Forum:Deathclaw lethality research

Greetings all! I just did some I-hope interesting research into the Deathclaw. I told you in a previous topic about Cap'n Invulnerable, Frank Ventura. This guy's now 16th lvl, 10 Endurance, has 410 health, and naked has a 31 DR (Toughness, Barkskin, Wasteland Guide +6 DR completion, and Cyborg perks), and usually wears Combat Armor (32 DR) and Ledoux's Hockey Mask (4 DR). Not that it applies here, but he also has 133 APs (9 Agility, Ledoux's Hockey Mask, and the Action Boy perk).

Ok, leaving all my followers behind, I was going to go to Old Olney, where I knew there'd be a preponderance of the lovely critters, but hadn't been there yet with Frank. Actually, that's good for the experiment as it guarantees the Deathclaws to be there. Also good as Frank wouldn't "teleport" in under the sword-like claws of said kittens. So I fast-travelled instead to the nearby Chaste Acres Dairy Farm, casually wiped out the smelly Raiders with a wave of my magic wand, otherwise known as Lincoln's Repeater (daddy loves you baby!), and then trekked under the stars to Old Olney.

I then actually had some difficulty locating one of the panda-like cuties, but eventually found one. Now's where it gets fun. I saved my game (obviously), and then divested Frank of all his armor (breezy!) and waited until the top of the minute, and closed Pip-Boy and went back into action, and made Frank stand there & take his medicine. SWIPE! GOUGE! TEAR! SENATE HEARING! It actually took much longer to ex-communicate Frank than I thought it would. It took exactly 14 seconds for the death screen to come up.

Then I reloaded of course, and tried it again, but now with Frank wearing his armor (67 DR total). This time it took all of 26 seconds for the beastie to beat down my boy. However, I must say that this time, everytime the Deathclaw swiped me, I was moved back a bit, probably about 5 feet. So I had to keep pressing forward to keep within the critter's range. This battle took place just to the west of Old Olney (the critter came from the dumpsters area. Probably was looking for lottery tickets, but ya just can't tell a Deathclaw they have to be unscratched.) whereas the first one was in the town proper.

Anyways, that's it for the research for now. It'll be difficult for me to find a comparably levelled and health-ed (??) character of mine without at least some DR perks. Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

--Wally 12:59, 12 February 2009 (UTC)


 * If it took 26 seconds for someone with 67 DR, and 14 seconds for someone with 31 DR, it can be assumed that it would take 5 - 7 seconds for someone with 0 DR. --MadDawg2552 19:27, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

*sigh* a Deathclaw Gauntlet does almost the same. 67.189.127.121 15:10, September 6, 2009 (UTC) Cool, cool. Works for me. What impact does the varying health levels have, or you're probably figuring the same amount. Oh, this occurs to me. Does Endurance have -any- effect besides amount of health? I would -swear- I had one character with a high Endurance wear an apparel item, and another with a low Endurance with the same item, and it had a bit lower DR on him. I checked the condition and they were the same (full). Is that possible or am I on Psycho?

--Wally 22:51, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Tests of this nature are very easy to predict. If a deathclaw does X amount of damage in Y amount of seconds, and the player has Z amount of health, it's only a matter of doing some math to figure out any type of scenario.  Let's say, for example, that a deathclaw can do 20 points of damage to the player every second, and the player has 200 health.  The deathclaw will kill the player in 10 seconds.  If the player has 50 DR (which is 50% damage resistance) the deathclaw can only do 10 points of damage per second, taking 20 seconds to kill the player.  Figuring out the actual damage the deathclaw can do is a simple matter of monitoring how much HP damage you take every time it hits.  This doesn't figure in other factors, like if your character is moving or the lower DR from your armor getting damaged as the deathclaw attacks you.  Those are called variables, and they are never the same, so factoring them into a test like this only dilutes the answer. --MadDawg2552 19:32, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
 * ♠Well, I was curious so I tried it on the PC (easier since I can change the stats at will). On the same character who was wearing leather armor with an endurance of 8 I had a DR of 40 (didn't take off any of my other clothes). I lowered the endurance to 4, it was still 40. I lowered the endurance to 1, and it was the same. Maybe you took a perk, or had another apparel item that boosted DR on the high-END character or something? Oh aside from health, it also increases your oxygen supply, or so the wiki says. I really can't say since even ingame...drowning just seems like an ugly way to die. It's just me, though. Magnum101 23:46, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, as for the apparel, I was referring to the garment's DR, not the character's. But I really don't recall if I'm thinking of something else, but figured I'd bring it up. As to the oxygen, yes-yes-yes, it absolutely is different between different Endurance-d characters. The first time I took note of it was when I had a high-Endurance guy swimming into the broken bow of Rivet City. His air gauge depleted much more slowly than my low Endurance character's had, who struggled with the swim. The high Endurance guy made it with plenty of air to spare (ooh! I rhymed!).

