ARC Raiders Releases New Shrouded Sky Update for February 2026

Embark Studios has launched the Shrouded Sky update for its popular game, ARC Raiders. Players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC can download the update now and enjoy new content like two new enemy types, changes to the Dam Battlegrounds, a new Hurricane map condition, and other improvements.

The latest update for ARC Raiders is the second big one this year, and Embark Studios promises more to come in the next few months. They’ve shared a roadmap for updates through April 2026. The previous update, called ‘Headwinds,’ introduced a new 1v3 matchmaking mode and a new condition for the Buried City map. Now, Embark is releasing another substantial update with lots of changes, improvements, and fresh content for players.

ARC Raiders Releases New Shrouded Sky Update

A new update for ARC Raiders is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, bringing the game to version 1.17.0. This update introduces a dangerous new weather condition called the Hurricane, which will significantly change how players tackle Raids. Strong winds will either help or hinder your movement, depending on the direction you’re going. Players will also need to watch out for flying debris, as it can heavily damage their shields.

Scales

Results

The February 24th update for ARC Raiders introduces two challenging new enemies: the Comet and the Firefly. The Comet is a spherical machine that slowly searches for players. When it finds one, it locks on and explodes with a powerful blast. The Firefly, described as a “floating nightmare,” is heavily armored and attacks with a stream of flames. Players will need to quickly find cover to avoid being burned.

Okay, so the new update dropped, and it’s not just a bunch of new stuff to play. They’ve also tweaked how some of the guns handle. The Stitcher got hit pretty hard – it’s way less accurate now, and doesn’t do as much damage, especially with headshots. They really dialed it back. The Kettle also got a damage reduction. The Venator’s been nerfed too – less headshot damage and overall damage. But it’s not all bad news! They actually buffed the Jupiter and Aphelion, two of the legendary weapons, making them noticeably better in a lot of ways. Overall, a pretty solid update with some needed adjustments.

As a big fan of ARC Raiders, I was glad to see Embark give us an update on their anti-cheat measures. They admitted their last explanation didn’t really cover how much work goes into catching cheaters! Basically, they explained it’s not just simple ‘yes or no’ checks. They have systems that look at how people are playing and analyze data, and those systems are always getting smarter. They’re really cracking down now – if you do something seriously wrong, you’ll be permanently banned immediately. For lesser offenses, you’ll still get a temporary suspension, but they’re definitely stepping up their game!

ARC Raiders Update 1.17.0 Patch Notes for February 24

Balance Changes

Weapons

We released update 1.13 with a weapon optimization that unfortunately reduced the firing speed of some semi-automatic weapons. We quickly addressed this in update 1.13.1 by removing the optimization, but a different, unintended issue slipped into that update as well.

We’ve received reports that weapons were unintentionally made more powerful in the last update. Our investigation revealed that update 1.13.1 accidentally changed how weapon inputs were handled. Previously, players needed to time their clicks to get the best performance from a weapon. After the update, simply clicking rapidly (spam-clicking) worked just as well, removing the need to learn a weapon’s rhythm. We want to maintain some skill in weapon use, but also make things feel more responsive than before. To achieve this, we’ve added more control over how weapon inputs are processed, and we’ve adjusted semi-automatic weapons specifically. Now, rapid-clicking will still work, but players who time their shots carefully will achieve better results.

We’ve also been working on balancing weapons, specifically how well low-tier options perform compared to high-tier ones. Many players have pointed out that some cheaper weapons are too effective, and we want to adjust that. We still want skilled players to be able to use lower-tier weapons successfully, but we’re making some changes to better differentiate the tiers. To start, we’re decreasing the time-to-kill (TTK) for the Stitcher and Kettle, and improving the movement speed of the Aphelion and Jupiter. We’re also revisiting the Venator, as it continues to be very powerful in player-versus-player combat.

Stitcher

We’ve noticed that the Stitcher, while effective at close range and rewarding careful play, can sometimes eliminate opponents too quickly, leaving them little time to react. Many players have pointed out that its high damage when hitting the head is a major factor. While the time-to-kill (TTK) is generally balanced when aiming for the body, headshots significantly reduce it, making the Stitcher faster than other weapons. To address this, we’re making changes to bring the headshot TTK more in line with body shots. These changes include reducing the weapon’s accuracy when firing continuously and lowering the damage multiplier for headshots.

