ARC Raiders: Dust on the Wires Guide

Shani, your favorite NPC with an insatiable appetite for sending you into danger, has lost an entire scout patrol. Gone. Radio silent for two days. And, naturally, instead of sending literally anyone else, she sends you: the one person who already has enough problems: to investigate. Welcome to Dust on the Wires, the new quest dropped in the Flashpoint update, fully set on the Spaceport map, and requiring you to complete all six objectives in a single round without dying like a tourist.

The quest is part of the second batch of Flashpoint quests, sitting alongside Clamoring for Attention, Test Case, and Outstanding Balance. Flashpoint itself: patch 1.22.0: launched March 31, 2026, and brought with it the terrifying Vaporizer drone, Shredders now loose on Spaceport (because of course they are), new weapons, and a brand new map condition called Close Scrutiny. Congratulations. You picked a great time to go for a casual walk.

HARD REQUIREMENT: All objectives must be completed within a single Spaceport match. If you wipe, disconnect, or get vaporized by the new Vaporizer ARC mid-run, you start from scratch. Equip a Safe Pocket augment before you drop. Non-negotiable. This isn't a suggestion.

Before You Drop In

You are not ready. But here is how to be less unprepared. The Spaceport map is not small, and this quest will drag you across a meaningful chunk of it. Do not arrive with a Free Loadout and a prayer. You need a real kit, and you need that Safe Pocket augment equipped: without it, the Scout Patrol Note that you will find near the Maintenance Hangar can be looted directly off your corpse by any raider who happens to be in the vicinity of your humiliating death.

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Also worth noting: Shredders now roam Spaceport since Flashpoint dropped. Shredders, previously contained to Stella Montis like a polite plague, have escaped and are now everybody's problem across Blue Gate, Buried City, and Spaceport. Factor this into your loadout choices accordingly, unless your definition of fun includes being shredded.

• Equip a Safe Pocket augment: this is the entire quest
• Use a proper loadout, not a Free one: this is not a casual stroll
• Know the Spaceport layout before you drop, or use this guide as your GPS
• Expect ARC patrols, Shredders, and potentially hostile raiders
• Do not die near the Maintenance Hangar with the note in your normal inventory

Visit a Field Depot: East Side, Spaceport

Head to the eastern side of the map. There are two Field Depots to choose from, identifiable by the antenna on the roof: because subtle design language is apparently not a priority out here. The southern depot is the better choice, as it sits between the Security Checkpoint and the Communications Tower and places you closer to everything that follows. Both technically work, but the southern one won't make you curse the map as aggressively.

Use the Field Radio: Transmit the Scout Log to Shani

You are already inside the depot. Do not leave yet. In the corner of the room, sitting on a desk, is a yellow radio terminal. Walk up to it and interact. This transmits the scout group's last log back to Shani, who will then reward your efforts by telling you to go further into the map. The radio looks like a laptop on a desk. It glows yellow. You'll know it when you see it.

Locate the Old Raider Tower: North of Maintenance Hangar

Now head west toward the Maintenance Hangar. Before you reach it, look slightly northwest: there is an old Raider Tower along the road. It is one of those decaying metal spiral-staircase structures that look like they were designed by someone who hated structural engineers. Go up. All the way to the top. Interact with the terminal. Shani will inform you that the team apparently regrouped outside the perimeter. Great. Fine.

Find the Scout Patrol Traces: Southwest Corner, Maintenance Hangar

Come back down from the tower and head toward the southwest corner of the Maintenance Hangar. There is a prompt floating in the air: because apparently the apocalypse has excellent UI design: that asks you to transmit your location. Interact with it. Shani will let you know this was not in the mission plan, which is a very professional way of saying "someone clearly went off-script and it probably went poorly."

Search for Clues: The Overturned Trolley

Take about 10 to 15 steps south from where you just transmitted your location. You will see an overturned red trolley: think baggage cart meets post-apocalyptic tragedy: with blue bags or a blue tarp draped over it. Interact with it. The Scout Patrol Note will fall out. Pick it up immediately. Place it in your Safe Pocket right now, not later, not "in a second," right now.

Extract and Return the Note to Shani in Speranza

Find the nearest extraction elevator and leave. Do not die. The note must physically leave the map in your possession. Return to Speranza, find Shani, and hand it over. She will read it, presumably be troubled by whatever it says, and reward you for completing the Flashpoint quest chain. The quest is done. You survived. Arguably against the odds.

The Flashpoint update (1.22.0) is the third of four major content drops in the Escalation expansion, and it did not arrive quietly. Alongside new quests from Shani, the update introduced the ARC Assessor: a massive ARC object that simply appeared on maps, surrounded by unprecedented patrol density, offering "riches within" in exchange for what can only be described as a very bad time. Celeste has named it. Raiders want what's inside it. Nobody fully agrees on what it's doing there.

Flying above all this chaos is the new Vaporizer: a drone-type ARC enemy equipped with a laser and, according to the patch notes, "idiosyncratic attack patterns." Which is the corporate way of saying it will kill you in a manner you did not anticipate. Meanwhile, Shredders: previously the exclusive problem of Stella Montis players: are now on Spaceport. So while you are doing this quest, the map is also actively trying to end you in several new and creative ways.

CONTEXT NOTE: Dust on the Wires is part of Shani's investigation into a scout group that went dark. The scout patrol wasn't following orders: Shani makes this clear when you find the traces near the Maintenance Hangar. What they were actually doing is, naturally, the kind of thing that requires further questing to understand. You did not solve the mystery. You found a note. Welcome to extraction gaming.

The extraction requirement is where most runs die: sometimes literally. You can complete every single objective, climb every tower, press every terminal, and then get shot in the spine by a PvP raider between the Maintenance Hangar and the elevator. The Scout Patrol Note is then sitting on the ground next to your body, available to anyone who wants to pick it up and do absolutely nothing with it because it is a quest item tied to your account.

Common Failure Points

• Not having a Safe Pocket: the note is vulnerable in normal inventory
• Forgetting to actually pick up the Scout Patrol Note after it appears
• Getting third-partied near the Maintenance Hangar, which is high-traffic
• Running into Shredders on the Spaceport map, now a real Flashpoint-era concern
• Dying after the note is secured but before reaching extraction
• Accidentally skipping step 4 (transmit location) and wondering why step 5 won't trigger