ARC Raiders Loot Experiment Reveals: Are Stella Montis Keys Worth It? Blueprint Drops May Surprise You

With Frozen Trail update approaching, the existing reward system in ARC Raiders is set for a significant overhaul.

Officials have confirmed that Cred will be officially retired from the game; existing balances remain valid until October 8. Once Frozen Trail update goes live, any unspent Cred in accounts will expire, so players currently hoarding large amounts should plan how to use it soon.

Raider Decks are being reworked and replaced by a new, more comprehensive reward system.

Spend Cred Before It Loses Its Value

Cred Is Entering Its Final Weeks

Cred is a currency earned through standard gameplay in ARC, currently used primarily with Shani and Raider Decks.

Players can spend Cred to get ARC Raiders items from Shani or to unlock various Tiles within Raider Decks.

The rewards found in these decks are diverse, ranging from cosmetics and standard items to Raider Tokens. For long-term players, Cred essentially functions as a progression resource that is continuously accumulated and spent.

Since Cred will soon be retired alongside the launch of Frozen Trail, it no longer holds long-term value for hoarding. Strategies where players might have saved Cred to spend on future decks or reward updates are no longer applicable.

Earning Cred Before the Cutoff

During Topside event, players earn 1 Cred for every 2,000 XP gained. Additionally, completing Feats in ARC Raiders also awards Cred. Consequently, Cred accumulates naturally as long as you play regularly, complete challenges, and gain experience.

There is currently a soft cap of 800 Cred. Once a player's balance falls below 800, standard gameplay will not allow them to build the balance back up above that limit.

However, if a player already held more than 800 Cred prior to the rule changes, the excess amount is retained - though they cannot earn any additional Cred moving forward.

Given that the currency is being discontinued on October 8, there is little point in treating Cred as an asset to be hoarded long-term. A more sensible approach for the coming weeks is to spend it as quickly as you earn it.

Choose Rewards First, Then Clear the Balance

Raider Deck Rewards Are Staying

This is likely the question most players care about most. Since Raider Decks are being reworked, does that mean rewards currently unlocked - or not yet unlocked - will become unavailable later?

According to official ARC statements, existing Raider Deck rewards will appear in the new reward system. Rewards already claimed before the update will be retained; they won't be revoked just because the old system is ending.

Therefore, there is no need to frantically unlock everything just because of Raider Deck rework.

Where to Spend Your Remaining Cred?

The simplest approach is to check your current Raider Deck before deciding whether to spend your remaining Cred with Shani.

First, prioritize unlocking the specific Raider Deck rewards you really want. It usually makes sense to keep investing in ARC Raiders items that are close to completion - such as cosmetics, Raider Tokens, or other high-value content that requires only a few more tiles to unlock.

Second, if nothing in your current deck particularly appeals to you, consider spending your surplus Cred with Shani.

Finally, as October 8 approaches, don't agonize over finding the optimal way to spend. If you have a small amount of Cred left - say, 20, 30, or 50 - and no perfect use for it, it is still better to spend it.

Since this currency is being retired, converting your balance into actual ARC Raiders items is more valuable than simply letting the number reset to zero.

Grinding Cred Is No Longer the Goal

At this stage, there is no actual need to grind XP solely to stockpile Cred, though Cred earned through normal gameplay is still worth using.

If you already plan to complete Feats, grind XP, or play ARC Raiders as part of your routine, there is no harm in continuing to earn Cred - just spend it promptly once you have it.

If you are just a small amount of Cred away from a specific Raider Deck reward you really want, you might choose to grind a bit more XP to secure that item.

However, there is little point in grinding just to build your balance back up to around 800 in anticipation of future updates.

Frozen Trail Marks a Reward System Reset

The retirement of Cred is just one part of the adjustments being made to Frozen Trail reward system. Officials have confirmed that Raider Decks will be reworked and a larger-scale reward system will be introduced.

Since existing Raider Deck rewards will be incorporated into the new system, this adjustment appears to be a comprehensive overhaul of the long-term reward progression. Players will have to wait for further official details regarding how rewards will be earned, the progression pace, and the specific mechanics of the new system.