• Reduced Headshot Multiplier from 2.5 to 1.75
• Reduced Base Damage from 7 to 6.5
• Increased Per Shot Dispersion by around 50% (Making it bloom faster)

Kettle

We’ve noticed players are using the Kettle in a way we didn’t quite expect – often at very close range, almost like a submachine gun. While we appreciate its versatility, the Kettle’s high damage was meant for mid-range combat. To better differentiate it from the Stitcher and balance its effectiveness, we’re reducing its overall damage. However, we’re keeping the strong headshot damage bonus, hoping to encourage more precise aiming.

• Reduced Base Damage from 10 to 8.5

Venator

We’ve been monitoring the Venator since the changes in version 1.3.0, and we’ve seen from both player feedback and our data that it’s still too strong in player-versus-player combat. While we expect a top-tier weapon to be effective, the Venator’s performance is currently exceeding our expectations. We plan to reduce its overall damage to increase the time it takes to eliminate opponents. If that isn’t enough, we’ll also consider adjustments to how much ammo it uses and its overall cost.

• Reduced Headshot Multiplier from 2.5 to 2
• Reduced Base Damage from 9 to 8

Jupiter

We’ve made a few changes to the Jupiter weapon for player-versus-player (PVP) combat. While it already deals the most headshot damage, landing those shots at a distance can be tricky. Also, if you miss a shot up close, you’re left vulnerable while reloading or switching weapons. To address this, we’re increasing the zoom level when aiming down sights (ADS) to help you see targets more clearly. We’re also speeding up how quickly you can equip and unequip the weapon, making it easier to switch to a backup weapon after firing.

• Improved ADS Magnification from ~1.9x to ~2.2x
• Improved Equip Time from 1.2s to 1.05s
• Improved Unequip Time from 0.9s to 0.75s

Aphelion

We’ve adjusted the Aphelion legendary weapon because it wasn’t performing as expected in player-versus-player (PVP) combat. Our goal was to create a PVP-focused weapon, but it felt too slow and cumbersome compared to others. We’ve streamlined its handling to make it faster and more responsive, improving its effectiveness in PVP.

• Reduced Base Reload Time from 4.5s to 3.5s
• Reduced Time Between Shots from 0.9s to 0.7s
• Reduced Vertical Recoil by ca 50%
• Improved ADS Settle Speed by ca 35%

Item and Crafting

Energy clip

• Now available by default in the Workbench.

Item Value and Cost Changes

The values and costs of the following items have been updated to reflect recycling and salvage credits.

• Deadline
• • Value increased from 5,000 to 6,000.
  • Trader price increased from 15,000 to 18,000.
  • Added a new ARC part as a crafting cost.
• Trailblazer
• • Value increased from 1,600 to 2,200.
  • Trader price increased from 4,800 to 6,600.
  • Added a new ARC part as a crafting cost.
• Wolfpack
• • Value increased from 5,000 to 6,000.
  • Added Rocketeer Driver as a crafting cost.
  • Reduced Refined Explosive cost.
• Vita Spray
• • Value increased from 3,000 to 3,400.
  • Added Tick Pod as a crafting cost.
• Showstopper
• • Value decreased from 2,200 to 2,100.
  • Added Hornet Driver as a crafting cost.
  • Changed crafting component from Advanced Electrical Components to Electrical Components.
• ARC Parts sell value has been reduced to better reflect their crafting and progression uses.

Content and Bug Fixes

Achievements

• Fixed an issue where the “Blindsided” achievement sometimes did not trigger as intended on the first attempt.

Animation

• Fixed various animation issues while vaulting.
• Fixed an issue where some weapons didn’t drop magazines during reloads.
• Fixed an issue where reattaching to a ladder after jumping could distort the climbing animation.
• Polished equip animations for pistols and hand cannon to better match timing and reduce visual popping when switching from unarmed.
• Improved arm and weapon positioning when swapping shoulders to prevent visual popping during the transition.
• Fixed an issue where fall damage wouldn’t get applied if the player was in a knockback animation.
• Polished low-health reaction animations for improved clarity.
• Fixed weapon-shake animation incorrectly triggering indoors during freezing weather; it now only occurs outdoors.

ARC

• Fixed an issue where Surveyors and Fireballs could open prematurely before stabilizing.
• Reduced erratic movement of ARC parts when they are stuck to a looted item.
• Hornets now keep their upper armor after being destroyed, making the lootable piece easier to distinguish from Wasps.
• Fixed an issue where the Rocketeer sometimes would not shoot despite having a clear view of its target.
• Reduced cases where the Sentinel’s shots could pass through geometry when its weapon clips into walls at very close range.

