ARC Raiders Snitch Scanner Guide: How to Farm Them Fast, Best Maps & What to Recycle Them Into

The Snitch Scanner is one of the most misunderstood items in ARC Raiders. Half the lobby ignores the little recon drones that drop it — right up until The Trifecta quest or a Utility Station upgrade demands six of them and they're stuck hunting Snitches with the wrong loadout on the wrong map. This guide ranks exactly how to farm Snitch Scanners fast, which maps put the most Snitches in front of you, how to drop the drones before they call in reinforcements, and whether you should throw, recycle, or sell the Scanners you pull.

Quick answer: Snitch Scanners drop only from destroyed Snitches — the unarmed recon drones that sweep the map with a spotlight beam. Kill the Snitch before its third distress call (or it summons ARC reinforcements on you), loot the wreck, and you get one Scanner. Farm them on open maps like Dam Battlegrounds and Blue Gate where you can spot and tag Snitches from range. Each Scanner weighs 0.75, stacks to 3, sells for 1,000 coins, recycles into 1 ARC Alloy + 1 Electrical Components, and can be thrown to summon ARC on demand.

Key Takeaways

• Source: Snitch Scanners come only from looting destroyed Snitches — never from crates or containers.
• The kill window: reinforcements are only guaranteed after the Snitch's third call, so burst it down fast with Medium or Heavy ammo.
• Best farm maps: open sightline maps — Dam Battlegrounds and Blue Gate — let you tag Snitches from distance and shoot them as they approach.
• Uses: throw it to summon ARC reinforcements, recycle into ARC Alloy + Electrical Components, hand in 2 for The Trifecta, or feed 6 into the Utility Station 1 → 2 upgrade.
• Weight/value: 0.75 weight, stacks to 3, sells for 1,000 coins.

What Is the Snitch Scanner in ARC Raiders?

The Snitch Scanner is an Uncommon, recyclable material salvaged from a destroyed Snitch. According to the ARC Raiders Wiki, it "can be thrown to call in Wasps, after which it becomes damaged" — so it's both a crafting/quest material and a situational throwable. Note that since the September update, a thrown Scanner summons ARC more like a regular Snitch's call — a mixed reinforcement wave with a chance of stronger ARC, not strictly Wasps — so treat it as an "attract ARC" tool rather than a guaranteed Wasp beacon.

Here are the hard numbers straight from the item card:

Stat	Value
Rarity	Uncommon
Weight	0.75
Stack size	3
Sell value	1,000 coins
Recycles into	1× ARC Alloy + 1× Electrical Components
Salvages into	1× Electrical Components
On throw	Summons ARC reinforcements (mixed wave, small chance of stronger ARC) → becomes Damaged Snitch Scanner

The important thing to internalize: this is not a container-spawn item. You will never find a Snitch Scanner by searching crates, lockers, or bodies. The only way to get one is to hunt the drone that carries it.

How to Get Snitch Scanners: Kill the Snitch

The Snitch is a small, unarmed ARC reconnaissance drone. It doesn't shoot at you — it hunts you. Its wide-angle scanner projects a visible spotlight beam, and once that beam catches a Raider, the drone starts a series of calls to summon reinforcements from orbit before it tries to escape into the sky.

The whole farm comes down to one rule: destroy the Snitch before it finishes calling for backup.

Two facts from the official wiki make this easy once you know them:

• Reinforcements are only guaranteed after the Snitch begins the third call in its series. You have a real window — you don't have to one-tap it in a panic.
• The Snitch has four unarmored thrusters and only 158 health. Destroy multiple thrusters and it destabilizes, loses flight control, and spirals into the ground — and every collision inflicts heavy damage with a high chance of permanently disabling it.

So a few well-placed shots with a weapon that fires Medium or Heavy Ammo will drop a Snitch before it becomes a problem. Early on, the Ferro and Anvil are reliable picks — both carry strong ARC armor penetration and handle Snitches (and their reinforcements) cleanly.

The two-weapon farming trick

The most efficient farmers run two weapons and swap between them instead of reloading mid-fight. A Snitch can shrug off a partial magazine and keep climbing; a full magazine from a second gun finishes the job before it hits the third call. Miss the window and the drone climbs out of reach — and you lose the Scanner entirely.

Even better: you can tag a Snitch from far away so it approaches your position. Let it come to you, hold a sightline, and drop it as it closes. That turns a fly-away recon drone into a predictable, on-your-terms kill.

Once it's down, loot the wreck like any other ARC and the Snitch Scanner is yours.

Read the scanner before it reads you

The Snitch's whole threat is its scanner beam — a wide cone of light it sweeps across terrain looking for Raiders. Understanding that cone is the difference between a clean farm and a lobby-wide reinforcement wave dropping on your head.

• The beam is line-of-sight. If the light can't physically reach you, the drone can't tag you. Heavy foliage, dense rubble, and interiors all break the scan — the wiki explicitly notes that hiding in heavy foliage can be enough to avoid the scanner entirely.
• It scans in passes, not constantly. Watch the sweep. There's a beat between passes where you can reposition, close distance, or line up a shot without lighting yourself up.
• The call sequence is your timer, not a death sentence. The first two calls are warnings. Because reinforcements only lock in on the third call, a Snitch that's already started calling is still a free kill if you have a full magazine ready — don't panic-dump a half-loaded gun and whiff.

