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Events: Nuclear Power Plants
Other Methods: Discovery and Crafting
How To Maximize Fusion Core Crafting
Introduced in Fallout 4, Fusion Cores are nuclear batteries that run two of some of the most powerful devices in Fallout 76: the Power Armor and the Laser Gatling Gun. Without a Fusion Core, your formidable Power Armor cannot be turned on, and Laser Gatling Guns can't shoot. The cores, then, are vital resources for those players committed to securing and wielding the strongest offenses and defenses in the game. The question is, how can you get Fusion Cores?
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Fusion Cores can be randomly found throughout Appalachia, through abandoned Power Armor Chassis, rewards from certain Events, and Crafting. This guide will teach you exactly how to find these Fusion Cores, and some of the best ways to farm them. There are some formidable foes out there in this grim world, after all, and it's crucial to be ready for them.
Events: Nuclear Power Plants
Probably the most effective and straightforward method of earning Fusion Cores, there are three Power Plants in Fallout 76 that generate Fusion Cores for you; if rebuilt to proper working order. Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06, Monongah Power Plant, and Thunder Mountain Power Plant are the three locations that you should set as your first objective to find in the overworld if you want to immediately begin farming Fusion Cores.
Poseidon Energy Plant WV-06
Likely the first Power Plant that you'll discover in the game naturally, this location is a little northwest of the Charleston Train Yard and south of the Giant Teapot; it hugs the border of the Forest and Ash Heap. Once discovered,if the Power Plant is not owned by any player during the session and you've yet to repair it, the event Powering Up will commence. Finding any of the Power Plants will begin the same event, with the same three objectives:
- Repair the Cooling system
- Repair the Generator system
- Repair the Reactor system
Marked on your map with a rough area location, you're tasked to repair each system's machinery and infrastructure. It does not require any building materials on your end, all you have to do is simply find broken pipes or busted control panels and press X to repair when prompted.
It's recommended to turn up your volume when hunting for the broken parts around the systems in the Power Plant: They release an audible hiss when within range, making it easier for the player to find and repair them.
After everything has been repaired, locate the Control Room, which will be marked on your map and compass with a tag. Once there, you will need to restart the Power Plant. Doing so will complete the event and reward you with Ammo and Chems.
The real reward is the Fusion Core Generator that is now available to be powered up. Claim the Workshop and set down a power pylon to connect via wire with the nearby Power Box. It boosts 100 Power if the Power Plant was repaired, and 400 if it was fully repaired (no remaining broken pipes or control panels). The Fusion Core Generator will produce up to a maximum of three Fusion Cores per 30 minutes in real-time. Make sure to harvest these regularly, because no further Fusion Cores will be produced until these three are collected. Additionally, these Fusion Cores can be collected by anyone, so make sure to set up a good defensive perimeter to discourage any would-be Fusion Core thieves.
Other than claiming the Power Plants for the Fusion Generators, these locations have great resource nodes to set up Extractors.
Everything outlined here applies to Monongah Power Plant and the Thunder Mountain Power Plant. Other than layout design changes and enemy variety, the player will be expected to fulfill the same three objectives, with the Fusion Core Generator becoming accessible at the end of the Event. The Monongah Power Plant can be discovered far east by the Savage Divide if leaving Vault 76, while the Thunder Mountain Power Plant can be found in the Mire, northeast of Monongah Power Plant in a straight line.
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Other Methods: Discovery and Crafting
Traveling and exploring all of Appalachia is a viable but time-consuming method of finding Fusion Cores. A multitude of locations boast, at random, an abandoned Power Armor Chassis that can be looted. It will usually offer random pieces of Power Armor and a Fusion Core. These Fusion Cores, however, are almost never at full charge, often half-depleted when scavenged. So it's instead recommended to craft Fusion Cores over stumbling upon a random Power Armor Chassis out there in the wastes.
