ARC Raiders: How to Complete the Avian Alarm Project – Fast Route

Avian Alarm looks bigger than it really is at the start, and that is exactly why players burn raids on it. The first stage feels like it should be a long objective chain somewhere deep in Riven Tides, but it is actually one quick interaction beside the coast. Then the project flips and becomes a materials marathon. Of all the current ARC Raiders player projects, this is the one that benefits most from a clean walkthrough because stage one teaches you the wrong rhythm for everything that follows.

If you want to complete the Avian Alarm project in Arc Raiders efficiently, do it in this order: clear stage 1 immediately in northwest Riven Tides at Seabed, keep looting instead of extracting right away, use the Dock Master Detector reward for beachcombing and Ship Model hunting, then run focused farming routes for Tick Pods, Moss, Comet Igniters, and the late-stage enemy drops. The big time-saver is knowing that stage 1 does not require extraction, so you can roll straight into stage 2 prep in the same raid.

Avian Alarm requirements at a glance

Avian Alarm is a five-stage limited-time player project currently scheduled to run until Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Only the first step is a map objective. Stages 2 through 5 are donation gates, so your real bottleneck is not winning a fight once, but banking the right loot without accidentally selling future materials from your stash.

• Stage 1: Initial Flock Intake – Go to Seabed in northwest Riven Tides and place a bird trap beside the correct buoy.
• Stage 2: Preliminary Signal Birds – 7 Tick Pods, 20 Canisters, 12 Moss, 5 Twilight Ship Models (green).
• Stage 3: Secondary Validation Birds – 3 Comet Igniters, 10 Fertilizer, 8 Rusted Tools, 5 Velocity Ship Models (blue).
• Stage 4: Heightened Alert Birds — 1 Vaporizer Regulator.
• Stage 5: Critical Warning Birds — 2 Turbine Compressors, 3 Red Coral Jewelry, 4 Roots, 1 Leviathan’s Crown Ship Model (legendary).

The reward that changes your routing is stage 1: it gives you the Dock Master Detector, which many players also refer to as the Dockmaster’s Detector. That tool feeds directly into beachcombing and Ship Model collection, so there is no reason to postpone the opening objective.

Stage 1: where to place the bird trap in Riven Tides

Load into Riven Tides and head for Seabed in the northwest part of the map. The trap location is marked by orange buoys with blue projections. When you reach the correct spot, interact with the prompt and place the bird trap. That completes the actual objective for stage 1.

The easy mistake here is over-pathing. Riven Tides is built with a lot of vertical routes, and that makes players climb inland when the target is really a shoreline interaction. Stay low, sweep the coastal edge around Seabed, and look for the buoy silhouette first instead of trying to navigate by elevation.

• Go northwest in Riven Tides.
• Reach the Seabed area.
• Look for orange buoys with blue protruding elements.
• Use the interact prompt to place the bird trap.
• Claim the stage once it updates in Projects → Avian Alarm.

Two details matter a lot here. First, you do not need to extract for this stage to count. Once the trap is placed, the progress is locked. Second, the reward includes 25 Raider Tokens and the Dock Master Detector, so the optimal play is to keep raiding after the interaction. If you extract immediately, you are giving up free chances at stage 2 and 3 materials in the same run.

Stage 2 and 3: build one farming loop instead of two separate grinds

This is the point where Avian Alarm stops being a quest and starts being a stash-management project. The best way through it is not to think, “What do I need right now?” Think, “What items from later stages should never leave my inventory once I find them?” Ship Models, Comet Igniters, Vaporizer Regulators, Turbine Compressors, and Red Coral Jewelry should all be treated as protected loot.

Stage 2: Tick Pods, Canisters, Moss, and Twilight Ship Models

Stage 2 asks for 7 Tick Pods, 20 Canisters, 12 Moss, and 5 green Twilight Ship Models. The highest-friction item here is usually the Ship Model, not the basic scrap. For Tick Pods, Hotel Azurro is the named point of interest most consistently recommended for volume. Some walkthroughs also point to the pier near Seabed as a good Tick route, so if Hotel Azurro is too hot in your lobbies, that coastal alternative is still viable.

