The Unwritten Rules of ARC Raiders Explained

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Games like ARC Raiders, where players collect items while completing missions, often develop unspoken rules as the player base grows. Through testing phases, like the recent server slam before launch, ARC Raiders has already established these guidelines for how players interact. Although not officially required, most players follow them to ensure everyone has a good experience. With over 300,000 players on Steam, it’s clear that these unwritten rules have helped build a welcoming and active community.

Beyond mastering the game’s mechanics and finding resources, the way players interact with each other is where you’ll really learn the ropes in ARC Raiders. The game itself teaches you how to play, but the community establishes the unwritten rules for successful teamwork. Getting along with other players from the start will ensure you have the best possible experience in ARC Raiders as the game evolves.

The Unwritten Rules for Success in ARC Raiders

Always Be Prepared to Lose Your Gear

In this PvPvE extraction shooter, if you die before escaping a match, you’ll lose everything you’re carrying. Because of this risk, players need to carefully consider what gear to bring with them before each match. It’s often better not to bring your absolute best weapons unless you’re planning to team up for challenging content like Night Raids, where powerful gear is essential. Losing valuable items to another player unexpectedly is incredibly frustrating.

If you don’t want to risk losing your best weapons in ARC Raiders, you can choose a free, basic set of gear when heading into the Rust Belt. This is a great choice for players who are just completing quests.

Words Often Speak Louder than Guns

Staying connected with other players is key to enjoying ARC Raiders. You can chat using your microphone if you have one, but even without a mic, you can still communicate through in-game voice lines and emotes. Being friendly and using the “Don’t Shoot” line can help you avoid conflict—most players don’t want to lose valuable loot! Instead of immediately attacking, talking to other Raiders often leads to forming temporary teams or simply going your separate ways peacefully.

Camping an Extraction Point is Bad Manners

While the ARC Raiders community is generally friendly, players should still anticipate encountering hostile opponents. Player-versus-player combat is part of the game. However, the community strongly discourages ‘camping’ – waiting at extraction points to ambush players returning to Speranza. This is considered unsportsmanlike because extraction points are where players are most vulnerable while trying to escape with their hard-earned loot, and targeting them there is seen as rude.

If players are concerned about enemies camping at extraction points, they can use Raider Hatches to escape quickly, as long as they have the necessary key.

ARCs are the Main Threat – Help Raiders When You Can

While ARC Raiders includes player-versus-player combat, you’ll spend most of your time fighting the ARC – powerful machines that are the real threat in the game. There are many different types of ARC to battle, and they’re much more common and dangerous than other players.

  • Snitches
  • Wasps
  • Hornets
  • Pops
  • Fireballs
  • Ticks
  • Turrets
  • Sentinels
  • Rocketeers
  • Leapers
  • Spotters
  • Bastions
  • Bombadiers
  • Surveyors
  • The Queen

Players can be quickly overwhelmed by even a few enemy robots (Wasps or Pops), so it’s usually better to team up with other players – whether they’re part of a squad or playing alone. Some of the most memorable moments in ARC Raiders happen when players work together to defeat powerful ARCs and share the loot. To help everyone, it’s often smartest to focus on taking down ARCs before dealing with other players.

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2025-11-02 00:08