The Gunsmith is the station that turns weapon blueprints into usable gear and lets you improve how your guns handle. Leveling it up unlocks more recipes and attachment options. Here’s how to install it, push it to Level 3, and farm the exact materials you need without wasting runs.
Install the Gunsmith (Level 1)
After the intro quests, head to your Workshop and install the Gunsmith. Expect to spend 20× Metal Parts and 30× Rubber Parts. Both are base materials you’ll pick up everywhere and can bolster via recycling.
Once installed, the Gunsmith appears as its own tab in the Workshop. Inside you’ll see three areas:
- Crafting: blueprints for weapons, attachments, and parts you’ve learned
- Weapon Upgrade: improves individual guns you own
- Level Up: upgrades the Gunsmith station itself
Gunsmith Level 2 — requirements and where to get them
To raise the Gunsmith from Level 1 to Level 2 you need:
- 3× Rusted Tools
- 5× Mechanical Components
- 8× Wasp Drivers
Where to find them quickly:
- Rusted Tools: Check mechanical or industrial points of interest (POIs). These show up in facilities with machinery and maintenance areas on maps like Dam Battlegrounds.
- Mechanical Components: Loot mechanical POIs and utility trucks, recycle uncommon gear and blue mechanical parts, or craft them at the Refiner (Level 1) from basic resources.
- Wasp Drivers: Guaranteed drop from ARC Wasps. The Buried City has plentiful Wasps and strong building cover for safe kills.
Gunsmith Level 3 — requirements and where to get them
To raise the Gunsmith from Level 2 to Level 3 you need:
- 3× Rusted Gear
- 5× Advanced Mechanical Components
- 4× Sentinel Firing Cores
Where to find them quickly:
- Rusted Gear: Target industrial POIs with car wrecks and heavy machinery. Two consistent spots:
- Blue Gate: Building 6 between the Outer Gates and Gate Control Center. The underground warehouse has rows of rusted cars.
- Buried City: A multi-level parking garage with numerous salvageable vehicles.
- Advanced Mechanical Components: Craft these at the Refiner (Level 2). The recipe is efficient compared with raw farming: 2× Steel Springs + 2× Mechanical Components per craft. If you prefer to loot, stick to mechanical POIs.
- Sentinel Firing Cores: Looted from Sentinel sniper turrets. Dam Battlegrounds has reliable spawn positions on and around the floodgates and control center. If a turret isn’t present, it was either destroyed by someone else or didn’t spawn that cycle; nighttime runs tend to improve your odds.
Fast farming routes for key materials
- Mechanical components and tools: Dam Battlegrounds’ mechanical POIs and the utility trucks parked along access roads. Open every cabinet and crate; these areas are dense with parts.
- Rusted gear (Level 3 gate): Blue Gate’s underground warehouse (Building 6) and the Buried City parking garage. Prioritize car wrecks and industrial racks.
- Wasp drivers: Buried City skylines and plazas. Pull Wasps toward interiors, break line-of-sight, and finish safely.
- Sentinel cores: Dam Battlegrounds floodgates and control structures. Do a quick three-spot sweep; if nothing’s up, reset on the next raid.
Use the Refiner to skip bottlenecks
Upgrading the Refiner pays for itself in time saved:
- Level 1 Refiner: lets you turn base materials into staple parts like Mechanical Components when the map is dry.
- Level 2 Refiner: unlocks Advanced Mechanical Components. The conversion recipe (2× Steel Springs + 2× Mechanical Components) removes the worst grind for Gunsmith Level 3.
Refiner crafting also lets you protect runs: if a raid spawns light on a given part, pivot to gathering the inputs (springs, base components) and finish the advanced components back at the Den.
Upgrade the station vs. upgrade your guns
Inside the Gunsmith, “Level Up” and “Weapon Upgrade” are separate:
- Level Up (top of the UI): consumes station materials from the lists above, unlocking new crafting tiers and attachment blueprints.
- Weapon Upgrade: improves an individual weapon’s performance characteristics. Expect changes like reload speed, magazine size, and durability. Current builds focus on handling and uptime rather than directly increasing base damage numbers.
Plan your mats: higher-rarity guns require matching-quality materials for their upgrades. If you’re still learning routes or playing solo, save premium mats until you’re consistently extracting.
Gunsmith upgrade checklist (at a glance)
| Gunsmith level | Materials needed | Reliable sources |
|---|---|---|
| Install (Level 1) | 20× Metal Parts, 30× Rubber Parts | General looting, recycling basic gear |
| Level 2 | 3× Rusted Tools; 5× Mechanical Components; 8× Wasp Drivers | Mechanical/industrial POIs; Refiner (L1) for components; Wasps in Buried City |
| Level 3 | 3× Rusted Gear; 5× Advanced Mechanical Components; 4× Sentinel Firing Cores | Industrial POIs with vehicle wrecks; Refiner (L2) for advanced components; Sentinel turrets at Dam Battlegrounds |
Practical run flow
- Queue into Dam Battlegrounds to sweep mechanical POIs and utility trucks for Mechanical Components and Rusted Tools. Extract if your Safe Pocket is full.
- Rotate to Buried City to collect Wasp Drivers safely from covered positions; swing through the parking garage to check for Rusted Gear.
- Push Blue Gate’s Building 6 underground warehouse when you specifically need Rusted Gear in bulk.
- Return to Dam Battlegrounds for a fast top-of-dam loop to tag Sentinel turrets for Firing Cores. If spawns are dry, requeue later at night.
- Use the Refiner between raids to convert basics into Mechanical and Advanced Mechanical Components instead of hard-farming every piece.
Why prioritize the Gunsmith early
Better handling, faster reloads, and larger magazines make raids safer and speed up extractions. Leveling the station also opens higher-tier weapon and attachment blueprints you can’t craft at Level 1. If you’re stretching a limited stockpile, funnel materials into Gunsmith and Refiner first, then branch to other stations.
The only real friction is the Level 3 spike: Rusted Gear and Sentinel Firing Cores. Solve that by committing to the specific POIs and time-of-day windows where they’re most consistent, and by offloading advanced component crafting to the Refiner. Keep your best finds in the Safe Pocket, extract often, and climb the station tiers methodically.
