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Up close and personal, that's how you like it. Your Sneak Attack Criticals with pistols, revolvers, and submachine guns, whether Guns or Energy Weapons, all inflict an additional 20% damage.
”— In-game description, Fallout: New VegasThe Professional is a perk in Fallout: New Vegas.
Effects[]
Despite the perk description, The Professional adds 20% more damage granted by all critical hits (and not just Sneak Attack Criticals) when using any pistols, revolvers, or submachine guns from either the Guns or Energy Weapons skills and their unique variants. This includes:
- .357 magnum revolver
- .44 magnum revolver
- .45 Auto pistol
- .45 Auto submachine gun
- 5.56mm pistol
- 9mm pistol
- 9mm submachine gun
- 10mm pistol
- 10mm submachine gun
- 12.7mm pistol
- 12.7mm submachine gun
- Alien blaster
- Compliance Regulator
- Hunting revolver
- Laser pistol
- Laser RCW
- H&H Tools nail gun
- Plasma Defender
- Plasma pistol
- Pulse gun
- Ranger Sequoia
- Recharger pistol
- Silenced .22 pistol
- Silenced .22 SMG
- Sonic emitter
Notes[]
- This perk will significantly increase the player's ability to make subtle kills in close quarters, making silenced pistols and SMG's more useful. Additionally, despite the perk description, out-of-stealth critical hits are also affected, so fighting in general with pistols, revolvers and SMG's is also improved. This is especially important in holdout situations which haven't been or cannot be circumvented.
- Although this perk significantly improves the effectiveness of stealth kills with close-range weapons, rifle-type weapons of the same caliber will still deal more single-shot sneak attack critical damage, especially given any possible bonuses from other perks such as Cowboy. At moderate range and beyond, rifles are superior for one-shot kills. However, no rifles are considered holdout weapons, which makes this perk useful for any combat done inside weapon-free areas such as the Strip casinos or Fortification Hill. The expectation is that it will make close-ranged headshots from a silenced pistol or SMG especially lethal.
Behind the scenes[]
This perk is a cultural reference to the French movie Léon: The Professional, also known as 'The Professional' and 'Léon: The Professional'. In the movie, Léon remarks that 'rifles are for beginners' as they let you keep a distance from your target; a true professional gets up close. The plant next to the Vault Boy is also a reference to the movie. Also, the clothes, hat, glasses, and face stubble portrayed by Vault Boy are identical to the character played by Jean Reno in the movie.
Bugs[]
- The portion of this perk meant to confine the bonus to apply only to sneak attack criticals is set up incorrectly: rather than checking if the target has detected the player, the perk mistakenly checks if the player has detected the player. Additionally, there is no check in place to ensure that the target has not been alerted without overt detection of the player, nor is there any check to ensure that the player is currently sneaking. Due to these issues, the perk applies to all critical hits the player inflicts.
- Despite matching the description of the weapons covered by this perk, The Professional does not affect That Gun or the police pistol.
