Winter is here, and ARC Raiders is celebrating it with the recent December update. Alongside a lot of other new content, the Cold Snap map condition is a big arrival, and unlike rain or Night Raids, it tries to kill you just for being outside. Cold Snap event triggers on Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, and Blue Gate. Stella Montis is a fully indoor map, so it’s out of all weather effects.
What you face during Cold Snap is Frostbite buildup, which drains your health if you stay too long outside in the cold. ARC Raiders’ Frostbite weather isn’t that hard once you know how it works. After a couple of Cold Snap runs, we have figured out a few things about exactly how to survive the map condition. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
How Frostbite Works During Cold Snap in ARC Raiders
Frostbite is a buildup-based status effect linked to exposure. Once your Raider gets into open snowfall, the Frostbite effect triggers. For about the first two minutes outside, nothing will happen to your health. During this grace period, snow visibly accumulates on your character, the breathing becomes heavy, and you will begin to shiver.
Once the couple of minutes are gone, frostbite buildup begins to damage health until you remain under snowfall. From full health, frostbite kills a raider in a little over a minute. Taken together, you have over three minutes you can stay outdoors without a shelter.
When you go inside the building, the damage stops, but the buildup won’t disappear immediately. It takes between 30 and 60 seconds indoors to get rid of frostbite. If you go outside again too quickly, the next exposure will hit more hard and fast. There is no visible meter to measure frostbite buildup, so audio and animation cues on the screen are the only possible indicators.
Note: Cold Snap can spawn you directly outdoors when you enter the match. If that happens, you will be taking damage ticks from frostbite before you can even do something in Raid.
What Counts as Shelter and What Doesn’t
Cold Snap’s shelter rules are strict and a little confusing. The main thing is whether snow can touch your Raider. If you’re in a completely closed building, frostbite can’t get to you. But it’s not just about four walls. Parking garages, bus shelters, field depots, and a few roofed outdoor spots can keep you safe, as long as they block snowfall.
Call it a coincidence, but I was at Launch Tower during Cold Snap, and as I stayed under the catwalks with the walls, frostbite didn’t touch me. Though the area is restricted and risky as you move a little away, the snow will catch you. The same is true with some extraction hatches—if you crouch in just the right spot, you’re safe, even if look exposed.
But don’t trust every roof you see. Half-open alcoves, thin overhangs, highway tunnels, or the decorative roofs at Spaceport or Buried City don’t block frostbite at all. The only way to be sure is to watch your raider. If you’re safe, you’ll hear a clear sigh of relief and no shivering. If you don’t get that, it means you are still freezing. Simply standing beside walls doesn’t help unless the whole location counts as shelter in the game. Sometimes the best you can do is stick close to any cover you find out in the open.
Read the Warning Signs Before You Take Damage
Cold Snap gives you plenty of warning if you pay attention. Snow builds are easy to see on your character’s body and gear, and your breathing gets louder and more strained. If the weapons aren’t wielded, your character holds their hands out to stay warm. Enter the cold, and you’ll hear a quick gasp; when you step inside, there will be a sigh noise from Raider. These small hints matter because frostbite won’t stop right after you get inside. You need to wait until the shivering is gone completely.
How to Cure Cold Snap’s Frostbite in ARC Raiders
Frostbite damage is normal health damage and can be healed. You can use Bandages, Vita Shots, and Vita Spray to heal, but they only recover stamina to buy you time. Low-tier bandages struggle to work once frostbite ticks, while Vita Spray can temporarily outpace it by burning through your supply. These are temporary buffs because you’ll continue getting damage whenever you set foot outdoors.
The other way is to use passive healing augments like Combat MK.2, which only activate once damage has stopped and restore HP for 5 seconds. So you must be under shelter to avoid taking damage before passive regeneration works again. It makes Combat augments valuable to recover health between outdoor pushes, but useless while freezing nonstop.
If you’re caught far from shelter, set yourself on fire. Yes, fire instantly clears frostbite buildup and stops the damage. It can be done with Blaze Grenades, Fireball Burners, Baron Husk flames, or similar items. Let the burn complete, then heal with health items and recharge shields as required. This method costs health and shield durability, but it resets your cold timer and lets you survive the snow to move further. You might think standing near the fire will do the same. No, it won’t. You must be actively on fire to clear frostbite. In squads, teammates can use Flame Spray on you, since friendly fire doesn’t strike.
How to Fight in Cold Snap Event
You can scoop up the snow and throw snowballs. Raiders see a slight increase in frostbite buildup pace when hit by snowballs, and they also receive minor damage. If ARCs are around, throw snowballs at alarmed cars to create noise distractions for enemies and make a safe exit without bloodshed.
Cold Snap limits fights indoors. Most encounters happen at doorways, stairwells, and interior choke points. Considering that, melee weapons are best equipped because no one can stay outdoors in cold, so there’ll be no long-range fights. Extraction points are more dangerous during the map condition. Be aware of ambushes at elevators and hatches, as players often hang out indoors and then rush out in quick bursts.
With all the talk of how severe and deadly Cold Snap can be, it also spawns one of the best loot you can find in ARC Raiders. Festival-themed items and Firework Box blueprints are exclusive to this event. Candleberries, the special seasonal thing to look for, are the evergreen bushes with red berries, mostly found near small structures, rocky terrain, and dense foliage. They are mostly spread across the map, which forces you to go in and out in between shelters in search of the items.
