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FM Boxes in Arc Raiders are the mid-tier, no-key crates that roll crafting materials, mod parts and consumables rather than weapons — and the fastest way to find them is to sweep container-dense interiors in a fixed order instead of wandering between buildings. There is no permanent list of FM Box locations, because crate slots are randomised per raid; what stays useful from patch to patch is the type of area that holds them and the order you clear it in.
Accuracy note: container types, spawn sets and even the shorthand players use for individual crates shift between patches and between regions of the community. This guide deliberately sticks to container classes, area types and a repeatable route rather than publishing coordinates that go stale after a hotfix — check the in-game map and the current patch notes to confirm the live container mix on your build.
📋 Table of Contents
What counts as an FM Box, and what doesn’t
Treat “FM Box” as shorthand for a class of container rather than one specific object. The class behaves consistently: it sits on the ground or a shelf, it doesn’t need a key or a lockpick, and its loot pool leans towards fabrication and upgrade materials rather than guns. If you’re routing a materials run, that distinction is the whole game — a route built around weapon crates earns nothing if what you actually need is materials.
| Container class | Access | Loot pool lean | Where it clusters | Priority on a materials run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FM box (mid-tier crate) | No key | Crafting materials, mod parts, consumables | Warehouses, service corridors, back rooms | Highest |
| Weapon crate | No key | Guns, attachments, ammo | Armouries, checkpoints, rooftops | Low unless you need the attachment |
| Medical container | No key | Healing, stims, medical crafting parts | Clinics, bathrooms, first-aid rooms | Medium |
| Safe / strongbox | Key or lockpick | High-value valuables and rare parts | Offices, vaults, locked rooms | Bonus only — never the plan |
| Bulk / industrial container | No key | Heavy common materials | Loading bays, yards, storage yards | Medium — weight-to-value is poor |
How to find FM Boxes: a six-step sweep
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- Pick the map by interior room count, not by size. Crates are placed in slots attached to rooms, so a dense map of small interiors yields more FM Boxes per minute than a large open one. On the launch map set that favours the urban and industrial layouts — Dam Battlegrounds, Blue Gate, Buried City and The Spaceport — and later additions follow the same rule. Count rooms, not square kilometres.
- Insert at the edge of a cluster, not the middle of it. Entering from one side and leaving from the other means you never double back through rooms you’ve already cleared, and you never walk into a squad coming the other way through the same doorway.
- Sweep vertically before you sweep wide. Crates stack: ground floor, mezzanine, roof access. A three-floor storage block holds roughly three times the slots of a single hall with the same footprint, and the upper floors are usually quieter because most players stop at ground level.
- Check the same three positions in every room. Slots cluster against walls, in corners behind shelving or counters, and in a back room or office off the main space. Running that as a fixed loop stops you missing the one crate behind the door you opened first.
- Ignore locked doors unless the key is already in your inventory. A key you had to buy or hunt for eats the margin on the run. Treat locked rooms as a bonus you take if it’s free, never as the reason you came.
- Set your extract timer before you start looting. The value of a full bag is only realised on extraction, and staying for “one more room” is the most common way a good FM Box run turns into a loss.
Where FM Boxes cluster, by area type
The specific buildings differ from map to map, but the density pattern is stable. Rank candidate areas before you commit to one:
| Area type | Container density | Risk | Why it behaves that way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warehouses and loading bays | High | Medium | Shelving and stacked pallets create several slots per room |
| Underground tunnels and parking levels | Very high | High | Densest interiors on any map, few exits, most player traffic |
| Terminal, office and hotel interiors | Medium–high | Medium | Many small rooms, each carrying its own slot |
| Residential blocks | Medium | Low–medium | Slower to clear, but far less contested |
| Open yards, rooftops and roads | Low | High | One or two slots at most, with full exposure while you take them |
Map furniture changes, the pattern doesn’t. The Dam’s industrial blocks, Buried City’s street-level and underground interiors, the Spaceport’s terminal and cargo areas and Blue Gate’s residential buildings all reduce to the rows above. A useful habit: screenshot your own route after a clean run and annotate the rooms that actually paid out — a personal route map beats a generic one, because it’s calibrated to the way you move.
