Fallout 76 Lead Farming

Lead can be a little bit hard to come by in Fallout 76 unless players know where to look. Sure, the lonesome can of paint will net players a couple of lead, but those are few and far between. Luckily, there are a few spots in Fallout 76 that can get players a bunch of lead with very little effort.

But why go through the effort for all this lead? The answer, of course, is crafting. Lead is used to craft plenty of items. Players who have tried to craft ammo know how much of a necessity lead is. It’s time to get to farming, so read on for some tips.

Article updated on November 13, 2024, by Benjamin Joe: A lot has changed recently in Fallout 76. The new Skyline Valley region was added to the game, crafting legendary items has been completely overhauled, and more. With all these rolling changes, it feels like a good time to update this article and add some more details. One thing that the original piece didn’t include was the ability to trade with other players. There are lots of great online communities where players trade weapons, apparel, junk, and more. Players who have an abundance of a certain item are usually more than happy to trade, whether it’s for armor, weapons, apparel, Caps, or pretty much any in-game item.

Items That Contain Lead

There Are Lots Of Them

• Tag Items For Search To Make Finding Lead Easier.

There are lots of junk items in Fallout 76 that can be broken down for lead. While some items contain more lead than others, it’s work picking up everything that has lead in it. To make finding lead even easier, players can tag junk components in their Pip-Boy. By tagging lead, every time the player looks at a junk item that has lead inside, it will have a little magnifying glass symbol next to it.

As for the items that contain lead, the best ones can be seen in the table below:

Server Hop To Find Good Sales

• Players Will Occasionally Sell Lead At Their CAMPS

Vendor hopping is a great way to find bargains. While not all players will sell junk, those that do tend to sell it in large quantities. It’s possible to see what type of items a player is selling prior to traveling to their CAMP to gauge whether it’s worth paying the Caps to visit them. That said, if the player is able to team up with the owner of the CAMP they wish to travel to, then they can travel there for free.

The price will vary, but it’s possible to purchase lead from another player’s vendor for as little as 1 Cap per piece. Vendor hopping is great for those with an abundance of Caps. Also, while searching other players’ vendors for lead, it’s possible to find some bargains that are worth picking up.

Trade With Other Players

Look For Online Trading Forums

• There Are Lots Of Fallout Traders Who Are More Than Happy To Set Up A Sale

There are lots of online forums where players can set up trades. While the majority of them are great, it’s always important to be vigilant as there are scammers out there. Forums like Market76 on Reddit can be great for finding players to buy lead from. Players on here trade all sorts of in-game items. It is not uncommon to find players selling their excess junk on an online trading forum. This includes lead.

While there are scammers on these trading forums, there are also couriers who are always happy to help ensure that a trade goes smoothly.

Charleston Fire Department

An Easy Place To Farm Lead

• Head Through The Main Door
• Go Past The Reception And Through The Red Door At The Back Of The Room
• Turn Left And Go Through The Whole In The Wall
• There’s Lots Of Weights Scattered Around

Charleston Fire Department is one of the go-to places for getting lead, especially for lower-level players. It is located down in the Ash Heap, and any player who has played through the main story will remember this location.

There is a weight room inside the fire department that contains a ton of heavy weights. The room nearby is even home to a few convenient crafting tables, where players can scrap all the barbells and get the lead.

Lucky Hole Mine

Mine Ore To Craft Lead

• Iron Ore Deposits Located All Over The Place Inside The Mine

The Lucky Hole Mine is towards the bottom of the map, in between the Savage Divide and Cranberry Bog. While the enemies that usually spawn here aren’t difficult to kill, low-level players may want to proceed with caution.

Once inside the mine, lead ore veins can be found all over the place. Check the walls, floor, and ceiling to get as much ore as possible. To get extra ore, players should wear Excavator Power Armor, as it increases the amount of ore that can be mined from a single deposit. But even without wearing a full set of Excavator Power Armor, Lucky Hole Mine is a very lucrative place to farm lead.

Pleasant Valley Resort

It Does Have Some Lead, But It’s Not The Best Location

• 3 Stacks Of Can Chimes In The Entrance
• There Are More Stacks In The Doorway Of The Main Building
• Follow The Road On The Right To Find More Chimes And Various Weights

Players can hit up Pleasant Valley Resort to fill their lead needs in the weight room. A trip here will help players get a fair amount of lead, plus a few extra materials.

This location is next to the Top of the World. On the map, players just need to head to where the large dome is. The Pleasant Valley Resort is nearby. Be careful about the large number of Scorched that appear here. They can be a bit of a handful at times if a player is not prepared to take them on. This is particularly true for low-level players. However, provided the player brings enough bullets and takes things slowly, they shouldn’t get overrun by Scorched.

Vault-Tec University

An Easy Gym To Loot

• Head Through The Main Doors
• Take The First Right
• Follow The Corridor
• Take The First Left
• There’s A Gym With Several Weights

Vault-Tec University is located in Morgantown. Players come to Morgantown pretty early on in the main questline, so odds are they will have it available for fast travel. Inside the university, among plenty of lootable items, is a weight room where players can pick up some barbells.

