ARC Raiders doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to fighting the ARC enemies. These machines are fast, angry, and tuned to send you back to Speranza with an empty pack. Worse, if you rely on old strategies, you are setting yourself up to get wiped. Embark Studios has patched out old crutches: Wolfpack grenades now require a rare Rocketeer Driver to craft, fire no longer melts heavy targets, and recent updates have rolled out deadly threats like the Comet, Firefly, Shredder, ARC Turbine, Vaporizer, and the Matriarch.
But every one of them, from the smallest Ticks to the big Bastion, has mechanical flaws, armored thresholds, and weak spots you can exploit if you know where to target and how to fight smart. After too many deaths, a few blown-up backpacks, and one too many Leapers sitting on my corpse, I’ve figured out where every ARC’s vulnerable parts are and, more to the point, what works against them. Here’s how to kill all ARC enemies patrolling topside in ARC Raiders.
Ground Swarms, Rollers & Ambushers
Tick
- Weak Spot: None (Uniform light frame)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, ARC Thermo Lining, ARC Flex Rubber, Tick Pod
Tick is a spider-like ARC machine that hangs out in interior bunkers and dark loot POIs like the Dam Battlegrounds Control Tower. They cling to ceilings and high walls and drop down with an insectoid squeal to latch onto your face and gnaw your health bar. You don’t need to waste ammo or make noise here, though; swing your Raider Tool melee weapon right as they jump for a one-hit kill. If you spot them overhead before you enter the room, pop them off the ceiling with a single fire from any weapon.
Pop
- Weak Spot: Round center core
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Crude Explosives, ARC Coolant, ARC Thermo Lining, Pop Trigger
Pops are spherical suicide rollers that sprint at you before detonating in a massive kinetic blast. Their outer protective ring is somewhat resilient to light ammo, so always aim dead center into their spherical chassis. They often spawn in groups, so be quick on the trigger and don’t let these tiny creatures put you on your toes (Rocketeer is waiting for you).
If a group rushes you and you’re caught mid-reload, sprint straight toward the lead Pop and dodge roll past it at the last second. The detonation timer will trigger, causing the Pop to blow itself up harmlessly behind you while you keep moving.
Comet
- Weak Spot: Internal core (exposed during attack wind-up)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, Comet Igniter, Advanced ARC Powercell, ARC Coolant, ARC Thermo Lining, Crude Explosives
Comet ARC enemy was introduced in the ARC Raiders Shrouded Sky update. The Comet is the Pop’s armored, incendiary big brother. It rolls in fast and charges an oversized thermite suicide blast that covers the ground in fire, and unlike usual Pops, Comets take roughly five or six shots from an Anvil or heavy rifle to get smashed. If this ARC enemy gets too close and you lack the firepower to stagger it in time, immediately leap behind hard cover. Let it trigger its self-destruct cycle against a wall or boulder, roll clear, and let the blast dissipate.
Shredder
- Weak Spot: Three underside thruster assemblies
- Drops: ARC Powercell, Shredder Gyro, ARC Alloy, Simple Gun Parts, Shotgun Ammo, Mechanical Components, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining
Shredders are close-quarters, low hovering nightmare drones that lock down corridors. When they get close, they spin up a devastating rotary explosion that can crack your shield and down you in a fraction of a second. Thankfully, a Shredder cannot move and charge its attack at once, so always fight them near hard corners.
Bait their wind-up, hide behind a wall to absorb the shockwave, then step out and blast the three thrusters on their underside. Two direct hits from a Hullcracker or a tossed red Synth Fuel can detonated under their frame will blow them to pieces.
Fireball
- Weak Spot: Internal burner core (exposed during fire spray)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Fireball Burner, Crude Explosives, ARC Coolant, ARC Thermo Lining
Fireballs roll through high-tier indoors, hunting raiders with a flamethrower. Although you can brute-force them through their outer shell with heavy weapons like the Anvil or Ferro, light and medium guns will ricochet off their armor. Wait for the Fireball to halt and pull its front plates back to unleash its flame attack. The moment the inner core glows red, shoot its exposed center, then immediately roll back to avoid the burning fuel puddle it drops on death.
Aerial Drones & Scouts
Wasp
- Weak Spot: Four flight thrusters; small rear canister
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Light Ammo, Wasp Driver, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining
Wasps are the basic aerial ARC drone that’ll teach you pain. Their twin guns lock onto you with mechanical accuracy, so trying to out-strafe them in an open field is a fool’s errand. They have four flight thrusters, and breaking any two will cause the Wasp to lose stabilization, spin out, and crater into the dirt. If you have Seeker Grenades in your rig, toss one up. Unlike larger aerial enemies, a single Seeker Grenade will one-tap a Wasp out of the sky.
