5 Surprisingly Good Perks In Fallout New Vegas

[@piotr5882]

This gentleman is surprisingly good at finding very interesting topics on almost 15 years old game. Keep going sir.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you kindly!

[@Kxidence]

@@ReapeeRonfr, love your videos brother

[@bannedcommander2932]

True, but you have to give the game some credit as well. Especially considering that Obsidian had a very short deadline to make it make its depth and rich content even more impressive.

[@GravitonAllNightLong]

​@@bannedcommander2932are you an NPC 😅 lmaoo you sound like what chatgpt would spit out if you asked why fallout new vegas was highly acclaimed.

[@lucutes2936]

Yep

[@TheTrueFool]

With Logan's Loophole, Chemist, and Daytripper, you can have the benefits of chems going almost constantly.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true.

[@ianstuart371]

That's dope but I only ever take Logan's loophole when I do gimmick runs that I never finish because giving up 20 levels is too much for me

[@ReapeeRon]

@@ianstuart371 You can reroll it at old world blues and then get those 20 levels back, or at level 50 and then you just get the bonus perks.

[@crepaldi4938]

@@ReapeeRonYou can actually bypass Addiction without Logan Loophole, if i recall you get around 90 - 100% Addiction Resistance if you Stack Brainless, Chem Resistant & Old World Gourmet

[@soldierhobbes1182]

@@ReapeeRon a loophole for the loophole. Clever.

[@channingsmith7859]

It is worth noting that “exploded like a blood sausage” and “turned into a thin red paste” were combat descriptions from Wasteland

[@ReapeeRon]

That's great, I didn't put that together. I do remember that from Fallout 2 as well now that you bring it up.

[@igorsdonjon2271]

And you are not a cannibal...

[@caboose759]

I love doing the "Drunken Zombie" build where you just constantly regenerate your health to the point where it's ridiculous.
Full Rad Child with Logan's Loophole, Old World Gourmand, a High Survival Skill and as much Wine and Scotch as you can hold. Extra points if you have Med-X and Slasher.
You get super irradiated but then you drink booze to mitigate some of the endurance loss, the booze now heals you, Logan's Loophole keeps you from being addicted AND increases the duration of the booze heals.
Obviously, you don't need the booze you can just eat food or even run stimpacks on hardcore because they increase the heal duration from Loophole too, but I like to imagine a piss drunk drug addict fistfighting a Deathclaw for a few hours at a time.

[@perfectifmelancholy]

Pretty sure I've been that character irl. 🤣🤣🤣😮‍💨

[@Myomer104]

Bring Cass along so that any whiskey you drink increases your DT and alcohol doesn't drop your Intelligence.

[@Samuel-vt7oq]

One perk that gets slept on is Veracious Reader. For the skill magazines- yes you get a 10-20 point boost to any particular copy you make. But for Bartering sake. You can make nearly an unlimited amount of magazines to sell. All it takes is having junk books, making blank pages, and voila sell those. How many junk books are out there? And they weight nothing when converted to magazines. You can clear out venders from location to location.

[@MrSamulai]

Respect the grind. If only there was a way to spend all those caps.

[@Samuel-vt7oq]

@@MrSamulai in One Go I can clean out the Van Graffs, Gun Runners, and the various other shops around.

[@MrSamulai]

@@Samuel-vt7oq What you doing with all those items?
If you mean cleaning them of caps, I believe you, but that still doesn't tell me how you manage to spend them all.

[@GrimReaver]

I love taking perks such as travel light, tunnel runner and light touch to justify using only light or no armor in my runs and focus on surviving encounters solely on being prepared and having the right weapons. Toughness 2 and sub-dermal armor are also a must for that extra beefiness.

[@BrendorTheEndor]

Honestly, Heave Ho working for grenade launchers would put it on a list like this for me personally. It makes lobbed explosives just feel so much better that I'd almost call it a required perk for a primarily explosives build. Like, Demo. Expert or Splash Damage are pretty obvious why you'd want them for an explosives build, but even if you know Heave Ho works on grenade launchers you don't really realize how much better it can make these weapons feel until you get it.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is also true, that one is better then it seems.