There is no need to speculate on the currency the new system will use, nor is it advisable to hoard Cred based on unknown mechanics. Only one practical course of action is confirmed: spend your existing balance before the deadline and plan your resources according to the new rules once Frozen Trail goes live.

Before Frozen Trail launches, ARC Raiders players should simply prioritize securing the desired Raider Deck rewards and then spend any remaining Cred at Shani's shop. Since Cred will not carry over to the new system, the most important thing is to avoid letting your balance expire after October 8.

Ascending The Mountain project is the core content of ARC Raiders Update 1.45, and the event will run until October 5, 2026.

This project is closely linked to the game's storyline - mysterious ARC signals have been detected outside the existing pipeline network, pointing to a mountain range that Apollo believes is key to accessing Frozen Trail map, which will be released on October 8th.

This article will explain how to complete ARC Raiders Ascending The Mountain project.

About Raiders Ascending The Mountain Project

The project is divided into four phases, each requiring specific materials and offering different rewards.

Stage 1: Research High-Altitude Mechanics

Phase 1 focuses on researching basic mechanical and electronic components to begin theoretical research for high-altitude travel. The required ARC Raiders Items are as follows:

Mechanical Components (x10)

Crafted using 7 metal parts and 3 rubber parts at Refinery, or by searching for areas marked Mechanical on the map.

Pop Trigger (x6)

Defeat Pop Arcs (small, spider-like arc-shaped devices commonly found indoors) and loot their remains.

Explosive Compound (x10)

Higher drop rate on Dam Battlegrounds map's Hydroponic Domes.

Headphones (x2)

Search residential buildings, apartments, drawers, and cabinets - these loot items are especially easy to find on Burried City map.

Rewards for completing Stage 1 are as follows:

• Burletta IV Pistol
• Extended Light Mag III Attachment
• Silencer III Attachment

Stage 2: Begin Ignition Tests

Stage 2 introduces more advanced materials and electronics, propelling the project towards actual engine testing. Required materials are as follows:

Wires (x20)

Available through trade with Celeste (4 seeds per wire) or by looting distribution panels and generators on Dam Battlegrounds map.

Voltage Converters (x8)

Available through trade with Celeste for 10 seeds each, or by recycling ion sputterers found in voltage circuit breaker boxes and electrical cabinets within electrical zones.

Firing Cores (x2)

Destroy Sentinel Arcs, usually located near the research building on Dam Battlegrounds map.

Rocket Thruster (x1)

Search Assembly Workshops on Stella Montis map.

Rewards for completing Stage 2 are as follows:

• Wolfpack Grenades (x2)
• Deadline Mines (x2)
• Trailblazer Grenades (x3)
• Crash Mat Blueprint (x1)

Stage 3: Implement Landing Capabilities

The propulsion system is under development, and the project now focuses on developing safe landing mechanisms for mountain expeditions. Required materials are as follows:

• Ruined Parachute (x1): Can be searched in ARC Raiders Buried City map container.
• Crash Mats (x3): Crafted at the tool station using 1 Durable Cloth and 1 Electronic Component.
• Snow Globes (x5): Destroy Shredders in Stella Montis.
• Guidance Systems (x3): Search Grandioso Apartments and the surrounding residential buildings on Buried City map.

Rewards for completing Stage 3 are as follows:

• Powered Descender (x1)
• Raider Hatch Key (x2)
• Rascal Launcher IV (x1)
• Launcher Ammo (x30)

Stage 4: Final Adjustments

The final stage requires the most complex components, involving advanced electronic components and rare ARC enemy drops. Specific required materials are as follows:

Sensors (x4)

Available from Celeste, each costing 10 seeds; search server racks at Pilgrim's Peak on The Blue Gate and Launch Towers on Spaceport maps.

Regulators (x3)

Search for red lockers at Hydroponic Dome on Dam Battlegrounds map.

Advanced Electrical Components (x15)

Crafted at Refinery using 3 Wires and 2 Electrical Components. Also found in ARC Probes that randomly spawn on the map.

