Arc Raiders is here. After years of waiting, the game that started out as a co-op shooter against robotic enemies has turned into a PvPvE extraction shooter with a unique, incredibly atmospheric setting, industry-leading sound design, and head-turning visuals.
It’s not a stretch to say that this is one of the most polished and accessible extraction shooters on the market – essentially the first triple-A one of those we’ve seen. Everyone who jumped into any of its multiple playtests, including the record-shattering server slam, will tell you that it’s a special game.
But extraction shooters are inherently punishing, so let us help ease those early days for you.
Always bring two different healing items
In Arc Raiders, all players have their normal HP – the white bar, as well as a Shield above that. Shield capacity is dictated by the rarity and type of Shield you have equipped. While there is some cross-over, most healing items only affect one of the two.
This is why it’s always a good idea to have one item that can top up your base HP, and another to recharge Shields. Shields can always be brought back to full charge even after they’re broken, it just depends on whether or not you have enough juice to actually get them there.
The different types of Bandages are designed to heal you (at various speeds/amounts), while Shield Rechargers, well, recharge Shields. Some of the items you can find after killing Arc machines (such as Arc Powercells) can also be used to top up your Shields. The rule is: if it can go into your Quick Use slot, it can be used in the field.
Raider Augments are everything
Augments dictate so much of what you can carry and take into a raid in Arc Raiders. Augments come in different types, and have different rarities. They control the number of slots in your inventory, how many Safe Pockets you get, your overall carrying capacity (weight limit), Quick Use slots – and the big one, the type of Shield you can use.
Because of this, it is crucial to equip the correct Augment before you start a raid. Take a moment to absorb what each of the Augments you have will offer, and don’t waste the big ones on a simple item run, for example.
It’s also worth noting that, unlike other extraction shooters, you cannot change your Augment in the raid. While you can find and loot Augments over the course of the run, you won’t be able to make use of them until you return to Speranza.
And no, you can’t stick Augments into other Augments to save space like you can with Backpacks in Tarkov.
Always pick up all available Quests before setting off
Before you enter a raid in Arc Raiders, it’s always a good idea to check if any of the Traders have Quests for you and claim them. This is especially true early on, as Quests will unlock one after the other. Never leave on a raid without picking up as many quests as you can.
Many of the early Quests count for everyone in the party – so long as they don’t require bringing back certain items. If the Quest is about damaging certain Arc enemies, visiting certain locales and things like that, anyone in the party can do it and it’s going to count for everyone.
You can track your Quests from within the game, and even ping them for your teammates so they know what you’re currently working on. If the Quest requires bringing back items, it’s best to put them in your Safe Pocket – if you have any – so that you don’t lose them if you die in the raid. Quest items have a diamond mark on the top of their item tile, so you can’t miss it.
It’s also worth noting that some of the items Quests require are simple Components that you can get after Salvaging (dismantling) what you have, so check before you set off whether you can Salvage anything you already have to finish this or that Quest and unlock the next one.
Beyond the rewards you get for completing them, Quests are also excellent in growing your reputation with each Trader, which expands their inventory and unlocks access to higher-rarity and higher-tier items you can outright buy, or exchange for some of the items you may have found in raids – like Seeds.
You can re-connect to raids-in-progress
This is a simple tip you can keep for when you need it. Arc Raiders has a solid solution to the problem of disconnecting from matches. If that happens to you, for whatever reason, you can log back in again and regain control of your character – so long as the match remains ongoing.
The game is usually pretty smart about it, too, because your character will stop moving when you lose connection, so it’s not going to constantly walk until it hits a wall or anything. Obviously, this is a great feature, but don’t be surprised to re-connect and see that someone has killed you when they found you AFK. It happens to the best of us.
Don’t be afraid to take the Free Loadout
Even when you have top gear, incredible awareness and never pick a fight you don’t think you can win, things sometimes go terribly wrong in extraction shooters. Arc Raiders is no different, and the longer you play it, the more you should – hopefully – feel less attached to your gear, however difficult that often is.
In situations where you’re short on top-shelf equipment and weapons, or when you just can’t bring yourself to take a fully-stacked loadout into a match and potentially die and lose it all ten minutes later, the Free Loadout option is the way.
Free Loadout is a no-frills, zero-risk way to play Arc Raiders. You don’t know what you’re going to get, and even then, what you do get is usually of lower quality. But it won’t matter if/when you lose it all in the raid. Free Loadouts don’t cost anything, and there’s currently no limit on the number of times you can pick that option each day.
Free Loadouts do not come with Safe Pockets, however, meaning you’re going to have to extract if you want whatever you found in the raid to end up in your Stash. Even if you don’t pick up anything of value and immediately extract, the Augment you jump in with can be traded for much more useful items at Traders in Speranza.
Free Loadouts are best used when you’re tackling certain quests, or when you want a zero-risk way to explore the world. Whatever you end up with when you spawn is meant to be thrown away and upgraded from as quickly as you can – unless you want to remain at a disadvantage for that raid.
