breaking.

[@User-gg5ks]

Select harder difficulty then

[@mithos789]

@@User-gg5ks nah she kills even with power fist. power fist is underrated.

[@Psychonautical89]

Lol I don't know if she'll equip Dr. Mobius' Glove over her own power fist but if so that'd make for a time. Give her that, use rex, and then any knockback attack or the Sonic emitter that freezes or knocks enemies down and jist watch the chaos haha

[@Psychonautical89]

@@mithos789 she's great but no one should be one-shotting much of anything outside of sneak mode on Very Hard. I'm speaking liberally but you know what I mean. She'll definitely melt through weaker things like Geckos and thugs for sure, though.

[@Buzterer]

With Pyromaniac, the Saturnite fist super-heated has the highest damage per punch of this list AND it does that with half the requirements of the ballistic fist

[@mithos789]

but you can get ballistic fist from torres. to get the saturnite you have to start the dlc that you cant exit til finished.

[@extremelycatty4040]

Counterpoint. Punching something and watching it explode is FUN

[@Psychonautical89]

Hell yeah, it's amazing! All what you said AND it's like twice as fast or more. It's incredible, definitely a favorite. A fun build while you're using the perk is exclusively using the fire fist and then a heavy incinerator. It still isn't incredible on higher difficulties but with Vigilant Recycler and the optimized ammo, it becomes a decent siege weapon to weaken crowds from afar and can often kill cazadores or at least cripple their wings/antenna. Light stronger enemies ablaze to get some damage in before swinging on em'!

[@Buzterer]

@@mithos789 its just 1 hour if you focus on the story

[@noobgun12]

​@@mithos789so? Its a good dlc

[@crepaldi4938]

A tip for anyone starting a unarmed run: When you arive in Camp McCarran, you can kill Lil' Buster for the Cram Opener, the Unique bladed gauntlet without making the NCR hostile and reaching freeside, all that you have to do is shoot the truck that's in front of the pratice dummy that he punches, make sure to stay far enough from the blast, doing that will reward you with the Gauntlet, 5 Frag grenades, a few NCR dollars and a Set of Metal Armor

[@Psychonautical89]

Damn shame that they patched out it ignoring DT/DR. Flavor-wise, ot should. It's sad how few options there are for DT pierce in melee/unarmed.

[@thatskeletordude5271]

​@@Psychonautical89what do you mean ? Piercing Strike is enough not to mention Critical Hits ignore DT.

[@Lalasfritas]

​@@thatskeletordude5271critical hits ignore dt? Is that only for unarmed

[@thatskeletordude5271]

@@Lalasfritas that's for everything. (Including explosive stuff, like the Fat Man and Archimedes)

[@miguelmata6883]

Or you can just pickpocket it from him since he doesn't equip it...

[@jigthh]

Reapeeron was physically in pain when describing paw of she, the urge to say "take drugs kill a bear" was strong

[@ReapeeRon]

I did have to pause for a second with that one.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

Do the yao guai gauntlets bypass DT or don't they? Because if they do I think they'd potentially be pretty good.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yes they do@@joolsmacgrools1288

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@ReapeeRon I had heard whispers, but I never truly tried it out. I might pull She's Embrace from the old storage and give it a go. 😎

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@jigthh ten months later, I can confirm that She’s Embrace might be one of the more underrated unarmed weapons in the game. The durability on that thing is also ridiculous.

[@dreamwanderer5791]

Funnily enough, probably the most famous 0 Equip Load New Vegas run (Ymfah) still used weapons. They were just quest items, and thus had 0 weight.

[@charlescourtwright2229]

thats what i like about new vegas, no playstyle is just outright bad or undoable

[@SamHoward-l9q]

​@@charlescourtwright2229there is definitely some outright bad stuff. But none being undoable is likely correct.

[@Nyxael5845]

New Vegas Unarmed starts off weak but dear god does it get absolutely disgusting once you get the right perks.

[@Psychonautical89]

Hell, even just some spiked knuckles around level 2-4 and you can handle most of the even mid-tier baddies in the wasteland if you can dance well in melee combat. Really you can cheese the game with all but the weakest dozen or so melee/unarmed weapons, just a matter of wailing away at them and being able to tank or dodge their damage. A few bighorners steaks and sodas go a long way if you're nimble!