[@sheaker5634]

Pack rat is one of my favourites on an energy weapons bulids.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

It’s pretty much mandatory if you’re using energy weapons on hardcore, and even just hardcore in general. But especially for energy ammo due to the insane weight.

[@sheaker5634]

​@@joolsmacgrools1288I have never played NV w/o hardcore so I couldn't agree more.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@sheaker5634 it definitely takes getting used to but I’ve come to love hardcore mode myself. Looking out for your companions is especially stressful. I remember getting mild PTSD from seeing ED-E get blown up by a giant rad scorpion 😭

[@sheaker5634]

@@joolsmacgrools1288 Mate, read it through my comment again - I have never played this game on Softcore - and yes - loosing a companion is brutal! :(

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@sheaker5634 I’m fully aware of what you were saying, bruv. No worries. ✌️🤘

[@empirednw6624]

Thems good eating is fantastic, it kinda breaks the game with how good the items are. So I don’t like to take it now lol.

[@hibbyjibby492]

They're certainly great, but it's worth noting the pip-boy doesn't properly display all of their effects. For example, the blood sausage says it'll heal you 15 hp/s for 20 seconds, but it actually heals you 5 hp/s for 20 seconds and also give +10 max hp for 2 minutes. Still a good effect, but it's not like you're becoming Wolverine for that time

[@hibbyjibby492]

wait, this is covered in the video. I gotta get my attention span under control lmao

[@ReapeeRon]

That is also true.

[@dl8777]

I honestly think comprehension is the most underrated perk in the game. Makes skill checks so much easier and allows you to pick locks way above your base skill once you’ve used the magazine. On top of this the bonus skill points from books will quickly add up. Really good early perk

[@doormatt]

It's not bad, but lockpick is one of the first skills I personally max out in my builds, and with it only being +1 to the permanent boost, it doesn't really feel worth it as a perk when there are other good ones in the early game, and the lack of skill books means you're better off just doing the skilled glitch at MT

[@ReapeeRon]

I agree, that one is pretty good for the magazines.

[@kanrakucheese]

The mention of Chemist+Implant GRX synergy gave me an idea for a video: How about perks with non-obvious (not Better Criticals+Finesse) synergy? Stuff like Grunt+Hand-loader (special ammo from hand loader boosts the best Grunt weapons and stacks), or Grunt+Cowboy (Chance’s Knife),

[@bgggsht]

And Stay Back has a good synergy with unarmed weapons, as they allow to perform Stomp attack on knocked enemies in VATS, hitting for 2x damage. Not exactly what you meant, but still

[@Trelmayas21]

One note on Chemist is that on Hardcore, it also works on stimpacks, effectively doubling their healing.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is really cool!

[@Rev_GC]

Long Haul is always one of my go to lifestyle perks. I find it saves so much time in load screens when clearing any "dungeons".... just dump all your finds into a container near the exit, and pick it all up in one go before you leave. Especially handy for when you want to mass craft (at a workbench, campfire/hotplate, and reloading bench), and/or mass breakdown junk items (such as is old world blues). It can be even more handy if you're a crafter when paired with the Pack Rat perk in the instance of junk harvesting.

[@pitchforker3304]

Animal Friend is a good perk. There's the practical aspect that Night Stalkers, Mole Rats, Giant Rats, Dogs, and a few Gecko types ignore you (some of the Thorn quests are a breeze), and being able to snag Ratslayer without a scratch. It's also great for role playing a dangerous human that animals avoid.

[@doormatt]

I like animal friend, everyone has good reviews of it, but in my eyes, it isn't worth it because you need 5 base charisma (plus implant) to get it. It's one of the only good reasons to have charisma but isn't worth the trade off

[@user-we8kp3lc1s]

@doormatt c'mon charisma isn't that bad if you're playing with a companion or two.

[@pitchforker3304]

I agree charisma is the "worst" stat, but it can be fun for role playing. And if you want Animal Friend you gotta invest in charisma, good or bad.

[@sanlorenzo7896]

Pack Rat became a favorite for me in HC. I just like stocking up on food and ammo. That said, eating three different types of steaks along with the occasional drink really helps with the rapid regen.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah it is really good on the hardcore mode! I always try to grab this perk early on.

