Fallout 76: How To Level Up Fast (2024)

Fallout 76 is the only game in the Fallout franchise to be a fully-online experience. You cannot manually save data, so any decisions you make are permanently recorded by the game's automatic saving system to upload into its online servers. And as a result, you're unable to redo outcomes such as quests or dialogue options, a staple in the series since the very beginning. You end up stuck with a lot of unoptimized decisions as you stumble around Appalachia scrounging around for experience points.

Related: Why It's Finally Time To Give Fallout 76 A Chance

What this guide will teach you is where to find the best spots to grind experience, the best perks to choose from, in-game events, and some other tips to get the most bang for your level-hungry buck. So don't hunker down just yet to find the perfect C.A.M.P spot, you have a lot of running around to do if you want to get to end-game content within under a week.

Best XP Farm Locations

Once you exit Vault 76, start heading straight southeast; your main objective is to find one of the game's best locations to grind XP, the West-Tek Research Center. Located on the roadside in between the Savage Wastes and the Cranberry Bog, the West-Tek Research Center is home to a group of super mutants claiming their birthright to multiple vats of FEV; the radioactive goo that created them. Outside the location is a small encampment full of around 8 to 10 Super mutants, along with a few mutant hounds and turrets. Once there, clear out the encampment and head into the building proper. Here, you must complete the miscellaneous task given to you labeled "Learn the secrets of West-Tek".

Once completed, you can exit the building, wait around for a handful of minutes or so, and re-enter; all the super mutants within the building have now respawned. You're now able to fully farm this group of instanced super mutants repeatedly, and with Super Mutants being one of the highest XP-granting enemies in the game; you can dedicate a few hours to clearing out West-Tek to level up at a fast rate.

Here are some other notable locations where you can attempt to grind experience:

• Huntersville

  Located just down the road from the West-Tek Research Center, Huntersville is a town overrun with super mutants; a great spot for farming due to its small area but a high density of enemies. Just beware of the legendary enemy located in the middle of the town; usually, a Super Mutant carrying some heavy ordinance like a Minigun or a Missile launcher.

• Charleston Capitol Building

  A location naturally stumbled upon if following the Responders quest line, the Charleston Capitol Building is chockfull of Charred Feral Ghouls. Only attempt this location if you're running a good, close-quarters build with lots of health as you can get easily swarmed by upwards of 20 to 30 ghouls within the building. Otherwise, this is the closest location you can run to straight from Vault 76; more or less a beeline heading south.

• Harpers Ferry

  North-east of the West-Tek Research Center, Harpers Ferry is in the heart of the Mire; and it's teeming full of the Scorched. Simply explore this area, and its sewer system The Burrows, and you'll be racking up tons of experience in no time.

• Monongah

  Straight east of Vault 76 nestled behind the Monongah Power Plant, Monongah is a small town overrun by Mole Miners. Mole Miners along with excellent XP, drop lots of junk materials; a good source of crafting supplies for your C.A.M.P along with weapon and armor maintenance. Just make sure to aim for their bodies as a lot of a Mole Miner's upper half, backpack, and hood don't have a hitbox; snipers beware!

Related: Fallout 76: Best Sniper Build

Best Perks For XP Gain

If you want to gain experience through perks, you're going to have to get friendly; as the only way to boost XP through the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system is through Charisma and group effects. But thankfully, you don't have to invest too much into charisma and neither levels to get the max benefit of Inspirational. Unlocked at level 2, this perk at rank 1 gives a +5% bonus XP to all sources as long as you're in a team. At Max Rank Level 3 it gives +15%, so you'd be able to get this perk fully leveled by the time you're level 4.

But now you may ask, how do you create or join a team to activate this effect? Simple, Fallout 76 has an intuitive Create or Join A Public Team option in your social tab in the upper right corner. You can join any open public team and benefit from the perk's effect as long as at least you and 1 other person are within the party. You both don't have to be within the same distance, location, or even event, as long as you're both in the same party then the perk should activate.

Best In-Game Events For XP

There are a handful of public events within the game that offer ridiculous amounts of XP that'll prompt a couple of level-ups if participated in. One specific event in particular, the Moonshine Jamboree(+50)has the absolute highest XP potential due to the hordes of enemies that spawn for its ten-minute duration. Located at the Sunday Brother's Cabin in the Mire, this public event can be accessed at any time once given by the game on the map in the World Activity tab. And if the event had just ended, wait a while and revisit the location to prompt the game to restart the event all over again.

The Moonshine Jamboree has you and a group of participating players defending moonshine stills as hordes of Gulpers, Ghouls, and other monsters of the Mire attack. You can easily earn up to 2 to 3 levels playing this event as a lower-level player (below level 30) simply absorbing up XP with the bit of damage you throw out at the tough enemies. If you're not level 50 and don't have a good build yet, then make sure to get to high ground; preferably the rooftop of the cabin to stay alive. Dying won't make you fail the event, but it will mean fewer tags made on enemies as you wait to rush back to the cabin and therefore less XP. At least you don't have to worry about these Ghouls reviving after shooting them dead.

Here are some other notable public events to keep an eye out for when they become available to participate in:

• Radiation Rumble

  The second-best source of XP, this Public Event has you defending a group of scavengers from hordes of Ghouls and the occasional Deathclaw in the Emmet Mountain Disposal Site.

• Heart Of The Swamp

  Attack a Strangler Heart in the depths of the Mire near the Crashed Plane as you defeat hordes of Mirelurks; a great source of XP. Watch out for the Vine-Infested Grafton Monster that spawns at the end of the public event as its final boss.

• Line In The Sand

  Defend Fort Defiance and its Sonic Generator from waves of Scorched Scorchbeasts. Easily defendable with its pre-equipped defense systems of laser turrets, this is a good source of XP.

• Guided Meditation

  Defend meditation spots in the Palace of the Winding Path from an onslaught of Ghouls. This event along with its sheer volume of enemies to defeat, rewards the player with a +5% XP boost on completion for an hour.

• The Path To Enlightenment

  A relatively easy event to complete especially as a new player, you defeat Radtoads and Fireflies for bioluminescent fluids to light up the Landview Lighthouse to summon the all-powerful Mothman; commune with him, and you'll be granted a +5% XP boost for an hour. This event's choice of enemies and their spawn rate aren't as good compared to the other Public Events, so only do it if you're not currently on any XP boosts to begin with.

Whether you're grinding Super Mutant kills at West-Tek or defeating the Vine-Infested Grafton Monster for the 10th time already in the pit of the Mire, the choice is yours to make on how you spend your time leveling up in the game. Just remember to take a breather here and there and get some bed rest... both in real life and in-game, as sleeping in a bed gives you a Well Rested status effect of a +5% XP boost for an hour; end-game content awaits, Vault Dweller.

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