I think That Gun and Lucky deserve high slots purely because you can get both so early in a run and both could carry you through the whole game.

New Vegas having unique weapons that actually look different is such a nice detail that 3, and especially 4, lack. I much prefer the way NV handles unique weapons and mods over the random effects and weird Lego mix and match parts in 4.

0 guns skill and 2 strenght requirement for Maria, yet Benny still couldn't manage to kill the Courier with a shot to the head

My all time favorite sidearm in New Vegas has gotta be the .45 auto pistol. Originally I liked the 9mm because it was a Browning Hi-power and very easy to get but once I got honest hearts and saw Joshua messing with those 1911’s I knew I had to get one. Tbh though I liked most of the weapons that New Vegas had since a lot of them had a real world version of it.

I have killed every legendary, Rawr, all of Quarry Junction, the sanctuary and Deadwind, the Brotherhood bunker and Legate Lanius with the .22 pistol. The right crit build doesn't make it the best gun in the game but it turns your biggest enemy into weapon durability

The 5.56 is loaded "hotter" than the .223. You can fire a .223 from a 5.56 weapon, but not vice versa, because of the higher pressure that 5.56 emits.

Good list! I wanna say "HD" stands for "Heavy Duty" probably

In certain builds, the .22 pistol is pretty brutal until early late game. Go all-in on sneak, and the silenced .22 is doing like 150+ damage on sneak attack headshots, which is pretty nutty for a basic little handgun that weighs almost nothing, costs next to nothing to repair, and doesn't require any skills or stats to use. It's almost as ridiculous as the Abilene Kid BB gun. I really like Joshua Graham's .45 pistol, it's super powerful, but the iron sights on it make me have to put it on A tier unless I'm doing a VATS build. I would also put the .357 revolvers 1 tier lower for the same reason, making the .357 the only D tier, unless it's a VATS build, simply because aiming down the sights is such a pain in the ass.

I kind of like how weapons in FNV seldom get placed at any position below C-tier, with C being the baseline. It just goes to show how good the weapons in New Vegas tend to be in comparison to the weapon lineups of other Fallout games.

sneak build 22 pistol was overlooked here since you can rack up insane damage if you get the better criticals perk and other crit/sneak perks

A Light Shining in Darkness is also affected by the Grunt perk, although I believe the Ranger Sequoia is affected by Cowboy so I guess that's a wash unless you're using another weapon already covered by one of the respective perks.

Unlike other weapons, AP is extremely important in pistol stats. Yes vats is helpful, but god dang do you feel cool blasting away multiple baddies in handgun range. Love doin me a quick draw because I borked a skill check and now want to gun down the entire room before I quickload.

I have to defend the “silenced 22 pistol” - It should be in at least the B-tier. The functionality of it’s purpose to be able to sneak it in anywhere was clutch

What I like in vanilla Fallout 3 no-VAT is that there is a time to use the hunting rifle (sneak and mid range), the assault rifle (close range) and the combat shotgun (in your face). But FNV damage threshold (DT) spices the combat mechanics and the perks are really important if you want to be an effective knife fighter, gunslinger, commando or shotgunner. I like both games.

The 'Biggest' Iron is only fragile because God did not intend for any man to wield that power for too long.

I feel the Weathered 10mm can absolutely CARRY through the first half of any playthrough. Regular 10mm become so common that condition and ammo is never a concern and the low requirements make it a handy choice for any type of character

I love that we're still talking about FNV all these years later. Anyway, I love your list, but I think your criteria might be a little too focused on straight DPS, and tends to overlook the more specialized ways certain handguns can be used. For example, besides the ability to use AP rounds, That Gun/5.56 Pistol also have high critical multipliers, fast RoF & reload times, and synergize well with Ratslayer. Likewise, Lucky's ridiculous critical multiplier, and its low AP cost, makes it an absolute killer in VATS (plus the fact that it's available as early as Primm).

.223 and 5.56 are actually a little different, although occasionally interchangeable. The throat length of 5.56 is a bit longer, with more power. In gameplay it doesn’t matter, though

Can’t wait for all the other tier lists you’re going to make! And when you’re done, maybe try doing a skills tierlist, if you haven’t already!

If Lucky had a 5 ½ inch barrel and a Red Wood grip , it would objectively be the sexiest firearm in all of Fiction .

The 12.7mm handgun is insane late game for sneak builds if you have the GRA DLC. Thing will one shot almost anything silently.

