In order to craft your very own robots in Automatron, you’ll need a lot of materials. Most are relatively easy to come by, such as Aluminum and Steel. Heck, there are plenty pieces of metal lying around everywhere in Fallout 4’s Boston Wasteland. However, there are some materials that are much rarer than others, and you’ll want to start stockpiling them if you intend on building your own personal, mechanical army.
Before we get into the rare materials that you’ll undoubtedly need, a quick tip is to mark materials you need for searching. This is done through the Pip-Boy. Simply hover over the junk that has the component you want and initiate Component View (L1 on PS4, LB on Xbox One, and C on PC). Once that’s done, select the component you need and activate Tag for Search (R1 on PS4, RB on Xbox One, and Q on PC). Now, whenever you find Junk out in the world, it will have a magnifying glass symbol next to it, informing you that it can be broken down into at least one of your desired materials.
That trick will help you in the long run, but so will knowing exactly what to keep an eye out for in the first place as you move throughout Fallout 4’s world. Here are the rare materials you’ll need and how you can find them. The number next to the junk lets you know how many of each material you’ll get:
Adhesive – Duct Tape is fairly common in the game, although it only provides one Adhesive. Another trick is to make a ton of Vegetable Starch which gives you five Adhesive. Thanks to the magic of farming and crafting, you can actually make a nice pile of the stuff.
- Duct Tape (1)
- Military-Grade Duct Tape (4)
- Pack of Duct Tape (4)
- Wonderglue (2)
- Sealed Wonderglue (4)
- Economy Wonderglue (5)
- Vegetable Starch (5)
Fiber Optics – If it has a scope, there’s a good chance it has Fiber Optics. Many smaller electronics have this material as well, so pick up anything that would have wires in it. Most sources give very little of this resource, though, so it will require a lot of scavenging. As you can see from the list below, these are much rarer than other materials, with most sources yielding only one. So make them count.
- Fiber-Optics (1)
- Biometric Scanner (1)
- Prototype Biometric Scanner (1)
- Microscope (1)
- High-Powered Microscope (1)
- Flight Data Recorder (2)
- Pip-Boy (2)
Nuclear Material – Nuclear material is commonly found in areas with a lot of irradiated enemies. It is very rare to find elsewhere, although not impossible. Bunkers and Vaults tend to have a few sources as well. If you see any mutants, kill them all.
- Nuclear Material (1)
- Alarm Clock (1)
- Wakemaster Alarm Clock (2)
- Blast Radius Board Game (1)
- Cauterizer (1)
- Distress Pulser (1)
- Inactive Distress Pulser (1)
- High-Powered Magnet (1)
- Ichor Sac (1)
- Recorder (1)
- Institute Recorder (1)
- Mini Nuke Beryllium Cap (1)
- Mini Nuke Hemisphere Core (1)
- Mini Nuke Detonator Shell (2)
- Pip-Boy (1)
- Sensor (1)
- Tri Tool (1)
- Biometric Scanner (2)
- Prototype Biometric Scanner (2)
- Radioactive Gland (2)
- Radscorpion Stinger (2)
- Sweeper (2)
- Fusion Pulse Charge (5)
- You can also obtain a random amount by killing certain radioactive enemies. Glowing animals, Ghouls, and Super Mutants may have some on them.
Circuitry – Circuitry can be found in most mechanical enemies (Synths, Turrets, Assaultrons, etc.), but you can find some laying around within factories and the like. Electronics found in homes are also quite useful, if not a bit heavy.
- Circuitry (1)
- Distress Pulser (1)
- Enhanced Targeting Card (2)
- Flight Data Recorder (1)
- FLL3 Turbopump Bearings (1)
- Fusion Pulse Charge (2)
- Hot Plate (2)
- Inactive Stress Pulser (1)
- Institute Recorder (1)
- Military-Grade Circuit Board (5)
- Poseidon Radar Transmitter (1)
- Radar Transmitter (1)
- Recorder (1)
- RFID Device (1)
- Sabotaged Turbopump Bearings (1)
- Sensor Module (5)
- Sweeper (2)
- Telephone (2)
The above materials are the rarest ones you’ll need. Everything else you’ll find naturally as you simply collect random things. Plastic, Steel, Oil, and other materials are very common so don’t stress too much over those. You will want to dump all your Junk back at one of your settlements every so often. Some of the items, especially those for Circuitry, tend to be very heavy.
More Fallout 4: Automatron
- How to Get the Tesla Rifle and Power Armor Pieces
- How to Get Robot Mods
- How to Get the Robot Workbench
- How to Start the DLC
- Tips and Tricks to Get You Started