New ARC Raiders Update Fixes Accidental Changes

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Embark Studios quickly released a new patch for ARC Raiders today to address some unexpected issues introduced with their recent Headwinds update. The Headwinds update, which launched January 27th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, included many bug fixes and improvements. However, players noticed some of their preferred weapons seemed less powerful, even though the update notes didn’t mention any weapon balancing changes. This hotfix aims to correct those unintended adjustments.

Last week, the developers of ARC Raiders revealed their plans for the game through April 2026. The first update, called Headwinds, launched this week and introduces a changing weather condition to the Buried City map each week. It also adds a new challenge for players: collecting parts from the game’s most dangerous ARC enemies and displaying them in a special case. Finally, the update includes a new matchmaking option that lets players who enjoy player-versus-player combat face off against full teams on their own for extra experience points, though this change has proven controversial.

ARC Raiders Reverts Weapon Changes In New Update

Many players were upset that the latest update didn’t address weapon balance, despite what the patch notes said. They soon discovered that popular weapons like the Kettle and Venator had been quietly nerfed – their firing speed had been reduced. The developers at Embark quickly acknowledged this was a mistake introduced with the ARC Raiders Headwinds update and released a fix on January 28 for PC and PlayStation 5. While the fix is available now on those platforms, Xbox players will have to wait, and crossplay is temporarily disabled until the update is released for Xbox Series X and S.

The Kettle wasn’t directly changed in the latest update, but its firing speed was reduced because some players were using software to make it fire much faster than intended. The fire rate went from 650 to 400. The Trigger Nade, which had been very powerful in player-versus-player combat in ARC Raiders for weeks, was also weakened. It now takes longer to explode and deals less damage.

Players noticed that loot was taking too long to appear after opening containers, but this has now been fixed. The developers at Embark have adjusted how quickly the first item shows up when looting, explaining that the previous speed was a mistake. Players who have unlocked the Looter’s Instinct skill will continue to see loot revealed more quickly than others.

Players of ARC Raiders are currently facing major server problems due to a large, coordinated DDoS attack, which is also affecting Embark’s other game, The Finals. This is causing players to experience lag, crashes, and login issues. Embark is advising players to temporarily stop playing, as lag is causing gear loss during raids. The problems started after yesterday’s Headwinds update and have been happening on and off since. The studio says they are working to fix the issues and expect things to be back to normal shortly.

ARC Raiders January 28 Hotfix Update Patch Notes

So, the update yesterday caused a few problems, which is never fun. We’re pushing out a quick fix right now to tackle the biggest issues we’ve found. Unfortunately, Xbox players are going to have to wait a bit longer for this one, and cross-play won’t be working for you guys during this time. We’re working hard to get it sorted for Xbox as quickly as possible though!

  • Fixed an issue that caused unintended fire rate changes to several weapons.,

Just a heads-up: after yesterday’s update, a bug temporarily slowed down the firing rate of some weapons. This wasn’t intentional, and we’re sorry for the surprise. We always try to list all changes in our update notes, and we’re grateful you let us know about this so quickly.

  • Fixed an issue where some cosmetics available through Raider Tokens were missing from the customization menu if they hadn’t been purchased yet.,
  • Fixed an issue where parts of the Ukrainian localization unintentionally appeared in the game.,

We’re currently adding a complete Ukrainian translation, along with support for other languages, to ARC Raiders. We’ll let everyone know as soon as these translations are available.

  • We have heard you wondering about the loot appearing too slowly. We have rebalanced the speed at which the first item appears when looting. The looting speed before 1.13.0 was unintended. Players with the Looter’s Instincts unlocked will still see loot faster than those without.

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2026-01-28 18:56