Start ARC Raiders by treating your first deployments as low-risk learning runs, not gear gambles. Use Free Loadouts to complete early quests, learn how extraction routes change with your spawn and available exits, and bring back materials for a small number of planned Workshop upgrades. As of Live Update 1.39.0, the core beginner approach remains the same: Free Loadouts are an economy safety net, but some high-risk map conditions require a Custom Loadout. Your first real power spike comes from a sustainable kit, a better Workshop, and knowing when to leave with progress instead of chasing one more fight.
Your Best First-Hours Plan
The fastest reliable start is simple: finish onboarding, follow Trader quests, run Free Loadouts until you understand the maps and have a clear Workshop target, then build one cheap Custom Loadout you can replace without hesitation.
- Complete the introductory deployment and claim your early rewards. Do not sell unfamiliar components immediately; early materials often overlap with Workshop, Scrappy, Project, and quest requirements.
- Keep Trader quests active. Early quests give each deployment a purpose and naturally introduce searchable locations, ARC enemies, extraction timing, and map-specific objectives.
- Use Free Loadouts for unfamiliar objectives. This is the right choice when you need to learn a route, visit a new location, retrieve basic materials, or attempt a quest that may expose you to PvP.
- Choose one objective per raid. A quest step, a specific upgrade material, a Blueprint search, or a short valuables run is enough. Do not combine every goal into one long rotation.
- Set extraction as the second half of your route. Once you find a required item, Blueprint, or enough materials for an upgrade, turn toward an available exit rather than extending the run into central danger.
- Spend resources on your next usable upgrade. A bench level that improves the kit you actually deploy is worth more than a distant crafting option you cannot support yet.
ARC Raiders rewards controlled progress. A modest extraction with quest items, basic components, and a clear plan for the next deployment is more valuable than losing a full bag because you crossed the map for an optional high-traffic objective.
Understand the Early Raid Loop Before You Risk Gear
Every deployment starts with three decisions: what you are trying to accomplish, where you can safely move from your spawn, and which exit you can reasonably reach after looting. The correct route changes with the map, active condition, nearby ARC activity, gunfire, and extraction availability. Do not copy a fixed “best route” without checking those variables first.
For most new players, Dam Battlegrounds is the best place to learn this decision-making. Its varied terrain, buildings, and outer routes make it easier to practice moving between cover, recognizing dangerous crossings, and abandoning a contested objective. Buried City is excellent once you are comfortable moving through interiors, but its stairwells, windows, and narrow entrances make third-party fights more likely.
If you want a broader breakdown of the current six-map pool, route logic, and condition-specific risks, use the ARC Raiders full guide for maps, loot routes, and progression.
The route rule that prevents most early deaths
Pick a primary location near your spawn, then pick a secondary stop that moves you closer to extraction. If the first location is already open, empty, loud, or occupied by a stronger squad, skip it. Waiting outside a popular building for a fight to resolve usually turns you into the next target.
- Spawn near the edge: Loot one compact group of structures, then rotate inward only if your exit remains favorable.
- Spawn near a busy landmark: Listen before entering. If you hear repeated gunfire, explosions, or sustained ARC aggro, take an outer route and preserve your quest progress.
- Find a Blueprint or required quest item: Your objective has changed. Create distance, avoid optional fights, and extract.
- Have a nearly full inventory: Stop looting low-value clutter. A full bag with no route to an exit is not a successful run.
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How Free Loadouts Work and When to Use Them
A Free Loadout gives you a randomized basic kit at no cost. It normally includes a low-tier weapon, matching ammunition, a Light Shield, healing, shield recovery, and a small selection of utility or throwable items. The exact weapon and utility combination varies, so treat it as a scavenging and learning kit rather than a build you can optimize.
Free Loadouts are especially useful because they remove the pressure to protect your best equipment. They are not designed to win every direct PvP fight or to farm heavy ARC targets, but they are fully capable of completing early quests, collecting basic materials, and extracting with valuable finds when you play patiently.
| Use case | Best choice | Why | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| New quest location | Free Loadout | Lets you learn the area without risking crafted gear | Random weapon and limited carrying capacity |
| Basic Workshop materials | Free Loadout | Turns low-risk extractions into steady progression | Not ideal for prolonged fights |
| Known short loot route | Free or cheap Custom Loadout | Use Free while learning; switch once your route is consistent | Custom gear can be lost |
| High-risk condition or serious PvP plan | Custom Loadout | Lets you choose appropriate weapons, shields, and utility | Requires a replaceable economy |
| Night Raid or Close Scrutiny | Custom Loadout | These conditions have had experimental No Free Loadout requirements | You must bring gear you can afford to lose |
Do not make the common mistake of assuming Free Loadouts are available for every map condition. Embark introduced No Free Loadout restrictions for Night Raid and Close Scrutiny, and may expand those restrictions further. Always check the condition panel before committing to a route.
