The Anvil is the gun half of r/ArcRaiders swears by and the other half can't seem to unlock. Load into any lobby and someone is running one; open the crafting menu and its blueprint is greyed out. That gap is where the confusion lives — one player literally posted "The Anvil BP doesn't exist!" this week. It exists. It just doesn't work the way most weapon unlocks do: you can't buy it from the workbench tree, and it never sits at one fixed spot on the map. This guide front-loads the exact answer — where the Anvil blueprint actually drops, how to craft and upgrade it, the no-RNG shortcuts — then settles the real argument the community is having: do you even need the blueprint at all?
ARC Raiders - Blueprints
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TL;DR — Anvil blueprint quick answer
- Where it drops: the Anvil Blueprint is a random loot-pool roll from Raider Caches, Weapon Cases, Ammo Cases and Grenade Tubes — not a fixed map location and not a workbench unlock (arcraiders.wiki).
- Best farm: Raider Caches are the community's most reliable source (players report pulling two in a single week from caches alone). Loot every raider-type container you pass.
- No-RNG paths: the crafted Anvil is sold by Tian Wen for 15,000 Coins, 3 per day, and higher tiers are handed out by specific quests — Anvil II from A Rising Tide, Anvil III from Communication Hideout (arcraiders.wiki).
- What it is: an Uncommon single-action Hand Cannon on Heavy Ammo — 40 damage, 2.5× headshot multiplier, Strong ARC armor penetration, 6-round mag.
- Craft cost (Anvil I): learn the blueprint, then build at a Gunsmith 1 bench for 5× Mechanical Components + 6× Simple Gun Parts (arcraiders.wiki).
- The twist: the Anvil drops so often in the wild that many veterans have never crafted one — the blueprint is insurance, not a requirement (more on that below).
- Shortcut: don't want to gamble raider-cache runs? You can grab ARC Raiders blueprints directly and skip straight to a built gun.
What is the Anvil in ARC Raiders?
The Anvil is an Uncommon-tier, single-action Hand Cannon that fires Heavy Ammo. In the wiki's own words, "The Anvil is a single-action Hand Cannon that uses Heavy Ammo... Raiders who choose this weapon will often be rewarded if their aim is true" (arcraiders.wiki). Translation: it hits like a truck, punishes you for spraying, and rewards precise, deliberate shots — the classic hand-cannon fantasy.
Here's the full base stat line, pulled straight from the ARC Raiders Wiki:
| Stat | Anvil |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Hand Cannon (single-action) |
| Ammo | Heavy Ammo |
| Magazine | 6 rounds |
| Damage | 40 |
| Fire rate | 16.3 |
| Headshot multiplier | 2.5× |
| ARC armor penetration | Strong |
| Range | 50.2 |
| Stability | 75.2 |
| Agility | 69.1 |
| Weight | 5.0 |
| Durability (I / II / III / IV) | 188 / 208 / 235 / 268 shots |
| Sell value (I / II / III / IV) | 5,000 / 7,000 / 10,000 / 13,000 Coins |
The two numbers that matter most are 40 damage and the 2.5× headshot multiplier. That combination means a clean headshot lands for roughly 100 damage from a single-action hand cannon — a huge chunk that two-taps most raiders and shreds ARC units thanks to that Strong armor-penetration rating. Don't expect a guaranteed one-shot, though: a Light or Medium Shield soaks damage before it reaches a raider's health, so a shielded target takes more than one clean hit. The other trade-off is the 16.3 fire rate and 6-round mag — miss, and the slow follow-up leaves you exposed. This is a weapon that lives and dies on your first shot.
Where do you find the Anvil blueprint in ARC Raiders?
