What in the wild wasteland is going on?!
The Bombs May Have Fallen, but the Party Rages On
Okay, real talk for a minute: when I first started playing Fallout 76, the idea of an ‘event’ was confusing to me. In other MMOs, ‘events’ are a special or seasonal thing that comes up every few months. In 76, events happen at least every twenty minutes on the hour… with special ones that occur every month and even more than happen at random times just because.Events are one of the primary sources for plans, experience, gear, legendary items, scrip - you name it, Events have them. However, not all events are created equal. They come in four different shapes and sizes and this list will give you ten great ones to do.
Let me do my best to explain the difference before you start looking at the map. Even though this list is a Top 10, you’ll want to do every event you see in the world at least once if not more often. There are some events that include specific rewards that I didn’t list (Back on the Beat, for example, drops the plans for the Automatic Handmade) that are still worth doing - even if just a couple of times.(Really quick: if an event has a very special reward, just mouse over it and the game will tell you. An example for this is Project Paradise, which will list “Recipe: Formula P” as a reward.)
One last thing: all events are multiplayer. Some can be solo’d very easily (most of the ‘Regular’ events below) at nearly any level, but unless you’re playing on a private server, you may have someone jump in with you. Sometimes it’s helpful, other times it’s annoying.Seasonal Events
- I’ll cover these in more detail below but Bethesda unleashes several major events that supersede other ‘normal’ events every few months. These include the Spooky Scorched, the Holiday Scorched, Faschnat, Alien Invasion, and Meat Week.
- These events are only active once or twice a year for a couple of weeks at a time.
- They all have their own unique rewards that can only be gotten at those specific events.
- You’ll see plenty of people talking about them and they’ll have a notice up on the main login page when they get ready to start. Bethesda also keeps an online ‘Community Calendar’ that will give you a heads up about them when they come around.
- When these become active on the world map, you’ll see them as a simple yellowish-beige hexagon.
- They’re generally not difficult and most can be solo’d
- They spawn randomly on the world map, though a few can be triggered by player action.
- A few of these events will be marked as 'Enclave' events, which you'll need to do to progress the main questline.
- These events spawn every 20 minutes and are detonated with a ! mark inside a beige hexagon.
- Difficulty level varies, but these events are the ones where you’re going to be rewarded special weapons, loot, and important plans.
- The spawn order is random, so you may have to wait a few play sessions before you see an event you may have a personal preference for.
- These events can award you with Legendary Script, Legendary Cores, and Treasury Notes (which can be exchanged for Gold Bullion at Gold Press Machines located in Foundation, The Crater, and Vault 79).
- There are four additional public events that can be triggered by player action (as of January 15th, 2024).
- These events normally spawn every other week with one week on, one week off.
- These will always take place at the top of the hour.
- Mutated Public events cause the monsters and hostile forces in them to take on a random mutation like you’d see in the Daily Ops.
- As a bonus, you can get ‘mutated party packs’ as a reward which include random, rare, and hard to find plans - plus legendary weapons and or armor.
- These events GET POSTPONED (as of January 15th, 2024) and don’t occur per normal whenever there is a major seasonal event like Meat Week, Alien Invasion, the Mothman Equinox, or Faschnat.
The seasonal events are always worth visiting at least once or twice. The mutated public events (which are just souped-up versions of the public events you’ll learn to know and love/loathe) are bonuses with extra rewards on top of the existing reward structures. But on the whole? There are a lot of events in 76 worth mentioning - so much that this top 10 is almost a top 15.
So, let’s crack that Vault and see what hides inside.
10. “Horde” Events
An Angler Horde. One big bad and a host of minions. Blast them all for a fast reward - once you find them.
‘Horde’ events can happen almost anywhere in the wasteland, and they are by far one of the fastest events you can clear through for a legendary reward. When a ‘horde’ event spawns, a 3-Star Legendary monster will appear along with a host of matching monster types (an Angler horde will always be Anglers, a Super Mutant horde will always be Super Mutants, and so on). The event will either land you at the bad guy’s direct location, or it’ll tell you to travel to up to four more spots looking for it.Find the boss and kill it. Loot the corpse and take whatever legendary item it was holding.
Why we love it:- Super short events. Can usually be done in under 5 minutes. If it lands you where the bad guy is, you can have it done in under 30 seconds with the right weapon.
