It is a unique auto axe that deals much more damage than the original. It has a larger damage/hit and damage/second ratio compared to the standard auto axe (45 compared to 35) and uses less AP (50 compared to 65).
Durability[]
The Mauler can successfully strike about 356 times from full condition before breaking.
Variants[]
Steel saw - a weaker version of the auto-axe that can be found on certain slaves.
Auto axe - a modified and stronger version of the steel saw made out of old car parts.
Man Opener - a unique variant of the auto axe that ignores armor.
Though the Mauler is the single most damaging melee weapon (with the exception of the shishkebab with the Pyromaniac perk), it is also the heaviest, making it a more difficult weapon to carry around.
As the Mauler hits exceptionally fast for a melee weapon, using the perks Superior Defender and Ghoul Ecology can greatly increase its DPS, far surpassing that of any non-automatic melee weapon.
Grinding barrels and other physics objects will usually result in damage, as they will be pulled violently into the player character, then spat off in some random direction at a decent rate of speed proportional to the mass of the object: cars will sometimes scoot towards the player character, barrels will hit a player character hard enough to damage and shopping carts rocket off like bats out of hell. It is possible to kill non-player characters with lots of patience and no repercussions, by repeatedly flinging barrels at them with the Mauler.
Everett's mention of Monroeville, PA and chopping up ghouls with the weapon is a reference to the Monroeville Mall where the original Dawn of the Dead was filmed. In Night of the Living Dead, the police and newscasters call the zombies "ghouls," and "zombies" is also a common derogatory name for ghouls within the Fallout series.
Bugs[]
PCPlaystation 3 When using it in first-person view, it may disappear mid-animation. Bringing up the Pip-Boy immediately afterward, it is possible that the Pip-Boy may disappear too (but not the screen). Changing to a different weapon quickly resolves this bug.[verified]