4 hours ago
Fallout 76 steel farming is fastest when every super mutant gun becomes scrap. Use West Tek, Uranium Fever, and Scrapper to stockpile fast.
so after burning another stash box worth of ammo, I'm still convinced steel farming is way better when you stop acting like a junk goblin and start farming guns. I know loose cans and wrenches feel productive, but they're bait most of the time. When I'm short on random supplies or caps I've grabbed stuff through EZNPC because buying game currency or items there is less annoying than server hopping, but for steel specifically, just go make Super Mutants donate their rifles. It's not glamorous, but it works.
What I actually run
My loop lately is West Tek, Huntersville, then whatever event pops that vomits humanoid enemies. West Tek is still goated for this, current patch and all. Full inside clear, outside sweep, scrap everything. I tested a few lazy runs and even playing sloppy I was walking out with hundreds of steel in under 10 minutes. Not from desk fans. From assault rifles, pipe guns, laser stuff, all that ugly junk people leave on corpses.
Scrapper is the whole trick
If you're not swapping in Scrapper before breaking weapons down, you're trolling your own grind. I saw someone in area chat say Intelligence boosts scrap yield, and afaik that's not how it works. INT helps other stuff, sure, but Scrapper is the perk doing the heavy lifting here. A plain assault rifle can be kinda mid without it, like 5 to 10 steel-ish, but with Scrapper I'm usually seeing 20+ depending on mods. Could be off by a bit on exact rolls, but the difference is obvious.
Events are secretly the refill button
Uranium Fever is still one of my favorite “oops I'm heavy” events because Blackwater Mine has a bench right near the entrance. Loot Mole Miner Gauntlets, guns, armor, whatever isn't nailed down, then waddle back and scrap it. Line in the Sand can also slap if people don't nuke every corpse into weird corners. In my runs, that one can land around 400 to 600 steel if you actually loot the Scorched instead of sprinting away for the reward screen. Eviction Notice is even dumber when it's popping, because Super Mutants bring the whole hardware store with them.
Still pick up the good junk
I'm not saying ignore every can. Can chimes are legit. Eastern Regional Penitentiary and Pleasant Valley are worth checking because each chime gives 9 steel and 1 lead, and that adds up fast. The Penitentiary run is stupid quick if nobody already cleaned it. Just remember the item reset thing: world junk won't come back for you until you've picked up around 250 other items. The burnt book house in Summerville still works for me for resetting, unless Bethesda quietly messed with it and I missed the memo.
Don't forget the boring weight problem
The only annoying part is steel getting heavy once you've got thousands of it. Pack Rat helps a ton, Fallout 1st Scrapbox makes it basically a non-issue, and non-1st players should bulk extra steel with plastic if they're selling to vendors. I've also grabbed missing scrap stacks or random gear from Fallout 76 Iteams when I couldn't be bothered to grind that night, but if you're actively playing, West Tek plus Scrapper is still the real answer. Hope this helps, lmk if I missed anything.
so after burning another stash box worth of ammo, I'm still convinced steel farming is way better when you stop acting like a junk goblin and start farming guns. I know loose cans and wrenches feel productive, but they're bait most of the time. When I'm short on random supplies or caps I've grabbed stuff through EZNPC because buying game currency or items there is less annoying than server hopping, but for steel specifically, just go make Super Mutants donate their rifles. It's not glamorous, but it works.
What I actually run
My loop lately is West Tek, Huntersville, then whatever event pops that vomits humanoid enemies. West Tek is still goated for this, current patch and all. Full inside clear, outside sweep, scrap everything. I tested a few lazy runs and even playing sloppy I was walking out with hundreds of steel in under 10 minutes. Not from desk fans. From assault rifles, pipe guns, laser stuff, all that ugly junk people leave on corpses.
Scrapper is the whole trick
If you're not swapping in Scrapper before breaking weapons down, you're trolling your own grind. I saw someone in area chat say Intelligence boosts scrap yield, and afaik that's not how it works. INT helps other stuff, sure, but Scrapper is the perk doing the heavy lifting here. A plain assault rifle can be kinda mid without it, like 5 to 10 steel-ish, but with Scrapper I'm usually seeing 20+ depending on mods. Could be off by a bit on exact rolls, but the difference is obvious.
Events are secretly the refill button
Uranium Fever is still one of my favorite “oops I'm heavy” events because Blackwater Mine has a bench right near the entrance. Loot Mole Miner Gauntlets, guns, armor, whatever isn't nailed down, then waddle back and scrap it. Line in the Sand can also slap if people don't nuke every corpse into weird corners. In my runs, that one can land around 400 to 600 steel if you actually loot the Scorched instead of sprinting away for the reward screen. Eviction Notice is even dumber when it's popping, because Super Mutants bring the whole hardware store with them.
Still pick up the good junk
I'm not saying ignore every can. Can chimes are legit. Eastern Regional Penitentiary and Pleasant Valley are worth checking because each chime gives 9 steel and 1 lead, and that adds up fast. The Penitentiary run is stupid quick if nobody already cleaned it. Just remember the item reset thing: world junk won't come back for you until you've picked up around 250 other items. The burnt book house in Summerville still works for me for resetting, unless Bethesda quietly messed with it and I missed the memo.
Don't forget the boring weight problem
The only annoying part is steel getting heavy once you've got thousands of it. Pack Rat helps a ton, Fallout 1st Scrapbox makes it basically a non-issue, and non-1st players should bulk extra steel with plastic if they're selling to vendors. I've also grabbed missing scrap stacks or random gear from Fallout 76 Iteams when I couldn't be bothered to grind that night, but if you're actively playing, West Tek plus Scrapper is still the real answer. Hope this helps, lmk if I missed anything.