Ranking the Best Traits in Fallout New Vegas

As an avid Fallout fan with over 800 hours played, I‘ve extensively playtested all 16 traits in Fallout New Vegas. In this guide, I‘ll analyze the top options to consider for getting the most out of your character build.

How Traits Enhance Playstyles in Fallout New Vegas

Traits act as specializations that augment your capabilities in specific ways by providing permanent bonuses and penalties.

For example, Trigger Discipline boosts accuracy with guns and energy weapons by 20%, enabling more frequent headshots. But it also reduces fire rate by 20%, resulting in a slower shooting rhythm.

Unlike Fallout 3, New Vegas‘ traits unlock deeper roleplaying potential. Rather than generic upgrades, traits encourage tailoring your character around signature playstyles.

They reward envisioning creative builds that play to trait strengths while minimizing penalties. Traits then enhance those niche styles providing unique bonuses unavailable anywhere else.

Some traits also provide access to hidden interactions and content. For example, Wild Wasteland adds special random encounters across the Mojave tailored to silly humor that you‘d otherwise never experience.

Ranking Methodology

Based on over 800 hours playing Fallout New Vegas heavily modded and unmodded, I‘ve ranked traits based on the following criteria:

• Synergy potential with top-tier weapons and armor
• Flexibility across multiple combat ranges or roleplaying niches
• Minimal drawbacks and unsafe hardcore mode effects
• Unique bonuses enabling special playstyles

Higher ranked traits provide easily utilized benefits across more builds and playstyles. Lower ranked traits may outshine top options in narrowly focused specialist builds despite having limited applications overall.

When two traits were difficult to rank against each other due to situational advantages between different character archetypes favorites, I ordered them contextually based on their peak potential.

For example, Fast Shot shines brightest for room clearing automatic rifle users, while Trigger Discipline suits meticulous sniper mains best. Both enable fantastic damage dealing potential in their respective domains despite contrasting approaches.

Let‘s dive into the individual traits now, starting with my personal favorite!

#1 – Trigger Discipline

Bonus: +20% accuracy with guns and energy weapons
Penalty: -20% fire rate with guns and energy weapons

By slowing down your rate of fire slightly, Trigger Discipline provides a major 20% accuracy improvement, resulting in more frequent headshots that conserve ammo and grant bonus damage.

It syncs amazingly with perks boosting headshot damage like Better Criticals, Bloody Mess, and guns-specific Gunslinger builds. The slower paced rhythm also saves ammo. I lean on Trigger Discipline in nearly every playthrough.

It also enables unique niche builds. By combining Ranger Takedown (crit damage on opening shot) with silenced .22 pistols, you can one shot ambush entire groups stealthily!

Additionally, Trigger Discipline tightens the bullet spread of automatic weapons. So even spraying machine guns feels precise.

The only downside is slowing fire rate by 20%. But unless you‘re building for DPS (damage per second) instead of precision, you likely actively avoid spraying weapons anyway.

Overall, Trigger Discipline generates huge accuracy benefits for nearly all weapons with very manageable drawbacks. It epitomizes a well-balanced trait with stellar potential across builds.

#2 – Built To Destroy

Bonus: +3% critical hit chance
Penalty: +15% weapon degradation rate

Scoring critical hits deals tremendous multiplied damage, easily killing high health enemies like Deathclaws in one lucky shot.

Built to Destroy‘s modest +3% critical bonus doesn‘t seem like much…until you stack it with Better Criticals (+50% damage), Finesse (+5% crit), high Luck (up to +15% crit), and weapon-specific special attacks…then suddenly most fights end with an entire room downed!

The added weapon wear from Built to Destroy only takes repair costs from like 150 caps to 165 caps. Plus benefiting all weapon types makes this trait extremely versatile for boosting slow-firing guns‘ impact or melee/unarmed sneak attack knives alike. It works anywhere, anytime!

#3 – Skilled

Bonus: +5 to all skills
Penalty: -10% XP gains

Skilled offers a major leg up by increasing all skills by 5 levels immediately. This meets prerequisites sooner for taking key perks like Better Criticals earlier.

The -10% experience doesn‘t slow progress much since you‘ll be gaining it rapidly anyway through quest rewards. It specifically avoids slowing combat focused key XP like killing enemies.

Skilled enables great jack-of-all-trades builds with freedom to distribute skill points anywhere needed without focusing heavily upfront. It removes skill point pressure.

My favorite use is a "Mad Bomber" build using Skilled to invest heavily into Explosives, Repair, and Science for crafting homemade explosives while relying on triggers and traps to ambush enemies rather than direct combat. Saving points for Demo Expert thanks to Skilled let‘s me focus attacks fully.

The trait does lock you out of making a "perfect" specialized build. But the flexibility and quicker access to crucial perks outweighs a flawless focus, especially on replays.

#4 – Early Bird

Bonus: +2 to all SPECIAL stats (6am – 12pm)
Penalty: -1 to all SPECIAL stats (6pm – 6am)

While time sensitive, if you play mostly daylight hours, Early Bird grants a whopping +2 bonus to all S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats for maximizing everything from combat damage to equipment capacity to speech checks.

