The Best Areas to Hit With a Nuke

Key Takeaways

• Completing Hide and Seek and Destroy missions rewards players with a Nuclear Keycard.
• The Nuclear Keycards can also be purchased from other players for convenience.
• Players can hunt Scorched military officers to earn nuclear launch codes.

Nukes are a powerful tool to use in Fallout 76. While they may create a large zone that will irradiate any player who is foolish enough to enter one without protection, they can also be used to change the map for the better. In fact, nuking the map is how some events in Fallout 76 are started.

Nuking an area isn’t as easy as it sounds. To get access to this dangerous technology, players need to work hard and fight for it. Yet it is always rewarding to see the countdown timer tick down until the mushroom cloud explodes in the distance.

Updated on December 3, 2024, by Benjamin Joe: As Fallout 76 continues to evolve, things tend not to stay the same for very long. With the most recent update, players saw weapon crafting change forever. Because of the constant and steady flow of changes that come to the game, articles constantly need to be updated to keep up with the latest information. One thing that did change in the game in early 2024 was the areas that are ‘nukable.’ Bethesda made some rather large changes to regions of the map that can be hit with a nuke. So, since this article is all about launching nukes, it feels only right to include this additional information.

Nuke Free Zones

Since the beginning, there have been protected zones that players can’t nuke. Primarily, this covers the areas where low-level players are most likely to hang out. Players aren’t able to launch a nuke over the area surrounding Vault 76. Also, a large chunk of the forest region is a nuke-free zone. While the very top of the forest region can be nuked and the lowest point can also be hit, most of the central areas within the forest are protected against nuclear attacks.

Recently, Bethesda announced that it is going to expand the protected zone so it covers Helvetia. Helvetia is where the Fasnacht event takes place. Once or twice a year, a limited-time event will take place in Fallout 76. It is one of the most highly anticipated events in the game as completing the event gives the player a small chance to receive a rare Fasnacht mask.

The event itself, while it is pretty straightforward, does have one issue that gets some players quite annoyed; AFK players. Players who don’t have the time to run through the Fastnacht event at the top of each hour may consider leaving their character in motion and collecting rewards passively. This has proven to be quite a divisive topic. Some players have no issue with those leaving their controllers and relying on others to complete the event. Others really don’t like seeing players who are AFK. As a show of defiance, it’s not uncommon for players to launch a nuke over Helvetia in an attempt to remove some of the players who aren’t actually playing.

While this tactic doesn’t typically work since players can still claim event rewards while dead, the large number of nukes being launched over the area has been putting other players off. To combat this, Bethesda wants to include Helvetia in its protective nuke-free zone.

How To Get A Nuclear Keycard

• Completing Hide And Seek And Destroy Missions Awards Players With A Nuclear Keycard
• Nuclear Keycards Can Also Be Purchased From Other Players

In order to launch a nuke, the player will need to get their hands on a nuclear keycard. These are fairly easy to get. Firstly, players will need to have completed the quest I am Become Death. This quest will take the player through their first nuclear launch. After that, they can launch nukes whenever they please.

The way that players obtain keycards is by heading to the Whitespring Bunker. Once inside, head to the military wing. At the top of the stairs, on the main deck, players can use the terminal to start a mission to get a nuclear keycard.

The mission is called Hide and Seek and Destroy. It’s a repeatable mission that requires the player to head out and take down the SAC Cargobot and take the keycard from its chest. Once the mission has been activated, the Cargobot will appear on the player’s map.

Keycards can also sometimes be purchased from player vendors. Also, nuclear keycards are often given out as rewards for progressing through the Season.

How To Get Nuclear Launch Codes

• Players Can Hunt Scorched Military Officers To Earn Codes
• The Codes Change Every Week
• The Easiest Way To Get Codes Is By Looking On Websites Like Fallout Builds

There are three missile silos in Fallout 76. Each one has a different set of codes required to launch a nuke. The codes will need to be put into the launch system after the player has inserted their keycard. These codes change once every week.

To get these codes, players will need to hunt down Scorched military officers. These are scattered all over the map. Players will know when one is nearby as they have an audio cue, and they have a big red light on their back.

When killed, Scorched officers drop one number for one silo. Each number needs to be placed in order and then entered into the terminal mentioned above in order to launch a nuke.

However, this is such a tedious grind. Most players just use websites like Fallout Builds to get the codes. It is much faster and quicker just to cheat a little bit than it is to spend hours hunting down military Scorched.

Once the player has obtained a nuclear keycard and has the nuclear launch codes ready, they can head to any of the missile silos and start the quest to launch a nuke. This quest will give players plenty of XP.

