In Fallout: New Vegas, your seven SPECIAL stats shape every wasteland choice-from brutal brawls to sly schemes. Pick wrong at character creation, and survival turns grim fast. What combo turns you into a Mojave legend?
Best SPECIAL attributes in Fallout: New Vegas
Best SPECIAL attributes in Fallout: New Vegas
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Intelligence and Luck are the standout priorities for many builds, since they unlock more skill points and boost critical chances, respectively.
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Agility also shines for action point management and certain stealth/perk synergies, making it a strong secondary focus.
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Strength, Perception, Endurance, and Charisma sit lower in the early allocation for typical guides, unless a specific role requires them (e.g., high Charisma for companions or high Endurance for tanky play).
The first thing you must do after waking up in Doc Mitchell’s house is distribute your so-called SPECIAL attribute points – the long-running Fallout attributes categorization, which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck.
Each SPECIAL attribute requires at least one skill point and is capped at 10 skill points, so with only 40 SPECIAL attribute points to divide, you won’t be able to maximize them all.
Since further opportunities to boost your SPECIAL attributes are limited, it’s important to find the right balance before exiting character creation. If you’re unhappy with your current SPECIALs, you get one more opportunity to adjust your character’s SPECIAL attributes when you enter the wasteland for the first time. After that, it’s permanent.
Here’s an overview of every SPECIAL attribute along with the recommended number of attribute points.
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SPECIAL attribute |
Affected skills |
Recommended number of attribute points |
Why? |
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Strength |
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3-5 (at least 6 if going for a specialized melee build). |
Since it only strengthens your melee damage, Strength isn’t all that useful to most players. However, as most weapons require at least 3 Strength to wield, it’s a bad idea to go any lower than that. Furthermore, running out of inventory space is really annoying. |
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Perception |
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4-6 (level 6 is required for the handy “Better Criticals” perk) |
Don’t worry about enemy perception, as this only affects how soon an enemy marker will pop up on the screen, and you’ll likely detect most enemies before they get marked anyway. Better explosive and energy damage is nice, but they don’t warrant a high Perception level unless you wish to focus on these damage types. You can acquire a decent Lockpick skill by choosing it as your focus skill (see next part of this guide), allowing you to lower your Perception and use those attribute points on something better. |
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Endurance |
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6-8 |
If you’d prefer not to die all the time, it’s best to keep your Endurance, and with that your HP, decently high. This stat is also a great candidate if you’ve got attribute points to spare and don’t know where else to invest them. |
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Charisma |
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1 |
You don’t really need Charisma. Companions aren’t usually that important in Fallout: New Vegas since you’ll deal far better damage yourself, Barter only affects buying and selling prices (you’ll get rich soon enough), and Speech can be chosen as your focus skill (see next section). |
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Intelligence |
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8-10 |
Intelligence is very important as it affects the amount of skill points gained per character level according to this formula: 10 (0.5 × [int]). So, at Intelligence level 10, you’d gain four more skill points per level compared to Intelligence level 2. On top of that, having a high Medicine and Repair skill is very useful to heal more efficiently and unlock better crafting recipes, respectively. |
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Agility |
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7-9 |
Since it improves damage and accuracy on every conventional firearm in Fallout: New Vegas, improving the Guns skill is almost always a good idea, but Agility is especially important if you also plan to go for a stealth build. The extra action points are great for those who like to use the “V.A.T.S.” special combat abilities, but better reload speed isn’t highly noticeable unless you tend to use particularly slow weapons, like grenade launchers. |
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Luck |
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1-9 (depending on whether you’ll use critical rate) |
This New Vegas stat is just great for anyone who relies on critical hits or wishes to get rich in the casino (which may help you get over a low Barter skill). If you don’t care about critical rate, though, best to avoid the Luck attribute – the “all skills” improvement can’t compete with specialized attributes. |
Which SPECIAL suits a speech/charisma playthrough
Speech and Charisma playthroughs in Fallout: New Vegas emphasize dialogue checks, Barter for caps, and companion management over combat, though Charisma’s direct impact is minor (+2 Speech per point). High Intelligence remains crucial for skill points to hit Speech/Barter thresholds early.
Recommended Build
Prioritize Charisma at 10 for maximum companion effectiveness and minor Speech/Barter boosts, paired with Intelligence 9 for 15+ skill points per level (17 with Educated).
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Strength: 4
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Perception: 5
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Endurance: 6
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Charisma: 10
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Intelligence: 9
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Agility: 5
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Luck: 6
Stat Roles
Charisma 10 enhances follower damage and morale via perks like Ferocious Loyalty, while Speech (tagged +15) handles 90% of checks; use items like Party Time Mentats (+10) or Naughty Nightwear for boosts. Endurance 6 ensures survival until companions or Animal Friend resolve fights.
Key Perks and Tips
Tag Speech, Barter, Repair; grab Terrifying Presence (Speech 70) to pacify humans and Lady Killer/Confirmed Bachelor for extra checks. Boost Speech via books, Good Natured trait (+5), and quests; dump weapons for companions like Boone/Rex.
Which perks maximize Speech checks early game
Speech checks in Fallout: New Vegas rely on the Speech skill boosted by perks, traits, items, and high Intelligence for early skill points, enabling non-combat resolutions before level 10.
Core Early Perks
Intense Training (level 2+) adds +1 to Charisma or Intelligence indirectly aiding Speech via more points; prioritize 4-5 ranks for Charisma 10. Educated (INT 4, level 2) grants +2 skill points per level starting level 2, accelerating Speech from 50+ tagged.[conversation_history]
Traits and Items
Good Natured trait (+5 Speech/Barter/Medicine, -5 combat skills) shines early for pacifist runs. Use Party Time Mentats (+10 Speech, craftable by level 10 with Science 60) or Speech magazines/books for 90% checks like convincing Doc Mitchell or Great Khans.
Skill and Dialogue Tips
Tag Speech at creation (starts ~15 higher); Lady Killer/Black Widow (level 2/8, Speech 30) adds 10-15% checks on gendered NPCs, covering Powder Gangers and Boomers early. Terrifying Presence (Speech 70, CHA 6) unlocks around level 8 for human pacification.
