I am Mog Anarchy, and I like to play games. Whether they are old, new, retro, modern, online, offline, console, computer, critically acclaimed or notoriously bad. Here on my blog, I rant about, review, trash talk, praise and generally talk about all of my favourite and least-favourite games. I also write my own guides on how to accomplish tricky tasks, show off my creative endeavors and challenge myself with crazy in-game tasks. I also have a bunch of gaming merchandise which I am glad to show off. So drop me a comment, I love hearing your questions, criticisms, comments and general gaming discussions. :)

03/10/2013

How To Max Out SPECIAL Stats In Fallout: New Vegas

I'm a completionist. I love to collect every item, finish every quest and max out all of my characters' stats and abilities. This was easy enough in Fallout 3 - you practically tripped over skill books everywhere you went and with the Almost Perfect perk, it was easy to raise your SPECIAL to 9 across the board, then collect all of the Bobbleheads in order to bring them all up to 10.

Unfortunately, Fallout: New Vegas made maxing out your SPECIAL quite a bit more difficult. I've heard people say that it's impossible even. Well it's not. I've done it. On the Xbox 360 version, so I can guarantee there were no console commands involved. If you wish to max out your character's SPECIAL, follow my simple guide below:

(You will NEED to buy 3 of the 4 DLCS - Dead Money, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road.)

First off, when you first interact with the Vigour Tester machine in Doc Mitchell's office - set your starting stats as follows:

Strength - 7  (This MUST be 7!)
Perception - 6  (This MUST be 6!)
Endurance - 9
Charisma - 1
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 1  (The lower, the better!)
Luck - 7  (This MUST be 7!)

Following this, you need to take the Four Eyes trait and another trait of your choice, if you wish. You can take the Small Frame trait if you need an initial boost to your Agility. I chose Wild Wasteland, which doesn't affect SPECIAL.

This is just the way I personally did it, but there are different ways to do it - I chose to raise my Intelligence to 9 to make it easier to max out all of your skills, which is fairly easy to do providing you take the Comprehension perk and collect the extra skill books hidden in the DLCs.

In order to max out your Perception, you will need to get the Lucky Shades item, which is located at the Caesar's Legion Safehouse - so try and stay on their good side until you've gotten the keys to the safehouse if you intend to work against them. :)

You will also need to take the Intense Training perk 9 times, so remember to make allowances with your level-up perks.

You will also need to wear glasses, so you may not be able to wear Power Helmets.

Now I'll go into detail on how to max out each individual stat:

Strength
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 8.
- Take the Reinforced Spine perk included in the Old World Blues DLC to increase it to 10.


Perception
- The Four Eyes perk will reduce your base stat initially, so your stat becomes 5.
- Put a point into Perception with an Intense Training perk to increase it to 6.
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 7.
- Wearing the Lucky Shades provides a +3 to Perception, which will increase it to 10.

Endurance
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 10.

Charisma
- Put 8 points into Charisma using the Intense Training perk 8 times to increase it to 9.
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 10.

Intelligence
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 10.


Agility
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 2. (Optional!)
- Here is where we will abuse a little glitch in the Dead Money DLC. Whenever you find some light clothing, equip it and then return it to the vending machine. You will lose the item but retain the Agility boost permanently. Do this 8 times to increase it to 10. (Or 9 times if you choose not to buy the implant.)


Luck
- Take the implant from Dr. Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Centre to increase it to 8.
- Complete the Lonesome Road DLC to receive a permanent boost to one of your SPECIAL stats, use this to increase it to 9.
- Wearing the Lucky Shades will provide a +1 boost to Luck to increase it to 10.


And our stats will end up looking like this:
Strength - 10 (+)
Perception - 10 (+)
Endurance - 10
Charisma - 10
Intelligence - 10
Agility - 10 (+)
Luck - 10 (+)

Good luck! :D
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41 comments:

  1. Anonymous4 January 2014 at 23:11

    Helped a lot thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous25 February 2014 at 21:23

    does this only work on the PC version?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy25 February 2014 at 21:27

      Nope, it works on the console versions too. There's no modding or console commands required. :D

      Delete
    2. DonatelloDaVinci1322 February 2019 at 18:44

      The only problem I have is that I can't get the agility based perks because at level up time my agility is still 2. 😢

      Delete
  3. Anonymous25 May 2014 at 11:08

    Please answer some quesions about agility glitch:
    1. Where i can find vendor machine, that can take armor?
    2. What kind of armor i need? any light or comething special?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy25 May 2014 at 23:14

      The vending machines are scattered all over the Sierra Madre, they're brown with big, blue, round screens. They are exclusive to the Dead Money DLC, then there's one in the Abandoned BoS Bunker after finishing the DLC.

      The armour is just any pre-war or dirty pre-war clothing (except businesswear), which is found all over the Sierra Madre in dressers/wardrobes etc. Simply click on the vending machine to exchange the clothes for chips WHILE you are wearing it. The armour will disappear, the agility boost will remain. Repeat as needed. :)

      Hope this helps!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14 June 2014 at 00:20

      Played thru Dead Money and missed getting the extra point? What did I do wrong?

      Delete
    3. Mog Anarchy19 June 2014 at 20:51

      All I can think of is that you either did the light clothing glitch one few times... You could try getting the implant from Dr. Usanagi (if you haven't already) or if you have the Old World Blues DLC, you can get a chance to change your traits - get the Small Frame trait, which will add +1 to agility.

      Hope that helps. :)

      Delete
  4. Anonymous28 July 2014 at 16:58

    So the agility is increased using a bug. When i max it using that, will i be able to unlock perks related to high agility?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy3 August 2014 at 12:48

      Unfortunately, no - as it doesn't affect your base agility stat. :(

      Delete
    2. Renseptia7 December 2017 at 22:30

      for real?

