For an overview page of deathclaw variants, see deathclaw.
“No creature represents the danger of the Wasteland as much as the Deathclaw, which uses razor-sharp claws to rip apart its prey... in seconds.”— Fallout 4 loading screen
Deathclaws have sharp claws and primarily use them as a melee attack and can throw objects.[1] They may slam the player character into the ground or stagger them.
If one of their legs becomes crippled, a broken bone can be seen sticking out of the skin, and they will move slowly. With both legs crippled they are unable to move at all. It is possible to shoot off the end of their tail. If they cannot find a path to their opponent, they will flee and hide behind cover until their target is reachable again.
Variants
The variants that can be encountered are based on the player character's level. Scripted encounters, such as on top of Haymarket Mall and at Lynn Woods, have a higher chance of spawning a next-stage deathclaw than randomly-encountered wasteland ones.
An alpha deathclaw can be encountered by flipping the breaker at the top of the tower in Lynn Woods, on the roof of Haymarket Mall (two may spawn on the roof) and another near Cabot House. They may also be encountered in the Glowing Sea and west of Natick Banks.
The glowing deathclaw inflicts radiation damage. They can start spawning in as low as level 25, replacing several of the randomly encountered varieties including those above Haymarket Mall and Robotics Pioneer Park.
A scripted savage deathclaw may potentially be found in the Museum of Witchcraft. This event is leveled and part of a side mission. The Sole Survivor can choose to fight but can also run away or sneak through it. If the player character has a high enough level, they may encounter savage deathclaws in random encounters, such as within the Glowing Sea or near Natick Banks.
Mythic deathclaws are the highest non-legendary tier of all deathclaw variants and can be encountered starting from level 91. These level with the player character, and are immune to the Wasteland Whisperer perk.
A scripted deathclaw encounter in Concord during the When Freedom Calls quest, after defeating Gristle. Sometimes a bug will occur, causing this deathclaw to be stuck in the ground.
Appear in random encounters, including attacks on any owned settlement.
A leveled deathclaw is scripted to appear at Garden terrace on the roof of Haymarket Mall. Sometimes a bug will occur, preventing the deathclaw from jumping onto the terrace, so it will remain hanging onto the side of the mall, or permanently passive until the player character attacks it. At higher levels, two deathclaws may appear.
Two random encounters can be triggered by throwing the switch on top of the tower in Lynn Woods. This can be repeated every few days once the area has respawned.
One can be found guarding the entrance to Old Gullet sinkhole. It is passive until it detects the player character when they first encounter it. Once killed, respawns will often be permanently passive until attacked.
A scripted deathclaw can be found in a tunnel off the gym area in the Boston mayoral shelter.
A scripted deathclaw can be encountered at the bottom level of the Kendall Hospital.
Two deathclaws can be found west of Natick Banks, by a few satellite dishes, fighting a behemoth. A leveled deathclaw can be found lurking around an abandoned garage with a tanker on the side of the building, a normal deathclaw can be found on the farm just up the road from the matriarch, and one or two leveled deathclaws may be found around the church, fighting a group of leveled super mutants (depending on if the mutants were killed, prior to the player character's arrival).
One can be found in the Robotics Pioneer Park, inside the first house from the fast travel point. Like the Gullet Sinkhole deathclaw, there is a chance that consequent respawns will be passive towards the player character until attacked.
On occasion a leveled deathclaw may spawn on the rocks prior to entering the Edge of the Glowing Sea.
One can be found east of The Slog near a bus on the overhead road. It can be seen from the snack bar when looking towards the road to the east on the bus. It will come down and through the water towards the player character if they shoot at it.
One can be found in a rock formation close to Coastal cottage, wandering around a couple of yao guai corpses.
It is possible that one or more deathclaws may spawn on the beach next to Kingsport Lighthouse.
Glowing Sea
Two found around the northernmost cave, one near the ruins of a Red Rocket building, the other asleep above the cave, near a broken part of the highway.
A lone deathclaw can be encountered on the Island, east of the ruined church. A rocky outcropping nearby has two deathclaw nests, often with deathclaw eggs. May sometimes be passive instead of hostile.
One can be found behind a limestone wall in the dig site of Vault 88.
Two deathclaws may be found in the bus stop, west-southwest of the Galactic Zone in Nuka-World. One will be patrolling the area, while the second will spawn when the Sole Survivor enters the middle of the area. The second deathclaw will be a higher level spawn.
Notes
There is a permanent deathclaw nest on the southwest side of the tarn due south of the federal ration stockpile and it usually has a non-pristine egg. The nest contents respawn at least once for certain and may continue to do so if looted. The nest owner may or may not be around. Other nests can spawn occasionally but are random. One such location is southwest of Forest Grove marsh. These are independent of "The Devil's Due" nest which requires the pristine egg.
In the quest The Devil's Due when returning the egg, the deathclaw guarding the nest is scripted to be permanently friendly to the player character and their followers as long as the nest is not interacted with after the egg is returned.
Deathclaws dodge grenades thrown at them.
If the hand is taken from a dead deathclaw, the corpse will not change its appearance.
It is possible to encounter and possibly tame a mythic deathclaw as early as level 16, through the deathclaw cage.
With Far Harbor add-on installed alongside Wasteland Workshop, it is possible to build the associated cages to import deathclaws onto the Island.
If one is caught with a deathclaw cage and tamed with a beta wave emitter, it will add 10 defense points to the settlement when released.
The following is based on non-canon behind the scenes information.
The deathclaw model was made by Jonah Lobe.[2] Lobe started working on a model in ZBrush from home, referencing his deathclaw models from Fallout 3, while also taking inspiration from lions for their eyes. Lobe showed the model to Todd Howard when it was about 70% done, and Howard gave him the go-ahead to finish it. Two days later, Howard returned to Lobe's office cube and informed him that they were restructuring the demo to include a final power armor versus deathclaw battle, which became part of When Freedom Calls in the final game.[3]
End of information based on non-canon behind the scenes information
Gallery
Loading screen
The friendly deathclaw when returning the egg in The Devil's Due
The Sole Survivor's view when being picked up by a deathclaw
↑Fallout 4 loading screens: "No creature represents the danger of the Wasteland as much as the Deathclaw, which uses razor-sharp claws to rip apart its prey... in seconds."
↑Jonah Lobe on Twitter: "Aww, my baby got a close-up! (also I made the Super-mutants, Molerats, Blood-Bugs & Mirelurks!) #Fallout4 #BE3"
A lone deathclaw can be encountered on the Island, east of the ruined church. A rocky outcropping nearby has two deathclaw nests, often with deathclaw eggs. May sometimes be passive instead of hostile.