- You’ll have to go find the boss monster. Some times, you’ll land on it; other times, you’ll have up to four locations to find them in on your map. You’ll be able to ‘see’ if they’re there before it updates most times, but to get the ‘not here’ message, head towards the middle of the circle on your map.
- With the December 2023 patch, 3 star legendary monsters are always guaranteed to drop 3 star legendary items.
- Can be incredibly useful if you’re hunting for monsters of a certain type.
9. Distant Thunder
Honestly, I just like it. You can argue that there are more deserving events than this one but as an event that can give you Scorched, Holiday Scorched, and a chance to make big bombs drop? Yeah I’m down. Sometimes the Rule of Cool overrides the Rule of Loot.
Distant Thunder is on my list because it’s fun and because during Holiday Scorched events (either Christmas or Spooky), the gift-dropping Scorched can spawn at these, too. Like Horde events, it’s quick, easy, and you can nab some goodies. It doesn’t always give you a legendary reward, but there’s a lot to be said for events where you can just bring out a Mini Nuke and call it a day.Why we love it:
- Incredibly quick. You can either take the long method and use a weapon equipped with a recon scope and tag enough of the Scorched for a massive aerial bombardment, or you can roll in with a weapon of your choice and murder them all.
- Rewards are hit or miss, but it’s so fast that mostly you’re doing it for solo experience or “kill X monsters” purposes.
- Depending on where the event is, you may end up seeing the Scorched fight other local hostiles - like Super Mutants or Radscorpions - for even more fun.
8. Heart of the Swamp
I like my house plants to be related to the Predator, thank you very much.
This is a Public event, so you’re guaranteed a legendary reward, script, and a legendary core. You may also get a random plan for your efforts. Critically, it doesn’t take a lot of time though the final encounter can be a little difficult.- Why we love it:
- It’s a lower-tier fight, but it is a fight. If you need to kill ghouls or mirelurks, this is where you want to be (mirelurks specifically).
- You get at least one legendary reward from the event itself, and occasionally other legendary creatures will spawn as the battle goes on.
- This one can be a Mutated Event, which grants even more bonuses.
- If you have a melee weapon (and nobody else shows up to draw agro…) you can solo the event easily by standing in the same exact spot for everything but the final fight (either a Strangler Queen or the Grafton Monster).
- Tip: wear power armor! The Mire is a disease-ridden place, and there aren’t a lot of ‘dry’ spots to stand on. Power Armor negates any chance you’ll catch parasites from the water.
7. Encryptid
Such a simple thing for such a sick questline. The audio tapes alone…
This is one of the four major boss fights in 76 as of January 16, 2024. You get four big rewards from this: you can finish a Side Quest, you can earn the usual Public Event rewards, you have a chance at getting extra legendary items when swarms of robots spawn, and swarms of robots spawn - perfect for any “kill a legendary creature” or “kill X robot” daily challenges you have.As a major bonus from this one, you can spawn it any time you like (with around a 3hr cooldown period on any given server). That alone makes it incredibly useful. Since it consumes caps, it’s a decent sink to burn any excess you may have earned.
Why we love it:- Once you have the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing side quest complete, you’ll be able to buy a “Recall Keycard Circuit Board” from any of the train station NPC vendors for around 2,000 caps. Craft it at a Tinkerer’s station, and you can start this event (though the card is consumed each use).
- Need to kill robots or a legendary creature? This event will count for both.
- Downside? The Imposter hits for a ton of bricks, and you may get killed a few times. Generally, death isn’t a big issue in FO76, but it does get old fast when she decides that you’ve earned the focus for her ire (and that focused plasma blast).
- There’s a safe in the water around the Pylon Ambush site where you spawn this mechanical beast if you need to pick a lock, too.
6. The Path to Enlightenment / Guided Meditation
One of two friendly Mothmen in the game.
I’m hit and miss on Guided Meditation. I love it because it can be a great source of exp and legendary items. I don’t like it because a lot of people don’t understand how it works or they like to just use nukes or other high-volume weapons to take the fun away from other people. Sometimes, I’m one of them; if someone starts going after it with nukes or moves into an area I’m covering with ‘kill’ intent rather than ‘tag’ intent, out comes the Nuka Launcher.When people play nice, it’s a great source of scrap, ammo, and experience. The issue is getting people to play nice. Since 76 is a MMO… On the other hand, the Path to Enlightenment doesn’t have any of those issues. It’s low level and as easy as easy can be.
