I rounded a broken seawall with my thumb on the camera button and realized the quest timer wasn’t the only thing ticking. You can feel the map tilt here — sand sliding, pipes exposed, a hotel beach pretending it’s dry. I ran the route until the steps felt like muscle memory, and now I’ll walk you through each move so you don’t miss the rewards.
I’m writing as someone who has chased this quest across Riven Tides more times than I want to admit. You’ll get clear, fast directions, the precise locations where the prompts appear, and a couple of survival tips so you don’t waste a match. Follow the flow and you’ll finish Battening Down in one tidy loop.
The seawall wears white salt stains after every tide. ARC Raiders Battening Down quest walkthrough
The Battening Down quest breaks into three compact tasks, all on Riven Tides: photograph cracks in the seawall, repair a leaking oil pipe to the northeast, and sample a patch of shoreline near the hotel beach. You pick the quest up from Apollo; accept it and use the same drop to run all three without backtracking.
How do I photograph the cracks forming in the seawall?
Start at the Wavebreaker POI. Walk east-southeast along the shoreline until you see a sunken container half-buried in sand — it’s obvious once you know the silhouette. Stand close, aim the camera at the cracked seawall behind the container, and tap the photo prompt. That single snap finishes the first task.
Where is the leaking oil pipe in Riven Tides?
From the container spot, head right along the beach toward the map’s northeast quadrant. You’ll hit a shallow patch where partially exposed pipes peek out of the sand. Stand beside the revealed joints and trigger the repair prompt — it’s a simple interact, not a mini-game.
If an enemy patrol pins you down, treat the repair like a short ritual: clear a little space, crouch into the prompt, finish, and move. I learned that rushing from the container to the pipe saved me two minutes per run — that margin adds up when you farm the quest for rewards.
How do you sample the shoreline near the hotel beach?
Head west to the Hotel Complex, then to the northern beach area. The objective is north of the hotel, sitting oddly on dry sand: a tuft of seaweed with a scan prompt. Yes, there’s no water — that quirk is part of the map’s storytelling.
Stand near the seaweed, activate the scan, and the quest closes out. You’ll get the Battening Down completion and whatever rewards are active for the daily cycle. If you’re farming, loop back to Apollo’s drop and run the three points again.
Quick tips from someone who ran this route on Steam and console
Playstyle matters: if you play aggressively, clear enemies before committing to interactive prompts. If you prefer stealth, slip to each spot and use suppressive cover. I run this loop on PC via Steam and have it down to under six minutes when the spawns cooperate.
Use your HUD: the quest markers are reliable — they point you to the container, the pipes, and the shoreline. Treat the map like a checklist and move with purpose. Think of the run as a clockwork routine, like a small factory where each press of a button completes the next part of the machine.
If you want faster tracking, capture a replay clip on your platform (Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox) the first time and study the angles. A short clip saves you time on future runs because memory is better with an image than with directions alone.
Final question: after reading this, will you sprint the sandy route for the rewards or let the seawall keep its secrets?