As you progress on your journey through the Appalachian Mountains of Fallout 76, increasing your stats and upgrading your armor, you will eventually hit a rather discouraging crafting roadblock. Throughout your adventures collecting and scrapping, you will have collected stockpiles of hundreds of different materials for crafting stronger weapons and armor but one material, in particular, has stumped players since the game first launched: ballistic fiber.
In this guide, we will be covering all facets of ballistic fiber; what it's used for, where it comes from, and how to efficiently farm the rare material. Ballistic fiber is incredibly valuable and, unless you know where to look, it is one of the most difficult materials to find.
What Is Ballistic Fiber?
Ballistic fiber is a crafting component first introduced in Fallout 4. It is a synthetic fiber that is both very lightweight and extremely durable. It is used in crafting and repair metal armor.
Though you can craft metal armor without ballistic fiber, in order to upgrade it with the dense mod, you will need six ballistic fiber. The dense mod helps to protect you from explosions, which is particularly useful when dealing with car explosions and the screech of scorchbeasts.
The dense mod, once you have found the plans, can be applied to just about any armor type except marine, so it is a very useful mod if you have found the required materials. Once you have it, you will also need ballistic fiber every time you repair your armor. As you travel through the world of Fallout 76, you'll find a use for all different kinds of armor, and because each piece of armor is upgraded individually, you'll have plenty of use for the ballistic fibers.
Where To Find Ballistic Fiber
Ballistic fiber is sold in bulk at some vendors. Bulk ballisitic fiber contains 10 units and can be purchased from the Watoga Vendor Bot ant Watoga Station. The price will fluctuate over time, but at a base value of 154 caps, this is probably the worst option for obtaining ballistic fiber, albeit the quickest. Caps are incredibly valuable in Fallout 76 and, in general, should never be used to buy something you can earn for free. The option is out there, but there are better methods for obtaining the material.
Your best bet to obtain ballistic fiber is by scrapping items. Currently, there are four items that yield ballistic fiber when scrapped: Military ammo bags, military-grade duct tape, piezonucleic liner, and torn mothman wing. Previously, scrapping power armor chassis would provide between one and five ballistic fiber, but the developers removed this from the game. Now, finding the material is much more difficult, as it is clearly intended to be a rare crafting mat.
Military ammo bags and military-grade duct tape each produce two ballistic fibers when scrapped and can be found in the various military camps and forts scattered across the wasteland. Your best bet for finding military ammo bags is at Fort Defiance in the Cranberry Bog area to the southwest. You can find 10 ammo bags there, netting you 20 ballistic fibers.
Piezonucleic liner also yields two ballistic fiber, but, unlike in Fallout 4, there is no reliable place to find piezonucleic liner. So, while it may appear it the world anywhere, there is no reliable way to farm the item.
Finally, torn mothman wings can be salvaged providing two acid and one ballistic fiber. Torn mothman wings are sometimes dropped from dead mothmen. Completing the path to enlightenment event will spawn a mothman in Landview Lighthouse. There is also a chance that one will spawn in the Whitespring Resort in the southwest near road 83A.
However, because there aren't many reliable methods for spawning mothmen, and due to the ammo cost and danger associated with hunting them, this also is not a reliable method for farming ballistic fiber. It is good to know, however, if you ever come across one randomly.
How To Farm Ballistic Fiber
Your best bet to farm ballistic fiber is to travel to all the military location on the map and look for military ammo bags and military grade duct tape. Starting at Fort McClintock in the northwest, you can usually find four ammo bags; two right inside the main building and more in the tents outside the building.
Next, as mentioned previously, head to Fort Defiance in the Cranberrybog to find around 10 ammo bags. The building is very large and will take time to search, but if you have the time, it is best to search every room in the fort. If you have completed the brotherhood quest line here, you can take the elevator to the top floor where you will find several more bags and rolls of tape.
After this, bounce around to the other locations that usually have military ammo bags, including Camp Venture, Watoga Civic Center, Clancy Manor, The Thorn, Firebase Hancock, Forward Station Alpha, Spruce Knob, and Sons of Dane compound. These aren't the only places to find bags but are all fairly reliable.
You may need to server hop to find these items, as they are valuable to all players and this is the only reliable method to farm them. All you need to do is log out and log back in and you will be placed in a new server. If you have already explored Fort Defiance, for example, you may want to restart your game in order to respawn the item. It a little exploitative, but it gets the job done.
It's best to stock up on ballistic fiber so that you don't run out when you need to make a quick repair. If you do this run every so often and collect enough fiber to feel comfortable, you will put yourself at a huge advantage in Fallout 76.