Energy Weapons

Energy Weapons is a Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, and Fallout 3 skill.

The care and feeding of energy-based weapons. How to arm and operate weapons that use laser, plasma, or tesla technology.

Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics
Initial Level: Starting Energy Weapons skill is equal to 10% + (1% x Agility). Average characters will have a 15% skill.

Energy weapons, depending on the character, are the most versitile and powerful weapons in the Fallout universe. Unfortunately, they're also rare, hard to get and/or expensive. Ammo is rare and pricy so usually an Enclave or supermutant patrol needs to be sacrificed (if you can do it) to feed your hungry gun. However, a character wielding a laser gatling gun, alien blaster or other energy weapons whilst encased in power armour is a walking tank, all but undefeatable. If you can survive the early game until you can get an energy weapon, a PC can be a very happy person as they crisp/melt/vaporize all who stand in their way.

Tactics
Energy weapons almost always must be tagged to be effective. There are no books or other easy ways to raise Energy Weapons in Fallout (In Fallout 3, there is a book called "Nikola Tesla and you" which raises your Energy Weapons skill however.). So a good combination is Energy Weapons, Small Guns and a non-combat skill. With this configuration, the PC can defend themselves until an energy weapon is found (try the Glow or Sierra Army Depot). Remember, like all weapons, energy guns come useful and useless so find one that suits you and stick to it. Remember, a character doesn't have to aim energy weapons as they are devastating even prior to a critical hit. To really make a fight one-sided, take perks such as sharpshooter and more criticals to really start the plasma flying.

The bottom line
Energy weapons are rare, expensive and require (usually) that energy weapons be a tag skill. A PC must set aside perks and skill points early in anticipation for these super weapons or else be unable to use them. This runs the risk of premature termination if the player has no other combat skills. However, an upgraded plasma rifle, gatling laser, alien blaster, or similar is usually capable of vaporising most enemies (including Brotherhood of Steel & Enclave) in one hit. So, in a fight, properly prepared and armoured, it will be the PC in a field of ash and fried enemies. Power to the plasma!

In addition, energy weapons have very spectacular "overkill" animation; that is, if you manage to score an instant-kill damage multiplication critical hit or have the Bloody Mess trait. Laser weapons cut the enemy in half at the waist, plasma weapons disintegrate the enemy into a pile of goo, while pulse weapons cause an effect comically similar to massive electrocution, after which the victim turns into a skeleton then falls to the ground into a pile of dust(!).

Fallout 3
Initial Level: Starting Energy Weapons skill is equal to 2 + (2 x Perception) + Luck/2 (rounded up). Average starting characters (Per 5, Lck 5) will have a Energy Weapons skill of 15%.

Energy Weapons have become more commonplace by Fallout 3, with the smaller Laser Pistol available early on at the Super Duper Mart. Making friends with the Brotherhood of Steel (and then robbing them blind) and making scrap out of Protectrons should net you some ammo. Although energy weapons are more commonly seen in Fallout 3, they are also much less powerful in comparison to conventional weaponry. A conventional assault rifle is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with a laser rifle in terms of damage, and can hold its own even against the more powerful Plasma Rifle. However, Energy Weapons are for the most part, more accurate, and have higher crits, and the Alien Blaster is still the paragon of Energy Weapons everywhere, outclassing almost every other weapon in the game.

The plethora of exceptional and unusual Energy Weapons such as the Alien Blaster, Firelance, and Mesmetron seem to make up for the fact that there are no homemade weapons or schematics for the Energy Weapons enthusiast while there is one or more for every other weapon skill.

If you do not wish to use Energy Weapons, they can be turned in to the Outcast members (see: The Outcast Collection Agent) at Fort Independence, south of Megaton, and adjacent to Fairfax Ruins. In return, you get your choice of 5.56mm Round, Frag Grenade, Rad Away, or Stimpak.

In addition to assigning Skill Points at level up, Energy Weapons can be permanently raised by taking the Cyborg Perk, finding the Energy Weapons bobblehead at Raven Rock (which is only possible during and sometimes after The American Dream), and reading Nikola Tesla and You. Energy Weapons can be temporarily raised by wearing various clothing which enhances Perception. Notable among these pieces of clothing are the Armored Vault Suit and Tesla Power Armor. The Enclave Officer Uniform also increases the Energy Weapon skill, +5 for armor and +5 for hat.

An interesting quality about energy weapons in Fallout 3 is that if you get a critical hit on an enemy with a laser weapon (the gatling laser works too) and the enemy dies from it (it doesn't matter if the enemy is a robot or not), then your target will disintegrate into a pile of ashes. If you do the same with a plasma weapon (including plasma grenades), then your opponent will turn into a goo pile. Neither one affects what the enemy drops, though they can no longer be cannibalized afterwards.

The list of Energy Weapons in Fallout 3 includes the Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, Mesmetron, Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, Alien Blaster, and Firelance. DLC The Pitt introduces the Metal Blaster, DLC Operation: Anchorage introduces the Scoped Gauss Rifle, and DLC Broken Steel introduces the Tri-Beam Laser Rifle and Tesla Cannon. Some weapons, such as the Gatling Laser, Vengeance, Operation: Anchorage ' s Jingwei's Shock Sword, and Broken Steel ' s Precision Gatling Laser are not classed as Energy Weapons, even though their design is more associated with Energy Weapons; the Gatling Lasers are in the Big Guns group, while the Shock Sword is classed as a Melee weapon.

Energy Weapons-based Perks
Broń energetyczna Энергетическое оружие