Finding Rusted Gears in ARC Raiders is one of the frustrating mid-game grinds every Raider eventually faces. You’ll hear people talk about them in chat, you’ll check every container you see, and after twenty raids, you’ll wonder if they even exist in this extraction shooter. But they do, and once you know where and how to look, it becomes much easier to stock up the three items you need for your Gunsmith Level 3 upgrade. This guide explains what Rusted Gears are for, on which maps you should search, and the best locations to find Rusted Gears with a higher spawn rate.
Why You Need Rusted Gears in ARC Raiders
Rusted Gears are a blue-tier rare crafting material part of your Gunsmith upgrade path. You’ll need 3x Rusted Gears, 5x Advanced Mechanical Components, and 4x Sentinel Firing Cores to upgrade your Gunsmith to Level 3, where you can unlock top-tier weapon crafting. Aside from upgrades, Rusted Gears can also be recycled for four Metal Parts and two Mechanical Components. Not a bad exchange if you find extras, but early on, it’s smart to save the first few you collect for the important Gunsmith upgrade.
Where to Find Rusted Gears in ARC Raiders
Rusted Gears are tagged as Industrial loot, which means they spawn in Industrial zones in all ARC Raiders maps. These areas have a lot of vehicles, machinery, and metal containers. While any map can drop the items, some locations have higher chances of finding them.
Blue Gate Rusted Gears Farm Locations
If you ask for one good place to farm Rusted Gears, we’ll say it’s Blue Gate around the Warehouse Complex and the Underpass beneath it. You can find lootable cars, trucks, and buses all over these areas, each a potential source for Rusted Gear. Start at the Checkpoint, search for it, and follow the road down into the Underpass tunnels. It’s a big, looping area and large enough that you can spend a full raid session breaching car hoods and other vehicles.
There’s a higher chance to find at least one Rusted Gear in every run there, though RNG can be cruel. Do it in Night Raids because loot quality scales up during that time, which increases your chance to get rare-tier materials like Rusted Gears instead of Rusted Tools or Scrap.
Use a Free Loadout to avoid losing gear if you die, but remember you’ll need to extract successfully once you find a Gear (no Safe Pocket protection). Move slowly and take cover between vehicles as Wasps, Hornets, and Bastions patrol the roads. Warehouse Complex zipline offers a safe entry to the tunnels when the Checkpoint is too busy with other Raiders.
Dam Battlegrounds Rusted Gear Farm Locations
Dam Battlegrounds map has many high-value Industrial areas, but the Scrap Yard and the North Complex Elevator are the best spots to find Rusted Gears. The buses parked near the elevator randomly spawn the item, as many Raiders have collected one or two pieces on every run by breaching the buses. Other Industrial zones you can check out are Water Treatment Control, Hydroponic Dome Complex, and Power Generation Complex. When farming on the Dam, prefer areas to search that have many vehicles and heavy machinery.
Spaceport Rusted Gear Farm Locations
Spaceport has some Industrial zones around the map’s center, which makes this map a convenient region for back-to-back loot runs. Below are the locations you should head to and try your luck:
- Vehicle Maintenance
- Container Storage
- Rocket Assembly
- Shipping Warehouse
These locations have vehicles and breachable storage containers where Rusted Gears appear. The drop rate isn’t as high as Blue Gate, but it’s another good farming terrain for its open spaces and fewer enemy patrols.
Buried City Rusted Gear Farm Locations
Buried City doesn’t have Industrial zones, but some players have also found Rusted Gears here, normally in parking garages or drawers inside industrial-style buildings during Night Raids. Look for the areas around the Library Car Park, Parking Garage, and Highway; the item rarely spawns somewhere. RNG gods are harsh here, but the low player activity makes it a safe place for loot.
All Things that Drop Rusted Gears
Most of you might think car hoods are the only things you need to breach to get Rusted Gears, but they’re not. These are all the places where the items spawn:
- Car and truck hoods (the most common source)
- Buses near Industrial spawns
- Toolboxes or drawers inside Industrial buildings
- Electrical transformer boxes across Dam Battlegrounds
- Breach-and-search terminals in tunnels or warehouses
Car wrecks are the best source, but checking a few extra containers doesn’t hurt. The loot pool in ARC Raiders is random enough that odd drops happen all the time.
Night Raids yield better Rusted Gear drops because the game’s loot scale increases rarity, and Industrial containers then have a higher chance to drop blue-tier materials. If you’ve struggled after dozens of daytime runs, hunt down the Rusted Gears at night, and you’ll see the dramatic difference.
