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For an overview of chainsaws, see Chainsaw. |
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The chainsaw is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.
Characteristics[]
A fully automatic melee weapon with sharp teeth able to shred virtually anything they come into contact with. It deals a considerable amount of damage, assisted by its primary trait of ignoring an enemy's Damage Resistance and Damage Threshold. Similar to the Ripper, holding down the "attack" button allows the chainsaw to deal continuous damage to a target unless one is interrupted by an attack.
The damage and DPS displayed is counted for 1 second of continuous attacking. The critical damage, however, is counted for every damage tick. These ticks happen tens of times per second and, because of this, the chainsaw, along with other "continuous attack" melee weapons, is extremely strong with critical chance/damage bonuses. With no critical damage bonuses, the difference between 0% and 20% critical chance is double the amount of damage displayed. With 100% critical chance, the damage seems to be seven times the basic amount. Note that like all other continuous attack close combat weapons, attack speed bonuses only affect its wind-up animation, while damage dealing and DPS is completely unaffected.
It has the second highest damage per strike of all bladed weapons, surpassed only by the thermic lance, while sharing the highest weight of all bladed melee weapons with the thermic lance too. It also shares the highest AP cost of all bladed melee weapons with the thermic lance and the Ripper. It has the second highest durability of all bladed weapons, surpassed only by the thermic lance.
Despite making very loud noise when firing and having a static sound when just wielding, it is considered completely silent by the game, not drawing the attention of NPCs.
This weapon can be used for the Gun Runners' Arsenal challenge Armed For Bear.
Special attack[]
The chainsaw has a special Scrap Heap attack, which does 50% damage in V.A.T.S. but at the cost of 20 less action points.
| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | - Type of attack |  | - Skill required | |
 | - Damage per attack in V.A.T.S. |  | - Action point cost | |
 | - Damage per action point |  | - Additional effects | |
| | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | 0 | 160 | 65 | 2.46 |
| Scrap Heap | 50 | 80 | 45 | 1.78 |
- Note: Melee weapons do double normal damage in V.A.T.S.
It is not possible to execute Scrap Heap outside of V.A.T.S. as power attacks do not apply to continuously damaging melee weapons, such as the Ripper.
The V.A.T.S. attack animation is unusual due to the automatic nature of the weapon type. The attack is initiated but the automatic damage is not applied, nor does the target act as if harmed, until the end of the attack when the damage is finally applied. It also has a slight knockback effect.
Like the Ripper, non-player characters use the V.A.T.S. slash instead of the default thrust, dealing a large amount of damage.
Durability[]
The chainsaw can successfully strike about 7,995 times from full condition before breaking.
Variants[]
- Chainsaw (GRA)
- the customizable variant added with the Gun Runners' Arsenal add-on.
Comparison[]
| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | - Weapon name (melee or unarmed) |  | - Attacks in V.A.T.S. | |
 | - Weapon name (gun, energy or explosive) | | - Action point cost | |
| - Damage per attack (damage per projectile) | | - Damage per action point | |
 | - Damage per second |  | - Weapon spread | |
 | - Area of effect damage |  | - Magazine capacity (shots per reload) | |
| - Effect damage & duration |  | - Durability (number of attacks before breaking) | |
 | - Bonus effects |  | - Weight | |
| - Attacks per second |  | - Value in caps | |
 | - Critical chance % multiplier |  | - Value to weight ratio | |
 | - Critical damage | | - Skill required | |
 | - Critical effect damage & duration |  | - Strength required | |
 | - With all mods attached | |||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chainsaw | 80 | 80 | Ignores DR/DT | 1 | x1 | 8 | 65 | 2.5 | 7995 | 20 | 2800 | 140 | 75 | 7 |
Chainsaw  | 80 | 80 | Ignores DR/DT | 1 | x1 | 8 | 65 | 2.5 | 7995 | 20 | 2800 | 140 | 75 | 7 |
| Chainsaw | 95 | 95 | Ignores DR/DT | 1 | x1 | 8 | 65 | 2.9 | 11995 | 12 | 7300 | 608.3 | 75 | 7 |
- Note: Melee damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
Locations[]
- Loot
- One can be found inside the Caesar's Legion safehouse.
- One can be found on a shelf inside Cook-Cook's lair, though a nearby Fiend may pick it up and wield it if the player is detected.
- Characters
- One can be found in Vault 3, equipped by the Fiends leader, Motor-Runner.
- The Legionary blacksmith has a chainsaw equipped.
- It may rarely be used by Viper gunslingers and Jackal gang members once the Courier is at a high level.
- It is carried by centurions during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
- Carried by Bonesaw, a unique marked man located near the Ashton silo control station.
- Vendors
- Novac: Can be sometimes bought from Cliff Briscoe.
- Hoover Dam: It can sometimes be purchased from Bardon.
- Crimson Caravan Company: Blake may also have it for sale.
- Mick & Ralph's: It can also be purchased from Mick occasionally.
- Red Rock Canyon: It can sometimes be purchased from the Great Khan armorer.
- Often sold by the Vendortron for roughly 3,000 caps.
Bugs[]
- Due to an engine bug, the Ignore DT/DR effect does not apply correctly and because of this, Piercing Strike gives a marked improvement in DPS.
- Attacking an unconscious companion with the chainsaw may cause them to quickly and violently be flung very high into the air, surpassing the height of landmarks such as Dinky the T-Rex.
Sounds[]
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