If you are trying to upgrade your workstation to level 3 in ARC Raiders, you already know the pain of hunting down Rusted Gears. These mid-tier crafting materials are a massive bottleneck for progression, and you need a steady supply of them to move forward.
To help you max out your inventory quickly, this guide breaks down the absolute fastest farming locations and specialized routes across the Dam Battlegrounds, Stella Montis, and The Blue Gate maps.
But first, a quick rule of thumb for your sanity: the exact second you pull a Rusted Gear out of a container, put it straight into your Safe Pocket. Do not risk losing these precious mechanical drops if you happen to get eliminated before you can successfully extract.
Top Farming Locations and Routes
Dam Battlegrounds (The Quickest Way In and Out)
If you want a fast, high-yield run with a direct exit strategy, the Dam Battlegrounds map is your best bet.
- The Parallel Buses: Make a beeline for the Power Generation Complex. Look for the two buses parked parallel to the North Complex Extraction Elevator. Head to the back of these buses and breach the luggage compartments. Testing shows a near 90% spawn rate for either Rusted Gears or Motors here. The absolute best part? You can hit the extraction elevator almost immediately after looting.
- The Scrapyard & Primary Facility: While you are moving through the area, check around the abandoned vehicles. Focus your search entirely on tool cars, green control units, and the metal storage crates scattered around. These specific containers feature exceptionally high volumes of mechanical drops.
Stella Montis (The Absolute Highest Gear Density)
If you want the maximum number of gears in a single run and don't mind a bit of risk, Stella Montis holds the highest density of mechanical items.
- Logistics Admin Room: Drop into the Loading Bay area and head straight up to the Logistics Admin room. Inside, you will find rows of green machinery boxes. Breach every single one of them. This single room alone has been known to drop anywhere from 1 to 8 Rusted Gears in a single run.
- The Lower Ledge: Once you have cleared out the admin room, jump straight out of the window. Directly below you is a secondary door housing four additional breachable machines. Grab those, and then slide down the nearby ladder to reach a fast extraction point.
The Blue Gate (Best for Solo Players and Night Raids)
For solo players or anyone looking for a slightly safer environment, The Blue Gate offers excellent looting opportunities if you know where to go underground.
- Underground Tunnels & Checkpoint: Drop down into the Underpass network. This underground tunnel system holds the highest concentration of vehicles on any map, making it a goldmine for mechanical parts.
- Warehouse Complex Parking: Move through the parking area to pop open car hoods and breach red tool lockers. A great trick here is to enter this area during a Night Raid. Running it at night significantly increases the spawn rates for high-tier industrial drops over common, low-tier Rusted Tools.
Your Container Priority List
Efficiency is everything when you are trying to farm. To keep your inventory space optimized and your run times low, completely ignore general civilian loot and focus your attention exclusively on these containers:
- Vehicles: Always check under car hoods, inside trunks, and within bus side panels.
- Industrial Machinery: Look for yellow or white cargo containers and green control units.
- Infrastructure: Keep an eye out for server racks featuring blue tape drives, as well as metal workshop lockers.