Audio

• Limited bullet sound effects per trigger pull on burst weapons to the burst size to prevent extra shots from playing.
• Reduced audio stuttering on lower-spec PCs for smoother, more consistent sound during gameplay.
• Lowered non-radio voice volumes: in-game dialogue.
• Fixed an issue where sliding on stairs or debris could cause audio stutters.
• Scrappy has received your feedback about being too noisy, he will now try to cluck less frequently.
• Reduced overall volume and rebalanced the menu SFX and music mix for a more comfortable Speranza experience.
• Shortened one tube deployment music track that lingered for too long in session.
• Birds perched on ziplines now screech with correct positional audio when startled.
• Decreased audio occlusion / obstruction slightly across the board and especially for players .
• Updated acoustic guitar music tracks.

Cosmetics

• The Volare Set
• The Surgeon Set
• The Devotee Set coming soon.
• Added a new facial hair customization option.
• Fixed incorrect visor glass material on the Marco outfit’s green color variant.
• Fixed various instances of clipping on certain outfits.

Gameplay

• Added a piano as an interactable object in the world.
• Fixed an issue where interactions could be triggered from too far away, allowing players to open doors, start hatches, or loot items without being nearby.
• Hold and continuous interactions now cancel when equipping another item or weapon.
• Fixed an issue where players could become unable to move after being revived with a defib.
• Prevented players from standing on or being carried by thrown grenades and other non-walkable items.
• Added missing gamepad aim assist for Sentinels, Turrets, Shredders and Surveyors.
• Disabled queuing for Practice Range while in a party to prevent matchmaking errors.
• Fixed an issue where a downed raider’s body could block hatch extraction by triggering a search prompt.
• Prevented enabling all NVIDIA Freestyle filters simultaneously to remove an unfair visual advantage.
• You can now make purchases with seeds and free loadout augments even if your stash is overflowing.

General

• General performance improvements.
• Fixed some popping issues.
• Fixed a crash when launching the game with DirectX 11.
• Fixed a crash that could happen when traversing ziplines.

Maps

General

• Fixed broken interactions near the top of certain ladders.
• Fixed missing collision on several environment props to reduce clipping and unintended traversal.
• General lighting fixes across different maps.

Buried City

• The chance of finding rare loot in chimneys has been lowered slightly during Bird City map condition.

Stella Montis

• Fixed multiple collision issues on Stella Montis (Lobby, Atrium, Loading Bay, Train Station tunnels, Seed Vault) to prevent players from reaching out-of-bounds areas using the ‘Unstuck’ function and to address shots coming from the Lobby ceiling.
• Adjusted night lighting on Stella Montis to improve visibility in darker areas.
• Improved night-time visibility at the Seed Vault extraction by adding local lighting.
• Fixed an issue where lowered Spillway bridges still displayed an interaction prompt, interaction is now correctly disabled when the bridge is down.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to get on top of metro trains.

Blue Gate

• Improved thunderstorm lighting for better visual clarity.
• Fixed an issue where players could go out of bounds in the Blue Gate tunnels.

Movement

• Adjusted ladder jump-off to match vault jump-off behavior, smoothing movement and preventing unintended momentum from rapid inputs.
• Fixed an issue where sliding could clip through stairs and escalators.

Progression

• You can now reroll Feats three times per day for free.
• Removed PvP Feats, updated a few existing Feats and added a few new ones.
• Added an Expedition catch-up system to earn missed Skill Points from previous runs, with an updated UI to track your progress.
• Fixed an issue where players occasionally did not receive a skill point as indicated in the result screen.
• Candleberries in Blue Gate now count toward the Harvest Plants trial.

Quests

• Added clearer ping labels for quest-related world objects to improve readability.
• Fixed an issue where the next objective pop-up in multi-step quests could be missing or show a completed step. It now consistently displays the correct upcoming objective.
• Fixed an issue where a quest item could appear as world loot without the related quest being active.

Social

• When playing in a party, map selection now shows all locations unlocked by the member with the most rounds played.
• Fixed an issue where previous teammates could appear in the Social tab’s In Proximity list after starting a new session.
• Added clearer error messages when friend requests fail due to too many outgoing requests or rate limiting.
• Fixed friends appearing offline when they have more than one platform linked.
• Added the ability to hide friend requests.