Vaporizer Regulators (x3)

Obtained by destroying Vaporizers commonly found in Riven Tides map or Close Scrutiny event.

Completing Stage 4 rewards the following:

• Hot Air Balloon Backpack Charm
• Tactical MK3 (Defensive) Augment
• Tempest Assault Rifle IV
• Kinetic Converter Attachment

Efficient Material Farming Strategies

Plan Multiple Stages at Once

The most important efficiency tip is not to focus on material collection for a single stage. However, backpack space is very limited, and the worst situation is leaving fully loaded with materials needed for the current stage only to find you've missed materials urgently needed for the next stage.

Therefore, you need to make a list of all the materials needed for the current stage and the next stage in advance. Upon entering ARC Raiders, focus not only on the materials needed for your current phase but also on all materials on your list.

For example, while searching for Headphones in Buried City residential area (Phase 1), you can simultaneously search for Guidance Systems and Ruined Parachutes needed for Phase 3. This allows you to progress in multiple areas with a single farm.

Prioritize Security Breach Containers

If you want to speed up material gathering and accumulate funds for rare components, Security Lockers are your best option. These special containers are scattered across every map, offering a significantly higher chance of dropping rare, high-value loot than regular containers.

However, to unlock these Security Lockers, you must invest in Security Breach skill in Survival skill tree. Many players overlook this, resulting in a large amount of loot going unclaimed.

Map-Specific Farming Strategies

Each map in ARC Raiders has specific types of materials suitable for farming. Choosing the right map is fundamental to efficient material farming.

For example, if you need common residential items, Buried City is your best choice; if you need mechanical and electronic components, then Dam Battlegrounds is your best choice.

That concludes this article about ARC Raiders Ascending The Mountain project. Finally, please remember that this is a timed project; you must complete it before October 5, 2026, which is before Frozen Trail update arrives. So, time is limited, so start your challenge now!

We're currently in the final stages of ARC Raiders Season 5, and Week 10's Trials will test your efficiency and resource management skills. While the in-game descriptions seem straightforward, completing them as quickly as possible requires map familiarity, knowing respawn times, and some pre-planning.

Frozen Trail will begin on October 8, 2026. This trial is the penultimate weekly trial before the major update. The current season will end on September 22. During this period before the update, the trials will be suspended. Once Frozen Trail begins, the weekly trials will restart.

Below is a detailed guide to Season 5 Week 10 Trials, including detailed routes, recommended equipment, and some time-saving tips. Let's take a look.

If you're currently working on Expedition 5, that's fine too. Trials and fifth Expedition can be completed in parallel; you don't need to worry about the fifth expedition clearing your Trials data. Therefore, you can complete fifth Expedition Challenge while simultaneously completing Week 10 Trials.

Season 5 Week 10 Trials

Destroy Fireballs

This trial requires you to destroy a certain number of floating fireballs before safely retreating. The fireballs are not randomly spawning environmental obstacles, but rather fixed-spawn destructible objects that only appear in Stella Montis area.

To optimize your completion speed, you can respawn directly at Stella Montis insertion point and immediately head to Central Crucible Plaza. This area has three elevated heat vents that continuously generate groups of four to six fireballs.

However, what ARC Raiders items should you choose for this trial? The fireballs have a small hitbox and unpredictable drift trajectories, so using precision weapons like Designated Marksman Rifles (DMRs) or bolt-action rifles would be a waste of valuable time.

Instead, you should equip a high-capacity submachine gun - such as VK-9 or Maelstrom - with an extended magazine and a reflex sight. Use short bursts of fire, aiming slightly ahead of the fireball's drift trajectory. This should allow you to shoot down two to three fireballs before they disperse with each shot.

A word of caution: avoid daytime raids and try to launch them at night - the fireball spawn rate drops by over 70% during the day compared to night.

Deal Damage to Shredders

Shredders are heavy assault units equipped with rotating blades and frontal armor plates. They reliably spawn in two fixed areas on Stella Montis: Abandoned Airstrip (northern edge) and Mining Tunnel Entrance (southwest corridor).

