ARC Raiders’ crafting flow revolves around progressively upgrading your workstations. The workbench upgrade path boosts the variety and rarity of gear you can craft, so knowing how to power up your bench is essential.

Workbench upgrade tiers and requirements

In the live game (not tech tests), your workbench can be upgraded through three tiers. Each tier unlocks new crafting recipes and enhances material yields. The Weapon Bench (often called “Workbench”) requires the following:

Tier Materials required New crafts unlocked
1 20 Metal Parts Basic weapon mods (no new crafts unlocked)
2 50 Mechanical Components Uncommon weapon mods
3 100 Mechanical Components
10 ARC Alloy		 Rare and legendary weapon mods

Mechanical Components are a bottleneck resource for tiers 2 and 3 and require gathering or crafting.

Gathering Mechanical Components

Mechanical Components fuel mid-game workstation upgrades. There are two main methods to obtain them:

How to find components on the Mechanical Field

Step 1

Land at the Mechanical Field hotspot on the topside map.

Step 2

Sweep all stashes and debris clusters in a clockwise loop.

Step 3

Exfiltrate and stash your Components before restarting the circuit to avoid losses.

How to craft components in the Refinery

Step 1

Unlock and power a Refinery station in your Raider Den.

Step 2

Collect 15 Metal Parts and 3 Steel Springs per Component.

Step 3

Queue the Mechanical Component recipe; each batch yields one Component after a 10-minute timer.​

How to perform the bench upgrade

Step 1

Return to your Raider Den and interact with the workbench.

Step 2

Open the Upgrade tab to view tier requirements.

Step 3

Ensure you have the required Mechanical Components and any additional materials (ARC Alloy, Plastic, Fabric).

Step 4

Select Upgrade Tier # and confirm to consume materials and unlock new bench level.

Once upgraded, check the Unlocked Crafts tab to see newly available blueprints and begin crafting advanced weapons and mods.

Where to find base materials

  • Metal Parts drop from ARC enemies and environmental scrap on any map.
  • Plastic and Fabric are common in urban zones and can be looted from containers.
  • ARC Alloy is a rare drop from mid-level ARC machines or found in high-risk map events.

Track your materials and bench progress with the MetaForge hideout planner for real-time requirements and unlock previews.

Den storage and efficiency

Upgrading your workbench also improves crafting efficiency:

  • Reduced material waste on failed crafting attempts.
  • Faster craft timers for ammo and consumables.
  • Expanded safe pocket slots for blueprint handling.

Plan your upgrade sequence to avoid bottlenecks, focusing on Mechanical Components early to unlock tier 2.

Upgrading the workbench transforms your crafting capabilities, opening paths to rare gear that outperforms loot drops. Prioritize gathering Mechanical Components via the topside field loop or Refinery crafting, then invest in ARC Alloy for tier 3. Your Raider Den’s arsenal—and your survivability—depend on a fully powered workbench.