ARC Raiders Outstanding Balance Quest Guide: Dodger's Stash & Pilgrim's Peak

So. Tian Wen, your favorite taciturn gun-merchant, had a deal with a raider called Dodger. Dodger was supposed to deliver a Bastion Cell. Dodger has, predictably, gone quiet. Whether he's dead, ripped her off, or simply tripped over a Shredder remains a delightful mystery the game does not bother explaining. What it does explain, with the warm enthusiasm of a tax audit, is that the Outstanding Balance quest in ARC Raiders now falls entirely on your shoulders. Someone has to recover Tian Wen's goods, and that someone is you: because you have nothing better to do than crawl through machine-infested tunnels for a woman who will never once say thank you.

Before You Drop Into Blue Gate

The ARC Raiders Flashpoint update dropped on March 31, 2026, and with it came a batch of new quests, two of which are located on the Blue Gate map. Outstanding Balance is the one that will ruin your afternoon if you walk in unprepared. Here is what you absolutely need to know before you queue up:

First and most critically: all three objectives must be completed in a single run. Not two runs. Not "almost one run." One run. Die in the middle, and you start from scratch. The game will not hold your hand, store your progress, or feel bad about this. It has no feelings.

Do not use a Free Loadout for this mission. You will be extracting a mission item: Dodger's Note: and if it disappears because you cheaped out on your augment slot, that is entirely your fault. Bring a proper loadout. Bring an augment with a Safe Pocket. This is not a suggestion.

The safe pocket augment is your most important piece of gear for this quest. When Dodger's Note drops from the bag at Pilgrim's Peak, it needs to go straight into your safe pocket. This keeps the item protected during extraction and actually counts toward completing the mission when you return to Speranza. Forget this step and you have done a great deal of running for absolutely nothing.

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Start a Match on Blue Gate: Use Your Own Loadout

Queue for Blue Gate and bring a real kit. The Checkpoint POI and the Traffic Tunnel area are crawling with ARC machines, including Shredders and a Bastion that patrols like it owns the place. Going in naked with a Free Loadout is a fast way to fail the single-run requirement before you have even found the first objective.

Find Dodger's Stash Inside the Traffic Tunnel

Head to the Checkpoint POI, enter the Traffic Tunnel through the Outer Gates, and immediately hug the left wall. Take the main northwest road all the way to the dead end: the very back of the tunnel. In the right corner of that dead end, under a blue tarpaulin, you will find a cage-like rack full of boxes. That is Dodger's stash. Interact with it by pressing E and wait for the search to complete. It is extremely dark back there; the blue tarp and small campsite with a truck are your landmarks. Keep watching for Shredders along the way: at least one will be lurking between you and your destination, and alerting the Bastion in the middle section is a good way to make this guide permanently irrelevant to your run.

Here is the part the game sadistically neglects to mention clearly: no item will appear in your inventory after searching the stash. This is intentional. The stash interaction simply advances the quest flag. Do not stand there clicking and assuming something is broken. Move on immediately to objective two.

ARC Raiders Travel to Pilgrim's Peak: Northeastern Blue Gate

Exit the tunnels and navigate to the Pilgrim's Peak POI, located in the northeastern portion of the Blue Gate map. The journey between the two POIs is not a pleasant stroll: this is a live extraction map, which means other players can and will attempt to ruin your day. The ARC Raiders Blue Gate map has no shortage of both machines and other Raiders who have read absolutely none of this guide and are operating on pure chaos. Stay alert, stay moving.

ARC Raiders Find Dodger's Deal Spot at the Pilgrim's Peak Antenna

At Pilgrim's Peak, locate the main antenna tower: the large one, not the decorative smaller structures. There is a zipline at the bottom of the tower you can use to reach the upper levels. You want to go up, but not all the way to the top. The Dodger's Deal Spot location is on the floor just below the topmost level of the antenna: a small platform or chamber that sits one level beneath the zip line's upper terminus. Drop down into it. Turn right. Between the machines and equipment, you will find a bag. Search the bag. It drops Dodger's Note. Take the note immediately and tuck it into your safe pocket. Do not get creative about where you store it.

Extract and Return to Tian Wen at Speranza

Now extract from the Blue Gate map with Dodger's Note safely in your possession. Return to Speranza and hand the note to Tian Wen. She will receive it with approximately the same emotional warmth as a customs agent processing a form. The quest completes. Your rewards appear. Life goes on, indifferent to your suffering.

The Flashpoint update enemy changes are not in your favor. Among the new threats introduced alongside this quest is the Vaporizer: a flying ARC type that has already earned a reputation for its devastating laser attacks and deeply irritating movement patterns. It has been spotted across Blue Gate, Buried City, Spaceport, and Dam Battlegrounds. It will find you. Probably while you are trying to climb a zip line.

In the Traffic Tunnel specifically, Shredders have been released from Stella Montis containment as of the Flashpoint update. Someone at the facility left the door open. The result is a tunnel that was already unpleasant and is now actively hostile in new and creative ways. If you are playing solo, the quest strongly benefits from cooperation with other players in the area: not because the game is designed to be social, but because having someone else absorb a Shredder's attention while you loot a box in a dark corner is simply efficient.

Quest Rewards

You did all of that. Here is what completing the ARC Raiders Outstanding Balance quest earns you:

The follow-up quest, Settled in Full, asks you to kill a Bastion and deliver a Bastion Cell to Tian Wen. A Bastion is not a Shredder. It will not be polite about being killed. Plan accordingly and do not walk into that quest with the same cavalier attitude you used for this one.

Tips That Might Actually Save Your Run

The Flashpoint crafting update lets you fulfill missing materials directly from the crafting screen now. If you are short on gear before this mission, use the new streamlined system to fill gaps without bouncing between tabs. There is no reason to drop into Blue Gate underprepared when the base gives you every tool to be prepared.

The Close Scrutiny map condition was added alongside this quest as part of the Flashpoint update. Be aware of current active map conditions when you queue: they affect enemy density, behavior, and your survival odds in ways that are not always telegraphed kindly.

If you are using the Scrappy companion, the Flashpoint update introduced food-based buffs for him. Feed Scrappy before you drop. A buffed Scrappy collecting loot is marginally better than an unbuffed one, and every marginal advantage matters when you are crawling through a tunnel full of robots on a one-chance mission.