Why are they on this list, and even more importantly, listed together? It's because of a passive reward you get - an exp boost for completing the objectives that sticks on your character for a bit.
Why we love them:- As far as GM goes, You can get a slew of legendary items and ghoul kills (and mounds of exp and junk to scrap) if you pick a spot, stay there, and focus on tagging - NOT KILLING - the hordes of ghouls as they spawn.
- Path to Enlightenment is designed for lower-level players. There’s no challenge, but there are radtoads, so it has that going for it.
- Completing both of these events rewards you with an exp bonus that lasts for a decent amount of time.
- Pick an objective and defend it. Don’t leave that objective. This is a defense fight.
- If one or two people are already camping one objective, move to a different one. Ghouls die fast, and you’ll have a hard time getting exp/loot if there’s more than one or two people.
- Guided Meditation can be a Mutated Public Event for even more bonuses.
5. Seismic Activity / A Colossal Problem
Target this with your nuke - and don’t miss.
Boss Fight! These two events are tied because honestly, they’re roughly the same difficulty. Both take nukes to start (with Colossal starting if you aim at the Monongah Mine, and Seismic starting if you aim for roughly Abandoned Mine Shaft 12) and both spawn a bullet-sponge bad guy with a slew of minions. As a result, both of these are pretty good exp farms and you can get all kinds of rewards from both.
Why we love them:
- You’ll either get the Mole Rat Bat or the Grand Finale weapons from defeating Seismic, plus a chance at a bunch of rare C.A.M.P. plans, including the Titan Plushie.
- Colossal will reward you with C.A.M.P. plans too, not the least of which would be the delightful Wendigo Colossus Plush and a plan for a rare grenade or mine (the explosive kind of mine).
- Swarms of Mole Miners will join the Titan, while tons of Wendigos all carrying Fiberglass Spools will try to help out Earle, the Colossus.
- Wear power armor if you go after Earle. Once the event is over, you'll be ejected to the outside of his mine - and smack dab in the middle of a nuke zone where the radiation will almost instantly kill you if you aren't prepared.
4. Scorched Earth
Hit Fissure Site Prime more or less dead on and you can open up a world of flux and high-radiation fluids. There’s usually monster swarms in the Glade to the south west and bloated ghouls at the BoS base to the south east.
This one had to make the list but it was a fight to pick between #3 and #4. The fourth boss fight of 76 (as of January 2024), the Scorchbeast Queen is the end-boss of the main storyline quest and the source of all of the Scorched in the world. You have to drop a nuke near Fissure Site Prime to get her to pop up, but when she does…What we love:
- Need to kill Scorched? Look no further.
- When the SBQ is grounded, waves of Scorched of every shape and size will spawn. It’s a great time to grab random/rare meat and the materials to make stable flux
- The SBQ drops the ultracite power armor plans. If you’re lower level, you’ll want to stock up on these.
- Spawning the queen also gives you a great chance at nabbing a bunch of Holiday-style scorched and their gifts.
- This is an exp farm, through and through.
- As an added bonus, once she goes down, the Cranberry Bog is full of flux materials for all of your fusion core and ultracite ammo needs!
- Once she drops, another Scorchbeast will crawl out of Fissure Site Prime. Kill it for good measure.
- If you have an anti-Scorch weapon (such as Zealots or a weapon with a Prime receiver), this is the place to use it.
3. Most Wanted / Beasts of Burden
Other Fallout 76 vets may argue with me here - but as a new player, you can get two of the best weapons in the game as of January 2024 between these two events.
If you’re familiar with 76, it may surprise you to see these two events on this list - let alone this far up. I’ve got a good reason for it, so bear with me. Or yao guai with me, I suppose.Most Wanted takes place in the Ash Heap, right next to Nuka-World. It’s a very low-risk event that generally wraps in about five minutes or less. You get to go rob cardboard cutouts and shoot at top-hat-wearing Protectrons until a Sentrybot appears with the loot.
Beasts of Burden is a little more complicated but… not much. In an absurd (even for Fallout) mad dash, you have to collect piles of C4 to put on secured doors to blow them open and save some cargo. By secured doors, I mean rotted pieces of wood that wouldn’t stand up to a sneeze, let alone angry silly-putty.Why we love them:
- The rewards! Most Wanted can drop the Western Spirit, one of the best non-automatic rifles in the game. Add on a Prime Receiver and you have a rifle that will make short work of almost any scorched you can run across in your day-to-day adventuring.
