The Hole (The Pitt)

The Hole is a competitive, arena style fight against other slave combatants in the Fallout 3 add-on The Pitt.

The player enters The Hole after starting the second half of the quest Unsafe Working Conditions. The fights are organized into three rounds where the Lone Wanderer must battle against up to three combatants. As soon as a fight begins, barrels of what are presumably radioactive material are dropped into the arena. They act as obstacles, but more importantly, give off high amounts of radiation. The player must defeat his or her opponents and exit the arena before dying of radiation poisoning.

Rules
The rules are simple: the player is allowed to bring any weapons and items he or she has for the fight, and may not leave until defeating the opposing combatants or succumbing to radiation poisioning. Faydra tells the player that he or she may take whatever they want from a nearby locker. The items are very low-end: a low-caliber pistol and some common Melee Weapons.

At the end of each fight, Faydra will cleanse the Lone Wanderer of all of his or her radiation. Note that she will not heal the player; the player must find another way to restore HP. However, there is a convenient water fountain next to Faydra that can be used to restore HP. Although the fountain is irradiated, the radiation from the water is insignificant compared to the high radiation levels received from fighting in The Hole itself. Also, this fountain only gives 1 rad after fights. Once your done fighting in the arena, the fountain will give 3 rads.

These are not honourable fights: the player may loot bodies as he or she pleases. After completing the fights, you are freed from your "slavery", and can grab your equipment from a footlocker outside The Hole if it was confiscated by Mex.

Round One
The player faces three unnamed slaves armed with a variety of weapons. They do not pose much of a threat to a leveled character. Generally, One slave will have a combat shotgun, which can be deadly to a character who has not got much in the way of armor. The other two slaves have chinese assault rifles normally.

Round Two
The player must fight the Bear Brothers. One brother has a Flamer, the other, a Deathclaw Gauntlet. Attacking the latter brother first is recommended, due to the frequency of critical strikes and sheer power of his weapon. The fight can be made easier if the player uses a Melee Weapon to block slashes from the Deathclaw Gauntlet.

Grenades also work wonders against the deathclaw brother with high enough levels, leaving you a nice Deathclaw Gauntlet to slash the remaining brother to pieces.

The Bear Brothers' armor is in exceptionally good condition (more than 90%), giving them significantly better than normal protection.

Don't forget to grab their armour, it provides +15 Radiation Resistance.

Round Three
The final round has the player fight Gruber. He has Gamma Shield Armor and a Metal Helmet, as well as an Infiltrator assault rifle. He has a large number of HP; combined with his heavy armor, this allows him to soak quite a lot of punishment before dying.

Like the Bear Brothers, Gruber's armor is in exceptionally good condition (more than 90%), giving him significantly better than normal protection. The armor-piercing Deathclaw Gauntlet recently acquired from the Bear Brothers can be extremely helpful against him for high Unarmed skilled players, especially if they have the Paralyzing Palm perk.

After the fights the player is considered "free," and is given permission to meet Ashur in Haven. Don't forget to get all of your previous belongings from the footlocker just in front of you before you leave!

Strategy

 * Higher level characters and players who have already found powerful weapons such as the Man Opener, the fights are significantly easier.


 * At Lvl. 20, with 100 small guns, Wild Bill's Sidearm made short work out of the contestants. The three slaves and the Bear Brothers needed a headshot each, and Gruber needed 2 headshots.


 * Taking Rad-X will make the fights significantly easier. The player can dispatch the enemies with little significant radiation...


 * Characters with a high Sneak & Small Arms(80+) and the Perforator can "sneak attack critical" every single opponent in the head without even walking through the gate. This minimizes the radiation almost completely except when you have to dart in and rob their still twitching bodies...thus making a mockery out of the entire thing (confirmed).


 * Another strategy: toss grenades, rinse, repeat. Even without the hockey mask you get during the Nukacola quest, 5 grenades should do the trick.


 * When you enter the hole the NPCs won't be agressive while you're in the cage and they will remain passive for a few moments after the cage doors open. They will attack after a few moments, but you'll have enough time to get near them and use VATS, a headshot or two with the Metal Blaster should be enough.


 * At level 12 the Drum-Magazine Combat Shotgun works perfectly well enough to pass all 3 levels in about 10 shots total. (75+ small guns skill)

Trivia

 * The player is able to see into The Hole from The Mill. This is how the other slaves and Raiders watch the fights.
 * Raiders say if fights in The Hole are dull or the slaves refuse to fight they shoot into the cage to "liven things up".
 * Gruber had actually fought through The Hole before, but was so bloodthirsty he continued to fight.
 * This location is a possible easter egg to the movie "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome", in which the titular character must fight a heavily armored combatant in the Thunderdome, an underground arena complex consisting of a cage.
 * This location is also a possible reference to the movie "Escape From New York", where Snake Plissken must fight an opponent in rounds of increasing lethality.
 * The Hole is a reference to the Arena from Bethesda Softworks' previous hit, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In fact the entire set up of the matches in The Hole are strikingly similar. From talking to Faydra to set up the match, to entering the arena behind a locked gate, to the announcer giving a speech to rally the crowd, etc. In addition, the Lone Wanderer's goal in The Hole is similar to three opponents the player faces in the arena from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, where in gladiator rank, you must face three Argonian (reptile creatures) prisoners who are fighting for their freedom. Further, the Announcer's last announcement regarding the Lone Wanderer's freedom is the same as a line that the Arena's Annoucer gives at the end of each battle.

Bugs

 * Sometimes the barrels of radiation will drop on the contestants resulting in either death or large amounts of damage. But hey, who's complaining...