Fallout 76 Season 26: Beware the Blood Moon Rewards, Dates and Legacy Seasons

Fallout 76 Season 26, "Beware the Blood Moon," has been live since September 15, 2026. It launched together with the free update "The Slasher." Bethesda announced the date on August 18, 2026, in its official newsroom, and on September 1 its own Steam news post confirmed the number: "The release of The Slasher Update also marks the debut of Season 26: Beware the Blood Moon!"

This article separates what Bethesda has said itself from what came out of test server datamining, and covers what's worth doing while the season runs.

📅 When did Fallout 76 Season 26 start?

The start date is the most solid fact. In the newsroom post "The Slasher Cuts In on September 15," Bethesda named September 15, 2026 and listed the update, the new season, Legacy Seasons, weapon crafting at the workbench and a "Gen 9 boost" for consoles in one go. As with every season change in Fallout 76, the previous season ended that day.

That made Season 25, "Appalachia Under Siege," unusually long. It started on June 2, 2026. From June 2 to September 15 is 105 days, a little over 15 weeks, while seasons had been running about three months.

As of October 9, 2026, Bethesda hasn't announced an end date for Season 26. The community-run fallout.wiki lists it as TBD. Bethesda's official fall community calendar only says that Season 27 comes in December, without a day.

⚠️ What's official and what isn't

A lot of claims about Fallout 76 Season 26 sound official but aren't. This table sorts them out:

That last point gets lost all the time: Bethesda doesn't give Fallout 76 patches consecutive numbers. It uses version numbers instead. Labels like "Patch 70" come from the fan site Nuka Knights. Keep that apart from the season number, which Bethesda does use itself. Officially, The Slasher shipped as game version 1.7.26.13.

🩸 Two spellings for the same name

A detail almost every news post skips: Bethesda has used two versions of the name. The August 18 newsroom post about The Slasher calls it "Beware of the Blood Moon," while the later "Inside the Vault" post about Legacy Seasons and the September 1 Steam post say "Beware the Blood Moon." The second version is what fallout.wiki and the big database sites use. It changes nothing in practice, but it explains why you'll find both.

🔪 The Slasher update rolls out in stages

Alongside Fallout 76 Season 26 came the free update "The Slasher." It's named after the Pint-Sized Slasher, according to the community a masked figure from Fallout 3.

Bethesda called the update "first of its kind": the content doesn't arrive all at once but in stages over several weeks. The rough order is official. You look for clues first, later dig up unmarked graves, then deal with fanatics spreading across the map, and finally face the impostor himself.

The August 18 announcement promised a unique Power Armor set and a new weapon called the "Super Slasher." The Super Slasher is in the September 15 update notes. A new Power Armor model isn't, and datamining points to a paint set instead. The weekly schedule and the rewards are covered in detail in our Fallout 76 The Slasher guide.

The update also lets you craft unique items: you can adjust their legendary mods and add a fourth one. For build tinkerers that's probably the change with the biggest long-term impact. Which uniques are worth it is in our list of all 83 unique weapons.

🎁 Rewards in Fallout 76 Season 26

Bethesda named four rewards in its Steam post "Pint-Sized Terror Stalks Appalachia in The Slasher Update": "…in-game rewards like the Batty Skirt, Blood Moon Power Armor Paint, Creepy Cultist Well and even the Blood Moon Weather Control Station!"

• Batty Skirt: a bat-themed skirt, so an outfit piece
• Blood Moon Power Armor Paint: a Blood Moon paint job for Power Armor
• Creepy Cultist Well: a cultist well for your C.A.M.P.
• Blood Moon Weather Control Station: a Blood Moon themed weather station for your C.A.M.P.

The word "like" makes clear these are examples, not a full list. Bethesda never presented the complete board in its posts. Now that the season is live, fallout.wiki documents it from the game: nine reward pages plus two bonus pages, with the usual Atoms on every page and utility items spread across them. Among them, per the wiki: Gold Bullion, Perk Coins, Nuclear Keycards, Re-Rollers, S.C.O.R.E. boosts, Stamps, Mystery Bobbleheads and, on the second bonus page, 10 Legendary Modules and 5,000 Caps.

