The fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass is the first ARC in Arc Raiders you can walk inside. It works as a dungeon: a locked hatch at its base, a stack of shafts and trial rooms that reshuffle every run, and a final hangar full of amplification modules, upgrade parts and the Emperor Modulator. You can clear it solo if you bring the right key, the right traversal tool, and a little patience with the ARC that guard it.
Quick answer: Collect the blueprint and one ARC Plated, Conductive and Insulated Coupler from Redirection payloads, craft the Emperor Gateway Conduit at Workbench 1, then use it on the socket at the Emperor’s base.
What opens the Fallen Emperor
This hatch accepts only the Emperor Gateway Conduit, a Legendary key weighing 0.5 and worth 1,000 Coins when sold. Its description explains that three distinct couplers are fused to make it, and that it fits the fallen Emperor at Pendola Pass. Traders don’t stock the key; learn its blueprint and craft it yourself.
| Ingredient | Type | Rarity | Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
 Emperor Gateway Conduit Blueprint | Blueprint | Legendary | Learned once |
 ARC Plated Coupler | Topside Material | Epic | 1 |
 ARC Conductive Coupler | Topside Material | Epic | 1 |
 ARC Insulated Coupler | Topside Material | Epic | 1 |
These couplers barely add weight: Plated weighs 0.25, while Conductive weighs 0.5, making a full set easy to carry. Their tooltips say each coupler is one of three components recovered from ARC machines; together, the components form one conduit. The conduit unlocks the Emperor a single time, and placing it in the socket uses it up.
How to farm couplers and the blueprint during Redirection
Couplers and the blueprint come from Harvester payloads, and those only drop when Pendola Pass is running the Redirection map condition. Redirection is rated 3 of 5 for difficulty and carries three modifiers: No Flash Freeze, Emperor Relays active, and Falling Debris. During the event, Emperor Beacons switch on across the map, and anyone who loots and deploys one pulls a valuable payload down to their own location. It runs three to four times a day in windows of roughly an hour.
Couplers are common, and a payload may contain several. The blueprint is much less predictable: you might find it after a few payloads, or need to open 20 or more. Destroyed Surveyors leave behind a core called a Surveyor Vault, which may also yield the blueprint, so take down any Surveyor you encounter. The Frigate can have couplers as well.
An Emperor Beacon does not survive extraction. If you leave the raid carrying one, it becomes a Ruined Emperor Beacon with no signal left, worth only 1,000 Coins, so deploy every beacon you pick up in the same raid.
Winning relays in friendly and PvP lobbies
Everyone on Pendola Pass wants the same relays. If one lights up while you are more than about 200 meters away, someone closer usually gets it first, except in the opening minutes before the whole lobby has spawned. Positioning matters more than speed.
- In friendly lobbies, wait somewhere between two or three relays, or sit right on one; other Raiders tend to leave an occupied relay alone.
- Bring extra beacons: with multiple beacons in your inventory, a single relay can power several payloads.
- In PvP lobbies, treat every beam as bait. Some players camp relays and wait until you start looting the payload before they shoot.
- A rooftop keeps you clear of the chaos below, but everyone sees the payload land there, so plan your way down first.
- Fireflies spawn exclusively on Pendola Pass during Redirection, so look for them near the drops.
Put the blueprint in your safe pocket first, then one coupler of each type before any duplicates, so going down still leaves you with a complete set.
Crafting the Emperor Gateway Conduit at Workbench 1
You cannot craft the key mid-raid, and you cannot pool couplers with other Raiders. Extract with the parts, learn the Emperor Gateway Conduit Blueprint, and open Workbench 1. The recipe lists “ARC Plated Coupler 0/1”, “ARC Conductive Coupler 0/1” and “ARC Insulated Coupler 0/1”. Each line fills in once the matching coupler is in your stash, and the craft becomes available when all three show 1/1. The finished conduit then sits in your inventory, ready for a new Pendola Pass match.
Emperor loadout: weapons, traversal tools and survival kit
Pack for ARC, vertical movement and staying alive, not for fights with other players. Your kit has three jobs: breaking glowing nodes and electrified boxes from range, handling Hydras, and skipping platforming. A Hullcracker covers Hydras. A Bettina, Anvil, Renegade or Equalizer handles nodes and the small ARC in the maze rooms, and the Anvil one-shots the Pops and Fireballs that chase you there. A silencer helps in the final hangar.
The Hullcracker is an Epic Special weapon that fires explosive rounds, and those rounds only go off when they hit ARC. It can be amplified, comes in levels I to IV, and is crafted from the Hullcracker Blueprint. Its amplification upgrades are Incendiary Grenades and Mag Reload. A Hydra takes several Hullcracker hits to bring down.
Traversal is nearly impossible without a hook. The Legendary Snap Hook has a 20m reach and helps you climb structures or travel long distances. The Uncommon option is the Grappling Hook, which latches onto most surfaces and reaches places that are otherwise difficult to access. Either gadget reduces lengthy ladder climbs, laser corridors, and moving-container shafts to a single pull. You can also use one to outrun freeloaders who follow you without a hook.
