Bethesda released the beta version of Survival Mode for Fallout 76, and it came with a number of updates regarding playstyle, challenge, and rewards. The tips and tricks in this article will help your overall survival in Fallout 76, no matter which mode you're playing on, but if you're looking for better advantages when you're playing against actual people, you'll need to put in a bit more effort than just resetting your perk cards.
War? War never changes.
Fallout 76 is the first multiplayer-online game for the Fallout series. Take on the beautiful, but infected, land of Appalachia West Virginia to see if you can find your Overseer and figure out what happened to Vault 76. Team up with other players to figure it out together or become a raider by killing them instead.
There's been a decent amount of heat on Bethesda for server errors, glitches, broken zones, and so much more. During this time I was one of the players who uninstalled the game because of those reasons, and I haven't touched it since. Then the beta version of Survival Mode released and plenty of players picked up their controllers to test it out. Surprisingly enough, the reviews weren't as bad as I thought they'd be.
So, for the first time in over two months, I booted up Fallout 76 because I wanted to test out the new Survival Mode Beta.
Last time I played I was being kicked from the server approximately five times an hour, dealing with a severe lag (despite playing on a PlayStation Pro or PC with a damn good internet connection) and general boredom from running out of things to do. I was not very hopeful, to say the least.
But the Survival Mode of Fallout 76 was so incredibly fun I played for over three hours and only forced myself to turn off the game because I had to go to bed. There was still a slight lag on occasion, but nothing bad enough that I wanted to quit the game— and I didn't even get kicked from the server once. I knew I was going to have a good time within the first five minutes of loading into a server when I got no less than six notifications about player kills.
If you've been waiting for that edge to get back into F76, or haven't stopped playing it yet, here's everything you need to know about how the beta server works and all the tips and tricks for survival!
How does the Fallout 76 Survival Mode Beta work?
Since survival mode is in beta, there is a good chance these rules may change over the course of the testing period. If they do we'll be sure to update you here, so make sure you check in on occasion for updates!
Other players may be attacked without restriction
You have no power here. There is no way to turn on a pacifist mode to avoid PVP.
Hunter/Hunted mode still exists in your Pip-Boy to use for targets. If you are between the levels of one and five, you still won't be able to PVP and will still be protected from others attempting to kill you.
On death and fast travel, you must respawn at train stations, friendly CAMPs, or Vault 76
You can still see all of the markings on the map, but most of them are greyed out for this mode. The only markers that remain yellow and have the ability for you to fast travel to are train stations, your CAMP, a team member's CAMP, or Vault 76. It still costs caps to travel to train stations, but traveling to CAMPs and Vault 76 are still free.
Drop all junk and some aid items on death
When you die you'll drop all your junk and some of your items from the "Aid" tab of your Pip-Boy. Before I died, I had 10-20 of each of those aid items, sans the Halloween Candy where I had roughly 150. Each death I took would drop a percentage of those items, which was immediately picked up by another player if they were the cause of my death.
Only "Wanted" players and the Top 3 are visible on the map
On the Adventure Mode for Fallout 76, you could see where everyone who was on the same server as you was. For Survival Mode you'll only be able to see "Wanted" players and the top three on the current leaderboard. Scores are determined by the longest life, XP gained, events completed, enemies killed, bounties collected, the time you spent "Wanted," and how many Workshop's you've claimed. Scores follow you even if you change servers, but will reset when you die or at the beginning of a new week, whichever happens first.
You can view the leaderboard from the map screen. Your rank will always be displayed under the top three ranked players on the top left of the screen. If you want to view the full leaderboard and view the top 10 players you can do so by opening the main menu from the map screen.
All XP gained increased by 20%
All the ways you could each XP now grant you an extra 20%. When you start a new character, you can level faster by completing tasks in Survival mode. Not only that, but Survival mode in itself creates a more challenging environment since everyone is the enemy. If you're looking for a new edge or a higher difficulty, here's your shot. You get the challenge you want and better rewards to boot.
Tips and tricks to get the highest score in Fallout 76 Survival Mode
There are plenty of ways to make sure you have the best advantage when it comes to gaming. In Fallout 76 there are hundreds of weapons, armor, drinks, meals, buffs, and more to boost the stats of your character. Here are some of the best options I found that work great for me. Give it a try for yourself and tell me what you find works better!
You should reorganize your perks when entering a heavy PVP area and change them depending on whether you're solo or in a team.
Take advantage of mutations and serums
When you take a lot of rad damage, you run the risk of gaining a mutation. Some mutations are terrible, while others are way more beneficial than they are detrimental. There are ten mutations I found to be the best ones for general survival and PVP. Those are Adrenal Reaction, Carnivore, Chameleon, Electrically Charged, Grounded, Healing Factor, Marsupial, Scaly Skin, Speed Demon, and Unstable Isotope. You can see what each of those mutations does in the screenshot I've provided above.
Important Note: Using RadAway will remove all of your mutations from the Stat tab of your Pip-Boy. Wait to start collecting mutations until you have level two of the Starched Genes perk. Level two of the perk will prevent you from gaining mutations through rads, but will prevent you from being able to remove mutations with RadAway.
So how do you get mutations if I can't gain them from radiation? Serums. Go to the Whitespring Bunker, in the Science Wing Terminal, and speak to MODUS. You can either buy the serums directly from him or buy the recipes to make them yourself. Unless you're at a level where you can harvest Pure Flux from Blast Zones you're better off buying the serums directly. (Pure Flux is harvested from flowers in a Blast Zone that has mutated due to radiation levels.)
Figure out what type of playstyle you want to use and plan your gear accordingly.
If you plan on running head first into other players and shooting them in the face, you might want to go with a set of power armor and your best melee weapon. Not a fan of melee, but still wanna wreck face? Grab a shotgun. Everyone likes a shotgun to the face.
If you plan on going to more of a stealth attack, ditch the power armor and put on your best set of light armor. For weapons, I recommend grenades and sniper rifles. Toss a grenade to throw them off or lore them out of their hiding spot and then lodge a bullet in their head.
Find all of the best buffers and use them
Always keep a bottle of Whiskey on hand for a little bit of liquid courage. Well, that and the +2 Strength and -1 Intelligence bonus. There are also foods, like the Deathclaw steak, that grant you another +2 bonus for Strength. If you don't have Whiskey or a handful of dead Deathclaws laying around you can always resort to wine, beers, or making soup out of the produce grown at your CAMP.
Meals like Firecap Soup (made from a plant that grows only in the wild) grant you an Energy Resist buffer. Glowing Fungus Soup (made from a plant that also only grows in the wild) grants you a Radiation Resist. Both of these soups are incredibly easy to make because you can find the ingredients everywhere. All it takes is one type of the plant, one boiled water, and one piece of wood. Most players who are using modified guns are shooting with radiation or energy rounds, so it's not a bad buff to keep on you for so little effort!
Find a team and wreak havoc
This one speaks for itself. Grab some of your friends, throw on your headsets, and get to work. The wastelands are significantly more dangerous when it's a pack of people hunting together. Designate your tanks, DPS, assassins, distractions, and healers. Divide the gear, conquer the wastelands.
What are your favorite ways to get an advantage?
How do you go about getting the upper hand when you're playing against other players? Have you discovered a surefire way of making sure you're on the top of the leaderboards? Tell us in the comment section below, or shoot me a Tweet and tell me all about it! Go out there and survive, wastelanders! Collect some heads while you're at it, won't you?
