ARC Raiders Pendola Pass Observatory Key: where to get it and where to use it

Pendola Pass has a few locked rooms, and the Observatory one and the Old Town one are the two I’d spend a key on. The Observatory Key is an Epic item that doesn’t stack, so one key gets you one raid. It’s used up when the door opens, which means you should have the whole run planned around that room before you touch it.

How to get the Pendola Pass Observatory Key

The reliable way is a quest. Belly of the Beast comes from Shani once you’ve cleared Sizing Things Up for Celeste and Tracks of the Beast, and it sends you into the Fallen Emperor. It needs an Emperor Gateway Conduit to get in, though a squadmate carrying one can let you through on theirs. The Conduit is a craft from a blueprint plus three couplers, and it opens the same door the amplified weapons chain needs for the Emperor Modulator.

Inside you work through the rooms, shoot the yellow buttons to bring the elevator, search five vault containers and grab the Legendary item the quest wants. Get out alive, hand it to Shani and the pay-out is a Snap Hook, the Observatory Key, three Shield Rechargers and three Sterilized Bandages.

If the Emperor isn’t on your list yet, the key also turns up in containers. Search the housing on Pendola Pass first, which means Old Town, close to the Fallen Emperor, and the Researcher Lodgings in the north. It’s a random drop, so count it as a bonus on a raid you were doing anyway and don’t plan a farm around it. Containers on other maps can give one up as well.

Where to use the Observatory Key

Head for the Cielo Sereno Observatory, the large complex in the upper right of the Pendola Pass map. The locked door is inside the main building at the far west end of its long corridor. The arrow on the map below is the spot.

1. Come in low. Get into the main building at ground level by way of the outside catwalks.
2. Turn west. In the main hall, go left.
3. Pass the server room. It’s the one lined with red equipment cabinets, so you can’t miss it.
4. Follow the corridor to the end. The door is at the far end. Stay on the left side the whole way, because the floor falls away on the other side and you land a level down.
5. Use the key. Open the door and go in.

Observatory Key room loot

There are seven or more drawers in the room, a Weapon Case and a Medical Bag, plus surface loot such as grenades lying on the consoles. Some of those grenades are Wolfpack, so look at what’s on top of the desks before you leave.

The Black Boxes sitting on the floor are the real reason to come. They hold the Pendola Pass materials the Outpost upgrades ask for, and I’d open those before anything else. The drawers are decent filler for the rest of the visit.

Outside the room the Observatory is worth a sweep too. It has a lot of Weapon Cases and Wasp Husks, and it’s the place for the Exodus handbooks if you’re after books for Research Points.

Tips for the Observatory loot room

Put a door blocker down the moment you’re inside, otherwise anyone who walks past can follow you in. Night Raid is the map condition I’d queue for, since the loot is better.

Small ARC roam the complex and there are turrets in places, with one spot for a large ground ARC. The Northern Transceiver is the nearest way out, about 260 metres from the Observatory.

That’s the whole room. Spend the key on a Night Raid, block the door and open the Black Boxes first.