Morgantown And Morgantown Airport

Good For Getting XP

• A Decent Amount Of Scorched Enemies
• A Great Place To Nuke During Holiday Scorched And Spooky Scorched Events For Some Extra XP

Nukes cover quite a large area. So, if the player launches it in just the right place, it can hit Morgantown and Morgantown Airport. While these areas offer no public events, they can be very useful places for players looking to level up.

Enemies located inside a blast zone are harder to kill. They also give players more XP. Morgantown is full of ghouls. When nuked, a lot of the ghouls become Glowing Ones. These are hard to kill but fantastic for XP. If the player has a jetpack, simply hop onto the roof of a building and start firing on all the enemies down below.

As for the airport, it’s a large flat area. This is ideal for hunting down enemies, as there aren’t that many places where enemies can hide. So, the player can just pick off enemies one by one.

Whitespring Resort

Not As Good As It Used To Be

• A Reasonably Amount Of Ghouls (Not As Many As They Used To Be)
• A Great Place For Spotting Glowing Flora

The Whitespring Resort was one of the go-to places when it came to launching a nuke. This was because it spawned endless waves of Glowing Ghouls when hit with a nuke. Unfortunately, there was an update a while back that dramatically decreased the amount of enemies that spawn in the Whitespring area when nuked.

It can still be a good place to nuke as there are still a reasonable amount of enemies around the area. But it isn’t as good as it used to be. Also, lots of players tend to build their CAMPS in this area. So, players who enjoy blowing up other players’ bases may get a kick out of nuking this area.

Fissure Site Prime

The Original Endgame Boss

• The Location Of The Scorchbeast Queen
• Great For Farming XP, Loot, Legendary Items, And Repair Kits

As part of the main questline for Fallout 76, players will be tasked with launching a nuke. The optional objective for that mission is to hit Fissure Site Prime with the nuke. Doing this will start an event mission and spawn the Scorchbeast Queen.

The Scorched Earth event is very popular as it gives great rewards. So, most players on the server will join in and help take down the Scorchbeast Queen. This 3-star legendary enemy is powerful, so it’s important to bring plenty of ammo.

To help make this event easier, players should launch the nuke so that it covers the Fissure Site Prime but doesn’t hit Drop Site V9. Standing on top of Drop Site V9 is a great place to shoot from as it offers a small amount of protection from some of the enemies on the ground.

Monongah Mine

Take Down Earle Williams

• Home To Earle Williams
• A Great Place To Farm Screws, XP, And Wendigos

During one of the updates that Fallout 76 received, Bethesda added a new quest involving Earle and Maggie Williams. Players can grab a quest called Something Sentimental from Maggie in Foundation. This quest involves cracking Monongah Mine open with a nuke to discover what happened to her husband, Earle.

Players who do this will initiate an event mission called A Colossal Problem. It turns out Earle was transformed into a colossal Wendigo, and now players need to take him out. This event mission offers players a ton of experience thanks to the countless waves of irradiated Wendigos that spawn inside the mine. Earle is also worth a large chunk of experience and always drops legendary gear.

Nuka World On Tour

Take Down The Titan

• Home To The Ultracite Titan
• Lots Of Mole Miner Loot

Nuka World On Tour was brought into the game in December 2022. This area is a Nuka World-themed traveling carnival. Players can play games, win prizes, and complete various events in this area.

The best event to complete is called Seismic Activity. To start this public event, the player will need to launch a nuke over Abandoned Mine Shaft 2. While there is a questline to the Nuka World On Tour update, it doesn’t need to be completed for players to activate this event.

Once the nuke has been launched, the event Seismic Activity will begin right next to Nuka World On Tour. In this event, the player will need to take down the Ultracite Titan. This enormous enemy spawns in endless waves of Mole Miners and Molerat, so players need to be well-armed.

There are some fun rewards for completing this event, this includes a couple of unique legendary weapons. Players have the chance to get either the Grand Finale or the Molerat Bat upon completing this event. While they aren’t the best weapons around, they can be quite fun to play with.

Skyview Valley

Fallout’s Latest Update

• The Location Of The Storm Goliaths
• There’s A Chance To Receive A Unique Named Weapon Upon Completing The Event

It’s important to note that this event won’t be live in the game until sometime in June. But there are currently previews available along with lots of players testing it out on the public test server.

In Fallout 76’s newest update, players can launch nuclear bombs to start a brand new public event. To start the event, the player will need to launch a nuke over the Weather Station.

The event is called Neurological Warfare. To complete this, players will need to take down three Storm Goliaths. These are the latest enemy bosses that have been added to the game. They get stronger as the event goes on, so it’s important to be prepared for a fairly tough fight.

While it is a tough event, it isn’t the hardest boss battle in the game. That title goes to Earle Williams. But it’s a nice new event that players can enjoy.