The Workbench in your Trophy Room got its biggest rework yet in Season 7, and it's easy to waste blueprints on it. Formulas now start at max level, and there's a new Improvement Research layer on top of crafting. You loot blueprints in raids, spend them on a formula, and get up to two buffs on it that last for the rest of the season. The buffs include free crafts, extra output, upgraded items and shorter craft times.
This week r/ArenaBreakoutInfinite asked "what's the most profitable blueprint config" and whether Emergency Dispatch stacks. This guide answers from Morefun's patch notes and the game's own Workbench text, and flags anything that only comes from players.
Verified against Morefun's official Season 7 "UTOPIA Arrives" patch notes (Steam, app 2073620, published September 15, 2026) and the Season 7 English client strings on October 24, 2026, during Season 7: Utopia (live since September 16, 2026). Research results reset every season, so check this again when Season 8 starts.
⚡ TL;DR: Arena Breakout: Infinite Workbench & Improvement Research (Season 7)
What changed: formulas are at max level as soon as you unlock them, many recipes cost fewer materials, and the new M290 stun grenade is crafted here.
Blueprints: the in-game item is the Improved Manufacturing Blueprint. It drops in raids and from active missions, and Morefun says it is "more likely to appear in document boxes, clothing, and drawers."
Research: spend blueprints on one formula, pick results from the candidates, and equip up to 2 results per formula. Any result you don't select is lost.
Guarantees: the client shows a guaranteed gold result and a guaranteed red result after a set number of attempts. Players report every 5th roll is gold and every 15th is red.
Reset: "Research results will reset with each season." Spend your blueprints now, not next season.
Best use: focus on the one or two formulas you craft most, and go for results with a 100% extra-output or material-refund effect.
What is the Workbench in Arena Breakout: Infinite?
The Workbench is the crafting station in your Trophy Room. Looted miscellaneous items (and sometimes Koen) go in; after real hours, ammo, meds, tactical items or gear come out. A player screenshot this week shows an IND70 Tactical Helmet craft taking 40:00:00 and costing 2 Metal Hearts, 2 Sound-Muffling Cotton, 4 Space Boy comics and 500,000 Koen.
The tabs are Ammo, Equipment, Medicine and Tactical Items. Each formula shows a "Times Formula Crafted" counter, its research status and a share button, plus a Replenish Price (cost of missing parts) and a Contact Selling Price. If the parts cost more than the item is worth to you, only craft once you have a refund or bonus-output result.
What changed on the Workbench in Season 7?
Morefun's Season 7 patch notes call it a "minor Workbench rework" with a new system on top. The official list:
- "Formulas are at maximum level upon unlocking—they no longer need to level up as the Workbench does."
- "Material requirements for many formulas have been readjusted to a more reasonable level." Cost tables from before September 16, 2026 are out of date.
- New ammo materials: Morefun names "pocket watches, workman's diaries, gas analyzers".
- The M290 stun grenade can now be crafted. Delayed fuse, "unaffected by obstacles", causes tinnitus, slowing and lower mouse sensitivity.
- The new Improvement Research mode (below).
Miscellaneous items also got a "Check Usage" button that shows "which contact(s) will trade the item and which Workbench formula(s) include it." Use it before selling loot. The Collection Room level limit went up by 2 and red drop storage rose to 999.
How does Improvement Research work?
Morefun's summary, verbatim: "Get improvement blueprints in raids, research formulas out of raids, and equip the results to continuously unlock unique buffs throughout the season. Spend less and earn more."
Here is how it works in the client:
- Pick a formula and press "Improve Research". This spends Improved Manufacturing Blueprints. How many depends on the formula, and one result type, Research Expert, reduces it. The screenshot above shows "Research requires 10% fewer blueprints."
- Choose from the candidates. The game puts your current results next to the new ones and asks you to "Select 2 research result(s)." The warning underneath matters: "Unselected research results will be lost."
- Each formula has two improvement nodes, and each holds one result. The client text reads "Unlock to activate the second improvement node."
- Confirm before you leave. The exit prompt warns: "Exiting now will destroy all newly obtained results."
- Results are colour-coded by quality: blue, purple, gold and red, from worst to best. Higher-quality versions of the same effect are stronger. On the IND70 helmet in our header image, Unexpected Surplus III (gold) refunds all materials 25% of the time, and Unexpected Surplus IV (red) does it 30% of the time.
