 | For an overview of the topic, see Overview:Power Fist. |
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The Ballistic Fist is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.
Gameplay[edit]
The Ballistic Fist is a top-tier Unarmed weapon. It consists of a wrist-mounted shotgun with a pressure plate worn over the knuckles. The impact of the plate triggers the firing mechanism when a punch connects with the target. It has the highest base damage of any Unarmed weapon in the game.
V.A.T.S. Special Attacks[edit]
 |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | 0 | 160 | 28 | 5.71 | |
| Stomp | 50 | 320 | 20 | 16 | Only on knocked down enemies |
| Uppercut | 50 | 184 | 20 | 9.2 | |
| Cross | 75 | 176 | 20 | 8.8 | 2.5x damage to limbs |
- Note: Unarmed weapons do double normal damage in V.A.T.S.
Durability[edit]
The Ballistic Fist can successfully strike about 395 times from full condition before breaking.
Variants[edit]
- Two-Step Goodbye
- A unique variant with additional effects.
Comparison[edit]
| Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Weapon name (melee or unarmed) |  |
Weapon name (gun, energy or explosive) |
|
Damage per attack (damage per projectile) |  |
Damage per second |
 |
Area of effect damage | |
Effect damage & duration |
 |
Bonus effects | |
Attacks per second |
 |
Critical chance % multiplier |  |
Critical damage |
 |
Critical effect damage & duration |  |
With all mods attached |
 |
Attacks in V.A.T.S. | |
Action point cost |
|
Damage per action point |  |
Weapon spread |
 |
Magazine capacity (shots per reload) |  |
Durability (number of attacks before breaking) |
 |
Weight |  |
Value in caps |
 |
Value to weight ratio | |
Skill required |
 |
Strength required | ||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballistic Fist | 80 | 87.3 | 1.09 | x1 | 80 | 28 | 5.7 | 395 | 6 | 7800 | 1300 | 100 | 9 | ||
| Two-Step Goodbye | 70 | 76.4 | 1.09 | x4 | 10 | 175 | 28 | 5 | 395 | 6 | 20000 | 3333.3 | 100 | 9 | |
| Displacer Glove | 50 | 68.2 | 1.36 | x1 | 50 | 28 | 3.6 | 495 | 6 | 3500 | 583.3 | 100 | 4 | ||
| Pushy | 60 | 88.4 | 1.47 | x1 | 60 | 28 | 4.3 | 595 | 6 | 4200 | 700 | 100 | 2 | ||
| Zap Glove | 35 | 57.3 | +50 Robots+20 Power armor | 1.64 | x1 | 35 | 28 | 2.5 | 495 | 6 | 5200 | 866.7 | 75 | 4 | |
| Paladin Toaster | 41 | 67.1 | +50Robots +20 Power armor | 1.64 | x1 | 41 | 28 | 2.9 | 395 | 6 | 6800 | 1133.3 | 75 | 4 |
- Note: Unarmed damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
Locations[edit]
- Crimson Caravan Company - Can be purchased from Blake.
- Hidden Valley Bunker - Can be purchased from Knight Torres.
- Hoover Dam - Can be purchased from Quartermaster Bardon in the offices.
- Mick & Ralph's - Can be purchased from Mick after convincing him (Speech 30) to show his special inventory.
- Great Khan Armory - Can be purchased from the Great Khan Armorer.
- The Fort - The Praetorian Guard, Caesar's personal bodyguards, carry Ballistic Fists. They can be found inside Caesar's tent. The guards in the Weather Monitoring Station also carry them.
- Legate's Camp - Carried by the Praetorian Guards.
Notes[edit]
- If the Ranger Takedown is used with this weapon, the target of the attack will take normal damage even though the pressure plate would not be touched. In the third person, the player character hits with their leg. In first-person, they use their palm, which would also be in the direct path of the shotgun.
- When using the Khan Trick, the sand thrown with this move shares the same explosion animation with the successful Ballistic Fist strike, although the pressure plate is left untouched.
- When using the Scribe Counter the explosion comes from the player character's left hand, even though the Ballistic Fist is worn on the right.
- When the special attack Stomp is used in V.A.T.S., the explosion appears to originate from the player character's foot. This can cause a reaction in the gibbed NPC's body physics, such as flinging a corpse's limbs away in different directions due to the explosion.
- Despite the nature of the weapon, it can be used to make silent sneak kills like other unarmed and melee weapons.
- When using full armor suits, such as the T-51b Power Armor or Remnants Power Armor, the shotgun is grafted or welded to the suit. This is unlike the Displacer Glove or Pushy, which appear to overlap. This is caused by the armor and the Ballistic Fist clipping into one another.
- When punching any type of grate that would allow bullets to pass through it, the weapon may actually deal damage to NPCs on the other side (like cashiers in casinos).
- This weapon is similar to the Punch Gun from Fallout Tactics.
- At 9 Strength, this weapon has the highest Strength requirement of any Unarmed weapon.
- This weapon can be used for the Gun Runners' Arsenal challenge Armed For Bear.
Behind the Scenes[edit]
Despite firing shotgun shells upon a successful hit, the weapon does not drain 20 Gauge or 12 Gauge Rounds from the player character's inventory. This is the result of an engine limitation: melee and unarmed weapons cannot be assigned an ammo type, nor set to drain them. Obsidian encountered problems attempting to implement this feature and ultimately the ballistic fist has an invisible, infinite ammo supply.[Dev 1]
Bugs[edit]
Despite having a unique icon in the files, the Ballistic Fist uses the Fallout 3 icon for the Power Fist.
This is fixed in version 1 of YUP.
Gallery[edit]
Unused Ballistic Fist Pip-Boy icon
References[edit]
Developer Statements
- ↑ Question: "Did you ever intend for the Ballistic Fist in Fallout: New Vegas to use shotgun shells as ammo?"
Joshua Sawyer: "I intended for several of the Unarmed weapons to use ammo, but we encountered some problems with implementing it. I would have liked to continue with it because I think ammo use/reloading could have helped distinguish those weapons in more interesting ways."
(Joshua Sawyer on Formspring (Archived)
