As a long-time Fallout 76 player and self-proclaimed power armor enthusiast with over 500 hours played, I‘m excited to provide this comprehensive guide to acquiring and mastering Ultracite Power Armor, one of the most coveted suits in the game!
Lore Behind Ultracite Power Armor
Unlike other power armors derived from pre-war models designed by corporations before the Great War, the Ultracite Power Armor has a fascinating history directly tied to the Brotherhood of Steel faction.
According to collected records, the Brotherhood studied how the remnants of the Enclave‘s government had developed advanced power armor for its forces. They took inspiration from the enhanced protection and prototype energy weapons technology used.
However, they lacked access to the same levels of advanced pre-war manufacturing that the Enclave possessed. Still, the Brotherhood remained determined to equip its members with the strongest gear possible. Over many years of further R&D, this resulted in the powerful Ultracite set we see in Fallout 76 today!
It represents the Brotherhood‘s attempt to bridge the quality gap and stand toe-to-toe with Enclave forces using their own rugged ingenuity and resolve in adapting prototype plans.
Base Stats and Damage Resistance
The Ultracite Power Armor is specially designed for frontline combat against high-tech modern foes, rather than radiation zones exploration where older retro-fitted sets would suffice protection wise.
As such, its base damage and energy damage resistance stats are some of the highest among all models:
- Physical Damage Resistance: 453
- Energy Damage Resistance: 393
- Radiation Resistance: 393
- Carry Weight Bonus: +10 STR
To compare, the top-tier Enclave developed X-01 Power Armor offers high radiation resistance with decent damage protection:
- Physical Damage Resistance: 432
- Energy Damage Resistance: 311
- Radiation Resistance: 424
Meanwhile, sets like Excavator or T-series have among lowest damage resistance but provide specific utility benefits:
- Excavator: +100 carry weight
- T-60: Higher base rad resistance
So Ultracite sits in an excellent spot stat wise! Specialized for defending against enemy attacks, both advanced ballistic weapons and high-tech energy based ones.
This makes it a fantastic mid-late game choice for events like Scorched Earth or quests against the Brotherhood‘s rivals from the Enclave as you progress through the main story.
Ideal Use Cases for Ultracite
Compared to the iconic X-01 set also obtained later on, the Ultracite trades away some radiation shields for sheer stopping power against direct attacks.
This makes it slightly more suited for events with waves of tough enemies like Scorched Earth, Project Paradise, Encryptid, and A Colossal Problem rather than volatile nuke zones where radiation exposure is constant.
Its higher physical defense also handles high-damage boss monsters better. Bloated Glowing Ones, Sheepsquatch, Deathclaws, and other tanky threats rely on powerful melee strikes rather than ranged attacks.
Of course both Ultracite and X-01 are more than capable for general questing. Consider swapping your active set based on the situations you expect! Like opting for X-01 when exploring a nuke zone loaded with enemies for its radiation protection.
Acquiring Ultracite Power Armor Plans
Now that you know what makes the Ultracite set special, let‘s cover how to actually get it! This unique armor does not spawn randomly in the world. Instead, you must complete an extensive late-game Brotherhood of Steel questline to earn the crafting plans.
The full walkthrough requires perhaps 10 hours spanning multiple sessions due to travel times. But it will take you through several stunning Appalachia zones rarely explored by casual players. I estimate level 30+ with some half-decent gear should suffice gearing up for this long journey across irradiated lands!
Here is an overview of the questing progression:
- Start the chain by reading a note at Abby‘s Bunker in the Mire
- Investigate Camp Venture for clues leading to Vault-Tec University
- Enter Fort Defiance to join the Brotherhood using a military ID card
- Visit the ruined Capitol Building to access computers still tied to the old government network
- Return yet again to Fort Defiance, your new Brotherhood HQ
- Hack into the sealed-off underground R&D lab hiding the Ultracite secrets
- Fight through the glassed caverns to synchronize 5 transponders and unlock the final terminal
- Read the plans and celebrate joining the ranks of the Appalachian Brotherhood!
I won‘t spoil all the plot twists and setbacks along the journey, but let‘s just say the Brotherhood has…lost its way a bit over the years without guidance from the West Coast Elders. Still, you‘ll step into the massive footsteps of some iconic Fallout lore characters.
