Fallout 76 is the latest installment in Bethesda’s iconic Fallout series. The game arrived in 2018 and since then it has been receiving constant support in the form of expansions and bug fixes.

Fallout 76 stands out from previous installations due to the MMO touches applied to its huge world. So, players must not only be alert to the native dangers, but also to other rival players.

Bethesda uses a ‘Season Updates’ system to keep players engaged. Just yesterday Fallout 76 received its season 8 update.

However, it seems that the update also brought some issues to important game mechanics. More specifically, the Fallout 76 VATS mode is broken after season 8 update (1, 2, 3, 4).

What is VATS mode in Fallout 76?

For those who don’t know, ‘VATS’ is a special shooting system inherited from previous releases in the Fallout series. Basically it helps you to increase the precision while shooting.

In Fallout 4, VATS slowed down time while aiming and shooting at the enemy. However, due to the online nature of Fallout 76, VATS is a bit different.

In Fallout 76, VATS provides percentages that represent the chance to hit an enemy. As you land multiple shots, a bar fills up allowing you to critically hit when full.

The other issue is that VATS mode is randomly disabled, which can happen right when you’re about to fire a critical hit.

Fallout 76 VATS mode broken after season 8 update

One of the problems with VATS mode after Fallout 76 season 8 update is that shots miss more than before. Also, even critical attacks miss the enemy.

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The other issue is that VATS mode turns itself off randomly, which can happen right when you’re about to critically hit the enemy.

Something seems wrong with VATS crits to me since today.

I used to be able to(1) go into vats(2) hold space down(3) fire and crit until I run out of AP, or the enemy dies

What I am seeing now is:- I randomly get kicked out of vats after a crit. I am not out of AP, and the enemy is not dead
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In certain cases it can even happen that the damage dealt to the enemy’s health in VATS mode is fully restored a few seconds later.

VATS issues since update. Enemies won’t die?

Anybody else having VATS issues? Like I will kill an enemy with VATS, and it will take their health all the way down, but then its like their health bar will jump back up just a bit. I will have to keep shooting to kill them. It was not like this before the update. This must be a new bug with whatever they patched today.
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Meanwhile, some players are completely unable to use VATS mode.

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The version affected by the problem

The Fallout 76 update that brought the VATS mode issues is version 1.6.2.15, according to reports. There is still no official acknowledgment of the issues described above from Bethesda.

We will update this story as events unfold in the future.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Jean Leon
1613 Posts

A tech enthusiast since ever. I like to always be up to date on the latest news in the industry and write about it. Twitter: @jean_ERdC

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