This week r/ArcRaiders had a thread asking what the best Surveyor loot is and another about an Equalizer blueprint dropping from a Surveyor on a regular Riven Tides raid. They're really the same question. Is the big round ball worth chasing, and where do you find one when you need it? The Surveyor is the one ARC machine in the game that runs away from you, so most raiders only get one by accident. This guide ranks every map and map condition by how often raiders come home with a Surveyor Vault, lists what a Surveyor actually drops, and shows how to kill it before it rolls off.
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Quick answer (TL;DR): The ARC Surveyor is an unarmed, armored ball (257 HP) that stops to beam data into the sky and flees faster than you can sprint once it spots you. It's the source of the Surveyor Vault, which you need 5× for Medical Lab III and 5× for Trophy Display stage 1, plus 1 each for the quests Mixed Signals and Wires Crossed. The best way to find Surveyors is the Close Scrutiny map condition, which spawns groups of them: in ARC Tracker's raid logs, a Surveyor Vault turned up in 16.4% of Close Scrutiny raids on Buried City, about 3.5× that map's all-raid average. Across all raids, Riven Tides is the best map at 10.5%. To kill one, stun it with a Hornet Driver or Showstopper while it's transmitting, then hit the core with explosives or Heavy Ammo.
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What is the Surveyor in ARC Raiders?
The Surveyor is a spherical ground ARC that carries no weapon. The ARC Raiders Wiki (community-run) describes it as "an unarmed, spherical ARC machine completely protected by an armored shell." It spends its time parked somewhere open, firing a blue laser beam straight up. While it does that, the armor plating pulls back and the core is exposed. The wiki's best guess is that the beam talks to ARC in orbit, and Shani's quest dialogue says the same thing: "They seem to be transmitting data back into orbit."
The moment it senses a Raider, it stops, closes up and rolls off at a speed faster than you can sprint. It won't fight unless it's cornered. If it is, it rams you for moderate damage. Once the threat has passed, it parks again and goes back to transmitting.
Its stat block, from the wiki:
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Health | 257 |
| Armor | Heavy |
| Weakness | Core |
| Primary attack | Ramming |
| XP for destroying it | +200 |
| XP for scavenging the core | +300 |
| XP for scavenging the shell | +100 |
That's 600 XP from one Surveyor if you destroy it and loot both parts. A Surveyor can also roll off a ledge while it's escaping, which is a nice way to lose your loot down a cliff.
If you're new to the machine roster, our ARC Raiders enemies guide puts the Surveyor next to the other ground heavies. One common mix-up: the Surveyor is not the recon drone. That's the Snitch.
Where do Surveyors spawn, and which map is best?
Surveyors do have known spawn sites, but none of them is guaranteed to hold one in a given raid. ARC Tracker's Surveyor page maps 93 spawn sites: 24 on The Blue Gate, 24 on Dam Battlegrounds, 18 on Buried City, 17 on Spaceport and 10 on Riven Tides, where they stay in place rather than patrol. It lists none on Pendola Pass or Stella Montis. So a pinned map tells you where a Surveyor can be. What you really want to know is which map gives you the best odds of actually getting one.
ARC Tracker logs raids from players who use its app and records how often each item turns up per map and per map condition. We pulled its Surveyor Vault figures, a 12-week rolling sample where every row is rated high-confidence (200+ tracked raids). The number below is the share of all logged raids on that map, under any condition, where a raider found a Surveyor Vault. Two caveats. The Vault isn't Surveyor-only, because the wiki also lists the ARC Courier as a source. And it measures what raiders found, which depends on who went looking. Treat these as "Vault odds," a good guide to Surveyor density but not a direct count of Surveyors.
| Rank | Map | Raids with a Surveyor Vault (all conditions) | Known spawn sites | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riven Tides | 10.5% | 10 | Best map overall, Surveyors stay in place |
| 2 | Dam Battlegrounds | 5.1% | 24 | Solid, and gets Close Scrutiny |
| 3 | The Spaceport | 5.1% | 17 | Same as Dam, also gets Close Scrutiny |
| 4 | The Blue Gate | 4.7% | 24 | Average |
| 5 | Buried City | 4.4% | 18 | Below average overall, best map under Close Scrutiny |
| 6 | Pendola Pass | 1.7% | none listed | Poor, don't hunt Surveyors here |
| 7 | Stella Montis | 0.04% | none listed | Effectively none |
Across all its raids, Riven Tides gives you roughly double the odds of any other map, from the fewest spawn sites. It also fits that Reddit report of a Surveyor kill on a regular Riven Tides raid. Pendola Pass looks like a bad bet, which matters if you were planning to pick one up on the way to the Emperor.
What is Close Scrutiny, and why is it the best Surveyor condition?
