Fallout 76 Raid 2026: Gleaming Depths, Finding a Group and Walkthrough

The Fallout 76 raid is called "Gleaming Depths", and in 2026 it is still the only raid in the game. It is built for exactly four players, and there is still no automatic matchmaking.

What most guides skip: a Raid Public Team that gets you a group without Discord or a friends list. Below you'll find how to get a group, how the five encounters play out, which builds work and what you get at the end.

☢️ The key facts at a glance

• Group size: exactly four players. Bethesda describes it as an endgame activity "designed to be faced by a party of four highly leveled and geared players".
• Finding a group: no matchmaking, but a dedicated Raid team type in the public team search.
• Structure: five encounters in a row, each with its own co-op mechanic.
• Revives: not possible during an encounter. If you die, you watch until the phase is over.
• No lockout: you can repeat it right away, there is no reset timer.
• Rewards: 4-star legendary weapons, armor and mods plus exclusive player titles.

👥 Finding a group: the Raid Public Team is the fastest way

Most players look for a group on Discord servers or call out in area chat. That works, but it's a detour. With Gleaming Depths, Bethesda added a dedicated category to the public teams, and it gets used surprisingly rarely.

The official update notes say it plainly: "Make sure you utilize the new Raid Public Team before entering the raid." This team type also grants a Weapon Durability buff that only works in the Gleaming Depths.

Here's how you get in: open the Social menu, switch to Teams, pick the Raid type in the list of public teams, and join an existing team or start one yourself. A team you open shows up in the same list for every other player on the server, so you don't have to wait for someone else to create one.

Two more things help. There is a ping system that lets you mark targets without voice chat. And a full team really pays off: a three-player run isn't intended, because several phases require the group to split up.

🗺️ Where the Fallout 76 raid starts

The entrance sits in the southern part of the Ash Heap, the mining region with the slag heaps in the south of the map. The team leader enters the instance first, the other three follow. Joining a run already in progress isn't intended: if you lose your connection, your group is one player short for the rest of the run.

Bethesda doesn't name a fixed minimum level. In practice you need a finished endgame character: full perk cards, legendary gear and enough ammo for long fights. If your build is still a work in progress, sort that out first.

🔁 The walkthrough: five encounters back to back

The encounter names below come from the game client and from community databases such as Nuka Knights and the independent Fallout Wiki. The structure itself is undisputed and identical across all sources.

#	Encounter	What it's about	Typical loot
1	EN06 Guardian	A heavily armored guard robot. Break its shield first, then deal damage during the heat phases and get to cover in time.	5,000 XP, caps, bullion, the Valkyrie weapon, Vulcan Power Armor plans
2	Ultragenetic Mole Miners	Not a pure boss fight: you fuel a tunnel boring machine with canisters from the side tunnels while an extremely deadly stalker patrols.	15,000 XP, the Drill Fist weapon, a legendary power armor piece
3	Enclave Squad Epsilon	The group splits up: some of you destroy three shield generators, the rest keep the guards and the repairing eyebots busy.	20,000 XP, the Resolve Breaker and Flatliner weapons, an Enclave paint
4	Ultragenetic Stalker	Destroy Ultracite crystals to trigger energy waves that damage the horde. On top of that, a poison cloud drains your Action Points.	25,000 XP, the Cauterizer and Lickety-Split weapons
5	Ultracite Terror	The final boss, a giant Ultracite creature. You have to destroy its tail regularly or the platform breaks away. Add poison puddles and knockback attacks.	30,000 XP, the Boiling Point and Ultracite Terror Sword weapons, Secret Operative Underarmor

After the fifth encounter, the reward chest for the full run opens. The XP values and individual weapon names come from community databases, not from Bethesda, so the amounts can shift with patches. What each of these named weapons does is listed in our complete list of unique weapons and their effects.

⚰️ The rule most groups fail on

The official update notes mention the most important rule almost in passing: "Your team will not be able to revive you until the encounter is finished." So there is no second chance within a phase.

That changes everything about how you play. A Bloodied build at 20 percent health that clears everything in the open Wasteland becomes a liability here as soon as the first area attack lands. Once you're down, all you can do is watch your teammates, and three people can barely handle the split phases.

The practical takeaway: survivability beats peak damage. Better to take twenty seconds longer on a boss than to hit the floor at second ten.

🧬 Builds: what every role needs to bring

Fallout 76 doesn't demand fixed classes here, but four building blocks should be covered by the team. One person can cover several of them.

• Consistent single-target damage. For the boss phases. Commando and Heavy Gunner are the most reliable options.
• A sturdy anchor. Power armor with high Damage and Energy Resistance.
• Someone for the side tasks. Hauling canisters, blowing up generators, cracking crystals: that takes mobility and a weapon that hits without V.A.T.S.
• Supplies. Stimpaks, RadAway, armor repair and enough ammo for five long fights. Weapon durability is a real issue in Gleaming Depths, hence the Raid Public Team buff.

Mutations and food buffs are worth more than usual, because a run takes a long time and you can't top them up in between.

🎁 Rewards: 4-star mods are the real reason to go

For the Fallout 76 raid, Bethesda officially lists 4-star legendary weapons, armor and mods plus player titles that you only get through raid challenges. The big advantage over other endgame content: there is no weekly lockout. According to the patch notes, raids "can be completed back-to-back without having to wait for a reset timer".

That makes Gleaming Depths the second reliable source of 4-star mods next to Infestations. If you farm both in parallel, keep a list of which mods your character has already learned, or you lose track fast.

Legendary Modules for rerolling your loot remain the bottleneck, so plan where you get them and how you spend them.

💡 Mistakes that cost you a run

• Going in without the Raid Public Team. You miss the durability buff, and your weapons give out in the middle of a boss fight.
• Starting with three players. The split phases are built for four roles.
• Going all in on damage. Without revives, a dead top DPS is worth nothing.
• No role call. Bethesda itself writes that you and your squad have to "take on unique roles during the encounters and communicate with each other". Two sentences before the start save ten minutes of chaos.
• Underestimating ammo. Five encounters in a row burn through far more than an event.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about the Fallout 76 raid

Is there matchmaking for the Fallout 76 raid?
No. Bethesda didn't add automatic matchmaking. The official substitute is the Raid Public Team in the Social menu, which lets you team up with three other players on the same server.

Can I do the Fallout 76 raid solo?
It's explicitly built for four players, and several phases require the group to split up. Solo attempts take an extreme amount of effort and aren't realistic for normal builds.

What level do I need for the Fallout 76 raid?
Bethesda doesn't name a fixed minimum level and talks about "highly leveled and geared" players instead. In practice that means a finished endgame build with legendary gear, not level 50 with starter equipment.

How often can I run it per week?
As often as you want. According to the patch notes there is no reset timer, so you can chain runs back to back.

What happens if I die in the Fallout 76 raid?
You can only be revived once the current encounter is over, and you spectate until then. The run isn't automatically lost, but it gets much harder for the remaining teammates.

Is the Fallout 76 raid still worth it in 2026?
Yes, because without a weekly lockout it's the densest source of 4-star gear in the game. For pure material farming, though, legendary farming routes are more relaxed.

As of: September 10, 2026. Information on group size, the Raid Public Team, revives and rewards comes from Bethesda's official update notes for "Gleaming Depths" on bethesda.net. The names of the five encounters, the XP values and the individual weapon names come from community sources (Nuka Knights, the independent Fallout Wiki).