Best starting perks in Fallout: New Vegas

1 month ago 28

The best starting perks in Fallout: New Vegas will boost your critical hits, unlock easy repairs, turn you into a stealthy ninja, and even provide extra skill points. With over 100 perks to choose from, however, finding the most overpowered options is quite difficult.

To turn your character into the perkiest protagonist the Mojave Desert dwellers have ever seen, here's a list of the best perks to pick first in Fallout New Vegas.

Best starting perks in Fallout: New Vegas

Perks are passive buffs with unique effects, such as a higher critical rate, faster movement, and easier repairs. Fallout: New Vegas includes 88 regular perks in the main game, 117 regular perks in Ultimate Edition (base game and DLCs), and a stack of "special" perks. The regular perks are obtained by leveling up, whereas challenge, quest, and companion perks are unlocked by completing special objectives, completing quests, and finding new companions, respectively.

The list below shows a selection of the best perks to get in early- to mid-game. They're all regular perks, so you don't need to chase specific objectives to unlock them. Every time you gain two main character levels (at level 2, 4, 6, etc.), you get the chance to pick one, but beware that they always come with a minimum level requirement, and usually some stat and skill requirements. To unlock the "Educated" perk, for example, your character must be level 4 with an intelligence stat of at least 4.

Name	ID	Requirements	Effects	Why choose this perk?
Black Widow/Confirmed Bachelor	00094EB8/001361B4	Level: 2	You deal 10% more damage against male characters and unlock additional dialogue options.	At level 2, without needing any other requirements, you can pick either the "Black Widow" or "Confirmed Bachelor" perk depending on whether your character is female or male, respectively. Although these two perks have a "+10% damage against female characters" equivalent, it's best to pick the male variant as most opponents in the game are male. That's a free 10% damage bonus for you!
Educated	00031DD8	Level: 4 Intelligence: 4	Every time you level up, gain two more skill points.	Obtaining more skill points is incredibly useful in early game. Although this Fallout: New Vegas perk wouldn't be quite as good in the endgame (you can hit skill level caps in other ways), it's absolutely worth the investment when you're still level 4.
Rad Child	001656FD	Level: 4 Survival: 70	You regenerate 2 HP per second per 200 radiation points accumulated.	Get irradiated on purpose (which is not that hard to do in New Vegas, just visit a polluted location or have an irradiated beer), and you'll get a combat boost of 8 HP per second maximum. Don't let your rad level reach 1000, though, as that will be fatal.
Bloody Mess	00094EBA	Level: 6	Deal +5% more damage.	If you're looking for an "always useful" kind of perk, this is it. Beware that it does trigger more violent death animations, too.
Hand Loader	0016581B	Level: 6 Repair: 70	Double the chances of recovering cases and hulls while using guns. Also unlocks all hand load recipes.	This perk makes it far easier to craft new ammo at a reloader bench and thus maintain a decent ammo supply. If you predominantly use energy guns rather than regular guns, go for "Vigilant Recycler" instead, as this offers a similar effect.
Demolition Expert	00031DAB	Level: 6 Explosives: 50	Deal +20% damage with explosives.	Explosive damage is already very powerful against groups, and this additional damage bonus will make it even more so.
Strong Back	00031DDE	Level: 8 Strength: 5 Endurance: 5	Gain +50 carrying capacity.	Nothing is more annoying than running out of inventory space. Thanks to this perk, that won't happen quite as often anymore.
Finesse	00094EC1	Level: 10	Grants +5% critical chance.	Extra critical chance is almost always useful, unless you decide on a specific combat build that doesn't require critical rate (which is usually an explosives-based build). "Finesse" is especially good when combined with "Better Criticals."
Piercing Strike	0014609F	Level: 12 Unarmed: 70	All unarmed and melee attacks ignore 15 damage threshold points on the enemy.	This brilliant Fallout: New Vegas perk allows you to ignore a hefty chunk of the opponent's armor, which makes light-armored enemies extremely vulnerable while heavy-armored enemies are easier to damage. Even players with a preference for guns might want to use this perk to defeat weaker enemies with melee and save some bullets.
Silent Running	00031DB3	Level: 12 Agility: 6 Sneak: 50	Running no longer negatively affects a sneaking attempt.	Having to slow down while in sneak mode is very annoying, but with the "Silent Running" perk, you can move as fast as you like. It's easier to take enemies down (less time for them to move around), and you'll clear quest objectives far more quickly.
Chemist	0009982D	Level: 14 Medicine: 60	All chems last twice as long.	Despite the description, this perk doubles the duration of any stat bonus, healing effect, or other type of buff gained from any consumable — not just from chems! Of course, receiving double healing is especially powerful.
Jury Rigging	00165815	Level: 14 Repair: 90	Repair any item by sacrificing a roughly similar item.	Broke your favorite weapon or armor? With the "Jury Rigging" perk equipped, you no longer need the exact same item to repair it, but just a similar one. For example, you can now repair an All-American rifle with any two-handed automatic gun.
Better Criticals	00031DBB	Level: 16 Luck: 6 Perception: 6	Deal +50% damage with critical hits.	As long as your character has a high critical rate, this perk provides a massive damage boost. Be sure to get the "Finesse" perk, too.
Laser Commander	00165789	Level: 22 Energy weapons: 90	Deal an extra 15% damage and gain an additional 10% critical hit chance with any laser weapon.	Granted, at level 22, this is hardly "mid-game" territory, but this Fallout: New Vegas perk is too good not to include. As long as you're willing to wield a laser weapon like the Gatling Laser or Elijah's Advanced LAER, you'll gain a massive damage boost from this perk.