ARC Raiders FAQ: Answers to Every Common Question

After answering questions in the ARC Raiders community for months, I've noticed the same ones come up over and over. Makes sense — the game explains almost nothing. Here are the answers I keep giving.

Weapons

What's the best starter weapon? Marksman Rifle. One headshot kills Scouts. Uses 7.62 ammo, which is everywhere. Works at all ranges. Upgrade it to Tier 3 before buying or crafting anything else — the damage jump from 45 to 65 per shot is enormous.

Is the Shotgun worth it? Yes, but only after you have reliable ammo access. Shotgun shells are scarce on the surface. Underground raids and bunker loot rooms have plenty, but you need to survive long enough to get there. Early game, stick with Marksman + SMG — both use common ammo types.

Should I buy new weapons or upgrade what I have? Upgrade first. A Tier 3 Marksman (65 damage) outperforms a Tier 1 Assault Rifle (18 damage) at every range. Only branch out when your primary weapon is Tier 3 or higher.

What's the best all-around weapon for squad play? The Assault Rifle with Compensator and Extended Mag. Forty rounds of sustained fire. The Shotgun swaps in when something gets close. This is what I run for underground raids.

Resources

Where do I farm Electronics? Residential District houses (1-3 each), Office Complex (2-5 per office), Radio Tower (2-3). Loop all three in about 15 minutes and you'll have 30+. Extract and repeat.

I keep running out of ammo. Help. Craft ammo at workbenches in the Toledo base — 10 components per 30 rounds. Military checkpoints have ammo boxes with 20-50 rounds. Underground bunker locked rooms have 100+ rounds. If you're running out on surface raids, you're either fighting too much or using the wrong ammo types.

How do I get Keycards? ARC Soldiers have roughly a 5% drop rate. Farm Soldiers near underground entrances — they respawn every 15 minutes. Plan on one Keycard per 20 Soldier kills. Save Keycards for Depths bunker doors, not surface ones.

Combat

How do I kill an ARC Heavy? EMP grenade (stuns for six seconds), then two Marksman shots to the glowing blue power cell on its back. The cell explodes for 500 damage. Finish with sustained fire. Total time with three players: about 12 seconds. Solo is possible but not worth the ammo and risk.

What's the Walker strategy? Four players minimum. Two with EMP grenades for chain stuns. One Assault for DPS. One Support for heals and ammo. Target leg joints first — damaged legs reduce mobility by 40%. Then the head. The fight takes 3-5 minutes. If you hear the siren without a full squad, extract.

I got spotted. What now? Scout Drone: headshot within the two-second alarm window and the alert cancels. Soldier: EMP grenade and headshot, or sprint away — Soldiers are faster than walking but slower than sprinting. Heavy: run. Don't look back. Just run.

General

Solo or squad? Solo for scavenging and surface raids where you want to keep all the loot. Squad for underground raids, Heavy hunting, and Walker fights. You can solo almost everything except Walkers, but it's 3x harder and 5x slower.

How do I find underground entrances? Manhole covers on streets, basement doors in large buildings, subway station entrances. An upgraded Scanner reveals them as red icons within 100 meters.

I died and lost everything. Can I get it back? You have about 30 minutes to return to your death location and recover your items. Other players can loot your corpse too. Mark your death location immediately on respawn. And honestly — sometimes it's gone. That's the game.

What platforms is the game on? PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and GeForce NOW. Full cross-platform play across all of them.

How does progression work? You extract resources from the surface, bring them back to Toledo base, and use them to upgrade weapons, armor, base facilities, and character skills. The Match Journey system chronicles every run so you can review what worked and what didn't.