Fallout New Vegas Best Starting Guide: Stats (SPECIAL), Skills & Traits

Last Updated on January 29, 2025 by Samuel Franklin

Design the perfect Mojave Wasteland experience with the best starting stats (SPECIAL), skills and traits for your specific Courier build. With this guide as your compass across The Wasteland I draw on my countless Fallout New Vegas playthroughs for different playstyle build recommendations.

From deadly gunslinger, brutal melee warrior to a sneaky sniper this best starting guide will ensure you obtain important SPECIAL perks, skills and traits to maximise your build effectiveness.

Table of Contents:
– Starting Builds
– Starting Stats (SPECIAL)
– Starting Skills
– Starting Traits

Best Starting Builds

These template builds for common playstyles are your quick reference when starting a fresh Fallout New Vegas adventure and are designed to:

Obtain enough starting SPECIAL after implants to reach key perks
Place extra starting SPECIAL in Intelligence (increased skill point gain) and Luck (increased critical chance)
Select starting skills linked to your weapon type, one method to access locked areas (lockpick or science) and one utility (repair, medicine or sneak)
Choose starting traits that increase damage (Built to Destroy) and provide utility (Good Natured or Small Frame)

Build Playstyle	Starting SPECIAL	Implants	Starting Skills	Starting Traits
Guns (All rounder short to medium ranged weapons)	S5 P5 E5 C1 I10 A6 L8	Strength Perception Endurance Agility Luck or DT	Guns Lockpick or Science Repair	Built to Destroy Good Natured
Melee (unarmed or melee with critical hit focus)	S7 P5 E7 C1 I5 A6 L9	Strength Perception Endurance Intelligence Agility Luck DT	Melee or Unarmed Lockpick or Science Medicine or Survival	Built to Destroy
Sniper (Long range stealth with V.A.T.S and non V.A.T.S)	S5 P5 E4 C1 I9 A7 L9	Strength Perception Agility Luck	Guns Lockpick or Science Sneak	Built to Destroy Small Frame

Best Starting Stats (SPECIAL)

Fallout New Vegas starting SPECIAL (S.P.E.C.I.A.L.) is a permanent decision with 40 points to assign across Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Beyond these initial 40 points there are some limited methods in the base game and New Vegas DLCs to boost SPECIAL stats further:

Implants obtained from the New Vegas medical clinic (limited by your endurance stat)
Selecting the Intense Training perk
Completing the Lonesome Road DLC
Four Eyes or Small Frame trait
Starting and finishing the Old World Blues DLC

Unlike other games in the Fallout franchise there is no Bobblehead mechanic although the implants system serving a similar role. The maximum number of implants for a character is equal to your endurance stat (not including the endurance implant) and players must not already be level 10 in that specific SPECIAL stat.

The recommended numbers below ensure you can obtain key perks and are final SPECIAL AFTER IMPLANTS

SPECIAL	Recommended Value	Stats	Skills	Notable Perks
Strength	4 to 6 for ranged builds based on weapon strength requirements (factor in the -2 strength requirement weapon handling perk) 6 for unarmed builds and melee builds	Carry Weight Melee Damage Weapon Handling	Melee Unarmed	Strong back (5 STR) – 50 additional carry weight Stonewall (6 STR) – Damage threshold boost against melee or unarmed attacks Super Slam! (6 STR) – Knockdown chance on your melee or unarmed attacks Heavyweight (7 STR) [Dead Money] – Weight of all weapons over 10 is cut in half Burden to Bear (7 STR) [Lonesome Road] – 50 additional carry weight
Perception	1 for characters who do not intend to utilise long ranged weapons, critical or sneaking 6 for builds that focus on stealth or critical attacks for damage	Detection Range	Energy Weapons Lockpick Explosives	Sniper (6 PER) – Increases headshot chance in V.A.T.S. Light Step (6 PER) – Footsteps don’t trigger floor traps Hobbler (7 PER) [Dead Money] – Increases leg shot chance in V.A.T.S. Better Criticals (6 PER) – Increases critical damage by 50% (critical attacks are automatic when in sneak mode)
Endurance	6 for most character builds, particularly where you expect to take significant amounts of damage while playing (e.g. melee, unarmed or short ranged guns) 7 to 8 for players attempting to complete Fallout New Vegas hardcore mode	Health Healing Rate Poison & Radiation Resistance Number of Implants	Survival Unarmed	Strong back (5 END) – 50 additional carry weight Toughness (5 END) – Gives players 3 damage threshold Old World Gourmet (6 END) – Improves health bonus from food Lead Belly (6 END) – 50% less radiation when consuming irradiated drinks and food Stonewall (6 END) – Damage threshold boost against melee or unarmed attacks Long Haul (6 END) – Fast travel available while being over encumbered by weight Atomic! (6 END) [Old World Blues] – Character buffs to run speed, attack speed, strength and damage resistance when your radiation level is above 0. Players will also regeneration Action Points while irradiated. Rad Absorption (7 END) – Radiation decreases over time Burden to Bear (7 END) [Lonesome Road] – 50 additional carry weight Implant GRX (8 END) [Old World Blues] – Offers players an alternative to Turbo that is non-addictive with limited daily uses that refresh Irradiated Beauty (8 END) [Lonesome Road] – Sleeping removes all radiation (flat 100 in hardcore mode)
Charisma	1 for the vast majority of Fallout New Vegas builds	Companion Armour & Damage	Barter Speech	Ferocious Loyalty (6 CHR) – When your character health falls below 50% your companion gains damage resistance
Intelligence	10 for most character builds to optimise your skill point gains to turn you into a deadly master of all Courier At least 5 for players looking for an alternative to running high intelligence builds in Fallout New Vegas for variety, difficulty or role playing reasons	Skill Points On Level Up	Medicine Speech Repair	Swift Learner (4 INT) – Bonus 10% experience gained Comprehension (4 INT) – Gain an additional skill point when reading skill books Educated (4 INT) – Receive 2 extra skill points per level up Entomologist (4 INT) – 50% bonus damage to mutated insects Pack Rat (5 INT) – Carry weight for items that weigh two or less is cut in half (includes ammunition in hardcore mode) Lessons Learned (6 INT) [Lonesome Road] – Gain +1% experience rate per character level
Agility	5 for most gun based builds (6 if you plan to wear light armour in your equipment build) 7 for any build or playstyle that is reliant on the use of V.A.T.S. 7 for melee or unarmed builds 8 for stealth based builds	Weapon Holster & Reload Speed Action Points Max	Guns Sneak	Rapid Reload (5 AGI) – Boosts reload speed by 25% for weapons Quick Draw (5 AGI) – Equip and holster weapons 50% faster Light Touch (6 AGI) [Dead Money] – Gain 5% critical chance while reducing enemy critical chance when wearing light armour Silent Running (6 AGI) – While in sneak you can run without a penalty to your sneak success Sniper (6 AGI) – Increases headshot chance in V.A.T.S. Light Step (6 AGI) – Footsteps don’t trigger floor traps Action Girl/Boy (6 AGI) – Bonus action points per rank (2 ranks with 15 points each) Slayer (7 AGI) – Increases attack speed of your melee and unarmed attacks Nerves of Steel (7 AGI) – Boosts the regeneration speed of action points Tunnel Runner (8 AGI) [Lonesome Road] – Improved movement speed while sneaking with light or no armour
Luck	10 for builds that prioritise stealth or critical attacks 7 or more for players that want to earn their caps from The Strip	Critical Chance Improved Odds at The Strip	All	Fortune Finder (5 LUK) – Improves chances of finding bottle caps in containers (and Sierra Madre chips in Dead Money) Scrounger (5 LUK) – Find more ammo in containers Better Criticals (6 LUK) – Increases critical damage by 50% (criticals are automatic when in sneak mode)