If you want Surveyors on purpose, this is the answer. Close Scrutiny is the map condition that spawns them in groups. Its in-game description, quoted on the wiki, reads: "Groups of Surveyors and Vaporizers are scanning for valuable materials. Their discoveries could prove worthwhile, if you're prepared for resistance."
What the condition changes, per the wiki:
- It spawns Surveyors, guarded by Vaporizers.
- Once the Surveyors finish locating materials, they call in ARC Assessors, carriers you can breach for loot like Assessor Matrices.
- No locked doors are active, and it's flagged No Free Loadout, so bring your own kit.
- Overall loot value is lower, but ARC loot is increased.
- It's available on Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport and The Blue Gate, not Riven Tides, Pendola Pass or Stella Montis.
Here's how much Close Scrutiny moves the Vault odds, from the same ARC Tracker sample. ARC Tracker compares each condition with all raids on that map over the same weeks, conditions included, so the first column differs slightly from the table above:
| Map | All raids, same weeks | Close Scrutiny raids | Multiplier vs all raids |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buried City | 4.6% | 16.4% | about 3.5× |
| The Spaceport | 5.3% | 14.7% | about 2.8× |
| The Blue Gate | 4.7% | 11.1% | about 2.3× |
| Dam Battlegrounds | 5.1% | 8.8% | about 1.7× |
Close Scrutiny on Buried City is the single best Surveyor raid in ARC Tracker's data, at roughly one Vault in every six raids. Spaceport under Close Scrutiny is a close second. The other condition that helps a little is Electromagnetic Storm on Spaceport (8.9%) and Dam (7.4%), but nothing else comes close to Close Scrutiny.
The trade-off is the Vaporizers. They're there specifically to protect the Surveyors, so you're not getting a free kill. And breaching an Assessor pylon sets off a swarm of flying ARC. The wiki lists Vaporizers, Rocketeers, Fireflies, Hornets and Wasps. Bring a smoke grenade for the pylons, or a Photoelectric Cloak to walk away clean.
What does the Surveyor drop?
Destroy a Surveyor and you can scavenge its core and its shell. The wiki's loot list is mostly high-value ARC parts, which is why its codex entry calls it "a rich source of high-value ARC tech":
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Surveyor Vault | The reason to hunt them. ARC Couriers can carry it too |
| ARC Powercell | Common ARC part |
| Advanced ARC Powercell | Higher-tier part |
| ARC Alloy | Crafting base |
| ARC Circuitry | Crafting and upgrades |
| ARC Coolant | Crafting and upgrades |
| ARC Motion Core | Crafting and upgrades |
| ARC Performance Steel | Crafting and upgrades |
| Mechanical Components | Crafting base |
| Sensors | Crafting and upgrades |
Armor panels also break off as you damage it, and those can be looted too.
Blueprints. The Surveyor is one of the ARC sources the wiki lists for blueprints. The wiki's blueprint table lists the ARC Surveyor as a source for three:
| Blueprint | Other sources | Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Vita Shot | Medical Containers, Trials, Research | All maps |
| Vita Spray | Medical Containers, Trials, Research, quest Worth Your Salt | All maps |
| Tactical Mk. 3 (Defensive) | Medical and Security Containers, Trials, Research | Stella Montis, The Blue Gate |
Players report other blueprints dropping from Surveyors too, like that Equalizer post. Those aren't in the wiki's table, so don't farm Surveyors for a specific weapon blueprint. For the full list of what drops where, see our ARC Raiders blueprint index.
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What is the Surveyor Vault used for?
The Surveyor Vault is a Rare recyclable. It weighs 1.0, stacks to 3 and sells for 1,000. That sell value was halved from 2,000 in Update 1.17.0, and the recycle and salvage yields were cut at the same time. So don't sell or recycle it. Here's where it actually goes:
| Use | Vaults needed | Relevant requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Lab II to Medical Lab III | 5 | 3× Rusted Shut Medical Kit, 8× Antiseptic, 5× Surveyor Vault |
| Trophy Display project, stage 1 (Roaming Threats) | 5 | 3× Rusted Bolts, 15× Pop Trigger, 15× Tick Pod, 5× Surveyor Vault |
| Quest: Mixed Signals (Shani) | 1 | Destroy an ARC Surveyor, obtain 1 Surveyor Vault |
| Quest: Wires Crossed (Celeste) | 1 | Attach a Surveyor Vault to the Spaceport Launch Towers antenna (plus a Snitch Scanner on Blue Gate and a Sentinel Firing Core on Buried City) |
Selling it gets you 1,000 coins. Recycling returns 1 ARC Alloy + 1 Mechanical Components, and salvaging returns 1 Mechanical Components. That's a terrible return on the hardest-to-catch machine in the game. Keep at least 10 in the stash until Medical Lab III and the Trophy Display stage are both done.
