Buried City JKV employee access card: where to use it in ARC Raiders
The JKV employee access card is a small but useful keycard in ARC Raiders that opens one specific door inside the Space Travel building on the Buried City map. Unlike most keys, it does not name the point of interest for you, so players often pick it up during a raid and only realize what it unlocks when they next visit the right building. Knowing where to use the buried city JKV employee access card before you arrive saves a wasted run, because Space Travel is one of the busiest loot hotspots in the map and most squads rotate through it during every match.
This guide focuses on the practical side of the item: how to recognize the Space Travel building, how to reach the locked fourth-floor door, what the room contains when you breach it, and which decisions matter when other players are nearby. The information is built from the in-game behavior described in the official ARC Raiders wiki entry for the JKV Employee Access Card and the surrounding map design of Buried City, so you can plan a clean route rather than wander the streets looking for a marker that does not exist.
What the JKV employee access card actually is
The JKV employee access card is a single-use key item tied to a specific map and a specific point of interest. It belongs to the J Kozma Ventures company, which has a building on Buried City. Because it is a keycard, not a code or a generic unlock, it has three behaviors worth understanding before you start hunting for it.
- It is location-bound: it only opens one door in the game, so there is no need to check multiple POIs to see where it works.
- It does not provide a waypoint: unlike quest items that highlight a building, the card sits in your inventory with no hint about the Space Travel building until you arrive and interact with the door.
- It is consumed on use: once the door is unlocked, the card leaves your inventory, so you only get one chance per run to convert it into loot.
Treating it as a planned objective rather than a curiosity makes a real difference. The official ARC Raiders wiki entry for the JKV Employee Access Card on IGN describes the item as one that unlocks a locked door inside the J Kozma Ventures company building, and confirms the door sits on the fourth floor of the Space Travel building on Buried City. That single sentence already tells you both the destination and the floor, which is enough to plan a path before you drop in.
Where to find the Space Travel building on Buried City
Space Travel is one of the larger indoor POIs on Buried City, and the wiki guidance places the locked fourth-floor door inside it. Because the building is visible from most approaches and is usually active, you do not need a hidden path. You do, however, need to recognize it quickly and decide which entrance to use.
How to recognize the building from the street
Space Travel is a multi-story commercial structure with signage, large windows on the lower floors, and external access options. Two visual cues help you identify it from a distance:
- Multiple marked floors inside, with a stairwell in the corner that the wiki specifically calls out as the main way up.
- An external zipline running along the exterior wall, designed for fast ascension, which is the fastest way to reach the upper floors without using the stairs.
The combination of the corner stairwell and the exterior zipline is what makes the building dangerous. Other players use the same zipline to drop on top of squads that are already looting, so arriving from an unexpected side or timing your entry with footsteps heard from above is often the difference between a clean unlock and a firefight on the fourth floor.
Recommended approach angles
Buried City streets are wide, with several alleyways and side streets feeding into the Space Travel plaza. Three approach patterns work for most squads, depending on how aggressive you want to be:
- Long approach: circle the block, listen for gunfire, and enter from a side street so you are not funneled straight into the main door.
- Roof approach: use nearby rooftops to reach the upper floors, then drop down the stairwell from above. This skips ground-level fights but exposes you to long sightlines.
- Direct approach: take the main door if your squad has the firepower to hold the entrance while the rest of the team unlocks the door.
The approach itself is not tied to the keycard, but the right angle determines whether you reach the door with enough time to use it. Buried City is a contested map, and Space Travel is one of the named POIs that both solo players and squads prioritize for mechanical and electrical components.
How to reach the locked door on the fourth floor
The locked door sits on the fourth floor of the Space Travel building, in a hallway near the northwestern stairwell. The IGN guide describes the stairwell as being in the corner of the building, with the floors clearly marked so you will not get lost, and an exterior zipline for rapid ascension. There is no puzzle, no code entry, and no secondary item required. Once you have the card, reaching the door is a routing problem, not a mechanics problem.
Step-by-step route inside the building
- Enter Space Travel through any ground-level door and check the floor markers. The stairwell is in the corner, and floors are labeled, so you can move from 1 to 4 without guessing.
- Take the stairwell up to the fourth floor. If you hear footsteps above, slow down at the landing and use sound cues rather than peeking corners.
- Turn toward the northwestern end of the fourth-floor hallway. The locked door sits there, recognizable as the only door in that stretch that does not open normally.
- Interact with the door while the JKV employee access card is in your active inventory slot. The interaction consumes the card, and the door opens for that raid.
- Move inside and start breaching containers, because most of the loot in the room is locked behind breakable boxes rather than sitting on the floor.
The exterior zipline is the alternative path. It is faster, but it puts you on the upper floors in the open, so it tends to work best when the building is quiet or when your squad is the first team to reach the rooftop.
