Some keys in ARC Raiders point you at a quiet side room. The Spaceport Control Tower Key points you at the single most contested structure on one of the busiest maps in the game — the tall tower dead-center on the Spaceport. The reward for surviving it is one of the better top-floor hauls around: residential drawers with a high chance of Epic items, a Security Breach cabinet most players never crack, and a terminal that doubles as a quest objective. The trouble, as Shacknews puts it, is that "high-traffic areas can quickly devolve into massive firefights in no time flat." This breakdown gives you the exact door, the fastest way up, and the real loot profile — cross-checked against the ARC Raiders Wiki and the guides that ran the tower.
Quick answer (TLDR): The Spaceport Control Tower Key is a Rare, single-use access key (weight 0.25, sells for 100 coins) that opens the ground-level doors of the Control Tower — the tall tower marked A6 in the center of the Spaceport, beside Vehicle Maintenance and Container Storage (arcraiders.wiki, gamerant). You get it from random scavenging or as the key handed to you by Shani for the "Lost in Transmission" quest. Open a base door, take the zipline to the top, and loot drawers of rare residential gear (high Epic chance), a med bag, a Security Breach cabinet, breachable computer cabinets and loose Electronic/Mechanical loot (shacknews). Verdict: a strong, weapon-and-electronics-heavy room — worth it if you can win the fight for the tower.
What is the Spaceport Control Tower Key in ARC Raiders?
The Spaceport Control Tower Key is one of the game's map-specific access keys — consumable items that open a sealed door, then disappear from your inventory. Per the official wiki, it "unlocks a door to the Ground Control Tower in Spaceport" and "opens a set of locked doors at ground level… that grant access to the top floor" (arcraiders.wiki).
Here are the verified item-card stats, read straight off the in-game card:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Single-use access key (consumed on use) |
| Weight | 0.25 |
| Vendor value | 100 coins |
| Stack size | 1 |
| Map | The Spaceport |
| Unlocks | Ground-level doors of the Control Tower → top floor |
At 0.25 weight the key is effectively free to carry — keep it in your safe pocket until you can run the Spaceport. The big difference from most keys is the double duty: the room it opens is also where the "Lost in Transmission" quest terminal lives, so a lot of raiders end up here whether they're loot-hunting or quest-running. That's part of why the tower is so contested.
If you're clearing the Spaceport keyring, this sits alongside the Spaceport Container Storage Key — same map, same "find the key, find the door" loop.
How do you get the Spaceport Control Tower Key?
There are two routes:
- Scavenging (random drop). Per the wiki, the key drops from scavenging — drawers, cabinets, lockers and crates inside buildings (arcraiders.wiki). On the Spaceport, players report the best key spots are interiors around the Trench Tower, Ground Control Tower and Shipping Warehouse (egamersworld). There's no way to force the drop.
- The "Lost in Transmission" quest. Accept the quest and Shani hands you the Spaceport Control Tower Key directly (gamerant) — a guaranteed route if you'd rather not fish for the drop. The quest then sends you to the same tower to use a terminal up top.
A few practical notes:
- Keep it in your safe pocket. The Spaceport is high-traffic and the tower is a magnet for PvP — a key in your safe pocket survives a death.
- Run a Map Condition. Gamerant notes that running it under Night Raid raises the risk and the reward: "After the Cold Snap update, the loot quality in key loot rooms has been significantly buffed," with a higher chance of rarer blueprints during a major map condition (gamerant).
- Bring smoke. Smoke grenades let you break enemy sightlines crossing the open center of the map to reach the tower.
Where is the Spaceport Control Tower in ARC Raiders?
The Control Tower is the tall tower in the center of the Spaceport, right beside the Vehicle Maintenance and Container Storage buildings — the annotated map above marks it. It's the structure with the large "A6" marker on its side; you'll know you're on the right building when you see the big A6 text on the wall (gamerant, dualshockers). (The wiki refers to it as the Ground Control Tower.)
Getting in and up:
- Find a base door. The key opens a door at the base of the tower. Shacknews points to the southwestern side of the building, past the long, well-lit hallway — there's a southern door close at hand, and a separate door on the north side too (shacknews). Gamerant's route: enter under the A6 marker, take the first set of doorways to the left, then follow the path to the right to the locked door (gamerant).
