Top 10 Fallout New Vegas Rifles

[@alejandroquesada]

Fun fact: You can only start Contreras' quest once you've reached level 12... otherwise he'll claim that you're not experienced enough for what he needs.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is interesting.

[@alejandroquesada]

@sakatagintoki6757 Which is why l begin collecting tin cans from the start of all my runs... they weigh only 0.1 and are just as good as scrap metal.

[@zachlewis9751]

Starting the question the main way is locked behind level twelve. Starting it other ways is not level locked. Talking to the woman trying to investigate him or hacking his terminal allows you to start it.

[@Psychonautical89]

​@sakatagintoki6757there is also a barter check, and I'm pretty sure both are 80 but I could be wrong. 75/90 coupe also be. But yeah I always used the Barter check on that one.

[@StormEagleCH]

@sakatagintoki6757yeah he accepts both normal and bent tin cans as well. Also a really good place to gather tin cans is the aerotech office park (not far from the gun runners), since they’re littered all over the floor of the buildings and you can easily find over 100 between them

[@icacuellar]

The ratslayer is so underrated im glad you put it on this list. Although i think its strong for different reasons. Getting liked by caesars legion without making the ncr mad is as easy as taking the rat slayer sneak one shotting all of the non named npcs in mccaran and turning in the dog tags to the legion. Once you get liked or better you get the safehouse key for the lucky shades and a steady supply of loot. The ratslayer is the only gun i know of that lets you do this early game

[@ReapeeRon]

The Ratslayer is one of my favorite weapons in Fallout New Vegas. It's so much fun to get early on in the game!

[@cellardoor2197]

It can carry you pretty far with a sneak crit sniper build. Real far actualy. All the way till you can get the 100 lockpick for the sniper nest.

[@jackmclane1826]

I use it to exterminate Legion patrols south of Novac. Not quest related, but I took a liking in the settlement and I really hate the Legion.

[@fredbFU]

@icacuellar yeah ratslayer is amazing to say the least it gets outshined by a few snipers but the fact you can get it at lvl 1 makes it my #2 sniper.

[@michaelstopher1471]

Trail carbine with the scope added can be an absolute beast. Great accuracy, but that .44 ammo can go pretty quickly.

[@ReapeeRon]

That one is another really good weapon.

[@Psychonautical89]

I never understood players who talk about ammo scarcity. Are you folks avoiding merchants for flavor/challenge value?

[@michaelstopher1471]

@@Psychonautical89 It's not a question of "will I ever have enough ammo for this weapon EVER?" versus "how soon can I use this weapon with reckless abandon?".

[@centurion2396]

@@Psychonautical89 same here, the khans vendors alone have more than enough ammo to last you a full playthru.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@centurion2396this is the way. Not only do the Khans have a massive stock of ammo, but they disregard your barter skill altogether which makes them probably the most efficient vendor in the game.

[@dianabarnett6886]

It's worth noting that the Gun Runners Arsenal version of the Assault Carbine does not work with the Grunt perk, so using the standard version can get you a little more damage out of it per shot.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks for the heads up.

[@Kushncorinthian]

What!! I just dropped a ton of caps on this and it's upgrades smh.. at least it still shreds ig

[@KayQue404]

@@Kushncorinthian are you playing on PC?

[@Kushncorinthian]

@KayQue404 yeah I got the script too

[@KayQue404]

@@Kushncorinthian yeah cuz I was gonna mention that YUP should’ve fixed that type of stuff wit the DLCs

[@bacd-nn2lg]

I always put Survivalist Rifle as my number one rifle in this game. It has really well written lore, unique look, and very good damage. Ps. I even dare say that this is the best gun in entire game.

[@ReapeeRon]

Fair, it is a really cool gun.

[@Psychonautical89]

It definitely does better than it seems like it should against armored targets considering there is no AP version of the 12.7mm.

[@ED-E469]

Annoying thing is the sights, but I mostly use it in vats anyways so it’s ok

[@Kushncorinthian]

​@ED-E469 thats true, personally i forgive this flaw because it was clearly an intentional desicion and it adds to the guns unique character

[@clyax113]

It's my go-to damage rifle. When I first tried it, the rate of fire surprised me as I was blowing away the heads of White Legs.

