How To Master Hacking Terminals In Fallout 76

The Fallout universe is full of little minigames that shake up the dominant exploration and first-person shooter gameplay, such as the lockpicking and hacking minigames. The former is straightforward to grasp. But the latter? Not so much. But we’ve got you! Seriously, relax, it’s going to be fine. This is all good.

With the terminal screen’s neon yellow text searing into your retinas, the collection of numbers, letters, and symbols meld together to form a seemingly incoherent jumble. But there’s a method to the madness! Here is how to hack terminals in Fallout 76.

How to successfully hack terminals

To start, find a locked terminal and walk up to the monitor. You’ll receive a prompt to interact with the computer, drawing you closer to the screen. If the terminal is locked, the hacking minigame will automatically begin. At first glance, it’s confusing. You’ll note a selection of random words, numbers, letters, and symbols. However, only one listed word is the correct password to grant you entry.

There are four hacking minigame difficulty levels in Fallout 76: Novice, Advanced, Expert, and Master. The higher up the difficulty scale you go, the more challenging it is to find the correct password. You can make life easier by investing in the appropriate Perks: Hacker, Expert Hacker, and Master Hacker.

At its core, the hacking minigame in Fallout 76 is a guessing game. But there are secrets hidden within the terminal that’ll make guessing the correct password easier. These secrets take the form of symbols, specifically connected symbols such as:

[ ]

{ }

< >

( )

If you spot one of these symbols, hover over the connection. If it’s a secret choice, it will highlight the whole section. By clicking this connected symbol fragment, you’ll reset your attempts or remove a dud password from the list. Do this enough, and you’ll narrow down your choices to just one or two potential passwords.

Let’s also touch upon the Likeness Score. When you select one of the prospective passwords from the terminal screen, if it’s incorrect, it will provide you with a Likeness Score to the side. It will give you a note akin to “3/4.” This means the word you guessed shares three out of four letters with the correct password. For example, if you select “BEST” but the password is actually “BEAT,” it shares the B, E, and T.

It’s a little more challenging to run with the Likeness Score than to track down each secret code fragment to narrow your choices!

Where to find easy terminals to hack

If you want to practice, there are a handful of level 0 terminal locations scattered about Appalachia, with the most notable found at:

Mama Dolce’s Food Processing Plant

Camp McClintock

Wade Airport

Clarksburg Shooting Club

Black Mountain Ordnance Works

Morgantown Airport

Vault-Tec Agricultural Center

Whitespring Mall

Nuka World on Tour

Mountainside Bed & Breakfast

The best advice we can give you when learning the hacking minigame in Fallout 76 is to practice. At first, it appears impossible to guess the correct password, but with more practice, you’ll nail it each time!