Deathclaws: How Can I Win Now? : Fallout: New Vegas

» Tue May 10, 2011 10:01 pm

The creators did that so you could take a B-line to NV up I-15 and end the game early. They forced you to segue through the scenic route and meet ED-E, Boone, or Cass, along with levelling up, and seeing the sites, as dull as they are compared to the DC Wasteland.

» Tue May 10, 2011 2:00 pm

Dull compared to Capital Wasteland, oh contrare. They were rather exciting compared to the Capital Wasteland.

» Tue May 10, 2011 9:45 am

There is problem number one for you: energy weapons in NV are very sad.

» Tue May 10, 2011 10:48 am

In Goodsprings, I usually come out of it with 2 stealth boys. Keeping to the right hand side of the road, and popping a stealth boy if things get too close for comfort, I successfully snuck to Vegas at level 2. Just don't try to fight anything,

I used a stealth boy to try and sneak past a blind deathclaw. Blind deathclaw. He saw me and ripped me to pieces.

» Tue May 10, 2011 10:23 am

Plasma Caster is my favourite. Nothing like reducing a Deathclaw to a pile of mush.

» Tue May 10, 2011 10:04 am

I used a stealth boy to try and sneak past a blind deathclaw. Blind deathclaw. He saw me and ripped me to pieces.

Watch out for that nose and those ears!

I do advise keeping about 6-8 corpse-lengths between you and the nearest deathclaw while stealthed, mind you. They've got a sense of smell that would shame a coyote, and I don't think the stealth boy covers that.

» Tue May 10, 2011 7:44 pm

they become molerats

Just very dangerous ones

» Wed May 11, 2011 12:18 am

two words, alien blaster. can take down two or three death claws with one clip. nothing fancy just aim and shot. limited ammo makes me save it for only when everything else fails.

» Tue May 10, 2011 4:59 pm

So, I think I'll create a topic which will create less flame upon myself than my last one, and talk about actual gameplay.

Here's what my tactic was in the quarry. I had Lily and ED-E with me, and I'm not in hardcoe mode, so they won't die. I was at 100 in Energy Weapons and Guns. I would sneak from far away, and fire my Marksman Carbine with Armor piercing rounds, so as to attract one Deathclaw at a time. This worked for a while. I would shoot it as it ran down the ledge, Lilly would intercept and do what she could, then it would kill ED-E, and by this time I have my special Plasma Rifle (forget the name) and I'm unloading on the bastard. (And plasma, apparently, is no good against the super skin they have, either.)

Then I snuck deeper into the quarry. I saw the Alpha Male, so I did the sneaking lure trick. Suddenly every Deathclaw in the area comes down upon me at once, killing Lily within a single swing of her sword and ED-E got swatted down like a fly. And here I am with an army of the two alphas and two or three more Deathclaws besides hitting me over and over at high speeds, killing me almost instantly.

I even went back to Very Easy just to get trough this, to no avail. I used Med-X, Psycho, you name it. What am I doing wrong? Is there a trick? Or are the Deathclaws just plain broken now? And why can't armor piercing rounds beat the damage treshold of bare skin? Bullets go through alligators like butter, so I don't think Deathclaws should have super skin. Or if they should, how can they move like cheetahs on Jet!?

I'm a bit confused. Are you angry because they're too tough, or because they're too tough and too close to the start of the game?

IMO, they put the DCs in the quarry SPECIFICALLY to force you to go the long way around. But the fact that you have Lily and ED-E while using the Marksman Carbine with AP bullets, makes me think you've at least gone around the area and progressed far into the game that these guys shouldn't be that much of a problem. If you are indeed, a decent way into the game, then it's all about tactics. If not, then I suggest you give the quarry and other DC infested areas a wide berth until you've got the skills and tech to take on packs of these monsters.

There are many ways to kill these guys, but for me, it's been sniping them with either the Gobi or the Silenced Sniper rifle with AP .308 rounds from a ways off. In the quarry, I pick off the guys by the entrance to the quarry, and then slowly move to a higher position from which I can snipe the deathclaws. Then I engage them one at a time, starting with the alpha. With the sniper rifle, I can get plenty of shots in and out of VATS. It's been a LOOOOONG time since a Deathclaw has killed me, TBH.

» Tue May 10, 2011 4:01 pm

I don't get what the big deal is. I took the north road from Goodsprings, and didnt see very many deathclaws...

» Tue May 10, 2011 2:37 pm

This was my strategy for dealing with the deathclaws at the quarry:

1. Find a choke point - For me this was a path leading to the top of a cliff.
2. Load the choke point with any explosives available to you
3. Use a silenced weapon (Preferably with AP rounds) to soften them up. Once they hit the traps, they will be easy to finish off.

» Tue May 10, 2011 2:22 pm

easiest solution to beat packs of deathclaws without help of companions and without using VATS at all:

Super Slam perk + Super Sledge + a few doses of Turbo

This.
If you use any melee weapon which has the "mauler" special attack in vats and have the Super Slam, then you get about 100% knockdown.
I guess with a perk like Grim Reapers' or the like, this is the best way to fight more then one deathclaw at once.

Other then that its quite easy to one-shot Deathclaws with the Sniper and Sneak Criticals, even in hard mode. With the Suppressor even packs arent a thread.
And another thing i noticed:
As Deathclaws "only" have a DT of 15 weapons with a shot-damage of at least 50 actually do more damage with hollow point ammunition rather then armor piercing.

» Wed May 11, 2011 1:09 am

With the Lever-Action Shotgun I toast Deathclaws one on one. Though I think that's mostly the Shotgun Surgeon perk doing the heavy lifting.