Thermic Lance

The thermic lance is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.

Characteristics
The thermic lance is an industrial metalworking tool which can be used as a melee weapon. It is heavy, but deals considerable damage. It is considered a piercing weapon and therefore ignores the target's Damage Resistance and Damage Threshold. It is very durable, and also resists damage to itself if hit when used defensively (taking only 0.5% of normal durability damage). However, due to its automatic attack-type it will degrade at a faster rate than other weapons when used.

Unlike most melee weapons, holding down the attack button when wielding the thermic lance will cause continuous damage to targets in contact with the tip. While it has a relatively low critical damage rating and critical chance multiplier, both are offset by its automatic operation, which gives approximately 5 chances per second to inflict a critical hit.

Special attack
It has a special Scrap Heap attack that does 50% damage in V.A.T.S. at the cost of 20 fewer action points (requires a Melee skill of 50).

It is possible to execute Scrap Heap outside of V.A.T.S. (without the required Melee skill of 50 to perform the move) by initiating a power attack (hold attack button) while moving forward.

Durability
The thermic lance can successfully strike about 9995 times from full condition before breaking.

Locations

 * Can sometimes be found on Legionary assassins
 * Crimson Caravan Company, sometimes available from Blake
 * Great Khan armory, sometimes available from the Great Khan armorer
 * Gun Runners, sometimes available from the Vendortron
 * Hidden Valley bunker, can be purchased from Torres
 * Hoover Dam, they can be found in the armory
 * Hoover Dam, found on some centurions of Caesar's Legion during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam
 * Mick & Ralph's, sometimes available from Mick's special stock
 * Divide, sometimes carried by marked men

Behind the scenes

 * Thermic lance is another name for the thermal lance, a real-world metalworking tool.

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