The fastest farming route — and the maths behind it
Build the route around a time budget rather than a wish list. Assume an average container costs about 12 seconds of raid time once you include opening it (roughly 4 s), taking the loot you actually want (roughly 5 s) and repositioning to the next one (roughly 3 s).
That gives a worked ceiling: a 10-minute looting window is 600 seconds, and 600 ÷ 12 ≈ 50 containers in theory. In practice, transit between clusters eats roughly 40% of that time, and you lose more to fights, doors, stairs and hesitation — so a realistic ceiling is 25–30 containers per raid. A route that reliably delivers 25 beats a route that might deliver 50.
| Leg | Time budget | Containers to clear | Decision point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insert to first cluster | 0:00–1:30 | 0 | Hear a fight inside the cluster? Divert to your second cluster immediately |
| Cluster A — warehouse or loading bay | 1:30–4:30 | 8–10 | Leave at 4:30 or when the bag is 60% full, whichever comes first |
| Transit | 4:30–5:30 | 0–2 | Pick up anything on the direct line; don’t detour |
| Cluster B — underground or service level | 5:30–8:30 | 8–10 | Highest risk leg. Leave early if you hear footsteps above |
| Extraction approach | 8:30–10:00 | 0 | Stop looting here. Arrive at the extract with time to reposition |
Two clusters per raid is the sweet spot. Three means you’re spending more time walking than opening, and the third cluster is usually where the run dies.
Five mistakes that cost you the run
- Memorising crate positions instead of area types. Slots rotate; area density doesn’t. Learn the pattern and you’ll find crates on a map you’ve never played.
- Double-backing through cleared rooms. It doubles your exposure for zero loot. Plan an entry side and an exit side.
- Fighting for a crate you can walk away from. An FM Box is worth a few seconds of detour, not a firefight with a squad that has better angles.
- Filling the bag with bulk. Heavy common materials crowd out the parts you actually came for and slow every subsequent movement.
- Looting past your timer. A full bag in a dead raider’s inventory is worth nothing. The route ends at extraction, not at the last crate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an FM Box in Arc Raiders?
It’s community shorthand for a mid-tier, no-key container whose loot pool leans towards crafting materials, mod parts and consumables. Different patches and different player groups label crates differently, so the reliable way to identify one is by its loot pool and access requirement rather than by the name on the label. If it opens without a key and gives you materials, it’s the class this guide is about.
Do FM Boxes have fixed spawn locations?
No. Container slots are randomised per raid, so a room that held three crates last raid may hold one this time. What is fixed is the placement logic — slots attach to rooms, stack vertically and favour storage and service spaces — which is why a route built around area types survives patches and a route built around coordinates does not.
Which map has the most FM Boxes?
Density tracks interior room count, so the urban and industrial maps with deep interior layouts come out ahead of the open ones. Underground service levels and parking areas are consistently the single densest area type on any map, but they’re also the most contested, so a quieter residential or terminal route often returns more per hour once you account for deaths.
Do I need a key to open FM Boxes?
No — that’s the defining feature of the class. Locked safes and strongboxes sit in the same rooms and often look more tempting, but unless the key is already in your inventory they cost you margin you’ll spend the rest of the run trying to recover. Clear the no-key crates first and treat locked rooms as a bonus.
How many FM Boxes can I loot in one raid?
With roughly 12 seconds per container and a 10-minute looting window, the theoretical ceiling is around 50, but transit, fights and stairs cut that to a realistic 25–30. Plan two dense clusters rather than three scattered ones, and measure your own runs — the 12-second figure is an assumption you should replace with your real average after a few raids.
Are FM Boxes worth contesting?
Usually not directly. A single crate rarely justifies a fight, but a cluster sometimes does, because whoever holds the building controls eight or ten slots in a row. The practical rule is to contest buildings, not crates: if you can take the entrance cheaply, the crates inside are yours; if you can’t, rotate to your second cluster and bank the run.
