Went past Sloan and into Deathclaw territory for the first time today. Got Boone and ED-E with me, but even they are no match for SEVEN deathclaws all at once ! ! !

Anyone got any tips on weapons, upgrades etc to take on these nasty beasts.

P.S. Kinda loving the fact that there are so MANY Deathclaws in this game, particularly all at once. Oh, and where's the Alpha male? :celebration:

I haven't tried it yet, but what about the Anti-Material Rifle? Im saving the quest in Sloan until I obtain that bad boy. It better take their heads off with one shot.

It can, IF you use AP rounds and get a Sneak Crit. Took out all but the Alpha Male in quarry in one shot.

:bowdown: to the .50

Planning the attack and placing some mines might be a good idea.

Alternatively, try a silenced sniper rifle, it may not take them down in one hit, but you might not alert the others.

Explosives do the trick if you're good at judging pathing and can gather groups of crippled deathclaws into grenade-able packs.

In theory, anyway.

Take them out one at a time.
Find a spot to snipe where they can't get at you.
If you can't find said spot, lure them to it and leave mines along the way. This will soften them up.
It's impossible (to me, at least) to kill them in one or two shots, so cripple their legs (BOTH!) so that they are slower to get to you and easier targets.
If you are perched up above and cripple their legs and the head, they wander trying to get to you and become easier targets (like the blind ones).

I find the Gauss gun and slow sniping works well.

AM Rifle when hidden. Works best from very long range because if You are low level and do not kill the f0k3r with the first shot only the one that You hit will come at You and not the whole pack

Silenced Sniper Rifle, sneak attack headshot will take down all but the Alpha, Mother, and Legendary in one shot.

Sniper Rifle easy. I posted this tip before. My first Deathclaw encounter was the Quarry. I killed all death claws including the mom without one of them seeing me. It only took me one bullet for each of them. I loaded my sniper rifle with .308 AP. At the time I had Better Critical Perk, Finesse and 50 Sneak. I didn't need a maxed out sneak or stealth boys. I was stealthy enough to get within range. My silencer on my sniper rifle made it even easier.

Might want to change your video settings though for doing this. When you first start up Fallout it will give this tiny menu with a Ranger standing near a New Vegas sign. Don't hit play. Hit options. What I did was click high settings to get more visual distance. I then when to advance options. I turned off the Shadows in shadows tab. I then went to the Water tan where I turned off everything (unchecked) and put Water Multisampling to low. In General due to my video card and the computer I am on I had to change Texture and Radial Blur to low. The only thing I have checked under General is Depth of Field. I have both the Antisotropic filtering off same with Antialising.

Keep in mind this is just what you can see visualy. If you think theres a Death Claw at say the Bulldozer pull up your scope and check. The scope will always be able to see beyond your visual range.

Walk alone into the Quarry, with Boone and ED-D waiting so I still have their perk.

Silencer is only needed if you run into the multiple of them and too close for comfort. I also have This machine hotkey if I can get a clear shot for a lone one around 100m.

I don't agree. The problem with a non silenced Sniper Rifle is that the second you fire you make a lot of noise. They WILL come investigate the noise and come within x ammount of meters infront of you. If they see you from over there they will charge. If you pop them with a silencer they run around the area they are currently at not knowing what to do.

Anti-Materiel Rifle + AP rounds.

Gauss Rifle

RAW-CAT LAWN-CHAIR

I wish the AmR had a silencer
Don't want to mod such things into the game.

If you're using sneak criticals to kill them, use the highest damage ammo you have available. AP is unnecessary as criticals ignore DT.

Ignoring the option of using a silenced weapon, YCS/186 Gauss Rifle is the best weapon to do this with. 367 damage with MC and no other modifiers. Its projectile is also classified as "normal" noise as opposed to the AMR's "loud" (muzzle is "loud" for both).

As well as the other suggestions- Gauss Rifle with Maximum Overcharge ammo and sneak < 50. I take 'em in one shot at level 14 (while hidden)

I bet Overcharge or even regular ammo would have a similar effect.

Combat Knife and balls of steel. :-p

In FO3 I always took care of them with bottlecap mines, are deathclaws and bottlecap mines the same from FO3?

What would be the best energy weapon?

Slight sneak and a sniping tool usually does the trick without even getting scratched.


If you're melee I suggest super-sledge variants and superslam perk, as you can perma knockdown deathclaws and beat on them.

Guass Rifle for sniping, and Plasma Caster for closer quarters.

Thank you

Or two-three to the head with Multiplas (plasma shotgun with base 3x26 damage). But you need to get close for that.

I killed the one between Novac and Sloan near the shack with that. I expected far more hassle to be honest but he dropped fast. Deathclaws aren't that scary, really.

Are you sure that wasnt a young deathclaw?