The Dam Surveillance Key is a single-use key in ARC Raiders used on the Dam Battlegrounds map.
It unlocks a locked surveillance room inside the Water Treatment Control building.
Before anything else:
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Always put the key in your Safe Pocket
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The locked door has red indicator lights
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Close the door after entering if you don’t want to get pushed
Once used, the key is consumed permanently.
How to Get the Dam Surveillance Key
The Dam Surveillance Key is a rare drop.
You can obtain it through normal gameplay by looting:
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residential and interior areas
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searchable furniture and containers
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backpacks
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other players
The Dam Surveillance Key is also awarded by Celeste during one of her early quests. We’ve put together a full walkthrough covering objectives, routing, and safe extraction — including how to use the key inside Water Treatment Control — in our Greasing Her Palms guide.
Keys drop more frequently in amber / orange-bordered areas on the map. These zones contain a higher density of searchable interiors and personal storage, which is where keys naturally enter circulation. Residential blocks, administration buildings, and apartment interiors inside amber zones are the most reliable environments for finding keys over time.
Keys in ARC Raiders cannot be deliberately farmed. There is no loop or route that guarantees this key — it enters circulation through general looting, PvP, and quest rewards.
Night Raids
Night Raids guarantee better loot.
Locked rooms opened during Night Raids consistently roll higher-value loot compared to daytime runs, which makes Night the correct time to spend single-use keys like this one.
If you are opening the Dam Surveillance room during the day, you are permanently losing potential value.
Don’t want to wait on RNG?
At LevelUpper, we offer ARC Raiders key delivery, as well as a full ARC Raiders boosting service covering keys, blueprints, and other progression blockers.
Keys are delivered in-raid through normal gameplay and extraction — no cheats, fully safe.
Where the Dam Surveillance Key Is Used
The Dam Surveillance Key is used on Dam Battlegrounds, inside the Water Treatment Control building.
Location details
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Head to the Water Treatment Control area
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The most direct approach is from the west side of the building
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Enter via the exterior stairs
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Take the door on the right just inside
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The locked Surveillance Room is immediately inside this section
The location is easy to reach but often contested by ARC units and players.
What It Unlocks
Opening the Dam Surveillance room gives access to a small interior loot room.
Based on in-game usage, the room can contain:
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weapons (including epic-tier drops)
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syringes and consumables
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gun parts and advanced components
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general valuables and resources
There is no guaranteed loot type, the room can roll high-value items, but results are inconsistent and not guaranteed — even during Night Raids.
The key is consumed as soon as the door is opened.
Final Thoughts & Ranking
The Dam Surveillance Key is a low-to-mid value utility key.
The room is quick to access, relatively low commitment, and occasionally spikes into high value.
Best use cases:
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Night Raid runs
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Already passing through Water Treatment Control
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Early-to-mid progression when weapon upgrades matter
Tier Placement
In our ARC Raiders key ranking, the Dam Surveillance Key is placed in Tier C. Tier C keys provide situational value and occasional upside, but lack the room size, container density, or consistency required to justify planning a run around them. The Surveillance room fits this tier due to its small size, limited container count, and highly RNG-dependent payouts.
If you want to see how this key compares to others across all maps, check out our ARC Raiders Keys Ranked from Worst to Best tier list. Each key there links to a dedicated breakdown with exact locations and loot expectations.
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FAQ
It can drop multiple times across different raids, but each copy is single-use. Side note: using single-use keys during daytime runs permanently sacrifices value. Night Raids are the correct window.
If another player uses the key first, the room will be empty. This is why timing and route planning matter.
Loot is RNG-based. The room has a higher-value container mix, but results vary. Night Raids significantly improve average outcomes. It’s best treated as a route-compatible bonus key, not a primary objective.