Artisan Table: Crafting Recipe, Unlocks & How to Set Up Your Late-Game Workshop

Why the Artisan Table Confuses New Players

You defeat Moder, grab your Dragon Tears and place this table expecting a treasure trove of gear. Instead you see three Ballista missiles and a Mechanical Spring. Not the epic loot moment you hoped for.

A gateway, not a workshop

What most players miss: the Artisan Table is about what it lets you build. Like the Forge, it is a gateway station. Without it you are locked out of:

• Black Metal weapons (via the Blast Furnace)
• Linen Thread armor (via the Spinning Wheel)
• Barley Flour (via the Windmill)
• Baked foods that carry you through the Plains and beyond (via the Stone Oven)

How to Get Dragon Tears and Build the Table

You need to defeat Moder, the fourth boss, summoned in the Mountains by placing 3 Dragon Eggs on her altar. She always drops 10 Dragon Tears, enough for five tables, so save a few for outpost bases in distant biomes.

Teleportable loot

Unlike most boss materials, Dragon Tears are teleportable. Portal them home right after the fight, no dangerous boat ride needed.

The recipe

Just 2 Dragon Tears and 10 Wood: no Iron or other rare materials. Build it with the Hammer from the Crafting tab. It can go on any surface and measures 2.8 x 2.6 x 1.9, so plan your workshop space.

The Four Structures the Artisan Table Unlocks

This is the real reason the table exists. All four must be built within its 40-meter radius, but once placed they work independently: you could destroy the table and they would keep running.

Blast Furnace

The most critical unlock. It smelts Black Metal Scrap into Black Metal and Flametal Ore into Flametal, which the regular Smelter cannot process. It is your only path to endgame metal gear.

• 30 seconds per bar, using roughly 1 Coal every 15 seconds
• Holds 20 Coal and 10 ore
• Must sit on terrain or stone, not wood floors (raise the terrain with a Hoe to match a wooden floor)

Spinning Wheel

Turns Flax into Linen Thread for Padded armor, the best non-magic set of the Plains era. Each Flax takes 30 seconds and the wheel holds 40. Thread drops on the ground beneath it, so place a chest nearby. Rain does not damage it.

Windmill

Grinds Barley into Barley Flour for Bread, Lox Meat Pie and other top-tier foods. It holds 50 Barley and drops flour in stacks of 20. Speed depends entirely on wind, from about 10 seconds per flour in a strong wind to much longer in calm weather.

At 5 x 8 x 5 it is by far the largest of the four, which is why the table has a 40-meter radius instead of the standard 20. Build it in the open with no structures, trees or terrain blocking the blades; the windy Plains are ideal.

Stone Oven

Bakes prepared items like Bread Dough, Unbaked Lox Pie and many Mistlands recipes.

• Cooks 4 items at once, about 50 seconds each
• Items left in for more than 100 seconds burn to Coal
• Burns Wood, each piece lasting about 33 minutes; a full load of 10 runs for over five hours
• Like the Blast Furnace, must sit on terrain or stone

Direct Recipes: Missiles and Components

The table does have its own recipes:

• Level 1: Ballista missiles (Wooden, Black Metal and Flametal) and the Mechanical Spring (1 Refined Eitr + 3 Iron).
• Level 2: Ceramic Plate (5 Black Marble makes 5) and Shield Core (1 Black Core, 1 Surtling Core, 5 Ceramic Plate) for Ashlands-tier gear.

The Wooden Missile is the entry-level Ballista ammo: 75 Pierce per shot, with 5 Corewood and 2 Feathers making a batch of 20. The metal missiles follow the same pattern with upgraded materials and damage.

Cover rules

Direct crafting needs a roof and at least 70% cover, like a Workbench. Placing the four unlocked structures nearby needs no cover at all.

Upgrading to Level 2 with the Artisan Press

Build an Artisan Press near the table to reach level 2, much like a Chopping Block upgrades a Workbench. It costs 5 Black Marble, 5 Bronze and 1 Majestic Carapace. The carapace only drops from The Queen, the sixth boss in the Mistlands, so level 2 comes very late.

Why you need it

• Unlocks the Drakkar, the only ship that can sail to the Ashlands.
• Unlocks Ceramic Plate and Shield Core for Ashlands-tier crafting.

Still in the Plains? Ignore the upgrade for now and get the four base stations processing your Barley, Flax and Black Metal.

Optimal Placement and Workshop Layout

The stations pull in different directions, so you can't throw everything in one building:

• The Artisan Table is damaged by rain and needs a roof.
• The Windmill needs open sky and wind, and it is huge.
• The Blast Furnace and Stone Oven must sit on terrain or stone.

A layout that works

1. Build a covered workshop for the Artisan Table, the Spinning Wheel and your chests.
2. Place the Windmill outside in the open, as far away as needed (up to 40 meters).
3. Put the Blast Furnace and Stone Oven on stone or bare ground under a chimney-style roof that blocks rain but lets smoke out.

Maximising flour

The Plains are the best workshop location thanks to strong, steady winds. Fog cuts Windmill efficiency badly, so avoid biome boundaries with unpredictable weather. For more flour, build 2 or 3 Windmills side by side within the same 40-meter radius; each runs independently.