6 Best Workshop Upgrades To Prioritize

When you first jump in, ARC Raiders is going to have a decent number of systems in play that you’ll need to wrap your head around. As if the game’s high difficulty wasn’t enough already, simply understand how the game works can be its own challenge.

From skill trees to builds to guns, and everything in between, you’ve got a lot to manage here. One additional thing to consider is your Workshop back in Speranza, which is where you’ll be able to craft and upgrade many useful items that you can add into your loadouts for subsequent runs. You can also hang out with Scrappy the Rooster here, which is obviously a nice perk as well.

While the Workbench is automatically unlocked from the beginning of the game, there are six additional stations you can add to the workshop, as long as you have the required materials to build them. But which stations should you add to the workshop first? Below, I’ll walk you through all six options, from least important early on to most.

6

Refiner

A Station To Benefit Other Stations

The Refiner station is fine if your main focus is simply crafting components that can be used to then go and craft other gear. Of course, there is value in this, but that doesn’t also mean that the Refiner is the very first thing that you need to save up for and build.

Where the Refiner is useful, however, is that you can use it to craft materials and components that aren’t quite as common as most things you’ll find every single run while you’re topside. These also aren’t the same types of materials that Scrappy the Rooster will retrieve for you, so there’s a clear use case for why the Refiner is something to invest in eventually.

It doesn’t need to be your first thing, and it’s also not the worst thing in the world to save up for, since metal parts are plentiful if you’re willing to recycle an item or two along the way.

5

Explosives Station

Pins And Needles

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not someone that gravitates towards explosives in many shooters that I play. Because of this, I don’t value the Explosives Station as highly as some other options further below on this list. Of course, you might love a well-placed grenade in the heat of a dogfight, so if that’s you, then this station has your name on it.

You’ll have several grenade options to craft here, as well as mines. Every item here is incredibly useful, but of course, only if you properly cook and toss an explosive to actually get your intended use out of it. Explosives can be great, but I’ll always value and prefer the precision of a firearm, which is why I’m not a huge ‘nade dude.

In my experience, I’ve also found a decent number of explosives on runs to collect anyway, so I haven’t had a major need to craft new ones on my own using the Explosives Station.

4

Utility Station

Down The Hatch

The Utility Station unlocks the ability to craft several objectively useful items, but also ones that are a bit more situational depending on your personal playstyle, as well as how any given run unfolds. There are good things to be had here, but again, nothing that’s particularly revelatory on a regular, consistent basis.

The star of the show is the Raider Hatch Key, which allows you to now access several more extraction points on the map that are safer and faster to get back below the surface from. Using the hatches can be a run saver, but having to spend a key each and every time you use one is definitely a bummer.

The Utility Station also includes things like barricades you can place on doorways if an enemy is chasing you, as well as lures to draw ARC to a certain location if you need to make a sneaky exit from an area. These are no doubt useful, but not things you’ll need every round.

3

Medical Lab

Let’s Get You Patched Up

You’ve probably already noticed, but just managing to survive in ARC Raiders is sometimes much more easily said than done. Because of this, it’s paramount to go topside with as many healing items as you’re willing to risk on one run. The Medical Lab makes this task more approachable and viable.

The Medical Lab features stimulants, syringes, and bandages, which you probably know by now are the items used for replenishing health, as well as boosting/replenishing your stamina if you need to cover a bunch of land in a pinch. You can’t extract if you’re dead, and everything from the Medical Lab helps with this.

As you get more proficient with ARC Raiders, you might not find yourself needing to use these medical items quite as often. Early on, however, you’re going to be all too familiar with these things, and you’ll never be able to have enough.

2

Gear Bench

Augment Your Loadout

The Gear Bench is a godsend if you’re finding that the grid layouts of your available loadouts just aren’t quite what you’re looking for. Here, you can craft new augments, which give you incredible perks, like increased backpack space, as well as additional Safe Pocket spaces, which guarantee items safely come back to Speranza with you, even if you’re unable to extract successfully.

Using specific augments also improves the amount of weight you can carry, which lowers the frequency at which you’ll be over-encumbered and unable to lug around all the loot you’re scavenging on any given run. Some augments come with downsides too, but typically, you’ll be able to find one that becomes a genuine game-changer for your playstyle.

Honestly, the augments alone would justify this ranking for the Gear Bench on this list, but it’s made even better when you realize that you can also craft shields here as well. Truly, you won’t regret it if you make the Gear Bench one of the first couple stations you add to your workshop. It also doesn’t require any ARC-based components to create, which is positive as well.

1

Gunsmith

Upgrades For Days

The Gunsmith is quite obviously the first workshop station you should focus on creating in ARC Raiders. For one, it only takes a small number of metal and rubber parts to craft, which are both consistently scavenged and require precisely zero topside combat to obtain. Of any resources needed for any of these workshop stations, these are probably the two most common.

And then, of course, there’s the fact that you can now craft guns and gun accessories to your heart’s content. As long as you have the resources needed, you now have an unlimited supply of firearms, making the risk of taking a good loadout topside instead of a free one feel like much less of a risk overall. The added perks that your craftable gun handles, extended mags, etc. are also huge difference makers.

If that wasn’t enough, you’ll now also be able to upgrade your weapons, which is when you’ll start to realize that ARC Raiders is actually a lot more manageable than you realized. Taking level one guns only topside is often a death sentence, but you can turn the tide in your favorite regularly if you’re prepared with some leveled-up weaponry, thanks to the gunsmith.

Released

October 30, 2025

ESRB

Teen / Violence, Blood

Developer(s)

Embark Studios

Publisher(s)

Embark Studios