[@Rj-pw7zs]

If Chemist doubles food duration does that mean it doubles the healing cause that would be utterly broken.

[@ReapeeRon]

I think it is only for the bonus effects.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

Chemist, Old World Gourmet and Logan’s Loophole synergize very well with one another. It makes for a very fun playthrough where you’re heavily reliant on chems but with no risk of addiction. And you can always switch out Logan’s Loophole by level 30 in Big MT.

[@aqz7603]

@joolsmacgrools1288 fixer bug kind of trivialized that, but its a fun challenge build

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

@@aqz7603 that’s one bug I’ve never bothered with, but I have heard of it.
I’m quite sure this build is potentially very powerful, and not merely a challenge run. That’s just me, though. 😅

[@captainrumia2607]

Yes.
It's healing over time, so it isn't necessarily as broken as it sounds, since you can usually just eat a second food item or take another stimpack, but it's still pretty noticeable.
This does mean that there are times when you might want to switch to hardcore difficulty to maximize the healing you get from a stimpack and then immediately switch back.
With Logan's Loophole and Chemist, you get 4 times the healing.

[@keynanmartinez]

Keep New Vegas Alive.

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

It will never die.

[@ReapeeRon]

New Vegas is awesome!

[@keynanmartinez]

@@ReapeeRon it's a true Masterpiece!

[@plaguedoctorjeff857]

@@keynanmartinez I got an extremely polished TTW setup, playing start to finish, hundreds of hours, only crashing during the sacred bog area in point lookout

[@pixelmuffet]

Mad Bomber is also an underrated Perk

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, it can be super useful.

[@joshportal2808]

The fun thing with Blood Sausage is that your chances of getting them go up in 2 ways. If you have at least 5 in your inventory the chances of getting more from another kill goes up another 10%. You get another 10% added if you collect at least 50 of them. If you collect a total of 100 you technically get an additional 5% increases chance but it only said that in the code. It doesn’t look like the game goes past 70% of getting the blood Sausage.

[@GalacticBadass]

Hit The Deck is my favorite perk for any build that uses explosives! It's even more useful in The Divide where the Marked Men and Sentry Bots tend to use explosives too!

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

that one marked man with the red glare...lol
hit the deck is just an awesome perk, especially if you have the splash damage perk.

[@michaelmacvittie6977]

While “And Stay Back” looks good on paper as is (chance to knock down enemies shot with a shotgun), the fact that the chance is applied to every pellet makes it an insane perk.

[@treemanboy1]

blood sausage and thin red paste are god tier items

[@Capta1nAsh]

Pack Rat is essential for builds that don't meet the special stats for Strong Back. Good for crafting builds. Helped with my Explosive Hardcore run

[@ReapeeRon]

I agree, it is very useful for that.

[@pattozebass9767]

Just a small thing Ron, Pack Rat actually requires 70 barter!

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true.

[@Simply_better22343]

That blood sausage perk has come in handy SO many times at the sierra madre

[@tornadodevil601]

Taking a stimpak, Blood Sausage, and thin red paste in hardcore at the same time gives you an unbelievable amount of quick healing in a short time frame

[@briantrafford4871]

I can't believe I didn't know Chemist doubles the length of everything. I thought it only doubled, you know, chems!
Awesome tip. Thanks.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah I think it's because they are all classed as consumables.

[@briantrafford4871]

@ReapeeRon Probably true. I just don't remember this perk working like this in F4. Was this just a NV thing?

[@user-wi9uy4cp4w]

Pack Rat best non-battle perk in the game in my opinion. Cut weight of 90% of items in your inventory in a half is just too op.

[@filipemello6146]

Being a Chemist definitely helps your dr..- chems last longer.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yes it does!

[@doublecrossedswine112]

pack rat is the greatest perk for sure. Without it you can barely carry a gun with ammo and still pick up items you find to sell

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah I love Pack Rat for the hardcore mode.