[@ssshjsssj5033]

@@Psychonautical89 The Ranger Takedown alone makes unarmed absolutely insane. Given enough time, you could 1v1 basically everything regardless of unarmed skill or weapon by stunlock alone.

[@Nyxael5845]

There is a reason why unarmed playthroughs go for Love and Hate as early as possible. Once you do, the rest of the game becomes a breeze until you get Pushy which is where you get the strongest unarmed weapon in the base game.

[@davidteachout1888]

Slayer, Pyromaniac, Super-Heated Saturnite Fist. Nuff said.

[@Psychonautical89]

@@davidteachout1888 plus Melee Hacker, Rushing Water, and some Coyote Steaks. Whew! Fast as FUCK!

[@cheeseismyreligion4508]

Veronica becomes the highest dps companion when you give her any good unarmed weapons, and power armor

[@Psychonautical89]

Always give melee companions high damage weapons even if they are slow. Automatic weapons are great for ranged but with no speed perks or chems, each swing is better off packing heat rather than them having high swing speed. Plus you nudge enemies away even without knockbacK perks so I've found even companions can often miss a second swing if they are using a fast enough weapon. I also like to give her Salt-Upon-Wounds' power fist for the poison damage. When using fire myself, it really does wonders early-mid game if you do Honest Hearts shortly after starting up.

[@cheeseismyreligion4508]

@@Psychonautical89 If you give Veronica Elijah’s holotape she will put out more dps than you with most melee weapons, and unarmed weapons.

[@noobgun12]

​@@cheeseismyreligion4508nope im pretty sure its bugged and it only gives veronica bonuses for melee weapon and Veronica isnt using melee ever so always always always keep it to yourself

[@cheeseismyreligion4508]

@@noobgun12 You can give her melee weapons, and the 25% knockdown effect applies to everything.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@cheeseismyreligion4508yes but it does her a disservice as her melee stat is trash, certainly compared to her unarmed stat.

[@Boone69]

You can actually get 2 Cram openers in 1 playthrough Pickpocket it from Little Buster, complete Three Card Bounty, wait a few days, go to Freeside to the train tracks next to Old Mormon Fort, there will be a few thogs and you can find Little Buster's corpse there

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome!

[@thevideogamemaster8173]

But there's a difference between poison DOT and acid DOT: Poison DOT affects certain non-mutated enemies while acid DOT affects **ALL** enemies regardless of what armor they wear so you always deal 20 normal damage and 20 acid damage with every critical strike

[@TheInsanity556]

If I remember right Little Buster goes and gets himself killed after completing the Fiends Bounty quest. After 1 - 2 days the guy spawns dead near the train tracks next to the Old Mormon fort.

[@zer0zip]

you can also pickpocket it off him and get another one from his dead body

[@hennaikimono]

Pushy was my favorite, the halo effect was cool and the knock back did wonders for staggering enemies from attacking back

[@amir-zz7lz]

The effects of the scientist glove variants all apply only on a critical hit

[@darkassasin111]

Punching things is just insanely broken in New Vegas. Ranger Takedown is accessible insanely early and completely shuts down almost any enemy for free, including things like deathclaws and scary robots. Spiked Knuckles blow out any faster attacking melee weapon's damage output at 25 per hit. Chance's Knife (A unique weapon!) has 22 for example, and that 3 damage matters more than you might think because an enemy with 10 DT is actually taking 25% more damage per hit with the Spiked Knuckles. Most of the perks around unarmed are insanely strong too, but really Ranger Takedown by itself 1v1s the legate no questions asked. I'm mad about how strong unarmed is. I wanna use my dang cool fire sword but hitting things with a piece of metal on your hand is so much better.

[@Psychonautical89]

To be fair, that fire sword does PLENTY of damage per second and is pretty broken with Pyromaniac. Melee is plenty good, but Unarmed will always be better if only because Endurance also adds to your HP and so few of the unarmed weapons need any STR, so you can get by with starting at 4-5 instead of 7 to max out damage.

[@rylansparkyschneider]

Spiked knuckles also being a great holdout weapon

[@paulet4276]

Honestly my favorite things about these videos is your energy. You seem so positive and happy it makes the videos way more fun. I hope you’re just as happy when the camera turns off :))

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you so much!! I would say a little less then in the videos because editing can be a little more time consuming.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

I dig your enthusiasm as well, and I appreciate the hard work you put into these videos. They’re thoroughly entertaining.

