As a typical third-person shooter, ammunition is essential for almost all Fallout 76 players. Except for melee combat, of course. So how do you get ammo? Here we round up the 5 best tips to have more ammo than you can use!
Buying From Vendors Or Scavenging
First, buying from NPCs and other players is the most obvious method. NPC vendors are located throughout Appalachia map, such as Crater, Foundation, and Whitespring Resort.
But I don’t recommend buying ammo from NPCs unless you have too many Fallout 76 Bottle Caps. Instead, you should look for player camps. You’ll know if there’s a vendor here by hovering over it on the map, and you should see “Ammunition” category. This means they are selling some ammo, often at a pretty cheap price.
But be aware that vendor ammo takes up storage space, and players will often discard ammo they don’t use. There is an unspoken agreement that duffle bags and other containers at train stations are the place to dump excess ammunition and other items. So, go there and check it out!
Another place to watch is after public events, especially those with a lot of enemies, such as Radiation Rumble, Moonshine Jamboree and Eviction Notice. Players receive so much gear that dumping ammo is common, especially heavy ammo like Mini Nukes and Missiles.
Unfortunately, these items disappear from the world after a while, so scavenging is not as reliable as the shop. But it’s free, so don’t forget to check the container every time you go to the train station. You might be pleasantly surprised by the great stuff you can find.
Kill Enemy
Another great way is to play. The game periodically supplies ammunition for the gun you use. Enemies that shoot tend to have ammo for their weapons, but melee enemies will usually drop ammo for your gun.
So if you use a gun with high damage and low fire rate, you’ll usually come out ahead in ammo as long as your accuracy is reasonably high. Shotguns and Rifles are great for this.
But generally speaking, any non-automatic weapon is easy to keep loaded. Certain enemy types tend to use specific weapons, so if you’re short on ammo, traveling to locations and events that spawn them is a good option.
To maximize the number of bullets you get, it’s best to use damage buffing perks. The idea is to have each bullet do as much damage as possible. This means you kill enemies with fewer bullets. In other words, you’re more likely to end up with more bullets than you started with.
Crafting
But assuming you’ve run out of ammo and scavenging doesn’t satisfy your ammo needs, another option is to craft it.
As you explore, you’ll find Gunpowder. If you have Tinker’s workbench, you can craft ammunition. If you haven’t unlocked the plans for the bench, the faction base has all the workbenches, and fast travel on them is free. I would recommend Artisan’s Corner in Whitespring Resort.
For most regular ammo, you need Gunpowder and Lead, but there are some exceptions, such as Shotgun Shells, which also require Plastic. Additionally, Explosive and Ultracite Ammo also require rare components, so they are generally not suitable for crafting.
Before deciding to rely on crafting, it’s best to consider the cost and material requirements of each type of ammunition. But you can keep yourself well stocked just by looting junk and crating ammo on Tinker’s workbench.
I need to remind you that Gunpowder also weighs quite a bit heavier than the ammo you can craft with it. So when you get some Gunpowder, use it as soon as possible or throw it away.
Combination Use Of Guns
I also need to mention that it’s a good idea to have multiple guns that use the same ammo. Gatling Gun and Minigun are an impressive combination. Minigun does more damage per second but consumes more ammo, while Gatling Gun does almost three times the damage per bullet and is more accurate, but fires more slowly.
If you use Gatling like you use Combat Rifle Sniper, it will allow you to kill most enemies with just a few bullets. To compensate for the slow shooting speed, you can also use the technique of holding down the fire button and clicking continuously. If you’re shooting in first-person, you can fire as quickly as you tap the aim button.
Another good combo is Sniper Rifle and Light Machine Gun. Snipe enemies in normal gameplay, but use LMG in intense situations. If you focus on using powerful weapons, a normal game should yield enough extra ammo that there won’t be a shortage.
Participate In Daily Ops & Expeditions
Assuming you’re still low on ammo, you can try this last option. I’ve already mentioned that melee enemies tend to provide ammo for the gun you used to kill them. But this applies to all enemies during Daily Ops and Pitt Expeditions. That is, every enemy will drop some ammo for the gun you’re holding after they die.
If you adopt the strategy of using a powerful gun, it’s entirely possible that each enemy will provide you with more ammo than you can use to kill them.
You simply bring an empty gun into Daily Ops and wait for teammates to kill enemies to get your first ammo. Don’t forget to upgrade Gauss Shotgun’s damage by using perks so that every Daily Ops will give us an extra 500 rounds of ammo. If you focus on doing these repeatedly, you’ll easily have thousands of rounds of ammo in no time.
But there’s a caveat. Both Daily Ops and Expeditions are intended for fairly high-level players, so they’re best done as part of a strong team. This means you’ll have to wait until the team is created, but later you’ll be able to solo them repeatedly to maximize the amount of ammo you get.
Outro
Basically, Fallout 76 is a game that offers multiple ways to earn ammo by playing the game. You can craft, scavenge, and even actively farm to get the ammo you need. In short, once you know what you’re doing, you’ll never run out of bullets!