[@KingCollossuss]

Ratslayer is a fantastic weapon. Not only is it good early on for almost any build but with the right setup it can be good all the way into the late game. A sneak crit. build can easily get 150+ per shot out of this thing allowing it to one shot a lot of late game enemies. It lacks the power of the Anti-materiel rifle but is much easier to use to take out the regular targets so you can save the big gun ammo for the big targets. And it also just looks awesome. Probably my favourite gun in the game.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah it is one of my favorite guns in Fallout New Vegas.

[@gagetolinwrites6845]

I grew up without internet, so my 360 copy of New Vegas never updated. I think I had over 10 completed playthroughs before I realized that This Machine even existed. It was the hardest weapon for me to get in vanilla New Vegas, on an already glitchy unmarked quest lmao.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that was pretty much me too.

[@michaelh1603]

You should make a tier list video about all of the companions in the game. Even the dlc ones.

[@ReapeeRon]

I probably will sometime in the future.

[@harizotoh7]

Assault Carbine is imo one of the most under-rated guns in the game. It is effectively a compact mini-gun, but can be wielded by someone with merely 3 strength. With auto -10DT it has armor piercing by default. Trail Carbine is also a revolver caliber scoped carbine - only it and the La Longue Carabine are properly scoped lever action rifles. There's no logical reason why the brush gun couldn't be scoped, it's just gameplay balance. It's to give a reason to use the Trail Carbine at all. But it's mid-high damage, can be gotten early, and even has access to armor piercing handloader rounds without the handloader perk! It can carry you the entire game!

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, I like it a lot with the AP rounds loaded into it.

[@WorldWideWub]

This Machine also has the most pleasing reload sound with that ping as the magazine ejects

[@ReapeeRon]

Agreed. :)

[@dianabarnett6886]

Yeah, but it's spread makes it frustrating at long range.

[@acidman806]

It's a mid to close range gun. You don't snipe with a shotgun Same here

[@CodyBones004]

To avoid redundancy with the tier lists, I think it'd be cool to see a video for the top 10 weapons to use in-doors or maybe other specialty uses? If you wanna pull from the community or get really creative, I'd love to see some fun gimmick build ideas

[@ReapeeRon]

Gimmick weapons and builds could be a lot of fun to do.

[@PhoenixFire2]

Christine's rifle carried me so hard in my recent sniper run that I never even considered upgrading to the anti-materiel. Damn thing was one-shotting deathclaws with sneak crit AP rounds to the head all the way through Lonesome Road.

[@sanlorenzo7896]

It always made wonder why the assault carbine had 5mm instead of 5.56. I guess if the Courier wasn’t strong enough to lug a minigun, this carbine would be the next best thing. Despite the lack of an AK type rifle or light machine gun, New Vegas made up with the various cowboy and grunt based guns it has to offer. My personal favorites are the Cowboy Repeater and This Machine.

[@harizotoh7]

Gameplay balance. They wanted another gun to use 5mm ammo, and to effectively be a compact mini-gun. They also wanted another full auto rifle.

[@ReapeeRon]

Could be they just wanted more ammo types.

[@dianabarnett6886]

I honestly don't see much reason to use a minigun when the assault carbine is a thing.

[@quadroninja2708]

​@@dianabarnett6886minigun is certainly better because of it's high ammo capacity and fire rate. Really high requirements for use hinder it though

[@guyman7776]

NV does have a LMG and the horrible unique variant, the Bozar, they just aren't super common. I think the super mutants are the only ones who rock the LMG

[@bjokvi91]

With the right perks Paciencia is a clear nr.1 for me.

[@kreativwiebetonblock1327]

and with hollow rounds even against heavily armored targets

[@mrheherdisruptor8975]

What perks do you suggest for Paciencia?