[@karmitdafruge1]

you're pumping out this quality content man keep it up! Swear you gained a ton of subs too seems like you were at like 10k subs last time i checked

[@ReapeeRon]

Appreciate it!

[@silverscreen4522]

Just discovered your channel. FNV is my favorite game of all time and I enjoy the commentary and topics you put together. Subbed.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, thank you!

[@warblackjack5565]

The unarmed techniques you can learn in the wasteland. I have found them to be surprisingly good. I think my favorite is probably Scribe Counter.

[@Myomer104]

One thing to note with Rad Child is that the first threshold, 200 Rads, has as its only side effect a one point penalty to Endurance, which is almost negligible in exchange for 2 HP/s healing, which only one other source in the whole game (the Scorched Sierra Power Armor) provides.

[@anshelmswift235]

I feel like Vigilante Recycler and Hand Loader are pretty overlooked. At least I did. They're actually some of the best damage perks in the game though, as well as having a lot of utility.

[@DaZebraffe]

Those first two perks are EVEN BETTER than you gave them credit for:
The explosions that rain down around you when trying to approach Nellis Air Force Base, count as explosives (go figure!), which means that Hit The Deck takes away 25 points of damage from any of them that hit you. That's kind of huge...
Pack Rat's weight reduction? If it reduces the weight of an item to less than .01 (which mostly only affects ammo in hardcore), the encumbrance system treats them as weightless. So you can go back to having thousands of bullets in your inventory with absolutely no penalty, except in cases of ammo whose listed weight is higher than .01.

[@TimmyBobinson]

I 100% disagree with RAD CHILD perk - it lowers several of your SPECIAL stats the further your radiation increases.

[@ReapeeRon]

It does, but I find the healing to be really good.

[@TimmyBobinson]

@@ReapeeRon nothing wrong with having different opinions about perks however. We are both passionate about FNV

[@VexdGamer]

I know people like to pick Educated over Comprehension, but that extra skill point from books comes in handy and the double effect from magazines makes hitting skill checks you're not leveled for much easier in my opinion.

[@Valrok1870]

Rad Child + Thems Get Eatin' is my go to just to never think about HP mid combat. I like running melee builds so just before a fight I preemptively eat a blood sausage before my first swing

[@alexallmon1710]

You're always describing the item usefulness in comparison to hardcore mode. could you do a tier list for different builds for hardcore mode?
Example: explosive character builds, energy weapons build, guns build, melee build, combination build et cetera

[@ReapeeRon]

I could do that, but almost any build like that can be pretty strong.

[@codmskellig2269]

@ReapeeRon I think what would be better is a video on best things to do for different builds like perks or where you put your special stats in the different builds or best locations to go first in hard-core so on I have around 160 hours in fnv and I wanna start playing hard core+ very hard so it could be a great vid for people wanting to start hard core that are fairly new to the game

[@jeweledmoon5567]

Honestly, I actually think implant grx might have a place on a list like this. Just reading it doesn't really convey the fact that if you take it you basically win most combats for free.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a good point, that one is really strong.

[@Psychonautical89]

Do one on Fallout 4 perks, "Top 5 UNDERRATED Perks in Fallout 4," and PLEASE put Moving Target in #1!
Not only do I never see it on any of the must-haves lists, but its usually rated as mediocre.
But its not! So many battles involve running back around a corner when you get ambushed or stumble into a raider or mutant camp. 50 resist is quite valuable in these situations.
Maybe its just so-so on easier modes, but on Survival Mode, not only is the resist nice, but the third rank is the closest you get to Fast Traveling unless you use the Vertibird. 50% slower stamina drain when sprinting ehen you can't just Fast Travel across the map is insanely useful and level 44 is when my character basically "breaks free" so to speak.
Love this list. Not really underrated necessarily or even must-haves, just plain strong picks for most builds or insanely good for certain ones. Thems Good Eatin's is indeed OP as hell.

[@RolandTHX]

I challenged myself to a Hardcore + JSawyer run, and Pack Rat was a godsend for dealing with the reduced carrying capacity that comes with JSawyer. I took the perk and suddenly had 35 more weight points free.