I mostly look at handguns for their sneak attack kill potential, so I tend to rate guns with suppressor mods a lot higher than you might. I also have a soft spot for the basic .22 because of its critical hit damage bonus. I just love that little gun.

You really undersold the 10mm, it goes down to 0.4 spread with the laser sight which makes it one of the most accurate handguns in the game, and it becomes fully silenced with a different mod. It's definitely the best assassin's pistol there is and can be a decent sniping option in the early game, while also being obviously good dps. A tier for sure.

The .22 pistol - using a crit build - can easily take out the highest level deathclaws with ease. So not only is it available early - but it's actually very powerful if you specialize.

One of the reasons to ever use lil devil is on strength/melee runs. You’re gonna be running the necessary strength to use it, so i usually keep it handy if someone is glitched or to far away for spear throwing. It can be devastating, but I’d still prefer the hammer to the gun.

Everybody should know the amazing power of A Light In Shining Darkness. Best pistol in the entire game hands down.

Fun fact about Light in Shining Darkness, you can kill Joshua graham in the DLC and immediately end the entire DLC and get it the second you meet him for the first time

I'd agree with ALSID in top spot. In addition to the other advantages you mentioned it also benefits from the Grunt perk which has a lower skill requirement (45 Guns and 20 Explosives) to get than the comparable Cowboy perk (45 Guns and 45 Melee) for revolvers.

5.56 pistol and that gun will always be S tier solely because its a homage to blade runner. That and the reload noise is just cool as hell.

HD in terms of the .357 Revolver cylinder means High Durability, hence the increased durability.

Honestly, in terms of utility, I'd probably put Maria in S Tier. It really is my go-to weapon for dealing with low level enemies in mid to late game and I never feel like I'm wasting ammo using it.

Mysterious magnum+rushing water+SWC handloads+cowboyperk = FUN The cowboy perk was a perk I slept on til k tried it, and it basically makes me favor the revolvers highly

Lucky is my fave weapon for dealing with low level mooks ever since I started hand loading. .357 JFP has no downsides (not even the usual durability penalty) and all I occasionally need are empty 357 casings, with pistol powder from their crappy condition 10mm and 9mm guns & shotshells, with plentiful small pistol primers from their 9mm SMGs, along with jury rigging the thing with their dropped guns makes it a dream to keep in good working condition. But yeah, Alight in Shining Darkness runs circles around it, admittedly.

The 5.56/That Gun is my favorite by far. The amount of options for ammo makes it very versatile and it hits really hard on a variety of enemies thanks to that. I just wish it was more accurate. The unique .45 Auto looks pretty nutty though, def giving that a try once I've gone through HH.

The ranger Sequoia also has a really high vats cost of 30 making it not exactly ideal for vats users.

8:10 That little pause before you just go ahead and shoot swank in the face 😂😂

Lil Devil is a holdout weapon because, as the name and model suggest, it is a smaller version of the 12.7mm pistol. This is also why the strength requirement is higher, because it would recoil harder

Pretty spot on. I'd say Lucky is S tier only because you can get it so early on, and with its luck modifier - getting Boone's beret, 10 luck, and that Finesse perk all early on, it is a MONSTER. well i think Finesse is like level 12 or 14, dont remember. But yeah, if you focus luck then Lucky is S tier for the first half of the game imo. Everything else is as i expected it. Sequoia and Lil' Devil are the tops. I'd prob move That Gun up to A. Loved the vid!

Nice vid man, love to still see new vegas content! I always assumed the HD mags were heavy duty.

The 45 autos are just the best. A Light is the best straight up next to the ranger sequoia, and the normal 45 auto is one of the best suppressed. It’s so easy to get and so easy to get a lot of ammo for that it’s just the go to for mid to late game suppressed pistols. Any time I do a run based around handguns I use whatever early game one I feel like using and go straight for Maria and then A Light / suppressed 45 auto if I’m doing stealth.

After watching this tier list I feel less bad about immediately selling Lucky for easy caps in the early game, especially since That Gun is so cheap.

Lucky and Lil Devil are my favorite but I have a fondness for the basic 9mm since it's a Browning Hi Power. I do love the 10mm in new Vegas also the sound effects change makes it s lot more powerful.

That Gun just has that drip

I made a handgun (not revolver) build just because there were so many awesome handguns (in stats and looks) in NV. Loved that run of the game. High crit and a lot of shots, does ok until a crit just ends someone. Was Maria, A light in the Darkness, That Gun, and L'il Devil. All the guns were fun and unique enough :O Also was good with a little VATS. I recommend it. Yes revolvers are cool but I am pretty sure everyone and their dad has done the cowboy revolver build in NV

The first difference is the higher pressure level of the 5.56 NATO cartridge which runs at approximately 58,000 psi. A 223 Remington is loaded to approximately 55,000 psi.