[@rage9715]

My last shesh was rushing Greased Lighting with perks, I cleared the deathclaw nest over the river with ease (rushing water all the perks) all the deathclaws being floored while I kept punching was funny. I used Combat armor nothing special, I do recommend to anyone who hasn't done this to try it even if you have to spawn it in.

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

greased lightning is absolutely disgusting, lol. it's unstoppable 1v1 because enemies won't stop reeling long enough to attack you back.

[@XxGreennayxX]

You can get spiked brass knuckles at the prime casino in a open safe

[@DJFramer33]

A few well placed hits with the Golden Gloves on the Legendary Bloatfly makes the fight a joke, and I love that.

[@MorglortheMangler]

Pushy has always been my favorite unarmed weapon. I love how it looks, the great damage, the awesome name and using it to knock back people reminds me of how much fun I had shouting Lydia off a cliff while playing Skyrim.

[@davejones2377]

Do not underestimate Boxing Tape against strong enemies. It is perfect for Three-Card Bounty, practically guaranteeing you will not get a "Mangled" Head.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, and I don't hate any of the melee weapons.

[@brantnuttall]

I never considered Greased lightning but the speed of that thing just looks like good times!

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

It really is ridiculous. Especially with turbo and rushing water.

[@theconmantube3449]

@@joolsmacgrools1288and the slayer perk

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

other weapons may do more damage and better DPS, but you can lock someone down through sheer number of attacks with a good build.

[@connorrussell8896]

I feel that unarmed builds (and melee in general I suppose) is heavily reliant on perks but also has incredible potential. I remember doing an unarmed build in Fallout 1 and with perks it feels super overpowered.

[@Tymbee]

If you unlock the special moves for unarmed, like Ranger Takedown, etc., Unarmed is arguably fine without spending any perk points. You can just force knockdowns and stuns extremely easily. I tend to take a high Endurance, so I'll start with a high Unarmed skill anyways to combo with my main attack skill.

[@jackdaniels5071]

I killed everyone in the fort at like level 14 with just the Love and Hate. It was easy

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

unarmed doesn't need perks to be viable and that's the scary part. you can take no perks and still massacre most things with brass knuckles, lol. 2-3 perks with spiked knuckles breaks the game wide open, lol.

[@niklasw.1297]

5:50 Just FYI, do not use Knuckle Dusters/Brass Knuckles IRL the way you see ingame. That is how you break your own hand. Anyway, Great Video!

[@dusiaenkhbat5588]

The Courier is just a freak when it comes to violence. Imagine using knuckle dusters like boxing gloves and not minding at all xD

[@Darkmage1293]

Boxing Gloves and Tape are hilarious to me. Imagine hearing over the radio that the man you shot in the head not only recovered, but he either ran through Raider/Powder Ganger/Legion territory, OR through Cazadors and Deathclaws.....and he rolls up into your Casino with taped up hands, ready to throw em. And then Swank says "Hey boss, can you believe this guy has no guns on them? Crazy cat, aren't they?"

[@whitefangs5539]

You get a guaranteed spiked brass knuckle from one of the open safes in the Primm casino cashier area.

[@sigmarine]

This is actually very useful for me, as I never use unarmed and would love to build something effective. Cheers. Also, just wanted to add, I turned onto this path when I killed 10 Deathclaws with nothing but boxing tape. Actually KO'd several too. Boxing Tape should only be in D tier, because D is for Deathclaw.

[@ReapeeRon]

Hope that you enjoy the unarmed build it can be very fun and very strong.

[@Asgero]

Best unarmed weapon is the pimpboy 3000

[@Asgero]

Ain't no way he saw this dumb comment

[@strapwars]

unarmed might be the strongest weapon class in NV and my personal favorite way to play the game, it's just so fun

[@TrowsyayasapBirthday]

Embrace of the mantis king carried my unarmed playthrough. Love that thing

[@yourbluewaffle]

You can easily get have an OP unarmed crit build if you speedrun honest hearts to get She's embrace and Joshua's armor. With built to destroy trait, light touch perk, high luck stat, finesse perk and the 1st recon beret. That's easily over 50% crit chance with she's embrace 3x crit multiplier.

