Cooling Fan is a rare, recyclable Technological item in Arc Raiders. It weighs 3.0kg, sells for $2000, can’t be crafted, and is commonly chased because Expedition Projects require five of them for Core Systems.
Cooling Fans come from breachable tech cabinets, not general containers
The reliable pattern is simple: Cooling Fans show up in Technological areas, and the best odds come from large metal cabinets that behave like server lockers. They’re the kind of container that prompts a breach action before you can loot.
Regular “search” looting can pay off occasionally, but the consistent drops are tied to these breachable cabinets. Breaching also makes noise and takes time, which can matter in busy buildings.
Buried City: Space Travel is the most targeted farming route
On Buried City, Space Travel is the building most players run repeatedly for Cooling Fans because it concentrates many breachable cabinets in one place.
Step 1: Go to Buried City and head straight for the Space Travel building. Plan your approach like it’s a hot drop, because other players often beeline there.
Step 2: Prioritize breach-and-search cabinets that look like server racks or big electrical machinery. These are the containers most associated with Cooling Fan drops.
Step 3: Work the building top-down when possible. The upper floors tend to have more breachable cabinets, and many players naturally start from the bottom.
Step 4: On stairwells, watch for floor signage and aim for the sixth floor area where many of the cabinets cluster. Take the stairs if you can’t zipline to the floor you want.
Step 5: Check adjacent rooms and nearby buildings with the same tech loot theme, then extract quickly once you’ve hit the main cabinet rooms.
Dam Battlegrounds: Research & Administration (and nearby tech rooms)
Dam Battlegrounds can be productive when you focus on the right building interiors, especially Research & Administration and other tech-heavy rooms in the central complex.
Step 1: Enter Research & Administration through the main admin entrance.
Step 2: Use the zipline behind the desk to move up, then navigate to the interior room cluster with multiple electrical cabinets (including a room with broken blinds).
Step 3: Breach the electrical machinery cabinets rather than spending time on lockers and generic containers.
Dam Battlegrounds: a small server-cabinet building near Water Treatment
There’s also a smaller, more surgical option on Dam Battlegrounds: a compact building filled with breachable server cabinets between Water Treatment Control and an extraction point to the east. Runs here are about speed and repetition rather than clearing a huge structure.
Step 1: From Water Treatment Control, locate the small two-door building on the line toward the eastern extract.
Step 2: Inside, breach the server-cabinet style containers and leave once the room is cleared.
Spaceport: focus on towers and core buildings, not the tallest structure
Spaceport has multiple viable Technological loot areas, but players tend to get the best results by treating it like a route of buildings rather than a single landmark.
- Launch Towers (commonly cited as a strong target)
- Arrival Building
- Departure Building
- North Trench Tower and South Trench Tower
- Control Tower A6
Notably, some players report long dry streaks when tunneling on the tallest “Spacerocket” building, so it’s worth pivoting to towers and cabinet-dense interiors if that approach stalls.
Stella Montis: higher risk, plenty of Technological loot
Stella Montis is treated as an end-game location and can be dangerous, but it also supports Cooling Fan drops across multiple areas with Technological loot.
- Assembly and Assembly Workshop
- Medical Research
- Communications
- Lobby
- Upper-level areas like Sandbox and Lobby Metro can also produce Technological loot
Some players also report finding Cooling Fans in command centers above the Sandbox area. As on other maps, breachable server-locker style cabinets remain the priority target.
What you get if you don’t need them anymore
Cooling Fans are recyclable. Recycling yields 14 Plastic Parts and 4 Wires, and salvaging topside yields 4 Wires.
If you’re stuck at 0/5 after a long stretch, it usually means the run is hitting the wrong container types. Make the breachable server-cabinet style boxes the whole plan, and treat everything else as optional.
