The Stacking Yard on ARC Raiders' Riven Tides map holds one of the game's more involved environmental puzzles. Four hidden red buttons, a randomized Fuel Cell, a broken lift that needs repairs, and two separate loot rooms waiting at the end. Most players either give up halfway through or miss the second loot room entirely. Here's everything you need to clear it efficiently.
How does the Stacking Yard puzzle work?
The puzzle has two distinct phases. First, you press 4 red buttons scattered around the Stacking Yard compound. Second, you find a Fuel Cell, repair a broken lift, and carry the cell up to the crane's control tower to open the loot room. Both phases are required, and the button locations are fully randomized each raid.
According to community testing documented by Destructoid and Game Rant, the button positions change between runs, so there's no fixed map that works every time. What stays consistent are the zones where buttons can appear.
Stacking Yard control tower
Where are all the red button locations?
Buttons can appear in any combination of the following spots each run. Check all of them systematically rather than hoping to get lucky:
- Inside the Control Buildings, near doorways or on the floor
- Along the rails, directly below each Control Building
- On the catwalks surrounding each Control Building
- On the railings at the top of each Control Building
- On the Crane Ladders
- On railings below the catwalks (some require jumping on containers at the side of buildings, and a few may need a Snap Hook or the zipline-jump trick to reach)
- On the exterior walls of the buildings at ground level, particularly in the corners near the container room access
- At the end of the railings in the concrete wall corners that lead outside each crane building
Red switch on crane railing
According to Destructoid's testing, the same spot can have a button in one raid and be empty in the next. Treat every location on the list as a potential spawn and work through them floor by floor.
Don't ignore the crane interiors. The small rooms on the cranes themselves are a common button location that players miss when they focus only on the ground-level buildings.
How to find the Fuel Cell
Once all 4 buttons are pressed, a Fuel Cell spawns somewhere in the Stacking Yard. According to Game Rant, it can appear in any of these spots:
The Fuel Cell sits on the ground in most cases, so scan low while moving through the compound. The sandy-terrain spawns are the ones players consistently walk past.
How to repair the lift and carry the Fuel Cell up
With the Fuel Cell in hand, head to the broken lift located below the damaged catwalk that leads to the crane's loot room. Examine the broken panel to see what repair materials it needs. According to Game Rant, the required items are randomized per match but tend to be common resources like batteries or wires.
Once repaired, this is where having a teammate matters:
- One player holds the Fuel Cell and stands on the lift platform
- The second player holds the lift button to send them up
- Releasing the button drops the lift, so the operator needs to hold it the entire way
- At the top, the player with the Fuel Cell inserts it into the fuse box in the control tower, which opens the loot room door
What loot do you get from the Stacking Yard puzzle?
There are actually two loot rooms tied to this puzzle, which most guides miss:
Loot Room 1 (Main): The crane control tower room that opens after you insert the Fuel Cell into the fuse box. This is the primary reward for completing the full puzzle sequence.
Loot Room 2 (Secondary): A breachable red container accessible by repairing and operating the other lift in the area. According to Game Rant, this container can hold Weapon Cases, Grenade Tubes, Ammo Boxes, and other gear. It's also one of the better spots to find the Legendary "Leviathan's Crown" Ship Model, which is valuable for the Last Resort event.
Neither room is guaranteed to have specific items every run, but the combination of both gives you a solid return on the time invested.
The Stacking Yard puzzle is one of several layered environmental challenges on Riven Tides. If you want to keep building your puzzle-solving momentum, the Controlled Access Zone button puzzle guide covers a similar 4-button mechanic on the Dam Battlegrounds map.
Find the full collection of puzzle and quest guides in the ARC Raiders guides hub.