The Calm Before is the mission in Fallout 76‘s Skyline Valley update that you should really be excited about. This is the mission in which you enter Vault 63 and learn more about the Lost enemies that have been plaguing you this entire time.
You’ll begin The Calm Before as soon as you complete Into Lands Unknown in Fallout 76. It starts just as you enter the grounds of the creepy mansion at the heart of the red storm that’s been growing over the massive new location on the game’s map. It’s definitely the toughest quest in the area so far, but the revelations that come after are well worth the effort you’ve got to put in.
How to complete The Calm Before in Fallout 76
Below, I’ve outlined exactly how to complete The Calm Before in Fallout 76 in clear steps. This quest is quite challenging and has one section that might throw you off completely, but you can get through it as long as you have these pointers.
Step 1: Clear out Dark Hollow Manor
I couldn’t blame you for not wanting to enter a place called Dark Hollow Manor. Unfortunately for you, you’ve got to get inside and kill every Ghoul and Lost you can see to complete The Calm Before. Make no mistake, this is an incredibly tough encounter to get through because most of the Ghouls will explode as soon as they get close to you.
The best tactic for surviving here is to use long-range weapons to clear out every enemy possible. The Lost are slightly sturdier, but I managed to get rid of them with one or two swings of my trusty and highly upgraded bat. The final enemy you’ll need to kill is a Champion Lost.
This enemy dons Power Armor and is just a bullet sponge. Use every grenade and explosive you have to whittle its health down until it’s dead. I managed to hide from it behind some of the pillars on the upper level while taking potshots when I could. In the end, I had to swing away with my bat to take it out.
Step 2: Enter Vault 63
With all the enemies dead, it’s time to go downstairs. There’s a door in the wall on the right-hand side of this main room in the manor that leads into the basement. Once down there, you’ll find a wall with a hand scanner on the right and an intercom on the left.
Interact with the intercom to receive the very strange instruction to find a hand that will allow you to enter Vault 63. This threw me at first because we’ve been killing Lost the entire journey to and around this location. However, I soon discovered, as you will, that any Lost corpse will do for a hand.
Handily, I’d killed a Lost at the top of the stairs, so I cut off its hand and used it on the scanner below to unlock the fake stone wall and open up the passage into Vault 63.
Step 3: Complete a task for Hugo Stolz
After you’ve entered the Vault proper, you’ll be directed to the Overseer, a man called Hugo Stolz who happens to look just like a Lost. Unlike the mindless Lost you’ve been killing, he retains his humanity and takes a liking to you right away.
This part of the quest is pretty easy to complete. Stolz wants you to get a situation report from James Oberlin downstairs. Take the doorway to your left and follow it all the way down into the main Vault until you find Oberlin in a room on the upper balcony, close to where you enter the main atrium.
Oberlin is immediately suspicious of you, but you can get the situation report without any issues just by talking to him. If you have high enough Intelligence, you can also ask him some details about the Vault, such as why Stolz looks like a Lost, what’s going on with the weather, and why everyone is a Ghoul.
Deliver the report to Stolz to complete the quest. After this, you’ll be given two new quests you can tackle, one for Oberlin and one for Stolz. The one for Stolz is much more interesting, but it’s good to gain some favor with Oberlin because he doesn’t know what to think of you.