Round out the bag with a Looting Mk. 3 (Survivor) augment for backpack space and safe-pocket slots, which is where an Emperor Modulator should go the moment you find one. Add healing and shield charges, a stack of Stims for the gas rooms, one or two Barricade Kits for lasers, and a zipline or two for the larger chambers. Bring enough ammo for the walk to extraction, not just for the dungeon.
Verified stats for the Emperor kit
| Item | Rarity | Weight | Key figure |
|---|---|---|---|
 Hullcracker | Epic | 7 | Detonates only on ARC |
 Snap Hook | Legendary | 5 | Range 20m |
 Grappling Hook | Uncommon | 5 | Latches onto most surfaces |
 Medium Shield | Rare | 7 | Charge 70, 42.5% reduction, 5% slower |
 Light Shield | Uncommon | 5 | Charge 40, 40% reduction |
 Shield Recharger | Uncommon | 0.15 | 4/s for 10s, 2s use |
 Herbal Bandage | Uncommon | 0.15 | 3.5/s for 10s, 1.5s use |
 Defibrillator | Rare | 0.75 | Heals 50, 1.5s use |
 Emperor Beacon | Epic | 2 | Stacks to 3 |
The Medium Shield is the usual pick. It trades a small movement penalty for a much larger charge than the Light Shield, which keeps your full mobility for jumps. The Shield Recharger and Herbal Bandage stack to 5, and the Defibrillator stacks to 3. A Defibrillator only helps if a squadmate can revive you. Solo, going down inside the Emperor ends the run.
| Item | Lance price | Sell value |
|---|---|---|
| Medium Shield | 6,000 Coins | 2,000 |
| Light Shield | 1,920 Coins | 640 |
| Shield Recharger | 1,560 Coins | 520 |
| Herbal Bandage | 2,700 Coins | 900 |
| Defibrillator | 3,000 Coins | 1,000 |
The PvE Only matchmaking toggle stops other players from damaging you, but it was offered only through October 20 and PvE servers carry lower overall loot value, so check whether the option still appears before you rely on it.
Where to unlock the Emperor hatch on Pendola Pass
Find the fallen Emperor on Pendola Pass’s western side, near Piazza della Rupe and the Reckless Transceiver. Start a fresh match carrying the conduit, head to the circular socket on the hull at its base, and interact with it. The prompt reads “Unlock: 0/1 Emperor Gateway Conduit”. Activating the socket uses up the key and swings open the round hatch next to it, revealing an airlock. The open hatch confirms the key worked.
The hatch makes a loud sound audible across the map when it opens. Clear the area beforehand, and be ready for someone to be waiting when you emerge.
Emperor navigation rules: white lights, yellow lights and the clock
Expect roughly a dozen trials made up of giant rings and shafts. The ground floor and final loot hangar are fixed, but the rooms between them are arranged differently from run to run. The game files contain six route layouts, so learning the rooms is more helpful than memorizing one path. A few rules work throughout.
- The way forward is always a large horizontal hatch with a white light on either side.
- Yellow illumination marks an exit door. It returns you to the base elevator or takes you outside the Emperor.
- Blue electrified boxes discharge when shot or touched. Shoot them from range, and they are safe to brush past for a few seconds.
- Hydras guard many rooms and only drop light ammo, so fight them only when they block the path.
- At 10 minutes remaining, a broadcast warns that “the safe window is closing”. Reserve enough time for the hangar, since most of the loot is there.
Once you know the mechanics, a clean solo traversal to the hangar takes roughly ten minutes. Travel, looting and extraction come on top of that, so plan a separate looting window of around five minutes after the last trial.
Entrance corridor and piston elevator (always first)
The snowy entry hall is lined with electrified boxes, and a Hydra waits at the far end. You have three ways past it. You can kill it with the Hullcracker. You can pop smoke, hook past it and drop a Barricade Kit to cut its line of fire into the next room. Or you can leave it alive and grapple over it, which leaves an armed turret between you and anyone who followed you in without a hook. A bypassed Hydra is still dangerous, so remember where it is if you need to retreat.
Next comes a round chamber built around a central piston, which works as the elevator. The floor and the mechanism stay electrified until you shoot every glowing yellow node, both on the piston itself and on the surrounding walls. Then step onto the lowered piston and ride it up in stages. Hop off at each stop between cycles, and climb back on until you reach the upper exit. The stops have breachable containers if you want early loot.
Emperor trial rooms (random order)
Every room below can show up anywhere between the piston and the hangar, and several come in two variants. Spot which version you are in before you commit to a jump.
Pillar and maze rooms
In the first pillar-room layout, you follow the maze paths to a narrow red vertical shaft and climb its ladder. In the second, hidden yellow buttons sit on the pillars. Shoot them all and a central pillar starts moving like an elevator, carrying you to a hatch in the ceiling.