Hornet
- Weak Spot: Two unarmored rear thrusters
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, ARC Performance Steel, ARC Synthetic Resin, Medium Ammo, Simple Gun Parts, Hornet Driver
Hornet is the armored escort version of the Wasp that fires quick kinetic bursts and blue charged electric shock darts that stun your movement and deal heavy damage. Its front two thruster nacelles are heavily plated, so front-facing fire from light weapons is largely wasted. Use cover, wait for the audio cue of its charging electric dart, then dodge roll horizontally.
The Hornet’s two rear thrusters are the weak points. Crouch to line up the angle on its back even when it’s facing you, destroy both thrusters, and it will be done, simple as that. If you can’t get a rear angle, melt the front plating instead, as heavy ammo eats through the armor faster than you’d expect.
Firefly
- Weak Spot: Underside fuel canister; V-shaped head plate; thrusters
- Drops: Firefly Igniter, ARC Thermo Lining, Crude Explosives, Light Ammo
Added in the Shrouded Sky update, the Firefly is like an airborne Fireball ARC machine. It flies in packs alongside Hornets, swooping low to bathe raiders in persistent torrents of flame. You can knock a Firefly out of the sky by cracking two of its thrusters with high-caliber rifles, but it also has one weak point that’s a small V-shaped black armor plate just above its optical eye. Breaking that plate will expose a soft critical part that lets you drop it with rifles before it ever gets within flamethrower range.
Snitch
- Weak Spot: Three underside sensor flaps or wing plating
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Snitch Scanner, ARC Synthetic Resin, Sensors, ARC Thermo Lining
Snitches are unarmed recon discs that project a sweeping searchlight (Blue for idle, Yellow for tracking, Red for full alarm). If you see red, it emits a siren to call reinforcements that arrive in pairs of Wasps and Hornets. Counterintuitively, Seeker Grenades do not one-tap a Snitch (it takes two).
To destroy it fast, shoot the flap wings mounted around its lower rim with an assault rifle or sniper. Even if you manage to hit two out of three blades, that’s enough to let it fall and be destroyed. If you’re short on loot or want to grind Wasp or Hornet drops, allow one Snitch to summon a few enemies for loot.
Spotter
- Weak Spot: Middle optical eye lens
- Drops: Spotter Relay, ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Sensors, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining
Spotters are tiny evasive recon drones that work as remote targeting pods for heavy artillery Bombardiers. They lack weapons of their own, but they’ll aggressively chase raiders through doorways and buildings to paint them with a solid targeting laser. When marked, Bombardier mortars will track and hit your exact position with zero spread. Spotters respawn nonstop as long as their parent Bombardier is alive, but their chassis is fragile. Tap their front camera lens with some rifle shots to knock them out of the air whenever they lock on you.
Defensive Emplacements and Airborne Heavy Landers
Turret
- Weak Spot: None (Exposed main housing)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Light Ammo, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining
Mounted on walls and ceilings in medium and high-value loot areas, automated Turrets project a blue scanning beam that flips red upon detection. Once locked, they unleash a burst of machine-gun fire that can shred full shields in seconds. Turrets don’t have armor plating, so wait behind good cover like a door or pillar for their firing cycle to pause, lean out, and put two Anvil/Ferro rounds or a single Snap Blast grenade into the main chassis.
Sentinel
- Weak Spot: Rear fuel canister
- Drops: ARC Alloy, Advanced ARC Powercell, Heavy Ammo, Simple Gun Parts, ARC Coolant, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Motion Core, Medium Gun Parts, ARC Thermo Lining, ARC Synthetic Resin, Sentinel Firing Core
Sentinel is the turret’s big, mean form, which snipes instead of suppression fire. They are powerful, long-range sniper ARCs found on elevated towers and ridgelines such as the Pilgrim’s Peak tower at Blue Gate.
Sentinels lock on from far distances and charge up a high-damage railgun slug that can down a raider in an instant. Their charging laser is heavily telegraphed, so break their sightline behind solid terrain when it begins to whine. Flank around to its blind spot and hammer the yellow fuel canister mounted to its rear core with high-caliber rounds or a Snap Blast grenade.
ARC Turbine
- Weak Spot: Interior shell / yellow core canisters (exposed after landing)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, ARC Coolant, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Motion Core, ARC Performance Steel, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining, Launcher Ammo, Medium Gun Parts, Turbine Compressor
Introduced in the ARC Raiders Riven Tides map update, the ARC Turbine is a big, heavily armored dropship-style defensive machine that descends from the sky in groups all over the Rust Belt map. While airborne, its thick exterior armor repels most basic weaponry as it fires long-range suppression missiles.
Once it lands on the ground, ARC Turbine’s outer armor panels unclamp to reveal its inner shell and yellow fuel canisters. The fastest high-level counter is to deploy a Zipline toward the Turbine, pop a Photoelectric Cloak to drop aggro, grapple onto its landed frame, and slap two or three Deadline Mines onto the exposed interior canisters before riding the zip back out.
