Crafting and Gear
Every successful raid in ARC Raiders feeds back into the crafting system. You bring materials home, refine them, build better gear, and take that gear into harder maps for better loot. Breaking this loop (by dying and losing your materials) is what makes the game tense. Understanding the crafting system is how you stay ahead of the curve.
The Crafting Loop
The loop has four steps:
- Gather. Pick up materials, components, and blueprints during a raid. Check every container, loot every ARC wreck, and search points of interest.
- Extract. Get to an extraction point alive. If you die, you lose everything you collected this raid (except safe pocket items).
- Craft. Back in Speranza, use your stations to build weapons, armor, consumables, and upgrades.
- Raid. Take your new gear topside and repeat.
The entire system revolves around successful extraction. Dying with a pack full of rare materials is the most punishing thing that can happen to your progression.
Blueprints
Blueprints are permanent unlocks. When you find a blueprint during a raid and extract with it, you learn the recipe forever. You can craft that item at the correct station whenever you have the materials.
Blueprints drop from:
- Loot containers (random chance, higher on harder maps)
- ARC machine wreckage (elite and boss kills have better drop rates)
- Specific points of interest (mission control in Spaceport, Seed Vault in Stella Montis)
- Quest rewards
Blueprints do not take up your safe pocket slot. They occupy regular inventory space, which means you lose them on death. If you find a rare blueprint, consider heading straight to extraction rather than pushing deeper into the map.
Raider Den Stations
Your crafting hub in Speranza has eight stations. The basic Workbench is permanent and cannot be upgraded. The other seven specialized stations can be upgraded to Level 3, unlocking higher-tier recipes at each level.
Workbench
Your starting station. Handles basic weapons, ammunition, and simple supplies. Cannot be upgraded. You will outgrow it within your first few hours, but it remains useful for crafting cheap ammo and throwaway weapons for free loadout supplements.
Gunsmith
The most important station for combat effectiveness.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic weapons, Tier I upgrades |
| 2 | Mid-tier weapons, Tier II upgrades, basic weapon mods (sights, grips) |
| 3 | High-tier weapons, Tier III-IV upgrades, advanced weapon mods (stocks, compensators) |
Weapon upgrades are permanent improvements marked by roman numerals (I through IV). Each tier improves base stats (damage, accuracy, handling) and changes the weapon's visual appearance.
Legendary weapons cannot have their base stats increased through the standard upgrade path. However, since Patch 1.26.0, the upgrade interface doubles as a durability restore. Using the "Repair on Upgrade" option on any weapon (including Legendaries) restores 25% of its maximum durability. This is a critical economic strategy for keeping high-value weapons in service.
Weapon mods are swappable attachments. You can add and remove mods freely without destroying them. Mod types include:
| Mod Type | Effect |
|---|---|
| Sights | Changes zoom level and reticle type |
| Grips | Reduces recoil and improves handling |
| Stocks | Improves stability during sustained fire |
| Compensators | Reduces muzzle climb on automatic weapons |
| Barrels | Changes damage falloff and bullet velocity |
Test mod combinations on the practice range before taking them into a raid. A grip that reduces horizontal recoil might increase vertical recoil, and vice versa. Find the configuration that works for your aim style.
Gear Bench
Handles armor, shields, and protective equipment.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic shields, light armor |
| 2 | Mid-tier shields (more health slots), medium armor |
| 3 | High-tier shields, heavy armor, augment crafting |
Shields are your primary survivability layer. Higher-tier shields give you more health buffer before your actual HP takes damage. Prioritize shield upgrades over weapon upgrades in early progression. Surviving an extra hit matters more than dealing slightly more damage.
Augments are passive or active modules that provide bonuses like increased inventory capacity, faster healing, or improved stamina regeneration. You unlock augment crafting at Gear Bench Level 3.
Medical Lab
Produces healing items and medical supplies.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic bandages, weak painkillers |
| 2 | Improved bandages (faster heal), adrenaline shots (stamina burst) |
| 3 | Advanced medkits (full heal), shield rechargers |
Do not underestimate healing items. A stack of improved bandages has saved more raids than any weapon upgrade. Always bring at least three healing items on a custom loadout run.
Explosives Station
Manufactures grenades, mines, and throwable devices.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Frag grenades, proximity mines |
| 2 | EMP grenades (disable ARC machines), smoke grenades |
| 3 | Wolfpack grenades (cluster munition), sticky mines |
The Wolfpack grenade is one of the best AoE tools in the game. It splits into multiple submunitions on detonation, covering a wide area. The "Three Birds, One Stone" achievement requires killing 3 ARC enemies with a single Wolfpack.
The Lure grenade tricks ARC drones into targeting each other instead of you. Getting a drone kill with a Lure unlocks the "Hook, Line, and Sinker" achievement.