The dark floor mazes have two layouts. In the open-grid layout, eliminate the ARC and fire on four yellow nodes to unlock the exit. The partitioned layout has no nodes; instead, one unlocked door is concealed among the walls. Deal with the enemies, then search the walls to locate it. Continue along the direction you were facing upon entry. Since the walls are open underneath, Pops and Fireballs can roll below them and pursue you.
Platform climbs and the chasm drop
Ladders and platforms run through vertical shafts lined with electrified conduit blocks. Fire at each block before touching down; it recharges, so a climb that takes too long can leave you exposed to a live shock. In one layout, go up the ladder, leap back to the container behind you, and later strafe-jump onto the container next to a pillar. Using a Snap Hook reduces the risk and bypasses most of the ascent. The chasm room flips the route: descend through the openings in the high shaft, taking it one level at a time, since a drop of several levels can down you.
Gas room and compacting walls
Moving along the corridor costs stamina because of the gas vents, while mechanical walls start squeezing the passage. The first player to step onto the floor sets them in motion. Either boost your speed briefly with a Stim and dash for the far end, or stay safe in a wall recess or the depression in the middle of the floor. After the walls move past, go through their openings, parkour up to the ledges behind the structure, and make your way across the sliding machinery. In the area above the gas room, let the walls separate, Snap Hook onto their tops, cross them on foot, and hook across to the opposite door.
Container elevator rooms
Some trials use moving ARC shipping containers for lifts. In the elevator shaft, attach yourself to a container’s top and ride it upward. In the room with a single moving container, board it as it travels up and down the shaft, jump off onto the ledges along one side, then descend the ladder to the floor. Missing those ledges generally means taking only fall damage. In the container hangar, containers travel along a track above the gas walls, with several Hydras in the room. Fight them from cover, climb onto the track, and hook to the door directly overhead. A fall from this height is usually fatal.
Laser rooms
Purple laser beams rotate and damage both health and shields. To minimize burn damage, fire a Snap Hook directly at the distant door and let it pull you through the beams. Where obstacles are present, use the containers for cover and move between beams as they pass. In the open layout, stay crouched in the floor indentations as the laser pattern sweeps overhead. You can also use a Barricade Kit to hold off a beam long enough to get across. To travel on foot, turn right into the laser corridor, take another right at the end, jump up, evade the incoming canister, and leap to the large wall. Beyond the lasers, a perforated wall moves forward in cycles; hook its upper edge to get across.
Hydra and dark machinery rooms
The Hydra room is a huge dark chamber with several dormant Hydras. Don’t wake them. Take the high or low platforms straight to the door with white lights. The dark machinery rooms have moving hazard floors and Hydras around the edges. Shoot the turrets that cover your path, and use your hook to cross the moving debris in the debris layout. In the large chambers, a zipline aimed at a landing near the white-lit door skips most of the platforming. Find the door first, since it is sometimes lower than you expect.
ARC generators and exploding pods
Some corridors contain electrified ARC generator blocks. Keep your distance, shoot each one, and wait for the blast to finish before proceeding. Orange- or red-lit loot pods have a concealed self-destruct countdown that begins when breached; they explode after you take a few items. If the warning sound cuts out, move away even if loot remains inside. Special pods found throughout the run may contain the Emperor Modulator and amplification modules, so check them briefly even when speed-running.
How to loot the Emperor’s final hangar
The final trial always brings you to a junction. Take the huge opening rather than the yellow-lit door beside it. That door returns to the base elevator, allowing late arrivals to bypass all the trials and follow you directly into the hangar.
The hangar holds more loot than a backpack can carry, and successful extractions have brought back well over 200,000 in value. Reserve room for amplification modules that fit weapons you plan to upgrade, plus the purple components needed to finish amplification. Bring ARC data modules as well, since dismantling them awards research points. Module tier depends on weapon rarity: gray is level one, green is level two, blue is level three, epic is level four, and legendary is level five. Breaking down modules of a lower tier gives fragmented amplification parts, which repair amplified weapons.
The Emperor Modulator is a Legendary topside material used to take the Gunsmith from Level 3 to Level 4. The upgrade costs one Emperor Modulator, three Radial Press and three Magnetic Accelerator, and you only ever need one. Move it into a safe pocket the moment it drops, and keep your first one instead of selling it.
Extracting from the Emperor
Both doors in the hangar are exits. You have three ways out.
- Take the small corner corridors and the long ladder shafts down to the snow outside, avoiding anyone camping the main hatch.
- Ride the central elevator shaft back down and leave through the hatch you entered, which costs the most time.
- Climb out through the upper opening in the hangar and head for the nearby Gondola extractions. Heal first, because the descent can hurt.
For the nearest extraction, head to the Reckless Transceiver beneath the Emperor and call the Ballistic Gondola. This is the fastest way back, but it leaves you exposed; save a heal, a shield charge and your hook for the final stretch.
Don’t step through the exit airlock doors until you are finished inside, because they lock from the interior and only another player can reopen them.
A run counts once the Gondola delivers you home and the modules, components and any Emperor Modulator appear in your stash. From there, the next trip starts the same way. Find a Redirection window, collect another set of couplers, and craft a fresh conduit, since each one opens the Emperor only once.
