Arc Raiders Deforester location and guide

The quest A Prime Specimen quest in Arc Raiders is about finding a Deforester Husk, a wrecked robot that you then need to activate with Arc powercells and solve the puzzle therein. However, that's a puzzle that can burn you to death if you're not careful, and even then, you'll need to make it to the Deforester before any other players in the game can get there, as they can only be triggered once and it's first come, first served. If you're still confused, I'll explain how to solve the Deforester in Arc Raiders and complete the Prime Specimen quest.

How to complete A Prime Specimen in Arc Raiders and find a Deforester

To complete the quest A Prime Specimen, you need to do the following:

1. Find two Arc Powercells
2. Find a Deforester husk on the Blue Gate map
3. Use the Powercells to activate the Deforester husk
4. Survive the fire traps within the husk until you can reach the loot within

The challenge here is that Arc Raiders doesn't do a great job explaining to players what Deforesters are and how you're supposed to activate these massive pieces of machinery once you get there. Activating these husks has actually been a feature for a while, but this is the first time that it's been featured within a quest, added as part of the Arc Raiders Escalation update. To explain it in more detail, we'll cover all the steps below.

Deforester locations

At time of writing there are two known locations for Deforester husks in the Blue Gate map, marked on the map above. Deforesters are huge, cylindrical wrecks found there, actually visible when you zoom in on the maps themselves, and they should be hollow when you approach.

Specifically, what you're looking for is a sparking, electrical panel on the inside of that cylinder, an image of which is shown just above. That's the interaction point that begins the process.

How to activate Deforesters

To activate the Deforester Husks you'll need two Arc Powercells, either by bringing them into the expedition with you or finding them on Arc robots in-game, both work. Then, once you get to the husk, interact with the sparking electrical panel to begin the process.

WARNING: If no option comes up to do this, that means another player has beaten you to it. Each Deforester can only be looted once per match, so if you're not the first one to it, you won't be able to interact with it at all.

Once triggered, the inside of the Deforester will begin to intermittently shoot fire. You need to run past it when the fires stop to reach a second panel at the back of the cylinder, where you put a second Arc Powercell. This triggers a new pattern of flames, which you'll need to dodge back out past, then leave and climb onto the new platform that's on the upper half of the cylinder. Dodge past the flames once more, and you can interact with the final loot point of the Deforester, getting all the Arc components inside. Doing so will also shut down the flames, allowing you to leave safely.

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