In Arc Raiders, the early quest “A Bad Feeling” sends you out to search either an Arc Probe or an Arc Courier. The game doesn’t really explain what those look like or where they tend to appear, which is why so many players wander Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City without ever realizing they’ve walked past one.
This guide focuses on Arc Couriers first — they’re easier to route for than Probes — and then covers how Probes work, what both objects look and sound like, and what you actually get for looting them.
What Arc Couriers and Probes actually are
| Object | Visual shape | Audio / visual cues | How you interact | Quest progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc Courier | Large, boxy or oval pod; often looks like a crashed “saucer” or big cargo module | Thick column of black smoke; easy to pick out on open ground | Walk up, hold to “breach,” then search the opened panel | Searching any one Courier completes “A Bad Feeling” |
| Arc Probe | Tall missile-like cylinder, usually nose-first in the ground or lying on its side | Constant beeping “ping” plus a plume of black smoke; can fall from the sky mid-raid | Same: breach interaction, then search | Searching any one Probe also completes “A Bad Feeling” |
| ARC husks | Dead ARC machine carcasses and Wasp-like drone bodies scattered near activity | No beeping; just piles of chrome metal on the ground | Search directly, no breach step | Good for parts, but not what Celeste is asking for here |
Couriers and Probes are essentially loot containers tied to ARC drops. They’re not active enemies, but they sit in areas that are usually patrolled by ARCs, so you rarely get to loot them in peace.
Arc Raiders courier location patterns on Dam Battlegrounds
Couriers can technically show up across the map, but they’re far from random chaos. On Dam Battlegrounds there are several high-frequency spots where Couriers keep reappearing over multiple raids. If you just want to finish “A Bad Feeling,” running a loop through these areas is usually faster than chasing Probe audio.
| Region | Typical Courier spot | Why it’s easy to check |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical Substation (west side) | Just outside the western perimeter wall, on the dirt and roadside | Open sightlines; you can see the smoke from the road or ridge as you approach |
| Between Electrical Substation and Water Treatment | Near the road junction that links the two facilities | You pass this crossroads constantly while rotating; a quick glance for smoke is enough |
| Research & Administration (south slope) | On the slope directly south of the complex | Elevation makes the smoke column stand out against the sky, even from a distance |
| South Swamp Outpost | On the outskirts of the outpost, near the road and shallow water | Flat, open ground; a Courier here is very hard to miss visually |
| Hills east of Small Creek | Rolling hills just south of Research & Administration, east of Small Creek | The terrain is relatively clear; a Courier’s smoke will punch above the horizon line |
| Route to Hydroponic Dome Complex | Roadside near West Broken Bridge, on the way down toward Hydroponic Dome Complex | Natural choke point; you can sweep it every time you move between north and south |
In practice, these locations behave like a loose rotation rather than hard guarantees. A Courier won’t be at every one of them on every run, but if you hit all of them in a single raid, you usually see at least one pod.
On some Dam Battlegrounds runs, Couriers can also spawn on the backs of ARC Barons — the huge, dead spider-like machines. Those Baron-mounted Couriers are functionally identical from a quest perspective: climb up, breach, and loot. The catch is that some Barons spit fire once you start interacting with the Courier and are often surrounded by live ARCs, so be prepared for a fight.
How to visually and audibly track Couriers
The game quietly gives you two simple tools for hunting Couriers:
| Signal | How it helps | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Black smoke plume | Couriers throw up a dense column of black smoke that stands out from most ambient effects. | Whenever you crest a hill or exit a POI, take a second to scan the skyline. Any tall, dark smoke column in an otherwise clear area is worth investigating. |
| On-screen proximity icon (sometimes) | When you get close enough, an icon can appear, making the last leg of your search trivial. | If you think you’re in one of the usual Courier zones, sweep slowly until the icon pops up, then follow it in. |
Couriers don’t emit the beeping that Probes do, so you’re relying much more on visual information and your knowledge of the map’s habit of dropping loot on roads, open fields, and slopes rather than inside dense forest.
Arc Probe basics and when to chase them instead
Probes are the other half of Celeste’s request, and they behave a little differently.
