How to get Fusion Cores in Fallout 76 / Powering up Poseidon Power Plant
By Denis Marasan ☆ 14/Jan/2019When you first start Fallout 76 getting those Fusion Cores to power your Power Armor may seem difficult, but in reality, it’s not. The real problem is their weight and the perk used for reducing the weight of Energy Weapon Ammo (since Fusion Cores are considered energy weapon ammo) is a level 28 perk card (Batteries Included).
Enough talks, here’re the TOP 4 most common ways to get Fusion Cores in Fallout 76:
- By looting Power Armor suites you find at PA spawning locations. Here’s a great video guide on Power Armor spawning locations around Vault 76 for newbies.
- By looting Fusion Power Generators that are common throughout Appalachia. To get Fusion Cores from Fusion Generators all you need to know is the location of Fusion Generators in the area. This is a question of exploration and luck, coz there's always a chance that some player had already looted the Generators.
- By looting enemies. Some high-level enemies, e.g. Robots (Sentry Bots, more rarely Assaultrons and Robobrains) and very occasionally Ghouls and Wendigos, may drop Fusion Cores. To reliably get Fusion Cores from this source you've got to know the spawning points of Sentry Bots and be able to overcome them.
- By claiming a Workshop at a Power Plant.
In order to use your Power Armor, you don't really need to have dozens of Fusion Cores in your Inventory or Stash unless you’re a high-level player with the Batteries Included perk that reduces the weight of Energy Ammo (and Fusion Core) by up to 90%.
Another good news is that every time you start the game your Fusion Core will be recharged (provided that you'd left the game wearing Power Armor). This means you can purposely recharge the Fusion Core you're currently using by leaving the world and then joining back. This was considered a bug and fixed in January 2019.
Producing Fusion Cores at Poseidon Power Plant
Here're some quick notes on how to farm Fusion Cores by claiming a Workshop at Poseidon Power Plant. This is maybe the fastest, easiest and most reliable way to get fully charged Fusion Cores (8 pcs per hour), though it requires time investment or raw materials.
There’s a Fusion Core Processor near the Poseidon Power Plant Workshop. It requires 100 power to operate, which means that you’ve got to power it up with a Fusion Generator or you’ve got to complete an Event to repair and restart a Power Plant to power up the Processor (just don't forget to turn the power switch near the Fusion Core Processor afterwards).
If you have no Fusion Generator I personally recommend completing this Event as many times as needed to get a Fusion Generator Plan (you may need to complete this quest thrice). So just in case, you wonder how to get a Fusion Generator Plan - here is how. Power Generator plans are given as a reward for completing the Event (you may power up any Power Plant available in Appalachia, but Poseidon is located in The Forest region and thus it's obviously the easiest). And don't forget to learn the plan by opening your Pip-Boy, going to Notes tab and pressing the Learn button on the Plan.
I recommend claiming a Workshop first, and completing the Event later. Coz somebody may claim the Workshop while you're powering up the Power Plant. After you claim a Workshop the area will be attacked, so you've got to protect it (that’s a separate quest with its own rewards, just wait until it starts). Note that even after you counter the attack the area will be attacked again and again by low-level Scorched because they have a very high spawning rate. So prepare your defenses.
Mid- and high-level players may use Heavy Machine Gun Turrets available after level 22 or so after getting the required level of Home Defense perk. From my experience, 2 HMG Turrets are enough to counter the attacks for hours. If using standard Machine Gun Turrets you'll obviously need like 4 Machine Gun Turrents or so.
And don't forget to lock the Fusion Core Processor, even level 1 lock will do. Any other player who tries to pick the lock will offend the law and become Wanted. Otherwise, anyone may grab your Fusion Cores with no further consequences. Obviously, you need a Picklock perk card equipped to lock the Processor. The Picklock card becomes available at level 5.
Here's a checklist for your convenience:
- Claim and defend the Workshop at Poseidon Power Plant.
- Participate in the Event “Powering up the Poseidon Power Plant” or build a Fusion Generator and wire it up to the Fusion Core Processor.
- After the Power Plant is restarted don't forget to switch on and lock the Fusion Core Processor.
- Build at least four Machine Gun Turrets or two Heavy Machine Gun Turrets to defend the area.
- Read another great guide for beginners! :)
The Processor produces 8 Fusion Cores per hour and has a storage capacity of 3 Fusion Cores. This means you’ve to recover Fusion Cores once every 20 minutes or so. Note that the Workshop will be yours until you leave the World (either quit the game or get disconnected), it's overrun by enemies or attacked and reclaimed by another player.
And most importantly, don’t forget that a Fusion Core Processor is capable of producing 24 pounds of Fusion Cores per hour that you’ve got to store somehow, but weight management is another story.