ARC Raiders Beginner's Guide: Your First Raid, Extracting Safely and Keeping Your Gear

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1. Choose your first loadout When picking a map you choose between a custom loadout and a free loadout. According to the wiki, the free loadout gives a random basic weapon, a light shield, ammo and a few utility items, but no safe pocket. In early raids, having nothing to lose takes the pressure off.
2. Consider the looting augment The wiki's getting-started page says that of the first two augments, Looting Mk. 1 allows a little more weight and two extra backpack slots, while Combat Mk. 1 supports a stronger shield. If you are not looking for fights, the looting augment makes more sense.
3. Fill your quick-use slots Always bring Bandages and Shield Rechargers. A Smoke Grenade is the cheapest way out of a bad situation. Ammo takes up backpack space, so bring enough.
4. First map: Dam Battlegrounds According to the wiki, your first raid is on Dam Battlegrounds and other maps unlock after a number of rounds. Open the map with M and learn where the extraction lifts are at the start of the raid.
5. Pick up everything at first The wiki's advice for the early days is to take everything: items that look useless are either crafting material or money for more stash space. Always grab ARC Alloy and ARC Powercells, which only come from downed machines, when you see wreckage.
6. Plan your exit early Lifts close one by one and their closing times show on the map. The wiki notes you do not always join at the start of a match; sometimes you have as little as 15 minutes to get home. Heading for an exit at the halfway mark, before your bag is full, is a safe habit.
7. Call the lift and hold Press the button at an extraction point to call the lift; the wiki says it takes about 45 seconds to arrive and its noise draws machines and players alike. Take cover while waiting, step inside when the doors open and start it with the button inside.
8. Sell, repair and sort after returning Go through your stash when you get home. The wiki suggests selling as much as you can at first to buy stash slots, then deciding what to keep for crafting. Shields and weapons degrade with use; repair or replace them before the next raid.

• Put your best find in the safe pocketCustom loadouts have at least one safe pocket slot, and what is in it stays with you even if you die. Move the most valuable or rarest item you find there immediately.
• Mind the weight limitAccording to the wiki, each augment has a weight limit, and if your loadout plus loot exceeds it, your stamina drops sharply. An overloaded Raider can neither run nor keep up in a fight.
• Listen for machinesThe wiki says the machines you will meet most in early raids are Wasps and Hornets, and the first warning is usually the buzz of their thrusters. They patrol set routes; crouching in cover often lets you slip past unseen.
• If spotted, get inside a buildingMachines that spot you give a characteristic whistle and their scanner beams turn red. According to the wiki, if you run and hide in a building they eventually lose interest and resume patrol, though they can shoot through windows and open doorways. Do not take on more than one at a time.
• Communicate with other RaidersThe game is PvEvP: machines and players are both threats. Citing Embark's notes on matchmaking, the wiki says matchmaking takes behaviour in earlier raids into account, so aggressive players land in more aggressive matches. With a mic, talk to nearby players with B; without one, use the emote wheel.
• Do your first raids soloThe wiki's getting-started page recommends going solo for your first few games, as the environment tends to be calmer for new Raiders. Once you know the maps, take a squad into riskier areas.
• Empty Scrappy's boxScrappy, the rooster in your Workshop, gathers basic materials while you are Topside. The wiki notes he only stores so much and stops collecting until you empty his box, so collect every time you return.
• Do not give up when downedWhen your health hits a critical level you collapse and can crawl. According to the wiki, machines stop attacking you in this state, and you can still activate a lift or go through a Raider Hatch. If a lift is close, crawling there can save you.
• Make use of Raider Hatch keysThe wiki describes the Raider Hatch as an alternative exit opened with a key, with no shutdown timer like normal lifts. Carrying a Raider Hatch Key can save a raid where you are running out of time.
• Do not stash what you can craftYour stash fills quickly. The wiki advises against storing things easily made in the Workshop, such as bandages, light shields, shield rechargers, basic weapons and ammo; craft them when needed instead.

• Taking valuable gear into your first raids: since death takes everything, free or cheap loadouts are smarter while learning.
• Waiting until the last minute to fill your bag: lifts close, and a Raider still Topside when time runs out dies.
• Leaving the safe pocket empty: not moving a rare find there means losing it to a single death.
• Calling a lift and waiting in the open: the noise draws both machines and players.
• Fighting several machines at once: a new Raider's shield and ammo cannot handle it; running and hiding is usually better.
• Going over the weight limit: stamina drops and escaping or rolling becomes impossible.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects the live version as of September 2026. Map unlocks, stash sizes and loadout contents change often with patches, so numbers are kept to a minimum; the in-game screens are the final word.

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