Utility Station
Creates scanners, tactical tools, and exploration gear.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic scanner (shows nearby loot containers) |
| 2 | Improved scanner (shows ARC patrol routes), breach charges, Snitch Scanner |
| 3 | Advanced scanner (shows player positions within 50m), decoys |
Breach charges let you open locked containers and sealed doors that are inaccessible otherwise. Many high-value loot rooms require a breach charge to enter.
Scanners do not work during Electromagnetic Storm map conditions. If the deploy screen shows an EM storm, leave the scanner at home and bring extra grenades instead.
Refiner
Converts raw materials into advanced crafting components.
| Level | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic refining (scrap → processed metal) |
| 2 | Intermediate refining (electronics → circuit boards) |
| 3 | Advanced refining (rare minerals → alloy composites) |
The Refiner is the backbone of your crafting economy. Upgrading it early means you can turn cheap, common materials into the components needed for high-tier recipes. Prioritize the Refiner alongside the Gunsmith.
Scrappy
Your companion rooster. Yes, a rooster. Scrappy sits in your den and passively generates materials over time while you are online or offline.
Upgrading Scrappy increases the quality and quantity of materials he produces. Early on, his output is modest (basic scrap and low-tier components). At higher levels, he generates mid-tier materials that save you entire farming runs.
Scrappy generates materials on a real-time timer. Check in on him between raids to collect what he has produced. Leaving materials uncollected does not stack them beyond his storage cap.
Durability
Every piece of equipment has a durability rating. Durability decreases with use: firing weapons, absorbing damage with shields, deploying consumables.
When durability drops below 50%, equipment starts degrading in performance:
- Weapons reload slower and may jam during rapid fire.
- Shields recharge at a reduced rate.
- Tools (scanners, breach charges) take longer to activate.
Repair your gear at the corresponding station between raids. Repair costs scale with the item's tier but are always cheaper than crafting a replacement. Equipment is never permanently lost due to durability hitting zero. You can always repair it at the den, no matter how broken it is.
Since Patch 1.26.0, looted weapons often drop at 30 durability instead of the old 50. Budget for repair costs before taking found weapons into the next raid. A weapon at low durability jams, reloads slower, and will get you killed in a firefight.
The Repair on Upgrade Strategy
The Riven Tides patch (1.26.0) introduced a powerful workaround for weapon attrition. When you upgrade a weapon's tier at the Gunsmith, it also restores 25% of the weapon's maximum durability.
The smart play: do not upgrade a weapon the moment you can. Instead, use the weapon until its durability drops close to zero, then upgrade it. You get the stat boost and the durability restore in one investment. This stretches each upgrade tier across more raids and saves you repair materials.
Nomadic Envoys
Patch 1.29.0 introduced a new vendor to Speranza: Ermal, a representative of the Nomadic Envoys trading network. Ermal is the most important endgame vendor in the game, but he does not accept coins.
How Ermal Works
- Unlock requirement: Raider Level 25.
- Location: Speranza hub, near the deployment terminal.
- Currency: High-tier ARC components, rare weapons, and scavenged gear. No coins accepted.
- Inventory reset: Every Tuesday at 1 PM UTC.
What Ermal Sells
| Item Type | Examples | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon blueprints | Tempest, Rascal grenade launcher | Only source for these specific recipes. |
| Raider Tokens | Cosmetic currency | Exclusive cosmetics not available elsewhere. |
| Stash Expansions | Additional stash slots | Critical. Your default stash fills up fast. Ermal is the only way to expand it. Costs premium materials like Turbine Compressors. |
| Expedition Vault slots | Up to 5 secure carry-over slots | Lets you preserve specific items across Expedition wipes. See the Expedition Projects guide. |
Ermal's inventory rotates weekly. If you see a blueprint or Stash Expansion you need, buy it immediately. There is no guarantee it will appear in the next rotation. Farm the materials in advance so you are ready when his stock refreshes.
Loadout Strategy
What to Bring
| Raid Goal | Loadout Approach |
|---|---|
| Learning a new map | Free loadout. Zero risk. |
| Material farming on easy maps | Free loadout or cheap custom gear. Not worth risking good stuff. |
| Quest completion | Match your loadout to the quest difficulty. Medium-tier gear for medium maps. |
| High-value loot run on hard maps | Best available gear. The loot justifies the risk. |
| Boss hunting | Top-tier weapons, max healing, Wolfpack grenades. Bring your squad. |
What to Always Carry
Regardless of loadout tier, always bring:
- At least three healing items. Bandages at minimum. Medkits if you have them.
- One grenade type. Frag for general use, EMP for ARC-heavy areas, smoke for emergency cover.
- A backup plan for extraction. Know two extraction points on every map. If one is camped, you need a fallback.
Key Materials to Hoard
Some materials appear in almost every crafting recipe. Keep a stockpile of these in your stash:
- Springs. Used in nearly every weapon recipe.
- Electronics. Required for mods, scanners, and Refiner recipes.
- Processed metal. The most common intermediate component. Burn through it fast.
- Circuit boards. Mid-tier component for Gear Bench and Utility Station recipes.
Do not sell these materials to vendors for quick cash. You will always need more of them.