The Arcanist’s Workbench is where Hytale quietly turns from a survival sandbox into a fast‑travel and spell‑slinging game. It’s the only place you can build teleporters, world fragments, and the first wave of magical weapons and totems, and it sits behind some of the rarer materials in early access.
To make planning your late‑game base easier, it helps to know two things up front: how to unlock the bench at all, and exactly what every recipe on it costs. This walkthrough keeps those two ideas in focus.
How to unlock the Arcanist’s Workbench in Hytale
You can’t place an Arcanist’s Workbench straight from pocket crafting. The recipe only appears after you upgrade your main Workbench to Tier 2, then craft the Arcanist’s Workbench from there.
Step 1: Upgrade your classic Workbench to Tier 2. You need 30x Copper Ingot, 20x Iron Ingot, and 20x Linen Scraps. Smelt Copper Ore and Iron Ore in a Furnace to get the ingots, and farm Linen Scraps from enemies like Skeletons and Trork Guards.
Step 2: Interact with your Tier 2 Workbench and craft the Arcanist’s Workbench. The recipe requires 10x Thorium Ingots, 30x Linen Scraps, and 20x Essence of the Void.
Step 3: Gather the Arcanist materials. Thorium Ingots come from smelting Thorium Ore in a Furnace, typically found in the Desert biome. Linen Scraps continue to drop from Skeletons and Trork Guards. Essence of the Void drops from void creatures that spawn at night, with better odds deeper underground.
Step 4: Place the Arcanist’s Workbench in your base. From this point, interacting with it opens two functional tabs: one for portals, one for miscellaneous magical gear (totems and staffs).
Arcanist’s Workbench portal recipes
The portal tab is where fast travel and off‑world trips live. One recipe is available as soon as you place the bench, while the others stay locked behind Forgotten Temple memories.
| Portal | Function | Recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Teleporter | Links two locations in Orbis; crafting one set yields two Teleporter gateways that pair automatically. | 8x Azure Log, 2x Azure Kelp, 10x Any Stone |
| Ancient Gateway | Opens access to temporary worlds called Fragments of Orbis. | 30x Cobblestone, 10x Thorium Ingot, 10x Essence of Life, 10x Essence of the Void |
| Fragment: Orbis - Dragonspire Weald | Creates a gateway to the Dragonspire Weald fragment. | 10x Cobalt Ingot, 30x Essence of Ice |
| Fragment: Orbis - The Dread Wade | Creates a gateway themed around fire; its description currently mirrors Dragonspire Weald. | 10x Adamantite Ingot, 30x Essence of Fire |
| Fragment: Orbis - Windrider Valley | Creates a gateway to Windrider Valley. | 10x Thorium Ingot, 30x Essence of Life |
How to unlock more portal recipes
The Arcanist’s Workbench only grants the Teleporter recipe by default. The Ancient Gateway and the three Fragment portals stay hidden until you engage with the Forgotten Temple.
Step 1: Find the Forgotten Temple and begin interacting with the Heart of Orbis to record Memories. Each interaction contributes one Memory toward the portal unlock threshold.
Step 2: Record 100 Memories at the Forgotten Temple. Hitting this count unlocks the Ancient Gateway plus the three “Fragment: Orbis” recipes on the Arcanist’s Workbench.
Once unlocked, these recipes behave like the Teleporter: gather the ingredients, craft at the bench, then place the constructed gateway structures where you want them.
Arcanist’s Workbench miscellaneous recipes (totems and staffs)
The Misc. tab on the Arcanist’s Workbench focuses on targeted combat and utility. Right now that means two area‑effect totems and two crystal staffs, all with steep essence costs.
| Item | Role | Recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Healing Totem | Creates a zone that restores Health and Energy for anyone standing inside. | 50x Essence of Life, 20x Thorium Ingot, 10x Greater Health Potion |
| Slowing Totem | Applies a strong slow or freeze effect to characters moving through its area. | 30x Essence of Ice, 10x Cobalt Ingot, 40x Ice |
| Flame Crystal Staff | Two‑handed fire staff that launches fireballs; currently flagged as work‑in‑progress with potential bugs. Provides +4 Magic Charges and +10 Signature Energy. | 1x Ruby, 8x Silver Ingot, 8x Gold Ingot, 20x Essence of Fire |
| Ice Crystal Staff | Ice‑aligned staff with unfinished description and work‑in‑progress status, but fully costed. | 1x Sapphire, 8x Silver Ingot, 10x Azure Log, 20x Essence of Ice |
The underlying logic is consistent across these items: precious metals and gems define the physical weapon or totem, while Essences drive the elemental effects and sustained power.
How magic items crafted at the Arcanist’s Workbench behave
Staves and totems crafted here follow a charge‑based model rather than a traditional mana bar.
For elemental staffs, charges are effectively stored Essences. A Fire‑aligned staff consumes Essence of Fire when you cast with it, and an Ice‑aligned staff consumes Essence of Ice. When a staff runs dry, you need to replenish the matching Essence before it can fire again. That design pushes you back into the world to hunt specific enemies or biomes that drop the element you care about, instead of letting you sit on a single infinite wand.
Totems work more like deployable gadgets. You craft them once with a large up‑front Essence cost, then place them in the world to create a temporary zone of influence. Healing Totems are best set up where fights are likely to drag on, like boss arenas or defensive choke points. Slowing Totems shine in corridors or tight spaces where enemies have no way around the field.
Alternative paths to Arcanist‑grade magic items
The Arcanist’s Workbench isn’t the only mention of magic gear in Hytale’s early access, but it is the fixed crafting anchor.
Staffs and spellbooks can drop from dungeon loot, letting you try magic before you have the rare materials for the Arcanist’s Workbench. However, if you want a predictable way to assemble specific items — Healing Totem instead of a random staff, for example — the Arcanist’s Workbench recipes are the reliable path. It is also the only place where Teleporter and Ancient Gateway structures can be made.
Is building the Arcanist’s Workbench worth it?
The resource cost is high: you’re committing Thorium, late‑game Essences, and a second pile of Linen Scraps after already spending some on Workbench Tier 2. In practice, the payoff is immediate.
The Teleporter recipe alone changes how you move through Orbis. A paired set dropped at your main base and a deep cave run effectively removes the “lost in the mines” problem and turns long overland returns into an instant warp. Once you add Healing and Slowing Totems plus the first crystal staffs, the Arcanist’s Workbench becomes a natural focal point for any long‑term world.
Right now the bench exists as a single tier: there is no Arcanist’s Workbench upgrade path yet, and no extra functionality to unlock by upgrading other workbenches. As the game evolves, more recipes may land here, but even in its current form, it is one of the most impactful crafting stations you can build.
