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For a cross-game overview of this skill, see Explosives. |
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Explosives is a skill in Fallout: New Vegas whose initial level is governed by the primary statistic SPECIAL attribute Perception. It replaces the Traps and Throwing skills from previous games.
This skill determines the player's combat effectiveness with explosive weapons, disarming explosive traps and mines, and crafting explosives.
Initial level[]
Example: A starting Perception of 5 and Luck of 5.
Description[]
In Fallout: New Vegas, many more types of weapons fall into the Explosives category, including placed, thrown, and projectile explosives. Any weapon that was originally a big gun in Fallout 3 and used explosion type ammunition (such as the Fat Man, or missile launcher) was moved to this category when the Big Guns skill was removed.
The level of the Explosives skill determines the player character's accuracy and combat damage with every kind of explosive, including the distance of thrown explosives. As this skill increases, so does the damage inflicted, both in and out of V.A.T.S. mode. At the highest level of 100, an explosive's damage is double the damage with 0 skill. This is linear, meaning each point in Explosives gives increasingly higher damage.
The Explosives skill also determines how close the player can get to a mine before detection, as well as how long the mine will take before it explodes. The minimum skill necessary to disarm a mine is 1, meaning any player can disarm them so long as the player can run up and activate it fast enough, however some explosive traps do require a minimum skill level. With the perk Light Step, the player does not set off enemy mines or floor-based traps, although companions and other non-player characters can still set them off.
This skill allows for crafting explosives from various junk items utilizing workbenches found throughout the Mojave. Some items require schematics in order to craft, but most are based only on the Explosives skill level. Some additionally require the perk Hand Loader or Mad Bomber in order to craft.
Perks that require Explosives skill[]
| Perk | Explosives | Level | Additional Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heave, Ho! | 30 | 2 | Strength 5 |
| Demolition Expert | 50 | 6 | — |
Mad Bomber 
|
45 | 6 | Repair 45 |
Grunt 
|
20 | 8 | Guns 45 |
| Pyromaniac | 60 | 12 | — |
| Hit the Deck | 70 | 12 | — |
| Splash Damage | 70 | 12 | — |
There are many other perks that do not require the Explosives skill to take the perk, but do affect things such as damage done by dynamite, setting off floor traps or mines, and perks that affect Perception and weapons or combat in general.
Ways to increase Explosives[]
- Permanent
- Leveling up (up to +15 depending on Intelligence, up to +17 with the Educated perk)
- Duck and Cover! book (+3, or +4 with the Comprehension perk)
- Intense Training in Perception (+2)
Lonesome Road any SPECIAL +1 upon completing The Apocalypse or The End if +1 is taken in Perception (+2)- Optics Enhancer implant (+2)
- Tag! (+15)
Skilled (+5)
- Temporary
- Patriot's Cookbook magazine (+10, or +20 with Comprehension)
- Four Eyes trait (+4 while wearing glasses, ballcap with glasses, lobotomite mask/goggles, or +6 with lucky shades, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit, 9 will see reduced benefit, glasses offset the permanent -2 when not wearing glasses)
- Claustrophobia trait (+2 while outdoors, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit, -2 when indoors)
- Early Bird trait (+4 between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m., unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit, -2 between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.)
