Dear raiders, if you've been roaming the surface world gathering resources, you've likely already encountered the most threatening ARC Raider, the Queen. Beneath the Queen's shell lies a high-stakes secret; solving the puzzle rewards you with some of the top loot in ARC Raiders, including rare legendary blueprints, powerful materials, and equipment—this is Harvester.
About Harvester
Harvester is a dynamic event in the game and a special type of ARC enemy, guarded by the Queen. Its primary function is to gather resources on Earth and transport them back to the mother-ship, wherever the mother-ship may be.
This is a highly valuable and repeatable activity where players can farm top-tier loot and prepare to craft powerful weapons like the Jupiter or Equalizer for a significant power boost. However, it is protected by the Queen boss and other ARC robot enemies, making it a challenging encounter.
Fortunately, if you focus on solving the puzzles, you can complete this event without even provoking the powerful Queen ARC. You can enter Harvester without her noticing. Simply find the entrance, pry open the door, and once inside, the exciting part begins.
Many people previously used Anvil or Rattler weapons to solo Harvester, but this was not only a waste of resources but also easily attracted attention. However, we stumbled upon a brilliant technique to destroy them silently and efficiently. Just about three swings are enough to destroy the pop-up orange panels and defeat Harvester without attracting any enemy attention.
Now let's show you this simple and easy way to deal with Harvester. Let's get started!
Entering Harvester
First, we need to bypass The Queen and enter Harvester. You'll see the main core in the center, which is Harvester's defense mechanism. Basically, it punishes anyone who tries to tamper with it through explosions.
Note that there are two types of explosions that trigger periodically.
The first is an electrical explosion. It will instantly deplete your shield but won't damage your health, so don't waste your Shield Recharger. This happens frequently, making charging pointless.
The second is the fire explosion. Unlike the electric explosion, it's extremely dangerous and can kill you if you're not careful. Once you see it start charging, accompanied by an orange glow, immediately escape through the top or bottom exit. If you're quick enough, it's recommended to escape from the bottom first so you can re-enter before the doors close again. However, if the doors are closed, you'll have to pry them open to get in.
Shutting Down The Core
Next, your main objective is simple: shut down the core. For this, you'll need three cylinders.
Usually, one is on the floor from the start, but you'll have to go up to the second floor to find the rest. You'll notice many sealed panels around the walls. Pry these panels open one by one to find the cylinders. There are about 12 panels in total, and the cylinders spawn randomly. Sometimes you'll find all the cylinders in a few tries with good luck, and sometimes it will take longer while avoiding explosions.
Once you find the two more cylinders, take them to Harvester core. You'll then see specific slots where you need to insert them. Pry open these slots, insert the cylinders, and observe what happens next.
Final Phase
Installing these cylinders will trigger the ultimate phase of the Harvester event.
Note that bright orange panels will pop up from the walls around you, whether you're on the second floor or the first floor. Once those orange panels pop up, they will remain popped up until the fire explosion is triggered; because once triggered, it will actually eject cylinders from the core.
The number of cylinders ejected depends on how many orange panels you destroyed before the explosion. For example, if you destroyed half the panels, you might only eject one cylinder; if you destroyed most of them, you might only eject one, or even none; but if you destroyed almost no panels, it will definitely eject all three cylinders, forcing you to start the entire process again.
So, simply put, the more panels you destroy, the fewer cylinders you lose during the fire explosion.
If you're teaming up to challenge Harvester, you can try to destroy all the panels at once, but this is nearly impossible for solo players. Don't rush; take your time. Insert cylinders first, then destroy the panels bit by bit during the intervals between explosions.
Once you've destroyed all the orange panels, Harvester will finally stop operating and open its loot chest.
Final Loot
Harvester will drop three ARC Raiders items in total, including two Jupiter blueprints and one Equalizer blueprint. Both weapons are specifically designed to destroy ARC enemies.
Jupiter is a charged sniper rifle that, when held down for a second or two, unleashes a powerful energy shockwave strong enough to tear apart some ARC structures. Equalizer, on the other hand, is an energy beam weapon that concentrates pure energy into a single beam. If you're focused enough, this beam can even destroy one of The Queen's legs.
In the long run, you'll definitely want these weapons, but they're not easy to craft. You'll need to upgrade your Gunsmith to level 3 first, and both weapons require the Queen Reactor, meaning you'll have to defeat The Queen first, unless you're lucky enough to find a pre-crafted weapon.
Even if you get all the loot, the escape is difficult because a Rocketeer is waiting for you outside, and you have very little time to run. But once you successfully escape, the sense of accomplishment is indescribable.
Additional Tips
Finally, I strongly recommend using melee weapons. You don't need to waste heavy ammo shooting those orange panels. Just use the crowbar; each panel will be taken down in two or three shots, and it's completely silent. This technique will completely change your gameplay experience; you can stay hidden and conserve resources. If you're playing solo, you can complete Harvester event up to ten times faster.
This is how you can easily complete Harvester solo without fighting The Queen. But always be vigilant and watch out for potential ambush players; don't fall into their traps!
