“Despite the best efforts of well-equipped hunters, deathclaws continue to establish nests across the Mojave Wasteland.”— Fallout: New Vegas loading screen
Originally created before the Great War by the government and the military to supplement human troops in battle, deathclaws were derived from mixed animal stock, primarily from the very common Jackson's Chameleon. They were then soon to be refined by the Master, by using genetic manipulation and the Forced Evolutionary Virus to enhance them as one of his minions. The resulting creature is incredibly fast, powerful with its sharp claws, and almost intelligent.[1]
Despite their apparent origin with the Master, deathclaws were a relatively common sight in 2102Appalachia.
Deathclaws have a hunchbacked, bipedal reptilian build with long humanoid arms. They stand roughly nine to ten feet tall, with a thick and resilient hide, powerful muscles and twelve-inch-long, razor-sharp claws that can kill almost any other creature in only a few swipes; hence their name. They have an excellent sense of smell and hearing, though their eyesight is poor. Their build gives them incredible speed, agility and strength in close combat, making them an extreme threat. Though they were originally mutated chameleons, most have lost the ability to change color with their moods.
Deathclaws are very aggressive, territorial and carnivorous. They typically live in packs of around eight to twenty members led by an alpha male, who is the only one allowed to mate with the females. Deathclaws are oviparous, with the eggs typically laid in dark, sheltered locations and fiercely guarded by their mother. Young deathclaws reach maturity under the care of their parents, following them closely until they are old enough to fend for themselves.
Although they do not have vocal cords, they can growl and shout, and some seem to be able to mimic human speech much the same as a parrot does. However, normal deathclaws aren't intelligent enough to be capable of real speech. Deathclaws appear to have some notable degree of social intelligence, possibly being able to understand the concept of selfless helpfulness to the extent that they can, at times, recognize and reciprocate it outside their own species.[2]
Deathclaws do not sharpen their claws on nearby objects, instead preferring their own nails to do the sharpening. The Lone Wanderer or Courier can witness this behavior while sneaking up on a deathclaw, though the Sole Survivor can witness deathclaws sharpening their claws on the ground instead.
Deathclaws really live up to their name in Fallout: New Vegas. The game introduces several new variations of the creature, and they are found in much larger numbers. However, unlike in Fallout 3, deathclaws are never encountered randomly, and always appear in specific locations. Most deathclaw variants are armored, making them more resilient against attacks. Their Damage Threshold is 15, equal to that of a suit of combat armor.
The largest group is found at deathclaw promontory, an unmarked location on the east side of the Colorado River, across from the Cliffside prospector camp. The largest group on a marked area of the map is found in Quarry Junction, northwest of Sloan. There are two larger deathclaws called the "deathclaw alpha male" and the "deathclaw mother", as well as a number of smaller baby deathclaws and three to four deathclaw eggs.
There is also a deathclaw-filled cave by the name of "Dead Wind Cavern." Here one can find the unique legendary deathclaw, the most powerful creature in the Mojave Wasteland, along with other variants of generic deathclaws. Another location with a high number of these creatures is Gypsum train yard. Depending on the Courier's level they will either be regular, young, or blind.
The deathclaw alpha male is similar to the legendary deathclaw in appearance, but with darker skin. Although not as fierce as the legendary deathclaw, they are still much faster and twice as strong as a regular deathclaw. They travel in packs with other deathclaws. One can be found at Quarry Junction, and several cluster together on the deathclaw promontory.
Matriarchs of the deathclaw broods and mates to Alpha Males, Deathclaw Mothers are second only to the legendary deathclaw in ferocious might and can run faster than the Alpha Males, though they do slightly less damage and have slightly less health. Deathclaw mothers are taller and heavier-built than regular deathclaws, with greenish-blue skin, a thick dewlap, long backwards-sweeping horns, short back-spikes, and a long tail ending in six sharp spines similar to a Stegosaurus. They lay their eggs in dark, secluded holes, and protect them fiercely. If anything attacks or even kills one of their babies, Deathclaw Mothers will go into a blind rage, killing everything in sight that isn't a deathclaw.
Deathclaw babies are the youngest and smallest of the deathclaw species. They can be found throughout the Mojave Wasteland. While they are no real threat by themselves, they are always found following a deathclaw mother. If one of them is killed in the mother's presence, she will be driven into a frenzy. If their deathclaw mother is killed, they will simply stay near her corpse.
These immature deathclaws are about the size of a human. Their horns are not fully grown and their skin is much lighter than grown deathclaws. This makes them easy to pick out among regular deathclaws. Although normally easy to kill for higher level players, they tend to cluster near the adults.
