No Gods, No Masters

 is a final quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Description
After clearing the Hoover Dam, the Courier sets forth to the Legate's Camp for the final confrontation against Caesar's Legion. This is a very difficult fight against Legate Lanius and his troops.

If possible get all the equipment you will need before you enter the battle. This is also the last mission in the game (unless you're siding with The Legion).

After defeating him and his troops, you walk towards the gate only to be surprised by an explosion which stops your character from moving.

Detailed walkthrough
To do this you may go in guns blazing or simply take out the first guard and disguise yourself, then as you go up the steps you may want to save. You have two paths: one fight your way through legate leader or, if you have a speech or barter skill of 100, talk your way out (have in mind he is a very tough enemy and comes with three praetorian guards armed with melee weapons but you get the bonus of his weapon and his mask for killing him).

If you choose to fight, you have several options. He does not become hostile until engaged in conversation or fired upon, so a few options are opened there. It is advisable for any ranged character to seed the only path he can run down heavily with mines. Even with a minimal explosives skill (as low as 25) a half-dozen plasma mines will blow him to oblivion. Melee characters can grab one of the Praetorian Guard's Ballistic Fists and use that against him, as they do excellent damage and the chance of knockdown aids in his easy dispatch. Characters with high ranged skills can open the fight with a shot from a high-damage sniper weapon such as a Gauss Rifle or Anti-materiel rifle and do significant damage to the Legate and his guards before they are in close range. It is highly advisable for any character build to have a close-range weapon such as a Plasma Defender, 12.7mm submachine gun or a high-damage melee weapon at hand as unless you have a preponderance of mines to cover the entire path liberally they will eventually end up at quite close range using their sword (the legate) and ballistic fists (the praetorians). If you are a melee-oriented character the use of the Ranger Takedown ability learned in Novac can make for an almost trivial fight, simply knock the legate over and proceed to bash his skull in with your weapon of choice.Another option is to take 5mm ammo and go to the ledge with the post and stack your ammo until you can jump onto the ledge. You should be able to take him out without a problem if you have a good weapon and enough ammo, specifically the Alien Blaster and a high energy weapons level will kill him in two to three shots. It is also possible to hit the Legate from the Brahmin pen located in the lower region of the camp, sitting near the entrance to the pen allows you to just about get his head in range, and so by using a sneak attack critical with the anti-material rifle it is possible to one-hit him without being close enough that the Praetorian guards can attack you.

Once done proceed to the gate you entered through and once you walk up to it it will explode and heavy NCR troopers will walk in as well as the general who will talk to you (notice there is a fog behind the gate). You have a few options which will all clear the fog revealing your army with Yes Man leading it. Depending on your choice they will either kill the NCR or they will just let them walk away. Afterward Yes Man will tell you you've done well and say he's going to get an upgrade to be more assertive. Note that once you speak to Yes Man, the credits will roll telling the story of how you have done. After the credits are over you will be reset to your last save. Therefore, killing the legate and taking his mask is completely useless, unless you choose to fight the general in which case you may get a swipe or two in before the upgraded Securitrons reap their bloody harvest.

There is a humorous ending for the general if you pass certain speech checks. The option to have the general thrown off the dam will prompt a short scene where Yes man is atop the dam and throws the general into the dam (the general falls like a rag doll). After this you will be on the ground with Yes man which leads to the credits rolling.

Bugs

 * If you fast travel out of the Legate's Camp before your task is complete, two things will happen. 1: You will not be able to fast travel back (or anywhere at all) and 2: There is a glitchy force field that blocks you from entering the Hoover Dam. You can fix this by walking back to the lucky 38 and talking to yes man. You may not be able to go directly to the penthouse from the 1st floor. Travel to the cocktail lounge and then to the penthouse. Talking to Yes Man will get you back to the dam.


 * If you progressed in the quest "Render Unto Caesar" to the point where Caesar tells you to meet with Lanius before you failed it to complete Wild Card: Side Bets, then Lanius will not be hostile to you, and getting too close to him will initiate a dialog as if you had never failed "Render Unto Caesar". If he is killed "No Gods, No Masters" will proceed as normal, opening up an easy way to proceed: ensure he will not engage in dialogue until spoken to, then sneak up to him and load his pants with dynamite.  This is arguably an exploit.


 * It is possible for the legate to and his guards to suddenly become friendly. The legate will run around, becoming hostile for extremely short periods of time.  This makes killing him very easy.  (confirmed on 360 and the PC after doing some of the speech checks but failing the 100 skill one.)

Behind the scenes

 * The phrase "no gods, no masters" is a phrase used by famous anarchist Emma Goldman in her description of an ultimate society. The phrase was also later used by Ayn Rand.