- By the same token, Beasts of Burden drops what I consider to be the best Heavy Weapon (and one of, if not the best, all-around weapons) currently in the game - the Holy Fire flamethrower.
- The rest of the rewards include C.A.M.P. plans and assorted Public Event drops.
- You can get extra Legendaries from the named bosses that conclude both fights.
- Once you have the Holy Fire, you don't 'need' to do BoB again, and Most Wanted's other rewards are fairly tame.
2. Eviction Notice/Project Paradise
While Project Paradise doesn’t get the love it deserves, with Eviction Notice - RUN HERE AND DEFEND IT ONCE YOU ZONE IN. You get very little time between when the event spawns and automatically fails if you don’t!
Sometimes, you just want experience. Other times, you want crafting supplies. Or maybe you want legendary items to sell as script. Both of these events can be difficult; Notice in particular can fail quickly if you aren’t paying attention, and you’ll probably take a beating. That said, you can also earn a plethora of experience if you play your cards right.Why we love them:
- I genuinely believe (I don’t have hard data for it) that Eviction Notice has the highest drop rate of legendary items of any event in the game (tied with Radiation Rumble, if you’re lucky). Project Paradise routinely spawns extra Legendary enemies throughout the event, too.
- If you pick a good spot and stay on it (I prefer a small ledge near the rad scrubber) you can freely tag almost every Super Mutant that spawns while EN is going on.
- Paradise requires you to move around a bit more as you either gather food or try to protect your creatures from getting killed, but since most (not all) of the bad guys are animals like Yao Guai, Honey Beasts, Snallygasters, or other higher-level targets, the exp can flow here, too.
- Project Paradise is the only place to learn the Stimpack Diffuser plan, used for one of the global challenges.
- Eviction Notice drops Foundation’s Vengeance, a really good Minigun with a built-in explosive damage effect.
- Be warned: the final boss of Project Paradise is usually a bullet sponge, and if it’s the Grafton Monster, you may be in for a world of pain. With Eviction, all of the Super Mutants are buffed up and can take a lot of punishment before they go down (the Firestarters especially).
1. Radiation Rumble
It’s a massive exp farm where you can unleash a storm of pain - if you can survive the Glowing (and technically literally accurate) Undead.
My favorite event in Fallout 76 and one with an annoying bug at the same time. Radiation Rumble does not (thankfully?) spawn as a Mutated Public Event. However, much like Eviction Notice, Project Paradise, and Guided Meditation, it is an exp farm.Couple of notes on this beyond the reasons why we love it: RR needs you to play the objective. At least one person (ideally in PA or a Hazmat Suit) needs to run into each tunnel and collect irradiated ore from each tunnel. It takes roughly 30pcs to get to reward level 3, and another 15-ish pieces to get to reward level 4.
Every time you reach a new reward level, additional monsters will spawn - crickets, snallygasters, deathclaws, or floaters. Sometimes these guys get stuck fighting the ghouls in the tunnel, and won’t budge until they’re dead.
Lastly? If you don’t need to be in the tunnels, don’t be. Sometimes it forces ghouls to spawn in the side rooms, where they can attack the scavengers you need to keep alive without you being the wiser. Once they’re dead, they’re dead.
Why we love it:
- If you have a weapon that tags creatures rather than killing them outright (like a Tesla Rifle), you can get a lot of experience very fast.
- A slew of Legendary enemies will spawn as this event rolls through, and they’re all in a concentrated area so you should be able to get a lot of extra script just by virtue of being there.
- Glowing ghouls drop glowing blood, which makes for great vendor-junk to sell.
- Speaking of junk, they carry tons of it. Be ready to scrap a lot of stuff, including pre-war cash!
- If you have a flaming weapon and the Friendly Fire perk, you can heal the four scavengers between attacks.
- Please don’t use high-yield weapons at this event like nuke mines, nuke launchers, or the like. It makes it incredibly hard for other players to enjoy this one.
Got your calendars out? Scheduled all of your annual wasteland beatdowns? Before you get welcomed to the party, pal, check out some of my other Fallout 76 guides on GamersDecide!
[Top 10] Fallout 76 Best Weapons in the Game
[Top 5] Fallout 76 Best Builds in the Game with Legendary Effects
