Workbench Upgrade Order: Workbench → Furnace → Anvil → Armory Bench
The four crafting stations, what each one unlocks, and the exact build materials — build them in this order and nothing is blocked.
The station chain is the real tech tree of Chapter 1. Four stations, strictly ordered, each one built at the previous. Build them out of order and you will find yourself walking back to town for materials.
1. Workbench — the root
Hand-crafted from 6 wood planks, no station required. Unlocks planks processing, copper tools, and every other station on this list.
2. Furnace — the smelter
8 stone at the Workbench. Every ingot in the game comes out of this: copper (2 ore + 1 coal), iron (2 ore + 2 coal), cobalt (2 ore + 3 coal). Keep a coal reserve — smelting is always the bottleneck.
3. Anvil — the metalworker
3 iron ingots + 2 planks at the Workbench. Unlocks iron and cobalt tools and weapons. This is where your mid-game damage comes from.
4. Armory Bench — the armorer
4 iron ingots + 4 leather strips at the Anvil. All metal armor pieces. Hide drops from wildlife, so stock leather strips early.
Upgrade order cheat sheet
- Workbench (6 planks) → Furnace (8 stone) → copper tools
- Iron ore → Anvil (3 ingots + 2 planks) → iron tools
- Hide farming → Armory Bench (4 ingots + 4 strips) → iron armor
- Deep mining → cobalt everything