--Wally 05:46, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

what exactly are you trying to do with these tests doesn't make much of a diff to how fast i die just that i died or my game froze its just doesnt seem that important if i have a high dr it only goes to 85% anyway.this is my site! 20:09, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

♠ Wally: Yup, double-checked. On Leather Armor and Reilly's Combat Ranger Armor at least, the DR doesn't get affected. Just updating. :) Magnum101 22:44, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, but, uh... the poster before Magnum (???), the research isn't for clocking how fast you die, but rather to help you survive, instead of panicking. Knowing you have some, eh, "scrape-time" to put together a better defense and/or healing, so hopefully you do not indeed, aheh, bite the big one, or the Deathclaw rather.

Thanks Magnum!

--Wally 03:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Thats cool but why would DR matter isn't that the death claws ablity is every time he attacks he ignores damage resistance? (including user DR)

Raz0R3312 Feb 14 09

That's one reason I did this experiment, to see what difference armored vs. unarmored makes against them. It clearly does make a difference since the Deathclaw took almost twice as much time to kill Frank when he was armored. So Deathclaws may have a certain level of DR or armor piecing ability, but they clearly do not just breeze through any defense.

--Wally 11:27, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Do the deathclaws actually have the armour-piercing ability, or is it just the deathclaw gauntlet? 78.86.153.81 12:08, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

♠ If the results of the research are any indication, the creature itself appears to NOT have the same DR-ignoring capability of the weapon. As Wally said, it takes longer for a Deathclaw to kill you when you're wearing armor, so its attack is clearly impeded by armor. To what extent, I'm not exactly sure. Magnum101 01:37, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

HAHAHA Just thought of this as I was reading these last two posts. Maybe the Deathclaw Gauntlet should, instead of Wonderglue, use a Ripper for components. Taking the motor that makes the Ripper rip, would make the claws vibrate and so forth, to do that armor piercing thing which Deathclaws don't do naturally, apparently.

Hmmm, thinking of this, I wonder if there's a way to test the Deathclaw Gauntlets' ability to pierce armor/defences. Ideas?

--Wally 04:18, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

♠ You could choose an NPC with no armor, save your game, kill him, then record the number of kills it took. Then reload the game, reverse pickpocket some armor onto him, then kill him, and see if it takes longer to do so. Just a thought. Magnum101 06:15, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

The only problem is that it takes about a hit to kill an npc because the have low health. But I suppose you could test it on a follower just take the leather armor into thought then reload and have them were high DR armor like the T-15 set

Raz0R3312 Feb 16 09  Deathclaw Gauntlet

really, really you guys do this stuff it seems kind of useless to me. 00:26, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Hey Cuddles, if it feels good, do it. If not... read something else or go play Viva Pinata.

--Wally 01:37, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

i dont play that i play fallout 3 cuddle. 03:42, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

You know he's right you shouldn't respond to a blog if you gonna be rude about it, besides wouldn't that be bad for you website' getting negative Attention?

Raz0R3312 Feb 17 09

you don't make sense i just saying seeing how long it takes to die seems to go against nature most things want to live ive fought enough deathclaws to know their no pushover. 01:33, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh ok I thought your being a dick, and isn't that your website you always sign what you say with it, and finally this could be useful for new players for fallout so they can plan ahead for there guy, I read up alot about deathclaws on wiki before playing and there wasn't anything on there ablities like this article

RaZ0R3312 Feb 17 09

not necessarily if you can learn how any of the attacks from enemies that use slow or melee attacks Ive learned how to stay behind a yao guai and spank its but till its dead i have even timed the attacks from plasma deathclaws are next on my lists just need to learn how deathclaws gyrate on their axis.03:18, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

heh   Do a little dance, Make a little love, Get down tonight!

You know, that makes me think, after having seen the effects of Animal Friend on all 4 of the affected animals, it gives me a new appreciation for them. I mean, seeing them in their "passive" state is a bit like watching Wild Kingdom (dating myself here) or the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. But in observing how, dare I say it, cute Molerats are, and "housedog-like" Yao Gaui are, I can only imagine how some of the other critters are in their, eh, passive state. Obviously, the Deathclaw is at the top of the list. That'd be cool to wander amongst them peacefully, as I did down into the Yao Gaui Den & Tunnels.

Now, level 2 Animal Friend is a whole new level of interesting. I've only seen it "kick in" twice. Once at Fort Bannister, where a Feral Dog (or probably a Raider Guard Dog) went off on a tear and started just ripping the Raiders up! (or was it Talon Mercs? I don't recall. Anyone?) It was so cool seeing it just charge around the base, from Raider to Raider. heeheehee Now, the other occurrence is possibly even more interesting. I was approaching a field of grazing wild Brahman, and I saw across the field a pair of Super Mutants about to attack one with Nail Boards. Well, as I got closer, all of a sudden all the previously passive peaceful Brahman just worked up to a frenzy and swarmed the Mutants, doing pretty good damage. Of course, I had to take a hand in protecting, heh, my flock, and between us we quickly smacked those Frankensteins down. heh, how do you high-five a Brahman??

--Wally 07:15, 18 February 2009 (UTC)


 * You crouch next to it and press the activate buttonLW556DCJ 00:58, September 7, 2009 (UTC)