What does it take to kill a death claw?

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Do a large part of the main quest and various other minor quests until you're a high enough level to have the anti-material rifle, a sniper rifle or a fully modified (scope, custom bolt action and extended mags) hunting rifle and boon(e?). You also need to invest most of your points into small guns (or just guns for F:NV) and some into sneak so that you can creep around and sneak attack them.

Another tip is for you to go to the top middle left of the map, there should be a farm around there. Head north from that farm towards the top of the map again. If you have the wild wasteland perk on then you'll meet a band of aliens with the alien blaster that is perfect for fighting deathclaws. If you don't have the wild wasteland perk then you'll meet a band of mercs with a YCS/86 Gauss Rifle which is perfect if most of your points are already in energy weapons.

These are the two conventional means of killing deathclaws. Another, far more rewarding area filled with deathclaws is the land to at the bottom East of the map, right of Caesar's Fort. There is a small opening somewhere along the island that you can use to get onto the island. You will need to have an anti-material rifle and either the blaster or the gauss rifle, you can't sneak attack these deathclaws. Only when you're ready.

Good luck, you will actually need good luck in Fallout.

 

[gyroscopeboy]

Grab a gauss rifle or anti-material rifle and jump up on the giant conveyor mining equipment thing...you should be able to take out all the deathclaws, including the alpha male and the matriach

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I've never played Fallout, but I'm pretty sure you can kill just about anything with enough well-placed bullets.

Not Deathclaws. A low level character has no chance of doing more than just scratching it.
OP: Get Boone as a companion. Buy the Anti-Material Rifle. Then they become a cakewalk.

 

[InfectedStar]

Go get Boone, give him the Anti-matter rifle, Obtain the CZ57 Avenger and Annebell, get lots of ammo, obtain power armor, become a much higher level, and lasty kill'em all.

 

[Skulltaker101]

My recommendation, mad as it is, is to fight your way though to the top of the mountain overlooking the mine, and spamming Incinerator shots. It worked for me. Just watch out for their old papa bear...he actually is incredibly tough up close.

 

[sofareal]

Wow all you people took the hard way, i just used the Elucid C-Finder and a well aimed orbital strike...then ran like hell

To be Honest I used the unique plasma rifle (Q-35 matter modulator), Boone, ED-E, and a (glitched) never dieing NCR ranger

 

[bam13302]

shot it with something big an nasty multiple times in the head
then keep shooting it
then reload and shoot it some more
A good sneak attack critical headshot with an antimaterial rifle (use handload rounds if you can, ap usually works well too) takes most of them down in one shot though
oh, and stealth, use it, cuz you dont want the whole swarm trying to shake your hand at the same time

 

[Dragonsummoner]

I cleared the quarry at level 7, but then again I had snuck through it using a stealthboy to get to the Khan camp, then rained down death with an incinerator (much like skulltaker101). Only had ED-E with me, and was on normal difficulty. Howver, unless you've pumped the energy weapons skill and have a lot of flamer fuel, it is unadvised. It also takes a very long time.

 

[DyqstARD]

Its quite simple, obtain an anti materiel rifle and 10-30 both incendiary and usual bullets (Which are .50 MG)
You will need a few stealth boys, get those.
Atleast a riot shotgun. atleast 50 shots for that.
A level with at the VERY LEAST 50 guns.
Medical supplies.
The necessary stat boosting drugs such as Med-X and Psycho

Pick of any deathclaws outside from a further range with regular .50mg bullets. If they manage to get close to you (And i mean short-extremely short range.) Pull out the riot shotgun and blast them. Use the stealth boys to sneak in undetected, make your way to the edge on the right eliminating any deathclaws silently with the incendiary ammunition. Then from there if you can spot the Alpha male or the mother deathclaw burn then to death with the rifle. If any deathclaws approach you, try and snipe them as they come up. If that fails bring out the shotgun again. Be sure to reserve ammo and make shots count. Be very wary of the higher level deathclaws, they can cripple you easily and will catch up in no time. If you plan on fighting them at short range, cripple both of their legs.

Happy hunting

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

A lot more than level 2. At least lvl 8-10 to stand a chance, higher to be sure. I would try longer range weapons like sniper rifle or powerful ones like a shotgun. I would offload a few shells to the head in VATs, it's usually enough.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I went into the Deathclaw Sanctuary with Boone, Rex, and a Matter Modulator Plasma Rifle.

Killed all them bitches.

 

[Seives-Sliver]

For me it went like this.

Sneak around using a Stealth Boy and pick them off with The Machine.

Plant C-4 charges and mines ontop of one another for a crippling hit.

Use heavy weapons often and aim for legs so you can have a chance of outrunning them,.

Kill their Matron and Patron fast, ans use the deep water often since Deathclaws can't swim.

 

[BenzSmoke]

You'll need a jetpack [http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37140] and a custom gauss rifle [http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36405].​

 

[MetaKnight19]

I would advise levelling your Gun handling/Explosives attribute quite a bit, then just get a powerful shotgun/machine gun and you're set. I personally prefer the Big Boomer (even if it does need constant reloading), but seriously get a lot of guns/grenades if you're going into that quarry and preferably have Boone as a companion.

 

[Qitz]

The Alien Blaster (with Wild Wastelander on) does wonders against these guys. I was able to drop the Legendary Deathclaw with only 2 shots from it. Granted I was able to use my companions as meat shields (hell they can't die, so why not) and "kite" it around.

Or anything with high DAM and / or Armor Piercing. They have some good armor so being able to bypass that is great.

That said, I did the EXACT same thing you did. I've never played a Fallout game before that so I had no idea what the hell a Deathclaw was. So when he said "Don't go that way, there's dangerous Deathclaws" I shrugged it off and figured "I just cut my way through a bunch of boomers, I can handle something with that goofy a name."

I was WROOONG!

 

[EndOfDaWorld]

1 Press the pause button.
2 Go to options
3 Go to Gameplay
4 Change difficulty to easy
5 Take over the world

Or you could find a way to import the deathclaw control device from Fallout 3 (assuming your in Vegas)

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

A Gauss Rifle round or two to the face usually works for me.

 

[Illusio]

Simply get to at least level 18, at that point you will have plenty of caps to buy turbo and fixer to get rid of the unavoidable turbo addictions you will get. Watch as deathclaws are reduced to nothing and your character goes through serious dizzy spells. This strategy works great with most weapons on any difficulty.

 

[Herbsk]

Personally, I just hid in the trailer that was around the entrance to the quarry and took pot shots out the windows when the deathclaws came nearby - and then I found a nice bug that allowed only their heads to appear inside the trailer itself.

Then I just kept taking pot shots at their heads until they died....and it still took like a day and a half (and a lot of bullets) to kill them all. It was satisfying though!