ARC Raiders beginner guide: first raids and how to survive

ARC Raiders by Embark Studios is an online extraction shooter. You climb up from the underground city of Speranza to a surface ruled by ARC machines, grab everything of value and try to get out alive. Other players roam the same map — they may help you, or shoot you in the back.

The game launched on October 30, 2025 and is still updated regularly: the biggest update so far, Frozen Trail 2.0, arrived on October 8, 2026. Below is what to know before your first raids, as of November 2026.

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How a raid works

• You go in solo or in a squad of up to three.
• A raid lasts about 30 minutes. Miss the extraction and everything you carry is gone.
• Enemies are both ARC machines and other raiders: it is PvPvE.
• Die and you lose your gear and loot. Only one item in the safe pocket survives; weapons can't go there.
• Extract and the loot goes to your stash, where you craft, sell and upgrade workbenches.

The first map is Dam Battlegrounds. The rest (Buried City, Spaceport, Blue Gate, Stella Montis, Riven Tides and the new Pendola Pass) unlock as you play more raids.

The free loadout is your best friend

For your first runs take the free loadout: a random weapon and basic healing, with no limit on how often you use it. Losing it costs nothing, so use it to learn the maps, the extractions and how enemies behave. It has no safe pocket. Extract successfully with it and you get an item you can trade for better gear.

Tips for your first raids

1. Pick up almost everything. Many ordinary-looking items are later needed for crafting and workbench upgrades.
2. Don't recycle everything. Before breaking down something rare, check whether an upgrade needs it. Green items are safer to recycle than blue and purple ones.
3. Valuables go in the safe pocket. Items that are only for selling should be carried out to the stash and sold there.
4. Move quietly. Walking is quieter than running, and breaching doors and containers can be heard from far away — by ARC and players alike.
5. Flying ARC are weak at the rotors. Ping an enemy and the game tells you what it is.
6. A red laser means you are being targeted. Get into cover right away.
7. Save raider hatch keys for runs where you carry something valuable.
8. Downed near an extraction? Crawl. You can crawl to the terminal, but other players can finish you, so it's better with a teammate nearby.
9. Say hello first. The communication wheel and proximity voice chat exist for a reason — not everyone you meet is hostile, and a deal often pays more than a firefight.
10. Squad quest progress is shared, but each player has to carry their own hand-in items.

What update 2.0 changed

Frozen Trail 2.0 (October 8, 2026) added the Pendola Pass map, new ARC (Bully, Skulker, Hydra), new weapons, Amplified Weapons, the Outpost, 22 quests and a fully reworked skill tree. Guides and builds written before October 2026 are partly outdated — check the date.

From October 13 to 20, 2026 Embark tested a PvE toggle (no damage from other players). It was removed after the test, and the studio has not promised it will return permanently.

Expeditions (a voluntary progress reset in exchange for permanent bonuses) are paused until early 2027 while the system is reworked; the fifth and latest ran September 8–29, 2026.

Languages

There is no Ukrainian. Ukrainian briefly appeared in January 2026 with update 1.13.0 (on PC via a launch option), but was pulled a few days later: the studio said it had been added by mistake and that a full translation is in the works. As of November 2026 Steam does not list it. The game supports 13 languages, including English (the only one with full voice-over), Polish and Russian.

Renting an online game

ARC Raiders only works online, so instead of a month in Steam offline mode, as with single-player games, it is rented by the hour — from one hour up to a week. For that time the account is yours alone. Keep Steam online and don't switch to offline mode. Progress and items stay on the account; you can't take them with you. Step by step — see how it works.

How long should you rent? One raid takes up to half an hour plus prep in Speranza, so 3 hours gives you 4–5 runs — enough to know whether the game is for you. To unlock several maps and level up, take a day or more.

PC requirements

Windows 10/11 64-bit and DirectX 12 are required. The Steam page lists Denuvo and kernel-level anti-cheat.

Before you rent

• Online only; there is no single-player offline mode.
• No Ukrainian; English and Russian are available.
• Scores: 86 on Metacritic, "Very Positive" on Steam (81% of over 200,000 reviews); "Mostly Positive" over the last month.
• The game costs 1,390 UAH on Steam — a few hours of rental let you try it before buying.

Sources

• Steam store page — languages, requirements, reviews, anti-cheat
• Shacknews: beginner guide
• Gfinity: 5 essential beginner tips
• ARC Raiders Wiki: maps and raid length
• MassivelyOP: Frozen Trail update
• Alt Char: PvE toggle test
• Insider Gaming: Expeditions paused until 2027
• ITC.ua: Ukrainian localization removed and Mezha