Night time‘s -1 penalty stings but isn‘t crippling. I lean toward sleeping past 6am routinely anyhow to skip wasting dark time. Plus night penalties encourage using temporary stat boosters like beer and food to offset them then sleeping til morning.

If you‘re a diurnal explorer uninterested in becoming a mole person in dark vaults, Early Bird efficiently enhances all your capabilities for 60% of in-game hours. That‘s a stellar trait!

#5 – Fast Shot

Bonus: +20% faster fire rate with guns and energy weapons
Penalty: -20% accuracy with guns and energy weapons

Similar to Trigger Discipline‘s accuracy boost, Fast Shot enhances the fastest firing guns for ramping damage output.

It truly shines when combined with 25%+ faster reload speed perks and high Luck for ammo recycling. By spamming shots endlessly despite worse aim, luck mitigates wasted ammo through constant replenishment.

The fire rate push enables new breakpoints. A 10mm SMG reaches 15 shots per second allowing dense crowds to vaporize before closing distance. Likewise, laser rifles melt large targets faster through sustained beams.

I suggest Fast Shot for automatic weapon focused builds or when utilizing Turbo chem duration extension and Bulletin Board temporary damages buffs during intense boss fights to dump DPS faster.

The Rest of the Best Traits

While the traits ranked #6-#16 aren‘t as universally effective as the top five, they still shine in specialized builds or hardcore mode limitations.

For example, Hoarder‘s carrying capacity boosting prevents overencumberment, enabling amassing vast fortunes from scavenging without frequent trips home to unload gear.

Likewise, Four Eyes‘ +2 Perception benefits power armor and energy weapons users immensely. Night vision visors and recon sensors gain sizable detection range improvements for tactical advantage.

So consider your preferred weapons, playstyle, and roleplaying direction when weighing additional traits beyond these top options.

Nearly any trait can be built around as a core specialization to great effect. But some require significantly more gameplay concessions compared to broadly complementary bonuses like Trigger Discipline and Skilled.

Specializing Trait Synergies Further

While I ranked traits based on flexibility across all weapons and styles, you may envision a very focused character build centered around one combat type.

In those niche cases, pairing traits that boost specific weapons or perks push effectiveness exponentially higher thanks to stacking bonuses.

A "Pistolero" Gunslinger build exemplifies this specialization:

Likewise, an Explosives focused "Mad Bomber" stacks:

As shown above, overlapping bonuses that amplify weapon-specific perks and gear can enable completely unique playstyles with exponential effectiveness.

So don‘t just settle for versatility alone when planning traits! Consolidate SPECIAL stats and skill points around centerpiece combat styles you enjoy most to take advantage of stacking benefits.

The key is minimizing overlapping drawbacks while coordinating amplifying traits together. This requires planning, but unlocks devastating potential!

Mitigating Trait Penalties

While discussing exciting damage heights from combining traits, I‘ve yet to address navigating negatives.

Fortunately, most detriments imposed by powerful traits can be effectively negated through smart counter-building.

For example, Trigger Discipline‘s slower fire rate for rapid weapons can be offset with other FAST Shot‘s faster fire bonus, essentially cancelling both out while retaining all accuracy benefits.

Likewise Skilled‘s XP handicap barely slows leveling thanks to piles of one-time quest and challenge rewards. You‘ll only notice slightly longer gaps between early level ups defeating foes.

In most cases, traits that boost your most vital combat stats like accuracy and damage enable destroying enemies quicker – which subsequently accelerates gaining XP faster anyhow.

Additionally, Hardcore mode limitations like healing rate penalties are counteracted by stockpiling healing items. Doctor‘s Bags simply become necessary gear rather than last resorts.

The key is recognizing increased fragility from drawbacks, then preparing risk mitigation strategies beforehand.

Traits that boost direct combat prowess also partially offset their own handicaps by allowing defeating threats quicker before penalties become overly burdensome. Prioritize offense over sustainability.

Ideal Traits Combo Examples

While recommended trait combos depend heavily on your Specialized build, a few pairs provide excellent starting templates:

Both Sharpshooter and Pistolslinger builds invest perks into Luck for ammo recycling. This mitigates wastage from both speed and accuracy changes.

Melee builds use Logan‘s Loophole with chem combos to enable sapmning strong temporary melee bonuses before fights end. Chem Immunity removes addiction risks.

Lastly, Explosives builds uses Skilled early on to unlock Crucial Crafting Perks quicker. This enables obtaining powerful schematics faster after stacking Damage Perks next.

Thankfully, traits slot perfectly into primary combat styles by shifting statistical balances toward player power spikes rather than shoring up weaknesses. You hit harder, then use skill to avoid getting hit back as much. It‘s a calculated risk that pays off!

Wrapping Up

Hopefully this guide gives newer Fallout: New Vegas players an idea of powerful traits to consider when starting out.

Veterans might also gain inspiration toward new specialty builds to try out sneaky combinations that stack trait effects toward secret power spikes enabling completely unique playstyles!

Please share your favorite traits and niche builds in the comments. I‘d love to hear creative ways longtime fans have made exotic New Vegas characters viable through perfect trait synergies and strategic perk investments!

Now get out there, wander the wastes, and experience the Mojave however you desire with the specialization trait boosts you‘ve dreamed up!