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ARC Raiders* ***quests will send you all over the Rust Belt collecting odds and ends, but Tian Wen’s requests tend to send you to the Buried City. After completing the “Industrial Espionage” quest, you’ll return to the Buried City for “Unexpected Initiative,” in which you’ll be scouring the rooftops for fertilizer and a water pump. This walkthrough shows exactly where you’ll need to look for both items.

Every objective in “Unexpected Initiative” must be completed in a single round, and successful extraction is required. The final requirement of the quest involves returning the found items to Tian Wen in Speranza, so if you’re knocked out during your raid, you’ll have to start over. Consider bringing a Raider Hatch Key so you can slip out of the Buried City without attracting unwanted attention at a metro station.

Unexpected Initiative: Fertilizer Location

Gradioso Apartments Roof

It does not matter which order you acquire the fertilizer and water pump in, but the fertilizer is listed first in the “Unexpected Initiative” objectives. The directions point you toward the Grandioso Apartments, which are on the west side of the Buried City. You need to get to the roof by climbing the stairs; alternatively, you can zipline up to the top floor and take one last flight of stairs to the roof.

Scattered around the roof are pots for plants – you’ll find the fertilizer inside these pots. The map screenshot above shows exactly where I found the fertilizer, but running the quest a second time showed me that the fertilizer can spawn in different pots. The interact button to collect the fertilizer will be yellow (like all quest objectives that can be interacted with), instead of the usual white for searching.

Unexpected Initiative: Water Pump Location

Piazza Roma Roof

Finding the water pump can be a little trickier, since Piazza Roma encompasses a handful of individual buildings. Piazza Roma is northeast of Grandioso Apartments, on the northwest side of Buried City. The building you’re looking for is one of two apartment towers southwest of the Piazza Roma label on the map – the two buildings are connected by scrap-metal bridges. There is a zipline already set up that runs between the two buildings, and while riding it from another Piazza Roma rooftop, you can jump off onto the upper floors, then climb the rest of the way to the roof. Alternatively, you can simply zipline or climb the stairs from the lower floors.

I found the water pump in the western corner of the northern building’s roof. The map above has a blue ping on the exact spot it was located. You will have to interact with some hydroponic equipment, where the button prompt is once again yellow. Just like the fertilizer, the water pump may be acquirable from multiple spots, but I found the water pump in this location twice.

Once you have both the fertilizer and water pump in hand, you can extract from the Buried City and return to Speranza. See Tian Wen for your reward. ARC enemies will patrol near both rooftops, so you want to keep an eye out for Snitches especially. I didn’t have much issue completing “Unexpected Initiative” solo in ARC Raiders, but if you’re worried about dying, consider going in with a free or budget loadout.

Systems

Released October 30, 2025

ESRB Teen / Violence, Blood

Developer(s) Embark Studios

Publisher(s) Embark Studios

Engine Unreal Engine 5