Before launch, test server datamining also listed a "Bloody Nurse" outfit set, Power Armor paint variants for nine models and a "Vault of Terror" C.A.M.P. set. Nuka Knights stressed that those files could change. We haven't confirmed these cosmetics on the live board, so treat them as unconfirmed. Community reaction at the time was cool: a lot of the entries were recolors of existing items rather than new models.

The unlock system hasn't changed. It runs on S.C.O.R.E.: daily and weekly challenges give you points, each rank gives you 25 tickets, and you spend them freely across the season pages.

📦 Legacy Seasons run alongside

The biggest structural change isn't the season itself but a system next to it. Since September 15, Legacy Seasons let an old season run at the same time as the current one. Both share the same ticket pool, and you decide where to spend. The first returning season is "Armor Ace and the Power Patrol in Cold Steel," originally Season 4 from spring 2021.

Rewards you already unlocked back then count as claimed. Everything else in the Legacy Season has to be unlocked in order, while the current season keeps its free choice.

🖥️ Gen 9 boost: same date, different job

September 15 also brought the native console upgrade Bethesda calls the "Gen 9 boost." It's free and, according to the publisher, improves performance, stability and image quality, with longer view distances, better shadows and VRR support. All official resolution and frame rate targets per console are in our Fallout 76 next-gen update guide.

🗓️ What about Mothman Equinox?

An earlier Bethesda roadmap had Mothman Equinox starting on September 8, a week before the season change. Bethesda's official fall community calendar doesn't list it at all, and the community tracker Nuka Knights marks it as cancelled for 2026. We have no Bethesda statement explaining it. If you were waiting for it this September, it didn't happen on the official calendar.

What is on the calendar for October: Mischief Night from October 6 to 20, a Slasher-themed C.A.M.P. contest until October 26 and Spooky Scorched from October 20 to November 3.

⚒️ What to do during Season 26

• Spend tickets on utility first. Perk Coins, Gold Bullion and Legendary Modules last longer than decorations.
• Use the Legacy Season. If you missed Cold Steel in 2021, the shared ticket pool means you can catch up on it now without giving up the current board.
• Keep your unique weapons. With unique crafting you can now change their legendary mods. Stored uniques are worth more than they were before September 15. Don't scrap them.
• Rethink your build. Between unique crafting and the Slasher changes, it's a good moment to check your setup against our Fallout 76 best builds guide.

❓ FAQ about Fallout 76 Season 26

When did Fallout 76 Season 26 start?

On September 15, 2026, together with the free update "The Slasher." Bethesda announced the date on August 18, 2026, in its official newsroom.

When does Season 26 end?

Bethesda hasn't given a date. The official community calendar puts Season 27 in December 2026 without naming a day.

Is "Season 26" the official name?

Yes. Bethesda's official Steam post from September 1, 2026, says: "The release of The Slasher Update also marks the debut of Season 26: Beware the Blood Moon!" Patch numbers like "Patch 70" are not official. They come from the fan site Nuka Knights; Bethesda itself uses version numbers such as 1.7.26.13.

What rewards are in Fallout 76 Season 26?

Bethesda named four: the Batty Skirt, Blood Moon Power Armor Paint, Creepy Cultist Well and Blood Moon Weather Control Station. According to fallout.wiki the board has nine pages plus two bonus pages with Atoms, Gold Bullion, Perk Coins, Legendary Modules and other utility items.

When did Season 25 end?

When Season 26 started on September 15, 2026. Season 25 had been running since June 2, 2026, about 15 weeks, longer than the usual three months.

What are Legacy Seasons?

A system that runs an old season next to the current one. Both share one ticket pool, but the Legacy Season unlocks in order. The first one is "Armor Ace and the Power Patrol in Cold Steel" from spring 2021.

As of October 11, 2026 (game version 1.7.26.13, Season 26: Beware the Blood Moon). Checked against Bethesda's official newsroom posts "The Slasher Cuts In on September 15" (August 18, 2026) and "Inside the Vault" on Legacy Seasons, Bethesda's Steam post "Pint-Sized Terror Stalks Appalachia in The Slasher Update" (September 1, 2026), the official update notes from September 15, 2026, and Bethesda's official fall 2026 community calendar.

Community sources, not confirmed by Bethesda: patch numbers, the board layout and page rewards (fallout.wiki), the datamined cosmetics, the Fallout 3 origin of the Pint-Sized Slasher and the Mothman Equinox cancellation note (Nuka Knights).