Rise of the Tomb Raider - Soviet Installation Strongboxes
Updated: 5/28/17(†)
This guide, along with the annotated level maps linked below, should help find any strongboxes you missed. If you are playing this level for the first time, you may want to follow the main walkthrough instead. Note that the specific items found inside some strongboxes will vary depending on the order in which you find them, so I have not listed the boxes' contents here.
Weapons/Weapon Parts, Equipment, and Outfits are covered elsewhere. Other collectibles are covered on separate pages:
Relics · Documents · Murals · Coin Caches · Survival Caches · Archivist Maps · Explorer Satchels · Codices · Crypt Treasures · Challenges · Missions
STRONGBOX 1
There's a large building with a statue of Lenin out front about halfway between the Installation Vista Base Camp and the train yard. Enter this building, climb the stairs to the upper level, then exit onto the walkway running along the front of the building. The strongbox is in the far corner. Check the walkthrough and level map for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 2
This box is inside the abandoned sawmill just up the hill from the Logging Camp Base Camp. It's on the north side on the upper level. Climb the yellow ladder to reach it. See the map and walkthrough if necessary. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 3
The next strongbox is inside the shack on the far side of the frozen stream that runs along the north side of the main area. There's a rusty, cylindrical water tank and a wooden guard tower nearby, all surrounded by a chain link fence. The Sheltered Ridge Base Camp is just to the east. See the walkthrough and map for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 4
This strongbox is right next to the Logging Camp Base Camp, but you can't open it until you obtain the LOCKPICK, which is the reward for completing the Communications Breakdown Mission. See the walkthrough for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 5
This strongbox is in the basement of the building with the JAIL CELLS. Follow the instructions in the walkthrough for getting back to this area from the Gulag Base Camp. This screenshot is from the initial playthrough. When you revisit, the slide projector that was here is gone, but Ana's cigarette is still smoldering in the ashtray. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 6
After returning from the Gulag you'll have unlocked ROPE ARROWS. Use one to open this panel on the back of the cabin near the Logging Camp Base Camp. The strongbox is sitting in the space below the cabin's floor. Check the map and walkthrough for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 7
This strongbox is in a cave (C7 on the map) on the north side of the main area, next to the shack where you found strongbox #3, above. You'll need explosives, such as a shrapnel grenade, red gas can, or regular grenade, to destroy the metal impact barrier blocking the cave entrance in order to get inside. The walkthrough includes details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 8
This strongbox is in one of the caves on the east side of the main area. It's the one marked C9 on the map, just north of the gate leading into the Copper Mill. So if you're backtracking for it, the Copper Mill Yard Base Camp is closest. Again, you'll need rope arrows to pull down the barrier, so you can only get it after returning from the Gulag. See the map and walkthrough. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 9
This strongbox is in the Copper Mill near the entrance to the Red Mine Challenge Tomb. If you missed it, fast travel to the Copper Mill Yard Base Camp and climb up to the room where you first learned to craft molotov cocktails. Climb over the wall and drop down into the area behind the bars to reach the strongbox. See the walkthrough for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 10
This strongbox is in a tricky location. From the Copper Mill Yard Base Camp climb up through the buildings to the room with the mural and relic #16. Pull down the rope-wrapped barrier, slide down the chute, and jump onto the ledge in the room below. The box is on the left near one of the posters for the Difference of Opinion Challenge. See the walkthrough and map for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 11
As you climb up from the Copper Mill Yard Base Camp through the buildings, you'll find this locked strongbox sitting on an outside ledge near a rope-wrapped post. This is after the first rope-swinging area and just before you slide down the rope line from the northwest to the southeast. See the walkthrough and map for details. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 12
This strongbox is also in the Copper Mill, in the small, dark room just after the second rope-swinging section. If you're returning to this area later, you'll need to fast travel to the Copper Mill Yard Base Camp and then climb all the way back up through the buildings. Check the walkthrough if you need a refresher. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 13
This box is sitting next to the Copper Mill Bridge Base Camp, which you will not be able to access until after completing the Flooded Archives level later in the game. See the map and walkthrough for info. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
STRONGBOX 14
The final strongbox is on the ledge above the Communications Tower Base Camp on the way to the Research Base. You won't be able to reach it until you unlock CLIMBING ARROWS by opening strongbox #13. The Copper Mill Bridge walkthrough includes both of these boxes. (Click screenshot to enlarge.)
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†UPDATE HISTORY: 4/24/16 - Page first posted online.
5/28/17 - Changed the order for a few of the strongboxes, thanks to a tip from Jeff Reid.
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