ARC Raiders Buried City Guide: Loot Zones & Extractions

This ARC Raiders Buried City guide breaks down the half-buried Italian downtown that has some of the most reliable loot routes in the game, and some of its nastiest PvP. Buried City rewards players who read its four regions correctly: the north is calm farming, the south is high-value and high-risk, and every extraction funnels through the Metro network. This guide covers the regions, the best loot POIs, where ARCs spawn, and how to extract without handing your kit to a camper at a metro entrance.

TL;DR: Buried City has four regions: Outskirts (quiet, industrial), West Village (safe residential, Grandioso Apartments loot), Old Town (good loot, heavy ARC, play rooftops), and New District (hottest, high-value, frequent PvP). Best POIs: Library, Grandioso Apartments, Hospital, Space Travel. Loot and PvP both lean south. All extractions use Metro Stations, so plan your exit before your route. Solo players should farm the northern half; squads contest the New District.

ARC Raiders Buried City: the four regions

Buried City is a once-thriving Italian city now half-swallowed by sand, a downtown of dense urban verticality, abundant cover, and dunes that bury whole streets. That layout splits cleanly into four regions, and reading them is the whole map.

Outskirts is the quiet edge: low-risk, mostly industrial loot, with two warehouses worth clearing. It is where a cautious run starts.

West Village is a safe residential loot zone. Its standout is Grandioso Apartments, which holds strong loot for relatively low risk, the best value-to-danger ratio on the map for a careful player.

Old Town has solid residential loot but heavier ARC pressure. This is where rooftop-oriented play matters: moving across roofs instead of through streets avoids both the ARC patrols and the players hunting them.

New District is the hottest area: stacked high-value buildings, frequent PvP, and multiple ARC spawns. It has the best loot on the map and the worst odds of leaving with it. Loot density and PvP pressure both lean toward the southern half, and the New District is the peak of both.

Key takeaways

• Four regions: Outskirts (low-risk), West Village (safe loot), Old Town (loot + ARC), New District (high-value + PvP).
• Best loot POIs: Library, Grandioso Apartments, Hospital, Space Travel. Old Town for cores.
• Loot and PvP both concentrate in the southern half.
• All extractions are Metro Stations via marked Metro Entrances. Plan your exit first.
• Solo: farm the northern half. Squads: contest the New District.
• Use verticality (ziplines, broken windows, dunes) to move undetected.

Best loot POIs

The POIs worth routing toward, in roughly descending value-to-safety order:

Grandioso Apartments (West Village) is the safest high-value stop. Strong residential loot, manageable risk, and a sensible first objective for almost any run. Watch the interiors, Pops and Fireballs spawn inside tall buildings here.

Library and Space Travel are premium loot POIs. They reward a run built around reaching them, but expect company.

Hospital carries good loot and is a known Rocketeer spawn (along with Piazza Arbusto), so clear the airspace before committing.

Old Town is the cores-focused option. If your run is about farming ARC cores rather than raw loot, Old Town's heavier ARC density is the feature, not the bug, just bring the rooftop discipline to survive it.

The pattern: the further south you push, the better the loot and the worse the odds. A disciplined run picks one or two southern POIs, grabs the loot, and routes immediately to a metro extraction rather than greeding a third.

GODEEPER: Buried City's loot is only worth it if you extract it. The extraction-first mindset is the same across every map. ARC Raiders Extractions Guide →

Where ARCs spawn

Knowing the ARC spawns lets you route around them or prepare for them.

• Rocketeers: Hospital and Piazza Arbusto. Aerial threats, so clear the sky before looting these.
• Bombardiers: Old Town, Marano Park, and the Parking Garage roof. Explosive units that punish grouping up.
• Bastion heavy units: Marano Park, Old Town, and the Research perimeter. Tanky, so avoid unless you have the firepower and the time.
• Pops and Fireballs: interior threats inside tall buildings. Grandioso Apartments is the textbook example: the loot is good, but the interiors bite.

The danger is stacking ARC pressure with PvP hot zones. The New District and Old Town carry both at once, which is why they are squad territory. Route so you are not fighting an ARC patrol and another team in the same window.

