The dog tag fist is a weapon in Fallout: New Vegas.
Contents
Characteristics
The weapon is a makeshift pair of brass knuckles. It consists of several NCR military dogtags clenched between the fingers on each fist, with the chains wrapped around the knuckles, proximal to the palm.
V.A.T.S. special attacks
| 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 | 40 | 35 | 1.14 | |
| Stomp | 50 | 80 | 20 | 4 | Only on knocked down enemies |
| Uppercut | 50 | 46 | 20 | 2.3 | |
| Cross | 75 | 44 | 20 | 2.2 | 2.5x damage to limbs |
- Note: Unarmed weapons do double normal damage in V.A.T.S.
Durability
The dog tag fist can successfully strike about 495 times from full condition before breaking.
Crafting
This weapon must be crafted by the Courier. It cannot be found on enemies or in containers. The schematics to build this weapon are given by Private Halford after completing the unmarked quest Help for Halford in the Camp Guardian caves. They can also be found on his corpse.
Creation requirements
| Materials: | Requirements: | Produces: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
NCR dogtags (20) |  | Repair: 30 |  | Dog tag fist (1) |
¹ Craftable without a workbench via a dialogue option with Veronica, or with ED-E once the add-on Lonesome Road is installed.
Variants
- Recompense of the Fallen - A unique variant of the dog tag fist.
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 | |||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dog tag fist | 20 | 31.6 | 1.58 | x1 | 20 | 35 | 1.1 | 495 | 3 | 50 | 16.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Recompense of the Fallen | 25 | 47.4 | 1.89 | x1 | 25 | 35 | 1.4 | 745 | 3 | 250 | 83.3 | 0 | 1 |
- Note: Unarmed damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
Notes
- The dog tag fist is notable for its total lack of requirements. It only requires a Strength of 1 and no Unarmed skill.
- Each dog tag belonged to Sgt. James Merish, from the 452nd Battalion in Irvine, California. Apparently, he had an O negative blood type.
- Even though it requires twenty dog tags to create, the Courier only uses three of them for each hand, or six in total.
- Despite the tags having no weight when in the inventory, the dog tag fist weighs three pounds.
- The dog tag fist may be a reference to the 2008 film Mutant Chronicles, in which one of the main characters uses his chain of dog tags as a weapon.
- Dog tag fists cannot be manipulated/lifted to be placed on a shelf, etc, they can only be picked up or dropped.
- Since NCR dog tags are a quest item, they won't be removed from the player character's inventory upon entering the Sierra Madre. Therefore it is possible to craft the dog tag fist there. This is useful if it is preferred over the Bear trap fist.
