The Power Rod is an epic Exodus material in Arc Raiders that shows up surprisingly rarely and is tied to several important milestones. You need at least one to finish Celeste’s Tribute to Toledo quest, and more if you plan to craft Heavy Shields or Snap Hooks or unlock a specific loot room on Dam Battlegrounds.
All ways to get a Power Rod in Arc Raiders
| Method | How it works | Reliability | Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recycle Snap Hook | Break down a Snap Hook legendary item to receive a Power Rod. | Guaranteed (1 Power Rod per item) | Have at least one Snap Hook (quest reward, Harvester loot, or Raider Deck) |
| Recycle Heavy Shield | Break down a Heavy Shield to receive a Power Rod. | Guaranteed | Own and scrap a Heavy Shield |
| Craft at Refiner | Use a level 3 Refiner to build a Power Rod from components. | Guaranteed | Refiner level 3, 2× Advanced Electrical Components, 2× Arc Circuitry |
| Loot Dam Battlegrounds | Search breachable electrical cabinets and Security Breach containers in Power Generation Complex / Generator Hall. | Random, but relatively high in specific rooms | Access to Dam Battlegrounds; Security Breach talent for some containers |
| Loot Spaceport & other hotspots | Open breachable power panels and containers in Exodus-heavy areas such as underground tunnels. | Random, generally lower than Generator Hall | Access to those zones, Breach/Search capability |
For a single Tribute to Toledo completion, recycling or crafting is the most direct route. Farming Dam Battlegrounds becomes attractive when you want several Power Rods without sacrificing other epic gear.
Fastest method: recycle a Snap Hook or Heavy Shield
Tribute to Toledo only asks for one Power Rod. The simplest way to get that one, with no RNG at all, is to recycle an existing item:
- Snap Hook – legendary item tied to quests (such as Lost in Transmission), the Harvester event, and the Raider Deck (Ninja Pack page 4).
- Heavy Shield – epic shield type that also breaks down into a Power Rod.
Recycling either of those yields a Power Rod every time. The main trade-off is long‑term value: both Snap Hook and Heavy Shield are powerful items in their own right, so many players prefer to recycle a spare copy rather than their only one.
Dam Battlegrounds Power Generation Complex route (Generator Hall)
Celeste repeatedly hints at Generator Hall on Dam Battlegrounds when Tribute to Toledo is active, and for good reason. The most reliable in‑raid way to loot a Power Rod is to work through the Power Generation Complex, which sits next to the Generator Halls in the northeast of Dam Battlegrounds.
The complex is a multi‑room industrial building tied to the Generator Hall area and a nearby elevator extraction. Inside, you’re looking for two kinds of interactables:
- Large electrical cabinets/breaker panels on walls and generators, marked as Breach and Search.
- Security Breach containers in and around the “control room” section, which require the Security Breach talent.
These panels and containers sit on a tight loop that lets you hit several high‑value spots and extract quickly if you find a Power Rod.
Exact room route from the zipline to the Power Rod panels
A commonly used route begins at the southeast exterior of the Power Generation Complex, where an outside zipline leads up into the building.
| Step | Direction | What to check | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Zipline entry room | Ride zipline up, enter, then clear the room | Two large electrical cabinets near Pops/Ticks and possible turret | First major Power Rod roll; room is noisy and often trapped with ARC enemies. |
| 2. Locked Power Rod door room | Continue forward into the adjacent room | More electrical cabinets; locked door that consumes a Power Rod | Save your first rod for Celeste; treat this as a future loot room. |
| 3. Corner corridor | Exit back out, then follow corridor left toward the southeast ramp | Wall‑mounted electrical cabinet, red toolbox in the corner | Cabinet has a modest chance to hold a Power Rod; toolbox can spawn high‑tier loot. |
| 4. Ramp and upstairs room | Go through doors toward the elevator side, then up | Electrical cabinets in the back corner of the upper room | Another strong spawn for Exodus materials, including Power Rods. |
| 5. Generator Hall floor | Head back down and forward into Generator Hall proper | Panels mounted on the sides of the big generators | Each generator usually has one or two breachable panels; these are prime Power Rod spots. |
Players repeatedly report finding rods in the southeast corner rooms at the top of that outside zipline and on the generator‑mounted panels deeper inside. Expect to need several raids; a reasonable hit rate is on the order of every few runs, not every match.
