ARC Raiders Stacking Yard Puzzle: All Red Button Locations

The Stacking Yard puzzle in ARC Raiders is a multi-stage ordeal spread across three industrial buildings and three gantry cranes in the central-northern area of Riven Tides. The reward is two secret rooms worth of loot: one accessible solo, one requiring at least two players. Whether the juice is worth the squeeze depends entirely on how much you enjoy running around a crane yard while Wasps and hostile Raiders try to end your session early.

The puzzle breaks into three hard phases: find four randomly spawned red buttons, recover a fuel cell and fix the broken elevator, and insert the fuel cell to power the second secret room door. None of it is telegraphed in-game. Hence this guide existing.

Before you commit Clear the Wasps and Fireflies patrolling the area before starting the button hunt. The Stacking Yard is a loud, open POI: the elevator noise alone announces your position to every other Raider in the vicinity. Dying mid-puzzle with the fuel cell in your inventory is a special kind of humiliating.

Phase 1: Finding All Four Red Buttons

Four buttons. Random spawns. Every raid, new locations. There is no fixed map: only a pool of possible positions spread across Buildings 1, 2, and 3 and their three corresponding cranes. The order you press them in is irrelevant; all four lights above the secret room door in Building 1 must be green before anything opens.

The ARC Raiders red button locations rotate between the following zones on each new run. Work from Building 3 toward Building 1, since that's where the doors actually are. Start at the top and work down: rooftops and crane platforms are the most skipped.

Spawn Zones: Where to Look

• Interior walls, shelves, and desks inside all three buildings at every floor
• Balcony railings and exterior ledges on upper floors of each building
• Rooftop corners on all three warehouse structures: check all four corners
• The metal staircases and ladders climbing each crane
• Inside and outside the operator cabin at the top of each crane
• The corners where steel beams meet the red crane structure at platform level
• Concrete ledges accessible by elevator on the crane platforms (check all four corners)
• Ground-level outer and inner walls of the building footprints

A Snap Hook (grappling hook) cuts scan time on rooftops and crane tops in half. Bring one. Buttons trigger the standard interact prompt at close range and make a small click sound. If you hear nothing and see no prompt, that corner is clean.

Efficiency tip Use the zipline connecting the three crane tops to sweep Cranes 3, 2, and 1 in sequence without touching the ground. You can knock out all crane-level button checks in one efficient pass. Descend via the staircases on each crane to check mid-level spawn points on your way down.

Building Search Order

1. Building 3: bottom floor outer and inner, then upper floor, then rooftop
2. Crane 3: staircase up, cabin exterior and interior, platform corners
3. Zipline to Crane 2: repeat cabin and platform sweep
4. Zipline to Crane 1: repeat, plus check staircase carefully on the way down
5. Building 2: middle concrete area, bottom floor inner and outer
6. Building 1: footer area both sides, interior, near the secret room door

Once all four buttons are pressed, the next objective is a fuel cell. It spawns on the ground around Building 1, typically near the base of the cranes or among stacked containers at ground level. It looks like a battery pack: pick it up and carry it to the broken industrial elevator inside the Stacking Yard.

The elevator needs a repair item before it will run. The required part is randomized per match: Duct Tape is the most common demand, but it can ask for other basic repair materials. Bring a small stack of common repair items on every run into the Riven Tides Stacking Yard. Arriving without the part means leaving to find one while someone else walks off with your opened room.

Elevator Steps

Drop the fuel cell on the platform Not next to it. On it. The cell must ride the elevator up with you or the whole sequence breaks.

Repair the elevator Interact with the elevator control. It prompts for the specific repair item required this match. The repair completes instantly if you have it.

Hold the call button the entire ascent The button must be held continuously. Releasing it drops the platform. This is where solo play in ARC Raiders becomes a coordination problem.

Carry the fuel cell to the wall mount At the top, take the stairs, slot the fuel cell into the "Insert Fuel Cell" mount. Then press the nearby button. The door opens.

The Solo Problem (and the Workaround)

The elevator mechanic is specifically designed to require two people. One person must hold the button continuously; the other rides up with the fuel cell. If you release the button, the elevator descends. There is no lock-in state. The game wants you to find a friend.

In a duo or squad, the split is trivial: one player holds, one rides. The ARC Raiders co-op puzzle mechanics are built around exactly this scenario. Solo players have three realistic options: improvise with Snap Hook timing (unreliable), convince a stranger via proximity chat, or accept that Secret Room 2 may not happen this run.

Proximity chat actually works here "Friendly, need a button hold" is the most-used phrase at this POI. Other solo Raiders are grinding the same puzzle. Announcing your intent before approaching the elevator prevents a firefight and occasionally gets you the hold you need. Calling out first costs nothing. Getting shot because you didn't costs everything.

Room 1, accessible solo after the four buttons: weapon case chance on the right table or control panel, drawers with loose loot, and a weapon key spawn on the left side with a chance at epic-tier weapons. In practice, expect to fish a pistol out of that key box and feel nothing.

Room 2, the co-op door: red lockers. Several of them. Occasionally a weapon case. The secret room loot in Riven Tides is currently mid-tier: crafting materials, attachments, the odd higher-rarity drop. The Stacking Yard is rated a Medium POI and the loot reflects that honestly. It may improve with updates. It may not.

The puzzle resets each raid. Even if another squad completed it before you landed, a fresh run starts with all buttons respawned, the fuel cell available, and the elevator broken again. There is no "someone else already did it" excuse: only a skill issue.