Fallout 76 Steel Reign release date set for July

Fallout 76: Steel Reign, the eighth major update coming to Bethesda's online RPG, now has a July 7 release date. Check out the reveal trailer introducing the free expansion's story above.

Steel Reign will tell the conclusion of the Brotherhood of Steel story arc, which began in the Steel Dawn expansion. The story continues with a bit of a moral dilemma you'll be facing after your arrival in Fort Atlas. With tensions between Paladin Rahmani and Knight Shin reaching a fever pitch and Super Mutants making people disappear, you'll have two possible paths to take the Brotherhood: justice or commitment to duty.

Fallout 76: Steel Reign launched on the PTS on June 4, giving players the chance to check out the new content early and help refine the experience before its wider release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. The update's story kicks off with the new Steel Reign questline, which picks up right where you left off in Steel Dawn. As you might expect, you'll need to be at least level 20 and have had completed the 'Best Defense' quest prior to starting the Steel Reign quests. The new questline starts with a quest called 'A Knight's Penance', which will lead you to talk to Russell Dorsey in Fort Atlas to continue the Brotherhood story.

In addition to the new quests, Fallout 76: Steel Reign introduces a new vendor named Minerva. You'll find her set up at Fort Atlas, Foundation, or The Crater with a regularly rotating stock of items including Gold Bullion Plans, which are usually only available from other Gold Bullion Vendors, or by completing Daily Ops.

Then there's the new legendary crafting system, which will allow you to turn regular items into legendary items, re-roll your existing legendary items' attributes, and upgrade or downgrade their star ratings. There are also some new legendary attributes and tweaks to existing legendary attributes coming in Steel Reign.

Whether you're a veteran vault dweller or just seeing the apocalypse for the first time, don't miss these 24 essential Fallout 76 tips for surviving and thriving in the wasteland.