Heavy Walkers and Roaming Predators
Surveyor
- Weak Spot: Exposed central core (only during data transmission)
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Advanced ARC Powercell, Mechanical Components, ARC Performance Steel, ARC Circuitry, ARC Coolant, ARC Motion Core, Sensors, Surveyor Vault
Surveyors are armored vault spheres that roll across maps collecting data. While they scan, they project a blue beam of light into the sky, and if they are damaged or spotted, they clamp shut and roll away at high speed, turning the fight into an exhausting chase. The cleanest way to harvest a Surveyor is to sneak up on one while its sky-beam is active because its outer armor rolls back during the scan that reveals its glowing core. A single shot to the core from a Hullcracker or a Snap Blast Grenade will destroy it, dropping its rare Surveyor Vault loot cache.
Leaper
- Weak Spot: Central red eye; leg joints
- Drops: ARC Alloy, Advanced ARC Powercell, Mechanical Components, Explosive Compound, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Motion Core, ARC Performance Steel, Leaper Pulse Unit
Leapers are quadruped assault beasts that leap large distances across the map to crash down on players with an area-of-effect shockwave.
Important Patch Update: Fire damage was largely nerfed against Leapers. In the current build, dump-firing Flame Sprays or tossing Blaze Grenades is no longer an instant kill; it now takes multiple fire canisters or up to four Blaze Grenades to bring one down.
Instead, fight Leapers by abusing doorways since their massive chassis won’t fit into building entrances. Stand inside a doorway where their leap attacks cannot connect, wait for the recovery pause after they land, and fire heavy ammo (Anvil, Ferro) into their big red eye in the center.
If you are caught outdoors, focus fire on one leg joint to shatter the armor plate; breaking a leg destroys its mobility and prevents it from executing long leaps. Further, Leaper’s big weakness, which most players probably don’t know is fire; burn a Leaper, and it will accept defeat in no time.
Bastion
- Weak Spot: Yellow leg joints (kneecaps); rear canister and internal red core
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Advanced ARC Powercell, Mechanical Components, Medium Gun Parts, ARC Motion Core, ARC Circuitry, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Performance Steel, ARC Conductive Coupler, Medium Ammo, Bastion Cell
Bastions are slow but terrifying things to face once they get at you. These ARC enemies are heavily armored crab-walkers equipped with an auto-lock minigun that shreds cover and eliminates raiders caught in the open. To kill a Bastion safely without burning six Trailblazer grenades (which were also nerfed in recent updates):
- Target the Kneecaps: Concentrate fire on the unarmored yellow joints on its legs.
- Exploit the Stun: Break a leg joint to let the Bastion collapse with a temporary stun.
- Shatter the Canister: Sprint behind the collapsed machine and unload high-DPS rounds (Bettina, Volcano, or Anvil) into the small yellow canister on its rear.
- Punish the Core: Destroying the canister creates an explosion that exposes a large red circular core. Continuously hammer this exposed core to finish the walker off.
Bombardier
- Weak Spot: Yellow leg joints; rear canister/cylinder
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Advanced ARC Powercell, ARC Performance Steel, ARC Flex Rubber, Mechanical Components, Heavy Gun Parts, Launcher Ammo, ARC Motion Core, Bombardier Cell
Think Bastion with range and an attitude problem. Bombardier shares the Bastion’s armored walker chassis, but trades the machine gun for high-trajectory mortar cannons. Working in tandem with hovering Spotter drones, it bombards raiders with explosive shells that strike even behind cover.
You can dismantle a Bombardier using the same mechanical loop as the Bastion (destroy yellow knee joints, stagger it, then blast the rear yellow canister to expose the core). To avoid its mortar attacks during the approach, either keep sprinting left and right between volleys—or deploy a horizontal Zipline. Riding back and forth on a zip will completely break the Bombardier’s projectile prediction, which will allow you to reload and fire launchers without taking splash damage. Sticky explosives like Snap Hooks do wonders if you can get close before it notices you.
Flying Dreadnoughts
Rocketeer
- Weak Spot: Engine thrusters; V-shaped optical head armor
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Advanced ARC Powercell, Electrical Components, ARC Circuitry, ARC Motion Core, Launcher Ammo, Heavy Gun Parts, Rocketeer Driver
Rocketeers are the real deadly killers in ARC Raiders. These flying ARC gunships fire missile salvos that can level half a building, and even with cover, splash damage will kill you through evasive rolls. Never ever fight Rocketeer if you don’t have a good piece of cover—rocks or trees will fail to protect you from its devastating homing rockets.
You have two primary avenues to beat down Rocketeer:
- Engage the Rocketeer from extreme render distance using an Anvil IV or Ferro IV. At long distances, the Rocketeer’s AI often struggles to acquire full aggro, causing it to drift slowly toward you instead of charging at high speed. You can destroy its thrusters before it ever fires a rocket salvo.