- Absinthe (up to +6 with 100 Survival, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit, 8-9 will see reduced benefit)
- Mentats (+4, unless Perception is 9 which will see +2 benefit, 10 will see no benefit)
- Party Time Mentats (+4, unless Perception is 9 which will see +2 benefit, 10 will see no benefit, can be stacked with Mentats)
- Coyote tobacco chew (+2, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit)
- Nightstalker squeezin's (+2 with Mile in Their Shoes, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit)
- Raider blastmaster helmet (+5)
- Dr. Mobius' glasses (+10)
- Advanced riot gear (+10)
- Marked patrol armor (+2, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit)
- Stealth suit Mk II (+2 with stealth test upgrade firmware version 1.2, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit)
- Many hats & helmets (+2 to +4, unless Perception is 10 which will see no benefit)
Interactions that require Explosives skill[]
Disarm[]
- 1 Explosives to disarm hostile placed explosives: bottlecap mine, frag mine, powder charge, satchel charge (5 XP, collect mine)
- 28 Explosives to disarm trap rigged mailbox (5 XP)
- 28 Explosives to disarm trap concealed mine (5 XP, 1 frag mine)
- 30 Explosives to disarm trap grenade bouquet (5 XP, 3 frag grenades)
- 45 Explosives to disarm trap trapped terminal (5 XP, 1 frag grenade)
Skill Checks[]
With a few exceptions, the XP earned for a skill check is equal to the Explosives skill required to pass the check.
- 25 Explosives to convince Easy Pete that you can handle his dynamite during Ghost Town Gunfight.
25 Explosives to comment on the shaped charge explosive Dean Domino placed under your chair.- 35 Explosives to disarm the bomb in the Camp McCarran monorail car during I Put a Spell on You.
- 35 Explosives each to set off Mrs. Weathers, Sammy Weathers, or Kenny Weathers' bomb collars, killing them during Left My Heart.
- 35 Explosives to teach ED-E how to make flamer fuel.
- 40 Explosives to agree with Pete about what makes the best explosives, gaining Boomers fame.
- 45 Explosives to thoroughly train Mags and The Misfits in the use of their grenades (25, 35 Explosives causes incomplete training) during Flags of Our Foul-Ups.
- 50 Explosives each to defuse Mrs. Weathers, Sammy Weathers, or Kenny Weathers' bomb collars during Left My Heart without needing the key.
- 50 Explosives to blow up both the sulfur deposits under Vault 19 and the entire Vault during Why Can't We Be Friends?
- 50 Explosives to rig President Kimball's Vertibird to explode during Arizona Killer.
- 50 Explosives to convince Cato Hostilius that you are familiar with handling explosives during Arizona Killer.
- 50 Explosives to defuse the bomb planted by a Legion assassin onboard the Vertibird during You'll Know It When It Happens.
- 50 Explosives to teach Decanus Severus how to disarm the NCR's landmines, gaining Caesar's Legion fame.
- 50 Explosives to discuss what caused the destruction of Hopeville with Ulysses during The Job.
- 60 Explosives to blow up the sulfur deposit under Vault 19 without blowing up the Vault itself during Why Can't We Be Friends?
- 60 Explosives to correctly interpret Christine's explanation that her collar interferes with the detonation signal from the Sierra Madre's speakers.
- 65 Explosives to teach ED-E how to make satchel charges.
- 75 Explosives to threaten Father Elijah about blowing up the Sierra Madre vault and getting him to personally intervene during Heist of the Centuries.
Affected weapons[]
Most explosive weapon stats have damage listed as "1 (or 2) + some number." The 1 (or 2) is the damage that the projectile (like a thrown grenade) or placed explosive (like a mine) does upon a direct hit, pretty much just from physics. As such, that number can generally be ignored for most intents and purposes (and damage calculations for grenades and mines in the Pip-Boy 3000 appear to do so).
Notes[]
- Player-placed land mines are not triggered by the player themself, companions, or NPCs of a faction the player character is currently disguised as.
- Explosives placed prior to temporary boosts wearing off will still retain the boosted damage bonus from the higher Explosives skill when they were placed. In other words, a frag mine placed prior to a Patriot's Cookbook wearing off will inflict the same damage after those items have worn off.
- As with all weapons, the player character can use and fire any weapon regardless of skill level. The "skill requirement" indicated by the number next to the explosives symbol in the Pip-Boy menus, and the STR requirement, are simply recommendations to ensure the weapon has higher accuracy and decent damage.
- Tremble can be applied to any unarmed or melee weapon (including thrown weapons) to negatively affect non-player characters' use of explosives against the Courier.