[@SaraphDarklaw]

This is the only play style I know nothing about.

[@JHKartingUK]

give it a try, melee/unarmed with chemist/implant grx, super slam perks etc. are probably the most overpowered builds in the game, with something like oh baby or embrace the mantis king you can absolutely tear up even like 6 deathclaws in seconds with almost no risk of death, melee is some of the most fun combat too

[@dankazuga3630]

Fighting Rawr barehanded and landing paralyzing palm in vats paralyzing Rawr for 30 sec is very funny 🤣

[@JHKartingUK]

@@dankazuga3630 me when i lightly tap a fucking deathclaw with my palm and it lays unconscious for 30 seconds (i did karate for 2 weeks when i was 8)

[@QwertyCaesar]

You can get the Cram Opener without killing Buster. He eventually leaves and wanders off and you can find his corpse along the train tracks.

[@SCVPEGOVT]

Fist of Rawr is just gnarly, a shame it doesn't ignore DT like Fallout 3's deathclaw gauntlet.

[@bacd-nn2lg]

Golden Gloves are excellent for pacifist run, so I would put them in the A tier, since they require more effort to and more effort to complete such challenge. Fallout New Vegas has really good selection of unarmed weapons that hold up really strong up to the endgame. PS. I mostly agree on your S tier ranking aside from Two-Step Goodbye that can hurt you.

[@Gnoth121]

My go-to is always the golden boxing gloves, insane against deathclaws. The only real downside is damage for stronger enemies, but nothing a little slasher, rushing water, and turbo can't fix.

[@ZoeBateman]

The Industrial Hand is so busted, especially when you buff it even more with the right chems and perks. With 10 STR and 100 Unarmed (pretty typical for an unarmed build), it blends up even deathclaws in like half a second thanks to it ignoring DR/DT. I had a build where I made it a point to collect each unique unarmed weapon (the character's name was Fisto, for obvious reasons) and use specific ones for the right enemies e.g. the Paladin Toaster against robots and power-armored enemies. However, after I got the Industrial Hand that idea went out the window, it's just unbeatable.

[@user-lg2jm9zg6l]

Spiked knuckles or Love & Hate are my go-to in early game Hardcore mode (until I can get the Fist of Rawr). They're light, you can sneak 'em, and they keep you from wasting ammo on lesser enemies.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah they are great for that!

[@silverjohn6037]

As a suggestion for another tier list how about comparing the different weapons that are available at the start in Goodsprings. Maybe including whether the skill involved for that weapon (ie Energy Weapons) will have a dry spell where you may not find more for repairs or an upgrade to better versions.

[@Psychonautical89]

That starting machete is a godsend if you like using them. I typically trade them all in one swing to Chet and get some basic supplies out of them. Starting with any of the weapons seems awfully cheap.

[@silverjohn6037]

@@Psychonautical89 Unless I have a specific roleplay I just dump everything I get in Doc Mitchell's and use console commands to give myself a basic piece of clothing and a tire iron. I've been playing the game so long, even on survival mode, I'll still do fine.

[@jeffgo8658]

​@@silverjohn6037Good day. How does one play Fallout NV using current year PCs? Any advice is appreciated. Links too. Thank you.

[@silverjohn6037]

@@jeffgo8658 I usually play with the Steam version on PC. The only game breaking bug I've noticed with this version is that, as your game progresses and the game save gets large enough, you can't do a cold load from the log in screen. The simple trick to get around this is to keep a game save from when you just finish character creation in Doc Mitchell's office. You can load this easily enough and then, once you have loaded it, you can then load the later, larger game save. If you didn't keep an early save try starting a new character then load one of your saves. No idea why this works just stumbled on it by accident. Alternatively you can also download FONV from the Good Old Games service. I don't use this service personally but I've found they generally do a better job of keeping older games updated to use with current operating systems.