The gold and red guarantee
The research screen shows two counters: "A gold result is guaranteed within X research attempt(s)" and "A red result is guaranteed within Y research attempt(s)." The server tracks your progress, and Morefun hasn't published the numbers. Players have, though. In a September thread one player wrote: "Every 5 rolls you get golden enchantment and every 15 you get red one… You need to stick to one craft and upgrade it." Treat 5 and 15 as player-reported, and check the counter on your own screen. It shows your progress (for example "3/5").
Our advice: stick to one formula. Spread blueprints over five recipes and you get five sets of blue results; focus them and you hit the guaranteed gold and red.
What does Research Score mean?
A formula's Season Improvement Research Score is the sum of its two results' scores (Fast Track I = 30, Tactical Synergy II = 40, Scrap Recovery III = 60, Unexpected Surplus IV = 94 in the screenshots). The game uses it to compare you with friends and to warn you when a new pick scores "below the current configuration." It does not measure usefulness: a 38-point "+20 rounds every craft" can beat a 60-point "one fewer Album". Choose by effect, not number.
What do the research results do?
The Season 7 client has these result types, written exactly as they appear in-game:
| Effect type (client text) | What it means for you | Example from player screenshots |
|---|---|---|
| "% chance to refund all consumed materials" | Sometimes the whole craft is free | Unexpected Surplus III 25% / IV 30% on IND70 |
| "% chance to obtain an additional [item] ×N" | Bonus output, often 100% | Steady Boost I: 100% extra .338 UPZ ×20 |
| "% chance to upgrade base product to [item]" | The craft sometimes gives a better item | Morefun's example: SH65 helmet upgraded to IND70 |
| "Reduces [material] consumption by N" | A permanent, smaller material cost | Scrap Recovery III: one fewer Album |
| "% chance to reduce [material] consumption by N" | A chance-based material discount | Players report pocket-watch savings on 7.62 BP |
| "Reduces crafting time by %" / "% chance to reduce crafting time by %" | Faster crafts | Fast Track I: 10% off craft time |
| "Spend extra [item]… % chance to obtain an additional [item]" | Pay more and wait longer for more output | Players report 3 regen stims per craft for 12 extra hours |
| "Research requires % fewer blueprints" | Cheaper future rolls | Research Expert I: 10% fewer |
| "Gain an extra assisting blueprint ×N each time shared or learned" | More blueprints from friends | (social result) |
Result names in the client include Unexpected Surplus, Tactical Synergy, Steady Boost, Fast Track, Max Capacity, Supply Intercept, Yield Surplus, Scrap Recovery, Emergency Dispatch, Free Upgrade, Research Expert, OSINT and First-Rate Provisions. The same name gives different items per formula: Tactical Synergy II adds "20x ×1" on one recipe and "Commander ×1" on .338 AP. Community datamining counts 25 researchable recipes and 721 possible results (unofficial), which is why rolls feel so random.
Do Workbench research results stack?
There's no official answer yet. What we know:
- Players report Emergency Dispatch stacks with another crafting-time result. This week a player wrote: "It does stack, if both proc you get a insta craft for the green stim." Another argued that one time result plus an Emergency Dispatch proc "itll be instant anyways," so the second slot is better spent on a 25–30% refund.
- Same-type duplicates are uncertain. Datamined client logic shows blueprint-cost reductions and assisting-blueprint bonuses only use the highest-quality copy; the lower one is suppressed but still counts toward your score. Other types are flagged stackable, but how the server rolls two chances isn't confirmed, so don't assume two 25% refunds make 50%.
Practical rule: put two different effect types on a formula (for example extra output plus refund). Don't put two copies of the same one.
Where do you find Improved Manufacturing Blueprints?
The in-game description says: "An essential material for conducting formula research at the Workbench in your Trophy Room. They can often be found in various document boxes, clothing, and drawers." Morefun's patch notes say they come from "active missions and regular raids".
How to farm them:
- Search office spaces. Drawers, document boxes and clothing are the official hotspots, and they're quick to search on a budget kit in Normal raids.
- Do your missions. Seasonal and Contact missions add to your supply.
- Try No Man's Land. Community guides recommend the Season 7 PvE mode for drawers and document boxes; see our No Man's Land guide.
- Stack it with mission farming. A player hunting miscellaneous electronics for a mastery said: "I just find them as i look for improvement blueprints."
