Fallout 3 Energy Weapons Guide
Energy weapons are very interesting guns in Fallout 3. You will go a short time without access to quality energy weapons, but once you have them you will be very powerful. The most basic of the energy weapons deals nice damage, and they are for the most part quite accurate, especially in the form of the Laser Rifle. Victims to powerful blasts of energy will disintegrate. Thankfully, the gear they carried will remain for the most part unharmed. The primary stat for energy weapons is perception, and having higher values in it will increase the damage done by all energy weapons.
Hey guys, back with another Fallout 3 video and today, I’m going to go over 10 of what I think are among some of the best guns and weapons in Fallout 3! As always, this video is going to include some of my personal favorites and will strive to achieve a balance between Weapon Type and Practicality. As for the best weapons to use, why no mention of the missile launcher, fat man, mini gun, gatling laser, alien atomizor/disintegrator, laser rifle/pistol, plasma rifle/pistol, plasma grenades, heavy disintegrator, flamer, drone cannon etc. At the time of Point Lookout you've got a whole armoury of fancy weapons to use that rip them apart nicely.
The Weapons (Alphabetical List)
A3-21's Plasma Rifle: This is likely my favorite mid-range energy weapon. It's not great at a long range but it can pummel opponents up close. You get this weapon as a reward for completing The Replicated Man in Rivet City. It's of course a modified Plasma Rifle, and can only be repaired with them. Fortunately the enclave camps at the end of the game are endless sources of plasma rifles to keep A3-21's Rifle melting mutants.
Alien Blaster: The Alien Blaster is found at the alien crash site. To get to the alien crash site, you'll need to be in the square 2 east and 10 north from Megaton. If you have the MDPL-13 power station revealed, or minefield, it's easier to fast walk there and head north. You'll eventually pick up a new radio signal, a beacon. Listen to the radio signal and you'll hear that it gets a bit stronger as you near the square I suggested. The alien ship is crash-landed in the southwestern corner of the square here. The blaster is found to the south of the ship, when you finally find it. It's laying next to an alien body. Look for the small light blue alien power cells to get the ammo it takes. It doesn't use any other form of ammo, so it's likely the most scare ammo in the game ( a bit more can be found in fort independence). The blaster literally guarantees a critical hit. If you're an energy weapons specialist, you'll kill almost anything in a single blow to the head. This makes the 120 rounds of ammo you find near the alien body more significant. Use these rounds wisely. They're great for tough encounters like deathclaws and the like.
Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol: This weapon can't really be gained without exploiting the game. Have a look at this video to see how it's done. Don't talk to Colonel Autumn if you do this or you'll potentially ruin your game. Try to shoot the pistol out of his hand while using a stealth boy or just kill him. Honestly, this weapon is not worth the trouble it takes to get it. It is fine outside of VATS, but it's a fully automatic laser pistol and owning it is basically asking for having troubles with the ammo of the gun. It doesn't do any more damage per shot than a normal laser pistol. Even if you're an energy weapons specialist, I recommend you skip exploting the game to get this weapon.
Firelance: The Firelance can only be found through a random encounter. That is, you're travelling on the world map and a random event occurs. There are several of these events in the game. The trouble is, you're unlikely to encounter them really. I've played 60 hours on my current game and haven't encountered this yet. The Firelance uses the same ammunition as the Alien Blaster, that is, Alien Power Cells. These are in limited supply. I'm not sure if you can encounter this event multiple times, or if it occurs only once. Still, don't bother hunting for this weapon as you're unlikely to find it. If you have any tips to getting this random encounter, share them below using the comment form. The weapon itself does more damage than a normal Alien Blaster, with the same high chance to critial. In addition, it deals burning damage to enemies. It's a very nice weapon, especially with the Pyromaniac perk. I feel you can get by easily without one of these. If you're lucky enough to get one, great!
Laser Pistol: Ah, the Laser Pistol. I really love energy weapons and this is of course the first one I got when playing through the game. Your results will likely be the same. It deals more damage than a 10mm handgun, for sure. You can find them in shops, so keeping laser pistols repaired shouldn't be a very big problem. The ammo is very common, making it a weapon you can use without worry as soon as you find it. It benefits from the gunslinger perk like any other one-handed weapon and has a higher critical chance than the 10mm handgun.
Laser Rifle: Laser Rifles are powerful medium to long range energy weapons. Finding one in the early game can be tough, but you'll find more and more as you progress through the game. They are highly accurate weapons, allowing for excellent performance a high range. The AP cost is very low, so it's easy to fire off four to six shots in VATS as the enemy approaches. They take micro fusion cells, which are a bit more rare than the energy cells the pistol uses. Still, most shopkeepers will stock enough of this ammo to get you by. You can also do some travelling to various shops and buy out their ammo to stock up.
Mesmetron: The Mesmetron can be gained in two ways. You can either accept the quest Strictly Business from Grouse at Paradise Falls or kill him. I encountered this item while doing the main quest. Grouse offered me to enslave several people for entry, but I killed him instead as I was playing a good Karma character. If you kill him like I did, you'll be limited to the mesmetron power cells you pick up off his corpse. If you take the quest, you can buy more cells from him at the cost of 200 caps per ten. The chance to actually mez someone (other than the quest NPCs associated with 'strictly business') seems to be 50/50. Sometimes heads will explode, and sometimes the victim will turn wild and start attacking everyone. If they do this, you can kill them without repurcussion.
