Mass Effect Andromeda has a detailed crafting system that involves researching blueprints, then crafting from them. You will gather materials and research points for certain categories to craft weapons, armor, and more.
I’m going to explain the basics of this crafting system and everything you need to know to get started on making the best gear you can.
This guide will go over the basics of crafting in Mass Effect Andromeda including:
- How to Craft – The basics on what you need to craft.
- Blueprints and Levels – How blueprints work, the different things you can craft, and the different levels of gear you can make.
- Augmentations – How these affect crafting and what you can add.
How to Craft
To start crafting, you need to go to a Research Center terminal. The easiest location is in the middle of the Tempest, but you might find them on planets where you have established outposts.
You get 2 choices when you activate the terminal — Research or Development. Research will unlock new Blueprints so that you can craft them in the Development section.
Research Data
There are 3 categories of research: Milky Way, Heleus, and Remnant.
As you scan and discover new things in the game, you will get data for any of these 3 categories. Each blueprint costs a certain amount of Research Data unlock.
Development (aka Crafting)
When you have the blueprint you want to craft, choose the Development section to bring up your list of craftable items. The first tab, Ready to Develop, shows everything you can craft that you have the materials for already.
You can scroll through the other tabs to see everything, even those you don’t have enough materials for. You can switch between the stats and the requirements to see what you still need and even view each material to get examples of how to find them.
Gathering
You can get these materials by mining, finding them in nodes on planets, or scanning in space. You can also choose certain Cryo Pod perks to give you materials over periods of time.
Blueprints and Levels
Weapon and Armor blueprints have different levels you can craft. Each level increases the stats of an item, so you ideally want to craft the highest possible.
At first, there is a max of 5 levels, and the first 2 levels have no requirement. Levels 3-5 require you to be level 10, 20, and 30 respectively. You also need to research the previous level before you can research the next.
Once you learn the level 5 blueprint. you unlock the Advanced version. This goes all the way to rank 10.
Other Items
Besides weapons and armor, you can craft Augmentations and Noman enhancements. You don’t need to research any Nomad enhancement — just go to development, then the nomad tab to view all available upgrades.
When you craft a Nomad enhancement, it is automatically added the next time you use the Nomad.
Augmentations
These are special enhancements to a piece of gear that you can add during the development process. These are not the same as mods, because you can’t add them or take them away after the item is crafted. You also only get one when you research a mod, and can only get more by finding them randomly in the field — you can’t craft them.
These can greatly change how an item works, such as changing a gun to use no ammo and overheat instead. Augmentations can also change depending on which item you put them in. Check the details of each one to see which items you can put them in and what each one does.
Deconstructing
You can destroy a piece of gear to get some of the materials back to help craft other items. If you destroy a crafted piece of gear, you will get back any Augmentations you used to craft it.
That’s all you need to know to get started with crafting in Mass Effect Andromeda. Let me know if you have any questions!