Shredder spawn points are more active during night raids, with one spawning every four to five minutes. To maximize damage output per attack, you need to penetrate their frontal armor.

Shooting at the chest or head deals negligible damage - only about 15% of bullets will inflict effective damage. Therefore, aim for the exposed joint connectors on the lower legs and the hydraulic lines at the rear. 

These weaknesses will cause critical hits (yellow damage numbers), increasing your damage output by 2.5 times with each shot.

ARC Raiders fifth Expedition Challenge has a cumulative damage output challenge that can be completed alongside the trial.

Search Containers in Medical Research Wing

This trial revolves entirely around container density per square meter. To complete this trial as quickly as possible, you need to plan your search route carefully, as follows:

The best looting route starts from the east entrance (the entrance with a wrecked ambulance parked outside). After passing through the double doors, immediately turn left into the triage area - this room contains eight medical cabinets and four supply cabinets.

After looting clockwise, go up the stairs to the operating room, where six more medical cabinets and two wall-mounted first aid kits await you.

However, the real treasure lies in the storage room, accessible via the freight elevator shaft (you'll need to carefully jump down). Here, you'll find twenty-four densely packed storage shelves, each containing one or two containers.

There are over fifty containers in this area, meaning you can complete the entire trial in one go if you systematically clear the whole building.

Damage ARC Enemies Using Fireball Burners

This is the trial in ARC Raiders that requires the most preparation. Fireball Burners are rare deployment turrets that continuously fire burning plasma. They don't spawn reliably; generally, you might find one in a supply drop every five to six matches.

If you found Fireball Burners in Expedition 5, you also can use them here. Equip them in your hotbar, land in Stella Montis, and head to the Barracks District, where the density of ARC Enemies is highest.

Next, it's recommended to find a choke point. Then, deploy your burners at a corner, facing the enemy's spawn direction, and use yourself as bait: peek out, fire a few shots to draw the enemy's attention, and then retreat behind the burner's firing arc.

Search Supply Drops

This trial requires you to find supply drops scattered throughout the map. These ARC Raiders items don't appear randomly; they appear at fixed times in designated areas. Buried City has the densest concentration of supply drops, including Central Plaza, East Market Ruins, West Overpass, and South Pump Station.

With proper timing, you can easily complete the trial. Supply drops will occur at 5, 12, and 20 minutes after each raid begins.

However, unlike regular loot boxes, supply boxes require six seconds to fully interact (by holding down the button). Therefore, be sure to clear out any NPCs around you before starting.

It's recommended to bring a silenced weapon. If you can collect three supply boxes in a single ARC Raiders raid, you can quickly complete this trial.

Expedition 5

Expedition 5 is a 21-day high-risk event within ARC Raiders, centered around damage challenges, set in Scorched Mire and Shattered Ridge. It comprises six progressively higher stages, each with 3-5 objectives.

The main tasks include extracting data drives, killing ARC Brutes, destroying harvesters and transmission towers, surviving orbital bombardment, and defeating ARC Field Commander twice. Tier 6 culminates in Scorched Crossing event and a killbox endurance test.

However, note that after Tier 3, death will have a permanent penalty (50% loss of loot), the number of extraction beacons is limited (2 per day), and nighttime ARC reconnaissance activity increases.

Completing the mission requires teamwork, resource management, and strict adherence to extraction strategies under sustained ARC pressure.

This concludes the article's content regarding ARC Raiders Season 5 Week 10 Trials and Expedition 5. Don't treat Week 10 Trials and Expedition 5 as two separate missions; try to complete them simultaneously in the same raid.

However, the specific execution will depend on the situation. If Expedition 5 requires you to collect certain materials, while Week 10 requires you to perform certain actions in completely different locations, the two may not perfectly overlap.

After Expedition 5 ends, you will have more than a week to recover before we welcome the biggest update of 2026, Frozen Trail. Stay tuned!

In ARC Raiders, healing seems straightforward. Use bandages after taking damage, switch to Vita Shot when your health is critically low, and bring Vita Spray when resources are plentiful - this is the standard approach for many players.

