Legionary assassins are high-end operatives living in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. They work for Caesar's Legion.
Contents
Background
Legionary assassins are small groups of four elite killers for Caesar, usually led by a decanus, praetorian guards or a centurion, dispatched to eliminate the Legion's enemies.
The first type of group is composed of:
- 1x decanus (leader)
- 2x veteran legionaries
- 1x vexillarius
The second type of group is for eliminating Caesar's greater enemies, composed of:
- 1x centurion (leader)
- 1x prime decanus
- 1x veteran legionary
- 1x vexillarius
The last type of group is for Caesar's greatest, most hated enemies, composed of:
- 1x praetorian guard (leader)
- 1x veteran decanus
- 1x veteran legionary
- 1x vexillarius
During these assassination missions, praetorian guards are allowed to use firearms in the place of their unarmed weapons.
Characteristics
Legionary assassins begin to appear if the player character obtains a Shunned or worse status with Caesar's Legion. They will travel across the wasteland from their original spawn point towards the player character's current location, not stopping until they encounter them. As a result, they can end up attacking the player character almost anywhere in the wasteland. Assassins may also attack other non-player characters they pass near while searching for the Courier, such as NCR settlements or traveling merchants (as with all non-player character vs non-player character combat, this only occurs if the player character is currently in the same active map cell as the non-player characters).
Legionary assassins typically attack in four-man groups, including a Recruit-Prime-Veteran-Decanus, a Legion vexillarius, one veteran legionary and after:
- a veteran legionary
- a centurion
- a praetorian guard
Legionary assassins may also appear after aiding the Legion's enemies, namely the NCR, by successfully completing the quests Three-Card Bounty, I Put a Spell on You, I Don't Hurt Anymore, or any other quest that improves the reputation of the player character with the NCR.
They will have weapons and armor depending on the Courier's standing with Caesar's Legion and their level. The weapons can range from simple 9mm pistols, caravan shotguns and machetes to 12.7mm pistols and sub-machine guns, assault and marksman carbines brush guns, thermic lances, or a super sledge.
As of patch 1.4.0.525, legionary assassins level with the player character, up to level 45. At higher levels, this gives them very high health on par with a non-player character companion. Additionally, the praetorian and veteran assassin may be equipped with Legion centurion armor instead, making them all the more difficult to kill.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
This character is involved in quests. | |
Inventory
Decanus
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player level: <10 Legion recruit armor and recruit decanus helmet Player level: 10-20 Legion veteran armor and veteran decanus helmet |
Player level: <10 10mm pistol and machete Player level: 10-20 Hunting shotgun or sniper rifle and machete |
Purified water, antivenom, Legion Denarius, healing powder, various food items |
Vexillarius
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legion vexillarius armor Vexillarius helmet |
Player level: <10 9mm pistol and machete Player level: 10-20 9mm SMG and machete 10mm SMG or marksman carbine or assault carbine, and Ripper |
Bitter drink, antivenom, Legion Denarius |
Centurion
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legion centurion armor and Legion centurion helmet | Player level: <10 9mm SMG or caravan shotgun or .44 Magnum revolver and super sledge and dynamite or long-fuse dynamite Player level: 10-20 Hunting rifle and super sledge or thermic lance and frag grenade |
Legion Denarius, purified water, antivenom, healing powder |
Praetorian
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legion praetorian armor | Player level: 10-20 Trail carbine and frag grenade and plasma grenade or pulse grenade Player level: 20-30 12.7mm submachine gun and C-4 plastic explosive |
Legion Denarius, bitter drink, antivenom, healing powder |
Veteran
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legion veteran armor and Veteran helmet | Player level: 10-20 12.7mm pistol and super sledge and dynamite or frag grenade and pulse grenade Player level: 20-30 Brush gun and super sledge or thermic lance and C-4 plastic explosive |
Cave fungus, Legion Denarius, purified water, antivenom, healing powder |
Spawn points
- Directly north of the fast travel point at the Nipton Road pit stop, behind a rock.
- At the Ivanpah underpass near the Mojave Outpost (up top and near the middle so they can attack from either approach).
- On the highway directly behind Wolfhorn ranch.
- Across the tracks from Ranger Station Charlie.
- On the highway between Novac and El Dorado Gas & Service (approximately when passing the Southern Nevada Wind Farm).