[@bjokvi91]

@@mrheherdisruptor8975 Everything that has anything to do with critical hits and damage, and of course Rapid Reload. You'll find good Paciencia builds on KZbin

[@michaelbarbarich3965]

​@@mrheherdisruptor8975finesse, rifleman, cowboy (if the bonus applies to bolt action, I forgot), better criticals

[@salvoguy4383]

Good list, I would put Medicine Stick as 1st though, it might be one of the costlier guns to run ingame but that thing running with SWC ammo is just crazy, pretty much an all around killing machine at all ranges.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks, and the medicine stick is usually my go to for the late game.

[@brantnuttall]

0:44 you caught me out there, I went looking towards the left of my screen before it appeared on the right! lol

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome!

[@silverjohn6037]

It's a popular misconception that the Survivalists Rifle's sights are misaligned. They are an old school AR15/M16 style iron sight that has been damaged. The sights (link to a Wikipedia illustration below) had the center post that was the true sight with a wing on either side to protect the sight from being damaged. In the case of the survivalist rifle the right wing has been knocked off at some point. Unfortunately that's never explained in game and the left wing looks so much like the sight that it would obviously be confusing if you have never seen the old school sights. fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:M16_rifle_correct_sight_picture_fig_4-18.png

[@shadowsnake8989]

This Machine is actually not buffed by the Grunt perk according to the Wiki for some reason like the Automatic Rifle. But you can get two of these if you do the quest correctly.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, figured it would be.

[@mattwilliams7454]

Ive had some big hits with Paciencia. Its hard to pick. There's probably 15 really good rifles. But i find myself using it a lot. Survivalist is so full of lore that its always tempting to pull it out too.

[@WikiHL]

4:56 pretty spot on

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you!

[@fiveam8626]

you pronounced paciencia (spanish for patience) pretty well!

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!

[@Psychonautical89]

Top 3 for me: 1. Assault Carbine 2. Abeline Kid BB gun 3. Paciencia Obviously i go by more than just raw damage/DPS. The carbine takes the cake mostly because of its ammo typing and the fact that it is A) arguably the most plentiful ammo assuming you're taking advantage of at least one of either Bardon, Khans armorer, Contreras, or Alexander, and B) that it has the best AP rounds with all other versions offering -10. There is just hundreds of thousands of bulk rounds and due to the game's balancing even the vanilla ammo comes in large quantities. Even with minimal gun skill and not meeting the reasonable STR requirement, the AC becomes a noob tube at close-medium range, and when built for it can carry you through the entire game with zero issues. The Abeline Kid BB gun becomes IN-SANE when you start getting fire rate increases. Fast Shot + Rushing Water and the thing basically becomes a slow-firing SMG that does damage on par with a brush gun if you have even just decent crits. Paciencia I was just super impressed by and the fact that its available in such an easy-to-reach area means you can get it extremely early if you know how to cheese 10k caps early on, which is easy with gambling and only slightly a chore without. Love the vids!

[@ReapeeRon]

Those are a lot of very fun weapons. Thanks!

[@brand8246]

Paciencia probably has a zoom of about x3.25, as best I can tell. I've done tests where I can snipe enemies that aren't even on ED-E's radar yet by using the Gobi or YCS/186, but if I switch to Paciencia they won't be visible when I zoom in.

[@ReapeeRon]

That sounds about right.

[@realceal9650]

The biggest criticism of this list I could give is that This Machine isn't boosted by Grunt, the wiki page you showed reflects that and I had to install a mod to make it take the Grunt boost. *That* rifle is probably the best in the game, but I think for a VATS build in vanilla the All-American outshines it in everything except per-shot damage. Still a top 5 rifle thanks to its ease of acquisition but I would give the top spot to the Medicine Stick, with Cowboy and the Hand Loader ammo it borders on AMR damage and unlike the AMR is pretty flexible. I do respect your opinion though and your praise for This Machine across the rifle videos has opened my eyes to how good a weapon it actually is. Thanks for the video!

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks, and that is true, I done goofed on that one.

[@nikitab.6600]

I will give a top 5. 5. Service Rifle. It fires the 223, it is utilitarian to the max, and it is available early, and it is great for early to mid game. 4. Rat Slayer. It kicks way above its weight. 3. CoS Sniper. Just when you need something to die from far away. 2. All American, it is just good. There is probably no downsides to its use and utility. Vault 34, the radiation and atmosphere, just no. 1. Survivalist Rifle. It is a powerhouse against everything. Only downside is the ammo.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome list!