Buried City stacks ARC patrols and PvP in the southern regions. Read the spawns (Rocketeers at Hospital, Bombardiers in Old Town) and route around the worst overlaps.

Metro Station extractions

Every extraction on Buried City uses Metro Stations, reached through Metro Entrances marked on your map. This is the map's defining feature and its biggest trap.

Because all exits funnel through the metro network, the entrances are predictable chokepoints, and other players know exactly where they are. A run that grabs great loot and then wanders toward a metro entrance without a plan is a run that gets ambushed at the door.

The discipline: decide which Metro Station you intend to extract through before you commit to a loot route. Loot toward your planned exit, not away from it. When you are ready to leave, approach the entrance with the assumption that someone is watching it, use verticality and cover to scout it, and do not sprint into the open mouth of a station with a full pack.

All Buried City exits funnel through Metro Stations, so the entrances are predictable ambush points. Pick your extraction before your loot route and approach it expecting company.

Solo vs squad routing

Buried City plays as two different maps depending on your group size.

Solo: stay north. An Outskirts to West Village loop, grabbing Grandioso Apartments, and extracting through a northern Metro Station is one of the safer reliable farming routes in the game. You profit without entering the New District's meatgrinder.

Squad: the New District is yours to contest. The high-value buildings reward a team that can hold a building, clear the ARCs, and fight off other squads for the extraction. With three players splitting overwatch, add-clearing, and looting, the southern half's reward justifies its risk.

The mistake is a solo player treating Buried City like a squad map, pushing the New District alone, and feeding their kit to the first team that finds them. Match your route to your numbers.

GODEEPER: Your loadout should match the map. Buried City's mixed close-and-mid urban ranges reward different weapons than the open Spaceport. ARC Raiders Best Solo Loadouts →

Tips for running Buried City

A few habits separate a profitable Buried City run from a wasted one.

Decide your risk tier before you drop. Buried City can be a calm northern farm or a southern bloodbath, and the worst runs are the ones where a player goes in undecided, half-commits to the New District, and dies with a half-full pack. Pick "north farm" or "south contest" before the match and route accordingly.

Read the time-to-extract, not just the loot. Because every exit funnels through a Metro Station, the clock that matters is how long it takes to reach your planned station from wherever you are. A high-value building you cannot extract from before the lobby thins out is a trap, not a prize. Loot toward your exit, not away from it.

Use the dunes as cover, not just scenery. The sand that buries the city creates elevated ridges and blind approaches that let you flank the obvious street routes everyone watches. Players who only move at street level in the New District get picked off from the dunes by players who learned the high ground.

Bank cores in the Outskirts on the way out. If your run is going well, a quick sweep of the low-risk Outskirts warehouses on the route to a northern Metro Station tops up your pack with safe industrial loot before you extract, turning a good run into a great one without adding real risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the regions of Buried City? Outskirts (quiet, industrial), West Village (safe residential), Old Town (loot + heavy ARC), and the New District (high-value, high PvP). The south is richer and more dangerous.

Where is the best loot? Library, Grandioso Apartments, Hospital, and Space Travel, with Old Town for cores. Grandioso is the safest high-value stop.

How do extractions work? All exits are Metro Stations via marked Metro Entrances. Plan your extraction before your loot route, because the entrances are predictable ambush points.

Where do ARCs spawn? Rocketeers at Hospital/Piazza Arbusto, Bombardiers in Old Town/Marano Park/Parking Garage roof, Bastions in Marano Park/Old Town/Research, Pops and Fireballs inside tall buildings.

Is it good for solo players? Yes, in the northern half. Farm Outskirts and West Village; leave the New District to squads.

How do you move undetected? Use verticality: ziplines, broken windows, and elevated dunes let you avoid the street-level routes everyone watches.

Related Reading

The ARC Raiders Maps Guide overviews every map and how Buried City compares for loot and risk.

The ARC Raiders Extractions Guide covers the extraction-first mindset that Buried City's Metro Stations demand.

The ARC Raiders Best Solo Loadouts helps you pick gear suited to Buried City's mixed urban ranges.

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References

• ARC Raiders on Steam: official store page, updates, and patch notes
• Embark Studios: the developer behind ARC Raiders