Efficiently Acquiring Machine Arms in NieR: Automata

NieR: Automata presents players with a substantial list of crafting materials for weapon and pod upgrades. While many become readily available later, acquiring them early can significantly boost your character's strength. Machine Arms are a particularly rare material. This guide outlines the best strategies for obtaining them.

Farming Machine Arms: Early Game Strategy

Machine Arms have a chance to drop from defeated small machines, with the drop rate increasing alongside enemy level. Early in the game, this makes them scarce. To maximize your chances, focus on quickly eliminating as many small machines as possible.

Post-Chapter 4, a highly effective farming location unlocks. After your first encounter with Adam, the arena where the fight takes place becomes a continuous spawn point for small machines. Access this area via the Desert: Housing Complex fast travel point and proceed deeper into the ruins.

The constant respawning of low-level machines, while yielding a low Machine Arm drop rate, makes this the most efficient early-game farming method. This location is also excellent for Titanium Alloy farming. While a Drop Rate Plug-In Chip can slightly improve your yield, the impact is minimal.

Acquiring Machine Arms: Late Game Strategy (Spoilers)

Note: The following section contains spoilers for the final playthrough of NieR: Automata.

During the final playthrough, as A2, you have the option to erase Pascal's memories after the village robots are eliminated. This action transforms Pascal into a merchant, accessible until the game's conclusion. He sells Machine Arms, along with other components:

• Machine Heads - 15,000 G
• Machine Arm - 1,125 G
• Machine Leg - 1,125 G
• Machine Torso - 1,125 G
• Machine Head - 1,125 G
• Children's Cores - 30,000 G

This provides a reliable and convenient method for acquiring Machine Arms later in the game.