Plasma Pistol: Plasma pistols are powerful, but rare energy weapons. The only problem when using them in non-VATS is that the shots are slow and can often miss moving targets. As such, if you're firing in non-VATS and the enemy is moving you may want to allow for some lead, that is, shoot just a touch ahead of where the target is moving so they'll run into the energy ball. These pop up more often once you've made it past the Waters of Life in the main quest. At that time, the Enclave will have camps set up in the wasteland, and you'll encounter them more often. Raiders don't usually have weapons like this, as you might expect.
Plasma Rifle: Plasma rifles do about twice the damage of a plasma pistol and work at slightly longer ranges. They have a low capacity for the microfusion cells they use as ammo, at just 12. Thankfully, plasma rifles are powerful enough that 12 shots is often enough. Like the plasma pistol, you'll need to accomodate for the slower speed of the weapon's projectiles. The weapon has an AP cost of 25, so you won't get off as many shots in VATS. Again, this type of weapon is much more common after the enclave begins setting up their camps.
Protectron's Gaze: You can get this unique laser pistol during the quest The Superhuman Gambit. The weapon fires clusters of lasers at the enemy, and deals a good bit more damage than your average laser pistol. This is a good midgame weapon for energy weapon lovers for that reason. Also, the Superhuman Gambit is not a quest that's hard to access for low characters as the biggest hurdle will be the long walk to the area. Read my walkthrogh of the quest for more information.
Smuggler's End: This is a second unique laser pistol. It's slightly more powerful than the normal laser pistol in VATS, but outside it can fire nearly twice as fast as a standard model. Obtaining this weapon is a simple matter of making it through the main quest to the point where you're allowed access to the citadel. Look in the B-ring of the citadel for the room marked 'the Solar', which are Elder Lyons' personal chambers. You'll need 100 lockpicking skill to open the safe which contains it. Taking this weapon is not considered stealing, despite that it's in Lyons' chambers. The weapon can consume a lot of ammo, but the energy cells it fires are hardly rare.
Wazer Wifle: This is probably my favorite energy weapon. It's also very easy to get from a child named Biwwy once you've gained entry to Little Lamplight. Look for the signs to the great chamber. This room is very large, and finding Biwwy can be challenging. You can buy this gun for 500 caps or less, depending on your barter skill. People with Child at Heart can get it for free! It does about five more damage than the normal laser rifle, and features a slightly larger ammo capacity. This weapon goes great with Tesla Armor. You'll be able to fire from long ranges, and if you took the commando or sniper perks they'll be even more accurate at range. You can repair this with normal Laser Rifles, but wont' have to very often because this weapon seems to have high durability. I use this for most fights, but occasionally like to use my Burnmaster at close ranges.
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Fallout 3 is a truly enormous game. This action RPG plants you in the post-apocalyptic world of Washington, D.C., where vile Super Mutants and Ghouls prowl the rad-blasted wastelands. In order to survive, you'll need a quick trigger finger...and a quick brain.
Here are 64 of the most useful gameplay hints for surviving Fallout 3.
Combat Basics
Always use VATS to attack. Fallout 3 is not a run-and-gun shooter, so don't play it like one! In combat, tap the right trigger (PS3 and Xbox 360 versions) to enable the VATS targeting system. VATS will allow you to inflict the maximum amount of damage — far more than simply firing from the hip — and take down enemies quickly and easily. If you're not using VATS regularly, you are asking for trouble.
Concentrate your fire on one body part. Use the VATS targeting system to concentrate all of your attacks on one body part (such as the head or torso). Once that body part becomes crippled, it's easy to blow it off with one or two more shots. Easy peasy!
Conserve ammo. This one's a no-brainer, but still bears mentioning. In the grey, dismal world of Fallout 3, resources are in scarce supply and it's wise not to waste what little ammo you'll find.
Small Guns are big on power. There's no dishonor in investing in Small Guns. Contrary to its diminutive name, the Small Guns class encapsulates high-end killing machines such as the Sniper Rifle, Scoped .44 Magnum, and the Assault Rifle. And because bullets are more common than laser batteries and explosives, you'll generally have more ammo.
Repair is important. Consider boosting your Repair skill to 40 or 50 if you're a combat-centric character, as making repairs in town can be a pricey process.
Always carry a spare for your favorite weapon. To fix one weapon, you'll need another of the same variety. If your combat shotgun breaks in the middle of a fight, you'll want access to a spare so you can perform a quick field strip and get right back in the fight.
Strength and Agility are critical for fighters. These two S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are most important for fighters, and will let you carry more gear and inflict more damage in combat. A high Agility will give you more accuracy in VATS aiming as well.
Scavenging for Loot
Be sure to carry bobby pins. Many players forget to bring bobby pins to the battlefield, which will prevent you from accessing the best loot. These little miracles are the chief way to open locked containers. Without bobby pins, you'll only be able to force locks using your screwdriver.