      Delete
  5. Unknown22 February 2015 at 03:45

    How do I give the vending machine the armor I need help on agility

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy17 July 2015 at 14:50

      There's options to [RETURN] an item, just return the pre-war clothes while you are wearing them.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous8 July 2015 at 11:10

    Thanks for the great guide!

    Is it possible to exploit the agility glitch at the start of the game (so to avoid being at a disadvantage with 1 agility)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy17 July 2015 at 14:49

      As soon as you finish the opening quest I guess you could leg it over the the Abandoned BoS Bunker and start the Dead Money DLC - but it might be difficult at a low level - or you could choose the Small Frame trait to +1 to Agility.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous18 July 2015 at 12:35

      Thanks for the reply! :-)

      Delete
  7. Unknown24 July 2015 at 03:43

    I don't understand how can you get plus one luck in the dead money DLC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy21 August 2015 at 10:04

      When you finish the main quest, you get a chance to increase one of your SPECIAL attributes.

      Delete
  8. CrypticSilhouett24 July 2015 at 16:44

    Hello my good sir. I recently came to the conclusion that this was possible as well. I'm making a let's play and a tutorial focused on this concept on my youtube channel. Although I had the idea independently of you I've linked to your blog as you're the only other person I've seen that knows this and you had the epiphany before I did.

    Cheer's mate! Also have you considered using the most efficient set-up in terms of gaining S.P.E.C.I.A.L. from armor? Clein's Srubs give you 3 stats, any hat can give you one, lucky shades gives you 4, and the Elite riot headgear from Lonesome Road gives you 2. That's a total of 10 extra S.P.E.C.I.A.L. so you won't require as many ranks in Intense training.

    Also the double perks glitch at the beginning of the game would let you get agility related perks selected before you get lowered down to 1.

    Check it out if you're interested!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy21 August 2015 at 10:06

      Not bad!
      I'd never thought of messing with the armour really, I'm stuck in my rut of using black combat armour, because it's sexy. :)
      There's probably a ton of different ways to do it, but only people like us think outside of the box.

      Delete
    2. CrypticSilhouett29 August 2015 at 21:57

      Glad to see you back to blogging! You can bet I'll be checking in from time to time. Keep it up!

      Yes, the amount of freedom in how you choose to pull it off is quite staggering actually. I have the exact same problem with my characters. Straight to the Silver Rush I go until I can get the Stealth Suit Mk1. This is one of the few times I've had a reason to use anything else.

      My tutorials almost done. I'm hoping to get a decent number of views and you can bet I'll try to send some of them your way. Don't give up on posting!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19 September 2015 at 03:19

      i think the point everyone is trying to make is they want to be able to max the s.p.e.c.i.a.l without having to wear certain cloths. I don't think to many people playing hard core mode would be wearing scrubs instead of armor.

      Delete
  9. Brick1 September 2015 at 02:30

    Nice guide, I checked everything out and it is all correct. Except you stated you get a free S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point at the end of the Dead Money DLC when that comes from completing Lonesome Road. Enjoy your gaming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy1 September 2015 at 13:09

      Oops, you're right.l I always mess up the names of DLCs. I'll get that corrected - cheers for pointing that out. :)

      Delete
    2. Brick8 September 2015 at 00:37

      Have you tried Dragon's Dogma at all?

      Delete
    3. Mog Anarchy8 September 2015 at 11:57

      I've heard of it, but no.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10 September 2015 at 10:51

    when I play it does not allow me to intens. train a skill more then one time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy10 September 2015 at 15:06

      You need to level up again? Remember in Fallout: NV, you get a perk every 2 levels.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12 September 2015 at 12:24

      my bad, I said intens. train when I should of said getting an implant. the first time I played the non ad on version I was able to do multi implants to one of my skills like strength. with this version I can only do 1 for each of the 7 choices.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous29 September 2015 at 08:11

    Fuckin' Spoiler Alert much? Asshole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown7 October 2015 at 10:03

      With a title like 'How to max your stats in Fallout: New Vegas', what were you expecting?

      Asshole.

      Delete
    2. Mog Anarchy9 October 2015 at 14:55

      Thank you :)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10 February 2016 at 22:47

    Got a question, does the clothing glitch work for agility only cloths? Or can I use it for luck and charisma also

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy11 February 2016 at 00:23

      Well you can only return Pre-War clothing to the machines, and they only provide boosts to Agility. :(

      Delete
    2. Mog Anarchy11 February 2016 at 00:24

      Well you can only return Pre-War clothing to the machines, and they only provide boosts to Agility. :(

      Delete
  13. Unknown17 March 2016 at 21:44

    I'm new here but hoping you can help I'm trying to make a perfect run too but with skills and special I'm doing double perks question I have for you is with this agility glitch when you raise it up using the vending machine will it also raise my skills or would that be all through level ups?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Unknown9 August 2016 at 21:58

    PS: I can also infinitely glitch for extra DT even while no armour is equipped. If you've got the time you can have any damage threshold you desire no matter what you wear. You can be Buck naked with 50 armour or make playing in Benny's suit or any other outfit much more feasable.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Echo of a Distant Time6 November 2019 at 16:22

    Hello, Mog. I was wondering, would you mind if I make a video discussing this matter? I would, of course, say that I adapted it from this blog post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mog Anarchy8 November 2019 at 02:22

      Go ahead - all I ask is that you link back to me and are upfront from the start about it.

      Delete
  16. Download Free Softwares30 January 2021 at 15:33

    i like your post thank you for posting Fallout: New Vegas

    ReplyDelete

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