The Armored Transports quest in Arc Raiders sounds straightforward on paper: grab a key at Blue Gate’s Checkpoint, unlock a single armored patrol car, and extract. In practice, it’s one of the more fragile missions in the early Quest chain, and it’s easy to soft-lock yourself if you’re careless with the key.
This explainer breaks the quest into clear phases: reaching Checkpoint, looting the Patrol Car Key, navigating the tunnel, identifying the right vehicle, and getting out alive with your rewards.
Armored Transports quest overview
| Quest detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Quest name | Armored Transports |
| Quest giver | Tian Wen |
| Map | The Blue Gate |
| Key objective | Find Armored Patrol Key Card and open an armored patrol car |
| Critical locations | Checkpoint POI and traffic tunnel (Outer Gates) |
| Main threats | Bastions, Rocketeers, wasps, hornets, hostile raiders |
| Notable rewards | Blue Yellow (Aviator Color), 3× Smoke Grenade, 3× Defibrillator |
The quest chain leading into Armored Transports runs through Tian Wen’s early jobs and lists “A New Type Of Plant” as the previous step. By the time this mission appears, you’re expected to be comfortable operating in Blue Gate and dealing with a heavier ARC presence.
Armored Transports objectives (start to finish)
| Objective order | In-game wording | What it really means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reach the Checkpoint | Move into the central Checkpoint POI on Blue Gate. |
| 2 | Search the Guard huts for a Armored Patrol Key Card | Loot the small roadside booths until you find the key on a desk. |
| 3 | Reach the Traffic Tunnel near the Blue Gate Checkpoint | Head north from the guard huts into the vehicle-filled tunnel. |
| 4 | Find and unlock the rear door of an armored patrol car | Locate a locked armored van inside the tunnel and open it with the key. |
On top of these listed objectives, the quest effectively adds an unwritten requirement: you need to extract from Blue Gate after looting the vehicle or you risk losing both the key and your new weapon.
Prepare for Blue Gate’s Checkpoint and tunnels
Checkpoint and the connected tunnel are some of the busiest parts of Blue Gate. You’ll often deal with:
- High-tier ARC units like Bastions and Rocketeers in and around the main road.
- Flying enemies (wasps and hornets) along the tunnel path.
- Other raider squads who also want the same loot and vehicle spawns.
You want a loadout that can survive an extended fight but won’t be catastrophic to lose. That usually means:
- A primary weapon you’re confident with at medium range.
- A shield or defensive tool to tank damage while crossing open ground at Checkpoint.
- Room in your safe-pocket for the key card, so a death doesn’t wipe the quest item.
How to reach the Checkpoint POI
Checkpoint sits roughly in the middle of The Blue Gate map and is marked as a named POI. You can approach from several directions depending on spawn, but a few principles help you get there in one piece:
- Use terrain and wrecks to move cover-to-cover instead of walking the main road straight in.
- Scan for Bastions and Rocketeers before committing; if they’re clustered near the guard huts, consider flanking around the rear.
- Listen for other raiders fighting ARCs; third-partying a fight can clear your path to the huts.
Once you’re close enough to see the road, you’re looking for a row of small structures facing the main thoroughfare: those are the guard huts.
Where to find the Armored Patrol Key Card
The Armored Patrol Key Card (also called the Patrol Car Key) is always tied to the Checkpoint POI, but the exact booth it spawns in can shift from run to run. It’s not inside random containers; it’s a loose item.
| Key detail | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Structure type | Small guard huts/guardpost booths lined along the main road at Checkpoint. |
| Typical spawn spot | On a desk, on top of a folder or pile of papers. |
| Common booth | Frequently in the far-left hut when facing the line of booths, but can move. |
| Item type | Key card you can pick up as loose loot. |
Walk the length of the main road and enter each guard hut in turn. Check the desk surfaces closely; the key sits visibly on top of documents, not inside a container UI. Once you pick it up, immediately move it into your safe pocket so a stray bullet or ARC volley doesn’t undo the entire run.
How to reach the armored patrol car tunnel
With the key secured, your next stop is the traffic tunnel just north of Checkpoint. From the line of guard huts, keep the main road in front of you and move towards the large tunnel mouth packed with vehicles. This area is often tagged as the Outer Gates section of the tunnel.
The tunnel route is dangerous for a few reasons:
- ARC fliers patrol the entrance and interior, forcing you to move and potentially give away your position.