For Moss, the reliable callout is Dried Riverbed. Canisters are common enough that you should gather them passively from industrial loot routes instead of forcing special runs just for that one material. The real optimization here is pairing normal scavenging with beachcombing so you can hunt Twilight Ship Models at the same time.

Once you have the Dock Master Detector, prioritize shoreline passes whenever you are on Riven Tides. If a raid is quiet, beachcomb first and fight second. That sounds backwards in a shooter-extraction game, but it fits this project perfectly because Ship Model progress is harder to replace than a missed weapons cache.

Stage 3: Comet Igniters, Fertilizer, Rusted Tools, and Velocity Ship Models

Stage 3 needs 3 Comet Igniters, 10 Fertilizer, 8 Rusted Tools, and 5 blue Velocity Ship Models. Again, the uncommon items are the real gate. The strongest verified tip here is to watch for electromagnetic storm conditions. Those maps increase Comet Igniter drop rates from crashed couriers, which makes storm raids worth prioritizing even if you normally avoid messy weather modifiers.

Fertilizer and Rusted Tools are much easier to collect passively while you clear scavenging routes, so do not tunnel on them. The same goes for Velocity Ship Models: keep using the detector and keep any blue Ship Model immediately. Several guides recommend splitting Ship Model farming across different maps rather than hard-spamming one route. The exact drop logic is not fully documented, so treat that as a practical routing tip, not a guaranteed hidden modifier, but it is sensible if your Riven Tides shoreline has gone cold.

If stash space becomes a problem, the rule is simple: common materials can be replaced; Ship Models usually cannot. Sell Canisters before you sell any model, even a green one you do not need yet.

Stage 4 and 5: the late-game bottlenecks

Stage 4: Vaporizer Regulator

The standout requirement for stage 4 is the Vaporizer Regulator. The important update here is that it is no longer limited to the older Close Scrutiny-style context; it can now appear on all maps after the update. That means you should not lock yourself into one event playlist hoping that the item is exclusive there.

When fighting the enemy tied to this drop, focus on destroying the black armor plating first. The soft internals are the real weak point, and going straight into center-mass damage before you crack those plates only drags the fight out and burns ammo. This is one of those ARC Raiders encounters where target knowledge matters more than raw DPS.

Stage 5: Turbine Compressors, Red Coral Jewelry, Roots, and Leviathan’s Crown

The final stage is where the project becomes genuinely expensive. You need 2 Turbine Compressors, which drop from the new Arc Turbine enemies, plus 3 Red Coral Jewelry, 4 Roots, and 1 legendary Leviathan’s Crown Ship Model. The compressor requirement means you need to be ready for a proper combat gate, not just a scavenging run with lucky loot.

The hardest part to plan around is the Leviathan’s Crown. It is consistently described as a rare legendary Ship Model, but verified drop-rate information is still thin. In practical terms, that means you should assume RNG is the boss here. Keep beachcombing active, rotate maps if one route stops paying out, and never pass up detector-driven shoreline loot just because you are chasing a combat objective somewhere else.

For stage 5, the smartest runs are hybrid runs: go in prepared to fight an Arc Turbine, but keep enough inventory discipline to extract with high-value trinkets if they appear. Dying after a good Ship Model drop to force one more enemy engagement is how late-stage progress disappears.

Mistakes that make Avian Alarm take twice as long

• Extracting right after stage 1. You do not need to. Finish the trap, then keep looting.
• Selling Ship Models early. Green and blue models become mandatory fast, and the legendary one is even worse to replace.
• Ignoring weather conditions. Storm maps are especially valuable for Comet Igniters from crashed couriers.
• Treating every stage like a separate project. Avian Alarm is much faster when you bank future items before that stage unlocks.
• Forcing only one map forever. If your beachcombing route dries up, rotate instead of assuming the game is bugged.
• Shooting armored targets incorrectly. For Vaporizer-related fights, break black plating first, then hit the exposed internals.