Fallout 76 How to Launch a Nuke

While the entire theme of the Fallout series is anti-nuclear weapons, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a ton of fun to blow huge swaths of land into irradiated chunks of rock. While previous games let you do this on a small scale, Fallout 76 brings the big guns into the picture. Yes, you can finally launch a huge nuke in a Fallout game, but the process is a bit complex. Here’s how to launch a nuke in Fallout 76.

Now, it’s important to note that this process is a bit broken at the moment. Some players have found ways around these steps, so if you see a nuke go off in your Fallout 76 world, don’t assume that they actually made it through all of these steps. Still, this is the process when it works, so follow these steps to do it legitimately and continuously, even after Bethesda issues a patch.

To launch a nuke in Fallout 76 you need the launch code. This is the key, and finding it is the real challenge of the game. Launch codes are tucked away on unique enemy spawns called Officers. Look for Scorched with backpacks or a flashing antenna to key you in, but the name of the enemy should include “officer”. Kill them and loot the body to find a piece of the code. Once you have that you will be directed to one of the three launch sites.

Each site requires an eight digit code, and you likely will only have a part of it. You need to work with other players to get the rest, so share your code and all the info you have with your friends. Each code is only good for one week though, so you have to work fast. Keep hunting Officers to get more codes, and communicate with other players until you have the full set of eight required to gain access to one launch site.

But of course, this isn’t the only requirement for getting into the silo. You also need to be a high ranking military officer yourself, or have the credentials of one. This means you need to join the Enclave and work through that quest a bit before you can launch a nuke in Fallout 76.

Even then you still aren’t done. The code you receive is encrypted, meaning it must be decrypted before it is useful. Inside of the Enclave there is a screen showing the current effort to decrypt the code. Use this and online tools (google them) and you’ll eventually figure out a launch code, if given enough info.

And yet you still aren’t done. Now you have to storm the silo, which will be a definite challenge given all the defense bots in place. High enough level players should be able to take it on though. Attack the silo once you have the code, follow the steps explained in the quest, which include defending the automated bots that are helping you, and eventually you’ll be able to select your target and launch a nuke.