If speedrunning, higher level chars could likely shave it down to 6 hours using fast travel liberally. But I encourage taking it slow to soak in all unique environmental details along the path not seen anywhere else!
Crafting Requirements
Once you finally acquire the magical Ultracite power armor plans, it‘s time to gather materials for crafting your very own set!
Be warned – a full six pieces will test your resource stockpiles and ability to loot heavily. Ultracite armor crafting requires:
Base Resources Needed For All Parts:
- 36 Ultracite Alloy
- 36 Circuitry
- 36 Nuclear Material
Per Part Additional Resources:
- Helmet – 18 Plastic, 17 Glass
- Torso – 11 Ballistic Fiber, 35 Steel, 35 Plastic
- Arms – 13 Rubber, 23 Steel, 12 Glass
- Legs – 13 Ballistic Fiber, 23 Steel, 12 Glass
Total Materials For All Parts:
- Ultracite Alloy: 36
- Circuitry: 36
- Nuclear Material: 36
- Plastic: 89
- Glass: 53
- Ballistic Fiber: 37
- Steel: 104
- Rubber: 26
As expected for the Brotherhood‘s ultimate power armor, this calls for rare resources indeed!
Ultracite Alloy and Stable Flux may require tedious mining and harvesting runs respectively in blast zones. But the journey will be worth it in the end for the full shiny set of advanced components.
I recommend stockpiling any excess Ballistic Fibers, Circuits, or Nuclear Material found when looting weapons and equipment if carrying capacity allows. These will be very handy for crafting not just armor but weapons/base upgrades too later.
Finally, bulk up on Plastic constantly. Almost everything essential breaks down into plastic – collect old science scrap toys like microscope/beakers, pool cues, and cafeteria trays when found. Grab all the Waste Acid you find across chem/raider areas for smelting too.
Ultracite Power Armor Mods
Customizing your new Ultracite suit with additional mods adds even more protective abilities and utility enhancements.
Mods are entirely optional but great for min-maxers. The options for each part are:
Helmet:
- Recon Sensors
- Targeting HUD
- Tactical Headlamp
- VATS Matrix Overlay
Torso:
- Core Assembly
- Reactive Plates
- Tesla Coils
- Motion-Assist Servos
- Medic Pump
- Kinetic Servos
Arms:
- Optimized Bracers
- Hydraulic Bracers
- Rusty Knuckles
Legs:
- Kinetic Servos
- Explosive Vent
- Overdrive Servos
- Calibrated Shocks
Finding mods is trickier than materials or plans since they drop randomly off certain enemies and events:
The easiest access is purchasing mods from Regs in the Enclave Bunker using Enclave commendations. These are earned from events, quests, workshops in the Bog region typically.
Otherwise, you‘ll need to try your luck with:
- A Colossal Problem – rewards rare mods
- Scorched Earth – possible mod drops
- One Violent Night – legendaries may drop mods
- Powering Up Quests – chance of mods as completion rewards
- Cranberry Bog Quests – high level regional rewards
So expect some grinding! But that‘s standard for finding the best gear.
Best Ultracite Mod Recommendations
If shopping at Regs or lucky with random loot drops, these are my personal recommendations:
Helmet: Targeting HUD
Torso: Emergency Protocols
Arms: Optimized Bracers
Legs: Calibrated Shocks
Targeting HUD adds a tactical display for hostile threat detection, even through walls or hiding behind cover. Fantastic for situational awareness.
Emergency Protocols chest mod is perfect for boosting survivability as your health drops, allowing time to use a Stimpack.
Optimized Bracers reduces Action Point drain for powerful melee attacks, while Calibrated Shocks further increases carrying capacity. Together these allow you to output maximum damage and looting runs before having to dump gear!
Of course, feel free to mix and match mods to your personal playstyle or swap between sets for handling different enemies and quests. That degree of customization and specialization is where Fallout 76‘s depth shines through!
Maintaining Fusion Core Power
Fusion cores powering all that thick composite armor plating don‘t last forever unfortunately. And needing to swap or recharge them constantly mid-adventure ruins the feeling of being an unstoppable juggernaut.