Craft Item | Ingredients |
|---|---|
Pure Crimson Flux | Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, Glowing Mass, 10 Raw Crimson Flux |
Pure Cobalt Flux | Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, Glowing Mass, 10 Raw Cobalt Flux |
Pure Fluorescent Flux | Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, Glowing Mass, 10 Raw Fluorescent Flux |
Pure Yellowcake Flux | Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, Glowing Mass, 10 Raw Yellowcake Flux |
Pure Violet Flux | Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, Glowing Mass, 10 Raw Violet Flux |
Players are able to craft Fusion Cores by default. However, getting the necessary ingredients to craft Fusion Cores is something that requires a lot more effort, especially when accounting for the in-game Event necessary for getting the special component; Pure Flux. The only way you can get Pure Flux of any kind is by crafting it from the ingredients available when entering a Nuked area within the game. If you've completed the final mainline quest, I Am Become Death, then setting off Nukes of your own is no issue. However, if you have not progressed the storyline that far on your character, simply wait until other players within the game set off Nukes of their own; you can expect at least one Nuke going off per real-time hour. Once these Nukes have touched down and irradiated an area, they become highlighted as a large red circle on your map for you to explore and fight in for two real-time hours.
On a low-population server and nobody has set off a Nuke in a while? Try server-hopping. Exiting the game back to the main menu and reconnecting will put you in another server. Keep doing this until you find a server that already has a blast zone up and active.
Ingredient | Nuked Flora |
|---|---|
Raw Crimson Flux | Bright Blight, Red Hot Bloom, Blast Cap, Blast Berry, Ionized Crackleberry, Boom Blossom, and Enlightened Fungus |
Raw Cobalt Flux | Aftershock Stalk, Wild Fission Fruit, Neutron Pod, Quantum Leaf, Bomb Berry, Gloam Sap, and Kiloton Creeper |
Raw Fluorescent Flux | Raydodendron, and Glowing Mutshoot Fungus |
Raw Yellowcake Flux | Megaton Melon Blossom, Radberry, Geiger Blossom, Gamma Dogwood, and Rad Roses |
Raw Violet Flux | Glow Pod, Giga Grain, Half-life Hips, Irradiated Pitcher Plants, Nuka Root, Decay Vine, Crackle Tail, and Flash Fern |
Nuked Flora is regular Flora within the game that has been altered by the effects of a nuclear bomb going off in their vicinity (Mutation Events being common in this dystopian wasteland). This Nuked Flora glows in relation to its new Flux color, so if you want Raw Crimson Flux, try and look for crimson-glowing plants. For Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, and Glowing Mass, these ingredients can be looted from enemies that are within the blast radius of the Nuke. Any kind of enemy can drop these ingredients within the zone.
Raw Flux deteriorates very quickly, so make sure to have an ample supply of Hardened Mass, High-radiation Fluids, and Glowing Mass ready to craft before you go around collecting the flora.
To craft a Fusion Core, you need one of each Pure Flux type. After all of that, you're now capable of crafting a Fusion Core.
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How To Maximize Fusion Core Crafting
After all that work, how is crafting Fusion Cores more time and cost-efficient than collecting them? Well, if you utilize certain in-game perks, you can craft multiple Fusion Cores at the cost of one attempt. This is because, conveniently, Fusion Cores are recognized as Ammo in the game. Here are the Perks you will need to accomplish this.
Ammosmith (Max Rank Level 2)
Ammosmith at Max Rank will boost all ammunition crafting amounts by 80%.
Super Duper (Max Rank Level 3)
Super Duper at Max Rank will give the player a 30% chance to double any crafting attempt's results. This Perk is unlocked at level 50, so don't worry about getting it so soon. It's just a great bonus when crafting the Fusion Cores.
Legendary Perk: Ammo Factory (Max Rank Level 4)
You produce +150% more ammunition when crafting. You can unlock this perk at level 50, and reach its Max Rank by recycling duplicate Perks or unused Perks for Perk Points. It will take 450 Perk Points to get to the Max Rank for the Perk.
With all three of these Perks combined, you can craft up to a maximum of 5 Fusion Cores per crafting attempt, with a 30% chance of crafting 10 Fusion Cores if Super Duper activates. You are now able to farm Fusion Cores like a pro. Always remember that they are valuable resources, though, and shoul dbe used carefully.
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