However, in actual combat, the effectiveness of healing items often depends on more than just rarity and single-use healing amount. Usage time, continuous healing mechanics, weight capacity, and synergy with other items all affect actual survival efficiency.

Some food items that are easily overlooked actually perform remarkably well in emergency healing situations. Mushroom, Expired Pasta, and Fruit Mix each have their advantages, with Mushroom even outperforming many conventional healing items in some tests in terms of healing speed.

Food Healing

ARC Raiders Mushroom is actually quite efficient. It restores 15 HP in just 1 second. Expired Pasta is similar, also restoring 15 HP after 1 second.

While these two items don't provide high single-use healing, their advantage lies in their speed. 

When you've just retreated to cover and only need to quickly replenish a small amount of health, a 1-second usage time is more flexible than waiting for the bandage to continuously regenerate. 

Especially in ARC Raiders, when you're not completely out of combat, healing speed is often more important than the amount of health restored per use.

Fruit Mix is ​​more of a comprehensive healing item. It restores 25 HP and 50 Stamina in 2 seconds. Besides healing, it also helps players recover stamina needed for repositioning, chasing, or retreating, making it more useful in continuous combat.

Mushroom and Expired Pasta have similar healing effects, but their availability differs. Expired Pasta relies more on random spawns, while Mushroom has relatively stable spawn locations in certain areas, making it easier to use as a regular healing item in daily raids.

How Fast does Mushroom Restore Health?

If only considering recovery speed, Mushroom performs exceptionally well.

While Herbal Bandage is a common basic healing item, it requires waiting for continuous regeneration after use. When health is low, this period can easily leave a dangerous window. Mushrooms can quickly restore a small amount of health, and with continuous use, they can rapidly raise health.

Sterilized Bandage is similar. Its total recovery is good, but sustained healing takes time. In comparison, ARC Raiders Mushroom is more practical for emergency healing.

Vita Shot restores 50 HP per use, with a 4-second duration. However, if the goal is only rapid health recovery, continuous use of Mushrooms is still advantageous. In testing, it even completed the recovery faster than Sterilized Bandage combined with Vita Shot.

However, Mushrooms are not without their drawbacks. Seven Mushrooms take up approximately 1.4 Weight, while one Vita Spray only takes up about 1 Weight. Carrying too many will significantly increase backpack space, especially when you also need to reserve space for gathering supplies and evacuation.

Therefore, Mushrooms are more suitable as a quick means of healing than as a complete replacement for other healing items. Fruit Mix is ​​useful when you need to simultaneously restore Stamina. After significant health loss, use Sterilized Bandage in conjunction with Vita Shot. For prolonged battles, Vita Spray remains the best choice.

From now on, when you see Mushrooms on the map, don't just treat them as upgrade materials.

Advantages of Fruit Mix

Unlike Mushrooms, which primarily focus on rapid health regeneration, Fruit Mix is ​​better suited for simultaneously replenishing both health and stamina.

An ARC Raiders Vita Shot restores 50 HP and has a 4-second cast time. Two Fruit Mixes restore a combined 50 HP in 4 seconds, but also provide an additional 100 Stamina.

After a firefight, players often need to reposition, flank, retreat, or pursue. The extra Stamina restored is very useful in these situations.

Fruit Mix is ​​an Uncommon item; crafting it requires Lemon, Apricot, and Prickly Pear. If you have sufficient materials, you can bring plenty when exploring the map.

The advantage of Vita Shot remains its high single-hit healing and ease of use. However, in long raids, Fruit Mix can restore both HP and Stamina simultaneously, making it more flexible.

Advanced Healing Item Usage Tips

Sterilized Bandage and Vita Shot can be used together. Use Sterilized Bandage first to initiate continuous healing, then immediately follow up with Vita Shot. Both healing effects will run simultaneously, which is faster than waiting for one to finish before using the other.

This method is suitable for situations in ARC Raiders where you lose a lot of health and may quickly re-engage. Although Mushroom's pure healing speed was still outstanding in testing, Sterilized Bandage combined with Vita Shot can address larger health deficits at once.