Bump up your Barter skill. The Barter stat directly impacts how much — or how little — items cost in the shops. If you want to amass a mountain of bottlecaps, bump Barter up to 50 or 75. Having high Charisma will also help here.
Crafting items fetch a hefty price. Even if you don't want to construct your own weapons, crafting items are often worth collecting for their high resale value. The heavier components — vacuums, leaf blowers, motorcycle gas tanks — aren't usually worth the wasted inventory space. But smaller items such as conductors and sensors are worth a pretty penny, so grab 'em and sell 'em.
Save your Scrap Metal. In Fallout 3, scrap metal is a valuable resource. So much so that two characters — one in Megaton, the other in Underworld — will happily buy your scrap metal at high rates.
Ammo is gold. In Fallout 3, ammunition fetches a tidy resale sum. That means you should grab every single round you find, from the lowly BB all the way up to the mini-nuke, even if you never intend to fire them. You're never broke if you have access to thousands of rounds of seldom-used ammo.
Save those mini-nukes! You'll earn a free Fatboy launcher and almost 10 of the mini-nukes when you first fight the Behemoth outside of the Galaxy News Radio Station. Because the mini-nuke ammunition is worth a small fortune in resale value — 300+ caps per round — it's better to blow away the Behemoth with a standard missile launcher and save the pricey ammo.
Practice picking locks. Picking locks requires a little persistence Think of it as a cold-warm-hot test: the idea is to spend your first try testing to see where the lock's 'cold spots' are, then spending your second attempt on locating the hot spot and opening the lock. Once you've narrowed down the 'cold' parts of the lock, you'll have a much better idea where to stick the next bobby pin. Common 'hot spots' on locks are the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions.
Put at least 25 points into Explosives. If you invest 25 skill points in Explosives, you'll be able to disarm frag mines and collect them for resale. Once you hit 25 in Explosives, head over to Minetown to scoop up over a dozen of the little buggers and cash them in for some serious dough.
Wearing certain outfits will boost your skills. Some special outfits in the game will boost your abilities by 5 points in a particular discipline. The most useful are the ones that boost your Repair skill — swapping to this outfit when repairing items is an easy way to get more
Keep your armor in tip-top shape. The lower your armor's condition, the more damage you'll take in battle. Keep it patched up or you'll be at a big disadvantage against tougher opponents. The same goes for weapons: the lower the condition, the lower the damage.
Levelling Up
Best Pistol In Fallout 3
Reading is comprehending! While picking through the rubble, you'll occasionally find books with snappy titles (Puglism Quarterly, Grognak the Barbarian). If you pick up and use the book, you'll gain one skill point. Also consider investing the Comprehension perk early the game — you'll gain an extra skill point for every book you read.
Choose the right perks. There are plenty of fun perks in Fallout 3 (Bloody Mess, anyone?). But you're better off choosing perks that give you more tangible, lasting benefits. Useful early perks include Gun Nut (boosts both Small Guns and Repair skills by 5), Strong Back (grants 50 extra pounds of inventory space), and Lead Belly (a 50% reduction to any radiation you gain by drinking water).
Best Weapon In Fallout 3 Reddit
Don't spread out your skill points. It's a mistake to try and be a 'jack of all trades' in Fallout 3 by diversifying your skill points. You'll have far better luck by choosing two or three areas of mastery.
There are several 'must-have' skills. Some skills are too useful to completely ignore. Medicine, Repair, and Barter are all extremely helpful and worth sinking at least 25 (preferably 40-50) skill points into.
Endurance and Strength are the most useful stats. Endurance enables you to take more damage in combat, and Strength gives you more carrying capacity. Both are well worth investing in.
Choose the Fast Learner perk to earn more experience. Every time you sink a point into the Fast Learner perk, you'll earn 10% larger experience rewards. If you want to reach level 20, invest in this perk as early as possible.
High Intelligence grants you more skill points. Boosting your Intelligence rank will grant you extra skill points every time you level up, enabling you to master more disciplines. As with the Fast Learner perk, you'll want to make this decision early in the game in order to get the maximum benefit.
Level 20 is the highest level. You can't proceed past level 20. In order to reach that, you'll have to embark on most of the game's numerous side quests. You'll also want to kill as many enemies and disarm as many traps as possible to get maximum experience points.
Collect the Bobbleheads. If you search hard, you'll find Bobblehead collectible items that you can stash on the trophy case in your house in Megaton. Each Bobblehead you find will slightly boost your stats, so it's worth tracking down as many as you can. You can find one in Sherriff Lucas's house in Megaton.
Find the secret perks. In Fallout 3, you can earn undocumented 'secret' perks as quest rewards. The first one, Rad Regeneration, is earned if you complete Moira's Survival Guide chapter on radiation poisoning. To earn Rad Regeneration, which heals your limbs when exposed to radiation, you want to accumulate at least 600 rad points before visiting Moira for the cure. Complete other quests in the game to earn other secret perks.
Best Small Guns In Fallout 3
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