ARC Raiders Beachcombing Guide

Beachcombing is a ARC Raiders Beachcombing map condition: a Minor Map Condition exclusive to the Riven Tides map. It refreshes alongside all other conditions on the hourly rotation. It does not appear on any other map. If you are on Buried City looking for buried treasure, congratulations on the misread.

During Beachcombing, the shoreline of Riven Tides hides loot beneath the sand. You cannot see it, smell it, or trip over it. You need a Dockmaster's Detector: the game's version of a metal detector: to locate and dig it up. Without one, the beach is just scenery.

Note: The Detector occupies a primary weapon slot while active. You are scanning an open coastline with one fewer gun. The game is aware of this, and so are other players.

Map Condition Changes

Beachcombing is a Minor condition. Here is the full list of what changes on Riven Tides when it is active:

• Buried valuables scattered along the shoreline
• Lootable Detectors available as map spawns
• Increased bird population (yes, more birds: relevant to the Avian Alarm Raider Project)

That is the complete list. It is a Minor condition. Manage expectations accordingly.

How to Get the Dockmaster's Detector

There are three ways to obtain a Dockmaster's Detector ARC Raiders item. Ranked from "actually reliable" to "statistically unkind":

1. Apollo quest reward: Pick up the quest "Shoring Up Defences" from Apollo. He hands you a Detector as a starter gift, presumably out of pity.
2. Stage 1 of the Avian Alarm Project: Deploy bird cages at buoys along the Seabed coastline. Complete Stage 1. Receive a Detector as a reward. This is the intended path.
3. Shipping containers on the map: Specifically around the Stacking Yard area on Riven Tides. Spawn rate is RNG. Plan accordingly, or don't plan at all and blame the algorithm.

If you lose your Detector to a death: which you will: additional ones can spawn in containers during an active Beachcombing condition. There is no fixed spawn location. Search or suffer.

How to Use the Detector

Equip the Dockmaster's Detector to a primary weapon slot. Walk the shoreline. Activate it periodically to scan. The signal color tells you how close you are to buried loot:

No signal: nothing nearby, keep moving

Orange: you are in the general vicinity, search the surrounding area

Green: dig here

The buried loot Riven Tides digs can yield buried suitcases and weapon cases. Quality varies. The game describes it as "rich hunting grounds out in the open": which is a polite way of saying the best loot is in spots where you have zero cover and every sniper on the map has line of sight.

What You Can Find

Warning: Some buried spots contain hidden dangers, not loot. The game mentioned this once, quietly. Consider it mentioned again.

The Beachcombing risk reward ARC Raiders calculation is straightforward: you trade a weapon slot and positional safety for loot that varies between "decent" and "adequate." The open coastline offers no meaningful cover. In PvP-heavy sessions, pulling out the Detector without clearing the beach first is a short and educational experience.

In low-aggression queues, the problem inverts. You feel safer, but every other Raider with a Detector is also combing the same beach, splitting the available loot across the session. The Riven Tides map condition loot does not scale with player count. Whoever arrives first, wins. The rest collect scraps with a piece of equipment that should be a weapon.

• Clear the beach before scanning, or accept the consequences
• Prioritize open coastal stretches: confirmed higher loot density
• Keep a sidearm. The Detector occupies a primary slot, not both
• If the Detector turns green in a choke point, reconsider your life choices before digging