[@jk2noob511]

As a sniper gamer, Anti-material rifle is a best choice for me, you can even oneshot full group of casadores with explosive ammo. Second is Christine cos sniper rifle, you can just kill every mob in the game without being noticed !! i cant belive, that machine is better

[@ReapeeRon]

Those are great rifles, and these are in any specific order.

[@bluejayblaze6887]

I am pleased to see This Machine in the number 1 spot, truly helped me appreciate the pings I grew up with.

[@ReapeeRon]

Great to hear!

[@FrenchToastandSyrup]

Gotta agree with ya on This Machine being number 1 or Medicine Stick.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!

[@aradan3913]

I'd like it if you explained why you like each one better than the previous one, a lot of them come down to ammo type, but not all of them, but some have really big down sides, but they are still ranked really high (the antimaterial rifle is an absolute weapon, but you are basically carrying a sniper+missile launcher for example; i usually would rather take the Paciencia as a sniper)

[@ReapeeRon]

I just wrote them down in this order. That is the reason why they are like this. Some of them I like for different reasons and some I love because they are fun.

[@dillonfenwick5424]

Personally would switch the survivalist rifle with this machine, I am curious to hear your reasonings behind this machine being number one. Personally, because of its accuracy, I don't consider it to be as well. Rounded as the survivalist rifle. Great video as always, please keep it up and I love the fresh opinions your bringing to my favorite games

[@FlymanMS]

More affordable ammo

[@Sarmathal]

@@FlymanMS Jury Rigging lets you generate infinite caps quickly.

[@dillonfenwick5424]

@@FlymanMS true. But I don't think it's enough to outrank the accuracy. But I respect the decision

[@ReapeeRon]

Honestly these where just the order that I wrote these down, and didn't know where to place them.

[@dillonfenwick5424]

@@ReapeeRon sounds good man. No issues with the list, thanks for making good content for us all

[@AceMan-20]

You got Paciencia correct this time! Means "patience" in Spanish, makes sense given its 3-round magazine.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!

[@horse_dog]

Honestly, what I used for my first fnv playthrough was just a fully modded hunting rifle. Got me through everything I needed to get through.

[@ReapeeRon]

The hunting rifle is probably one of my favorite guns in Fallout.

[@stoneylonesome4062]

5mm and ECP have a default armor-piercing effect because their weapons have low-per shot damage, if they didn’t have that Damage threshold negation effect, they would be useless against anything with light armor.

[@simons1120]

I would actually argue that the non-GRA Assault Carbine is stronger because the GRA version doesn't benefit from the Grunt perk. It should, of course. But DLCs can't interact with each other without causing load-order bugs. And since the Grunt perk is from the Honest Hearts DLC, it can't buff the GRA Assault carbine because it's... from the GRA DLC.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is fair, I wasn't aware it worked that way.

[@critica77y77]

My favorite is Christine's CoS Rifle. I killed Rawr in two hits with it.

[@theterminators6512]

Easy difficuly?

[@critica77y77]

@@theterminators6512 Hard difficulty. Sneak crit with Better Criticals.

[@theterminators6512]

@critica77y77 how dare you not very difficulty it with only VATS attack. I exclusively play FNV like that.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome!

[@VivoCubino]

After 150+ hours in NV, i still don't get how crits work... Does crit damage combine with the base damage? What does crit. multiplier? What's the base crit chance?

[@brand8246]

Damage overall is quite confusing, especially since the numbers shown in-game are never accurate. The critical multiplier affects your chance to score a critical. So, for example, you might have 10 Luck + 5 (Finesse Perk) + 5 (1st Recon Beret) + 5 (Ulysses' Duster) = 25%. If you're using the Gobi (x2 crit multiplier), then you'd have a 50% chance of scoring a critical with each shot. There are lots of modifiers that can affect this number, and some are added to your base chance (like the beret and duster in my example) while others just add a flat bonus to the final calculation after the weapon's multiplier is applied. As for crit damage, the basic way it works is that you add the crit damage to the weapon's regular damage when you score a crit. Then subtract the target's DT (armor). Then apply the other modifiers (ammo, x2 bonus for a sneak crit, perks like Cowboy or Lord Death, etc.). There are other factors that can apply at times like DR, and Melee/Unarmed are a bit more complicated, but as long as you understand this basic part of damage calculation you should be fine.

