Batons

Lore & Background

Before the bombs fell, batons were standard issue for municipal police departments across the American Southwest. In the Wasteland, they persist as relics of a world that trusted in badges and procedure. A scavenger pulling one from a rusted patrol car in the ruins of a gas station is not holding a weapon so much as holding a fragment of the old order—something that once meant authority, now meaning nothing but a chunk of metal and rubber that can still crack bone. In the post-apocalyptic setting, where firearms are precious and ammunition is a currency more valuable than water in some settlements, a baton represents a pragmatic choice. It will not impress a Death Claw, and it will not turn a raid into a victory. But it will not rust, it will not jam, and it will not require a single round from a cache you may need for a more desperate fight later. For a character who has just stepped off a long scavenging run with empty holsters, it is the difference between a walk home and a walk into a nest. The Wasteland games treat such basic melee options as part of the broader survival economy: you do not choose a baton because it is good. You choose it because it is there, it is free, and the alternative is punching a raider with your bare hands while they pull a knife.

In Their Own Story

The dust had settled over the parking lot, or what was left of it. Mara crouched behind the husk of a police cruiser, its badge still faintly visible through the cracked windshield. She'd been watching the two raiders argue over a half-empty canteen for eleven minutes. Eleven minutes in which she'd counted her rounds: four. Four rounds, two targets, and the sound of something skittering in the drainage ditch behind them. She didn't need four rounds. She needed one, maybe two, if the first one opened their eyes. But the skittering thing in the ditch didn't care about her gun. It cared about meat. Mara reached down and pulled the baton from the cruiser's console. The rubber grip was cracked, the metal shaft pitted with rust. She gave it a short, testing swing. The air whispered. It was not a good weapon. It was a weapon. She waited for the canteen to drop. Then she moved.

Reader's Guide

**Function & Stats** A baton is a light melee weapon dealing basic physical damage with no elemental modifier. It requires no ammunition and has no reload time. In combat it functions as a short-range swing option, generally lower in damage than heavier melee weapons but with a faster attack cadence than, say, a hammer or machete. It occupies the entry-level slot in the melee weapon category. **Obtaining** Batons are typically found as common loot: in pre-war police vehicles, supply caches, or as drops from low-level enemies (raiders, scavengers, or law-enforcement-type NPCs). They can also sometimes be purchased from early-game vendors who stock basic gear. Because they are a common, low-tier item, they appear in multiple locations across a playthrough rather than being a single unique find. **Who Benefits** Characters who are early in their progression, who are running low on ammunition, or who are in a party composition lacking a dedicated melee slot will find a baton useful as a stopgap. It is not a long-term weapon for a dedicated melee build; heavier and more specialized options will outperform it quickly. Think of it as a bridge, not a destination. **Version Notes** Basic melee weapons like batons appear across multiple Wasteland entries. Their exact name, flavor text, and relative damage scaling may shift between titles as the combat system is reworked, but their role as a free, no-ammunition fallback remains consistent. In later entries the melee tree expands significantly, pushing the baton further down the tier list, but it remains obtainable and functional for low-level encounters.

Did You Know?

• In the Wasteland games, melee weapons like batons require zero ammunition, making them the only guaranteed combat option when a character's entire ammo reserve is spent.
• The Wasteland setting is set in the American Southwest, and batons as a weapon type tie back to the pre-war municipal police forces that once patrolled those roads.
• Because batons deal no elemental damage, they are unaffected by enemies that have high resistance to a specific element, making them a neutral fallback in mixed-composition fights.
• The Wasteland franchise spans multiple entries across decades, and basic melee options like batons persist as a design staple even as the series introduces dozens of more exotic weapons.