How To Complete With a Trace in Arc Raiders: Step-by-Step Guide

Trace is a short investigative quest that introduces Blue Gate navigation and environmental reading. It sends players to two fixed locations tied together by debris and ARC wreckage. The task has no combat requirement, but the route runs through exposed ground. Completion hinges on recognizing two small objects placed in plain sight.

With a Trace Step-by-Step Walkthrough

The quest begins with Shani, who directs you to the Barren Clearing on the Blue Gate map. The area is marked by destroyed ARC machines scattered across a shallow open space, with limited cover and wide sightlines. Movement through the clearing draws attention from patrols, so approach deliberately and scan before interacting. The objective item blends into the wreckage and is easy to miss if you rush.

Reach the Barren Clearing on the Blue Gate map.

Search the destroyed ARC machines for a silver, ball-shaped object and interact with it.

Travel south from the clearing to reach the Adorned Wreckage.

Inspect the small yellow communications device placed on a desk among the ruins.

Extract from the match using any available method.

Return to Shani to close the quest.

Completing With a Trace unlocks rewards immediately after debriefing with Shani. The payout includes Looting MK. 2, which improves resource efficiency, and a Medium Shield for survivability. The quest also establishes narrative threads tied to ARC takedowns in Blue Gate, setting up later investigations.

Arc Raiders Puzzles

The guitar puzzle in Buried City stands apart from standard quest design and operates at the server level. Added in the Cold Snap update, it requires fifteen hidden buttons to be activated in a strict musical sequence shown by graffiti near a locked door by the Red Tower. Every button produces a tone, and any incorrect input by any player resets progress for the entire server, turning coordination into the real challenge rather than navigation.

Blue Gate puzzles form the opposite end of the design spectrum, built for repetition and route optimization. Ancient Fort requires transporting three batteries into exposed fuse boxes to open a basement cache, forcing players to manage timing and visibility. Raider’s Refuge hides four rotating red-button switches across church ruins, unlocking a cellar only after all are found in a single run. Reinforced Reception layers two puzzles in one site, pairing terminal color paths with a sealed red room that needs carried fuzes, while Deforester Husk uses ARC Power Cells to open flame-filled interiors that reward speed and map control. Together, these puzzles define Blue Gate as a space where movement discipline matters as much as firepower.