Obtaining wood and steel is an important task in Fallout 76. Farming this material is easy and it’s worth stocking up. We show you how to easily get wood and steel as an advanced player or beginner.
Why farm wood and steel? The two raw materials wood and steel are the most important components needed for almost everything you can craft in Fallout 76. You use them to craft:
- Weapons
- Armor
- Structures and furniture in the C.A.M.P.
Very few items do not require these two materials and especially as a beginner, you will almost always depend on them. If you are playing Fallout 76 for the first time or are looking at free phases of the game, you need both wood and steel in bulk for your first steps.
Farming wood quickly
Where can I find wood? Wood can be found fastest and easiest in wood stacks or from fallen trees. Here you can easily gather wood. You can also get it by dismantling certain items, but two areas are particularly suitable for farming.
Special tip beforehand: With the perk “Lumberjack” you will receive double the amount of wood. This saves you a lot of farming work.
Obtaining wood as a beginner: Cutting down wood
Here you gather wood as a beginner: For newcomers, there is a large forest located directly southwest of the starting point Vault 76 with practically no enemies. Here you will find plenty of trees that you can simply “cut down”.
You do not necessarily need a fixed route through the forest. However, it helps to go roughly in a circle to save yourself unnecessary travel.
If you have collected all the wood here or found none at all, you will find another spot early in the game in the town of Helvetia. There is a yellow house with a storage shed right at the entrance.
In this shed, there are piles of wood stacked on top of each other. Collect them all and you should get about 100-200 units of wood from this.
Obtaining wood as an advanced player: Sawmill
Here you gather wood as an advanced player: If you have a few levels under your belt, you can venture into more dangerous areas, specifically into the Savage Divide.
You should have reached at least level 15, better level 20 to farm here, because dangerous glowing blowflies and bloodbugs await you. These can quickly overwhelm you if you are not careful.
In the Savage Divide, exactly in the center of the map from north to south, you will find the lumberjack camp Sylvie & Sons. This is an abandoned camp with several tents and fallen trees.
Throughout the camp, you will find wood piles and some trees around the camp from which you can gather wood. A round through and around this spot should yield you about 300 wood.
Haven’t reached the necessary level yet? Then check here:
Farming steel quickly
Where can I find steel? Steel can be found in some deposits and partially in containers, especially in mining regions. Unlike wood, you can better obtain it by scrapping junk and weapons.
Here you find steel
Scrapping steel from items: The best and fastest way to get steel is by scrapping items. This works best with weapons and the great advantage is that almost all weapons will yield you steel.
Simply defeat enemies of any level and take their weapons. Weapons like axes, rifles, and heavy weapons give you the most steel. However, some weapons, like normal baseball bats or pool cues, only yield wood. Leave them behind.
A nice side effect is that by killing the enemies, you also gain experience points. Good places for farming include:
- Eastern Region Prison – there are Super Mutants and some Scorched inside
- Bolton Green – there are many ghouls on the golf course
- Whitespring Resort – there are also many ghouls here, but you should have reached a higher level (at least level 30, preferably 40+). Here nukes often drop and higher-level players farm materials here.
Farming steel and lead
How to combine farming: Another advantage of farming for steel is that you can combine it with collecting lead. You need lead for crafting ammunition.
You get steel and lead by dismantling cans (not aluminum cans). These can be found in abundance in almost every camp of humanoid enemies, such as around the Top of the World in the Pleasant Valley ski resort.
Here, many locations have wind chimes made of cans hanging from the ceiling, which jingle when touched to alert enemies. However, you can also interact with them to collect the cans and then dismantle them at a workbench.
Tips and tricks for farming wood and steel faster
Here’s how to make it even easier: Once you have cleared an area, you can simply “server hop” to reload the area. This should cause all collected items to reappear.
By now, according to many players, it is no longer possible to simply log out and back in. However, some report that you can just close the game, wait a moment, and then restart it.
While this method is a bit unreliable, it can save you a lot of time.
You will need these fast travel points: If you prefer to cover all locations instead of relying on server hopping, you will need some fast travel points to be as efficient as possible.
The most important points are:
- Lumberjack camp Sylvie & Sons (Savage Divide)
- Pleasant Valley ski resort, Top of the World or Pleasant Valley station (Savage Divide)
- Marigold Pavilion (forest, alternatively the Vault 76 point can be traveled to for free)
- Helvetia
- Bolton Greens
- Whitespring Resort or Whitespring Golf Club
Fast travel costs you some caps. How to quickly and easily obtain caps is detailed in our guide.
Where should I set up my camp? It is best to place your camp between the lumberjack camp and Top of the World. Here it is relatively safe, there is plenty of space, and you have a free, nearby fast travel point.
To reach the points in the west, you can get to Vault 76 anyway more cheaply and quickly than to those in Savage Divide. Therefore, it makes sense to set up camp there and recycle all collected items.
More helpful guides
If you want to play Fallout 76 even more efficiently, here are some guides for you that will help you obtain other important materials or otherwise progress better.
Beginner guides
- Here you will find materials like glue, aluminum, feathers, lead, leather, plastic
- This is how you find blueprints for power armor stations
Advanced guides:
