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Fallout 76 is now more popular than ever thanks to the success of Amazon’s Fallout show. Amazon Prime members are also given the game for free, and there are bound to be new Vault dwellers running around the Appalachia, dying to ghouls and Radroaches. If you’re one of those fresh meats and would like to avoid joining the Brahmin in the steak grill, I have some beginner tips for Fallout 76 to help you survive.
Don’t Fear Death
Your save file in Fallout 76 is stored in servers and there’s no reloading or manual saving. If you die, you’ll have to respawn and there is a penalty for death. You’ll lose your junk items. That’s it. There’s no monetary penalty for dying in Fallout 76.
Junk items, for the uninitiated, are for scrapping so you can yield crafting materials with them. At high enough levels, you’re probably going to want junk so you can craft more easily. However, at that point, you’ll be dying less.
If your level is low enough (below 20 or so), don’t be afraid to explore, make mistakes, and die. You can farm junk easily and the components you need for crafting aren’t as rare in the beginning stages of Fallout 76.
Don’t Ignore Events
If you want to level, get good gear, and generally have fun with other players, then in-game events in Fallout 76 are the way to go. These are timed missions that appear on the map frequently and you have to go to a specific area to join or trigger them.
At the moment, there are too many of them to list, but they’ll appear on the map as either quest markers or zones. Sometimes, you’ll be notified while playing. And you’ll want to participate in these events since some of them have rewards that are event-exclusive. Additionally, some events are seasonal.
In fact, I even recommend dropping your exploration or questing to chase events.
Use V.A.T.S. Sparingly
V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) works differently in Fallout 76 since it’s a multiplayer game that’s always online. The targeting and combat mechanic doesn’t slow time down, unlike the previous Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4. That means you can’t use it as some kind of quasi-pause button to help you manage multiple enemies.
V.A.T.S. happens in real-time here. Hence, I don’t recommend opening every ranged combat encounter with V.A.T.S. You’ll want to use it if enemies are getting too close or against priority targets. Ideally during situations where you can’t aim reliably.
Changing V.A.T.S. targets is also incredibly hectic and clunkier this time around and you might end up doing less damage fiddling with V.A.T.S. than just shooting an enemy with regular aiming.
Conserve Your RadAway & Learn to Live with Radiation
Speaking of using certain resources sparingly, RadAway is one of those and it’s one of the only methods you can use to get rid of Radiation sickness. It’s that red bar that will reduce your maximum HP. You might feel tempted to get rid of Radiation sickness every time it pops up, but that’s not an ideal use of RadAway.
You’ll want to conserve your RadAway to purge large amounts of Radiation sickness– basically hold off until you’re at a certain threshold of Radiation.
Additionally, you’ll need RadAway to deal with mutations and other debilitating conditions later on in the game. Each RadAway packet only heals one mutation. Hence, having as many RadAway as you can carry is better for your peace of mind and convenience.
Don’t Mod Until Level 20
Modding is one of the best ways to increase your damage output in Fallout 76 or just about any Fallout game starting from Fallout 4. But I advise against it as part of my beginner tips for Fallout 76. The reason is that leveling is fast and most of the weapons and armor you’ll find at the start of the game are too weak anyway.
You might end up feeling like you wasted a lot of crafting components and junk trying to mod items that you’ll be replacing too soon. So just save those crafting components and your junk for better weapons that you’ll easily find in events.
Avoid PvP
There’s really no point in killing one another other than if you’re bored or want to farm Caps or junk from other players. There’s PvP in the game but the incentives are not that great. You’re better off working together. Also, there are already too many high-level players in Fallout 76 and you’re at a disadvantage if you want PvP.
So make sure you have ‘Pacifist Mode’ enabled in the settings. Also, don’t lockpick or hack other players’ camps; this action will make you ‘wanted’ and give other players an incentive to kill you. It also goes without saying, but don’t shoot at other players. We’re all Vault dwellers here, no need to thin out the remnants of the human population.
Grab the Scrapper Perk
The Scrapper perk is one of the most important quality-of-life upgrades you can get for your character. It lets you loot more items, meaning you don’t need to grind as much for when you want to craft something and it’s locked behind a recipe.
Additionally, the Scrapper perk scales off Intelligence, so if you want to work smarter and not harder, you literally have to be intelligent in Fallout 76. So as soon as you see the Scrapper perk, just grab it and put some points into Intelligence. This way, you’ll lessen the grind for some of the game’s best craftable items.
Don’t Sell Outfits from Missions
You might feel tempted to sell some of the weaker outfits you get from event missions or main and side missions, however, that’s not a good idea. You only get certain outfits once and if you sell them, that’s it. Modding in Fallout 76 is strict since it’s an online game, so there’s no way of getting back some items if you lose them.
As a rule of thumb, keep all outfits and any event reward you obtained locked in your stash or chest. Don’t sell these items for a few Bottle Caps, you’ll have plenty of Caps later on in-game. Additionally, some of the game’s outfits are locked behind a premium currency wall so your fashion options are limited. Having more outfits generally helps.
Keep Your Camp Small at First
For all you base builders out there, building tall and wide might be the first impulse but not something I advise if you’re a beginner in Fallout 76. You’ll be moving around a lot as a Fallout 76 beginner, which means you’ll have to start over again and again during these relocations if you leave some items outside the foundation.
Anything that’s on the ground might get left behind. If anything your low supply of building and crafting components will lead to a longer grind just to build a camp that you might have to reassemble in a better location anyway. So in the beginning, embrace the nomadic lifestyle first.
Join or Befriend Other Players for a Free Fast Travel
Fast travel is more limited in Fallout 76 compared to the single-player Fallout games. Still, the game still gives you a good reason to be friendly to other Vault dwellers. You can fast travel to a friend, a party member, your C.A.M.P., or your friend or party members’ C.A.M.P.
That means having a lot of friends in-game that are online is your ticket to fast travel. This is especially important during events that might occur far away from your current position. You’ll eventually want to do this no matter how much you like the exploration since the game is big and you can’t just spring everywhere.