The Dam Battlegrounds Power Rod door and what’s inside
Inside the Power Generation Complex, near those early electrical cabinets, sits a locked metal door that can only be opened with a Power Rod. This is the “Power Rod room” players usually mean.
Key details:
- The lock consumes a Power Rod when you open the door.
- Inside, you’ll find multiple red lockers, loose loot on tables, and a decent chance at blue‑rarity (rare) gear or better.
- The room is purely optional for Tribute to Toledo; the quest only needs you to loot a Power Rod and extract with it.
The practical play is to finish Tribute to Toledo first, then start feeding extra Power Rods into this door when you’re in a comfortable economic spot. Treat it like a self‑funded mini loot room rather than a mandatory quest objective.
Other containers and panels that can drop Power Rods
Beyond the main zipline rooms and generator panels, several other interactables in and around Power Generation Complex can roll a Power Rod.
- Security Breach containers near the “control room” zone. These require the Security Breach talent and live in a strip of containers you can chain‑breach by turning right after leaving the Power Rod room corridor. The drop rate for Power Rods here is low, but they are solid late‑game loot in general.
- Metal crates and rooftop containers. Standard crates scattered through Generator Hall, plus rooftop “solar panel”‑style containers on other maps like Buried City, can hold Power Rods. These are much less targeted than panels but still worth opening if you’re nearby.
- Electrical boxes at Hydrodomes and other Dam locations. Some players report success with smaller power boxes at the hydroponic dam complex and other industrial buildings on Dam Battlegrounds. These are random rolls, not fixed quest spawns.
All of these rely on RNG and are best treated as opportunistic checks while you’re in the area for other reasons.
Spaceport and Exodus‑focused farming
The item tooltip for the Power Rod flags it as an Exodus material, and Exodus‑heavy activities naturally have a shot at dropping it.
On Spaceport, that largely means:
- Underground tunnels beneath hot zones such as Rocket Assembly or Trench Towers, where Exodus loot is concentrated.
- Breachable wall power panels similar to those in Generator Hall, mounted along tunnel walls.
- Breachable containers scattered through the tunnels, which share the same low‑to‑moderate Exodus loot table as the Dam containers.
The Spaceport approach is less focused than the Dam route, but it overlaps with other mid‑ and late‑game goals like farming Exodus gear and fighting Bombardiers. It becomes more appealing once you’re already comfortable working that map for other objectives.
Crafting a Power Rod at the Refiner
Once your workshop is strong enough, crafting Power Rods directly is often more efficient than hunting for them in the field. A level 3 Refiner can build one Power Rod using:
- 2× Advanced Electrical Components
- 2× Arc Circuitry
These high‑tier materials come from dismantling advanced tech, late‑game loot, and other Exodus items. The recipe converts surplus late‑game components into a flexible key resource that fuels both Heavy Shield and Snap Hook crafting and that Dam Battlegrounds door.
How Tribute to Toledo actually completes
Celeste does not require you to bring her a Power Rod looted specifically from Generator Hall; any legitimate Power Rod counts.
The simple flow is:
- Accept Tribute to Toledo from Celeste.
- Acquire a Power Rod by one of the methods above (recycle, craft, or loot during a raid).
- Extract safely. If you die without a safe pocket, you lose the Power Rod and have to find another.
- Return to the hub and turn the item in to Celeste.
Using a standard, paid loadout with at least one Safe Pocket is strongly recommended for these runs. As soon as the Power Rod drops, stash it in the safe slot; that protects it from normal death‑on‑surface item loss and lets you play out the rest of the raid more aggressively if you want.
After you hand in Tribute to Toledo, new quests open up, and any future Power Rods can freely go toward crafting or that locked Dam Battlegrounds loot room without blocking progression.
In practice, most raiders combine methods: recycle a spare Snap Hook to get Tribute to Toledo out of the way, then farm Power Generation Complex and eventually craft Power Rods once the Refiner is upgraded. The Generator Hall route gives a good feel for the game’s Exodus economy, and that locked Dam door becomes a satisfying way to cash in your overstock of rods later on.