[@explodingburritosexperienc9111]

Weapon Handling has become a go to of mine when I realized how often I wasn't at the strength requirement for a lot of my favorite weapons 😅

[@dantevalehuntik28]

Also. Thems good eating, from how you describe it, just sounds like cannibalism with extra steps lmao

[@MasterOfTheBrood]

Hit the deck is arguable the best for achievement hunting. Because some of the harder ones require you kill specific things with either weak weapons or weak explosive. One example being too kill cazzadores with long fuse dynamite or tin granades. With hit deck I can just throw them granade on myself and use myself as bait to draw the ugly flying bugs into max damage while spamming stimpacs I got from dead money. Ez

[@KevinConner-vq7cs]

Pack rat is excellent for ammo weight but I hate running barter up to 70 to get it. Barter is a basically useless skill in new vegas. I know it helps with vendor prices but if you are careful of what you loot or pick up you can easily run the vendors out of caps and still have more stuff than you can't sell to anyone for another 3 days. You can store it somewhere I guess but in the time it takes vendors to restock you should have even more stuff to sell.

[@Capta1nAsh]

I tried Rad Child, got it as early as possible and thought it wasn't worth it due to the special debuffs. I think it's best taken at a higher level tbh

[@joolsmacgrools1288]

It’s absolutely godly if you want to do dead money early. Go there with only 200 rads and you can pretty much negate the cloud altogether, not to mention the effect on hardcore that causes you to constantly take chip damage even out of the cloud. It’s incredibly strong and saves you a mess of trouble in terms of healing items.

[@LichKingg23]

I'm not playing NV right now but I'm looking foward to do so in the near future and these videos of yours are going to save me a lot of time. Thx man, Rock and Stone!

[@francis6888]

Animal friend for the reduced xp gain (basically the counterpart to the skilled trait since you don't have to kill everything).

[@ryandamato2526]

Chemist also applies to food as well I found out after taking it.

[@8stormy5]

I still think even on hardcore pack rat just isn't worth it over the other carry weight perks just because there's really no reason to be carrying 100 pounds (50 after perk) of the stuff that now weighs something, you're going to come across a ton of it in the wasteland and with even a little bit of planning it's very easy to keep a stash somewhere safe. Even when I'm rocking 8 different weapons in a full guns build, I was never in any danger of running out of ammunition for anything and that's including a fat man in slot 7.

[@AlastorTheNPDemon]

Them's Good Eatin' - for all debts, public and private.

[@mattrusso4617]

I didnt use chems or alcohol when i was playing this game 10 years ago. I did a chems playthrough on very hard(core) and its so much fun! Chemist & logans loophole was a blast.

[@capitalism5527]

rad child is so powerful the healing alone from getting more than 1000 rads will kill you

[@brantnuttall]

Absolutely agree even though I don't take most of these. You're number 1 though, is something I take as soon as possible because it's insanely good. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the top five of all perks from FO3, NV and 4.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks glad that you enjoy these perks too!

[@cello7302]

Absolutely loving your videos since I’ve been doing my yearly replay of New Vegas. Curious what mods you use? your game looks fantastic and runs great

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks! This is mostly unofficial patches, but the weapons are YUP year one models.

[@viix3815]

I go Radchild + the one that clears rads away. Just... never bother with radaway... or much healing. Everyone dunks on the radaway perk.... But if you just want to give 0 fxcks and just run around and not worry about healing so much....

[@StormEagleCH]

Speaking from experience, food and magazines can be quite addictive

[@Han-bw5zn]

The great thing about hit the deck is once you get it, THEN splash damage becomes better

[@DamnDaimen]

Chemist would be great if I ever took chems. Which I always forget about until I am at 10% hp, and panic ingesting everything.

[@DEADLYANTDX]

Thems good eatings makes Dead Money a breeze

[@BaeBunni]

I would say chemist is better than them's good eatin only because Chemist also improves their timers and on hardcore works on stimpaks and radaway making them even more efficient

[@ReapeeRon]

I would agree with that, this wasn't really in any sort of order other then they where the first ones that I thought of.

[@robertmagill6005]

I'd love to see a list of ten perks you'd recommend for a run through survival mode.

