Last updated: 3 July 2026

ARC Raiders Crafting Guide Workshop, Materials & Upgrade Order 2026

Crafting in ARC Raiders is not a secondary system — it is the engine of your entire progression. Every weapon upgrade, every shield tier, every healing item you bring into a raid is a product of your workshop at Speranza. Understanding how the seven stations relate to each other, which materials gate which upgrades, and how the Refiner converts the common scrap you loot into the rare components you need is what separates Raiders who run consistently strong gear from those who are perpetually under-equipped. This guide covers the full crafting system end-to-end: station roles, complete upgrade costs, material farming locations, the Refiner conversion path, blueprints, recycling, and the priority order that delivers the most power per run.

01How the Workshop System Works

The workshop is located at Speranza, your persistent base between raids. It consists of seven stations, each specialising in a different category of gear. Six of those stations can be upgraded from Level 1 to Level 3, and each upgrade level unlocks additional recipes. The seventh station — the general Workbench — is free and available after playing one raid.

The upgrade system has three tiers of material cost, and each tier introduces a different ingredient class:

• Level 1 upgrades — Paid entirely in basic materials (Metal Parts, Rubber Parts, Plastic Parts, Fabric, Chemicals) plus ARC Alloy for three stations. These are cheap and accessible from your first few runs.
• Level 2 upgrades — Require Mechanical Components, Electrical Components, and ARC creature part drops (Wasp Drivers, Hornet Drivers, Tick Pods, etc.). These components are crafted in the Refiner or looted from elite ARC enemies.
• Level 3 upgrades — Require Advanced Mechanical and Electrical Components plus high-rarity ARC drops (Sentinel Firing Cores, Bastion Cells, etc.). These gate endgame recipes and take sustained farming to unlock.

You never need to upgrade all seven stations equally. ARC Raiders rewards focused investment — picking two or three stations that match your playstyle and upgrading them fully is far more effective than spreading resources thin across everything.

02The Five Basic Materials — and Where to Farm Them

Five basic material types underpin all Level 1 crafting and feed the Refiner that produces the advanced components needed at Level 2. Learning where each material spawns in the field makes every run more efficient.

Where to find each material in the field:

• Metal Parts — The most common material in the game. Found in garages, industrial buildings, mechanical workshops, and from recycling early-game weapons that you will soon replace. Scrappy the Rooster (your passive material companion at Speranza) frequently returns with Metal Parts, so you will accumulate these faster than anything else.
• Rubber Parts — Found near vehicles, machinery, and rubber goods in residential and industrial areas. Not as abundant as Metal Parts but still common enough that most players have a surplus. Pair with Metal Parts in the Refiner to produce Mechanical Components.
• Plastic Parts — Found in electronics, household appliances, toys, and consumer goods. Look in residential interiors and shopping areas. Used primarily in Gear Bench and Utility Station upgrades.
• Fabric — Found in clothing, bags, curtains, and soft furnishings. Residential buildings and clothing stores are the best sources. Fabric is the primary material for Medical Lab upgrades and armor crafting, so early shortage is common — prioritise looting it.
• Chemicals — Found in labs, chemical storage rooms, janitor closets, and pharmacy sections. Required for Explosives Station Level 1. Less commonly needed by casual players but essential if you rely on grenades.

03ARC Components: The Mid-Tier Crafting Bottleneck

Three material categories come specifically from ARC enemies or high-threat containers and cannot be farmed in White zones:

• ARC Alloy — Required at Level 1 for Medical Lab, Explosives Station, and Utility Station (6 per station). Drops from ARC enemy kills in Orange and Red zones, and occasionally found in mid-tier containers. This material gates three important stations early, so clearing ARC patrols — rather than avoiding them — pays off.
• ARC Powercells — Required for Refiner Level 1 (5 units). ARC Powercells are also used as shield recharge consumables, so you will naturally find them when looting ARC-killed zones. Courier-type ARC enemies are reliable sources.
• ARC Motion Cores — Required for Refiner Level 2 (5 units). Drops from mid-tier ARC units in Orange and Red zones. Farm while clearing Orange zones to collect these organically.
• ARC Circuitry — Required for Refiner Level 3 (10 units). The highest-volume ARC material requirement in the game. Sources are Elite ARC units and Red zone containers. Expect to spend several dedicated farming sessions collecting enough.

ARC creature drops also include named components used for specific station upgrades at Level 2 and 3: Wasp Drivers (Gunsmith L2), Hornet Drivers (Gear Bench L2), Tick Pods (Medical Lab L2), Pop Triggers (Explosives L2), Snitch Scanners (Utility L2), Fireball Burners (Refiner L2), and their elite counterparts for Level 3. These drops come from specific ARC enemy types, so consulting the current kill-log on which enemy type drops which part will help you farm efficiently.

