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Fallout New Vegas

Unarmed Effects and How to Increase

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Unarmed is a skill in Fallout New Vegas (FNV). Read on to see how to increase Unarmed Skill, the Skill Magazine and Skill Book to increase Unarmed, what Unarmed does, and its related perks!

How to Increase Unarmed Skill

Use a Skill Magazine or a Skill Book

Temporary Permanently
Boxing Times
(Skill Magazine)
Pugilism Illustrated
(Skill Book)

You can increase your Unarmed skill using Skill Magazines and Skill Books. Skill Magazines can temporarily increase your Unarmed skill while a Skill Book can increase it permanently.

We recommend grabbing the skill book for Unarmed to increase this skill for good.

Skill Books Map Locations and Guide

Use a Console Command

Format player.setav Unarmed [your desired level]
Example player.setav Unarmed 100

You can also increase your Unarmed skill using a console command. Follow the format above and add your desired level at the end of the command without the [ ] symbol.

What Does Unarmed Do?

Determines Unarmed Damage

To be a true pugilist and bash anyone's face in, you must hone your fists! With more points invested into Unarmed, you will have increased unarmed damage and better-blocking capabilities for your fists and weapons in the Unarmed tree.

Requirement for Handling Unarmed Weapons

Weapon Skill Requirement
Bladed Gauntlet 25
Cram Opener 25
Brass Knuckles 25
Power Fist 50
Spiked Knuckles 50
Love and Hate 50
Mantis Gauntlet 75
Zap Glove 75
Paladin Toaster 75
Ballistic fist 100
Displacer Glove 100
Pushy 100

Certain Unarmed weapons require a set amount of skill points to use. Without prior knowledge, you will not be able to utilize weapons that are more challenging to wield.

Unlock Unarmed Techniques

Technique Unarmed Description
Stomp 0 Stomp on a downed enemy to deal 100% increased damage
Uppercut 50 Do an uppercut that deals 15% increased damage
Cross 70 Perform a cross that deals 10% increased damage with a 2.5x increase to limbs

With enough skill in Unarmed, you can perform techniques while using V.A.T.S. that have unique effects!

Unarmed Perks

Perk Skill Level
Piercing Strike Unarmed 70 Lv. 12
Paralyzing Palm Unarmed 70 Lv. 18
Slayer Unarmed 90 Lv. 24

Fallout New Vegas Related Guides

Fallout New Vegas - Skills.png

Best Starting Skills and List of Skills

All Skills

All Skills
Fallout New Vegas - Barter Barter Fallout New Vegas - Energy Weapons Energy Weapons Fallout New Vegas - Explosives Explosives Fallout New Vegas - Guns Guns
Fallout New Vegas - Lockpick Lockpick Fallout New Vegas - Medicine Medicine Fallout New Vegas - Melee Weapons Melee Weapons Fallout New Vegas - Repair Repair
Fallout New Vegas - Science Science Fallout New Vegas - Sneak Sneak Fallout New Vegas - Speech Speech Fallout New Vegas - Survival Survival
Fallout New Vegas - Unarmed Unarmed - - -

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