Medical Lab III is the one most players are actually chasing. It's the bench level that crafts Vita Spray and Vita Shot, the same two blueprints the Surveyor itself can drop. Mixed Signals also pays out well for one kill: a Photoelectric Cloak and a Raider Hatch Key, and Shani hands you 3 Jolt Mines and 2 Showstoppers up front for the job. If you're also working through the Trophy Display, our guide to the best ARC enemies to farm for loot covers the Pop Triggers and Tick Pods for the same stage.
How do you kill a Surveyor before it rolls away?
Most failed Surveyor kills go the same way. You spot the beam, run at it, it hears you, closes and rolls away while your shots bounce off the shell. Here's what works.
1. Open fire during the transmission. The core is only exposed while the beam is up. The wiki is clear that "it will abort the transmission and roll away at high speed the moment it detects a threat," so your first hit is the one that counts. Approach slowly, use cover and open from range.
2. Stun it so it can't run or close up. A stunned Surveyor can't escape or protect its core. Two stuns work best:
| Stun | ARC stun | Radius | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hornet Driver | 7s | 6m | Thrown, scavenged from Hornets. Pick the Damaged Hornet Driver back up after |
| Showstopper | 7s | 6m | Grenade, 3.5s fuse, or detonates on impact with a target |
Seven seconds is plenty of time to kill a 257 HP target if you've lined up the damage.
3. Dump burst damage into the core. The wiki recommends heavy explosives like the Heavy Fuze Grenade (80 damage, 7.5m radius, 3s fuse) on a stunned Surveyor. It also notes that Heavy Ammo strips its armor plating faster than most other ammo types, so a heavy-ammo weapon is the right pick for a dedicated hunt.
4. Don't chase it off a cliff. If it starts rolling, don't sprint after it. It's faster than you. Let it settle and restart the transmission, then come in from a different angle. And watch where you fight. A Surveyor that rolls off a ledge takes its loot down with it.
5. On Close Scrutiny, deal with the Vaporizers first. Under the condition, Vaporizers are guarding the Surveyors. Clear or pull them before you commit your stun, or you'll be fighting two machines with your grenades already spent.
Solo, a Showstopper plus a heavy-ammo weapon is enough. In a squad, one player stuns and everyone else shoots the core. That's the cleanest Surveyor kill there is.
Is hunting Surveyors worth it?
It depends what you need, so here's the quick decision:
| Your situation | Hunt Surveyors? | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Need Medical Lab III | Yes, you need 5 Vaults | Close Scrutiny on Buried City or Spaceport |
| On the Trophy Display stage 1 | Yes, another 5 Vaults | Same |
| Doing Mixed Signals or Wires Crossed | Yes, just 1 each | Riven Tides, any condition |
| Want the Vita Shot or Vita Spray blueprint | Only as a side bonus | Medical Containers drop them too |
| Farming one specific weapon blueprint | No | Not a listed Surveyor drop |
| Just want money | No | The Vault sells for only 1,000 |
The short version: Surveyors are a bench-upgrade and quest target, not a money farm. When Close Scrutiny shows up on Buried City or Spaceport, that's your raid. Otherwise, take Riven Tides and kill any Surveyor you pass on the way to something else.
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FAQ
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Where is the Surveyor in ARC Raiders? ARC Tracker maps 93 Surveyor spawn sites across The Blue Gate, Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport and Riven Tides, but no site is guaranteed in a given raid. Your best odds are the Close Scrutiny map condition on Buried City or Spaceport, or any Riven Tides raid. Pendola Pass and Stella Montis are poor for Surveyors.
Why does the Surveyor run away from me? It's unarmed and built to escape. It senses Raiders as they approach, aborts its transmission and rolls away faster than you can sprint. It only rams you if it's cornered. Stun it with a Hornet Driver or Showstopper so it can't escape.
Does the Surveyor drop blueprints? Yes. The wiki lists it as a source for the Vita Shot, Vita Spray and Tactical Mk. 3 (Defensive) blueprints. Players report other blueprint drops, but those aren't confirmed in the wiki's table.
What is the Surveyor Vault used for? You need 5 for the Medical Lab III upgrade and 5 for stage 1 of the Trophy Display project. The quests Mixed Signals and Wires Crossed each take 1. It sells for only 1,000, so keep it.
Is the Surveyor the same as the Snitch? No. The Snitch is the small recon drone. The Surveyor is a heavy-armored ground ball that transmits a beam into the sky and drops the Surveyor Vault.
What is the best weapon against the Surveyor? Anything that fires Heavy Ammo, which the wiki says strips its armor plating faster than most other ammo types. Pair it with a Showstopper or Hornet Driver stun and a Heavy Fuze Grenade on the exposed core.
