Raider's Refuge on the Blue Gate map hides one of Arc Raiders’ most lucrative early vaults: a locked metal cellar on the side of a ruined stone church. The door has four bulbs above it; each bulb lights up when you find and press a nearby power button. Hit any four active buttons in the area, and the cellar unlocks, giving access to a dense cluster of containers, a guaranteed weapon case, and a good chance at Epic or better loot.
The catch is that the buttons don’t sit in fixed positions. Each raid, four of many possible spawn points are chosen in and around the church. Once you know roughly where those hotspots are, you can clear the puzzle in a couple of minutes instead of wandering around while ARC patrols and other players close in.
Where Raider's Refuge is and how the cellar puzzle works
Raider's Refuge is a named point of interest on Blue Gate, built around a large ruined stone church surrounded by collapsed houses and outbuildings. On the outside wall of the church, on the eastern side, sits a heavy metal cellar hatch with a ladder leading down to the basement once it opens.
The cellar door has four circular bulbs. Next to and around the church are glowing yellow power buttons with big red actuators. Each time you interact with one of these buttons:
- One bulb on the cellar door lights up.
- The button becomes inactive for that session.
After the fourth successful press, all bulbs turn green, and the hatch opens immediately. There’s no required order, no time limit, and no punishment for hitting the “wrong” switch. Any four valid spawns in the area will do.
Important behavior nuances:
- The puzzle is limited to the current session. If another squad has already opened and looted the cellar, you cannot reset it; you need a new raid if you want a fresh roll of loot.
- Button spawns are randomized between a fixed pool of locations. Roughly twenty distinct placements have been observed.
- Spawns cover the cellar exterior, multiple levels inside the church, the tower and roof, and several ruined buildings immediately around the church.
ARCs frequent this area: Rocketeers, Bombardiers, Snitches, Wasps, Hornets, Spotters, and an occasional automated turret inside the church. The church also attracts other players chasing the same loot, so expect competition.
How to approach Raider's Refuge safely
A clean puzzle run usually matters more than rushing mindlessly at the cellar door. A practical approach looks like this:
- Drop into Blue Gate with a loadout you can afford to lose the first time you scout the area. Learning the geometry and routes is worth more than protecting gear.
- Approach Raider's Refuge cautiously from cover, listening for Rocketeer shots, Hornet buzzing, and Snitch callouts.
- Check for the blue glow of a turret inside the church interior before you commit to ziplines or roof routes.
- If the cellar door is already open and the basement visibly looted, move on; the buttons won’t give you a second opening that raid.
Once you confirm the cellar is closed and your surroundings are reasonably clear, start scanning for buttons in a predictable loop around the church and through the connected ruins.
All known Raider's Refuge button locations
The buttons cluster into a few logical zones: directly at the cellar, along the church’s outside walls, inside the nave and loft, on the roof and tower, around the central zipline, and in the ruined houses just north and east of the church.
Each raid only uses four, but checking them in a consistent order keeps you fast and reduces the odds of missing a spawn under pressure.