[@Han-bw5zn]

Personally on my first playthrough I underestimated DT perks in general because I didnt bother to try to understand how it worked.

[@meltingatom]

Packrat made hardcore feel like just hard

[@jasonm2081]

Have to challange myself a lot of the time. With some of these like Rad Child it is so easy to get something like the Regeneration Implant and and just play the game like it is on easy mode. Same with Chemist/Logans Loophole as well. I usually avoid Thems good Eating unless I am doing a money run and seeing different ways to something like a Million caps. Just so easy to get 200k and just get everything.
Pack Rat to me is just only ok unless doing an Explosives run. Even on Hardcore it isn't THAT big of a deal, but I alao usually play at range and am not tryung to kill a Deathclaw or a Robot with a pool Cue. Unless you do not allow yourself to Fast Travel. THEN it is big.

[@rjw4149]

Thems good eatin is a must have perk for me every playthrough

[@ReapeeRon]

I love taking it too. Its really good.

[@dantevalehuntik28]

Doing my first playthrough of nv now and as a Fucking Hoarder I'm absolutely taking Pack Rat immediately when i get back to playing today lol

[@user-wo4jq4sz7f]

Pack rat is good, but I don't need 70 barter for my character

[@Angrade]

Comment before watching. I am hoping that "Them Good Eats" is on the list.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that perk is awesome!

[@realjimmycasket]

7:40 Does it affect Stimpacks on Hardcore?

[@ReapeeRon]

I believe that it does.

[@i_am_ergo]

So does Chemist make stimpaks twice as strong by healing 2X over 2Y or half as strong by healing X over 2Y?

[@ReapeeRon]

I don't think Chemist effects the healing of items at all but it does effect all the extra effects like +1 STR for so long.

[@user-cd7se4jb4x]

Tbh lessons learned is underestimated perk. Most builds in a late game stack up a lot of not-so-important perks, one of which can be easily replaced by a huge xp booster. It just lets you be ahead of average courier stage of the game and, most importantly, allows you to relish in your power earlier into the game. By the time i ended up LR DLC i already scored 50th lvl with 1/3 quests left in the mojave. Normally, you wouldn't have much time to savor LR lvl 50 perks, but taking it allows to be the mojave legend in flesh a little bit more time )

[@SuperBiggates]

Cool video fr fr

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks 💯

[@JoSh25Sin]

You think that im gonna watch another tier list?????
You are correct sir👌

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks josh!

[@firstpersonsnooter2519]

I’m glad you love New Vegas so much, cuz I love it too

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks! This is my favorite of the Fallout Games.

[@cat-meowhood]

Those are really good, it's just the wording of few that doesn't make them very appealable to get.

[@ReapeeRon]

I agree, some are not worded the best for what they do.

[@SlothSandwhich]

Heck yeah, i love top 5 videos and stuff like this

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, hope that you like this one Sloth.

[@Rj-pw7zs]

Never been this early in my life.

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks!

[@willrun4fun]

I get a high end gaming PC and what do I do, go back to playing an old game.
I love Thems good eating. I

[@159Revan]

Thems good eating i always take. It is that good.

[@galdersrontgorrth]

totally agree with them's good eatin' but stuff like pack rat is niche due to the aforementioned low number of ppl that are playing hardcore.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, it is better for the Hardcore runs.

[@MetalOnion_]

Please use timestamps in your videos!

[@ReapeeRon]

I will try to remember to do that.

[@Bundle85]

lip sync is slightly off
i like the list tho!

[@ReapeeRon]

Sorry about that my face cam has been acting strange.

[@Bundle85]

You good, just wanted to let you know in case you didn't notice :)
Again, good list!

[@11Reaper9]

Mmm drugs. I mean chems

[@pastuleo79]

A new vegas good perks list and you didn't include Jury rigging!? Thats the only perk I have for every build. Fix a .50 cal with a bb gun! Fix a super sledge with a knife! Fix the gunners duster with crappy legion armor!! Fine I'll see myself out.

[@Drummafolife]

Rad Child is too OP, I never take it. Makes the game too easy

[@lucutes2936]

Rad child is bad