ARC Raiders Rocketeer Meta After Update 1.17.0 | Why Wolfpack Is Now Pointless?
Category: ARC Raiders Posted: Mar 04, 2026 Views: 694
After Update 1.17.0, Rocketeer has once again become a formidable enemy. It flies in the air, possesses powerful firepower, and cannot be defeated quickly, and you can only use buildings for cover and maneuver around it.
Previously, players often used Wolfpack to deal with Rocketeers, but now its cost-effectiveness has become very low. Hornet Driver is recommended instead. It doesn't require a blueprint, is usable by everyone, and is highly effective against Rocketeers.

Advantages of Hornet Driver
The reason players are so eager to find a replacement for Wolfpack is that its recipe has been modified, requiring Rocketeer Driver. This means you must first get ARC Raiders blueprints of Wolfpack and then hunt Rocketeers to craft it, rendering it somewhat useless, as many players consider Wolfpack's primary use to be killing Rocketeers.
Hornet Driver became an alternative to the nerfed Wolfpack. While not as powerful as Wolfpack, it allows you to successfully crash Rocketeers with a few skillful maneuvers.
Features of Hornet Driver
Hornet Driver doesn't explode on impact like a regular grenade, and it requires specific throwing techniques and distances to be effective.
When you throw Hornet Driver, it doesn't activate instantly upon impact. Instead, it experiences a brief delay before entering an active period. During this period, it automatically locks onto targets within its range and releases an electric shock.
This is significantly different from Showstopper, which detonates immediately upon impact if it hits a target directly. The main difference is that Hornet Driver has a longer radar stun duration, but only causes stun at the moment of detonation. However, against ARC, the stun duration and effective radius are the same for both.
Throwing Techniques
When using Hornet Driver, you need to maintain a distance of at least approximately 20 meters from the target to ensure a successful stun. However, due to the randomness of Hornet Driver's stun mechanism, sometimes a stunned outpost might crash and explode, resulting in loot loss.
Therefore, to truly utilize Hornet Driver, the key is to accurately stun the parts you want to attack.
Aiming at the Thrusters
The most reliable way to deal with Rocketeers is to simultaneously shock both of their Thrusters with Hornet Driver, causing them to crash. This isn't actually that simple, because if you drop it from below or throw it too high, the driver might hit its main gun or core, which won't have a significant impact.
Frontline High-Altitude Drop
The most reliable method is to drop Hornet Driver from the front of Rocketeers. When the target is far enough away, you can drop Hornet Driver directly above it. This almost guarantees that it will prioritize locking onto the two closest targets - the two thrusters. Once these two thrusters are shocked, Rocketeer will almost certainly crash.
Sometimes, even if Rocketeer crashes heavily to the ground, it might not explode immediately. In this situation, it's recommended that you don't immediately approach to finish it off unless you see it already on fire.
The safest method is to take a few steps back and shoot it with regular ammunition, or throw another Hornet Driver, and this will almost certainly cause it to crash.
Mistakes to Avoid
Throwing from behind a Rocketeers often results in only hitting the main gun and one thruster. In this case, it's almost impossible to kill it. Also, if you throw it too high, you might only stun one thruster, or even miss everything.
While theoretically any stun on a Rocketeers has a chance of killing it by luck, if you want to be consistent, you should avoid the above actions. Throwing from behind isn't entirely impossible, but you need to throw the driver over Rocketeers' heads to have a chance of hitting both thrusters.
Other Methods
Throwing Hornet Driver requires some skill, and you might not like this method, so here are a few alternatives, but they are also not as efficient as Wolfpack.
Seeker Grenade
Seeker Grenade automatically attaches to and detonates on an ARC, requiring almost no throwing skill, but its damage isn't high. It takes approximately 10 to 12 Seeker Grenades to hit completely to destroy a Rocketeer.
While crafting one Seeker Grenade doesn't consume many resources, crafting several will consume a considerable amount of materials. If you're only after Rocketeer Driver, it might not be worthwhile.
Long-Range Sniping
If you're far from Rocketeers, you can try using a sniper rifle to shoot them down. This is a relatively effective tactic, but it's slow, and you need to ensure your position is safe enough.
Is Rocketeer Driver Necessary?
Actually, you don't need to rush to acquire Rocketeer Drivers right now unless you've reset your progress and urgently need them to craft a workbench. Otherwise, you should completely ignore Rocketeer soldiers until you change their recipe, and Wolfpack is now essentially worthless.
You don't need Wolfpack to deal with any large ground-based ARC units. Deadline Grenades will easily handle it, and the current Deadline Grenades aren't difficult to craft. Alternatively, Anvil or Hullcracker are also easy to use.
If you urgently need Rocketeer Drivers, you can hunt them using the methods described above. If you're not in a rush, you can wait and provide feedback to the developers to have them modify Wolfpack recipe or the Rocketeer's drop rate.
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