- They look like oversized missiles — tall, thin, usually embedded nose-first or sprawled sideways.
- They constantly emit a heavy, repetitive beep that grows louder as you turn to face and move toward them.
- They also trail black smoke, but the audio cue is what really matters.
- They can spawn with the map, but they can also drop in mid-match like an airdrop — you literally see a rocket falling from the sky.
On Dam Battlegrounds, Probes have shown up in many of the same broad regions as Couriers, including:
- The middle of the Power Generation Complex (on the surface level).
- The center of Hydroponic Dome Complex.
- The hills south of Research & Administration, east of Small Creek — sometimes even two at once during electromagnetic storm events.
- Near the Field Depot at South Swamp Outpost.
Because Probes can drop during the raid, they’re less predictable than Couriers for route planning. But if you hear that unmistakable, heavy ping while you’re rotating between objectives, it’s worth veering off and following the sound immediately. A fresh drop is often uncontested for the first minute or so.
Fastest way to finish “A Bad Feeling” with a Courier
If your only goal is to clear Celeste’s quest and move on, the Courier loop is the simplest play. The moment the quest is active:
- Load into Dam Battlegrounds on your usual route.
- Head toward the Electrical Substation and check:
- Outside the west wall.
- The road intersection between Electrical Substation and Water Treatment.
- Rotate down past Research & Administration:
- Scan the south-facing slope.
- If you have time, sweep the hills east of Small Creek just below it.
- Push south toward:
- South Swamp Outpost.
- The roadside stretch by West Broken Bridge on your way to Hydroponic Dome Complex.
At each stop, pause for a second and look for a tall column of thick black smoke. If you spot one, approach cautiously. Couriers are often sitting near ARC patrols or in the shadow of other activity.
When you reach the Courier:
- Clear nearby patrols first, especially Rocketeers or anything with long sightlines.
- Approach from the side that gives you the most cover from the open field.
- Hold the interaction to breach the Courier, then immediately search the opened container.
The quest completes the moment you successfully search the Courier. You don’t have to extract immediately to “lock in” the quest state, but you do need to survive whatever attention the breach noise pulls in.
How breaching works and why it’s different on Probes vs Couriers
Interacting with Couriers and Probes always follows the same pattern, but the time and risk are not identical.
| Object | Breach time and noise | Risk profile | Approach advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arc Courier | Shorter breach interaction, generally quieter overall. | Danger comes mostly from open terrain and nearby ARC patrols. | Use the pod itself as partial cover, start the breach from the “back” side away from the most exposed angle. |
| Arc Probe | Longer breach that’s audibly louder. | More time for enemies and other Raiders to converge on your position. | Clear the area as thoroughly as you can, set up in cover, and only start the breach when you’re ready to hold the spot for a bit. |
In both cases, the breach is a simple hold-interaction with no mini-game attached. Once the container unlocks, you perform a second, quick search interaction to actually pull the loot and trigger quest progress.
What you get from Couriers, Probes, and the quest rewards
The immediate reward for finishing “A Bad Feeling” is straightforward and always the same:
| Source | Guaranteed payout | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Quest turn-in to Celeste | 10 Metal Parts, 5 Steel Springs, 5 Duct Tape | A small starter bundle meant to support early crafting and repairs. |
The contents of the Courier or Probe you loot are more variable, but they generally skew toward higher-value materials and machine parts than what you’d get from random scrap alone. They are also counted as XP events, nudging your progression forward each time you breach and search one.
Crucially, Couriers and Probes remain useful long after you’re done with the quest. They keep spawning across Dam Battlegrounds and the other maps, and they stay one of the cleaner ways to top up on ARC components while you’re already out chasing other objectives.
Once you internalize two simple signals — smoke for Couriers, beeping plus smoke for Probes — the map starts to feel very different. Those strange plumes on the horizon stop being background decoration and turn into reliable detours for materials, XP, and one of the earliest bottleneck quests in the game. Run a tight courier loop, listen for probes between POIs, and “A Bad Feeling” will quietly fall off your log while you’re already thinking about the next challenge.
