Upgrading your Explosives Station to Level 3 in ARC Raiders is a massive milestone for any Raider looking to conquer the game's challenging extraction zones. Reaching the third and final tier unlocks elite, late-game tactical equipment that can completely change how you deal with aggressive ARC units and rival players alike. High-tier recipes like the devastating Blaze Grenade, the defensive Deadline mine, and the legendary Wolfpack cluster explosive all require a max-tiered station to craft. However, getting there isn't easy. You cannot simply buy these upgrades; you have to head topside, extract with rare materials in your safe pockets, and spend a significant amount of resources back at your hideout. If you are struggling to cross the finish line, here is the exact breakdown of the materials you need, where to look for them, and how to optimize your runs. Required Upgrade Materials To initiate the Level 3 upgrade at your Workshop, you must secure the following specific high-tier items:
3× Laboratory Reagents (Epic rarity)
5× Explosive Compounds (Rare rarity)
3× Rocketeer Drivers (Epic rarity)
Additionally, prepare your stash for a steep currency cost. Upgrading late-game benches usually demands between 100,000 to 250,000 coins depending on your current faction standings and progression tree. Best Farming Locations & Strategies 1. Laboratory Reagents (3 Required) Laboratory Reagents are critical chemical components required for stabilizing high-yield munitions. Because they are classified as epic-tier items, their spawn rates are tightly restricted to medical and high-tech sectors.
Where to find: Your absolute best bet is the Buried City Hospital. Focus your efforts on the upper levels, checking the laboratory tables and specialized medical storage rooms. Alternatively, scour the pharmacy shelves scattered around Piazza Arburto or clear out the Testing Annex in the northern sectors.
Farming Tip: Unlike standard scrap, Laboratory Reagents rarely hide inside generic industrial crates or garbage piles. They frequently spawn as loose, standalone loot directly on top of hospital beds, stainless steel counters, and lab shelves. Because the containers are small and transparent, they easily blend into background debris—slow down and sweep rooms thoroughly with your flashlight.
2. Explosive Compounds (5 Required) Explosive Compounds serve as the active base for rare and epic tier ordinances. You will need five of these to complete the workstation upgrade.
Where to find: These compounds are dense and industrially sealed. Look closely inside bright red lockers, heavy metal crates, and specialized toolboxes located inside the Hydroponics Complex, the Water Treatment Center, or the heavily guarded Bluegate Warehouse.
Alternative Method: If you are struggling with extraction camping or bad RNG topside, you can completely bypass the scavenging phase. Provided you have already upgraded your base Refiner to Level 2, you can craft Explosive Compounds directly in your hideout. The recipe requires basic Crude Explosives and Oil. Many veteran players highly recommend prioritizing the Refiner upgrade first to alleviate these exact bottleneck constraints.
3. Rocketeer Drivers (3 Required) The absolute hardest part of the upgrade path is securing three Rocketeer Drivers. These mechanical cores are volatile epic components pulled directly from automated ARC threats.
Where to find: These components drop explicitly from destroying Rocketeer ARC units—the deadly flying bombardment drones that rain artillery down on Raiders. They can be found floating over high-threat public events or patrolling the desolate stretches of the Husk Graveyard.
Farming Tip: Taking down a Rocketeer requires deliberate strategy. If you blindly dump damage into its central chassis, you risk destroying the internal components, causing it to drop generic scrap instead of the driver. Use a weapon combo like the Showstopper to initiate an electrical stun-lock. Once the drone is temporarily incapacitated and drops closer to the ground, target its armor plates or rear thruster ports to force the intact driver to detach upon destruction.
The "Safe" Event Method: If hunting live Rocketeers feels too risky for your current loadout, keep an eye out for global world states like the Electromagnetic Storm or push directly into the Husk Graveyard event. During these periods, disabled, ancient Rocketeer husks will litter the map. Searching these static wrecks has a high probability of yielding intact drivers. Best of all, because these drivers stack up to 3, you can slide all of them into a single safe pocket slot. This means you can run a low-tier "naked" kit, grab the drivers from the husks, and ensure your progress is saved even if an enemy squad ambushes you before you reach the extract point.
The Value of the Upgrade Is the grind truly worth it? According to community metrics and weapon performance logs, the numbers speak for themselves. Lower-tier tactical throwables like the Gas Grenade or basic Light Impact Grenade do minor chip damage and offer limited crowd control against larger mechanical threats. Once your Explosives Station hits Level 3, the power dynamic shifts dramatically. For instance, crafting the Wolfpack requires 1× Rocketeer Driver, 1× Explosive Compound, and 2× ARC Motion Cores, but it unleashes a cluster of heat-seeking micro-missiles capable of shredding an entire squad of Raiders or melting an elite ARC unit’s shield health in under three seconds. Furthermore, players who regularly browse community marketplaces and consult the latest U4N arc raiders blueprints shop review note that having a maxed-out crafting bench is the single most cost-effective way to stay competitive. Relying on trading circles for endgame items can cost millions of coins per match, whereas self-crafting your tactical loadout scales down your per-raid expenses by nearly 75%. Before heading out, ensure your safe pockets are fully unlocked and map out your extraction routes. Focus on getting your Refiner up to speed first to handle the explosive compounds, and then target the Buried City Hospital and Husk Graveyard to secure your rare drops. Good luck topside, Raiders!