Skills Overview & Best Starting Skills

After SPECIAL selection players will be interviewed by Doc Mitchell to determine three game skills to be boosted by 15 skill points (45 total). While this is based on your responses they can be changed by the player after the interview is conducted.

As you progress your starting skill decision is less impactful because the 15 skill points are a smaller proportion of your overall total skill points available. For this reason your choice of starting skills should be weighted towards early game activities and may not be directly tied to your intended final character build.

The available starting skill options to tag in Fallout New Vegas are: Barter, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee Weapons, Repair, Science, Sneak, Speech, Survival and Unarmed with the notable choices being:

Skill	Notes
Guns (or other weapon skill)	Guns is a strong default choice for starting skill given the reliance on gun type weapons early in your Fallout New Vegas adventure. This provides a powerful initial game start even if it is not your intended final build although you can tag your preferred weapon (energy, melee or unarmed) instead.
Lockpick or Science	Selecting one of these skills is important to reach skill requirements of lock or terminal difficulty (25, 50, 75 and 100). This can help with quests or loot and in most situations players have the choice of using either skill so only one needs to be tagged.
Repair	Repairing gear is a staple of your Wasteland existence and important to ensure both your armour and weapons are effective against enemies. Starting with a boost to repair is a quality of life option and also helps with your early game Cap currency.
Survival	For players tempting fate in a hardcore mode playthrough boosting your Survival skill is a viable option for the useful survival boosts to survive for the harsh environment.

Traits Overview & Best Starting Traits

Traits are an additional customisation layer and provide a trade off for activating them, players do not need to activate any traits and are capped to a maximum of two. The Old World Blues DLC adds additional choices aand also provides the player a trait reset when completing the associated add-on game content.

The majority of traits are not particularly useful in New Vegas for a generalist playthrough although do unlock some unique gameplay. For most playthroughs limit your choices to the Fallout New Vegas best traits:

Trait	Notes
Built to Destroy	With critical chance increasing damage and the limited sources availble this is a trait that benefits the majority of builds. The penalty is also not a significant drawback with additional repair a minor inconvenience for your playthrough.
Four Eyes	Glasses are relatively easy to find that reduce the perception penalty from this trait and means an essentially a free point of perception for your playthrough.
Good Natured	Given players are gaining +5 in several useful skills while only losing -5 in overlapping combat skills (players are unlikely to need both gun and melee skills for example) this is net gain in skill points overall for the vast majority of character builds.
Small Frame	Providing extra agility this adds flexibility in your SPECIAL build while the penalty of higher limb damage is generally not a serious issue with players able to stock up on an abundance of healing items.

Written by

Samuel Franklin

Samuel Franklin is the founder and lead editor of the Games Finder team and enjoys video games across all genres and platforms.

Sam enjoys the modern adventures in the Fallout franchise for their large open world settings of choice which blend RPG and FPS mechanics. He is a seasoned Wasteland wanderer where he often crafts karma driven heroes who cleanse the irradiated landscapes with traditional guns and Pip-Boy in hand. Whether it’s a highly modded rifle for use in V.A.T.S. or charging into the enemy with shotgun blasts Sam strives to not just survive the Wasteland but shape it for the better.

1 Comment

Harley July 14, 2023, 10:18 pm

Awesome guide, the only thing worth mentioning is the skilled trait should probably be mentioned considering it’s +5 to all skills but -10% exp; with an easy exploit it can become +10. The exp loss can be easily offset but isn’t that bad in the first place.