In the shooter game ARC Raiders, weapons are crucial for successful exploration. Players often tend to choose rarer weapons, but this might be a misconception, as this criterion doesn’t accurately reflect a weapon’s power.
Even in the regular arsenal, there are many weapon options that can give you huge surprises. Don’t believe it? Then, find out why in this Arc Raiders weapon tier guide. However, it should be noted that the sorting here is based on the latest existing patch, which may change slightly in subsequent patch releases.
S-Tier
First, let me introduce the weapons that can be put into S-Tier list, including Ferro, Anvil, Tempest, and Bettina. They are basically compatible with all PvE and PvP loadouts and provide an absolute advantage in your battles.
Ferro
If we had to choose a king among Arc Raiders’ weapons, Ferro would undoubtedly be the top contender. This incredibly powerful rifle can easily penetrate ARC plating, and if you aim accurately enough, a single bullet can easily kill an enemy.
Besides its extremely high damage output, the ease of crafting Ferro is also a major reason many players choose it: it only requires 5 Metal Parts and 2 Rubber Parts to complete, and these ARC Raiders items can be found everywhere on all maps.
Anvil
Next up is Anvil, whose damage output is very similar to Ferro’s. However, it is recommended to focus on using it to kill enemies at close range, as its melee burst damage is very strong and its aiming requirements are not as high.
The materials needed to craft this weapon are also very easy to obtain: 5 Mechanical Components and 6 Simple Gun Parts. However, please note that finding the blueprint for crafting Anvil is a significant challenge, as its drop rate is low, and you may need to farm multiple times to obtain it.
Tempest
This fully automatic assault rifle is a favorite among many players who enjoy offensive and high-explosive gameplay, as its strong stability and extremely high rate of fire make it easy to penetrate the armor of low- to medium-level enemies and even kill them.
As always, due to the rarity of the blueprints and the crafting requirements, it may take a lot of time and effort to find the crafting blueprint, a Magnetic Accelerator, 3 Medium Gun Parts, and 2 Exodus Modules, but trust me, it’s well worth it.
Bettina
Many players may not understand how Bettina, with its relatively low rate of fire, was selected as an S-tier weapon in the midst of intense and exciting battles. This is mainly because its extremely high damage output completely compensates for this shortcoming.
Furthermore, its stability is also very good. So if you spend some time finding 3 Advanced Mechanical Components, 3 Heavy Gun Parts, and 3 Canisters and farming its blueprint multiple times, the final combat effects will definitely impress you.
A-Tier
The weapon options listed here, while slightly inferior to S tier weapons, are sufficient for medium to high difficulty combat challenges. In addition, some weapons differ slightly in their combat focus; for example, some are geared towards PvE, while others are geared towards PvP.
Equalizer & Hullcracker
Due to the large number of options in A-Tier list, some weapons with similar effects will be introduced here. For example, Equalizer and Hullcracker pair is only suitable for PvE to eliminate Arc enemies. They can deal devastating damage based on the predictability of the robot’s attacks, but this is ineffective in PvP.
Compared to the previous weapons, the blueprints and materials required to craft these two are very easy to find: Equalizer requires a Queen Reactor, 3 Magnetic Accelerators, and 3 Complex Gun Parts; while Hullcracker requires a Magnetic Accelerator, an Exodus Module, and 3 Heavy Gun Parts.
Osprey & Jupiter
The biggest drawback of these two long-range sniper rifles in combat are their excessive weight and inability to provide an effective advantage in close-quarters combat. However, this weakness is not insurmountable; it can be overcome by equipping yourself with ARC Raiders Items that increase movement and attack speed.
As for the materials used to craft them, Osprey is relatively easier to find, but some are still quite rare: 2 Advanced Mechanical Components, 3 Medium Gun Parts, and 7 Wires. Jupiter, on the other hand, requires 3 Magnetic Accelerators, 3 Complex Gun Parts, and a Queen Reactor.
Bobcat & Renegade
If you enjoy close-quarters combat, you might want to try Bobcat and Renegade, but both have some drawbacks: Bobcat is less stable, so you may need to find a higher-level stabilization attachment for it; Renegade has a long reload time, which may cause you to take damage during the reload process.
However, they have another advantage: the materials for crafting and upgrading are very easy to obtain, which can significantly increase their damage output. Bobcat requires a Magnetic Accelerator, 3 Light Gun Parts, and 2 Exodus Modules to craft; while Renegade requires 2 Advanced Mechanical Components, 3 Medium Gun Parts, and 5 Oil.
Kettle
Finally, in Tier A, my favorite is Kettle, not only because it’s one of your starting weapons in ARC Raiders, but also because its performance in both PvE and PvP is equally impressive, making it a truly versatile weapon option. Moreover, it only requires 6 metal parts and 8 rubber parts to complete.
However, it’s worth noting that Kettle’s damage output isn’t very high. It’s very effective for killing low-level enemies to farm experience and coins, but it struggles against Arc robots like Rocketeers or squads of three or more. Therefore, use it on maps where enemies are sparse as much as possible.
These are S and A tier weapon options worth trying in ARC Raiders right now. Of course, this doesn’t mean that other weapons not on this list are entirely bad, just that they might not be suitable at the moment. It would be great to see the entire tier list reshuffled after each in-game patch; it definitely creates even more build combinations.