So how can we keep our shiny Ultracite (or any Power Armor) running optimally? Here are my top tips:
- Exit power armor when overencumbered to fast travel back to camp and recharge cores
- Equip Batteries Included under INT when looting to massively reduce fusion core weight
- Build generators at CAMP and craft fusion cores yourself from raw violet flux
- Participate in power plant workshops that produce fusion cores over time
- Routinely make Lucky Hole mine runs for lead to smelt cores with Super Duper equipped
As long as you make fueling back up a habitual cycle between adventures, you should have enough cores stockpiled to trod across Appalachia battling for hours on end without interruption!
Harvesting Resources Efficiently
Earlier we covered the substantial crafting requirements – 36 Ultracite Alloy along with multitudes of ballistic fibers, fluxes and rare junk items.
As a power armor connoisseur, let me share some pro tips for stocking up on all those scarce components required not just for your Ultracite set, but any equipment upgrades down the line:
- Take over the Excavator Power Armor workshop when free – it auto-extracts iron and aluminum! Fantastic passive material generation overnight.
- Speaking of workshops, nuke keycard cargobots frequently fly over the Mountainside Bed & Breakfast workshop. Shoot them down for easy keycard looting critical for launching nukes later to access fluxes.
- For stable fluxes, target Whitepsrings Golf Course when nuking for masses of glowing enemies to harvest from rather than aimless wandering the blast zone. Circle the clubhouse and cottages methodically.
- Equip the Green Thumb perk when harvesting bio flora for double component yields from each plant! Multiplies stable fluxes exponentially.
- Use Chemist and Super Duper when smelting down bulk items to greatly amplify scrap quantities obtained.
Follow those general material harvesting fundamentals and you‘ll rapidly stockpile everything needed not only for your Ultracite set but all late game gear crafting or base upgrades!
Specialized Perk Loadouts
A key benefit of Ultracite armor is the flexibility to focus your Perk loadout on offense without sacrificing protection. The innate damage resistances permit more aggressive play compared to base clothing or weaker armor sets.
Here is an example 15 Perk build I‘ve tailored specifically around maximizing Ultracite damage output and fusion core longevity:
- S – Blocker, Incisor
- P – Tank Killer
- E – Fireproof
- C – Lone Wanderer
- I – Makeshift Warrior, Stabilized
- A – Adrenaline
- L – Bloody Mess, One Gun Army
Key Perks like Blocker and Incisor amplify melee damage to terrifying degrees. Combined with the Ultracite optimized bracers reducing Power Attack AP costs, you have virtually unlimited heavy hits!
Meanwhile, Stabilized boosts energy weapon damage critical for farming fluxes later. And One Gun Army cripples enemies rapidly reducing incoming attacks.
The spare Luck and Agility points still allow some damage boosting like Bloody Mess and the essential Adrenaline without overcommitting into glass cannon builds. You maintain solid protection for contained chaos!
I utilize this S.P.E.C.I.A.L. template as my personal go-to for everyday questing and events with the trusty Ultracite armor. Give it a shot next time you head out into the wasteland – I think you‘ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!
Concluding Thoughts
And that covers everything you could possibly need to know about acquiring the Ultracite Power Armor and unleashing its capabilities out in the post-nuclear wilds of Appalachia!
While the long questline may seem intimidating early on, I promise the storytelling and locations discovered along the journey make the reward more than worthwhile. That moment when you first craft and enter your completed Ultracite suit, knowing the full backstory and efforts to unlock its secrets – nothing compares!
You‘ll truly feel like the champion of the Brotherhood, continuing the brave footsteps of those before you while honoring their legacy with compassion. And whenever you gaze out into the uncertain future beckoning beyond the Enclave‘s machinations, at least that intense grinding to gather enough ballistic fiber pays off in dependable head-to-toe protection.
Hopefully this guide from a Fallout 76 power armor fanatic helps newer Vault Dwellers appreciate the Utracite‘s rich history and prepare their own personal set for diving deeper into late game content. Let me know if you have any other tips to share with fellow wanderers roaming Appalachia‘s remnants in advanced armor suits!
