How to Farm Reactor Cores in ARC Raiders — Best Routes & Locations

Reactor Core — Quick Reference

What Are Reactor Cores Used For?

Reactor Cores are a high-tier electronic crafting component in ARC Raiders. They gate some of the most powerful mid-to-late-game recipes, including advanced weapon modifications, upgraded chest armor plating, and several key items tied to Expedition Project milestones. If you're pushing into serious crafting progression, you will need a steady supply of these components.

Beyond crafting, Reactor Cores hold strong sell value at traders — community reports suggest they command some of the highest per-unit Credit returns among electronic components. However, selling them outright is generally a poor decision if you're in active crafting progression, since re-acquiring them is slow. The decision to sell versus stockpile is covered in more detail below.

Reactor Cores also serve as a recycling input for certain advanced schematics. If you find yourself with duplicate crafted items that consumed Reactor Cores, recycling those items can return a partial Core — typically a 50% chance based on community testing, though this is unconfirmed by Embark Studios officially.

Where Reactor Cores Spawn — Key Locations

Reactor Cores appear almost exclusively in high-tier industrial and electronic container types. Standard residential loot crates and basic supply boxes will not contain them. You need to target locked industrial crates, heavy machinery panels, electrical junction cabinets, and specialized equipment rooms. These container types are concentrated in two primary zones: the Spaceport and the Dam.

The Spaceport's reactor rooms — the restricted lower level accessible through the eastern maintenance corridor — contain the highest density of relevant containers on the map. Each reactor room has two to four industrial crates and one or two large machinery nodes. Community reports suggest the Spaceport reactor rooms produce Reactor Cores on approximately 25–35% of runs when all containers are looted.

The Dam's Power Plant section, specifically the generator hall on the lower floor, is the second-best consistent source. It is generally less contested than the Spaceport because the pathing is more obscure and the zone is controlled by heavier ARC patrols. Expect tougher enemies here, but also less competition from other Raiders in most sessions.

Spaceport Reactor Room Farming Loop

Steps

1. Deploy to the Spaceport and move directly to the eastern cargo staging area — skip all street-level loot on entry to save time.
2. Enter the maintenance corridor behind the large yellow crane structure. Watch for ARC patrols — two or three units typically cover this approach.
3. Descend the maintenance stairwell to the Reactor Level. Clear or evade the ARC guard post at the bottom of the stairs.
4. Loot all four industrial crates in Reactor Room A (the first room on your left). These are the highest-priority containers.
5. Cross the connecting walkway to Reactor Room B and loot its industrial crates and the large machinery node on the east wall.
6. Check the electrical cabinet in the hallway between the two rooms — this is an often-overlooked secondary spawn point.
7. Exit through the western maintenance door back to the surface level. Head directly to the nearest extraction point — do not re-loop through upper Spaceport unless your bag has capacity.

Tips

• The electrical cabinets require a Lockpick or a Breaching Tool to open — always bring one or craft them beforehand.
• If both reactor rooms are already looted when you arrive, the map instance was entered early. Consider extracting and re-deploying.
• ARC Reactor Sentinels in this area occasionally drop Reactor Cores directly — approximately 10–15% drop rate per community testing.

Dam Power Plant Farming Loop

Steps

1. Deploy at the Dam entry point and move through the main gate area, staying low along the right wall to avoid the ARC patrol that sweeps the central dam walkway.
2. Find the Power Plant access door on the lower level — it's marked with a yellow electrical hazard symbol. The door may require a keycard depending on map rotation.
3. Enter the generator hall. There are three large generator machinery nodes arranged in a row — loot all three. These are the primary Reactor Core spawns.
4. Check the two electrical cabinets on the north wall of the generator hall.
5. Move to the maintenance office adjacent to the generator hall — it contains two industrial crates that can spawn Reactor Cores alongside other electronics.
6. Exit via the emergency escape corridor on the south side of the plant, which bypasses the main ARC patrol route and leads toward the dam overflow extraction point.

Tips

• The Dam keycard needed for the Power Plant door can be found in the security office near the dam entrance — check there first if you don't have one.
• ARC Heavies patrol the generator hall. Engaging them costs time and ammo. Stealthy approach or quick loot-and-leave is recommended.
• The overflow extraction is close — this route is one of the faster extract loops for materials farming.

Trader Purchasing and Recycling Reactor Cores

Traders in Stella Montis occasionally stock Reactor Cores, but supply is limited — typically one to three units per trader reset, and they sell for a significant Credit cost. Community reports suggest the price ranges from approximately 800–1,400 Credits per unit depending on trader relationship level, though these numbers shift with patches. Buying from traders is a viable option to fill an immediate crafting need, but it should not be your primary acquisition method.

The recycler is a secondary source worth understanding. Certain high-tier electronic components and salvaged ARC machine parts can be recycled into Reactor Core fragments or full Cores. Specifically, community testing suggests that recycling ARC Power Cells and Heavy Drone salvage parts has a chance to yield Reactor Core components as part of the output. The recycling system is partially randomized, so consistent sourcing through recycling alone is not reliable.

If you have excess Reactor Cores from particularly good farming sessions, selling them to traders is a strong Credits play. Hold at least a buffer of four to six Cores for upcoming crafting needs before selling surplus.

Additional Reactor Core Sources

• ARC Reactor Sentinels (elite enemy type in reactor areas) — approximately 10–15% direct drop chance per community reports
• Supply Drops — rare, but high-tier supply crates can contain Reactor Cores as event loot
• Expedition Project rewards — certain milestone completions include Reactor Cores as a reward bundle
• Recycling ARC Power Cells and Heavy Drone Salvage at the recycler in Stella Montis
• High-tier locked containers in the Spaceport secondary storage area (less reliable, but worth checking on multi-zone runs)