Conquer the Rust Belt: Best Expert Tips for Arc Raiders
The Arc Raiders, a post-apocalyptic loot shooter has finally landed, and living in the Rust Belt is not a choice. To live, you prefer decent shooting, but you require expert knowledge of the item economy, map points, and movement mechanics as well. Below are Arc Raiders 10 Top Tips so that you can maximize your runs, acquire the best loot, and survive every time.
Before jumping into the action, ensure your rig is fully optimized for smooth performance by checking our guide to The Best Settings for Max FPS.
Economy: Rarity, Recycling, and Recipes
The fundamental gameplay loop of the game is simple to describe: mine successfully with good loot. But understanding what actually is "good" is the secret to mastering the game's economy.
Item Icons and Vendor Progression
Every item in the game has a small icon that indicates its primary purpose. It will accelerate your vendor progression and crafting skills by paying attention to these purposes.
Levels of Rarity: Items carry normal levels of rarity: Common (White), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Epic (Pink), and Legendary (Yellow).
Wrench Icon: Indicates materials or components that can be recycled into Craft Keys. These keys are required to gain access to the Workshop and craft.
Plus Sign Icon: Indicates consumable items, which get consumed to heal health, shields, or stamina during a raid.
Jewel Icon: These can only be bought for Coin. Coins are used on random upgrades and buying items from vendors in the home base.
There are different vendors with different merchandise and they provide quests, typically requesting you to scavenge items. These quests increase the vendors, by which you can purchase higher-level items, which is important in character building.
The Golden Rule of Loot: Legendary-rarity items that display a book symbol are Recipes. They're likely the most prized items in the game, required for all of the high-level gear crafting, such as weapons, tools, and shield components. If you find a recipe, get its position in your safe slots immediately.
Map Mastery: Reading Loot Zones and Harvesting
The map contains vital information that determines your engagement and extraction strategy. The visual cues ignored will lower your efficiency significantly and raise your risk.
Understanding the Map Legend
Abundance of Loot (Color-Coding): Buildings and regions are colored to show the quality and abundance of loot:
White: Low availability of loot.
Yellow: Good loot.
Red: High abundance of loot. Red regions have more high-level items but have more ARC patrols and hostile players.
Extraction Sites: There are two types: Cargo Elevators (regular extraction with loud 45-second activation countdown) and Raider Hatches (silent extraction that requires a special key).
Time Management: Extraction points have a countdown timer. When the timer hits zero, the entire map wipes, and you lose all items except those in your safe slots. Never engage in a battle that you cannot win or leave before the timer expires. Running out of time will kill you immediately, regardless of how close you are to the extraction point.
Loadout and Combat Specialization
A successful raid requires careful preparation. Your loadout, armor, and augmentation settings must be tailored to your mission.
Arc Raiders 10 Top Tips for Loadout & Movement
Ammo Matters: Different ammo excels in different situations. Light Ammo (Hand Cannons, SMGs) is effective against players but weaker against ARC armor. Heavy Ammo (Snipers, Hand Cannons) works wonderfully against ARC plating and player shields, especially at a distance. Energy Ammo (Lasers) is highly specialized against ARC armor.
Choose Your Shield Wisely: Tiers with higher Shields (Medium, Heavy) offer greater mitigation but at the cost of a movement speed reduction. Heavy Shields, in turn, can be re-scaled or not available for launch due to performance during previous tests.
Augments Unlock Potential: Augments serve to upgrade superior shields and improve utility. They are able to increase your backpack slots, weight capacity, quick-use slots, and safe pocket slots. Medium Shields require Raider Augments 2+, and Heavy Shields require Raider Augments 3+.
Prioritize Health Over Shield: Recover Health before your shield when you get damaged, even if your shield is broken. You can die if your Health reaches zero, even when your shield is full.
Stamina Management is Survival: Vaulting, running, and dodging consume stamina, leaving you vulnerable. Sliding and walking recover stamina faster than running. Equip the Youthful Lungs (Conditioning Tree) or Survival Stamina (Mobility Tree) skills as soon as you can to make recovery greater.
Weapon Holstering: Adding to your base run speed, weapon holstering is key when running over open terrain or sprinting to an extraction site.
Break from the Unbeatable: Rocketeers and the Queen boss in early gameplay are so formidable. Run and disengage if you are not equipped or part of a group; to engage them is to squander time and resources you can hardly afford to lose.
Use Proximity Chat Wisely: Proximity chat is a very powerful tool. Use it for diplomacy (friends against giant threats like the Queen) or exploit enemies who unintentionally announce their positions with an open mic. Ping system in-game is also crucial for stealth communication with your squad.
Employ Third-Person Peaking: Shoulder-swapping (normally mapped to 'X') is available in third-person perspective and allows you to peek at corners without revealing your character entirely to the enemy fire.
The Free Loadout Risk: In case you lose all your gear, Free Loadout provides random low-grade items. Be careful: it provides you with no Augments or Safe Pocket usage. You stand to lose everything you collect during that run.
