ARC Raiders Dev Discusses Strategy Behind Balancing Weapons…

In the wake of a recent ARC Raiders adjustment, design director Virgil Watkins discusses the approach that Embark Studios uses to balance weapons and the cost to benefit ratios with its rarity tiers. Since launch, ARC Raiders has continued to be a massively popular game, managing to retain the majority of its players through the holiday season. For as well liked as the game is, it's certainly not perfect, though Embark continues to chip away at the various issues impacting the core experience.

Even amid all the cheating issues currently plaguing the game, player discussion has also centered around the recent Update 1.11.0 for ARC Raiders. The first update of 2026 was smaller in nature, but two changes in particular have already had a major impact on the game, that being a major nerf to the popular Trigger 'Nade, reducing the damage the further away the target is from the center, while also increasing the detonation time slightly. The other major change was to the Kettle's fire rate, as some players were able to use macros to enable it to fire much faster than normal and cause issues in the lobby.

How ARC Raiders Approaches Weapon Balancing

Over the course of the past few months, players have had strong opinions about various weapons in ARC Raiders, prompting Embark to announce it is looking into further adjustments, though nothing is set at the moment. While many weapons feel better when upgraded or have mods applied, more often than not, many people simply rely on more common options like the Stitcher, thanks to it being a much cheaper and easier to use option compared to things like the Venator or Bobcat. When players are constantly at risk of losing their loot at the hands of an ARC enemy or hostile player, utilizing these cheaper and easier to obtain options makes sense.

However, that doesn't appear to be the intent of Embark Studios, as design director Virgil Watkins indicated in a recent interview that the original intent of the game was to make sure that any ARC Raiders weapon in capable hands could win a fight, even what many consider to be the worst ones in the game. With that said, Watkins admits that ARC Raiders just isn't there yet and is "definitely a bit off on some of the cost to benefit ratios, certainly on those [higher-tier] weapons." As it stands, the game does give an edge, even if just a slight one, to players using better gear, which Watkins said is something they don't want and saying, "Cost should not inherently fill a skill gap or a tactical awareness gap or things like that."

But I think we're definitely a bit off on some of the cost to benefit ratios, certainly on those [higher-tier] weapons. It was trying to follow a curve of, by spending more and more money, you're gaining an edge. Not a clear one, like, I'm using a purple weapon, therefore I win this fight, period. We don't want that.

Watkins provided a brief glimpse into the studio's future plans on how to address this balance. Currently, Embark is looking at making the cost-benefit ratio feel better, especially with some of the high-end ARC Raiders weapons like the Venator. Ultimately, the goal is to keep the feeling of excitement when a player finds a rare weapon, and if that's not happening, then Embark will continue to adjust things until it gets it right.

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Lastly, Watkins confirmed that the studio is definitely open to wider changes to weapons, hinting that certain guns could change rarity levels or even have crafting and upgrade material costs adjusted, potentially making them a bit more affordable. Again, nothing was confirmed, but as a hypothetical situation, if a certain weapon is performing well to what is expected, it could potentially be moved up or down and another weapon could eventually fill the niche. Watkins confirmed that Embark isn't set on where any guns currently sit, so if it makes sense in the long term to move a weapon, they'll likely do that.

ARC Raiders Group is Committed to Protecting Friendly Players

While fans may have to wait a little bit to see some of these adjustments and further balances to weapons, new content appears to be on the way after fans adjusted their date and time, revealing a new set of Trials for January 20, 2026. As part of the set, a Toxic Swamp task appeared in the list, seemingly confirming a new map condition in ARC Raiders that has been rumored for weeks now.

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