UI

• Item pings for items in containers now appear above the container’s interaction point and no longer appear at the wrong location in certain containers.
• Added a ready-up warning when deploying with Raider Hatch keys into a map with no active hatches.
• Added icons to inventory tooltips to show recycle/salvage outputs.
• Fixed an issue where squad colors could display incorrectly after squad changes.
• Fixed a bug where adding a secondary keybind would overwrite the primary keybind in the next round.
• Updated localization for unique loot from new enemy variants to improve in-game naming and clarity.
• Improved matchmaking messaging when some party members are still topside.
• Fixed an issue where end-of-round health was not correctly shown for all players.
• It is now clearer when you join a party which party member is topside while you’re in Speranza.
• You can now use the mouse scroll wheel to switch between pages in the Raider Deck.
• Polished UI text and updated translations across supported languages.
• Added additional ping labels for various quest objects to improve clarity.
• Fixed an issue where mouse smoothing could remain enabled despite being turned off, ensuring the setting is correctly applied at round start.
• Improved the red zipline preview when the zipline cannot be placed.
• Updated login message to clearly explain when access is restricted because the shared account owner has been banned.
• Fixed an issue in Expeditions where the timer could go negative after the departure countdown and the Sign Up button stayed active; the screen now updates correctly and the button is disabled.
• Fix an issue where the repair preview wasn’t displayed correctly when repairing items.
• Crafting and recycling screens now display item costs and rewards in a consistent order for easier reading.
• The VoIP icon in the HUD will now better visually represent if the microphone is going to transmit or not if you’re using Push To Talk or Toggle To Talk.

Utility

• Pop Triggers and Spotter Relays can now be used in quick slots.
• • The Spotter Relay can now be deployed as a trap that lures nearby ARC.
  • The Pop Trigger can now be deployed to roll forward briefly before exploding.
• Added a new Field craft item: Shaker instrument.
• Adjusted Vita Spray so healing applies continuously while in use to prevent exploit cases.
• Fixed an unintended behaviour with the Snaphook causing it to pull players after it had been cancelled.
• Ziplines can no longer be placed on carryable objects.
• Fixed Zipline placement on ARC remnants that could consume the item or leave it partially placed.
• Mines, traps, and remote flares can no longer be placed on ziplines, or on other small deployables.
• The T3 Tactical (Healing) Augment now correctly states that healing is applied instantly.

VFX

• Fixed an issue where Jupiter’s windup visual could face sideways, making the beam appear misaligned.
• Fixed an issue where Trailblazer’s gas effect could persist indefinitely if interrupted by the Matriarch’s shield.

Known Issues

• ‘Purchase Raider Tokens’ page may appear in front of the inbox and profile page when switching between them.
• Player animations may appear broken when interrupting a search of the Baron Husk.
• Certain containers may be unavailable to be interacted with.
• Ziplines placed onto destroyed ARC parts will not appear correctly.
• Scrappy ‘Batting Helmet’ and the ‘Slugger’ outfit might not appear correctly in the event preview.
• ‘Comparative Study’ achievement sometimes does not progress correctly after damaging the hanging drone dummies.
• The ‘Unyielding’ achievement/trophy fails to progress on console when knocking out raiders using the associated prompt.
• Some unintended VFX can appear occasionally.
• One of the new ARC enemieshas an unusable interaction occasionally when destroyed.
• Flying ARC may sometimes appear stuck in idle.
• Sometimes the Embark ID Discriminator fails to show.
• Pressing LMB outside of the item select area closes the item select window in the Expeditions menu.

Anti-Cheat

In our last update on fighting cheating, we didn’t fully explain how complex and extensive our cheat detection system is. We use many different layers of defense, from quick, straightforward checks to more sophisticated methods that analyze player behavior and data. These advanced systems learn and improve over time, and we also use machine learning to identify subtle cheating patterns. Because these methods are complex and need to adapt to changes in the game, they take longer to develop and aren’t always as immediately conclusive as simpler detection tools.

We’ve been actively addressing cheating and are strengthening our policies and enforcement. Serious rule violations will now result in harsher penalties, including immediate, permanent bans. Other offenses will lead to temporary suspensions and a single warning to correct the behavior. We’ve also improved Family Sharing to better prevent and remove disruptive players. We’re starting a thorough review of all ban appeals to ensure fairness. While the game is new and we’re receiving a lot of data, this process will help us handle each case carefully as we improve our enforcement tools and learn from every situation.

We’re constantly working to ensure a fair gaming experience for everyone, thanks to our dedicated team fighting against cheating. It’s a continuous effort, and we’re fully committed to maintaining a level playing field.

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2026-02-24 13:39