Oh man finally a game im really knowledgeable about and i seriously disagree with the .45 pistol. Revolvers should all get bumped up by one since they have so many perk options

I had this game in my steam library for years, barely touched it. Now I can't stop playing it. Im on my 3. run aiming for the NCR ending this time. Always play on hard because it's most balanced in my opinion. Your videos are really helpful. But I would recommend new players to make their own decisions at first without any guids. For a unique experience

Putting stats into sneak skills is really what makes the silenced .22 useful. If I do sneak builds it stays with me to end of game. Lightweight, great accuracy, cheap ammo, cheap to repair.

Something I didn't notice about the 12.7mm Pistol until now - it looks like was originally designed to have the magazine well in front of the trigger, but the reload animation still has the player reloading it thru the grip. But it would also have an extremely short barrel if it were the former.

You can also shoot the Mysterious Magnum out of the guys hand. If you do it in one shot and then put your weapon away, he won't be hostile. Edit: This will break the revolver, though, and would need to be repaired. If you want it fast, do it my way. If you would rather wait, do it the steal ammo way.

A Light Shining in Darkness is my absolute favorite pistol. Rolling up to Caesar in Joshua Graham's outfit, wielding his gun and being like Ezekiel 23-25... "Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there SHALL. BE. NONE." And shooting that tumor right out of his pompous surface level understanding of philosophy having head.

If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure the Police Pistol and Lucky are almost identical statistically, one MIGHT have a higher crit damage or chance, but beyond that, not too different

The police pistol should go up a rank, man. That extra limb damage and low AP cost makes it a headshot *monster*

its amazing to me how relevant this game still is, love to see it

I used A Light Shining in Darkness in my first playthrough and it was my mane clise to mid clos3 gun and with rapid reload and other perks I pretty much turned in a john wick with a grenade launcher and a anti-material rifle. Very funy side arm. Horrible aim down sites as more guns that are not scoped, but the rapid fire made it easier to hip fire

Great stuff! A few peeves about the animations for revolvers: Single actions require you to thumb the hammer to rotate the cylinder in order to fire. Double actions allow you to pull the trigger to rotate the cylinder and fire or, thumb the hammer to fire and the pulling the trigger. The animations for Hunting Revolver and Sequoia don’t show thumbing the hammer which is required for these handguns. The Police Pistol(actually Revolver) has an animation that shows manually thumbing the hammer which is possible, but only done for target work. All combat shooting with double action revolvers is done without thumbing the hammer. “Lucky” is likely modeled on Texas Ranger Frank Hamer’s personal revolver he called ‘Old Lucky’. Hamer was a legendary Lawman who was most famous for killing Bonnie and Clyde. Considering ‘Lucky’ is found across from the Vickie and Vance Casino……

You can also add weapon mods to the Mercenary's grenade rifle such as the extended barrel. Also 5.56 and .223 aren't the same rounds.

Wish we had duel wielding in New Vegas. I alway walk around with a .45 and would just love to have one in each hand facing down a deathclaw.

The main downside of Lucky is that you have to have 75 lockpick skill to get it. Other than that its one of my favorites I use it threw the whole game. Edit: .223 and 5,56 mm are NOT the same caliber. .223 is far more common in civilian use and 5,56, the military one, has slightly more pressure thats why it does make more damage.

Someone has probably already said this but you can find That gun on a shelf in the Dino statue storage room in Novac

HD probably means "High Durability" It's very straightforward but it makes sense for what it does

We can't let God do all the work

Li'l Devil is actually bugged they forgot to put it into the form list for improvised hold out weapons so it only can be snuck into casinos and the fort while your sneak is lower than 50, raise it above and it starts getting confiscated again. There are several mods that fix this but it's a weird bug with the base game version of the gun that really brings it down for it's niche as one of the best hold out weapons.

