Every game there seems to be that one critter I can't get the knack of killing until extremely high levels. In FO3 it was always the Mr Gutsy's I had problems with but in New Vegas it seems to be the Cazadors'. Until I get high stealth and a sniper rifle they always seem to detect and swarm at me before I can kill them. Could anyone suggest any strategies for these critters?

"Democracy is the worst form of government... except for evey other that was ever tried."
Winston Churchill

High perception so you can 'see' the swarm from far away? You can always tell its them by the eratic movement on the compass

Gauss Rifles work great on them if you want to go that route... it also sounds like the most obvious thing but I didn't really bother trying it because I like headshots, but aim for the wings. Once you cripple a wing, they can't fly, and if they can't fly they can't attack (they don't have legs). Since they also aren't very heavily armored, a machine pistol (or the light machine gun if you have it), something with a high DPS will rip them apart.

Aim for the wings

the laser rcw. cazadors don't have DT. it goes through them like hot butter, and is also very precise

Laser RCW + Meltdown perk works wonders against Cazadors. That and pretty much any rapid fire gun and don't forget to backpedal.

The Young Cazadors should be easily killed with a Hunting Rifle, but the (normal) Cazadors can spirit you away pretty fast. I believe it's the HP (hollow-point) ammo that worked excellently for me (some time since I used it though, so try both AP and HP rounds). I actually went through much of the game using just ordinary ammo, and I got into lots of trouble until I started switching between ammo types.

Use AP and HP ammo, it's gonna save your skin!

HP for unarmored soft skins
AP for armored or hard skins (tough outer shell)

Incinerator. i just backpedaled with the incinerator and killed off an entire swarm near vault 22. sometime i'll put ED-E and Veronica on an Aggressive behaivour and run away, while they kill the cazadors, then i walk back with plenty of ammo and XP... don't do this on hardcoe however, as they'll die...

Lately, I've had no problems killing these bastards. Here's my setup

1) Boone+ED-E: Allows me to sense them before they sense me. Gives me time to plan out a route of attack. Plus, it's 3x the firepower.

2) Sniper setup: Currently packing a Gobi Campaign sniper rifle, along with a silenced sniper rifle. Standard .308 ammo seems to be just fine, but you can experiment with HP or AP rounds.

Now some tips on killing:

1) Attack from a distance. Pick them off from far away, or at least do damage so that you don't have swarms of healthy Cazadores sitting on top of you. Silenced weapons are great for not riling up all of them at once.

2) Go for the wings. It'll slow the buggers down and help you keep a distance. Plus, they're some of the easier targets in VATS.

3) Have the ability to backpedal. Seriously. Keep distance between them, while throwing lead down at them. Don't get trapped between a Cazador and a wall or a rock!

4) Have a weapon with high DPS. Laser RCW, machine gun, machine pistols, riot shotguns, etc. These will help in close range scenarios.

I thought energy weapons would svck against cazadors since guns are bad aginst them. I shortly found out I was wrong. The laser RCW and gatling laser eats cazadors for breakfast. I'm going to try the tesla canon/beacon prototype agianst the caadors.

Second this but I use Veronica as interceptor instead. Honestly companions rules!

What ever you do don't try grenades :sadvaultboy: I tried, and it doesn't work, trust me. Best way for me is go after them head on with "knock knock", and carry a lot of antivenom lol I even hot keyed my antivenom :foodndrink: If you don't want to use melee weapons then sneak and snipe is the only way. A riot shotty would probably be good to switch to after they start charging you it fires fast, and hits pretty hard.

Thank you for the replies. I'll have to try the Laser RCW and smg's next character I build up.

"Democracy is the worst form of government... except for every other that has ever been tried."
Winston Churchill

Laser RCW in VATS, startring with wing shooting every bug, and only when ALL are flopping on ground, go back for head shots to finish.

If guns, 10mm pistol, in VATS again : do NOT use SMGs too many misses. All you need is 1 or 2 hits to a wing to drop them to ground

Riot Shotgun loaded with Magnum Buckshot tears these things apart.

12.7mm SMG has been working nicely as well. With HP ammo it could be the way to go. Should be near 500 DPS against a bug that has 0DT. Just don't rat out Conteras like I did.

I had a hard time with these too until I leveled up a bit and found some decent weapons (Cowboy Repeater, Laser RCW, This Machine). Also, ditto to Boone and ED-E as companions. Also, try to spot them from far away and pick them off one at a time (or as close to that as possible). In addition to shooting the wings, try to VATS their antennae. Disable the antennae on any insect and it frenzies and attacks anything nearby, including it's buddies.

I find the Flamer to be the best way to go.

That and making sure you have nothing behind you so you can run backwards.

La Longue Carabine with HP ammo is the best weapon ever for taking them down. It does good damage, requires low action points in vats, and is accurate at a pretty good distance. I've reeled off 5 wing crippling attacks in 1 vats sequence before, took out a whole swarm.

Always shoot the ones closest first, both so they go down before they can reach you and so that the ones farther away are closer by the time you shoot them, giving you a better chance to hit.

Shotguns and explosives. If you can sneak up and throw grenades, or better yet a grenade launcher, that should do the trick. You can also use mines. They don't set them off but you can shoot the mine as they fly over it.

I keep a shotgun handy just for them. Back away like a maniac while shooting. In vats select the wings.

Hollow point bullets is the way to go because they have no armor.

Plan ahead with a couple of well placed mines

Ps. Real men punch things in the face with shotguns attached \o/

I use a light machine gun on them. A friend of mine said he had Boone use a flowthrower on them.

I've found that spiked knuckles actually work pretty well against them just have to try and take out a few before they get to you so that you don't get overwhelmed.

Could imagine a unarmed/melee build fighting them lol