[@VivoCubino]

@@brand8246 alright, thanks!

[@alecbuxton7634]

I trick I always use with weapon repair kits is to get my repair skill to 50 as fast as possible so that I can start making the kits early on but I just stockpile them for well later in the game but which time I have a few hundred of them to fix the rarer ones

[@davideburgassi]

the gobi scout rifle is easy to obtain if you're going to get the lucky from the bison steve at the very beginning of the game , few points and 100 lockpick is assured

[@yeeter5099]

Assault carbine over Light machine gun? That’s the only thing I’d switch out personally and maybe swap medicine stick and this machines placements

[@dannyhernandez265]

The problem is that the LMG has to compete with other 5.56 rounds while the assault carbine is a 5mm weapon. All American outclasses the LMG and uses less bullets since the LMG mows through bullets fairly quickly..

[@HamSlammer456]

Hope we can get another main entry Fallout game sometime this century. I'm not going to hold out for anything this decade. Maybe sometime in the 2030s...

[@ReapeeRon]

That would be really cool, but I don't know when that might happen.

[@BrUh-kv5bz]

10:10 how the hell is Tomas near Cottonwood Cove?

[@ReapeeRon]

He can wander around the map after the first encounter.

[@lokundjoside]

I remember Bozar being a pretty good weapon

[@MepzWorld]

Nice to see the Assault Carbine get some love, my all time favourite gun in FNV. Machine gun go brrrrrrt lol

[@BryanSchaeber]

He forgot to mention ratslayer is silent too

[@ThatEpicGuyGaming]

I think the Bozar is a good damadge per second gun that shoots very Common and easey to find rounds. Personaly Number 5

[@ReapeeRon]

I'm not the biggest fan of that one, but it is a very unique weapon.

[@ElDrHouse2010]

good list

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!

[@cellfrog9620]

You should do an armor tier list or a tier list of all apparel ranked on drip

[@ReapeeRon]

That could be fun to make.

[@fredbFU]

Hmm for me Gobi will always be #1 for me I’m ok with dumping all stat points into 80 lock pick and getting it at level 3 or 4

[@mul25]

can you coop in this ? or is there other fallout game that has coop ?

[@ReapeeRon]

You can with mods other wise this and all fallout games besides 76 are solo.

[@solomani-42]

Is the Bullpup assault rifle the same as the assault carbine (same family)?

[@Sarmathal]

I feel like all the most powerful weapons are kinda boring so now I like to use weaker non-unique weapons like a modded Hunting Rifle for example. (Which is still a powerful weapon.)

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that is true, and I will probably do one of these lists based on my favorite weapons in Fallout New Vegas.

[@Alice_Swift3d]

I played dead money for and gamble until I got banned on the cassino and now I've infintes wepaon repair kits

[@Vladimir_4757]

It's not "this weapon" it's "this machine"

[@brantnuttall]

nice selection but the time I finally decided to do a anti material rifle run through, I actually hated it. I'll never use it again.

[@dianabarnett6886]

In my opinion, the anti materiel rifle is a bit overrated. Badass, yes. Powerful, undoubtedly. But its weight, firing speed, and expense to feed are less than ideal.

[@ReapeeRon]

If you didn't try it with the Explosive ammo I would recommend that because it is a lot of fun!

[@araujogv]

nice

[@edmundsavalas192]

Automatic rifle to kill bunch bad guys and anti material rifle with explosive bullet to kill powerful one

[@daveswart312]

Wait how is this machine at #1? Lol

[@ReapeeRon]

Because it's good, and at the start of this video I said this wasn't in a certain order...

[@daveswart312]

@@ReapeeRon oh my fault I must have missed the “not in any order” part! Great videos love them :)

[@marcigoat]

gang