Locked rooms like the Dam Control Center in Dam Battlegrounds may potentially contain extremely valuable loot in ARC Raiders, but where's there's loot, there's danger. Rooms like these don't often see much foot traffic, but if you do happen to run into other players near them, you're very likely to get shot. Luckily, the locked room in the Control Tower is fairly easy to reach, and if you have the right key for it in ARC Raiders, you can take all the valuables inside it for yourself.

arc-raiders-unlock-raiders-refuge-cellar-button-locations-blue-gate
How to Unlock Raider's Refuge Cellar in ARC Raiders (Blue Gate)

Here's the location of all the buttons to unlock the secret cellar in the Raider's Refuge area of Blue Gate in ARC Raiders.

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Where to Get Dam Control Tower Key in ARC Raiders

Make sure to check out our full interactive map for ARC Raiders - Dam Battlegrounds right here.

If you want to get inside the dam's control room, you'll need to search the Research & Administration building, which is right next to the Control Tower. The desk drawers on the second floor have a random chance of containing a key to some locked room somewhere, and that includes rooms found in other maps, like the Confiscation Room in Blue Gate.

Research & Administration is a high value area, so you're very likely to run into at least a few players there. If you don't want to risk a fight, or if you spawned somewhere by the northwestern side of Dam Battlegrounds, we recommend searching the Ruby Residence, Pale Apartments, and Ben Welder's Sunroof POIs. We've had decent luck getting keys from these locations, but since there's a player spawnpoint near here, you likely won't have anything left to loot if you spawned somewhere else.

You can also get one of these keys as a reward from Shani's The Trifecta quest.

Where to Use Dam Control Center Key in ARC Raiders

This key is used to open the control room at the top of the Control Tower POI. You can reach it by going up a long elevator shaft at the northeast side of the POI's map border, and you can access it via the following ways:

  • Approach the Control Tower from the Red Lakes Balcony exit point. You'll find a door at the base of the tower that leads to the control room.
  • Face the main entrance of Research & Administration, but don't go inside. Instead, go to the right and follow the long corridor to the end. Open the door there to reach the elevator shaft.
  • If you started from the north or northeast, you can reach the base of the Control Tower by going through the lake bed. Follow the floodgates until you reach an open sewer grate.

There may be a machine gun turret guarding the upper half of the elevator shaft. If you see some lights/lasers glowing above you, take it out first, or use a smoke grenade to cover your advance. Otherwise, you're bound to get hurt. Once the turret is gone, use the ziplines to reach the top of the shaft.

If you started from the bottom, you'll arrive at the Dam Control Center after you take the second zipline up. Use your key to open the room, then take home as much loot as you can. The more Safe Pockets you have, the better.

Once you've grabbed your loot, you can head back to the Red Lakes Balcony elevator and extract from there. If you want to avoid other players, there's a Raider Hatch just north of the Red Lakes elevator.

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ARC Raiders
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10 /10
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Released
October 30, 2025
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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ESRB
Teen / Violence, Blood
Developer(s)
Embark Studios
Publisher(s)
Embark Studios
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Cross-Platform Play
Yes - all platforms
Cross Save
Yes - via Embark ID
Number of Players
Single-player
Steam Deck Compatibility
Unknown
PC Release Date
October 30, 2025
Xbox Series X|S Release Date
October 30, 2025
PS5 Release Date
October 30, 2025
Genre(s)
Extraction, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter, Survival
OpenCritic Rating
Mighty