8

Other than for mirelurks, does it matter what part of the enemy I aim for in terms of dealing damage?

Up until now I've been aiming for the heads out of habit but I'm wondering if this is actually necessary.

Improve this question
4
  • 5
    You can easily see this by going into vats and watching the health bar of your enemy while you go over different the body parts.
    – Broots Waymb
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:09
  • @dangerzone I never thought of that! Great idea
    – l I
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:15
  • 4
    Hit location definitely matters for super mutant suiciders. Shoot that right arm and kaboom!
    – John
    Nov 19, 2015 at 22:15
  • @John: Brilliant! I've always gone for the legs so they don't get quite so close to me..
    – drudge
    Nov 20, 2015 at 10:28

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

Hit location very much matters. Head shots or in general 'weak' areas will take more damage even when out of VATS. Additionally you can cripple different parts of creatures limiting their ability to attack, disarming them or even crumbling them to the ground. The easiest place to see things of this nature are with Feral Ghouls because they are easy to cripple their appendages lowering their ability to attack you or forcing them to crawl at you.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    As described here, each limb being crippled has a different effect. These effects appear to be the same as in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, from what I can tell. Obviously enemies that are not bipedal humanoids will have somewhat different limbs and therefore different effects.
    – DCShannon
    Nov 20, 2015 at 1:09
  • "The easiest place to see things of this nature are with Feral Ghouls" - Exactly this. Not aiming generally towards the legs on a pack of feral ghouls is one of the easiest ways to get mobbed and killed early on in the game.
    – aroth
    Nov 20, 2015 at 5:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .