The Burning Springs update for Fallout 76 added a part of post-apocalyptic Ohio as an expansion for the game's open world, and of course, the expansion also included a bunch of new content. Bounty hunting is one of the new things players can experience while exploring the Burning Springs region, giving players an additional means of earning loot, XP, and other items. This activity is fairly simple, and once you get into the swing of things, you'll be swimming in rewards in no time. Here's a brief overview of how Grunt Hunt and Bounty Hunting works in Fallout 76.
Fallout 76 Developers Talk Burning Springs, Walton Goggins as The Ghoul, and Bounty Hunting
The Best War Games sits down with Fallout 76 developers to discuss Burning Springs, a massive update that expands the map and introduces a surprise guest.
How Does Grunt Hunt Work in Fallout 76?
Grunt Hunt is a repeatable side quest that players can take from the stack of wanted posters next to The Ghoul in Highway Town. Once you reach Highway Town's interior, look for the Last Resort bar. The Ghoul will be in a quiet corner there; speak with him, and he'll let you take on some Grunt Hunts.
You can mosey on over to Highway Town at any time by crossing the bridge at Point Pleasant, but it may be better to wait until you can finish the Welcoming Committee quest first.
When you do take a Grunt Hunt, you'll get a marker on your map pointing you to the location of your target. From here, it's all a matter of finding your mark and taking them out. There's a catch, though: you only have 10 minutes to complete the mission, and to make things a bit more interesting, Grunt Hunt targets possess one of many possible mutations, and they'll also have a bunch of other NPCs guarding them. As of writing, Grunt Hunt targets only appear within the Burning Springs region.
The more Grunt Hunts you complete, the harder your future Grunt Hunt targets become. After completing 50 or so missions, you'll run into 3-star targets. Bring the best gear you have so you don't get instantly nuked.
How Does Bounty Hunting Work in Fallout 76?
Essentially, Bounty Hunting is a public event version of Grunt Hunt. Here, bounty targets are visible to every player on the server, and you can all work together to take them down. As such, Bounty Hunting: Head Hunt targets are harder than the ones in Grunt Hunt, and there's often more enemies to fight too.
You can't just pick up a bounty as you would for a Grunt Hunt. If you want to start one, you'll need to do one of two things:
- Buy a wanted poster from the Ghoul for 5000 Caps
- Collect wanted posters by completing Grunt Hunts
Wanted Posters have a chance of dropping from completed Grunt Hunts
Once you get a poster, walk up to the bounty board outside the Last Resort, then pin it there. The bounty hunt mission will then pop up somewhere in Burning Springs.
At this point, the process is more or less the same as a Grunt Hunt. When you reach the marked area, launch a flare from a nearby mortar to start the fight. You have 5 minutes to find the target, and 20 minutes to take them out. Only one Bounty Hunt can be active per server, though you can always start another hunt after finishing the previous one.
Fallout 76
- Released
- November 14, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
- Cross Save
- no
- Franchise
- Fallout
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- OpenCritic Rating
- Weak
- How Long To Beat
- 34 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 97 GB (May 2024)
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