Vita Spray requires careful usage. Holding it down provides fast healing, but it also significantly depletes Durability. In testing, continuous use reduced Vita Spray durability to approximately 18, while switching to rapid tapping resulted in approximately 55 Durability remaining after healing.

Tapping is slightly slower, but significantly increases the number of times Vita Spray can be used. Unless being chased and urgently needing to gain those few seconds, tapping is more suitable for healing during long raids.

Shield Regeneration

The same approach applies to Shields. When using Medium or Heavy Shields with ARC Raiders, you can first use the green Uncommon Shield Recharger to initiate continuous regeneration, then immediately follow up with the blue Surge Shield Recharger. The simultaneous operation of both effects allows for faster shield replenishment.

This method is particularly effective against Purple Heavy Shields. Heavy shields have a higher capacity, requiring more resources to recover after being depleted; directly stacking both rechargers allows for a faster return to a state suitable for continued combat.

In ARC Raiders, rarer healing items aren't necessarily better. Their effectiveness depends on factors like recovery speed, Stamina, Weight, and combat pace. Often overlooked items like Mushroom and Fruit Mix can be quite useful in the right situations.

In ARC Raiders, survival is never about luck - it depends on your preparation and choices before each encounter. As you graduate from the initial Light Shield and begin pursuing a more reliable margin for error on the battlefield, Medium Shield becomes your most solid defensive line.

While not as lightweight as Light Shield, it gives you real confidence when pushing, holding positions, and counter-attacking. This article will teach you how to acquire and use Medium Shield in ARC Raiders.

About Medium Shield

Medium Shield is a rare defensive item in ARC Raiders, providing 70 shield points and 42.5% damage reduction. It weighs approximately 7 kg and slightly reduces movement speed by 5%.

However, you also need to know that shields don't function like a second health bar - they only reduce damage taken. Therefore, even when the shield is fully charged, you will still lose health with each attack. This means that health management is just as important as keeping the shield charged.

Generally, prioritize charging the shield when your health is above 50%, and use healing items like bandages when your health is below 50%. Remember, a full shield won't save you when your health is extremely low.

How to Obtain?

Prerequisites

Many ARC Raiders players make this mistake: finding ARC Raiders Medium Shield in Topside and immediately trying to equip it, only to find that their enhancement mods don't support it. You need to know that early in the game, enhancement mods are only compatible with Light Shield.

To unlock Medium Shield, you need to obtain a Combat MK. 1 or Tactical MK. 1 enhancement component. The specific process is as follows:

First, obtain a basic free-configuration enhancement resource. You can find it during extraction missions or craft it at the equipment workbench.

Then, take this resource to Lance at Speranza Clinic to obtain the upgraded enhancement. Once you equip Combat MK1 or Tactical MK1 enhancement at the equipment workbench, Medium Shield will be unlocked.

Farming Maps

Medium Shields appear in Mechanical and Military loot pools, so prioritize areas with Tech Chests, Industrial Machines, and Raider Camps. Avoid civilian areas, as Military-grade equipment rarely spawns there.

The most reliable way to obtain them is by searching for undiscovered chests on specific maps. Players report high chest spawn rates in Buried City, Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, and The Blue Gate - especially in less competitive areas at the map edges.

Playing during off-peak hours can also increase your success rate. Once you acquire a valuable component from ARC Raiders, evacuate quickly; hesitation often results in losing your hard-earned equipment.

Crafting

If you find farming maps too inefficient, you can craft them at Equipment Workbench. The recipe requires 4 Batteries and 1 ARC Circuitry. Lance will sell these items for 6,000 coins after you reach account level 12, with a daily limit of 3 purchases.

How to Use?

Recharging Your Shield

In ARC Raiders raids, if your shield energy runs out, you'll need to use consumables to restore it. The basic ARC Energy Battery restores two bars of shield energy and can be obtained from defeated ARC machines, ARC pods, and couriers.

