If you’ve recently returned to Fallout 76 or are trying it for the first time, you probably can’t wait to get your hands on some power armor, the hulking metal suits that protect you from the irradiated wasteland’s dangers. They’ve been a central part of each game in the franchise, and Fallout 76 is no different. They’re not so simple to find, however, and you have to reach a certain level before you can start to take advantage of them.
Power armor randomly spawns at dozens of locations across Fallout 76’s map. When you visit one of these spots you’ll find an assortment of different pieces—an arm here, a leg there—that you can assemble on a power armor chassis into your very own metallic suit of post-apocalyptic death. Or you might find that another player has already looted the location, forcing you to wait a while until the in-game timer restocks it, or try logging onto a different server where the armor hasn’t already been recently taken.
Here are the different types of power armor and their lowest level requirements:
- Raider set: spawns level 15 versions and above
- T-45 set: spawns level 25 versions and above
- T-51b set: spawns level 30 versions and above
- T-60 set: can spawn level 40 versions and above
Here are some of the easier locations around Vault 76 where these sets spawn (see the Fallout Wiki for a full list of verified spots):
Raider
- The Crosshair near the back
- WV Lumber Co. in a building on the east side
- Sunnytop Ski Lanes below the lobby
T-Series
- Point Pleasant on a roof in the northern edge of town
- Morgantown Trainyard inside one of the train cars
- Mama Dolce’s Food Processing in a boobytrapped warehouse to the southeast
Even if you aren’t at the level requirement, you can still wear the power armor chassis for a bit of added protection and strength. It’s also a good idea to start looting power cores early on, since they’re what fuels the armor, and you can find one in every power chassis you discover. The simplest way to get a full set of Raider or T-Series armor at the level you need is to pick an easy location like The Crosshair or the warehouse near Mama Dolce’s, loot it, and then server-jump to loot a fresh set. It’s boring and grindy but you’ll then be able to adventure from the safety of your suit uninterrupted.
There are also some specialty power suits that are only unlocked through particular quests:
- Excavator set: level 25 and above
- Ultracite set: level 50 and above
- X-01 set: level 50 and above
The second two are specialty suits for much later in the game, but the Excavator set can be unlocked at level 25 through a tedious but pretty straightforward sidequest called Miner Miracles.
- Interact with one of the Garrahan Mining posters around the map like the one at Camden Park near the Company Store
- Head to the Garrahan Mining Headquarters
- Choose “Memo: Excavator Queries” from the reception terminal
- Choose “Excavator Module Blueprints” from the R&D terminal
- Craft the power armor set by acquiring all of the materials needed
That last step is the hardest one, but Falloutbuilds has a very handy breakdown of all the resources required and where to find them. Your best bet is to claim a workshop where the resources can be harvested but others like glass, rubber, and steel are easily obtained by looting common objects and scrapping them. Black Titanium is one of the more exotic materials on the list but you can get it from killing Mole Miners in the Ash Heap.
If this sounds like a lot of work for players just starting out, that’s because it is. While you can rush and get a set of Raider power armor pretty early on (like I did), you’re really not meant to be messing around with these sets until the mid-to-late game. But if you see a higher-level player out on the road and are jealous of their suits, the above tips will get you started.
.
