As you progress through ARC Raiders and begin exploring the sprawling districts of Stella Montis, you’ll receive a steady flow of quests from the residents of Speranza. One of these is Snap and Salvage, a multi-step mission that becomes available from Tian Wen at the gun shop after you finish the Cold Storage quest. Tian has growing concerns about unusual technology appearing across Stella Montis, and he asks you to identify, document, and recover several key components scattered through the zone.

While the quest involves a mix of exploration, photography, and scavenging, it becomes much easier once you know exactly where each required item can spawn. This guide breaks down every stage of Snap and Salvage, explains how to reach each location, and shares the most reliable areas for farming the harder-to-find components.

Snap and Salvage Quest Overview

After speaking with Tian and accepting the mission, you’ll head straight back into the wastes of Stella Montis—either solo or with a squad. Snap and Salvage includes three main objectives:

Photograph a Rover in the Sandbox

Retrieve documents from the Security Checkpoint in the Lobby

Loot a Flow Controller and a Magnetron from random containers around Stella Montis

The first two tasks take place in fixed locations, but the final step requires some targeted looting and a little patience.

Step 1: Photograph a Rover in the Sandbox

Your first task is documenting a Rover, a ground-based drone scattered through parts of Stella Montis. The Rover required for the quest spawns in the Sandbox, a region located on the top floor of the map’s western side.

Getting to the Sandbox

You can reach the Sandbox through several routes:

Travel upward from the Lobby Metro pathways

Approach it from the Loading Bay and follow the elevated platforms

Navigate directly through nearby corridors and broken walkways

Even though the Sandbox is technically on the top floor, expect some vertical navigation—ramps, ruined platforms, and stairs that drop before rising again.

What to Expect in the Area

The Sandbox is classified as a Medium Loot Rarity region. This makes it a high-activity zone for:

ARC drones

Shredders

Opportunistic raiders looking for good loot

When you enter the southern section of the Sandbox, watch for patrolling enemies before approaching the Rover.

Taking the Photo

A Rover looks like a compact mechanical drone with multiple wheels along the sides. As you get close, you’ll see golden interaction points appear around it.

Interact with these points to take the necessary photo and complete the first objective. Once the snapshot is recorded, you’re ready to move on to the Lobby.

Step 2: Retrieve the Security Checkpoint Papers

Your next goal is inside the Lobby, one of the major points of interest in Stella Montis. Like the Sandbox, the Lobby is on the top floor, though the Security Checkpoint is located deeper inside the structure.

Finding the Checkpoint

Enter the Lobby

Make your way down to the bottom floor on the northwest side

Look for a small enclosed checkpoint room with scanners and desks

Once inside, search the central desk area. The Security Checkpoint Papers are easy to spot thanks to a gold interactable marker hovering above them. Collect the documents to finish the second step of Snap and Salvage.

Step 3: Find a Flow Controller and a Magnetron

This final stage is the most time-consuming part of the quest because neither of these items is tied to a guaranteed spawn. Unlike the Rover or the papers, both ARC Raiders Items appear as random loot—primarily from Exodus-related containers.

Where to Search for the Flow Controller

Although these components can technically appear anywhere, some zones offer better odds:

Business Center

Lower levels of the Lobby

Assembly

These areas frequently spawn Exodus loot, which includes the Flow Controller. The item has Rare rarity, so while not extremely uncommon, it may take a few raids before you see it drop.

Players often report finding it in:

Small metal crates

Exodus-marked containers

Random boxes are scattered through hallways and storage rooms

One particularly reliable region is the Assembly, where many players—including those I’ve tested the route with—found the Flow Controller in ordinary loot caches.

Where to Search for the Magnetron

The Magnetron functions similarly: it’s not restricted to a single location and appears from random loot sources. Despite commonly dropping in Exodus zones, it can show up nearly anywhere.

A few good hunting spots include:

Medical Research Wing (bottom floor)

Business Center

Assembly

Lower Lobby

During testing, a Magnetron was found inside a basic container in the Medical Research Wing, demonstrating that these items aren’t locked to specific POIs.

Important Warning

Do not sell, dismantle, recycle, or stash these ARCR Items before turning in the quest.

Both components must be in your inventory when you return to Tian Wen. Losing them means resetting your progress, forcing you to re-loot the items from scratch.

Completing the Quest

Once you’ve photographed the Rover, collected the checkpoint documents, and secured both the Flow Controller and Magnetron, return to Tian Wen in Speranza. Turning everything in completes Snap and Salvage and opens the door to more of Tian’s quests as you continue uncovering the mysteries of Stella Montis.