Assisting blueprints from friends
You can visit a friend's Trophy Room and learn their formula, and Morefun confirms "the person whose formula is learned will also receive assisting blueprints, which are prioritized for use during research." The client caps sharing and learning per day and assisting blueprints per week (players estimate about 15 per week, unconfirmed). A learned formula arrives as a Test Formula that expires if unused.
Which Workbench formulas are worth researching?
Buffs only trigger when you craft, so research the formulas you craft most.
1. Ammo you actually fire. A 100% "+20–60 rounds" result pays out on every craft. One player posted: "I got the 100% +30 and the 100% +40 on the T4 .45 APWC. At 190 rounds per ~130k they're suddenly reasonably priced." Others prefer cheap formulas like gold .45 and Dragon's Breath because the research pays off sooner.
Check the gear caps first. Season 7's "Mode-Based Ammo and Gear Cap" is T4 and below in Normal and T5 and below in Lockdown, applied to what you bring in. The .338 AP shown above is Pierce Level 6 (Penetration 64, Base Damage 90, Armor Damage 55), so you can't bring it into Normal or Lockdown. Don't sink a season of blueprints into ammo you can only fire in Forbidden-tier or Heavy Infected raids. Our ammo and gear cap explainer and best ammo guide list which rounds fit each tier.
2. Expensive gear crafts (IND70, BT201, SH65). The bigger the craft, the more a refund saves. A 30% Unexpected Surplus IV on the IND70 in our header image (1,784,194 Koen replenish price in that screenshot) saves about 535,000 Koen per craft on average. Morefun's own example, First-Rate Provisions, gives SH65 crafts a chance to become IND70 helmets; another player's best SH65 roll is a 15% full refund.
3. Meds and stims. Players report a 20% refund on Ultra-Strength Treatment and 100% for three regen stims per craft (for 12 extra hours). The client also lists "Improved" meds, "obtained through research at the Workbench, featuring an extended duration."
Skip small craft-time cuts like Fast Track I's 10% unless you're queue-limited. As one player put it: "I keep getting a bunch of garbage like 10% faster crafting or you get an extra grenade." Keep rolling past those toward your guaranteed gold.
Is the Workbench worth it for making Koen?
Yes, if you do the maths first. It's one of the few Koen sources that doesn't involve fighting anyone. Before you commit:
- Check the Replenish Price and Contact Selling Price on the formula screen. If the parts cost more than the item is worth, wait until you have a refund or bonus-output result.
- Use the Market only to fill gaps. Remember sell slots are limited. Our how to make Koen fast and best barter trades guides explain how the Workbench fits with Contacts and barters.
- Plan for the reset. Your research lasts until Season 8 and then it's gone. Morefun: "The research you conduct in a season only benefits you during that particular season."
Koen can no longer be bought from Morefun with real money (the official purchase system was removed at the 1.0 launch) and Morefun bans buyers as well as sellers, so crafting, barters and raids are the only safe Koen sources.
FAQ
What is the Workbench used for in Arena Breakout: Infinite? The Workbench is the crafting station in your Trophy Room. It turns looted miscellaneous items (and sometimes Koen) into ammo, meds, tactical items and gear over several real-time hours. In Season 7 it also hosts Improvement Research, which adds up to two buffs to each formula.
Where do you get blueprints in Arena Breakout: Infinite? Improved Manufacturing Blueprints drop in regular raids and come from active missions. The item description says they're most often in document boxes, clothing and drawers. You can also get assisting blueprints when friends learn your formulas or you learn theirs, up to a weekly limit.
Do Workbench formulas still need levelling in Season 7? No. Since the September 16, 2026 update, formulas are at maximum level as soon as you unlock them, and many recipes need fewer materials than before.
Is there a pity system for Improvement Research? Yes. The research screen shows a guaranteed gold result and a guaranteed red result within a set number of attempts. Players report every 5th roll is gold and every 15th is red, but Morefun hasn't published the numbers, so check the counter on your screen.
Do research results carry over to the next season? No. Morefun's patch notes say research results reset every season. Formulas you've unlocked stay, but the buffs from Improvement Research only last for the season you rolled them in.
Can you craft at a friend's Workbench? No. You can visit a friend's Workbench and learn their formula, which gives them assisting blueprints, but the client says you're "unable to craft at friend's workbench." You craft at your own.
Want more? These Arena Breakout: Infinite guides go with this one:
