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Complete the 3-stage Sheltered Retreat Project, gather materials, and unlock your ARC Raiders Outpost with this step-by-step guide.
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The Outpost is the biggest base-building addition to ARC Raiders since launch, arriving with the Frozen Trail update. It gives you a personal above-ground hub where you can build modules, research advanced gear, and unlock the new fifth weapon quality tier through Amplified Weapons. The catch: you won't get it automatically. You need to hit Level 18 and grind through the three-stage Sheltered Retreat Project first.
Sheltered Retreat is a three-stage Project that gates access to the Outpost. Each stage has its own objective and reward, and you must complete them in order. The good news is you can preview all three stages from the start, so planning ahead saves you a lot of backtracking.
| Stage | Objective | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1: Research Topside Living Conditions | Photograph a farmland house near Ruined Homestead on Blue Gate | Camera Blueprint |
| Stage 2: Gather Building Materials | Deliver 3 Planks, 5 Sheet Metal, 10 ARC Alloy, 3 Advanced Electrical Components | Red Light Stick Blueprint |
| Stage 3: Safeguard the Building Site | Deal 800 damage to flying ARC enemies, deal 300 damage to Bullies on Pendola Pass | Decorative Chair, 15 Planks, 5 Durable Cloth, Outpost access |
ARC Raiders Guide: How to Unlock the Outpost Fast
The first objective sends you to the Blue Gate map. You need to find a farmland house around the Ruined Homestead area and photograph it. Simply walking past the building does nothing; you need an actual Camera equipped in your loadout before you drop in.
There are three ways to get one:
Do not assume the quest hands you a Camera. Bring it in yourself or the stage cannot be completed.
Once you reach Ruined Homestead, look for the farm buildings surrounding the marked area rather than hunting across the whole map. Equip the Camera, aim at a qualifying farmland house, and take the shot when the objective registers the subject. No specific angle or interior room is required. After the photo lands, extract or finish whatever else you need in that Raid.
ARC Raiders Guide: How to Unlock the Outpost Fast
Stage 2 is a pure material delivery objective. The required items are:
ARC Raiders Guide: How to Unlock the Outpost Fast
Anything sitting in your Stash already counts, so there is no need to collect everything in a single Raid. The most common mistake here is recycling ARC Alloy and Advanced Electrical Components before checking Project requirements. Advanced Electrical Components in particular are worth holding onto because they show up less frequently than basic materials.
Once you have everything, return to the Sheltered Retreat Project and contribute the materials to advance.
If you want to keep busy while farming materials, some of the game's other quest lines run parallel. Check out the guide for completing the A Dead End quest or the walkthrough for completing the Last Entry quest to make progress on multiple fronts at once.
The final stage shifts away from gathering and into combat. Head to the Pendola Pass map and deal damage to two types of ARC enemies:
You do not need to solo everything in one run. Damage accumulates across Raids, so split it up if needed. Flying ARC enemies are the bigger grind of the two given the damage threshold, so prioritize them. Bullies are tankier but the 300 damage requirement is low enough that a couple of solid hits across one or two encounters gets it done.
Completing Stage 3 delivers your Outpost access along with 15 Planks, 5 Durable Cloth, and a Decorative Chair.
ARC Raiders Guide: How to Unlock the Outpost Fast
The Outpost is not just cosmetic housing. It connects directly to long-term progression through the Research Workstation, which opens up two major systems:
Frozen Trail launches the Amplified system with 15 supported weapons. Reaching the highest Research Workstation level unlocks branching enhancements that meaningfully change how those weapons behave. The examples currently in the game include a fully automatic Burletta, a scoped Renegade, and a Rattler with incendiary ammunition and a 64-round magazine. More weapons are expected to be added over time.
The Stiletto and Bantam are also part of Frozen Trail's expanded research progression, though their Blueprints can drop through normal gameplay too.
Frozen Trail adds 100 Furniture Designs total. These work like Blueprints: find the Design, learn it, then craft it at the Research Workstation to place it in your Outpost. The breakdown:
Furniture does not affect the functional modules or Research Workstation. It is purely for customizing the look of your base.
The Outpost is one of those systems where getting in early pays off. Every day you spend without a Research Workstation is a day you're not accumulating Research Points toward Amplified Weapons. Hit Level 18, accept Sheltered Retreat, and bank your ARC Alloy from the start.
For more on navigating the world's trickier locations and quests, the Controlled Access Zone button puzzle guide is worth a look, and the full ARC Raiders guide collection has everything else you need to stay ahead.
