Fallout: New Vegas challenges guide

General Combat Challenges

A Matter of Heart

Task: Cripple 100 enemy torsos with any weapon.
Reward: 75 XP

A Matter of Perception

Task: Cripple 100 enemy heads with any weapon.
Reward: 75 XP

I Am Not Left Handed

Task: Cripple 100 enemy arms with any weapon.
Reward: 100 XP

Knocked Up

Task: Knock down enemies 100 times with any weapon.
Reward: 75 XP

Limber Jack

Task: Cripple 100 enemy limbs with any weapon.
Reward: 50 XP

I Dismember You

Task: Remove 10,000 limbs from the enemies you battle.
Reward: 50 XP

Lord Death

Task: Kill anything 200 times.
Reward: 100 XP and Lord Death Perk.

Perk: Lord Death, Rank 1 – Grants +1% to all damage dealt.

Lord Death of Murder Mountain

Task: Kill anything 750 times.
Reward: 100 XP and Lord Death Perk.

Perk: Lord Death, Rank 2 – Grants +2% to all damage dealt.

Apocalypse Ain%26rsquo;t Got Nothin%26rsquo; On Me

Task: Kill anything 1,000 times.
Reward: 100 XP and Lord Death Perk.

Perk: Lord Death, Rank 3 – Grants +3% to all damage dealt.

This batch of challenges is all rather self-explanatory. If you’re not landing enough critical hits you can try to increase your luck or taking perks to boost your critical chance. Otherwise this is just a matter of fighting and fighting some more. These will come naturally as you go for the other challenges.

Energy Weapon Challenges

Energetic

Task: Kill 64 enemies with Energy Weapons.
Reward: 64 XP

More Energetic

Task: Kill 64 enemies with Energy Weapons
Reward: 64

Blaster Master

Task: Inflict 10,000 damage with Energy weapons.
Reward: 50 XP

You%26rsquo;ll Blind Somebody

Task: Inflict 4,096 damage to enemy heads with Energy weapons.
Reward: 100 XP

Let%26rsquo;s Get Critical

Task: Land 64 Critical Hits with Energy weapons
Reward: 75 XP

Critical Reaction

Task: Land 128 critical hits with two-handed Energy weapons.
Reward: 75 XP

A Little Critical

Task: Deal 1,000 damage with critical hits using one-handed pistols (Gun or Energy).
Reward: 50 XP

Set Lasers for Fun

Task: Inflict 16,000 damage with one-handed Energy weapons.
Reward: 0 XP and Set Lasers for Fun Perk.

Perk: Set Lasers for Fun – Grants a +2% chance to critical with Energy weapons. This grants one rank of the Perk.

NOTE: This grants one rank of the Perk that does indeed stack with the one granted by Beam Me Up for a total of +4% chance to critical with Energy weapons.

Beam Me Up

Task: Inflict 25,000 damage with rifle type Energy weapons.
Reward: 0XP and Set Lasers for Fun Perk.

Perk: Set Lasers for Fun – Grants a +2% chance to critical with Energy weapons. This grants one rank of the Perk.

NOTE: This grants one rank of the Perk that does indeed stack with the one granted by Set Lasers for Fun for a total of +4% chance to critical with Energy weapons.

%26hellip; And Know Disintegrations

Task: Disintegrate 32 enemies with Energy weapons.
Reward: 75 XP

While it’s fairly straightforward to see what you have to do to get these challenges completed there are some ways to make this easier. Should you not wish to follow any of the advice listed below, or indeed even tag Energy Weapons as a skill, it’s still pretty easy to get these challenges completed. All you need to do is pick up a strong Energy Weapon, carry a bunch of ammo and just use that instead of whatever primary weapon you’ve been using up until that point.

To make this easier from the very start of the game, put your SPECIAL points into your Luck but be sure to keep your Strength at 5 at a minimum. This will make it easier to do the Critical Hits challenges as well as making it easier to disintegrate your foes with overwhelming damage. Be sure to tag Energy Weapons (obviously) and then choose what skills you use carefully. Science helps with replacing your ammo, Sneak will help with the dangerous trip you’re about to take, and other skills help out, but not as much. Be very sure not to take the Wild Wasteland trait as this might be troublesome.

With that done do all the missions in Goodsprings to prepare yourself and then it’s time to start hiking north. This is a dangerous trip since you’ll have to sneak past Fiends, bandits, Cazador and every other monstrosity that gets in your way. Before setting off on this trip you might want to check Victor’s Shack and the safe in the Schoolhouse for Stealth Boys as you can use these to make the trip a whole lot safer.

Now your destination is all the way to the north, near the very top of the Mojave Wasteland map. North of the Horowitz Farmstead is an enemy encampment where you can acquire the YCS/186 Gauss Rifle. This beastly weapon does a great amount of damage, can knock foes down easily, pull off critical hits with ease and uses a hefty amount of ammunition. With this gun, so long as you can keep yourself stocked with Microfusion Cells, you will cleave right through the opposition and should be able to get all of the general and Energy Weapon related challenges with ease.