A lot of items degrade and need to be repaired
Arc Raiders doesn’t do a great job of telling you about this, but your weapons, Shields and a lot of the functional items you bring into a raid lose some of their durability the more they’re used. If you hover over your weapon, for instance, you’ll see that its health is at 90% or thereabouts after one full raid.
The same goes for Shields, especially if you had to top them up multiple times during the raid. The repair process is straightforward: you simply click “Repair” and it’ll bring the item back to full durability. Unfortunately, you may not always have the necessary components to do so.
At that point, you can choose to take the same weapon back into the next raid, or move it to your Stash and use a different one. You’ll generally have multiple versions of the same weapon, so that shouldn’t be a problem. You can always go back and repair whichever item needs it the most when you do get the necessary Components.
Always check up on Scrappy
Scrappy is your mule rooster. It goes out to find Components you might need while you’re out on raids, and brings them back to you. After offloading your inventory following a successful extract, the first thing you should do is claim everything Scrappy has for you.
Down the line, you will be able to upgrade the quality of the items the cute chicken can find, so keep that in mind. Scrappy’s hauls can be even more useful if you tend to die a lot in raids, as the little fella doesn’t care if you extract safely or not – it always has something to offer you.
Shoot the rotors
Arc enemies are unavoidable, but not all of them are scary. Setting aside the noise you’ll be making if you decide to engage any of them, there are actually ways you can end that fight much faster than you might realise.
All the flying Arc Units have rotors, which is how they can fly. If you shoot them, the flyers will initially lose balance, tumble and be forced to reposition. Each rotor hit takes the unit out of action for a time, but you can always – with a coordinated squad – fire at all rotors simultaneously and instantly down the thing.
The weaker units, such as the Wasp and Snitch, don’t have armour on any of their rotors, while stronger ones like the Hornet keep the unarmoured rotors to the back, so keep that in mind before you engage them.
Usually, taking out two of a vehicle’s rotors is enough for it to fall towards the ground and explode. These various off-balance states are easy to spot in their animations, so you’ll know when to stop shooting and conserve ammo.
The Rocketeer is best avoided altogether, but if you decide to take it on, you’ll see that the same rotor rules apply to it as well, though with the obvious caveat that its rotors have a lot more armour that you’ll have to chew through before you can damage them.
The item UI hides a wealth of information
If you can take away a single tip from this guide, make it this one. Arc Raiders has a very informative UI that exposes a lot of information. When you hover over an item tile, take a moment to read what it says.
The item description panel will tell you what kind of item it is, its rarity, what it’s used for, where it can be found, how many of it can be stacked, and its weight. All of these keypoints have icons alongside them so you can quickly get an idea of what it’s trying to tell you.
Often, when you wonder about something, the UI will already have an answer for you – you just need to find it.
Keep an eye out for items with a diamond icon
If you’re looking to make a bit of quick cash in Arc Raiders, keep an eye out for items with the diamond icon on their tiles. These are valuables that can fetch a decent chunk of cash, so long as you can bring them back safely. Make a habit of sticking them in your Safe Pocket, assuming you don’t have something you need for a Quest that’s already there.
That said, these items also factor into certain Quests themselves, and can sometimes be broken down into exotic Components. Early on, you’ll need to sell them to make a bit of money, but their true value will be revealed when you start unlocking late-game Quests. Some of those valuables also factor into upgrading your Crafting Benches (Workshop Stations), and Scrappy, too!
The more Extracts there are, the safer your extract
Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter, so it goes without saying that extracting safely from the raid should always be your top priority. Unfortunately, that also means that taking that step comes with a lot of risks.
Setting aside the concept of Extract campers – something you’re going to need to contend with sooner or later – standard Extracts in Arc Raiders create a lot of noise. Where it’s an elevator or train, activating an extraction point will always trigger an alarm that anyone in the vicinity can hear.
And, because it takes about 45 seconds for your Extract to be ready (such as the train arriving at the station) an enemy can use that time to close the distance and potentially try to prevent your extract.
If you have a hatch key, you can avoid this entire process and use any Raider Hatch to extract. Raider Hatches are plentiful and quiet – but the problem is that they require an expensive, single-use key; you’re not likely to have access to that early on.
Which means, extracting the normal way is going to be how most of your successful raids end. With that in mind, the best way to increase the success rate of that journey is to keep an eye on the timers above each Extract. Those tell you how long they have before they become unavailable.
The deeper into the raid you get, the fewer Extracts will remain. It goes without saying that if you stick until the end of the raid you’ll be fighting other players over one remaining Extract. You can, of course, talk it out and secure safe passage if everyone decides to put their guns down, but you really shouldn’t put yourself in that situation.
Try to extract as early as you can to reduce the risk of running into other players who may want to prevent you from going home with your haul. Finally, it’s always a great idea to keep in mind how close/far away you are from each one.