[@quadroninja2708]

​@@jeffgo8658idk I've got it working on windows 10 without any trouble. Not sure about windows 11

[@Qatrebew]

Star platinum new Vegas build: greased lightning, turbo/turbo implant, rushing water, slayer

[@AnInsaneOstrich]

little caveat with the Fist of Rawr in case anyone is not aware: not only do you need I think 75 Unarmed to CRAFT it, 100 to use it properly, it's exclusive to the Lonesome Road DLC (which doesn't scale below level 25 so if you're going there immediately... have fun!) AND you have to take it off of one of the most dangerous deathclaws in the game (does more damage but has less HP than the Legendary Deathclaw). Oh, and the Ranger Takedown doesn't work on Rawr, but Super Slam does.

[@teuast]

I'm playing an Unarmed build for the first time right now, and it's hilarious. I love punching stuff.

[@moffxanatos6376]

Ballistic Fist is my go-to for melee, I wanted to like two-step goodbye but had to stop using it because the grenade A) doesn't give you exp for kills it makes and B) is more of a liability than an asset most of the time.

[@hopedream11]

Two Step Goodbye is great for crowds but will almost kill you more often then not.

[@who_what]

I believe Industrial Hand is the highest dps weapon in the game AND it bypasses DT, but it's so broken that I don't enjoy using it. Completely trivializes the entire game.

[@sussurus]

With Embrace of the Mantis King! you can easily get 100% crit chance. One of the most underrated weapons in the game for sure.

[@Tymbee]

If you unlock the special moves for unarmed, like Ranger Takedown, etc., Unarmed is arguably fine without spending any perk points. You can just force knockdowns and stuns extremely easily. I tend to take a high Endurance for my builds, so I end up with a high Unarmed skill anyways to combo with my main attack skill.

[@that-minotaur]

Yeah, with Ranger Takedown you can stunlock any enemy to death with no skills or perks, if you time the sweep properly. Unarmed is completely godlike in New Vegas.

[@brettb9222]

Pushy has (edit here) ONE OF the highest DPS for unarmed in game (the Industrial Hand beats it out, albeit in a less traditional Unarmed sense). It also has a very useful knockback. Combine it with Ninja, Piercing Strike, and other melee perks for what should be close to the top of S tier.

[@thatskeletordude5271]

Love and Hate is comparable, while I have both, LaH is easier to fix than Pushy.

[@snrfl]

false. pushy loses to industrial hand on dps

[@brettb9222]

@@snrfl I had it grouped with the chainsaws, forgot about that. Does anyone know what happens when you take piercing strike with the industrial saw?

[@snrfl]

@@brettb9222 depends on if you have unofficial patches. if you dont, it should actually up its dps. with patches i think it makes no difference

[@brettb9222]

@@snrfl thanks! I'm running an XBox One/XBox 360 compatible copy of the game on a fairly used 360. Do you know if the Ultimate Edition with all the DLC's has the patch you're talking about?

[@456antoabc]

My favorite unarmed weapon is two step goodbye. it’s just amazing seeing how even the strongest of enemies stagger to the blast it’s so rewarding getting the mine to detonate after a kill

[@omegaonthefly1977]

I was laying down in the dark when the zap glove footage came on and it instantly fried my eye sockets… For those it may concern, epilepsy warning

[@AlxanderVII]

someone mightve allready said this in the comments, but you dont have to attack little buster to get the cram opener, just kill all the fiend contracts wait a couple days and you can find his dead body in a ditch in freeside, just enter the north gate and look for some railway tracks

[@regular_tank104]

Unarmed has always been my favorite weapon type in New vegas, Here's some of my favorites and why. Love and hate (fast hitting and a concealed carry) Pushy (good damage, fast punch speed, all around a great main weapon) Rawrs fist (obscene crit damage and limb breaker) Two-step Goodbye (deletes anything with armor) Greased lighting (good for shredding swarms of lighter enemies) SH saturnite fist (+Pyromaniac perk =one of the best weapons in the game) Combine that with all the perks like Purifier Super slam Piercing strike Slayer Stonewall And Pyromaniac (combined with the SH saturnite fist you have one of the strongest fastest single hit weapons in the game.).

[@regular_tank104]

Point is, unarmed is fun, kinda (very) overpowered and really fun for a easy mode casual like me.

[@quadroninja2708]

A great thing about rawrs fist is that you can actually take it to Dead Money (because it is crafted from a quest item which doesn't disappear upon entering the dlc), and it's like the best weapon in there

[@ABadGamble]

I did this trick 2/3 through Dead Money on my current VH playthrough because I saw someone's KZbin comment. The melee knockdown perk, Light Step, faster walk speed perk, Bloody sausage on hotkey made this DLC manageable, but the Fist of Rawr DESTROYS Ghost People.