What to do if the door is already open or missing
If another squad reached the room first, the door will be open and most of the containers will already be breached. In that case, the JKV employee access card still has no use here, and you should pivot to any mechanical or electrical components the previous team left behind. The card itself does not stack and does not refresh during a raid, so there is no benefit to holding it for a later match from the same session if the room is already cleared.
What is inside the locked room
The room behind the JKV door is a small loot cache, not a full sub-area. According to the wiki description, you can find a mix of mechanical and electrical components, but most of them sit inside containers that must be breached before you can pick them up. The room also has a chance to contain a weapon case and a raider cache, both of which are valuable drops that other squads will fight over.
Loot table and expectations
The wiki does not give exact drop rates for weapon cases or raider caches, so it is safer to treat them as possible rather than guaranteed. The reliable payoff is the mechanical and electrical components, which are the items you can plan your loadout around.
| Loot type | How it appears | Reliability | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical components | Inside breachable containers in the locked room | Consistent | Used for weapon and gear crafting at the workbench |
| Electrical components | Inside breachable containers in the locked room | Consistent | Used for electronic modifications and certain upgrades |
| Weapon case | Random spawn somewhere in the room | Uncertain, described as a lucky find | High-tier weapon or attachment |
| Raider cache | Random spawn somewhere in the room | Uncertain, described as a lucky find | Valuable salvage that can be turned into crafting materials or currency |
The practical takeaway is that even without a weapon case or raider cache, the room still pays for the trip because the mechanical and electrical components inside are exactly the kind of mid-tier crafting materials that ARC Raiders players burn through during a session.
How long you should spend looting the room
Because the room is small and the containers must be breached one at a time, the looting phase has a fixed cost. Plan for about 30 to 60 seconds of breaching if you are alone, and 15 to 25 seconds if your squad is splitting the work. The breaching sound is loud, and the fourth-floor hallway acts as a funnel, so spending longer than that without an exit plan invites a third party.
Threats and timing around the Space Travel building
Space Travel is busy for a reason. The building is a known mechanical and electrical components farm, and the fourth-floor room is a known bonus that requires a keycard. The wiki entry for the JKV Employee Access Card specifically warns that Space Travel is a busy POI on Buried City and tells you to watch your back while looting, which is as close to an official caution as the item description gets.
- Third parties: squads that hear breaching sounds often rotate to investigate, so clear the corners before you start opening containers.
- Vertical threats: players using the exterior zipline can reach the upper floors quickly and flank you from the stairwell.
- Exit congestion: the same corner stairwell that brings you up is the main exit, so leaving the room with full bags means you may meet another team on the way down.
- Timer pressure: if the raid clock is close to the extract window, decide whether breaching every container is worth the risk of missing the extraction point.
Two squad-level habits reduce most of this risk. First, post a lookout in the hallway while the rest of the team loots, because the door to the locked room blocks line of sight and you cannot see who is approaching. Second, decide your exit before the last container opens, so you are not making routing choices while another team is already on the stairwell.
How the JKV card fits into a Buried City route
The card is best treated as a planned stop on a wider route, not as the only reason to spawn into Buried City. Because Space Travel is a contested POI, most players will already pass near it during a normal run for the mechanical and electrical components in the rest of the building. Holding the card for a future match is rarely useful, since the room is one of the smaller loot sources on the map, so it makes sense to use it the first time you are heading that direction.
Sample route using the JKV card
- Spawn into Buried City and check whether the JKV employee access card is in your inventory or in a nearby container you can grab quickly.
- Approach Space Travel from a side street, listening for gunfire on the upper floors before you commit to entering.
- Take the corner stairwell or the exterior zipline to the fourth floor, and post a lookout at the top of the stairs.
- Open the locked door in the northwestern hallway with the card, then split breach duties between the squad.
- Extract through your planned exit before the raid clock gets tight, treating the weapon case and raider cache as bonuses rather than expectations.
This is not a required sequence, but it shows how the card slots into a normal play loop rather than a special mission. The wider benefit is mechanical and electrical components, and the card simply converts a normal stop into a slightly better one.
Common mistakes when using the JKV employee access card
Most of the frustration with the card comes from misreading what it does, rather than from any bug or hidden mechanic. The wiki entry is short, but it clears up most of the confusion if you read it before you start looking for the door.
| Mistake | What happens | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the card as a quest marker | You wander Buried City looking for a waypoint that does not exist | Head directly to Space Travel, since the card has no on-screen hint |
| Holding the card for a future raid | You keep an inventory slot tied up for a one-time door | Use the card the first time you visit Space Travel, because there is no benefit to saving it |
| Looping the wrong floor | You check floors one through three and miss the fourth-floor hallway | Follow the marked floors to the top, then look for the northwestern stairwell |
| Spending too long breaching containers | You attract a third party and lose the room to another squad | Set a breaching timer and assign a lookout before opening the first container |
| Forgetting the card is consumed | You try to reopen the door after a reset and find the card is gone | Treat the unlock as a one-shot reward per card, and plan to refind the card on a future run if needed |
These mistakes are not unique to the JKV card. They apply to most single-use keycards on Buried City, and the same caution about exits and third parties carries over to any contested POI in ARC Raiders.
