Holdout weapons is a term used to describe weapons which can be brought into certain "weapon-free" areas — primarily the three Strip casinos (Gomorrah, The Tops, and Ultra-Luxe)— without being taken from the player. What weapons are classified as "holdouts" depends on the player's Schleichen skill, with one list for all players regardless of skill level, and another for players with a skill level of 50 or above. Internally these lists are referred to as "Holdout Weapons" and "Improved Holdout Weapons", respectively.
Overview
At certain points in the course of the game, the Courier may have their weapons confiscated from them. In some of these situations the player will be presented with an option to retain some of their weapons in the form of a dialogue option which usually ends with the text "<keep holdout weapons>". Selecting this option will allow the player to retain a small subset of their weapons; what weapons are retained depends on the player's Schleichen skill.
The most common locations where the "holdout" option is offered are The Strip's three functioning casinos, but a number of other locations will offer the option when entered. The complete list of locations is:
- Gomorrah
- The Tops
- The Ultra-Luxe
- Fortification Hill
- Camp McCarran interrogation room (when interrogating Silus)
Holdout Weapons
These weapons are always able to be concealed and brought into "weapon-free" areas, regardless of the player's Sneak skill. Many of these weapons can be purchased from the merchant Mister Holdout, who can be found near the entrance of the Gomorrah casino.
| Legend | ||||
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- Weapon name | 
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- Action Point cost | |
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- Ammunition used | 
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- Damage per Action Point | |
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- Weapon damage | 
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- Weight | |
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- Damage per second | 
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- Weapon skill | |
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- Explosion damage | 
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- Is weapon silent? | |
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- Effect damage | |||
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brass knuckles | 18 | 36.9 | 18 | 2.0 | 1 | Unarmed | 
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Cosmic knife 
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12 | 36 | 20 | 1.2 | 1 | Melee |
| |||
| Cosmic knife clean
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15 | 45 | 20 | 1.5 | 1 | Melee |
| |||
| Cosmic knife super-heated
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14 | 42 | 20 | 1.4 | 1 | Melee |
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| Figaro | 8 | 33.2 | 17 | 0.9 | 1 | Melee |
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| Knife | 8 | 24 | 20 | 0.8 | 1 | Melee |
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Li'l Devil  [1]
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12.7mm | 45 | 146.3 | 15 | 3.3 | 3 | Guns | 
| ||
| Love and Hate | 30 | 75.8 | 19 | 3.2 | 1 | Unarmed |
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| MFC grenade [1]
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1 | 52.5 | 75 | 35 | 2.2 | 0.5 | Explosives |
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| Nuka-grenade [1]
|
1 | 228 | 350 | +2  /5s
|
24 | 15.0 | 0.5 | Explosives |
| |
| Police pistol
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.357 mag | 30 | 60 | 19 | 1.6 | 3 | Guns |
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| Silenced .22 pistol | .22LR | 9 | 31.5 | 17 | 0.5 | 3 | Guns |
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| Spiked knuckles | 25 | 59.2 | 19 | 2.6 | 1 | Unarmed |
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| Straight razor | 5 | 18.5 | 18 | 0.6 | 1 | Melee |
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| Switchblade | 7 | 14 | 18 | 0.4 | 1 | Melee |
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| Throwing knife | 15 | 48.2 | 20 | 0.8 | 0.5 | Melee |
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| Tin grenade [1]
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1 | 65 | 100 | 35 | 2.9 | 0.5 | Explosives |
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- Note: Unique weapons are highlighted with a darker background.
- Note: Melee Weapons and Unarmed damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
Improved Holdout Weapons
These weapons can be brought into "weapon-free" areas if the player has a Schleichen skill of 50 or above. Bonuses from temporary effects, such as ¡La Fantoma! or Stealth Boys, are counted when determining the player's skill level.
Note that this list does not replace the "standard" list of holdout weapons; weapons from the "standard" holdout weapons list are always able to be brought into "weapon-free" areas, regardless of skill.
| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
- Weapon name |
|
- Action Point cost | |
|
|
- Ammunition used |
|
- Damage per Action Point | |
|
|
- Weapon damage |
|
- Weight | |
|
|
- Damage per second |
|
- Weapon skill | |
|
|
- Explosion damage |
|
- Is weapon silent? | |
|
|
- Effect damage | |||
- Note: Unique weapons are highlighted with a darker background.
- Note: Melee Weapons and Unarmed damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
- ↑ 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 Gun Runners' Arsenal "normal" holdout weapons are not included on the "improved" holdout weapon list and will be confiscated when using the "improved" holdout option.
- ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,6 Companion-specific variants of these weapons are not included and will be confiscated from the player's companion(s) (see Bugs).
- ^ The unique weathered 10mm pistol is not included.
Notes
- If choosing the holdout dialogue option, weapons carried by companions will be confiscated based on the player's Sneak skill, not that of their companion(s).
- There are only two holdout weapons which companion Lily Bowen is capable of using: frag grenades and plasma grenades. This is due to a restriction placed on Lily which limits what weapons she can use, primarily limiting her to heavy weapons such as the minigun.
- When you are disarmed when entering "weapon-free" areas, all confiscated weapons are stripped of their associated keybinding(s). As a result, you must re-keybind your weapons when you retrieve them.
- Players can bring their own weapons without being confiscated into the casinos, after following the correct path of their quest.
- Tops- Convince Swank to let you deal with Benny in Ring-a-Ding-Ding!.
- Gomorrah- Follow Cachino's path to deal with the bosses during How Little We Know.
- Ultra-Luxe- Find a sponsor to let you join White Glove Society during Beyond the Beef.
- Being seen with a weapon drawn in the casinos without completing the appropriate quest or task will make the families hostile and affect the reputation with White Glove Society if you are in Ultra-Luxe, but you can draw any weapon when confronting Silus or in The Fort.
- Weapons which are also Quest Items (such as the missing laser pistol) cannot be confiscated regardless of sneak skill.
Bugs
The companion-specific versions of some improved holdout weapons are not included in these lists, and will be confiscated when these companions enter casinos. This includes melee weapons such as Cass's combat knife and Raul's lead pipe, which differ from the normal versions only in that they cannot be taken by the player.- ED-E's integrated weapons can be brought into weapons-free areas as holdout weapons, but only if the player's Sneak skill is below 50. This is caused by ED-E's weapons being included on the holdout weapons list but not the improved holdout weapons list.
- Rex's Bite "weapon" is not classified as a holdout weapon and will be confiscated.