How to acquire crafting materials? | Hints The Division Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Crafting is one of the key aspects of most MMO games, and Tom Clancy's The Division is no different. Thanks to that you will be able to create your own powerful items, giving you a lot more flexibility in acquiring and selecting your equipment - you won't have to rely on the randomness of the mission rewards, as well as the horrendous prices of vendors.
There are 5 types of crafting materials in the game - Fabrics, Weapon Parts, Tools, Electronics and Division Tech. The first four are gained during the "normal" playthrough, the last one can be acquired only during your venture into the Dark Zone.
There are several sources of crafting materials, such as:
- Chests located inside of the Base of Operation.
- Chests scattered around the city.
- Materials gained from dismantling equipment.
Chests located inside of the Base of Operation
During your first hours with the game you won't have access to them, but as you upgrade your wings in the Base of Operation you will be given additional crafting materials. The numbers given to you through those means are quite insignificant, but every piece counts - not to mention that the same upgrades that give you crafting materials will also give a lot of new abilities, talents and perks.
Items can be collected from specific, fixed containers, which appear after you purchase the required upgrade. The upgrades that give you crafting materials are as follows:
- Gunsmith in the Security Wing) - gives you one piece of Weapon Parts of the "specialized" rank each hour.
- Pharmacy in the Medical Wing - gives you one piece of Fabric of the "specialized" rank each hour.
- Field Engineering in the Tech Wing - gives you one piece of Tools of the "specialized" rank each hour.
- Division Tech in the Tech Wing - gives you one piece of Electronics of the "specialized" rank each hour.
Chests scattered around the city
There are numerous chests containing crafting materials scattered around the whole city. Those chests, depending on their type, contain various crafting materials - Weapon Parts, Fabrics, Tools and Electronics. Places in which you can stumble upon them are fixed - they always appear at the same places.
The chests are "regenerated" each two hours - you should pay attention to the time and visit them as often as you can. Their locations will be marked on the map, in one of the chapters of this guide.
Dismantling equipment
The quickest way to acquire crafting materials is without a doubt by dismantling items. Each dismantled item will give you at least one piece of a crafting material. The type of material is determined by the item you dismantle (a weapon will give Weapon Parts, an armor will give a Fabric, and so on), and their rank depends on the quality of the item you dismantle - the better the quality, the better (and more numerous) the material.
You should remember that the crafting materials of the "lower" rank (like the "green" ones) can be transformed into a better one. In order to do so, you will need 5 pieces of the lower-quality material, which will give you 1 piece of the higher-quality crafting material in return. This means that it's worth to pick up all the items, even those potentially worthless.
Furthermore, note the following:
- Crafting materials cannot be sold or purchased.
- There are only three ranks of crafting materials in the game (green, blue and orange ones), and they are used to craft everything ranging from the weakest to the strongest pieces of equipment. The type of crafting material depends on the rank of the item - the higher the rank, the higher (and more numerous) the crafting material needed.
- There is no limit to the crafting materials a character can carry - you can have an unlimited amount of them in your inventory.
- Crafting materials do not take space in your inventory.