- Right above its optical eye is a small, triangular V-shaped piece of black plating. Strong rifle fire will pop this plate off in two shots, exposing a soft critical zone. Pouring continuous heavy fire into this exposed cavity will down the gunship way faster than attempting to shoot all its thruster nacelles.
- A single Wolfpack grenade can one-shot a Rocketeer, but only if the enemy is isolated. If small drones like Wasps or Hornets are nearby, the homing sub-munitions will split targets, leaving the Rocketeer damaged, alive, and aggressive.
You can throw a Showstopper or Hornet Driver grenade to stun it for ten seconds, which buys you enough time to strike the thrusters safely.
Vaporizer
- Weak Spot: Forward shield generator; side thrusters; underbelly optical core
- Drops: ARC Alloy, ARC Powercell, Advanced ARC Powercell, Electrical Components, Energy Clip, ARC Circuitry, ARC Flex Rubber, Heavy Gun Parts, Vaporizer Regulator
The Vaporizer is a high-tier flying titan armed with a thermal laser that deletes shields and blankets terrain in fire pools. It protects itself with a directional frontal energy shield that absorbs direct fire weapons and deflects thrown explosives. To defeat the Vaporizer, you must manage its shield timer:
- Toss a throwable like a Light Impact Grenade at the ARC to force it to deploy its blue forward barrier.
- Immediately swap to a high-rate-of-fire kinetic weapon like the Bobcat or Torrente and spray the barrier to overload and collapse it.
- Once the shield drops, you’ll have a roughly 10-second vulnerability window. Unleash Hullcracker launcher shots, Wolfpack grenades, or focus fire on its underbelly optical core before the shield resets. You can also clip its side thrusters with rifles like the Aphelion to impair its flight ceiling and keep it close to ground level.
Colossal ARCs
Queen
- Weak Spot: Underside belly plates; yellow leg joints; exposed top reactor core
- Drops: ARC Alloy, Advanced ARC Powercell, Magnetic Accelerator, Complex Gun Parts, ARC Motion Core, ARC Circuitry, ARC Coolant, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Performance Steel, Advanced Mechanical & Electrical Components, ARC Synthetic Resin, ARC Thermo Lining, Queen Reactor
The Queen is an enormous walking fortress and the worst ARC enemy you’ll face in ARC Raiders that appears only during Harvester events. She uses orbital mortars, sweeping ground-scorch lasers, EMP blasts that strip shields, and ground slams that crush anyone under her chassis.
In squads, Harvester events attract aggressive PvP third parties, but in solo raids, players almost universally cooperate to bring the Queen down. Use the Harvester superstructure as primary cover once you finish the terminal interaction to stop its environmental fire traps. Direct heavy fire from Hullcrackers, Anvils, or energy weapons like the Equalizer into her thick leg plates and lower belly. As the armor plates blow off, her chassis takes on a skeletal appearance, permanently exposing core nodes that take great damage.
For high-risk, high-reward squads, use a Snap Hook to grapple up onto the Queen’s back. Blow off the top middle armor plate with high-caliber rounds, place one or two Deadline Mines onto the exposed reactor, and jump off with the hook or parachute to detonate massive chunks of her health bar.
Matriarch
- Weak Spot: Frontal core (exposed during attacks); leg joints; top chassis plate
- Drops: Matriarch Reactor, Magnetic Accelerator, ARC Circuitry, ARC Performance Steel, Advanced ARC Powercell, ARC Flex Rubber, ARC Synthetic Resin
Introduced in the North Line update, the Matriarch is arguably the most dangerous entity in the game. In addition to Queen-level health, she brings an omnidirectional blue energy shield, homing missile swarms, blinding flash charges, and stamina-draining gas mines, all while regularly summoning Bastions and Rocketeers to lock down the area.
- Do not waste Hullcracker shells or Wolfpacks while the Matriarch’s blue energy sphere is active. Maneuver behind hard cover and wait for the shield to cycle off.
- Unlike the Queen, whose core is largely internal, the Matriarch has heavy armor plating across her face and front chassis that rolls back during certain mortar salvos. Sustained explosive damage from Hullcrackers, Aphelions, or Jupiter rifles will permanently blow these front plates away, leaving her primary core open to standard rifle fire.
Even though you can Snap Hook onto her upper deck to plant Deadline Mines as you would on the Queen, proceed with extreme caution since the Matriarch’s missiles have extreme vertical tracking and she’ll fire rockets directly into her own top hull to eliminate raiders attempting to ride her back. Keep a backup shield in your rig, communicate target callouts, and prioritize clearing the Rocketeers she calls before you execute close-range attacks, and you’ll finally be able to kill the most deadly ARC machine in ARC Raiders.
