ARC Raiders is a multiplayer extraction game from Embark Studios. Your home is Speranza, an underground settlement. From there you travel to the surface, which is ruled by hostile machines called ARC. You search the ground for loot, turn it into gear and upgrades, and try to get back down alive. The catch: other raiders can take what you carry, and fights are loud.
This guide follows the state of the game after the Frozen Trail 2.0 update (08.10.2026). Parts of it rest on the community-run ARC Raiders Wiki rather than on statements from Embark. Those spots are marked, and details that nobody has confirmed are named as open.
Speranza and the traders
Speranza is your base between raids. According to the community wiki, this is where the main hub (map choice and squad search), the workshop and your stash live. The wiki lists six traders; its trader page was last edited on 09.10.2026, one day after the update:
- Celeste trades for seeds and offers basic and surface materials.
- Shani runs security and sells augments, weapon mods and medicine for coins, plus the Raider Hatch Key (more on that below).
- Tian Wen keeps the weapon shop. Since 2.0 the Anvil and the Hullcracker are no longer sold here; they moved to the weekly rotation of the Nomadic Envoys.
- Lance runs the clinic with augments, shields and medicine, and also accepts the Free Loadout augment as payment.
- Apollo sells gadgets and grenades, and since 2.0 epic augments too.
- The Nomadic Envoys trade against resources and offer, among other things, extra stash space, cosmetics and blueprints.
Restock times are unverified, so check the stock each session.
Before the raid: loadout and Free Loadout
You enter a raid with a Custom Loadout: gear from your own stash. The wiki says (page from June 2026, before 2.0) that your augment decides how many backpack slots and safe pockets you get and how much weight you can carry. Go over the limit and your stamina suffers badly. Starting with nothing counts as a Custom Loadout with 10 backpack slots and one safe pocket.
The alternative is the Free Loadout, a free random set: a weapon with matching ammunition, medicine, gadgets or grenades and a light shield. This is the state of the community documentation, not confirmed by Embark:
- The Free Loadout augment has 14 inventory slots, 4 quick-access slots and 2 weapon slots. It takes only light shields, has a weight limit of 35 and has no safe pocket.
- Choosing it puts your own gear back into the stash. Without enough free space there, the Free Loadout is blocked.
- Some map conditions do not allow it. A notice in the conditions window warns you.
- You are less likely to join a match right at its start. Since patch 1.22.0, matchmaking prefers Custom Loadout players for fresh servers, so expect to drop into rounds already under way.
German press (November 2025) adds a tip: bring the free augment home intact and trade it to Lance for a better one. Still open: whether the Free Loadout has a cooldown, and what exactly happens to loot from a successful Free Loadout raid.
In the raid: loot, ARC, other raiders
At the start you can only play Dam Battlegrounds. More maps open after a number of rounds played, according to the wiki: Buried City after 8, Spaceport after 12. A normal raid lasts 30 minutes per the wiki. The Practice Range opens after four rounds and allows up to two hours of practice (wiki value, may change with patches).
Pendola Pass, the snow map added with 2.0, unlocks after 25 rounds according to the wiki. Treat noise as a cost: fights are loud and can draw in other raiders.
On other raiders: according to Insider Gaming (February 2026), design director Virgil Watkins says the game does not force anyone into player combat. According to Mein-MMO (February 2026), Embark says that matchmaking looks at your PvP behavior over several rounds and that there are no purely peaceful or purely aggressive lobbies. Being friendly does not make you safe.
PvE test, dated. Embark scheduled a time-limited PvE test from 13 October 2026, 11:00 CEST, to 20 October 2026, 11:00 CEST. It offered a switch between normal PvPvE and pure PvE servers. There, players could not hurt each other and overall loot value was lower. After an eight-second grace period, ARC could attack downed players again if it caught them moving. Officially it was a test followed by a survey; as of 18 October 2026, no return had been announced.
Extraction and what you lose on death
According to the wiki, you get home through extraction points: freight elevators, metro stations and air shafts, each called at a terminal. The map shows a timer, and when it expires the terminal shuts down. Trigger it just before and you can escape into the extra time. Even a downed raider can still use a terminal.
Dexerto adds that the elevator needs time after you call it, is loud and attracts players and ARC alike, so secure the area first. If the raid timer hits zero, a bombing hits the map and everyone still there loses weapons and loot as if they had died (Dexerto, from November 2025, so check whether it still applies).
An emergency exit exists too: per the wiki, the Raider Hatch has no shutdown timer and opens with a Raider Hatch Key, which Shani sells. Dexerto says the key is used up on opening and strangers may use the hatch as well.
Dying costs you. Per Dexerto (November 2025), a death before extraction loses all weapons you brought and everything you collected.
The Safe Pocket protects items when you are downed: per GameStar (November 2025), what you keep in it survives even then. Whether it also survives a death is not stated explicitly in our sources. The number depends on your augment. According to the wiki's augment table (March 2026, before 2.0), Mk. 1 augments have one, Looting Mk. 2 has two, some Mk. 3 variants up to three, and Looting Mk. 3 (Safekeeper) takes any item. Whether weapons fit into a normal pocket has not been confirmed.
Workshop and progress
At the workshop you craft weapons, gear and consumables. At first only the free Workbench is available. It makes simple weapons, most ammunition, bandages and the light shield. Upgradable stations include the Gunsmith and, since 2.0, the Research Station.
Level 1 of each station costs only common materials. Higher levels also need parts from defeated ARC. Gunsmith 4 and Refiner 3 require the Outpost, and some recipes need a blueprint on top. All of this is wiki data, and costs can shift with patches.
Your stash holds at most 328 slots since 2.0, not counting expedition and envoy bonuses. That number comes straight from the official notes.
What Frozen Trail 2.0 changes for new players
- Outpost: A project unlocks it, and its first step asks for a photo of a farmhouse on the surface. You get the camera from Shani or the Workbench, or you find one. The Outpost opens the Research Station and modules.
- Rewards: Cred is gone. Reward Points flow automatically into your active reward pass. The Frozen Trail Pass that launched with 2.0 has 60 tiers with a free and a premium track. The premium track holds only cosmetics, and weapons and gadgets sit on the free track. Feats give 15, 25 or 50 Reward Points depending on difficulty, and three weekly milestones give 250 each.
Ten tips for your first hours
- Start on Dam Battlegrounds. At first it is the only open map, and Buried City and Spaceport come later after 8 and 12 rounds (wiki values).
- Try the Free Loadout while learning. Make sure you have free stash space first, or it stays locked.
- Watch your weight. Over the limit, your stamina drops sharply, and the Free Loadout augment tops out at 35.
- Use the safe pocket for what you could not bear to lose. The Free Loadout augment has none.
- Look for an extraction point early. Terminals shut down when the timer ends, but a late trigger can still carry you out.
- Clear the area before you call the elevator. It is loud and attracts players and ARC.
- Spend your first materials on station level 1. These upgrades cost only common parts.
- Start the Outpost project when you can: its first step is a photo of a farmhouse topside, and the Outpost opens the Research Station.
- Complete feats: 15, 25 or 50 Reward Points each go straight into your active pass.
- Do not assume peaceful play keeps you safe. The game does not force combat, but matchmaking still looks at your behavior.