| ||For an overview of the katana in the Fallout universe, see katana.|
A katana is a type of Japanese sword with a blade length greater than 23.6-28.7 inches (60-73 centimeters) and characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single-edged blade, circular or squared guard, and long grip that can accommodate two hands. Often called a "samurai sword" or "samurai's sword" because of its use by the feudal warriors, it became a symbol of the samurai caste.
Renowned for its sharpness and cutting ability, its origins go back at least as far as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). Most often held with two hands, some techniques and combat styles were performed with a one-handed grip. The katana was generally carried in a saya, or scabbard, manufactured from lightweight wood, with a coat of lacquer on the exterior and a wooden knob on one side for attaching a braided cord.
The single-edged, razor-sharp blade is extremely effective against most enemies because it has a high attack speed, over three hits per second.
It is possible to execute Unlabored Flawlessness outside of V.A.T.S. (without the required Melee skill of 50 to perform the move) by initiating a power attack (hold attack button) while moving forward.
The katana can successfully strike about 995 times, or 1495 times when equipped with the protective sheath, from full condition before breaking.
- Katana authentic blade - Increases damage by 5. Replaces the exhausted blade for a polished blade and the worn blue grip with a black grip.
- Katana protective sheath - Increases condition by 50%. Adds a traditional brown saya (Japanese scabbard) attached to the belt on the left.
- Katana balanced grip - Increases attack speed by 20%. Replaces the worn blue or black grip with a red grip in better condition.
|Weapon name (current weapon is highlighted)||- Weapon name (melee or unarmed)||Attacks in V.A.T.S.||- Attacks in V.A.T.S.|
|Weapon name (current weapon is highlighted)||- Weapon name (gun, energy or explosive)||Action point cost||- Action point cost|
|Damage per attack (damage per projectile)||- Damage per attack (damage per projectile)||Damage per action point||- Damage per action point|
|Damage per second||- Damage per second||Weapon spread||- Weapon spread|
|Area of effect damage||- Area of effect damage||Magazine capacity (shots per reload)||- Magazine capacity (shots per reload)|
|Effect damage & duration||- Effect damage & duration||Durability (number of attacks before breaking)||- Durability (number of attacks before breaking)|
|Bonus effects||- Bonus effects||Weight||- Weight|
|Attacks per second||- Attacks per second||Value in caps||- Value in caps|
|Critical chance % multiplier||- Critical chance % multiplier||Value to weight ratio||- Value to weight ratio|
|Critical damage||- Critical damage||Skill required||- Skill required|
|Critical effect damage & duration||- Critical effect damage & duration||Strength required||- Strength required|
|With all mods attached||- With all mods attached|
|Weapon name (current weapon is highlighted)||Damage per attack (damage per projectile)||Damage per second||Bonus effects||Attacks per second||Critical Chance % multiplier||Critical damage||Action Point cost||Damage per action point||Durability (number of attacks before breaking)||Weight||Value in caps||Value to weight ratio||Skill required||Strength required|
|Katana fnvgra||22||71.1||x2 limb damage||3.23||x2||22||21||2.1||995||3||2500||833.3||75||4|
|Katana With all weapon mods attached fnvgra||27||104.7||x2 limb damage||3.88||x2||22||21||2.6||1495||3||5300||1766.7||75||4|
- Note: Melee damage is doubled in V.A.T.S.
- Mick & Ralph's, sold by Mick.
- Novac, sold by Cliff Briscoe.
- Silver Rush, sold by Gloria Van Graff.
- When dropped, the current model appears as that of the base weapon whether it is modded or not.
- You can attack as fast as up to five or six times per second by having a high Melee Weapons skill, the perks Slayer and Ain't Like That Now, and the balanced grip and authentic blade modifications.
- It is the only melee weapon in the game with a visible scabbard.
- Every time the vendors' inventories are reset, Mick will always have one in stock.
- After modding with the protective sheath, dropping this weapon will have both the sheath and the katana drop separately.
- Sometimes when you swing the katana too fast, the sound can become un-synchronized, like two different slash sounds playing at the same time.
- As indicated by the inclusion of a Katana authentic blade mod, the unmodded katana is only a pre-War replica.
- The weapon mods for the katana add a saya (scabbard), and replace both the tsuka (grip), tsuba (hand guard) and the blade. The fully modded weapon thus hypothetically contains no part from the original item. There is no way, however, to obtain the item without first having the original "replica" model.
Behind the scenes
- The name of the special attack is a reference to a weapon of the same name in Ninja Gaiden. It turns into the strongest weapon in the game when the player is low on health.
- pc xbox360 ps3 If modded with the protective sheath, when changing weapons or un-equipping the katana, the sheath will still be on the player's hip. When dropped, sometimes the sheath is not dropped. Occasionally, this bug may also result in two sheaths overlapping each other. Equipping a different weapon that is holstered the same way will remove it, but sometimes changing weapons may not remove the sheath. You have to save the game, return to the main menu, and reload the save to fix the problem.
- xbox360 If modded with the protective sheath, it will be stuck in a glitched condition when the weapon's condition is at 100%. This can be fixed by repairing it with an other katana, or a one-handed melee weapon with the Jury Rigging perk.