- From behind El Dorado Gas & Service.
- From Between REPCONN headquarters and the NCR Ranger safehouse.
- From the western end of the bridge between Cassidy Caravans wreckage and the Grub n' Gulp rest stop (will attack from either direction).
- Just south of Fields' shack, across the tracks, are some squatters around a burning barrel. Spawn is south of them, east of the New Vegas medical clinic.
- Northwest of the Griffin Wares sacked caravan, on the road that opens into the Ruby Hill Mine area. This group will also attack if the Courier remains too long in the area of the Followers safehouse.
- Between Chance's map and the mouth of Red Rock Canyon.
- On the train tracks north of Nipton (just slightly north of the coyote den).
- Just outside of Vault 11 in the direction of the El Dorado substation.
- North of the emergency service railyard.
- North of the raided farmstead.
- Along Highway 95, north of Camp Searchlight, just past a partially collapsed road sign.
Notes
- If the player character also has a bad reputation with the New California Republic, NCR Ranger hit squads can also be encountered at the same time as legionary assassins.
- One of the earliest opportunities for assassins to begin tracking the player character is while traveling towards Novac, where they will attack the Courier if they kill the legionaries and Vulpes Inculta in Nipton.
- Legionary assassin parties can end up inadvertently attacking outposts or NCR garrisons such as the 188 trading post while tracking the Courier.
- If a player character's reputation with Caesar's Legion is Vilified, the initial dialogue with the assassins may no longer occur, even with the Terrifying Presence perk. It is advisable to carefully navigate one's surroundings if several 'friendly' ticks appear on one's compass close together, as it could be a pack of assassins that will immediately turn hostile as soon as they spot the player character. This means that one will not able to get the first shot (via dialogue) unless one sees them coming. If this is not the case, they could quickly kill a level 20-30 Courier who is unaware of their location.
- The initial dialogue with Legion assassins may not occur if Boone is in the party, because Boone will shoot them before the dialogue is triggered, turning them immediately hostile.
- If a player character's reputation is below Vilified, assassins will usually initiate dialogue and can be scared off through a Terrifying Presence dialogue choice. The lead Legionary will ask the Courier, "Do you ever give up?" to which they may reply, "Not while there's still spines unshattered." This will cause them to cry for help, and flee.
- Groups of legionary assassins may be attacked by other creatures at their spawning point or when tracking the player character. This can result in a three or even four-way battle between the player character, the assassins, and creatures or other factions.
- Groups of assassins can occasionally spawn on terrain impassable to non-player characters (such as on mountains or in valleys), in which case they can turn non-hostile as if the player character had hidden from them. This may be associated with the "lead" dialogue-initiating assassin being unable to approach the player character due to terrain since other assassins are non-hostile until the leader concludes dialogue.
- Legion assassin teams commonly spawn at the easternmost Powder Ganger camp, but they only charge in once the player character has engaged the Powder Gangers, if hostile. This can lead to the player character being caught in a crossfire between both sides.
- If the player character's reputation with Caesar's Legion is Vilified, and the player character is at a high level, assassins appear more frequently (about one group every day).
- Assassins will not spawn while the player character is wearing faction armor that affects Legion reputation (e.g. NCR ranger patrol armor or Legion recruit armor).
- They do not drop Legion ears when killed, making them useless for the unmarked quest An Ear to the Ground.
- Legionary assassin attacks do not occur randomly. For example, if a player character fast travels to a location and is ambushed by assassins, they will still ambush the player character if a save is reloaded and the location traveled to again.
- Legionary assassins may sometimes spawn outside Ranger Station Charlie, causing a crossfire between a ranger and the assassins.
- They may spawn atop HELIOS One after the Courier has activated the reflector control panel for That Lucky Old Sun.
- Legionary assassins may be carrying blocks of C-4 plastic explosive, but they never seem to be equipped with detonators.
Appearances
Legionary assassins appear only in Fallout: New Vegas.
Bugs
Legionary assassins are better equipped with high-tier weapons and armor (e.g. centurion armor, super sledge or thermic lances) from the early game (levels 5-11) instead of the middle or end of the game.[verified]- After a while the Legionary assassins may permanently disappear from the game no longer appearing in-game.[verified]
- Fast-traveling before the assassins become hostile may cause them to despawn instead of tracking the Courier to their new location.[verified]