| Button ID | Area | Exact placement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cellar exterior | On the exterior, directly in front of the metal cellar door on the eastern wall of the church. |
| 2 | Cellar exterior | To the right of the cellar door, tucked into rubble and debris along the wall. |
| 3 | Cellar exterior | To the left of the cellar door, on the corner of the southern wall where the church turns. |
| 4 | Near cellar doorway | Inside the small room just left of the cellar door, beside a short shelf on the left as you step in. |
| 5 | Church tower | On a narrow ledge on the northern side of the bell tower. Climb the interior ladder and drop down onto the ledge. |
| 6 | South exterior | On top of the metal air vents near the southern entrance to the church. Reach it from the roof and drop down onto the vent. |
| 7 | West exterior | On the west side of the church, in debris directly beside the main doorway. |
| 8 | West exterior | Along the western wall at the base of a makeshift staircase of rubble, hidden in the junk. |
| 9 | Church interior (ground) | Inside the nave on the north end, behind a white metal box close to a couch. |
| 10 | Loft second floor | Under broken floorboards immediately left after riding the central zipline up into the loft. |
| 11 | Loft second floor | Directly behind the couch on the left side of the loft, again just after exiting the zipline. |
| 12 | Loft second floor | Behind a dresser on the right-hand side of the loft, opposite the couch, after leaving the zipline. |
| 13 | Roof south side | Beneath the wooden support beams on the south edge of the roof, tucked under damaged tiles. |
| 14 | Zipline left outcrop | On rubble to the left of the zipline path as you ride it from the church toward the northwest house. Jump off midway to grab the ledge. |
| 15 | Zipline right outcrop | On rubble to the right of that same zipline. Drop from the line at the right moment to clamber up to it. |
| 16 | Zipline end | On a small ledge at the end of the central zipline run, before entering the broken northwest building. |
| 17 | Northwest building | Inside the ruined building at the northwest where the zipline starts or ends, on the first floor near the left door as you enter. |
| 18 | East stone ruins | In the stone building directly east of the church, on the ground next to a chair in the open interior. |
| 19 | East stone ruins | In the floorboards on the right side of the doorway of the same eastern ruin, partially obscured by broken wood. |
| 20 | East stone ruins | Along the exterior right wall of the eastern ruin, between a cage and stacked boxes under a damaged door opening. |
These placements cover the most frequently used spawns around Raider's Refuge. Actual runs only pick from this pool; you will often find multiple buttons in one cluster (for example, several around the cellar door or several in the loft), and none in others.
Efficient button search routes
Running the same route every time reduces the chance of missing a spawn and shortens your exposure to both ARCs and rival squads. A reliable loop might look like this:
- Start at the cellar door: Check for Button 1, then sweep left and right along the wall to catch Buttons 2 and 3. Step into the side room for Button 4.
- Circle the outside: Walk the south, west, and north walls of the church, scanning vents, debris, and doorways for Buttons 6, 7, and 8, plus any extra spawns near generators or air-conditioning units.
- Clear the ground floor interior: Enter the nave, dealing with any turret or ARC machines, and check behind the white box and furniture for Button 9 and similar interior placements.
- Ride the central zipline: Take the zipline up into the loft. On the way, deliberately jump off at midpoints to inspect the left and right rubble shelves for Buttons 14 and 15, then continue to the end ledge for Button 16.
- Sweep the loft: Once in the loft, check under damaged floorboards, behind the couch, behind the dresser, and under beds for Buttons 10–12 and any variants.
- Finish on the roof and tower: Climb up into the tower and onto the roof to inspect the southern beams and tower ledges for Buttons 5 and 13.
- Check surrounding ruins: If you still need more buttons, head to the northwest building linked by the zipline, then to the eastern stone ruin and any small house with broken floorboards nearby for Buttons 17–20 and other external spawns.
Because the interaction radius on some buttons is fussy, it helps to sweep the crosshair deliberately along surfaces that often hide them—undersides of overhangs, the edges of vents, and narrow beams. When in doubt, stand very close and move the reticle slowly until the interact prompt appears.
What’s inside the Raider's Refuge cellar
Once all four bulbs on the hatch glow green, the door swings open and reveals a ladder down to a cramped basement. Inside, you can expect:
- Several standard containers: cupboards, drawers, crates, and lockers, packed into a small space.
- A guaranteed weapon case, which can roll high-tier guns.
- A strong chance of Epic-grade loot such as weapon blueprints, rare crafting materials, or high-value tools.
- A Security Locker that only opens if you have invested in the Security Breach skill, adding another potential high-value item.
For a medium-value POI, the density of purple loot in the cellar is unusually high. The vault can also drop keys for other locked locations, such as Dam-related keys, which chain into further loot runs.
Once you learn these button zones and memorize a search pattern, Raider's Refuge becomes a quick, repeatable stop for reliable high-end loot rather than a twenty‑minute scavenger hunt under fire. Treat the church and its ruins as a compact puzzle box, move with purpose, and you can often secure the basement and exfiltrate before the rest of the lobby even realizes the vault has been opened.