04Seven Workshop Stations: What Each Crafts

Each station handles a distinct gear category. Knowing what each produces prevents wasted upgrade investment:

• Workbench (General) — Free after your first raid. Crafts essential consumables, basic ammunition types, Light Shields, and unlocks the Looting Mk.1 Augment. No upgrade cost — simply available.
• Gunsmith — Your most critical early investment. Crafts firearms and weapon attachments. Level 1 unlocks standard weapons and basic mods. Level 2 unlocks suppressors (which dramatically change how ARC enemies respond to your shots) and higher-tier rifles like the Arpeggio. Level 3 unlocks top-tier weapons including the Bettina.
• Gear Bench — Crafts armor, shields, and tactical gear. Level 1 provides basic shield and Light Armour options. Level 2 unlocks Heavy Shield compatibility and Combat Mk.2 Augment. Level 3 unlocks Combat Mk.3 (aggressive builds) and Looting Mk.3 (cautious builds).
• Medical Lab — Crafts healing items and recovery tools. Level 1 requires ARC Alloy but provides Bandages and basic heal items. Level 2 unlocks improved healing. Level 3 unlocks Vita Spray, the highest-tier healing consumable — essential for sustained Red zone runs.
• Explosives Station — Crafts grenades, mines, and throwables. Level 1 requires ARC Alloy and Chemicals. Higher tiers unlock stun and incendiary variants. Niche for combat-focused players; deprioritise if you avoid grenade use.
• Utility Station — Crafts tactical tools: barricades, smoke grenades, binoculars, cloaking devices, and ziplines. Level 1 requires ARC Alloy. Useful for mobility and recon builds; lower priority than Gunsmith and Gear Bench for most new players.
• Refiner — The conversion hub. Does not produce gear directly; instead converts common basic materials into the Mechanical Components and Electrical Components that all other stations need at Level 2 and above. Unlocking and maintaining the Refiner is mandatory for mid-game progression.

05Full Workshop Upgrade Costs

Gunsmith

• Level 1: 20× Metal Parts, 30× Rubber Parts
• Level 2: 3× Rusted Tools, 5× Mechanical Components, 8× Wasp Drivers
• Level 3: 3× Rusted Gears, 5× Advanced Mechanical Components, 4× Sentinel Firing Cores

Gear Bench

• Level 1: 25× Plastic Parts, 30× Fabric
• Level 2: 3× Power Cables, 5× Electrical Components, 5× Hornet Drivers
• Level 3: 3× Industrial Batteries, 5× Advanced Electrical Components, 6× Bastion Cells

Medical Lab

• Level 1: 50× Fabric, 6× ARC Alloy
• Level 2: 2× Cracked Bioscanners, 5× Durable Cloth, 8× Tick Pods
• Level 3: 3× Rusted Shut Medical Kits, 8× Antiseptic, 5× Surveyor Vaults

Explosives Station

• Level 1: 50× Chemicals, 6× ARC Alloy
• Level 2: 3× Synthesized Fuel, 5× Crude Explosives, 5× Pop Triggers
• Level 3: 3× Laboratory Reagents, 5× Explosive Compound, 3× Rocketeer Drivers

Utility Station

• Level 1: 50× Plastic Parts, 6× ARC Alloy
• Level 2: 2× Damaged Heat Sinks, 5× Electrical Components, 6× Snitch Scanners
• Level 3: 3× Fried Motherboards, 5× Advanced Electrical Components, 4× Leaper Pulse Units

Refiner

• Level 1: 60× Metal Parts, 5× ARC Powercells
• Level 2: 3× Toasters, 5× ARC Motion Cores, 8× Fireball Burners
• Level 3: 3× Motors, 10× ARC Circuitry, 6× Bombardier Cells

Notice that Level 2 upgrades across all stations share a common dependency: Mechanical Components (Gunsmith) or Electrical Components (Gear Bench, Utility Station). Both are crafted in the Refiner, which means the Refiner Level 1 is an implicit prerequisite for meaningfully progressing any other station beyond Level 1.

06The Refiner: Turning Common Scraps into Rare Components

The Refiner is the most strategically important station in your workshop, even though it produces no gear directly. Its entire function is converting materials you have in surplus into materials you are short of.

The most important recipe available at Refiner Level 1 is:

• 7× Metal Parts + 3× Rubber Parts → 1× Mechanical Component

Because Metal Parts and Rubber Parts are among the most common drops in the game — and Mechanical Components are required for every other station's Level 2 upgrade — this single recipe effectively converts your run-to-run looting into workshop progress. Running the Refiner consistently between raids is equivalent to passively upgrading your other stations over time.

The Electrical Components recipe (available at Refiner Level 1 as well) follows a similar pattern, converting Plastic Parts and Chemicals into the components Gear Bench and Utility Station need at Level 2.