These will give players plenty of lead, but it isn’t the most plentiful area. It is important to always head to multiple locations to get the most lead possible. Outside of the weight room, players may find some other random loot items that contain lead hidden inside various containers.

Green County Lodge

Perfect For Low-Level Players

• Head Down The Small Alley on The Right
• Take The First Door on The Left
• There Are Weights Scattered Throughout The Room

The Green County Lodge is one of the first areas players will come across on their journey across the wasteland. Located South of Vault 76, players will first pass by here on their way to Flatwoods.

Take a stop by the lodge to find a weight room that has a fair amount of weights and barbells for players to pick up and scrap. There are also multiple paint cans around Flatwoods to get a little extra lead. For convenience, Flatwoods also has plenty of crafting tables to scrap all of this junk.

This is the perfect place for players who are fresh out of the vault as there are very few enemies in this area. While the player may not need a lot of lead early on, it’s definitely worth picking some up for use a little further down the line.

Fort Defiance

A High-Level Area For Looting

• The Lead In This Building Is Dotted All Over The Place In The Form Of Wooden Letter Blocks And Rat Poison
• The Building Spans Multiple Floors And Contains Lots Of Junk Items For Players To loot

Fort Defiance is a long way away from where players start their journey across the wasteland. It is located down south on the map at an asylum that was once used by the Brotherhood of Steel. This isn’t the best place for farming lead. It is usually the place to go for farming Ballistic Fiber scrap, but there is some lead lying around the place.

Players can find wooden letterblocks dotted around the interior. Oddly enough, each of these blocks will give players a little bit of lead. There are also plenty of Ghouls for experience and tons of buckets to scrap for steel. Keep an eye out for rat poison as well, since this box of chemicals will also give players some extra lead.

Eastern Regional Penitentiary

A Fair Amount Of Lead And Lots Of Super Mutants

• Tin Chimes Hanging Up In Most Doorways
• Head Around The Back Of The Building
• There’s An Entrance To A Courtyard
• In The Courtyard, There Is A Gym Full Of Weights

The Eastern Regional Penitentiary is a popular place because of the event mission that spawns here, where players must stop a prison break. Outside of the event, this location has a weight area for players to farm to get that extra lead.

There are also lots of cans in the area to get some steel; this way, players can get all the ingredients needed to craft ammo. As an added bonus, this area is crawling with Super Mutants that can drop gunpowder and weapons. Scrap their weapons to get some extra steel.

Missile Silos

Great For High-Level Players

• Go Down The Lift
• Exit The Lift And Turn Right
• Go Straight Through The First Three Doors
• There’s A Gym Full Of Weights

There are three missile silos in Fallout 76; Site Alpha, Site Bravo, and Site Charlie. It doesn’t matter which missile silo the player goes to, as the interior of each one is identical. It’s important to note that the player will need to have completed the “I Am Become Death” quest to have access to the missile silos.

Inside each silo is a gym that can be looted. Missile silo gyms are well-stocked and typically have lots of weights that the player can take. Since there are three silos, players can loot them all on any given server. Then, by visiting Summersville and scrapping at least 250 books, it is possible to reset the server and farm the lead endlessly.

Occupy Some Workshops

Farm Lead Passively

• Build Lead Extractors At Certain Workshops To Passively Farm Lead

There are lots of workshops dotted around Appalachia. These can be taken over by the player and used to farm various resources. Each workshop has its own set of resources that it can generate. From silver to ammo, these workshops can help players stock up on all sorts of items.

There are a handful of workshops that allow players to place down lead extractors. As the name suggests, a lead extractor will extract lead from a deposit in the ground. The workshops that contain a lead deposit can be seen below:

• Lakeside Cabins
• Poseidon Energy Plant Yard
• Grafton Steel Yard
• Berkeley Springs West
• Dolly Sods Campground

C.A.M.P. Collectors

Send Out Robots To Collect Junk

• Unlocked Via The Atomic Shop Or Through Gold Bullion Vendors

There are lots of C.A.M.P. Collectors that players can buy and unlock. These can be placed at the player’s C.A.M.P. and they will collect various materials. It’s possible to program most collectors to search for certain items. Some collectors will specialize in bringing back things like Holiday Gifts and drinks while others will focus on gathering as much junk as possible.

While there isn’t a C.A.M.P. Collector that only collects lead, collectors who look for junk may also gather a few items that contain lead. C.A.M.P. Collectors like the Red Rocket Collectron Station do have a chance to bring back a few lead items. Since these collectors work without the need for the player’s help, they are great for collecting junk passively.

Robot Vendors

Buying Lead In Bulk

There are lots of robot vendors in Fallout 76. Most of them are spread around the map. But there’s a small concentration of vendors located inside the Whitespring Mall. While not all of them sell lead, some of the robots have a chance to have lead items in their inventory, either in the form of junk or in bulk.

While buying lead can be quite costly, it can be very handy if the player needs a few extra lead quickly. The vendors that typically sell lead are the ones that are tied to a faction like the Brotherhood Of Steel and The Responders.