Fallout 76 – The 256-Item Pickup Rule

The list below will help you to understand some points of farming mechanic in the Fallout 76 game.

The Rule

All credit goes to SerialGamer!

The 256-item pickup rule works like this:

• Every loose item on the ground, on a table, etc. counts as one item. A stack of items is only one item pickup, e.g. Fuel (100), 5.56mm rounds (20), etc.
• A container (locker, safe, enemy’s body, etc.) counts as “one item” no matter how many items it contains. Looting 10 items in a container only counts as one item pickup.
• Can chimes are traps, and traps are not considered item pickups. Traps respawn more frequently and don’t follow the 256-item rule.
• Each flower, plant, fungi, etc. is considered one item pickup. Using Green Thumb to pick 2 from a plant is just one item pickup.
• Some items are not guaranteed to respawn even when you break the 256 limit. Bobbleheads, magazines, and the likes are designed to only have a chance to respawn.
• Some items may respawn into something different after you break the 256-item limit. A salt may become a spice when it respawns.
• After picking up 256 items, player needs to switch server to actually see items respawned, and they will be respawned right away. If the player does not switch server, items take hours to respawn even after having picked up 256 items.
• N items are respawned after the player picks up N items more than 255. E.g. you loot 255 items in West-Tek, then loot 1 item elsewhere; after you server hop, you will see ONE item respawned back in West-Tek, in the exact location where you picked up the very first item. You keep looting, and you will see more and more items respawned in West-Tek.
• Enemy respawns work in totally different ways. The above info only applies to items.

To farm things efficiently, you need to use the above info to your advantage.

Video