Joshua's gun is superb. can't play FNV without it

HD in new vegas stands for "high durability" so it's a high durability cylinder upgrade for the 357

The “HD” on weapon mods usually stands for Heavy Duty

For me- and I'm sure for lots of Fallout fans- the sheer variety of weapons is a big part of what makes FNV the big cheese of the series. Consider the pistol selection in Fallout 4: 10mm, pipe pistol, The Deliverer, ...laser pistol? 🫥 The hell, FO4? And the retro-future aesthetic of the weapons is less Fallout, more cartoonish incoherrence. FNV has a masterful blend of real-world weapons that would plausibly be in service throughout the post-apocalypse, along with sci-fi modifications to those weapons in addition to strictly new retro-futuristic weaponry. Plus, all the ammo types, calibers- FO4 has none of it. FO4 with a few hundred mods is great though, i play it all the time. But vanilla FNV is a masterpiece all on it's own.

Never realised that 10mil pistols have Desert Eagle slide

Lil' Devil beats the Ranger's Sequoia and ALSiD in DPS until like 25 DT i believe (even when including all ammo types), which is basically everything in the game excluding Joshua Graham, a few BOS and the X-42 Giant Robo-Scorpion at max level soo yeah it's basically always higher damage while also being debatably easier to get than the other 2 Ranger Sequoia is better than both at 25+ or 30+ (i forget the actual break point since i haven't done these experiments in a while and didn't log them lol), and is also hyper accurate and with its supreme damage giving it the best burst out of stealth and alot of potential for one shots The best combo would be Ranger's sequoia for long range assassination and Lil' Devil for general use, thus granting them S tier I would probably drop ALSiD to A tier since it's more annoying to get than either and requires super .45mm ammo to keep up with the top tiers which shreds through the durability I would drop it to B or C but i don't dare because it is such a sexy gun, and provides a nice middle ground (higher dps up to 25ish dt than Ranger) (higher dps at 25+ than Lil' Devil) with super low carry weight I would also buff up Lucky to S tier since it's incredibly powerful (with hand load is basically the best early game option) can be gotten right out of the gate, and uses super common ammo I would similarly drop Maria, .556mm pistol and .12mm pistol to C or even a new rank D, because they are gotten late enough where you should have options that completely outclass them in every way by the point you can even access them, i wouldn't drop That Gun to that point since even though it has worse ammo and every similar stats to lucky, it doesn't require the annoying ammo swap mechanic to keep solid DPS, unlike Lucky

Lucky is my absolute favorite weapon in the game, arguably tying with the Ranger Sequoia, but I love getting Lucky super early on and using it as α sort of signature weapon throughout the whole game.

Im just going with That Gun. There is just something beautiful in chonky futuristic hand gun. Although this days when I'm modding I just get the mod to make it chambered in .44 to give it the power it deserves

The .44 fully modded with the right perks is my go-to in every playthrough. Makes insane amounts of damage and the ammo isn’t too rare

i absolutely died of laugher when oliver swanick ran up to you and got absolutley gunned

Hey so about the silent 22 i actually was messing around with it and if you go for a stealthy crit build i was able to drop decently tough enemies with it

Lucky is my go-to weapon for most playthroughs. I love the thrill of reloading in the middle of battle.

Enough ads the lords work must be done -my friend doing a Joshua gram impression

The very important (and understated) point about That Gun is that it is the only handgun capable of using armor-piercing ammunition. This is an important capability (especially if you aggro the Legion early on 😅) that comes in a very small package. It also does many other things remarkably well - both its crit chance and multiplier are well above average (among the three highest in its class, if memory serves), it's accurate enough to be used at mid- to long-range. It has low capacity (which is true of all revolvers), but reloads quickly enough to mostly negate this drawback 🤷🏼‍♂️ If all that wasn't enough - consider that it is affected by the Cowboy perk! I can't stress this enough, if you specialize in lever-action firearms and revolvers (WHICH DO NOT HAVE DEDICATED ARMOR-PIERCING AMMUNITION TYPES) - That Gun enables you to have an AP capability while still using a firearm affected by this (very powerful) perk. It is also available very early and very easily obtainable, in contrast to most unique weapons. To conclude, this is a rather interesting gun. It seemingly has many drawbacks, but on a closer look - it actually also rectifies most of them (if not all) in some way, which can be said only of a very small number of weapons in the game. On my personal list it would be S tier 😊

This is a small niche thing, but there's an npc that gives you schematics for unique .44 Magnum bullets. They're pretty much the fusion between armor piercing and hollow point. Granted it's requirements are demanding with you needing 50 on guns and 65 on survival for the speech check and 75 repair to make the bullet in the first place but once you get through all that and start finding a good amount of .44 cases you'll be blasting holes throughout the whole wasteland with your mysterious magnum.

The .22 is totally overpowered when making a sneaky crit vats character. It breaks the game even at very hard difficulty. C-tier is a misjudgement imho.

