ARC Raiders Boosting

In ARC Raiders, a third-person extraction shooter, players participate in intense 30-minute timed raid missions, scavenging for loot, battling hostile ARC robots and other players, and racing against the clock to extract before time runs out.

This requires players to survive in harsh environments and face challenging situations, including dealing with dynamically changing map environments, managing equipment risks effectively, acting stealthily, and developing optimal extraction strategies.

To successfully complete each raid within the limited time, you must avoid certain mistakes. So here we'll discuss some mistakes you might unknowingly make, seemingly insignificant tips that can completely change your gameplay and give you more advantages during raids. Let's get straight to the point.

1. Being Distracted By Other Major Events

First, we need to mention that raids, unlike other mechanics in ARC Raiders, only last about 30 minutes. Therefore, during a raid, do not let yourself be distracted by other events, especially the weekly challenge trials and the intermittently available Hidden Bunker.

Yes, Hidden Bunker gives players 40 minutes to complete the objective, longer than the standard raid mission time, giving players more time to scavenge for resources and download terminal data on Spaceport map after activating the four antennas to unlock it.

This is supposed to be a good thing, giving players more time to complete the objective, but many players find this time setting misleading, as Hidden Bunker is often looted by other teams, or raids fail because of time errors. Therefore, despite the ample time, players still feel frustrated.

2. Ignoring Barricade Kits

Next, we want to talk about Barricade Kits. To be honest, they haven't received much attention before. But they are crucial when healing teammates; for example, when someone is cornering you, you can place one down to get a free moment of rest. This applies to both solo and raid combat. You can even use them to directly block a corridor during a raid, preventing enemies from passing through, and almost without making any sound. 

Even in a truly open raid environment, when we're under fire, we can use Barricade Kit to set up a decent cover area, both to deal with constantly spawning ARC drones and to protect ourselves from attacks. Therefore, using this tool effectively during a raid can greatly increase your survivability.

3. Underestimating Ziplines

The next item on the list is the severely underestimated zipline. As the game progresses, I feel their powerful utility truly changes the game, allowing you to fight on rooftops and surprise enemies.

In addition, you can use ziplines to enter any area with open windows, including rooms that are usually locked. You can also perform some cool tricks with ziplines, such as shooting while sliding, although the accuracy isn't great.

It's worth noting that ziplines also allow you to turn 180 degrees, meaning you can jump from a great height, then grab the zipline to completely avoid fall damage. However, be aware that once your momentum reaches its limit, you need to activate the zipline early to truly avoid damage. The flexible use of ziplines allows you to always gain an unexpected advantage during a raid.

4. Focus On High-Value Equipment

Regarding equipment, you don't need to chase after high-end gear like Aphelion or Hullcracker. Instead, consumables like Herbal Bandages, Shield Rechargers, and Adrenaline Shots, as well as weapons like Light Impact Grenade and Li'l Smoke Grenade, are the most frequently used items during raids. They are resources with very low crafting and usage costs, allowing you to easily maintain high damage output during combat.

Note that Light Impact Grenade is almost essential equipment to carry during a raid. It allows you to easily force enemies out from behind cover, interrupt their charging or prevent them from continuing to defend, and successfully launch an attack. Obviously, this concept also applies to other grenades. But if you don't want to invest more ARC Raiders coins in grenades, just choose Light Impact Grenade, as it costs almost nothing.

As for Li'l Smoke Grenade, they are crucial. Whether protecting yourself during an escape or obscuring the environment and covering teammates so they can get up and leave, this grenade is incredibly useful.

They are very inexpensive and easy to carry on every raid. Trust me, these items can truly help you change the tide of battle at critical moments. 

5. Neglecting Climbing Techniques

Since ARC Raiders is a PvPvE extraction shooter, the core gameplay focuses more on stealth, positioning, and survival rather than fast-paced vertical movement. Therefore, vertical movement is less important than in other shooter games.

However, mastering relatively simple climbing techniques can often enable quick escapes and prevent fall damage. Yes, it can be used for some clever flanking maneuvers, such as climbing a ladder to the top of an outbuilding and then jumping to a central location, using climbing to avoid fall damage.

In addition, we can also use climbing to jump from high rooftops onto cars below, escaping difficult situations, repositioning ourselves, catching enemies off guard, and taking them down.

Note that if you fall for too long, you will no longer be able to climb onto any objects, and you must ensure you are facing the object you want to grab.

6. Blindly Allocating Ammunition

Finally, for a shooter game, the amount of ammunition you carry is crucial to your ability to consistently inflict damage and survive; otherwise, even if you carry a Torrente, it's just a useless piece of metal.

With Torrente becoming increasingly popular, many people are starting to use it, so we'll use it as an example here. In its level 2, its default magazine capacity is 70 rounds, plus one extra magazine, bringing the total to 78 rounds.

Although in standard mode, when we pick up Medium Ammo, it doesn't automatically fill the magazine in the equipment interface. However, once we enter a raid, these 80 rounds of ammunition are automatically loaded into the gun. This means that 78 of the 80 rounds will be loaded into the magazine, leaving us with only one reload opportunity during this raid, and the ammunition will quickly run out, which is obviously not ideal.

Therefore, if you are using a weapon with a larger magazine capacity, or a shotgun, it's best to carry more ammunition. Especially for some more difficult raids, if you want to reload, you need at least two sets of ammunition as backup.