- Open one, control the rest. Opening any one ground door lets you open the others from the inside — but you can leave the remaining doors red to make other raiders think the tower's still sealed (shacknews). It's a cheap bit of misdirection on a busy map.
- Take the zipline up. Past the key door, a zipline runs to the top of the tower, where the loot — and the Lost in Transmission terminal — wait (gamerant, destructoid).
Expect ARC machines on the way up and raiders at the top. The tower's height is your friend on defense — control the zipline and you control who reaches you.
What's behind the door — the loot breakdown
The honest caveat first: like every locked room in ARC Raiders, the exact contents are randomized — anyone promising a guaranteed weapon is guessing. What's consistent is the container set at the top of the tower. Per Shacknews's documented clear (with thanks to creator TroubleChute Basics for filming it):
| Spawn (documented at the top of the Control Tower) | Type | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Several drawers — rare residential loot | Container | High chance of Epic-rarity items (gamerant) |
| Security Breach cabinet | Container | Requires the Security Breach skill; extra high-tier loot most players skip |
| Breachable computer cabinets | Container | Electronics/components behind breachable lids |
| Med bag | Container | Medical supplies |
| Several lootable computers | Container | Basic electronic items |
| Loose Electronic & Mechanical loot | Loose | Components and crafting mats |
Source: shacknews. This is a residential-and-electronics room with strong attachment and component value — gamerant specifically flags the drawers and cabinets as having "a high chance of granting players Epic rarity items" (gamerant). It's also one of the better rooms for blueprints when you run it under a major Map Condition, thanks to the post–Cold Snap loot buff.
For a 100-coin Rare key, that's a strong return — the bottleneck isn't the loot, it's holding the busiest tower on the map long enough to extract with it.
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Is the Spaceport Control Tower Key worth it?
Yes — with a caveat about the fight. At 0.25 weight the key costs nothing to carry, and the top of the tower reliably returns far more than the key's 100-coin price: rare residential drawers with a high Epic chance, a Security Breach cabinet for upside, plus electronics and components. Pair it with the Lost in Transmission quest and you knock out a quest objective on the same trip.
The risk is the location, not the reward. The Control Tower sits in the center of one of the most trafficked maps in ARC Raiders, and it draws both loot-hunters and quest-runners — so firefights are the norm, not the exception. Open a single base door, leave the others red, ride the zipline up, hold the high ground, loot fast, and have an extract picked before you commit. Win the tower and the room pays for itself many times over.
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FAQ
Where do you use the Spaceport Control Tower Key? On the ground-level doors of the Control Tower — the tall tower marked A6 in the center of the Spaceport, beside Vehicle Maintenance and Container Storage. Open a base door (the southwestern/southern one is closest), then take the zipline up to the top floor to loot.
How do you get the Spaceport Control Tower Key? Two ways: as a random scavenging drop from drawers, cabinets and crates (best odds in interiors around the Trench Tower, Ground Control Tower and Shipping Warehouse), or directly from Shani when you accept the "Lost in Transmission" quest.
Is the Spaceport Control Tower Key single-use? Yes. It's consumed the moment you open the door, so one key equals one entry. If you die before using it, it's lost with the rest of your carried gear — keep it in a safe pocket.
What loot is in the Spaceport Control Tower? Randomized high-tier loot at the top of the tower: several drawers of rare residential gear (high Epic chance), a Security Breach cabinet, breachable computer cabinets, a med bag, several lootable computers, and loose Electronic/Mechanical loot. Blueprint odds rise under a major Map Condition after the Cold Snap loot buff.
Can you do Lost in Transmission and loot the tower at the same time? Yes — that's the efficient play. The quest sends you up the same tower to use a terminal, so you can complete the objective and clear the top-floor loot in one trip. Running it during a Spaceport Night Raid raises both the danger and the reward.
Is the Spaceport Control Tower Key worth using? For a 100-coin Rare key, absolutely — the only real risk is that the tower is one of the most contested spots in the game. Leave spare base doors red, hold the zipline and high ground, loot fast, and extract.
