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.