Shield Recharger restores four bars of shield energy and can be crafted at a crafting table. For faster energy restoration, you can choose Surge Shield Recharger, which restores five bars of Medium Shield energy at once. It can be obtained from Medical Lab or Lance for 3,600 coins.

Shield Repair Strategies

One of the most effective long-term strategies for maintaining a Medium Shield supply is to utilize a simple material management cycle. Crafting a shield requires 4 Batteries and 1 ARC Circuitr. Repairing a damaged shield requires 1 Battery and 1 Arc Circuitr, restoring approximately 50 durability points.

However, due to the scarcity of ARC Circuitrs, repairing severely damaged shields is often inefficient. Instead, you can recycle damaged shields for 1 ARC Circuit, then use that circuit and 4 Batteries to craft a new shield. 

This creates what players call an infinite shield loop, which is generally more material-efficient than repeated repairs.

Strategic Usage in Combat

Medium Shield excels in intense ARC Raider PvP combat. The extra durability gives you more leeway when breaking through doorways or gaining advantageous positions, allowing you to survive longer in prolonged battles than opponents using Medium Shield.

While the item does incur a slight movement speed penalty, it's minimal, and you can still effectively reposition yourself.

To mitigate the 5% movement speed reduction, invest skill points in Used to the Weight skill in Conditioning branch of Skill Tree, which reduces the movement speed penalty from heavy shields.

In combat, you can apply pressure to your opponent. If you take damage, use grenades or smoke grenades to create space and quickly reset your shield or health based on your condition, then confidently peek out again to fire.

If you want to build a PvP loadout around Medium Shield, consider pairing it with Stitcher. It's extremely cost-effective in intense combat and can help you deal with most enemies.

This concludes our article on how to obtain and use Medium Shield in ARC Raiders. This item grants players sufficient durability to maintain an advantage in combat and avoid immediate defeat.

Finally, a reminder: Medium Shield is suitable for players who intend to hold their ground and win the battle, rather than fleeing the battlefield. If your strategy relies on dodging all enemy attacks, then Light Shield is the best choice.

ARC Raiders 5th Expedition will run from September 8th to September 29th, giving players three weeks to register and complete the final expedition of the current system. This expedition will also introduce several changes to enhance the gameplay experience, including optional mission resets and a longer expedition window.

However, these changes seem more like bridges to future developments than final solutions. According to the official announcement, 5th Expedition will be the last expedition before early 2027, a decision perhaps more significant than 5th Expedition itself.

Because the feedback from the player community regarding 5th Expedition has been highly controversial, the developers are using this time to rethink aspects including system rewards, ease of use, progression, and the cost of restarting.

Two development directions are particularly important: providing a more robust Catch-Up Mechanic for new players and providing veteran players with a more reasonable reason to reset.

5th Expedition

The biggest highlight of ARC Raiders 5th Expedition isn't actually the rewards, but rather the future development of the game after it ends.

The development team has confirmed that 5th Expedition, as the final expedition event, will return in 2027 with major improvements. More importantly, the official announcement explicitly identified three areas needing improvement:

• Departure Time
• Reward Mechanism
• New Player Engagement

In fact, 5th Expedition has already addressed many issues complained about by players from previous expeditions.

In the current expedition, you can choose not to reset your progress; the expedition window has been extended from two weeks to three weeks.

The previous Last Call option has been removed; and the skill point cap for expedition rewards has been set at 15 points, providing a maximum consecutive buff that can directly raise a character's level by three.

While these adjustments are important, they also reveal a deeper problem. The purpose of an expedition is to make players feel that resetting is worthwhile. If the process itself is the biggest cost, and the rewards are becoming increasingly perfunctory, then with each cycle, the system's rationale becomes increasingly unconvincing.

This concern is growing stronger in the player community, who are placing high hopes on the official next steps for expedition changes.

Catch-Up Mechanic

While the current Catch-Up Mechanic in ARC Raiders is useful, its applicability is smaller than players expected.

This mechanism was first introduced in the second Expedition. Essentially, if you participated in a previous expedition but didn't collect all your skill points, you can choose to make up for them in the next expedition with a lower Stash Value.