Put together, the ideal farm loop is: spot the Snitch at range → break its line of sight or wait out a scan pass → tag it so it drifts toward you → burst it down with your first full mag, swap to your second gun if it survives → loot the wreck. Repeat map-wide.

What ammo and gear to bring

You don't need a top-tier kit to farm Snitches — you need penetration and burst. Prioritize:

• Medium or Heavy Ammo weapons. Light-ammo SMGs will eventually drop a Snitch, but they're too slow to guarantee the kill before the third call. The Ferro and Anvil both punch through ARC plating and reach the 158-health threshold quickly.
• A backup sidearm or second primary. This is the two-weapon trick in gear terms — a second loaded gun beats a reload every time.
• A little patience over a lot of firepower. A Snitch you engage on your terms dies to modest guns; a Snitch that catches you mid-loot forces a fight you didn't plan.

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Best Maps to Farm Snitch Scanners

Snitches spawn on every map except Stella Montis, but not every map makes them easy to farm. Your enemy here is sightlines — a Snitch you can't see is a Snitch that's already scanning you.

Open maps win. Locations like Blue Gate and Dam Battlegrounds give you long, clear sightlines to spot Snitches from range, tag them, and engage on your terms before they trigger reinforcements. Dense, cluttered interiors do the opposite: the drone tags you around a corner and you're already into its call sequence before you can react.

Farming factor	What to look for
Sightlines	Open terrain (Dam Battlegrounds, Blue Gate) to spot Snitches early
Engagement range	Tag from distance, let the drone approach, hold an angle
Cover nearby	A wall or rock to break line of sight if reinforcements do drop
PvP heat	Farm at off-peak or after the lobby thins — dead Snitches don't help a knocked Raider

One quiet pro tip from the wiki: hiding in heavy foliage can be enough to avoid the scanner entirely. Use it to reposition between Snitch spawns instead of running the open ground and drawing every drone at once.

What Happens If the Snitch Calls Reinforcements?

If you miss the window, the Snitch's distress call drops a reinforcement wave on you. The exact composition varies — recent patches mean a call can bring anything from a Wasp pack to a Rocketeer or a Firefly + Hornet duo — so don't count on a fixed lineup. Taking a full wave solo, out in the open, is how good runs end. If you can't avoid it:

• Break to cover immediately and force the flyers into a chokepoint.
• Prioritize thrusters and weak points — same logic as the Snitch itself.
• If you're not confident, disengage. A lost Scanner is cheaper than a lost kit.

This is exactly why the pre-emptive, tag-from-range approach matters. You're not fighting the reinforcements — you're preventing them.

Should You Throw, Recycle, or Sell Snitch Scanners?

Once you've got a stack, you have four real options. Pick based on what you actually need:

Throw it. A Snitch Scanner can be thrown to summon ARC reinforcements on demand — a mixed wave with a small chance of stronger ARC. Useful if you want to bait ARC into a kill zone (for XP, for driver drops, or to distract another squad). After the throw it becomes a Damaged Snitch Scanner. Situational, but powerful in the right hands.

Recycle it. Recycling gives 1× ARC Alloy + 1× Electrical Components — a clean way to turn a farmed Scanner into two useful crafting materials. If your ARC Alloy supply is thin, this is the default play.

Feed the Utility Station. The Utility Station 1 → 2 upgrade costs 6× Snitch Scanner (plus 2× Damaged Heat Sink and 5× Electrical Components). If you haven't upgraded yours yet, hold your Scanners for this before you recycle a single one.

Turn it in for The Trifecta. The Trifecta quest requires 2× Snitch Scanner (alongside Wasp Drivers and Hornet Drivers). If the quest is active, bank two before you spend the rest.

Sell it. At 1,000 coins each, selling is the worst value unless you're overflowing and need liquidity. Recycle or bank first.

FAQ

Where do Snitch Scanners come from in ARC Raiders? Only from destroyed Snitches — the unarmed recon drones with the spotlight scanner beam. They are not a container-spawn item, so searching crates will never produce one. You have to hunt and loot the drone.

How do I kill a Snitch fast? Destroy its thrusters or burn through its 158 health with Medium or Heavy ammo before it reaches its third distress call. It has four unarmored thrusters — destroying multiple thrusters destabilizes it and it crashes for heavy self-damage. Run two weapons and swap instead of reloading so you finish it inside the window.

What maps are best for farming Snitch Scanners? Open maps with long sightlines like Dam Battlegrounds and Blue Gate, where you can spot Snitches from range, tag them, and engage before they call reinforcements. Cluttered interiors let the drone tag you first.

What do Snitch Scanners recycle into? Recycling gives 1× ARC Alloy and 1× Electrical Components. Salvaging gives 1× Electrical Components. Each Scanner also sells for 1,000 coins.

How many Snitch Scanners do I need for the Utility Station upgrade? The Utility Station 1 → 2 upgrade needs 6× Snitch Scanner, plus 2× Damaged Heat Sink and 5× Electrical Components. Bank them before you recycle if you haven't upgraded yet.

Should I throw my Snitch Scanner? Only situationally. Throwing one summons a wave of ARC reinforcements (with a small chance of stronger ARC) and turns it into a Damaged Snitch Scanner — handy for baiting ARC into a kill zone or farming driver drops, but you lose the material. For most players, recycling or banking for the Utility Station / The Trifecta is the better call.