- A Bastion frequently sits inside or just beyond the first bend, overlapping with several armored patrol car spawn points.
- The confined layout makes it hard to disengage once a fight begins.
Smoke grenades and stealth tools are extremely valuable here. Toss smoke to block Bastion and Rocketeer lines of sight at key choke points, or use a cloaking device if you have one to slip between spawn locations without starting a major fight.
What an armored patrol car looks like
The quest text is vague about what counts as an “armored patrol car,” and the tunnel is filled with decoy vehicles. The game is looking for a specific van-type model with a locked rear door.
| Visual cue | Description |
|---|---|
| Vehicle type | Armored van, bulky silhouette, painted in military green tones. |
| Door state | Rear doors are shut; you can see they’re sealed rather than hanging open. |
| Lighting | A light shines on the closed back door, making it stand out from looted vans. |
| Other vans nearby | Many similar vehicles in the tunnel are already “hollowed out” with open backs and no lock. |
If the van’s rear is already open or looks stripped, it won’t count for the quest and can’t use your key. Only interact with the ones that have the closed, lit rear door prompt.
Armored patrol car spawn locations in the tunnel
Armored patrol cars spawn semi-randomly along the tunnel path north of Checkpoint. You’ll usually find at least one per raid, but not always at the same spot. Typical locations to check include:
- Right side of the road near the tunnel entrance, close to the hanging road signs.
- Inside the first armored side-room/doorway on the right, only a short walk past the entrance.
- Halfway down the tunnel on the right, parked beside a low barricade.
- On the left side of the road, where the tunnel opens into a wider chamber near a central roundabout.
- On the right side, just beyond that open section, still near the roundabout area.
- Against the right-hand wall beyond the roundabout, deeper into the back of the tunnel, this area can host two armored vans at once.
You don’t need to check every spot if you find a locked van early. Once you see the closed, illuminated rear door, stop searching and commit to opening it. The longer you spend sweeping every corner, the higher the chance of running into a Bastion or another raider team doing the same quest.
How to use the Armored Patrol Key Card on the van
Once you’re next to a valid armored patrol car, the interaction is straightforward:
- Walk to the rear of the van until you see the prompt to unlock the back door.
- Use the prompt to consume the Armored Patrol Key Card and open the doors.
- Loot the gun case inside the cargo area.
The weapon inside the gun case is randomized, but looting it is the trigger that advances and completes the quest objective. The vehicle doesn’t need to be the only one you open in the match; you just need at least one successful unlock with the quest active.
What happens if you die or lose the key
This is where Armored Transports becomes fragile. Losing the key without finishing the objective can leave you stuck waiting on RNG for another one.
| Scenario | Outcome | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Die with key in safe pocket | You keep the key after extraction or being evac’d. | Re-queue for Blue Gate, go straight back to the tunnel. |
| Die with key in regular inventory | The key drops with your gear and is effectively gone if no one recovers it for you. | Hunt for a replacement key from random containers across Blue Gate. |
| Extract without opening a van | Quest remains active; key stays in your inventory. | Re-queue and attempt again when spawns are safer. |
Replacement keys can show up in containers around the map. They’re not guaranteed, but you can find them in places like:
- Village and other POIs with dense loot containers.
- Raider camps and lockers.
- Other vehicles scattered around Blue Gate.
Because there’s no consistent backup spawn once the Checkpoint key is gone, treat every Patrol Car Key Card as if it’s a rare resource. If a run starts going sideways—multiple ARCs pulled, third-party raiders nearby—prioritize survival and extraction over forcing the objective.
Extracting after you open the armored transport
When the gun case is looted and the objective ticks complete, the quest’s functional part is done, but your gear isn’t safe yet. To bank both the quest completion and your new weapon, you still need to extract from Blue Gate.
From the tunnel/Checkpoint area, the usual options are:
- Head southeast towards the Overlook Airshaft.
- Head northwest towards the Cliffside Airshaft.
Pick the route that keeps you away from active fights you noticed on the way in. If you pulled a high-tier gun from the armored patrol car, resist the urge to take extra engagements—this is the best time to cut your losses and secure the upgrade for a future run.
Once you’re back in Speranza, you can turn in the quest with Tian Wen and claim the listed rewards: a Blue Yellow Aviator Color cosmetic and extra Smoke Grenades and Defibrillators, all of which dovetail nicely with future excursions into ARC-heavy territory.