Great video! I largely agree with this, although I'd have That Gun at the top of A tier. The other ones may technically be better, but aesthetics, yo. Also, if you're on PC, there are mods to A) add non-unique DLC or GRA pistols to regular loot pools, B) make mods for base game and GRA weapons interchangeable, and C) add more weapons to grunt / cowboy / etc. Because of the way Bethesda does DLCs, items / perks from one won't work with another, so I think these changes all make sense. In addition, there's one to allow unique weapons to use mods, which might be OP, but that's up to personal preference.

I always get Lucky ASAP, and ride with that until I get ALSID to finish out the game. They are effective and stylish as well.

The 12.7mm pistol has arguably one of the most hilarious upgrades, to whit, a silencer. And the silencer is a perfect silencer too, so you could theoretically sneak around with it and do comically violent things to blissfully unaware enemies.

Fun option with the mysterious magnum is if you reverse pickpocket the first one and then finish the quest with the barter/speech check to get the second one, you can have two copies of it. I done that and gave one to Raul, and yes, it does do the sounds when Raul readies it. Yes its awesome

Lucky should be S-Tier based on the fact that it never jams regardless of degradation.

Maria is also a Holdout weapon, so you can smuggle it into the casinos if your sneak is level 50.

I love Light in Shining Darkness and pretty much any other weapon was Honest Hearts. Honest Hearts imo has the best weapons out of all the DLCs, although only slightly better than Dead Money, those weapons are really good as well! I enjoy using the Honest Hearts weapons when traveling the divide, it makes the Divide a fun challenge and sort of ironic to Ulyssess if you decide to kill him with Legate Malpias’s gun

The other massive difference between 5.56 and .223 is that .223 was originally designed for civillian use and not all rifles specifically chambered and designed for .223 in real life can safely and reliably fire 5.56 rounds. Whereas 5.56 Chambered Rifles can about always safely and reliably fire both .223 and 5.56 rounds. So in real life, please do not assume they are the exact same thing and load 5.56 Rounds into a .223 Rifle, only 5.56 Rifles can fire both across the board and there is a chance you will get hurt if you are using one of the .223 chambered rifles that cannot fire 5.56 rounds.

that gun and lucky can be build defining, as they give close range options for a luck build. To me that's S tier.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who always reads Joshua's pistol as "A light in shining darkness"

45-70 ammo is so scarce that making ammo felt like such a chore.

Not sure if this glitches exclusive to me or others but considering the only unique handgun which is the weathered10 mm that you can upgrade with attachments whenever I put attachments on it and look at it in game the attachments don't show up on the gun but it still has the same effect stats everything as if they were on the gun but if I do it with a regular 10 mm handgun then they show up on the actual gun when I pulled out pretty sure you can fix that with mods on PC but if you're on console I guess you're kind of stuck with it

For future reference, the "HD" acronym in HD cylinder stands for "heavy duty".

Love the videos bro! Also another difference between 5.56 and .223 is generally .223 rounds have lighter loads. A rifle that can shoot 5.56 can also shoot .223 whereas a .223 rifle will be damaged by the higher load of a 5.56 cartridge :) at least in real life lol

Got me all excited think it was gonna be Joshua Graham narrating his favorite guns.

Here's an odd tier list idea. Recipes tier list, specifically the Survival one's, since workbench one's are kinda boring and ammo bench one's are even more confusing then Survival. I've tried to use those fire camps with low survival skill(30) and it's, alright? But it feels redundant. Maybe I missed something but besides some chems(I think those maybe require science and not survival i dont remember)and melee centric recipe the other one's aren't all that vital tbh, there's super easy coffee one only 15 survival required but damn it's redundant. Then there are steak recipes and omg Obsidian why most of them are high survival requirements xD. Seriously I think cheapest one is gecko steak that requires 20 or 25 survival, like wot? Why not make this one also low or even 0 requirement? How much knowledge you need to cook a steak xD. Or the fact that mantis leg recipe requires wine of all things. Still though I hope to see survival recipes tier list either way.

It's refreshing that you know your guns.

8:07 Oliver Swanick charging you with the giant radscorpions in tow lmao

Considering whom held "A Light Shining in Darkness", God be damned if it isn’t the most powerful handgun in the game.

Ranger Sequoia goes with me everywhere. That bark is vicious. The hand loaded rounds and it's lights out

wow i got this channel in my recs but mostly the DRG vids. Didn't know there are also FNV vids, it is one of my favourite games, neat