Fallout 76 Hacking Skill: How to Increase Hacking Skill

How to Increase Hacking Skill & Hack Level 2 & 3 Terminals in Fallout 76

Hacking has long been a part of Bethesda’s Fallout series., and it returns once again in Fallout 76. Players will need to increase their hacking skill should they want to be able to gain access to their treasures. Here’s how to increase hacking skill in Fallout 76.

Terminal Security Levels & How to Get Hacking Level 1

First things first, it’s important to quickly run you through the terminal security levels in Fallout 76. While it’s possible to come across terminals that require no hacking skill level whatsoever, most of them will be leveled from 1 to 3.

This corresponds to the hacking level you’ll need to be in order to even begin the hacking minigame.

It’s fairly straightforward to increase your skill level in this perk to level 1. All you need to do is reach level 5, and then you’ll be able to choose the Hacker card from the Intelligence stat of SPECIAL.

When you’ve got the card, you’ll then need to equip by selecting it at the bottom of the screen and pressing X on PS4 or A on Xbox One to equip it. This will require that you have an unspent perk point within your Intelligence stat, however, so keep this in mind.

How to Get Hacking Skill Levels 2 & 3 in Fallout 76

In most instances in Fallout 76, perk cards can be upgraded by simply getting duplicates and combining them together to rank them up to a level 2 or level 3 perk card. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as that for the Hacking and Lockpicking perk cards.

If you want to be able to improve your hacking level to 2 or even 3, you’ll need to get the Expert Hacker and Master Hacker perk cards respectively. These are their own separate cards within the Intelligence stat that you’ll unlock at a higher level.

You’ll need to reach level 22 in order to unlock the Expert Hacker card, while the Master Hacker perk will unlock once you reach level 38. Once you do get the cards, however, it’s worth noting that you’ll need to have all of them equipped if you want to be able to hack level 3 terminals.

Each of these perk cards grants you one point in this skill, so you’ll need to sacrifice some perk points purely for high-level hacking if you do want all three equipped.

That’s all you need to know about how to increase hacking skill in Fallout 76. Remember, this skill allows players to gain access to stashes of items, read important documents, or just as an alternative to lockpicking that safe.

For more tips, tricks, and information on the game, be sure to check out our comprehensive Fallout 76 guide wiki. We’ve also included some of our most popular guides down below for your convenience while you’re adventuring across the West Virginia wasteland.

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