[@zachlewis9751]

Surprisingly despite the fact FNV actually has usable unarmed I’ve never felt inclined to use it. Only time I’ve done unarmed in a Bethesda game was Skyrim for an hour.

[@thatskeletordude5271]

Skyrim butchered unarmed builds, unless you use Resto/Fortify Enchant gear loop.

[@zachlewis9751]

@@thatskeletordude5271 which is why I only played if for like an hour. It was before the anniversary addition when playing Khajit and getting the gloves of the pugilist was the basic unarmed build until you power leveled heavy armor and enchanting, which I didn’t bother.

[@esbernhawkins5912]

​​@@zachlewis9751Honestly, the thing that always pissed me off about unarmed/shield bash damage is that they ONLY take into account base armor. I'd cope with the long prep time on the build if Fists of Steel wasn't capped to a whopping 18 extra damage. Same with shield bashing with all the perks-- why is an attack which eats through your Stamina bar so quickly capped to... 68 or so damage, I think? I remember mathing it out long ago, but I can't be arsed to look at the formula right now, could be wrong.

[@zachlewis9751]

@@esbernhawkins5912 yeah unarmed in base Skyrim was really not good, I don’t know how much it’s improved with creation club content I just know it has. I doubt it’s any good compared to any real build.

[@ethanunknownful]

My favorite build in the game is the greased lightning with the armor pierce, slayer for attack speed, the one u said to punch deathclaws, the 5 turbos a day and basically anything else that you could think to synergize with it. the rushing water med along with the increase in atk speed from the perk and weapon bugs the visuals out but you basically punch as fast as u can mash the trigger and makes for really funny looking but insanely high dps build. killed L deathclaw after clearing out the entire rest of the cave with 1 batch of chems.

[@sim.frischh9781]

Spiked Knuckles are my go-to fallback weapon for when my gun runs out of ammo or i want to get a sneak skill but don´t have a silenced gun. Their biggest advantage is the great ratio of weigth to damage output, especially given how common knuckles are so repairing them on the fly is no biggie either.

[@ReapeeRon]

They are really nice to have for the early and mid game.

[@aradan3913]

Loved that "fists" explanation xD The mantis is insane engame, you can get to 500 dmg a fist. But is kind of out of the way and people dont know how crazy it's numbers are. Have to mention Two-step goodbye's damage counts as unarmed, ALL OF IT (i actually dont know if it's amplified with explosive perks though) so explosions count towards unarmed dmg, and more importan towards the weapon kills so they can trigger chain reactions. One of the most fun things to do in endgame is to get this, piss everyone off in town, go inside a building and moshpit the hell out of them as they all go through the door. This is awesome in Jakobstown and a fun easy way to get the unarmed dmg archivment.

[@SawedOffLaser]

Boxing tape and boxing gloves have the problem of "I could use these to stun things or just kill them like normal in half the time." And anything you would want to stun with them is probably not good to be hitting with boxing gloves. Might as well just use a regular weapon. Also, unarmed has the benefit of, well, benefitting from a lot of perks that Melee does. Super Slam!, Slayer and Piercing Strike all affect Unarmed (heck they require the skill) and can make your DPS absurd.

[@its_sun7906]

Imagine getting one of the best unarmed weapon from a damn sentient toaster

[@zerginfestorhots6132]

I know this is an oldie and I'm not sure anyone mentioned it, but here's some very nasty tips on the Industrial Hand: -all automatic melee/unarmed do not check crits based on attack speed, but rather have their own crit system that checks for crits many times an second or attack roughly 30 or so. -because of what is mentioned above, automatic melees have low crit damage, but it's deceptive. going crit build for them nets seriously good dps. -however, for Industrial Hand, the crit build goes nuts. With the right perks, the weapon checks for crits that does up to 90 damage a crit 30 times a second or per attack, meaning the DPS can potentially go over a mind boggling 2700 and beyond. there is a reason it's other names are "The God Hand", "The Gib Hand" and so on. it's stupidly broken.

[@lord_fartquad9108]

Tale of two wastelands tier list (both Fallout 3 + NV in one list)!!

