Fallout 76 camp pets are no longer stuck in the back yard. A new Public Test Server build lets every existing camp pet leave your home and travel with you across the Appalachian Wasteland, the first slice of a feature Bethesda is calling a “major new feature” set to reach the live game later this year. This early version focuses on one thing only, which is how pets move with you, so do not expect them to fight just yet.
Quick answer: On the PTS, open the ‘stat’ menu in your Pip-Boy and select the new ‘pets’ tab to bring a cat, dog, radhog, or deathclaw into the world with you. Look directly at the pet or open the emote wheel to issue ‘stay’ or ‘follow.’
What the Fallout 76 world pets feature does right now
Camp pets were a relatively recent addition, and until this update they stayed confined to your C.A.M.P. as decorations. The PTS build changes that. Any pet you already own can come along on your adventures, including the deathclaw, and the menus make clear this is the start of a larger plan rather than the finished system.
The current rollout is described as “focused testing on pet navigation.” Your companion will show no interest in combat. It will not attack the enemies you fight, and it will not take damage in return, so it is completely safe while the locomotion is being tuned. The pets tab in the Pip-Boy includes every existing option, namely cats, dogs, radhogs, and the deathclaw.
Commands are limited for now. By looking at your pet or pulling up the emote wheel, you can tell it to ‘stay’ or ‘follow,’ and each does exactly what it sounds like. The menu also reveals a future addition. You will be able to level your pets up once combat is switched on, which lines up with what Bethesda has teased about a full companion system.
Imagine a world where your CAMP pet becomes your CAMPanion. It follows you around the entire map, adventures with you, explores with you, can fight for you, will sit, will stay, can be commanded to kill, has a skill tree. Dogs, hogs, cats, Deathclaws…
Where you can and cannot take pets
Most of Appalachia is open to your companion, both indoors and outside. There are only a few exceptions to keep in mind while testing.
| Location or action | Pet allowed? |
|---|---|
| Open world, indoors and outdoors | Yes |
| Raids | No |
| Shelters | No |
| Swimming underwater | No |
Bethesda is asking testers to travel widely and flag any spots where pet movement does not behave as expected. That feedback is the whole point of this phase, so areas where pathing breaks down are exactly what the team wants to hear about.
How to try roaming pets on the PTS
You know it is working when the pet appears beside you outside of your C.A.M.P. and responds to your follow and stay commands as you move between locations. If you enter a raid, a shelter, or dive underwater, the pet will not accompany you, which is expected rather than a bug.
Other changes in the same PTS update
The pets test arrives bundled with several other adjustments. Unique items across the world have been reworked so that each now ships with at least three legendary mods and a special effect. You can modify the mods that are equipped or add a four-star if you have one available. The Scrip cost for swapping legendary mods has also been fixed so it no longer climbs each time you make a change. The full breakdown lives in Bethesda’s PTS patch notes.
Weapon balancing rounds out the build. The changes are summarized below.
| Weapon | Change |
|---|---|
| Lever Action Rifle | Gains an extra round in each clip |
| Brotherhood Recon Rifle | No longer has crafting restrictions; replaced by a Recon Scope recipe in the Distant Thunder activity |
| Fancy Single Action Revolver | Converted from a distinct gun into a weapon skin |
| Fancy Pump Action Shotgun | Converted from a distinct gun into a weapon skin |
If you own either Fancy weapon, it will be replaced with the standard version carrying the matching design once the skin conversion applies.
What comes next for Fallout 76 companions
Bethesda is clear that this version “does not represent the full scope of the feature” and does not include the rest of the content arriving alongside it. A second PTS phase is planned for later in the year. That phase will switch on companion combat and add the remaining pieces of the update, which is where the skill tree, fighting, and the “command to kill” behavior come in.
The roaming companion system is aimed at the live game later this year, though no exact public release date has been confirmed. For now, the world pets test is a chance to take your cat, dog, radhog, or deathclaw on a walk across Appalachia, knowing they will come home unscathed every time.
