Everyone talks about gunfeel in ARC Raiders, but the real reason you keep queueing is what ends up in your pack. If you're tired of limping out with bargain-bin scraps, start treating Key Rooms like the main event. They're not "nice-to-have" detours. They're the moments where you decide whether you're playing safe or actually hunting value, and learning the ARC Raiders Items economy will change how you pick fights, routes, and even what you bother carrying in.

Why Buried City Keeps Paying

After a lot of runs, Buried City is still the place that feels most consistent. The Town Hall key room is the one people whisper about for a reason. You can walk out with a run worth 40k to 70k credits when it hits, and that's before you factor in the rare blueprints that don't seem to show up in regular crates. Night Raids are where it gets spicy. Visibility's awful, the pressure's higher, and you'll second-guess every footstep, but the loot pool tends to swing upward enough that it's hard to ignore.

Don't Open the Door and Freeze

The moment that lock pops, you're basically ringing a dinner bell. I've watched teams lose everything because they stood in the doorway like tourists. Set up first. Barriers, trip mines, anything that slows a push. Put them on choke points before you start clicking containers. Then loot with intent: hit the high-value boxes first and keep moving. If you're staring into secondary junk while your back's to a window, you're doing the hard part for someone else.

Keys, Routes, and Team Discipline

Keys aren't interchangeable, and the game doesn't care that you ran across the map to find out. A Dam key won't save you at Stella Montis, Blue Gate, or Spaceport, so plan your route around what's in your pockets, not what you wish you had. Also, room layout matters more than people admit. Single-entry rooms are easier to defend. Multiple entrances mean more angles, more campers, and more panic. If you're in a squad, split jobs: 1 person watches doors and sightlines, 2 people loot fast, 3 people keep an ear out and call movement. The greedy "everyone grabs" approach usually ends with everyone respawning.

Get Out Like You Mean It

The best haul in ARC Raiders is the one you actually extract with, so treat the exit like part of the loot room. Before you unlock anything, pick a fallback route and a second option in case you get cut off. Don't sprint loud through open streets if you can rotate through cover, and don't chase a random gunfight when you're already heavy. If you're rebuilding after a few bad raids, it can also help to gear sensibly and look for cheap Raiders weapons that let you take the risk without feeling like you're betting your whole stash each time you touch a key door.