Guide: How To Get Fallout 76 Hardened Mass

Fallout 76 Hardened Mass is yet another important resource that players can find in the massive map of Appalachia. However, unlike Black Titanium and Fusion Cores, this is not simply found on random enemies or in treasure chests.

The conditions required for this resource to generate in the world are extremely specific, yet chances are that many players may have collected a bit of it without actually knowing how.

So with this Fallout 76 Hardened Mass guide, we’ll show you exactly how to get this material for yourself.

Fallout 76 Hardened Mass Guide

To start with, Hardened Mass is not an item that is used to craft usable items directly. It is a component that is mixed with multiple other ingredients at Chemistry Stations to turn raw flux into stable flux, which is then used for crafting recipes.

One of these recipes is for the Fusion Core, which is essential for operating Power Armor in the game. We extensively went over the process of getting these in our guide.

Be careful not to confuse this item with the Fusion Cores in Fallout 4 though. With that out of the way, let’s move on to procuring Hardened Mass.

How To Find Fallout 76 Hardened Mass?

Unfortunately, there are no set locations or enemies in the game that will yield Hardened Mass. So if you wanted to find farming spots, we couldn’t help you even if we wanted to. This material is only found on dead creatures within Blast Zones.

For those who may not already know, these are not marked areas in Fallout 76. They are temporary biomes created as a result of the fallout from when a nuclear warhead is detonated. The resulting irradiated area is then known as a Blast Zone.

When a nuke is detonated on the server you’re playing on; you can rush into the Blast Zone created in its wake to collect a bunch of Fallout 76 Hardened Mass. All you have to do is kill as many enemies as possible and loot their bodes before the area resets back to normal.

Each Blast Zone only has a two-hour time limit, so it’s recommended that you don’t waste time in reaching it. Because if you miss this opportunity, you’ll have to wait three whole hours before another bomb can be detonated on that same server.

But what if no one is launching a nuke on your server at all? What do you do in those situations? Well, you can always detonate one yourself.

How To Launch A Nuke In Fallout 76?

In order to launch a nuclear warhead, players have to complete the repeatable main quest known as ‘Mission: Countdown.’ This is the final entry within the Enclave questline, so you’ll have to complete all of the other missions in this path first.

Certain key items also have to be collected before the launch, so we’ll go over them step by step as well.

1. Join the Enclave faction by finding the Abandoned Waste Dump in the Mire region.
2. Complete the two Enclave main quests called ‘Back to Basic’ and ‘Officer on Deck’ to gain access to the command center within the Whitespring Bunker in the Savage Divide.
3. Secure a Nuclear Keycard. These can be found by completing the repeatable ‘Hide and Seek and Destroy’ quest which is obtained from the Whitespring Bunker.
4. Collect Launch Codes. These are found on ghoul officers with radio packs on their backs. The locations of these enemies can be found from a surveillance terminal within the Whitespring Bunker as well.
5. Decrypt the codes by yourself, or visit a fan-made website like NukaCrypt to have it done for you. We recommend you visit the site to save a lot of time.

Now, you have everything you require, and you can move onto the final quest. It has three different variations depending on the silo you use.

• “Mission: Countdown Alpha”: Site Alpha is located to the west of the Sugar Grove intelligence facility in Savage Divide.
• “Mission: Countdown Bravo”: Site Bravo is located to the south of the Palace of the Winding Path in Savage Divide.
• “Mission: Countdown Charlie”: Site Charlie is located to the east of Lewisberg in Savage Divide.

You’ll have to be properly levelled up at this point to complete the final quest. There are a bunch of powerful enemies that you will have to kill before you can reach the launch terminal. We recommend that you get some Treasure Maps and dig up some valuable gear first.

But once you accomplish this, all that’s left is picking your target and launching the nuke. The resulting Blast Zone will have all the Hardened Mass you could require. Simply make sure that you do all your farming before the two hour time limit runs out.

This has been eXputer’s Fallout 76 Hardened Mass guide. While you’re here, why not also check out our article on Nuclear Winter Rewards for the same game.