Dart Gun

The Dart Gun is a small guns craftable pistol in Fallout 3.

Strategy



 * The Dart Gun is best used for sneak attacks.


 * Low level players may find this critical for fighting Yao Guai.


 * Great for players with a stealth boy, or the silent running perk.


 * The critical damage bonus for humanoids is presumed to be +76 (12 + 64 poison), or +114 (with the better criticals perk), this bonus is in addition to the residual -8HP(8s) poison damage. Note: don't expect a big critical bonus for robots, monsters, or super mutants.


 * Sneak attack critical headshots will silently 1-hit kill most Raiders and Ghouls. Add in the 64poison/8sec effect that follows and one shot can total for as much as 178 damage.


 * The Dart Gun is silent, and functions the same as a silenced 10mm pistol in that when you miss you often don't alert any enemies, so you can feel pretty safe setting up several long range 50% V.A.T.S. headshots, even if the first one misses it won't alert the enemy and ruin your sneak attack for the next.


 * The Dart gun can be used to easily stop Deathclaws and Behemoths in their tracks, allowing you to finish them off (with a different weapon) while their legs are crippled.


 * As a result of it being a silent weapon, when sneaking around, double or triple darting a single enemy often won't result in attracting attention. The enemy himself doesn't know what happened, so it doesn't go directly into attack mode (like when hit with a rifle), instead it searches for you in  mode, then drops dead from poison effects a few seconds later. Upon its death you snap right back to  status because the only thing looking for you just died.


 * It is the only weapon stealthy enough to let a hidden player silently kill multiple Raiders in one batch of V.A.T.S. (without giving away his position). Starting characters can kill three, but as many as ten silent kills in one V.A.T.S. can be performed utilizing +AP edibles and equipment (See: The Fallout 3 AP Bonuses table).


 * Well equipped humans (NPCs, Brotherhood, Enclave) may use stimpaks when they're poisoned.


 * Darts seem to do full damage against Power Armor, the piddly 6pts of weapon damage is probably reduced, but the 64pts of poison still take effect. Yeah, who knew you could penetrate power armor with rubber tubing and children's toys!


 * Really shouldn't be used against any of the following: Robots, Turrets, Super Mutants, Brutes, or Masters which either soak up or ignore poison dmg. (Although non-mechanical enemies will still be crippled.)


 * Darts are typically sold by most weapons dealers, Lucky Harith outside of Megaton gate is always a good bet for 10 darts at a time. After making friends with the vampire family, Karl of Meresti Trainyard will often sell 100 darts at a time.


 * If you give this gun to a companion he/she will cripple the enemy allowing you to make the kill. Xbox360 Note: Star Paladin Cross appears to be the only companion willing to equip the Dart Gun. Her default ranged weapon (the Laser Pistol) is the weakest of all companion weapons, (most have a base damage of 50+) and might explain why her character A.I. favors the Dart Gun.

Schematics Locations
You will need to obtain schematics to build this gun.


 * A schematic can be obtained from Hannibal Hamlin for completing the Lincoln Memorial quest for the slaves.
 * A schematic is at the Boutique Le Chic in Tenpenny Tower and if the player sides with Ghouls during the Tenpenny Tower (quest), it can be purchased twice. Once from Lydia Montenegro, and then once again from Michael Masters the Ghoul that takes over.
 * A schematic can be found at the MDPL-05 Power Station next to the skeleton of a dead engineer.

Trivia

 * A quick note: it appears to be launched as a cross bow, not with pneumatics. The paint gun works as the trigger and as storage for the radscorpion venom.

Components
Once you have the schematics, you will need a workbench and one each of the following items: