Fallout 76 Nuke/Nuclear Missile Launch Guide
Fallout 76 Nuke launch guide with step by step instructions on how to acquire the nuclear slio codes and launch a nuclear missile.
Contents
Prerequisites
To be able to launch a nuke/nuclear missile in Fallout 76, you need to have done the Enclave questline all the way to Officer on Deck. This will promote you to the rank of General and allow you to proceed to the next quest I am Become Death which is basically a tutorial on how to launch the nuke.
You will also want to have a suit of Power Armor for the additional resists (especially radiation), stockpiled tons of stimpaks, Rad-X and Radaway, and be close to Level 50 if you want to take on it solo.
Nuclear Keycard and Silo Codes
To launch a nuke in Fallout 76 you need at least one Nuclear Keycard and all 8 Slio Codes for the same missile silo. There are 3 missile slios (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie).
Nuclear Keycards are used up on every successful launch and everytime you enter a wrong launch code. Missile Silo codes are not used up per launch but expire on a weekly basis (expire on Monday every week).
The Surveillance System Terminal in the Enclave base Command wing is where you launch all the missions to acquire the Nuclear Keycards and silo codes.
Acquire a Nuclear Keycard
Select the mission Nuclear Keycard Escort from the terminal. You now need to look on the map and locate this cargobot that is flying around and shoot it down. The cargobot moves around in the air so you will need a ranged weapon and plenty of ammo to take it down. The keycard is used up every launch and on every incorrect launch code entry so you may want to do this a couple times to have spare keycards just incase.
Acquire Missile Silo Codes
You will need to do this every week as the silo codes expire by the end of the week (Mondays at 7pm ET / Tuesday 12am UTC). Go to the terminal and select the mission for a specific missile silo you want to launch the nuke from. You will need to do this mission 8 times to acquire the 8 code pieces.
As for picking which slio, look at the command section of the bunker and see which slio has most of the keyword decrypted. This changes every week with more of the keywords decrypted at end of the week (sunday). In the screenshot for example, Alpha has already finished decrypting.
Once you arrive on the marked area on the map, you will need to find a Scorched/Ghoul officer carrying a transponder. This transponder will emit a slow beeping sound. If the Scorched/Ghoul officer is already dead, you can still loot their corpse.
Decrypt the Launch Code
To decrypt the launch code, you will need two pieces of information.
- Keyword for the silo – it could be a full keyword or a partial keyword depending on how late in the week you are doing this. Look on the board on the Enclave Command wing.
- All 8 silo code pieces for a silo – write down their number and letters.
Now go to a player made website to start your decryption: https://nukacrypt.com/
- Key letters – this is what is shown on the command board
- letters/numbers – this is what is shown on your silo code pieces
If you want to decipher your code manually, see this reddit post on the process.
This website will give you a bunch of possible solutions with only one being the correct code. You can either search around to see what is the correct launch code every week or bring enough keycards to attempt all possible solutions.
Mission: Countdown
This is the final step to launch your nuke. This step is completely soloable and is not really difficult but players may struggle if their build isn’t up to par or they are low level. For additional safety you can bring a friend who have done Officer on Deck quest.
Before you go however, make sure you got the following.
- Fully repaired weapons/armor – there will be a workbench near the end before the final objective to repair your stuff as well
- Make sure you got spare circuitry – have at least 30.
- Hacking Level 3 – Not necessary but really helps inside to turn turrets and robots against each other. Whenever you see a Level 3 security terminal, you should hack it and remove the targeting restrictions so the turrets/robots fight each other instead.
- Bring lots of stimpaks – around 20 is a good number if you going in solo.
- Make sure you got all 8 missile silo codes for the same silo.
- it helps to have a friend on the same map as you so you can rejoin them incase you crash.
If for any reason you need to get out of the missile silo, you will need to re-clear the mobs but you won’t have to repeat the objectives.
Go to the Missile Slio
Head to the appropriate Missile Silo, only players who have earned General rank in Enclave (completed Officer on Deck quest) can go into the Slio together.
Go to the specific missile silo site and scan your handprint in the elevator. Players who have not completed Officer on Deck and therefore don’t have General credentials cannot proceed here.
Find a way past the Laser Grids
Interact with the terminal and select Security Terminal – Security Station, it will tell you to make a biometric ID card
Interact with the Biometric ID making machine first, and select Operating Instructions, the quest will then update
What you need to do is go to one of the scanners to scan your Biometric Data and then loot one of the old Biometric ID cards lying around. After that go back to the machine and make a new one.
Find a way to end the Reactor Security Lockdown
Interact with the terminal and select Power System Repair Instructions. You are now given a little under 3 minutes to find all the broken pipes with steam blowing out of them while defending against waves of robots attacking you.
Once all the pipes are repaired, go back to the terminal to shut down the reactor.
Destroy the Mainframe Cores
Now you need to destroy all the cores on Mainframes scattered around. There are a bunch of cores on each machine so you need to destroy all of them. As you destroy more of them, the laser grids blocking your progress will be removed, allowing you to move past them.
Break
Once you destroy all the Mainframe Cores you will be able to proceed down a level and enter a rest area. You will find a weapon/armor/power armor workbench here to repair your stuff.
Replace the Mainframe Cores
Interact with the terminal and it will tell you to replace 15 of the mainframe cores. You can get damaged cores by pulling them from the terminal and then repair them with Tinker’s Bench. You can also find a few repair mainframe cores lying around as well.
If you are repairing them at Tinker’s bench keep in mind that they costs 2x Circuits and 3x Steel per repair so make sure you got plenty.
Initiate Launch prep
Before you enter the launch area, there will be a security terminal requiring level 3 hacking. Make sure you hit that if possible as you can turn off the targeting restrictions for the machinegun turrets inside, making the next part much much easier. The machine guns will clear out the robots in the room and when you send out the Section Chiefs to do repairs they will also help a bit but you may need to destroy them if they target the Section Chiefs.
Now go to the terminal and select Initiate Launch Prep to start the last event.
For the next part, you will need to defend the Section Chiefs as they initiate repairs. Initially one chief will spawn but more will spawn as the repair progresses. If a chief get destroyed, you can go to the terminal in the room where the first chief spawned and pick the option to send out a replacement chief.
Initiate the Launch
Now for the final step, insert your Nuclear Keycard on the machine on the left. Then enter the decrypted launch code on the keypad entry on the right. Entering an invalid launch code will consume your Nuclear Keycard so make sure to enter the correct one or bring extras.
Now go to the viewfinder in the middle, select the area on the map you like to launch your nuke. The area around Vault 76/Flatwoods is off limits but rest of the map is fair game.
You now have just under 3 minutes to get out of the missile slio and watch the touchdown.
Exploring the Nuked Area
Once an area has been nuked, you can explore it to harvest fauna and kill high level enemies. Make sure you got high radiation resist (i.e. 500+) and plenty of Rad-X and Radaways. You also need a ton of stimpaks as the monsters in the nuked area are high levels (i.e. level 68s+) and they deal a ton of damage.
It is recommended you have a friend in the same map so you can rejoin on them incase you case. Nuked areas are prone to frequent crashes and if you don’t have anyone to join back on the same map you will lose it.
Enemies
You will encounter much tougher enemies kill and killing them give much increased XP. Enemies in the area now drop new loot – keep an eye out for new items such as Glowing Mass, Hardened Mass, High-Radiation Fluids. These are used to make the Stable Flux products.
- Beware that Hardened Mass is classified as junk and can be scapped into Ultracite, so don’t go scrap all your junk or you will lose it.
These items don’t have CND bar so they don’t expire.
Nuked Flora
All the flora in a nuked zone changes to new types with new names and give out Raw Fluxes when harvested. These raw fluxes do have CND bar and can expire so make sure you go into a chemistry bench and craft them into the Stable version whenever you get 10x of them.
Tip: if you have the Green Thumb perk card under Perception, you can get 2x flower from each harvest.
- Raw Cobalt Flux: Bloodleaf, Firecracker Berry, Glowing Resin, Silt Bean, Starlight Creeper, Wild Corn, Wild Mutfruit
- Raw Crimson Flux: Aster, Blight, Brain Fungus, Cranberry, Firecap, Mothman Eggs, Wild Gourd Blossom
- Raw Fluorescent Flux: Glowing Fungus, Rhododendron
- Raw Yellowcake Flux: Ash Rose, Blackberry, Bleach Dogwood, Soot Flower, Wild Melon Blossom
- Raw Violet Flux: Giant Pitcher Plant, Ginseng, Mutated Fern, Snaptail, Strangler Pod, Wild Razorgrain, Wild Tarberry, Wild Tato Blossom
Go into your chemistry workbench and look under Nuked Flora section for the recipes
- Tip: If you have the Chemist perk card under Intelligence, you will get 2x results when crafting these fluxes.
Lining for Baselayer/Underarmor
All the faction baselayers/underarmor – Vault 76 Jumpsuit, Urban Operative Underarmor from Enclave, Brotherhood Soldier suit, Casual Clothing etc all have linings you can craft that require these stable fluxes. You need to purchase the plans first for them via the faction vendors. These linings give additional SPECIAL attributes and can be worn together with your armor/power armor.
