Fallout 76: How to Get Fusion Cores & What They Do

How to Get Fusion Cores in Fallout 76

Fusion Cores are one of the most sought-after items in Fallout 76, just as they likely were when you were exploring the wasteland back in Fallout 4. To give you a helping hand in tracking down Fusion Cores and exactly why you’ll want to pick up every last one you can find, we’ve broken down how to get them free, fast, and easily in Fallout 76.

Why Fusion Cores Are Important

Fusion Cores are so sought after in Fallout 76 because they’ll power your Power Armor. Without one, you won’t gain any of the benefits of wearing your power armor. As such, they tend to fetch a rather high price at the vendors in the game, and other players will likely try and rip you off a little if you try and trade with them.

Fortunately, you’re not stuck with just having to pay over the odds for these handy items in Fallout 76. We’ve broken down three different ways you can get them for free in the game.

All the Ways to Get Fusion Cores for Free in Fallout 76

If you’re looking for a quick list of ways to get Fusion Cores for free in Fallout 76 without our more detailed explanation of each, you can check the list below.

• Searching Power Armor
• Looking out for certain machinery
• Poseidon Energy Plant Event

Searching Power Armor

The first of which is to simply track down one of the Power Armor locations in the game and check that it doesn’t already have a Fusion Core inside it. If it does, and you’re not interested in the Power Armor frame or armor, simply transfer it out of the frame and into your inventory.

Keep in mind that those you find within Power Armor or other machinery around the world (more on those in a second), might not be fully charged. You can check how much power is left in them by accessing your inventory, heading to the Items section, and looking at the ‘CND’ bar when you’ve got the Fusion Core selected. The more full it is, the more charge you’ve got left.

Look Out for These Yellow Panels on Machinery

Honestly, we’re not entirely sure what these machines are called, but if you ever see one of the yellow panels on one, go ahead and check it out. They won’t always contain a core, but more often than not from our experience, they do.

Just as we mentioned above, however, the charge on Fusion Cores found within machines like this will vary. We’ve never pulled one out that’s been pretty much empty, but if you want to get yourself an abundance of Fusion Cores that are nicely charged, check out our final point.

Poseidon Energy Plant Event & Fusion Core Generator

You may have noticed that Fallout 76 has a number of events going on pretty much all the time. They task you with doing all kinds of different things such as guiding an NPC to their destination, fighting off waves of creatures, quelling a protest, and in the case of Poseidon Energy Plant, repairing its many different parts.

Doing so will result in you being able to turn on the Poseidon Energy Plant itself. You’ll get some rewards for your hard work, but it’s more what completing this event powers up that’s of interest here.

Upon completing the event, you’ll want to head to the Poseidon Energy Plant Yard, located nearby. Here, you’ll need to be able to claim the workshop, and then you can unlock a miscellaneous quest that tasks you to ‘Power up the Fusion Core Processor at Poseidon Energy Plant Yard.’

Make sure you build up some defenses here, as the game will throw waves of enemies at you, and other players are likely going to want to claim this for themselves.

Follow the marker of this miscellaneous quest to seek out the actual Fusion Core generator itself. It requires 100 Power in order to actually work, but then generates a core every 10 minutes or so passively once it’s up and running. You don’t have to do anything else here, but you might want to stay in the vicinity unless your defenses really are sublime in order to make sure other players don’t try and claim it for themselves.

You can check out MixelPlx’s video above, should you want a video rundown of the Poseidon Energy Plant and the Fusion Core Processor itself.

That’s all you need to know to get Fusion Cores fast and easy in Fallout 76. For more tips, tricks, and guides to survive the West Virginia wasteland, be sure to check out our ever-expanding Fallout 76 guide wiki.