Twenty Red Moon Altars are hidden throughout Washington, D.C. during Red Moon Unleashed, each one giving off a faint pinging sound once you get near it. Shoot an altar and it drops a random reward pulled from the event’s Gear Cache pool, which makes clearing all of them a quick daily routine while the event runs through November 3.
Quick answer: There are 20 Red Moon Altars spread across 11 districts. Shoot each one to collect Gear Cache loot. Every altar resets once per day at 08:00 UTC, so all 20 can be farmed again the next day.
How Red Moon Altars work
Altars sit in and around the decorated parts of the city and stay quiet until you approach. The pinging noise gets louder the closer you are, which is the easiest way to confirm one is nearby when you cannot spot it on a rooftop or ledge. A single shot is enough to break it.
You can destroy each altar once during a day. All 20 return at the daily reset, which occurs at 08:00 UTC and also refreshes the event’s Daily Boost. Destroying one grants a roll from the Gear Cache reward pool, which includes seasonal Named items, Exotics, gear and skill mods, the Lichtenberg Classic M1A, and rarer Prototype rolls.
Breaking an altar can summon a group of Moon Cultists on the spot, so expect a fight before you can grab the loot and move on.
All 20 Red Moon Altar locations
The 20 altars are split across 11 districts. Most districts hold two altars, while Constitution Hall and Federal Triangle have one each. Use the table below to plan a route, then look up or down from each described spot to catch the ones placed on rooftops, beams, and ledges.
| # | District | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West End | Atop the beam beside the highway |
| 2 | West End | On the balcony of a streetside building |
| 3 | Downtown West | Street level, beside car wreckage |
| 4 | Downtown West | On a small elevated surface beside the street |
| 5 | Foggy Bottom | In front of an ad board near the intersection |
| 6 | Foggy Bottom | High on construction rafters at a building corner |
| 7 | Constitution Hall | On the construction rafter beside the bonfire |
| 8 | West Potomac Park | Beside a small hut near the Lincoln Memorial |
| 9 | West Potomac Park | On a rooftop, Washington Monument in the background |
| 10 | White House | On top of a Humvee |
| 11 | White House | Beside a dumpster near the alley entrance |
| 12 | Downtown East | High on a ledge in an archway corner, lit purple |
| 13 | Downtown East | On the street, on the pavement close to the intersection |
| 14 | Federal Triangle | On the corner section of the boundary wall |
| 15 | Judiciary Square | On the porch of the District Mall entrance |
| 16 | Judiciary Square | In front of the statue |
| 17 | East Mall | At the corner, under the building’s name tag |
| 18 | East Mall | Behind the fenced gate near the Classified Assignment |
| 19 | Southwest | On top of a train carriage near the corner |
| 20 | Southwest | Near the corner, atop stairs among broken chairs |
Several altars sit well above eye level, including the Foggy Bottom rafters, the West Potomac Park rooftop, and the Downtown East archway ledge. If the pinging is loud but you see nothing, tilt the camera upward before moving on.
Confirming an altar is cleared
Once you shoot an altar, it breaks apart and a reward drops at its base, which you pick up like any other loot. The pinging sound stops for that location until the next reset. If a Moon Cultist group spawns, clear it and the drop stays on the ground for you to collect afterward.
Because each altar is a once-per-day pickup, the fastest approach is a single loop through all 11 districts after the 08:00 UTC reset. The two single-altar districts, Constitution Hall and Federal Triangle, are easy to skip by accident, so build them into your route early rather than backtracking at the end.