[@ttt7337jjj]

Unarmed is one of the most entertaining builds in the game

[@k86735]

Ranger Takedown my beloved

[@bingbongbingbongbingbongbing90]

Boxing gloves are extremely effective against the NightKin in the rocket labs basement. Just KO after KO, I didn't even need to kill any and its not like i was spamming stimpacks. They should be low C tier. A KO'd enemy and explosives is a lethal combination.

[@Tom_-]

Also Lil Buster dies at random and you can find his body im Freeside and loot the Cram Opener.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true.

[@brucey1511]

'Unarmed weapons' is a term that just cracks me up :)

[@OMalleyTheMaggot]

I did an entire run using boxing tape just for roleplaying and once you invest into your melee abilities and perks you'll almost always kill an enemy before you fatigue them lol

[@necroticsynthesis4958]

Boxing Tape as its own weapon isn't that great, but it pairs super well with another high-damage unarmed weapon for the Stomp combo. I remember rushing through Deathclaw Promontory with a 10 STR, 10 END and like 9 AGI bruiser in Arcade's PA (IIRC, it was some heft power armor for sure) while on every single chem I could get my hands on and loaded up on healing over time with Survival. The Boxing Tape was what I led in with to knock the deathclaws out, then Salt-Upon-Wounds' Power Fist to VATS stomp on them while they're down. It was a barely-won fight, but it sold me on the Boxing Tape being best as a combo weapon. I suppose the same would also go for the boxing gloves, but personally I just like the look of the tape more

[@GuyNamedGray]

I give Veronica a fully modded power fist and she goes ham, don't even need anything crazy like a displacer glove or ballistic fist, and that's not even getting into the unique weapons

[@ReapeeRon]

You can go with the greased lightning then she attacks super quick and that can be pretty funny.

[@неодољивмржња101]

Industrial hand could be GOAT if all sawblade weapons(ripper and chainsaw too) had some moves, not only hit button and wait.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, but it can be a bit odd.

[@l33tsamurai]

Loving all these videos! However I dont know if anyone told you yet, but recompense is pronounced Reh-come-pents.

[@morro4398]

Embrace of the Mantis King FTW!

[@maestrofeli4259]

perfect timing, I'm about to start a melee run with the heavy hand trait, wish me luck

[@8stormy5]

Heavy-handed is pretty meh because a lot of the awesome melee weapons have high crit chances and deal obscene damage with crits

[@imsocool5623]

If you get Elijah’s Ramblings it almost counters the negative crit damage so you end up mostly positive on higher base damage weapons along with the chainsaw and industrial fist c:

[@thatskeletordude5271]

​@@8stormy5Psycho and Turbo make the game tolerable. Also the super sledge "Oh Baby!" is awesome.

[@maestrofeli4259]

​@@8stormy5 I focused on using those melee weapons that have low critical damage like the ripper and the chainsaw

[@brantnuttall]

19:49 the first melee fists playthrough I did was with these Gauntlets. Good fun! (actually, it was the unique version from Mick and Ralph's)

[@fukyomammason]

Love and Hate is my favorite weapon in the game.

[@booker9879]

How many ways to rob the Van Graffs...

[@dannyhernandez265]

The van graffs deserve it though. Lol

[@FrenchToastandSyrup]

The two-step goodbye has always been my favorite unarmed weapon lol

[@thebusinessmn1114]

Im doing a melee run currently, and am thinking of using grease lightening for the super slam proc, and the fact so many melee weapon swing speed buffs can be obtained. Machine gun fist

[@BellyRoll2OP]

I use the golden gloves to knock super strong enemys, then finish them with my best dps weapon to avoid damage.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, that is a good way to use them.

[@lazypaladin]

_Ah, Fallout NV. Where you have to bench between 35 and 55 to _*_wear a glove._* Sidenote: New Vegas has such a fun Unarmed Weapon List that it's still the only game within the series I've beaten with Unarmed. Fallout 4 got shafted.

[@erikbukovac5944]

fallout 4 melee/unarmed is so bad. outside of sneak attacks and abusing blitz, its seriously underpowered. the worst thing is when enemies with guns read your inputs and bash you just as you are going to hit them, cancelling your attack.

