Stepping out in the wasteland in Fallout 76 could be very overwhelming at the beginning because you such a huge world right in front of you to explore and you do not have a clue what to do first. Well lucky for you, we have curated this guide in which we have detailed 8 basic steps that you need to do once you step outside the vault in Fallout 76 and are ready to explore the vast expanse sitting in front of you.
Follow these eight basic steps and at the end, you will have a basic idea about how you can survive in the game and how you can acquire different useful items in the game. These eight steps will ensure that you do not die instantly after stepping out from the vault and that you get your bearings straight in the wastelands. So without further ado, here are the initial eight steps that you must take after exiting the vault in Fallout 76.
Find a Weapon
You can equip different types of weapons in the game but as soon as you step out of the vault, you need to ensure that you have some sort of weapon to kill at least the smaller enemies or critters attacking you. When you step out of the vault, you will notice a Responder’s body lying close to the entrance.
Loot its body and you will find a basic weapon and some ammo to fend off the enemies. Now that you have a basic weapon, you can try to loot more weapons from nearby shacks and areas which will give you plenty of ammunition and basic weapons including both melee and ranged. If you find better weapons, swap your current one for them.
In the beginning, do not be greedy and pick up whatever you find. Be that a pitchfork, a .44 pistol or even a pipe pistol. Coming face with face an enemy with a weaker weapon is much better than coming face-to-face with an enemy with nothing.
Find Food
Your vitals will start to drop as you begin exploring the world so you must focus on gathering some food as well. Keep an eye on your hunger levels or else you will become hungry and start losing health. You can find food in raw form pretty easily by killing different around you. Not only animals, but you can also find different types of plants around the world that will help you regain your strength.
While eating them raw will do the job, it is advised that you cook them up to increase their effectiveness. You can find cooking recipes in the wild as well. Try to find as many cooking recipes as you can so you can mix and match different ingredients together to create special dishes with bonuses and stat boosts.
It is also important that you consume the food that you make quickly in the game. If you leave cooked food for a long time in your inventory, it will be spoiled after time, and eating spoiled food will make you sick. Do not leave cooked food in your inventory for too long. Eat after some time if you do not want your cooking to go to waste.
Boil Some Water
Just like food, you will need clean water to survive in Fallout 76. Although you will find water everywhere in the game, you cannot drink this water as most of the water will be full of radiation. Although you will find clean water bottles and normal water later while looting enemies and buildings, you must collect some water from natural sources and boil it over some fire.
You can boil the water in any of the cooking stations in the initial areas. You will find two cooking stations in Flatwoods. Head inside the church and you will even find a purifier that cleans even the boiled water to remove every last bit of radiation from it. You can later learn the recipe for Purified Water which will greatly help you in the earlier game until you can craft some more advanced drinks.
Stock Up on Ammo
Now that you have a weapon, food, and water, your next important step is to stock up on ammo. You will encounter many enemies and not every one of them will die with one bullet. You will need ammo. Lots of it. So your next step is to find as much ammo as you can in the starting areas. You can also buy ammo but we do not recommend purchasing ammo right at the start of the game since it costs a lot.
Your best bet of gathering ammo is by crafting it yourself as it also awards you with XP which helps you level up in the game. Collect as many junk items as you can in the initial areas then make your way to the Tinker’s Workbench at Gilman’s Lumber Mill. There you can craft a different variety of ammo using all the junk you found earlier.
You can even sell ammo of weapons you do not currently own to get ammo of the weapons that you currently own. You can sell ammo as well. If you have crafting materials for ammo that you do not need, craft ammo and then sell it. You can use the caps to purchase ammo for your current weapons instead.
Find a Chemistry Station
Finding a Chemistry Station and cooking up some chems is equally important in Fallout 76 as ammo. These chems will help you alter your stats on the go while some will simply give you different amounts of boosts that will greatly help you in certain situations. However, just like food, too much chem consumption will have adverse effects on your body.
However, before you can start cooking up these chems, you will need to find their recipes in the wild. Apart from chems, you can also craft Flamer Fuel, gunpowder, and smelted ore at these Chemistry Stations so you must find a Chemistry Station as soon as you get some basics done. The nearest Chemistry Station at the start of the game is located at Moonshiner’s Shack.
Craft Custom Weapons
If you happen to visit a workbench in the game early on, you can even build up a custom weapon for yourself. If you do not know how that’s done, simply head to Overseer’s Camp, collect all the junk lying around, and head to the workbench here. Breaking down weapons and other useless stuff will also give you a lot of ingredients to start with.
Once you have enough resources, you can use them to craft a custom weapon. Just like other crafting recipes, you will find better weapon recipes as well around the world and training manuals that will allow you to build better and more powerful weapons in the game. You can also learn to repair your weapons here so that you can craft some repair tools to repair them on the go.
Find Armor and Better Clothing
Your next step is to find armor and better clothing. So the best armor in Fallout 76 is of course the Power Armor but you cannot get that right now. You will need to level up a lot before you can have access to that. For the time being, find anything that has better stats than your current clothes and start putting them on.
As you explore the nearby areas, you will kill many enemies. Loot their bodies, pick their clothes and armor and instantly swap to better ones. You can also craft some leather armor at the Overseer’s Camp using junk and scavenge lying around. The game has different types of armor depending on your playstyle but in the start, you will need to rely on what you can find.
Build a Custom Campsite
The last step that you can do is to build a custom campsite anywhere in the world. This will be your little personal space, it will come with a My Stash box so that you can manage your inventory here and keep extra items safe. You can also make it better and bigger later on in the game as you unlock better perks and find more construction plans in the wild.
For additional Fallout 76 guides, make sure to check out our Antibiotics Guide, Deathclaw Eggs Farming Guide, Fact Finder .44 Pistol Guide, Wastelanders Romance Guide, Wastelanders Allies Location Guide, Wastelanders Hunter for Hire Guide, Wastelanders Strength in Numbers Quest Guide, Weapons Guide, Perks and Special Attributes Guide, Workshops Guide, Power Armor Guide, Camping Guide, Apparel Guide, Best Characters Build Guide, Aid Items Guide, Main Quests Guide Part 2, Main Quests Guide Part 1, Chemistry Guide, Cooking Guide, Crafting Guide, Event Quests Guide, Daily Drop and Repeatable Quests Guide, Nukes Guide, Diseases and Mutations Guide, Miscellaneous Quests Guide, Magazines Guide, BobbleHeads Guide, Power Armor Locations Guide, Combat Guide, Side Quests Guide, Beginner’s Guide, Aluminum Farming Guide, Final Word Weapon Guide, and Weapons and Armor Mod Guide.
These are the eight steps that we think you should take right away as soon as you step out in the wastelands in Fallout 76. Do you have more tips for us? Feel free to use the comments section below to share them with us.