King's Gambit Walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the King's Gambit main quest in Fallout New Vegas (FNV). See a detailed walkthrough of King's Gambit, list of objectives, how to unlock, best choices, rewards, as well as useful tips for completing King's Gambit.

King's Gambit Walkthrough

List of Objectives
1	Route 1	Route 2
	Assassinate Pacer ┣ Frame Van Graffs via Energy Weapon ┣ Poison Pacer ┗ Frame Van Graffs via Letter	Negotiate With The King
2	-	Route 1	Route 2
		Complete G.I. Blues Quest For Favor	Tell Crocker that King Won't Stop the Violence ┣ Speak With Colonel Hsu ┗ Speak With Colonel Moore
3	Return to Crocker Rewards: 1300 XP, 600 caps, NCR Fame

Note: A denotes a point where you can end the quest.

Assassinate Pacer (Route 1)

There are multiple ways to assassinate Pacer, but to have the objectives listed and marked, you need to pay Rotface for tips and he will provide hints for two ways you can kill Pacer. Rotface is located outside Mick and Ralph's near the Freeside East Gate entrance.

If you killed Pacer in any other way, you will fail this quest after reporting back to Crocker. However, you will still be able to move on to the next quest, For the Republic, Part 2.

Frame Van Graff via Energy Weapon

You will learn from Rotface that the Van Graffs, who mainly use energy weapons, want Pacer dead. Let Ambassador Crocker know about this and you will be able to frame the Van Graffs by killing Pacer with an energy weapon.

Ways to Frame the Van Graffs using Energy Weapons
1	Initiate the Birds of a Feather side quest and provoke Pacer to a fight when he comes to the Silver Rush by choosing the bottom options during your conversation. Then kill him with an energy weapon.
2	Reverse pickpocket a plasma grenade on Pacer when he is sleeping.

Poison Pacer

After learning from Rotface that Pacer is addicted to Jet, you can spike his stash to give him a heart attack. Aside from Rotface, you can also learn this information by stealing Pacer's records from Julie Farkas' cabinet at the Old Mormon Fort.

Tell Ambassador Crocker about Pacer's drug problem and he will give you the go-ahead. You will need 50 Medicine skill, a Psycho in your inventory to pull this off. Go to Pacer's room, 1st door on the left of the 3rd floor of the Kings' building, spike the Jet, leave the building, and wait until the objective is completed.

Frame Van Graff via Forged Letter

If you have 50 Speech, you can ask Ralph from Mick and Ralph's to forge a note addressed to Pacer. Plant the note in the stash under his bed, leave the building, and wait until the objective is completed.

Negotiate With The King (Route 2)

Visit The King by going to the Impersonation School and asking Pacer for permission to meet their boss. You need to either have 60 Speech or pay 50 Caps to Pacer to enter and meet the King.

Complete G.I. Blues Quest For a Favor

Complete the G.I. Blues quest acquired from the King. The quest will earn you a favor which you can then use to the ask King to stop the violence.

G.I. Blues Side Quest Walkthrough

Tell Crocker that King Won't Stop the Violence

If you don't want to or can't do the quest, you can return to Ambassador Crocker to report that King refuses to stop the violence. Crocker will provide two more options on how to proceed. However, only one of them can successfully complete the quest.

Option 1: Speak with Colonel Hsu	After speaking to Colonel Hsu, you'll be able to offer The King resources for Freeside in exchange for peace. Do not take any shots and let the NCR soldiers kill Pacer. Taking a shot at anyone during this gunfight will cause the Kings to become hostile and gain you Freeside Infamy.
Option 2: Speak with Colonel Moore	After speaking to Colonel Moore, you will give The King an ultimatum which he will decline. A gunfight will start that will end with all members of the King's gang dead. The quest will fail once you get back to Crocker.

Return to Ambassador Crocker

After completing whichever path you choose to follow, return to Ambassador Crocker. Whether the quest succeeds or fails, the next NCR quest, For the Republic Part 2, will begin.

How to Unlock King's Gambit

Complete Things That Go Boom Quest

Whether you succeeded or failed in recruiting the Boomers during Things That Go Boom quest, you can still talk to Crocker and agree to do the next task to initiate this quest.

King's Gambit Best Choice

Complete G.I. Blues then Birds of a Feather

The best path to take for this quest would be to complete G.I. Blues first, then assassinate Pacer during Birds of a Feather. This way you get to complete all the quests associated with Pacer and get all the rewards.

You can also use the favor from G.I. Blues to join the Kings for even more rewards.

King's Gambit Rewards

Fallout New Vegas Related Guides

Complete Story Walkthrough

List of Neutral Main Quests

List of Yes Man Main Quests

List of NCR Main Quests

List of Mr. House Main Quests

List of Caesar's Legion Main Quests