What to do if the card is not in your inventory
The JKV employee access card is not guaranteed to spawn in every match, and the wiki does not list a fixed drop location. Because of that, the safest assumption is that the card is a rare find rather than a baseline item, and that you should only plan a Space Travel detour when you actually have it.
- Check bodies, containers, and POI loot stashes early in the raid, since the card can appear anywhere on Buried City.
- If you do not find it, run your normal Buried City route and ignore the fourth-floor room, because the rest of Space Travel still has mechanical and electrical components in the open areas of the building.
- Do not assume the card will appear on the next run. Treat it as a bonus rather than a guaranteed part of the loot table.
The lack of a fixed drop location is also why the card does not come with a waypoint. The game leaves the decision to you: either head to Space Travel because you are already nearby, or skip the POI and use your raid time elsewhere.
How the JKV card compares to other Buried City keycards
Buried City is full of small keycards and access items that open specific rooms. The JKV card sits in a middle tier: it is more specific than a generic access code, but less lucrative than a high-tier room that always contains a rare weapon. Comparing it to a few other common items on the map makes the trade-off clearer.
| Item | Map | Unlocks | Effort to reach | Typical payoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JKV employee access card | Buried City | Locked fourth-floor room in Space Travel | Medium, contested POI | Mechanical and electrical components, possible weapon case or raider cache |
| Generic access codes | Buried City | Various low-tier doors | Low, scattered across the map | Common crafting materials |
| High-tier keycards | Buried City | Rare rooms with named loot | High, often requires a specific route | Named weapons or rare mods |
| Quest items | Buried City | Single-use progress steps | Variable, depends on the quest | Quest rewards rather than raw loot |
The JKV card sits between the routine codes and the rare drops. It is worth using when you have it, but it should not change your overall route plan, because the underlying Space Travel building is valuable even without the card.
Safety checklist for the fourth-floor room
Before you interact with the door, run through a short safety checklist. None of these steps require extra tools, and they take less than a minute, but they meaningfully reduce the chance of losing the room to another squad.
- Listen for footsteps on the stairwell or on the rooftop before you approach the locked door.
- Check the hallway in both directions, since the northwestern corner is a common ambush spot.
- Decide which squad member opens the door and which one holds the hallway.
- Plan the exit path down the stairwell before the first container is breached.
- Keep an eye on the raid clock, because the room is not worth missing an extract for.
These checks are not unique to the JKV card, but they are the kind of small habits that turn a contested POI into a reliable source of mechanical and electrical components.
Frequently asked questions
Where do you use the JKV employee access card in ARC Raiders?
You use the JKV employee access card on the locked door on the fourth floor of the Space Travel building on the Buried City map. The door is in a hallway near the northwestern stairwell, which the wiki describes as being in the corner of the building with floors clearly marked.
Does the buried city JKV employee access card give a waypoint?
No. The card does not highlight a building or a floor on your map. You have to know that the Space Travel building is the correct POI, then climb to the fourth floor and look for the locked door in the northwestern hallway.
Is the JKV employee access card consumed when used?
Yes. Interacting with the locked fourth-floor door consumes the card, so you only get one unlock per card. If you want to open the room again, you need to find another JKV employee access card on a future run.
What loot is inside the locked fourth-floor room?
The room contains mechanical and electrical components inside breachable containers, with a chance for a weapon case and a raider cache. The wiki describes the weapon case and raider cache as lucky finds rather than guaranteed drops.
Can the locked room be opened without the card?
No. The room is sealed by a locked door that only opens with the JKV employee access card. There is no alternate entry, no code override, and no breachable wall described in the official guide for the item.
Is Space Travel a safe POI to loot?
Space Travel is a busy POI on Buried City, and the wiki specifically warns to watch your back while looting. Plan for third parties, use the stairwell or the exterior zipline carefully, and post a lookout in the hallway before you start breaching containers.
Do I need the JKV card to farm mechanical components at Space Travel?
No. The rest of the Space Travel building contains mechanical and electrical components that can be looted without the card. The fourth-floor room is a bonus, not a requirement for a productive run at the POI.
Can the JKV card be found inside the Space Travel building?
The wiki does not list a fixed drop location for the JKV employee access card, so it can appear anywhere on Buried City. Treat it as a rare find rather than a guaranteed spawn inside Space Travel itself.
Should I save the card for a later raid?
There is no benefit to holding the card. It does not stack, it does not refresh, and it only opens one door. Using it the first time you are already heading to Space Travel is the most efficient choice.
Where can I read the official description of the JKV employee access card?
The official ARC Raiders wiki entry for the item is the JKV Employee Access Card page on IGN, which describes the door, the floor, and the loot you can expect inside. It is the most reliable source for the exact behavior of the keycard.
