Practical guides for ARC Raiders — Embark Studios' third-person extraction shooter where you raid a machine-ravaged Earth, scavenge rare gear, and fight to get out alive. From your first drop to min-maxing a loadout, here's what you actually need to know.
From your first raid to optimised loadouts — guides covering what new and returning Raiders actually need.
Unlock level, 100-player divisions, every rank from Rookie to Cantina Legend, and how weekly promotion is scored.
02Blue Gate, Dam, Spaceport, Buried City, Riven Tides, and endgame Stella Montis — difficulty, features, and extraction options.
03All seven workshop stations, full upgrade costs, material farming locations, Refiner conversion recipes, and the optimal upgrade priority order.
04Core loop explained — zones, ARC enemies, extraction types, safe pockets, and the first things to do when you drop in.
05S-tier to B-tier ranked: which guns to craft first, PvP vs PvE picks, and the current post-patch meta.
06Every extraction method — elevators, Raider Hatches, and metros — with tips for getting out without losing your loot.
07Item rarities, best loot by zone, the items always worth extracting, and what to recycle for materials.
08Four playstyle-based builds — Aggressive, Cautious, Loot Runner, PvE Farmer — with weapons, perks, and workshop upgrade order.
ARC Raiders is a third-person extraction shooter developed by Embark Studios and published by Nexon, released on 30 October 2025 for PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Players drop into a ravaged future Earth overrun by autonomous machines called ARC, scavenge weapons and valuable items from dangerous raid zones, and must successfully extract to keep everything they find. It won Best Multiplayer at The Game Awards 2025.
No — ARC Raiders launched as a paid game priced at $40 for the standard edition. There is no free-to-play version; you need to purchase the game once on your platform of choice, after which all core content (maps, weapons, raids) is available without an additional subscription.
Extraction is the act of reaching a designated exit point on the map — elevator shafts, metro stations, or Raider Hatches — and activating it to leave the raid with your loot. Any item in your main inventory is lost if you die before extracting; only items placed in your Safe Pocket are guaranteed to return with you regardless of outcome.
ARC Raiders supports squads of up to three players per team, but the exact number of Raider teams per map varies by zone. You will encounter both AI-controlled ARC machines and other human squads competing for the same loot. Solo play is supported but significantly harder.
As of July 2026, ARC Raiders is in Trials Season 5: Prove Your Mettle, which runs from 7 July to 30 September 2026. The season is themed around the Riven Tides coastal location and introduces a new set of trial challenges alongside the Scorta outfit as the main seasonal reward.
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