The blind deathclaws have a higher Perception than regular deathclaws, with the rest of their heightened senses more than making up for lack of sight. However, their attacks are weaker. Even though they cannot see, their alertness to the presence of threats will in fact alert all other deathclaws nearby of their target's position, despite the one that found them being blind.
One of the most dangerous creatures in the Mojave Wasteland, the legendary deathclaw is found in Dead Wind Cavern and has distinctively long horns, a light olive coloration, and striped tails. It is also one of the largest enemies in the game (along with the X-42 giant robo-scorpion and the giant ant queen), towering over other deathclaws (themselves roughly 10 feet) with its massive 15–17 foot stature. The legendary deathclaw also deals enormous damage (twice as much as ordinary deathclaws), and can bring down even the hardiest player character in only two or three hits depending on the difficulty , all while having the third largest amount of Hit Points in the game, behind the X-42 giant robo-scorpion and the legendary bloatfly. Despite its size, the legendary deathclaw can move faster than its normal counterparts and has been known to make successful leaping attacks from great distances.
Deathclaws found in The Divide level with the Courier, increasing in power at levels 30, 40, and 50. At higher levels, they are noticeably more powerful than deathclaws from the Mojave Wasteland, with higher health and a much more damaging melee attack, surpassing even the legendary deathclaw in damage (but not in health), when at maximum level.
These variants are introduced by the add-on Lonesome Road, and can only be found along the Courier's Mile and among the ruins of Hopeville. Their statistics are varied according to the Courier's level, making them very dangerous if the Courier is near the level cap. Appropriately so, irradiated deathclaws also deal radiation damage. Unlike other variants, irradiated deathclaws have zero Damage Resistance/Threshold.
The recent patch has made all deathclaws in the Mojave Wasteland (except those in The Thorn) as tough as the ones in Quarry Junction. As a result, non-Quarry Junction deathclaws have 500 Hit Points, compared to just 250 hit points prior to the patch. Some of the other deathclaw variants have also had their health increased (i.e. young deathclaws now have 350 Hit Points, and the legendary deathclaw's Hit Points have been increased to 1000 compared to 850 prior to the patch).
The flare gun causes abominations, such as deathclaws, to flee.
Following the recent patch, it seems deathclaws will stop respawning in certain areas. These areas include Gypsum train yard, the outskirts of Quarry Junction, as well as other locations.
Crippling their legs will both reduce deathclaws' speed to a limp and make them unable to perform their jumping attack.
Young deathclaws and baby deathclaws will run away from the Courier when severely outmatched.
Deathclaws will give up chasing the Courier when they enter deep water.
Deathclaws are able to detect the Courier while sneaking with a Stealth Boy activated from farther away, due to their high Perception.
While deathclaws are no longer randomly encountered like in Fallout 3, they have a tendency to gather in "colonies" of ten or more. If one is seen, there are likely more around.
At the southernmost part of the Colorado River, east of Techatticup Mine, there is a fairly large nest known as the deathclaw promontory. There is a large number of deathclaws there, along with numerous deathclaw alpha males and deathclaw mothers.
Young deathclaws still drop deathclaw hands, even though their actual hands are significantly smaller than the item.
In the Lonesome Road add-on, there is a unique deathclaw called Rawr, found in a cave in the Divide canyon. Its attacks are far more damaging than its legendary counterpart, and it is much faster as well. When killed, it drops its talon, which can be crafted at a workbench into a unique deathclaw gauntlet called the Fist of Rawr (or Fist of the North Rawr with Wild Wasteland).
Oddly, a deathclaw egg can sometimes be looted off the body of a deathclaw alpha male.
The deathclaws will stop chasing the Courier if they stand on a rock high enough that they cannot reach them.
Sometimes deathclaws will follow the Courier inside shacks, making it even harder to kill them.
The deathclaw mother will frenzy when one of her babies are killed, gaining a speed boost that increases her movement and attack rates to incredible levels.[citation needed]
PCPlaystation 3Xbox 360 In V.A.T.S, the head of a deathclaw mother seems to be its neck instead of its actual head. [verified]
Xbox 360 Deathclaws do not attack players when they are mounted on the taller rocks or machinery, even when they are in reach. (See Fallout: New Vegas exploits for more detail). [verified]
Playstation 3Xbox 360 Sometimes deathclaws may take several more shots to kill when their health is depleted. This appears to mostly affect young deathclaws. [verified]
PCXbox 360 A deathclaw may spawn in the crater at Black Mountain. [verified]
↑Deathclaws being genetically engineered before the Great War and later refined by the Master is mentioned in the Fallout 2 Official Strategies & Secrets strategy guide, written by Fallout 2 lead designer, Matt Norton, as well as in Fallout Tactics. It is unknown why the Master would genetically manipulate the deathclaws and then not use them at all for his purposes.
Edit
