How to Get the Compound Bow in Fallout 76

The Fallout 76 compound bow is only one of the many recent additions to the online action RPG with the Wastelanders update. Outside of the crowds of NPCs roaming the wild wastes ready to strike up a conversation at the drop of the hat, it’s one of the new weapons to be had.

Of all of the new weapons, including the standard bow, none of them is quite as stylish as the compound bow. It’s stealthy, it makes you feel awesome, it’s probably not very effective against Power Armor, but hey, it’s cool, and style is important, baby. 

How to Get the Compound Bow in Fallout 76

Get the Compound Bow by Completing the Wayward Bar Quest

The easiest way to get the bow is to head to the Wayward Bar near Vault 76 and follow the questline that Duchess gives you there. Play through the quest and you’ll earn the plans as a reward. This particular questline is available to all players no matter what, which makes it the most efficient way possible to acquire this new weapon. 

This’ll save you money, too, and is probably the most efficient way of getting the bow if you’d rather not commit to either of the factions. Of course, if you just don’t like Duchess for some reason, then you can always ignore them and choose to side with one of the factions instead to get the bow. 

Get the Compound Bow by Siding with Factions

If you want to unlock the compound bow in Fallout 76 in a different way, then you’ll first need to make your way to Foundation, which is a settlement of NPCs added in the Wastelanders update.

Here, you’ll need to play nice with the Settlers, which is one of the new factions. Go on quests for them, keep an eye on daily faction quests, say lovely things about their shoes, notice their new haircuts, that kind of thing. 

Once you reach the rank of Ally, you’ll be able to buy the compound bow. 

You can only purchase the bow from Sunny’s Store in Foundation once you’ve reached the rank of Ally with the Settlers. You can actually buy some useful items from there long before you unlock the compound bow, but you’ll have to prove yourself before they’ll sell it to you. 

If the settlers just aren’t doing it for you, you can also get the bow by building your relationship up with the Raiders over in Crater instead. It’s the same kind of process, just with a different faction and different faces. If you side with the Raiders, you’ll need to purchase the plans from Guns, Guns, Guns.

Both of these methods will allow you to purchase the plans for 300 caps. 

Best Compound Bow Perks

Once you’ve got your hands on the bow, you’ll want to wield it with deadly accuracy. The best way to do that, other than working on your aiming, is to choose the right perks. 

The Bow Before Me perk will give your bows and crossbows the ability to ignore armor and even give them a small chance to stagger on hit, too.

The Archer perk allows you to boost the damage of your bows and crossbows, and you can also take the Expert Archer perk to stack even more damage per hit. 

If you take all three of these perks, you’ll be an absolute powerhouse of an archer who’d give Legolas a run for his money. 

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That’s all you need to know about the Fallout 76 compound bow in Wastelanders. For more tips on the wasteland, be sure to check out our other Fallout 76 guides.