Arc Deforesters, also referred to as Deforester Husks, are fallen ARC machines in Arc Raiders that double as trapped loot containers and the objective for the A Prime Specimen quest on the Blue Gate map.
Quick answer: On Blue Gate, Deforester husks spawn as huge horizontal ARC cylinders at Adorned Wreckage, Barren Clearing, near Ridgeline, and near the Maintenance Bunker. Each usable husk shows a live, interactable circuit panel inside the lower chamber and consumes exactly 2 ARC Powercells to run its two fire-trap phases before you climb to the upper platform and search the final container.
Deforester husk locations on Blue Gate
Deforesters only appear on the Blue Gate map and always use fixed world locations. The wrecks are large, horizontal cylinders with a hollow interior you can walk into.
Confirmed Deforester locations on Blue Gate include:
- Adorned Wreckage (west) – a Deforester sits close to this named area and is easily visible from range.
- Barren Clearing (west) – another Deforester is positioned between Barren Clearing and nearby terrain features.
- Near Ridgeline (east) – a third Deforester is placed close to the Ridgeline landmark.
- Near the Maintenance Bunker – one of the documented puzzle sites sits near the bunker entrance.
Each of these is a static environmental object. On the in-game map, they appear as long, fallen ARC structures; zooming in makes the cylindrical shape easy to pick out. In the world, they are much larger than most other ARC debris and always lie on their sides with an open central chamber.
Only some of the visible ARC cylinders on Blue Gate are wired as Deforester puzzles. A usable one is identified by its exposed circuit panel inside the lower chamber. If there is no interaction prompt on that panel, the husk cannot be run in that raid.
Requirements to activate a Deforester husk
Every functional Deforester husk follows the same requirements and structure.
Step 1: Bring or obtain 2 ARC Powercells. One Powercell is consumed by the first circuit in the lower chamber, the second by the rear circuit deeper inside. You can either carry them into the expedition from your stash or loot them from ARC machines such as Wasps, Hornets, and other robots on the surface.
Step 2: Enter the hollow cylinder at the base of the wreck and locate the first exposed circuit panel on the side wall near the entrance. This panel is the initial interaction point and only exists on active Deforesters.
Step 3: Interact with the first panel to insert one ARC Powercell. This starts the trap sequence and enables the second interaction deeper inside.
Two Powercells are mandatory; a single cell is not enough to complete the full sequence and access the upper loot container. If you leave the puzzle mid-way and it times out, you must spend both cells again on a fresh attempt in a new raid instance.
How the Deforester fire-trap puzzle works
Once powered, the Deforester behaves in a predictable way that never changes location to location.
Step 1: After inserting the first Powercell, the machinery in the lower chamber begins to emit intermittent jets of fire from nozzles along the floor and walls. The flames toggle between active and off states in a loop.
Step 2: During an off window, move past the flames to the rear of the lower chamber and interact with the second exposed circuit panel. This consumes the second ARC Powercell and changes the fire pattern.
Step 3: When the second panel is powered, the trap sequence continues, and the lower chamber remains hazardous. Exit the cylinder during another off window and climb onto the upper platform that appears or becomes active on the outside of the hull.
Step 4: Follow the upper platform back into the top of the cylinder, timing one more pass through intermittent flames. At the end of this upper path is the final loot container / search point at the back of the wreck.
Interacting with the upper container both completes the interaction chain and opens the ARC loot. In quests such as A Prime Specimen, this interaction is the completion trigger for the objective.
Once the final container is searched, the flames shut down, and the husk becomes safe to walk through. That Deforester cannot be re-run by anyone else in the same raid.
How to verify that a Deforester can still be used
Deforester husks are shared, single-use objects per raid instance. Only the first group to complete the chain can interact with them.
Use these checks before committing Powercells:
- Inside panel interaction – if you step into the lower chamber and there is no interaction prompt on the side-wall circuit, that husk has already been completed or is not configured as a puzzle in that match.
- Sparking visuals – an active, unused Deforester shows an intact, interactable circuit rather than only residual sparks with no prompt.
- Quest progress – for A Prime Specimen, the objective updates when you successfully search the back of the wreck from the upper platform.
Once a squad completes a Deforester, the interaction points effectively disable for everyone else in that raid. No reset occurs until the next expedition instance of Blue Gate.
Common reasons the Deforester interaction does not trigger
Several specific conditions prevent the Deforester from working as expected.
- Another raider got there first – the most frequent case. The Deforester can only be run once per raid, so a husk with no prompt on the first panel is already cleared.
- Quest event desync – in some runs, A Prime Specimen does not correctly attach to the interaction, which leaves the circuits unusable for that character in that instance. Swapping to another Deforester location or extracting and loading into a new Blue Gate run resolves it.
- Trap timeout – if you start the puzzle, leave for too long, and let the sequence reset, you will need two fresh ARC Powercells on a future attempt. The original cells are not refunded.
When the first Deforester you reach is dead or bugged, the only deterministic options are to check another known location on Blue Gate or abandon the expedition and try again in a fresh instance.
What the Deforester husk rewards contain
Deforester Husks are tagged as ARC loot containers with trap status enabled. The final search interaction awards ARC-themed crafting materials and components.
Documented drops from the upper container include combinations of:
- ARC Powercell
- ARC Alloy
- ARC Flex Rubber
- ARC Coolant
- ARC Synthetic Resin
- Advanced Mechanical Components
- Damaged ARC components
The exact quantities and chances are not fixed publicly, but the container always yields ARC-focused salvage and also grants Search XP on completion.
Once the loot has been taken, that Deforester is exhausted for the duration of the raid.
As long as you enter Blue Gate with two ARC Powercells and head straight for one of the known cylinder sites at Adorned Wreckage, Barren Clearing, Ridgeline, or the Maintenance Bunker area, the Deforester interaction is deterministic: find the live panel, survive two rounds of timed fire in the lower chamber, climb to the upper platform, and search the back of the wreck to claim the ARC loot and quest credit.