This is the part that trips everyone up. The Anvil Blueprint is not unlocked by upgrading your weapon workbench, and it does not spawn at a single guaranteed location. It's a random drop from the raider loot pool, and per the ARC Raiders Wiki it can appear in exactly four container types:
| Container | Where you find them | Community-reported reliability |
|---|---|---|
| Raider Cache | Raider-controlled points of interest across every map | Most players report their Anvil BPs coming from here |
| Weapon Case | Military/armory rooms, raider outposts | Common — weapon-themed loot pool |
| Ammo Case | Combat zones, defended buildings | Reported, less often |
| Grenade Tube | Scattered in high-conflict POIs | Rarer, but on the list |
(The wiki confirms all four as valid Anvil Blueprint sources; the relative reliability above is aggregated from community reports, not an official drop table.)
The practical takeaway: hunt Raider Caches first. They're the source most players credit, and looting them also fills your pockets with high-value gear even on the runs where the blueprint doesn't roll. Raiders on r/ArcRaiders regularly describe pulling Anvil blueprints from caches and ammo crates while doing normal post-wipe looting — so loot aggressively and it tends to show up.
If you want a map to focus on, the Dam Battlegrounds raider POIs (around Raider Outpost East and the broken-bridge stretch) are a popular farming loop — PC Gamer traced their own Anvil blueprint to that exact area. But don't over-index on one spot: because it's a loot-pool roll, the fastest strategy is volume. Run raider-dense areas, crack every cache and weapon case you see, and the blueprint comes to you.
How to farm the Anvil blueprint fast
You're not looking for a needle in one haystack — you're rolling a dice that appears in dozens of haystacks per match. Optimize for containers per minute:
- Prioritize raider POIs over civilian loot. Residential drawers won't give you the Anvil BP. Raider Caches and Weapon Cases will. Route your raid through outposts and armories.
- Loot every raider-type container, even mid-fight-recovery. The players who "never had to look for it" are the ones who open everything. Volume is the whole strategy.
- Extract with it before you can learn it. You can't learn a blueprint out in the field — the Anvil Blueprint is a Learn and Consume item you use back in Speranza. So the blueprint is worthless if you die topside with it: keep it safe (a Safe Pocket slot is ideal), extract, then learn it at base.
- Stack the trip. Farming Anvil caches doubles as a materials and scrap run, so you're never wasting a raid even on a dry blueprint streak.
ARC Raiders - Materials
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Anvil craft recipe and upgrade path
Once the blueprint is learned, the Anvil is one of the cheapest hand cannons to build — it only needs a Gunsmith 1 bench. Every recipe below is from the ARC Raiders Wiki:
| Tier | Requires | Materials | Upgrade perks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil I | Learned Blueprint, Gunsmith 1 | 5× Mechanical Components, 6× Simple Gun Parts | Base weapon |
| Anvil II | 1× Anvil I, Gunsmith 1 | 3× Mechanical Components, 1× Simple Gun Parts | +25% fire rate, +10 durability, faster dispersion recovery |
| Anvil III | 1× Anvil II, Gunsmith 1 | 4× Mechanical Components, 1× Heavy Gun Parts | +50% fire rate, +20 durability |
| Anvil IV | 1× Anvil III, Gunsmith 1 | 4× Mechanical Components, 1× Heavy Gun Parts | +75% fire rate, +30 durability |
The upgrade path is where the Anvil goes from "clunky" to genuinely nasty. Anvil III and IV stack up to +75% fire rate, which directly attacks the gun's biggest weakness — that slow single-action follow-up. A maxed Anvil IV keeps the one-shot headshot ceiling while feeling far snappier in a scramble. If you're crafting deliberately, the Simple Gun Parts for tier I are cheap; the Heavy Gun Parts for tiers III–IV are the real gate, so bank those before you commit.
The no-RNG shortcuts: buy it or quest for it
Don't want to leave your loadout to a loot roll? You have three deterministic paths:
- Buy the crafted gun from Tian Wen. The vendor Tian Wen sells a ready-made Anvil for 15,000 Coins, up to 3 per day (arcraiders.wiki). No blueprint required — you're buying the finished weapon.
- Complete A Rising Tide for a guaranteed Anvil II.