In short, avoiding mistakes is crucial during ARC Raiders raids, as you need to face not only deadly ARC robots but also other players who are constantly ambushing you. Any mistake can lead to quick elimination, loss of valuable equipment, or even failure of the raid. Therefore, proper equipment management and a thorough understanding of the environment are key to survival in raids.

Released at the end of October, ARC Raiders was a dark horse in the gaming world this year. Within a month, it attracted millions of loyal players, and based on its performance in November, it won 2025 TGA Best Multiplayer Award!

Whether a game is fun or not doesn't depend on game media reviews; the number of players faithfully reflects this. So how did ARC Raiders manage to beat Battlefield 6, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and other multiplayer games in just one month to become the king of multiplayer games in 2025?

Top-Tier Visuals And Audio

In recent years, many games have proven the excellence of Unreal Engine 5 in terms of graphics. Games like Black Myth: Wukong and Expedition 33 boast incredibly stunning visuals. ARC Raiders also uses UE 5 to create cinematic-quality graphics, making it difficult for even the most discerning gamers to find fault.

Unreal Engine 5's optimization issues often lead to game stuttering or very high system requirements. ARC Raiders, by selectively using engine features, ensures excellent performance, allowing players to consistently enjoy a smooth gaming experience.

The development team is at the forefront of the industry in art design and graphics. They extensively use photogrammetry to scan realistic vegetation, rocks, and debris, creating extremely realistic environments. This is why each map feels incredibly realistic and has its own unique design and gameplay.

The excellent art style adopts a Cassette Futurist or Retrofuturist aesthetic, somewhat similar to the style of Aliens or early Destiny, but more grounded.

Their use of color is bold and fearless; not only do different maps have unique color schemes, but day-night cycles also create drastically different atmospheres.

Audio is one of the core game mechanics, crucial in both PvE and PvP, where even the slightest sound can reveal location. ARC Raiders inherits the sound trap concept from Hunt: Showdown, requiring players to manage their own sound footprint.

From the rustling of leaves and the whistling of bullets to the distant roar of giant robots, these sounds are richly layered, providing the richest, most informative, and most gameplay-friendly soundscape of 2025, demanding that players engage with the game through their ears. This outstanding audio design makes other games pale in comparison after playing the game.

Excellent Map Design

Map design is a crucial element of an excellent extraction game. It can't be like PUBG, which simply presents you with a vast map, leaving players to shoot each other in low buildings or open fields – a perfunctory approach.

The distribution of resource points, the location of extraction points, and the cover needed for engaging enemies in the game all require careful design. ARC Raiders seamlessly integrates these requirements with the game's style.

Maps like Spaceport and Burie City are not only large enough but also three-dimensional enough to be explored from top to bottom, yet also fraught with hidden dangers. But when you emerge from an abandoned house and suddenly see an open basin or field, you'll likely feel genuinely pleased.

Excellent Enemy Design

ARC Raiders' animations aren't preset; they're generated from AI models. Robots adjust their movements in real-time based on injuries (like losing a propeller), such as relearning to fly.

Leaper's animations are particularly outstanding; its limbs interact with the terrain geometry with 100% accuracy, appearing both terrifying and comical in the game. After being generated by AI, the animations are then refined by animators for artistic and playability aspects.

The enemy AI in ARC Raiders is highly intelligent, unlike enemies in traditional games that have fixed behavior patterns or patrol ranges. Once you're detected, they'll relentlessly pursue you.

This makes combat unpredictable and risky; even a low-level Wasp robot can cause the situation to spiral out of control. ARC Raiders' enemies are divided into indoor and outdoor enemies; small indoor robots pose a threat while you're looting.

Outdoor enemies are the real challenge, possessing greater firepower. Many enemies have armor plating, requiring specific ammunition or explosives to penetrate before effective damage can be inflicted. It's these enemies that make each game exciting.

Excellent Game Operation

ARC Raiders boasts a rich content library, including a mission system, skill tree, workshop upgrades, and blueprint collection. Even experiencing just 80% of the content can provide hundreds of hours of gameplay.

Furthermore, the development team is incredibly diligent in updating and fixing the game, adjusting and fixing it almost weekly, and steadily releasing new maps to keep the game fresh. If they can maintain this pace, ARC Raiders might just be Best Ongoing Game at 2026 TGA.

Shortcomings

However, ARC Raiders is not without its flaws. After a honeymoon period with players lasting over a month, some issues must be examined.

ARC Raiders' lengthy quest system, consisting of 60 missions, is tedious. 90% of the missions simply require players to go to a location and interact by holding down the E key, which can easily become monotonous later on.

While the cosmetics are of high quality, they lack the freedom to mix and match. Players are essentially limited to pre-set outfits and colors, with only limited adjustments to inventory and headwear, resulting in a homogeneous character appearance.

The game's inventory and crafting systems are widely considered the worst parts by the community. Players must constantly switch between different crafting benches and traders to manage resources, a tedious and time-consuming process. Even with maximized stash space, it quickly fills up, making item management a burden.

The skill descriptions in the skill tree are vague and misleading. Many skills are useless or illogical, and there is actually an optimal skill point allocation path, leading to similar builds for all late-game players and eliminating the possibility of diversity and specialization.

Despite its flaws, it remains a masterpiece among all extraction shooters of 2025, and Best Multiplayer Award is well-deserved. If the developers can address the game's quality issues and continue to provide new content, it has the potential to become a timeless classic.