The wind tore the sky into white noise and I froze behind a rusted shipping crate, pulse loud in my ears. Two teammates sprinted past, shouting that something glinted in the storm—then the gust swallowed it. By the time we circled back, a battered chest sat half-buried in thorns, like a stubborn secret refusing to stay hidden.
I’ve been hunting First Wave Raider Caches since the Shrouded Sky update landed in ARC Raiders, and you should treat them like surgical strikes: small window, big reward. You’re going into a Hurricane map condition where the map itself becomes an accomplice—wind reveals caches, darkness hides them, and luck writes the final line.
A wet footprint on cracked concrete. How to get First Wave Raider Caches in ARC Raiders
The footprints and broken branches are the real clues—the map remembers the storm. First Wave Raider Caches are special containers exposed by the Hurricane map event; they are not the same as Uncovered Caches and they usually hold more items than the standard Raider Caches.
Here’s what I’ve learned from dozens of raids and the Discord and Reddit threads that followed:
- Spawn rule: They don’t sit in fixed locations. Every raid scrambles their spawn points, so memorizing a single spot won’t save you.
- Maps where players report finds most often: Dam Battlegrounds and Blue Gate, with occasional reports from Spaceport and Buried City.
- Visuals to watch for: wind-blown debris, curtains of shredded tarp, and caches tucked low in bushes or behind rubble—easy to miss in the dark.
- Teamplay tip: split briefly and sweep likely choke points rather than all charging one lane; quick pings beat slow looting.
How do I find First Wave Raider Caches?
You hunt them when the Hurricane condition is live. Use sound—footsteps and debris move differently in the storm—and scan low foliage first. If you want a repeatable routine, sweep the edges of large open areas where wind funnels debris into predictable pockets.
Where do First Wave Raider Caches spawn?
They appear across maps but not in fixed map coordinates. Treat the locations marked on community screenshots as “hot zones,” not guarantees. I’ve marked possible spots on the images below; they represent where I and other players have repeatedly found caches during storms.
If you’re on Dam Battlegrounds, sweep low, behind collapsed barriers and near flood-control structures—those are the likely pockets where wind piles scrap and reveals caches.
On Blue Gate, check near service yards and where scaffolding creates wind tunnels. Small bushes and shadowed corners are where a cache will hide from cursory sweeps.
A teammate smiled like he’d found a secret. Are First Wave Raider Caches worth it in ARC Raiders
After one raid I walked away with a rare blueprint and an explosive schematic; a teammate joked it paid for our next five runs. The reward pool includes weapon and explosive blueprints and items that matter when you’re trying to push higher difficulties.
Practical value: some rare blueprints are traded or valued informally at roughly $20 (€19) apiece on secondary marketplaces or among players, so a single find can change the economics of a few runs. Treat that as a ballpark—your mileage will vary.
Risk vs. reward: storms make movement dangerous, but caches can swing a run in your favor. If your team prioritizes quick sweeps, you’ll often extract more value than teams that fight for every scrap.
Are the caches fixed or random each raid?
Random. The only repeatable element is that wind-exposed zones are more likely. Train yourself to scan those zones quickly.
I rely on a mix of game sense and community signals—Discord threads, Steam guides, and a few Moyens I/O posts that have mapped probable locations. Use those signals as a compass, not a map.
Two final rules I use every raid: move fast, and keep your head low. The storm conceals and reveals in equal measure, and sometimes a cache looks like nothing at all—like a stray can until you open it. Will you brave the gusts for the chance at one more rare blueprint?