- Complete Communication Hideout for a guaranteed Anvil III.
For a lot of players the vendor route is the honest answer. As one veteran put it in this week's vault thread: "why even craft anything that can be bought?" If you just want an Anvil in hand for tonight's raids, 15,000 Coins from Tian Wen skips the entire hunt.
Is the Anvil blueprint even worth farming?
Here's the debate actually happening in r/ArcRaiders — and it's more useful than any location map. The Anvil is, for a huge chunk of the community, the most-used weapon in the game. Multiple high-hour players describe it as their single most-damage gun by a wide margin over anything else in their arsenal — while having crafted or bought only a handful. One veteran with hundreds of hours "topside" said the Anvil is their go-to for both PvE and PvP, yet they've never crafted a single one.
Why? Because it drops constantly as a finished weapon. You find Anvils faster than you burn them, so the blueprint becomes redundant — you're never short a gun to loot one.
So who should farm the blueprint?
- PvP-heavy players heading into a fresh wipe. As one raider explained, in a combat-focused wipe you lose Anvils faster than you find them; the blueprint means it "never feels like a precious resource." It's insurance for your workhorse.
- Players who hate depending on RNG for their main. If the Anvil is your comfort pick, owning the blueprint guarantees supply.
- Players who want on-demand supply through a wipe — owning the blueprint means you can rebuild an Anvil any time gear runs dry. One caveat: learned blueprints reset when you depart an Expedition (Blueprints are listed under progress that resets), so treat it as reliable supply within a cycle rather than a permanent, never-lose unlock.
If you're a casual or mid-hours player who loots aggressively, the honest verdict is: you'll probably never need to craft it. Keep looting, keep an Anvil on your back, and let the blueprint come when it comes. If you're grinding PvP or want your main gun guaranteed on demand, the blueprint — or a pre-built loadout shortcut — is worth locking in.
Skip the RNG grind. Want the Anvil (or any blueprint) in hand without gambling raider caches raid after raid?
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Anvil blueprint in ARC Raiders? It doesn't have a single fixed location. The Anvil Blueprint is a random drop from the raider loot pool and can appear in Raider Caches, Weapon Cases, Ammo Cases and Grenade Tubes. Raider Caches are the most reliable source, so route your raids through raider-controlled POIs and loot every container.
Can you unlock the Anvil by upgrading the workbench? No. Unlike some weapons, the Anvil is not a workbench-tree unlock. You must either learn its blueprint from a world drop, buy the finished gun from the vendor Tian Wen (15,000 Coins, 3 per day), or earn higher tiers from quests.
Why is my Anvil blueprint greyed out / "doesn't exist"? If the recipe shows but you can't craft, you haven't learned the blueprint yet — finding the item isn't the same as learning it. The blueprint is a learn-and-consume drop; use it from your inventory to add the recipe. If you've never seen it at all, keep looting raider caches — it's an RNG roll, not a guaranteed spawn.
Is the Anvil good in ARC Raiders? Yes — it's one of the most-used weapons in the game. With 40 base damage, a 2.5× headshot multiplier and Strong ARC armor penetration, a single headshot lands roughly 100 damage on an unshielded target and shreds ARC units. Note it won't one-shot a shielded raider — a full Light Shield mitigates around 40% of the hit — so expect to follow up. Its weakness is the slow single-action fire rate, which upgrading to Anvil III/IV (+75% fire rate) largely fixes.
How much does the Anvil sell for? Depending on tier, the Anvil sells for 5,000 (I), 7,000 (II), 10,000 (III) or 13,000 (IV) Coins. Since you find them so often, selling spare Anvils is a steady side income.
Do I actually need the Anvil blueprint? Honestly, many veterans don't — Anvils drop often enough that most players never craft one. The blueprint is worth it if you play PvP-heavy wipes where you lose guns faster than you find them, or if you want your main weapon guaranteed on demand rather than left to loot RNG.
