Play any game for more than a hundred hours, and you can call yourself a veteran of it, can't you? There's also a special kind of clarity that comes with that sort of time invested in a game. It's a moment where you realize just how differently you'd have played if someone had handed you a cheat sheet at hour zero.
After 150 hours in Arc Raiders, engaging in countless raids, dozens of heartbreaking deaths and betrayals, and several "spiritual awakenings" across the maps where I felt myself leveling up, I definitely wish I could go back and smack my early-game self right in the head. Now, if you're new, or even 50–60 hours in, trust me: these are the lessons that would've accelerated my entire Arc Raiders journey, and they will help you.
PvP is never about the best weapon
Just don't bring a pickaxe to a fight a squad
I'm not saying you could win a fight on a Level 1 Stitcher against a Level 4 Volcano in Stella Montis, but the truth is that your gun isn't your win condition. Your positioning and situational awareness are. This, I learned the hard way when I started testing PC-only lobbies after shutting down crossplay. Everyone's aim suddenly got better. Suddenly, people were cracked, and grenade timings were crisp. Then, holding a purple Torrente or Il Toro barely mattered if I peeked for just half-a-second longer than I should've.
Resource usage and movement are the real separators in Arc Raiders PvP.
The real separator in PvP is resource usage. Impact Grenades. Blaze Grenades. Gas Mines. A well-timed barricade. That adrenaline shot you took preemptively to be able to reposition farther. These constitute the toolbox that wins fights in Arc Raiders, and definitely not just the weapon you're holding. Weapon mods, however, can really change the course of a fight. If you're nearly evenly-matched with your opponent, whoever put in the time to actually outfit their weapon even with base-level mods will have the upper hand, no matter what.
Medium Shields are the secret sauce
Oh, and the sooner you can get up to running Medium Shields for every single run, the better. They weigh less than Heavies, and they tank much more than Lights. The X-factor here is that players who shoot you first will almost always assume that you're going to die two bullets earlier than you actually do, thanks to the Medium Shield. The edge that surprise gives you even if you're ambushed is what can truly change the course of the fight.
Your stash is not sacred, or a museum
The stash was never limited — my capacity for fun was
I spent my first 80 hours playing Arc Raiders like I was managing a bank vault. Every blue or purple gun I got was sacred, and every augment was holy. I refused to touch my shotguns, and extracted early, avoiding conflict like I was playing a completely Pacifist run in Undertale. It wasn't until I lost a purple Volcano and a purple Il Toro on the PvP-heavy Stella Montis before realizing the full truth: Nothing in your stash is actually yours. It is merely your turn to use it.
This was the moment that everything clicked for me, and the game transformed completely. PvP was never my first choice in Arc Raiders, but it suddenly became thrilling. PvE became purposeful, and PvP became exhilarating, because suddenly, even if I lost my gear and my best weapons, I began having goals again — things to craft, loot to hunt, all so I can craft those weapons again. Arc Raiders is not about preserving your gear, raiders. It's about consuming it to create memorable, chaotic, relentless, exhilarating moments. You won't get those moments if you completely change your playstyle and start tip-toeing around the entire map just because there's a purple gun in your inventory you're deathly afraid of losing.
Losing fights is what levels you up
You read that right — start dying more
Every time I finally used the weapons and loot that I considered "the best," I realize how, in hindsight, I played... badly. Simply because I wasn't pushing the angles and corners that would have won me the fight. Because I wanted to "heal first" so I could have more of a chance to hold on to my weapons. And it never ended all that well for me. I was afraid of losing my gear in a fight, and I fought like it. When I lost that fear? I rushed more, pushed more, used more grenades, and... won more.
This mentality carried over into the extraction system as well. If I found good loot, I'd extract as soon as possible. My purple and blue weapons were always on top of my mind, and all I wanted was to extract ASAP. How is that having fun in any sense of the word? Once the fear of losing gear and weapons went away, I started staying till the very end, letting myself stay as long as possible, fighting ARC, helping other raiders, and learning more about each map.
Hoarding hurts more than it helps
It's better to break this habit early, and do all kinds of crazy stuff
Know this, and know this as early as possible: hoarding actively ruins your game. I've seen a lot of players complaining about the "tiny" 280-slot stash capacity, myself included. The truth, however, is that this problem comes from "gear fear." It's a problem every extraction-shooter player has. You hoard shields you'll never use. You hold onto green guns like they're lottery tickets, convincing yourself you might need them. I myself let resources pile up into stacks of 400+, because the goblin in my brain kept telling me I'd need it all, and it will never come back.
It does. It all comes back. One good free loadout run can replace everything you may have lost in a prior run. I had convinced myself that my precious items were way too valuable, and... they weren't. Just start your raids with purpose. Load onto each map as if the game were real and your life was on the line, so you better take your best gear, and as much of it as possible. And please, for the love of god, bring that damn purple gun, because the confidence you gain from using your best gear accelerates your skill far faster than protecting it ever will.
High-value zones aren't the only jackpot
Trust the RNG, not the map colors
Credit: Source: metaforge.app/arc-raiders
Credit: Source: metaforge.app/arc-raiders
Credit: Source: metaforge.app/arc-raiders
In Arc Raiders, red zones equal great loot, and that's true. However, it's the biggest half-truth, too. Yes, red zones have more loot density, but some of the best loot I've ever walked away with came from the "good" zones. The yellow buildings. The overlooked corners. The medium-tier areas and their dustbins. That's the beauty of Arc Raiders' design: RNG can bless you anywhere.
I was hurtling full steam ahead into red zones for more money and more resources, but now? I've built smarter routes instead of suicide-running into PvP hotspots like Gate Approach and Hospital. As a result, I've ended up richer, safer, better-equipped, more confident, and far less stressed. The red zones are a temptation, and the yellow zones are a goldmine. Knowing when to pivot, where to detour, and when to trust your instincts instead of the map's labels is one of the biggest early-game lessons I wish I had learned.
Movement changes everything completely
Adrenaline is dirt cheap and affects everything
Nothing, no resource, tool, or weapon in Arc Raiders comes close to the sheer value of Adrenaline. Two shots of Adrenaline can change the entire outcome of a raid. For my first thirty hours, I sprinted and waited for stamina to regenerate. I did use the occasional adrenaline shot, but now? They're a dime-a-dozen and I can't play without them. Now, I reach breached rooms before the next squad. I extract faster when the final Orbiter missile drops. I beat other players to weapon cases. I outrun third parties. I reposition during PvP like you're strapped to a jet engine.
Movement is king in Arc Raiders, and adrenaline turns you into royalty. Oh, and since we're on movement tech, you can reload while sliding. That's changed the entire game for me, because I switch weapons and reload all while sliding, becoming a slippery target for anyone trying to get me in their ironsights. And I know I said I no longer think about saving my purple loot, but these movement-related learnings have helped me hold on to my S-tier weapons more than any augment ever has.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 30, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Violence, Blood, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Embark Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Embark Studios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Extraction, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter, Survival
I took too much time to embrace Arc Raiders for what it's truly designed to be
I wish I could just tell my past self to stop protecting my fun in Arc Raiders.
150 hours into Arc Raiders, the game has taught me that the real progression system that evolved me as a player was never the skill tree or my blueprint collection growing. When I finally learned to take risks, stopped worshipping my loot, and let go of gear fear, I embraced Arc Raiders as the chaotic, unpredictable, and thrilling experience it's designed to be.
That's when the game truly opened up to me in full. If I could hand my past self one message? It'd be simple, and just one sentence long. "Stop protecting your fun, Samarveer."