[@that-minotaur]

@@erikbukovac5944 I know a trick to make melee / unarmed more viable in Fallout 4 that I haven't seen anyone post online: When you switch between first and third-person camera, it resets your character's animation, and you can act immediately. You need to use a certain rhythm, but if you get the hang of the animation cancel, every melee weapon will swing as fast as the default switchblade. The Atom's Judgement with this method becomes maybe the deadliest weapon in the game.

[@ikeduno7973]

Really good breakdown. Great focus. Thanks!

[@ReapeeRon]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Vladimir_4757]

He forgot to mention how fucking broken 2 step goodbye is with kahn trick. Your sand literally explodes enemies

[@k86735]

Man the crit damage on the ballistic fist is crazy for something that already does so much damage

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that one is great, it hits super hard.

[@noahhobson4521]

I adore Love and Hate for an unarmed build. I might not pick it up immediately like I do Chance's Knife, but if I'm going unarmed I'll still get it by about level five.

[@KhriZippy]

Whenever I hear "bare hands" always comes to mind the "bear hands" from TF2. "I WILL KILL YOU WITH BEAR HANDS!" - Heavy

[@josephwoodall4193]

I disagree on the Golden Gloves rating, those things can put things to sleep quick.

[@abeautifulduwang]

anyone else find it strange you need 20 tags for dog tag fists but you only hold 6 of them?

[@timjkoala7556]

I think Spiked Knuckles and Love and Hate should be S tier because there's nothing more satisfying than mangling enemies with spikes on your hands :D

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a good point.

[@krisgamingscienceandfun4338]

bare fists are fun becuase theirs nothing that really bonds you to your companion quite like beating benny in his room with nothing but you and your companions fists

[@tinajd187]

In my personal experience (my biggest playthrough of new vegas was a dedicated unarmed build) I find the the industrial fist to on the bottom end of D tier. It's nice to negate DR/DT but its painfully easy to wear the thing down by holding down the attack button and using it as intended. Which is why I preferred the Super-Heated Saturnite Fist until i got the Fist of Rawr.

[@Tucher97]

Unarmed gets really insane but I usually use a combo of the saturnite power fist and the ranger takedown. This take down works on anything and everything while the saturnite power fist does speed up the animation speed just slightly.

[@mikkelnyhuus9173]

I didn’t feel any reason to disagree with your list. Well done.

[@GabryelFile]

The Golden Gloves are a great way to put someone down without getting Infamy - a nice way to manage factions

[@nybethobdilord6912]

If the mantis gauntlet is A tier then so should the bladed gauntlet and it's unique variant due to them having higher crit damage with 2x crit.

[@Nr4747]

To clarify 0:45: Your bare hands are also holdout weapons, so you can also sneak them into casinos and even Caesar's Fort, they don't get amputated when you enter and re-attached when you leave xD

[@GremDisaster]

Never done an unarmed build before. Think I’ll do that. Yeah. (Mission Complete: Find yet another reason to play Fallout New Vegas)

[@ReapeeRon]

Hope that you enjoy it. I find it pretty strong, and really good in the early game.

[@vaultboya6253]

On hard core very hard, I tend to lean towards melee alot. Most guns just take so many bullets to kill and since ammo has weight, it's just easier to run out to pick up a good melee like oh baby! Or a power fist. With unstoppable and super slam and piercing strike, you'll annihilate everything short of death claws

[@jayfoster3992]

At the end of your weapon tier lists you should make all the s tears and compare them

[@ReapeeRon]

That sounds interesting.

[@w4rd3n14]

the ripper and chainsaw ignore dmg treshhold the shainsaw is bugged and dosent ignore it.

[@meeklynobody3230]

Mobius glove is S tier

[@RaulFlores-ge7uh]

16:50 he just absolutely wrecks those rad scorpions 🦂 sends them flying with insanely fast punches🤣😂😂

[@panamajack5972]

3 pounds per boxing glove? The Courier is jacked.

[@devinloew7681]

28:02 That was a dirty move. I like it

[@ZAN23966]

Mobius's glove is powerful, the crit knockdown is crazy nice

[@chief9mm822]

I discovered greased lightning a few days ago and it’s my fav weapon in all of new Vegas. I feel like an absolute psycho with it

[@Hunter人]

good list

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!