Clearly, the current Catch-Up Mechanic requires you to have participated in the corresponding expedition, rather than guaranteeing that all new players can catch up with veteran players.

Over time, this will widen the gap between veteran and new players, going beyond a simple shortage of ARC Raiders Items.

Therefore, based on player feedback and official information, the 2027 expedition system may undergo significant changes to the catch-up mechanism. For example, instead of restoring skill points, it might restore the progress of older expeditions.

This doesn't mean that all rewards will be given to new players. A more reasonable system would allow new players to complete previous expedition milestones, additional challenges, or invest more time unlocking older progress; while veteran players could still benefit from their previously completed expedition progress.

In other words, the new ARC Raiders Expedition catch-up mechanism should not only ensure that new players don't fall too far behind veteran players, but also shouldn't negate the value of veteran players' early, complete progress.

Once the new catch-up mechanism solves the problem of new players joining the game, another issue arises:

Why Do Players Reset Their Progress?

ARC Raiders requires players to invest time in character upgrades, farming gear, resources, completing quests, acquiring blueprints, and Stash Value. Expedition, on the other hand, requires players to give up a significant portion of these achievements in exchange for long-term benefits.

This reset mechanism has caused considerable disagreement within the player community.

Some players are happy to accept this cycle and see resetting as part of the game's features. Others believe that the rewards after resetting are insufficient to justify repeating the process.

The official announcement of Expedition's suspension may indicate that they have truly recognized and begun to address this issue.

Back in May, the developers stated that the number of players signing up for Expedition was low. Part of the reason was the insufficient rewards, and another was players' reluctance to give up ARC Raiders Blueprints and Items they had painstakingly acquired.

Therefore, these players who didn't want to reset their progress weren't just concerned about getting more loot; they also desired a more meaningful and sustainable reset system.

For example, the 2027 Expedition event might offer a permanent progress milestone, more promising skill tree development, long-term Raider upgrades, additional stash or utility progress, exclusive collectibles related to Expedition achievements, and new progress paths that remain valuable even after a reset.

For some advanced players, preparing equipment and weapons in advance can reduce resource pressure when re-entering an Expedition cycle and allow them to complete progress and unlock rewards faster.

In addition to farming in daily gameplay, you can also choose to buy ARC Raiders Items from EZG.com, selecting equipment and weapons based on the requirements of the upcoming expedition.

The key is that even though each Expedition reset removes a significant portion of a player's short-term progress, players should feel their account or Raiders' strength continuously increasing over time.

This would directly change players' psychological perception of the system. Players wouldn't feel like they've lost everything after resetting their progress, but that they've only sacrificed short-term progress in exchange for permanent achievements.

Such a design would be more readily accepted by players. Furthermore, this aligns with the official development direction for ARC Raiders. After announcing a shift to a major update every two years, the developers have more time to focus on game content, progression systems, economic balance, fair play, and anti-cheat mechanisms.

The current pause in Expedition is also to allow for larger-scale adjustments to players in 2027, going far beyond simply increasing rewards.

Optional Reset

Players can currently only choose not to reset their quest progress. The developers stated this is because quest lines may appear repetitive after each Expedition.

However, Skill Tree, Level, and Stash progress will still be reset.

What if future expeditions gave players more meaningful options in these areas that must be reset?

Players seeking the full experience could choose to reset to the maximum extent and obtain the richest Expedition rewards, while another type of player could retain their current progress and gain smaller but still significant benefits.

This would make Expedition event less of a forced rest and more of a balance between risk and reward.

While these three developments haven't been officially confirmed, the direction is becoming clearer. The developers acknowledge that the current system has too many restrictions, insufficient rewards, and is difficult for new players to grasp.

At the same time, their broader development strategy is increasingly focused on progress and long-term goals.

If the developers simply slightly reduce the difficulty of completing Expedition, the same problems will eventually reappear.

However, if they use this pause to rebuild the system around catching up, meaningful permanent rewards, and greater player choice, then Expedition system has the potential to become one of the most robust long-term systems in ARC Raiders.