The locked room loot buff is one of those patch changes that looked small at first, but in actual raids it feels much bigger. After testing the same key rooms before and after the update, the biggest difference is not just sell value. The rooms now feel more useful. We are seeing better weapon pulls, stronger general loot, and more reasons to run purple keys even in daytime raids. For a lot of players, that is the real shift.

• What Changed After the Patch
• What We Tested
• Pre-patch vs post-patch snapshot
• Why Purple Keys Feel Worth Using Now
• What we are seeing more often
• Stella Montis Archives: Best Early Room to Test
• Surge Coil and Blueprint Findings
• Quick loot highlights
• Best Way to Use Keys Right Now
• If you need Coins
• If you need to rebuild gear
• If you want the highest ceiling
• Quick strategy table
• Are Locked Rooms Good for PvE Players Now?
• FAQ
• Are purple keys worth using now in ARC Raiders?
• Did the patch improve real loot, or just sell value?
• Can locked rooms drop Surge Coil?
• Is Stella Montis Archives worth farming now?
• Are blueprints common now?
• Final Thoughts

↖ What Changed After the Patch

The patch note said locked rooms now have higher loot value, with scaling based on key rarity.

On paper, that sounds like a simple economy buff. In practice, it seems to have improved:

• overall room value
• item variety
• usable loot quality
• blueprint frequency

That last part matters. Before the patch, many locked rooms were decent for trinkets but not always worth the risk if you wanted practical gear.

↖ What We Tested

We focused on Stella Montis Archives, because it is one of the easiest purple rooms to compare over multiple runs.

↖ Pre-patch vs post-patch snapshot

From our own runs, the old daytime Archives room often landed around 40k–50k in total value. Post-patch, purple key runs are more commonly landing around 60k–80k ARC Coins in daytime, and more of that value comes from loot we actually want to keep.

That is the important part: the room feels better, not just richer.

↖ Why Purple Keys Feel Worth Using Now

This is where the patch helps most.

Before the update, many players held purple keys for night raids only, because daytime rooms often felt underwhelming. That logic made sense. If you were risking a rare key, you wanted the highest possible ceiling.

Now, daytime purple runs feel good enough on their own.

↖ What we are seeing more often

If you are low on gear, this matters more than raw sell value. A locked room that gives us actual usable weapons is much more valuable than one that only pads the stash with vendor items.

↖ Stella Montis Archives: Best Early Room to Test

If you want a simple place to check the buff for yourself, start with Stella Montis Archives.

Why this room stands out:

• solid loot density
• good mix of containers
• strong post-patch item variety
• good daytime value

We also found that one of the larger containers in the room can produce a much wider spread of loot than before, including weapons, trinkets, and utility items. That is one of the clearest signs that the loot table has been improved in a meaningful way.

↖ Surge Coil and Blueprint Findings

One of the more interesting results is that we found Surge Coil inside locked room loot.

That does not mean every new item or every new blueprint is suddenly easy to farm there, but it does show that these rooms now have broader value than they used to.

↖ Quick loot highlights

In a small post-patch sample, blueprint drops felt clearly better. Not guaranteed, of course, because RNG still matters, but the average key run feels much less disappointing.

↖ Best Way to Use Keys Right Now

The answer depends on what you need.

↖ If you need Coins

Day raid purple key runs are now a very reasonable option.

↖ If you need to rebuild gear

Purple rooms feel much better than before because more of the loot is usable.

↖ If you want the highest ceiling

Night raids may still end up being better, but day raids are no longer a waste.

↖ Quick strategy table

This is probably the best part of the patch: it gives keys more flexibility.

We no longer have to treat every purple key like it only belongs in a high-pressure raid.

↖ Are Locked Rooms Good for PvE Players Now?

Yes, much more than before.

If you are not chasing constant PvP and just want to restock weapons, make money, or progress steadily, locked rooms are finally starting to feel like a proper farming tool.

That is especially helpful for players who:

• lost a lot of gear recently
• prefer safer loot routes
• need expedition money
• want more reliable stash recovery

Before, purple rooms could feel like a gamble.

Now, they feel closer to an actual plan.

↖ FAQ

↖ Are purple keys worth using now in ARC Raiders?

Yes. After the loot buff, purple keys feel much more rewarding, especially in daytime raids where they used to be harder to justify.

↖ Did the patch improve real loot, or just sell value?

From our testing, it improved both. The biggest win is that the rooms now give more usable loot, not just more vendor value.

↖ Can locked rooms drop Surge Coil?

Yes. We found Surge Coil in locked room loot, which is one of the more interesting post-patch changes.

↖ Is Stella Montis Archives worth farming now?

Yes. It is one of the best rooms to test first because the value increase is noticeable and the loot mix feels much stronger than before.

↖ Are blueprints common now?

Not guaranteed, but they do feel more frequent than before. RNG still exists, just with a better average outcome.

↖ Final Thoughts

The locked room buff quietly made purple keys much more relevant. That is the simplest way to put it. We are pulling better value, finding more practical gear, and getting enough from daytime runs that using rare keys no longer feels like a waste unless you only play night raids.

If you have been stockpiling purple keys and waiting for the right moment, this is a good time to start using them. Start with Stella Montis Archives, track a few runs, and you will probably notice the difference pretty quickly.