Fallout 76 4-Star Mods from Infestations: Effects, Crafting and Builds

The real reason the Infestations are worth your time isn't just the guaranteed 4-star legendaries. It's the five Fallout 76 4-star mods that came with them. They sit one tier above classic 3-star gear. Here are all five effects, their crafting costs and the builds each one fits.

Quick answer: the five 4-star mods from the Infestations update are Tarnished, Vector, Raging, Satiated and Hauler's. Crafting one costs 120 Legendary Modules plus one ingredient. Two go on weapons, three on armor and Power Armor.

⭐ What are the new Fallout 76 4-star mods?

The 4-star system arrived with the Gleaming Depths raid, which gave legendaries a fourth mod slot. The five effects in this guide came later with the Infestations update in June 2026 ("Patch 68" in the community count of the fan site Nuka Knights; Bethesda uses version numbers but no consecutive patch numbers). Infestation bosses drop them, either on the guaranteed 4-star item or as a mod you can learn. The raid is a second source of 4-star mods in general. Whether these five are in its loot pool we couldn't confirm.

Once you've learned an effect, you can craft it onto other gear that has a free fourth slot.

🔧 The 5 new 4-star mods in detail

1. Tarnished (weapon)

Effect: increases weapon damage by up to 120% depending on the weapon's current durability. It's the counterpart to Polished, and it rewards a worn-down weapon instead of a freshly repaired one. The Slasher update on September 15, 2026, fixed how Tarnished and Polished behave, so check the in-game text on your copy.
Crafting: 120 Legendary Modules + 5 Fiberglass.
Who it's for: builds that don't repair all the time and are happy to run a weapon down on purpose. Paired with a high fire rate the bonus adds up fast, but you have to manage condition actively.

2. Vector (armor / Power Armor)

Effect: +10% V.A.T.S. hit chance against distant targets.
Crafting: 120 Legendary Modules + 1 Magnifying Glass.
Who it's for: V.A.T.S.-heavy rifle and sniper builds that fight at range. It closes the usual gap when far-away targets get too inaccurate in V.A.T.S. The Slasher update reworded Vector's description, so compare it with what your game shows.

3. Raging (armor / Power Armor)

Effect: when you get hit, you deal +3% damage for 10 seconds. The effect refreshes as long as you keep taking hits.
Crafting: 120 Legendary Modules + 1 Buffout.
Who it's for: aggressive melee and tank play where you're in the line of fire anyway. The longer the fight, the more it pays off.

4. Satiated (weapon)

Effect: Humans: kills restore hunger and thirst. Ghouls: kills fill the Feral meter.
Crafting: 120 Legendary Modules + 5 Salt.
Who it's for: a survival comfort mod. Human characters keep hunger and thirst in check on the side. For Ghoul characters, topping up the Feral meter in the middle of a fight is especially handy.

5. Hauler's (armor / Power Armor)

Effect: +30 carry weight.
Crafting: 120 Legendary Modules + 5 Cloth.
Who it's for: pure quality of life. Great for farming runs and collectors who are always at their weight limit.

🛠️ How to learn and craft the mods

It works like the rest of legendary crafting. You learn a mod by scrapping a legendary item that carries it. According to fallout.wiki, for Tarnished that's a 1% chance per scrapped item to learn the recipe, plus a 1.5% chance to get a mod box instead. Mod boxes can be traded with other players. Once learned, you craft the mod at the Tinker's Workbench and apply it to gear with a free fourth slot. Make sure the target item already has its fourth star unlocked.

The expensive part is the 120 Legendary Modules per mod. Unwanted legendaries don't turn into modules directly: you trade them in at a Legendary Exchange machine for Legendary Scrip. According to the community-run fallout.wiki, Purveyor Murmrgh sells modules for 100 Legendary Scrip each, with at most 100 in stock. Events, expeditions and season rewards add more. If you run Infestation bosses regularly, scrip and legendaries pile up on the side, so the loop partly pays for itself. Still, plan for several runs before you put one effect on more than one piece.

🎯 Which mod is right for you?

For pure damage builds, Tarnished (weapon) and Vector (V.A.T.S. at range) are the most interesting. Raging shines in tanky melee setups. Satiated and Hauler's aren't meta, but they make everyday play a lot more comfortable, especially during long farming sessions. Since each mod costs 120 modules, craft the one that fits your main setup first. If you're still deciding on that setup, our Fallout 76 best builds guide and the best weapons tier list help.

❓ FAQ

Where do I get the new 4-star mods?

From Infestation bosses, either on the guaranteed 4-star item or as a learnable mod. You learn a mod by scrapping a legendary item that has it. The Gleaming Depths raid also drops 4-star mods, but we couldn't confirm that these five are in its pool.

What does crafting cost?

120 Legendary Modules per mod plus the ingredient, for example 5 Fiberglass for Tarnished or 1 Magnifying Glass for Vector. It's expensive on purpose, so plan ahead.

Do the mods go on weapons or armor?

Both: Tarnished and Satiated are weapon mods, Vector, Raging and Hauler's go on armor or Power Armor.

Which one is best?

It depends on your build. For maximum damage, Tarnished or Vector. For comfort, Hauler's and Satiated.

Did The Slasher update change these mods?

Bethesda's September 15, 2026 update notes list a fix for Tarnished and Polished and a new description for Vector. The values above are from before that update, so compare them with the in-game text.

As of October 9, 2026 (game version 1.7.26.13, The Slasher update). Tarnished's effect, recipe and learning chances, the module price at Murmrgh and the scrip sources were checked against fallout.wiki, a community wiki built from the game files. The values for Vector, Raging, Satiated and Hauler's come from game data recorded at the Infestations launch in June 2026; we couldn't recheck them against the wiki for this update. Bethesda can change values with any hotfix.