At Refiner Level 2 and 3, the conversion recipes shift toward ARC-sourced materials, allowing you to produce Advanced Mechanical Components and Advanced Electrical Components from ARC creature drops. These unlock Level 3 upgrades across all stations. The ARC Motion Core and ARC Circuitry requirements for the Refiner itself are the main barrier — expect Refiner Level 3 to be a late-game milestone rather than a near-term goal.

Practical tip: use the Track Resources button in the crafting menu to mark which materials a specific recipe needs. The game will then highlight compatible items in the field during your next raid, making targeted farming significantly easier.

07Blueprint System: Unlocking Advanced Recipes

Blueprints unlock advanced crafting recipes that are not available by default. The mechanic has two critical rules that new players frequently get wrong:

1. A blueprint found in a raid must be successfully extracted before you can learn it. If you die before reaching the extraction point, the blueprint is lost with the rest of your unprotected inventory. Prioritise getting out safely whenever you find a blueprint.
2. Learning a blueprint is a one-time action — it permanently unlocks that recipe. The blueprint item is consumed when you learn it, but the recipe it unlocks remains in your workshop permanently. You do not need to re-acquire the blueprint to craft the item again.

Blueprints are found in loot containers (especially in Orange and Red zones) and as quest rewards. High-rarity blueprints — which unlock weapons or gear that cannot be crafted any other way — are most commonly found in Red zone containers and from Elite ARC enemy drops.

When you find a blueprint, open your Safe Pockets (the protected inventory that survives death) and place the blueprint there if you have a free slot. This ensures you keep it even in the worst-case scenario. If your Safe Pockets are already full with a key or valuable material, weigh the blueprint's value against what you currently have protected and make the swap accordingly.

08Recycling, Scrappy, and Mid-Raid Crafting

Recycling: Right-clicking any item in your stash or inventory reveals a recycle option that breaks the item down into its component materials. Higher-rarity items produce larger quantities of materials on recycling — for example, a Rare electronics component might yield 2× Plastic Parts and 3× Rubber Parts. Before recycling, compare the material value against the item's sell price at the market; sometimes selling gives more credit value than the raw materials are worth for your current needs.

Scrappy the Rooster: Scrappy is a permanent companion at Speranza who passively gathers materials while you are on raids. After each completed run, check Scrappy's collected items — common yields include Metal Parts, Rubber Parts, Fabric, Plastics, Chemicals, and occasionally seeds. Upgrading Scrappy increases both the volume and variety of materials returned. Upgrading Scrappy increases the volume of all six material types collected per run. Treat Scrappy's upgrade as part of your workshop investment, not a separate system — passive material income compounds over dozens of runs.

Mid-raid crafting: Unlocking the In-Round Crafting perk (in the Survival perk category) allows you to craft consumables during a raid without returning to Speranza. In practice, this means you can manufacture a Bandage or healing item on the spot if you picked up enough Fabric mid-run. This converts your material pickups during a run into health insurance, reducing dependency on what you brought in. For aggressive build players who regularly take damage, this perk is as valuable as a dedicated healing slot.

09Recommended Workshop Upgrade Priority Order

The following sequence delivers the most meaningful power increase per credit and material invested. Adapt it based on playstyle, but treat it as the default path for new players:

1. Gunsmith Level 1 — The cheapest impactful upgrade in the game. 20 Metal Parts and 30 Rubber Parts costs effectively nothing after a few runs, and it immediately unlocks better weapon crafting. Do this before anything else.
2. Gunsmith Level 2 — Suppressors are the single most powerful unlock in ARC Raiders. A suppressed weapon fires without triggering nearby ARC patrol aggro, which changes how entire areas play. This requires Mechanical Components, so you will need Refiner Level 1 first — but unlock both in sequence as fast as possible.
3. Refiner Level 1 — Build this before or alongside Gunsmith Level 2. The Refiner is what makes Gunsmith L2 possible (Mechanical Components), and once it is running, it will passively convert your Metal Parts surplus into the components every other station needs.
4. Scrappy Level 2 — Once Gunsmith L2 and the Refiner are operational, upgrading Scrappy is the next best return on investment. The increase in passive material volume means you spend less time farming basics and more time on raids that generate blueprints and ARC drops.
5. Gear Bench Level 2 — Unlocks Heavy Shield, which meaningfully increases your survivability in Orange zones. By the time you are ready for this upgrade, your Gunsmith L2 weapons should carry you through most fights; the Gear Bench investment makes the fights you lose less punishing.
6. Medical Lab Level 3 — The Vita Spray unlock is the endgame healing milestone. It takes sustained farming (Fabric, ARC Alloy, Durable Cloth, and rare drops), but once available it removes the ceiling on how long you can operate in Red zones.

Explosives Station and Utility Station can wait until you have covered this core sequence. They are powerful in specific playstyles but not universally necessary. If you rely heavily on grenades for ARC crowd control, move Explosives Station Level 1 up to step 3 — the 50 Chemicals and 6 ARC Alloy cost is manageable early and the grenade access changes Orange zone play significantly.