Free Loadout rules that matter
- Clear stash space first. Choosing a Free Loadout sends your equipped Custom Loadout back to storage. A full stash can stop you from entering with the free kit.
- Check your quick-use slots at deployment. Put healing, shield recovery, and movement or defensive utility where you can reach them under pressure.
- Do not force fights for the kit. The value of a Free Loadout is that you can disengage, learn, and extract without losing your prepared gear.
- Loot with an upgrade purpose. Take the parts needed for your next station or Scrappy upgrade before filling the rest of the bag with generic valuables.
- Remember the limitation of the Free Loadout Augment. It provides a basic scavenging setup, but it is restrictive compared with a purpose-built augment and does not provide a Safe Pocket slot.
Free Loadout Augments can also be recycled into plastic and rubber parts. That makes them useful as recovery resources when you are rebuilding your Workshop economy, but only recycle one when those materials are an active bottleneck.
Your First Cheap Custom Loadout
Move to a Custom Loadout when you can replace the kit after a bad raid and have a reason to control your equipment. The goal is not to imitate an endgame build. It is to carry reliable healing, ammo, shield recovery, and one useful utility item every time.
| Slot | Early recommendation | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Primary weapon | A basic craftable weapon you can replace | Build familiarity with one ammo type and one engagement range |
| Weapon upgrade tier | Use the base version first; upgrade only a weapon you deploy repeatedly | Avoid spending parts on guns that remain in storage |
| Secondary weapon | Optional in the earliest stages | Save weight and cost unless your route has a clear close-range or anti-ARC need |
| Shield | Light Shield until your economy and augment support more | Keeps the kit inexpensive and replaceable |
| Ammunition | Matching ammo with a small reserve | Enough for defense and basic ARC encounters without overloading your bag |
| Healing | Bandages | Mandatory recovery after damage |
| Shield recovery | Shield Recharger | Lets you reset after a short engagement instead of returning exposed |
| Utility | One movement, denial, or escape tool | Creates an exit option when a route becomes unsafe |
| Throwable | One inexpensive grenade if available | Useful for creating space, finishing an ARC, or discouraging a push |
The best early weapon is usually not the most valuable one in your stash. It is the weapon whose ammunition, repairs, upgrades, and replacement cost fit your current resources. The basic Workbench can craft several early weapons and ammunition types, giving you a practical recovery path before you own rare Blueprints.
Do not overpack. Carrying multiple spare weapons, excessive ammo, and situational gadgets reduces the space available for the materials that actually improve your account. If a tool does not help your specific raid objective, leave it in the stash.
Best First Workshop Upgrades
Your Workshop is where early loot becomes long-term power. Every station has different material requirements, unlocks, and Blueprint dependencies, so there is no single universal order. However, the following priority works for most new Raiders because it improves material flow, survival, and kit consistency before luxury crafting.
| Priority | Upgrade | Why it comes early | Delay it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scrappy | Improves passive basic-material income across future deployments | Only if you are one short extraction from a kit-changing station upgrade |
| 2 | Gear Bench | Supports better loadout organization and gear progression | If weapon upgrades are your immediate survival bottleneck |
| 3 | Gunsmith | Opens weapon progression and makes a dependable weapon line more practical | If you still change weapons every raid and have no repeatable gun |
| 4 | Medical Lab | Improves your ability to sustain repeated raids and recover from mistakes | If you regularly extract with unused medical supplies already |
| 5 | Refiner | Helps convert and support materials once component shortages become specific | If you do not yet know which components are limiting your crafts |
| 6 | Utility and Explosives Stations | Add specialized mobility, defense, and anti-ARC options | If you have not identified a tool you will actually use every raid |
Scrappy is the strongest long-term early investment. Scrappy brings back basic materials as you spend time Topside, so improving the rooster early increases the value of future deployments. You must spend at least a short amount of time in a round for Scrappy to collect anything, and the time-based reward stops increasing after a longer threshold. In practice, this means immediate surrender runs are poor progression, while short, intentional scavenging deployments remain useful even when extraction fails.
Build around your standard kit, not your dream kit. If you repeatedly craft a basic weapon, ammunition, bandages, and shield recovery, prioritize the stations that make that loop easier. If you are not using a specialized grenade, mine, or mobility tool yet, do not spend scarce materials rushing the bench that unlocks it.
Track the next one or two upgrades in-game. This protects needed items from accidental selling or recycling. Workshop stations can require specific ARC parts and uncommon household or industrial components, so “this looks useless” is not a safe reason to discard an item.
What to Keep, Sell, and Recycle in Your First Stash
Early stash management is a progression skill. Keep materials tied to your next upgrades, one dependable kit plus a recovery kit, Blueprints, quest items, and components that are difficult for you to replace. Sell easy-to-replace valuables when you need Coins and space. Recycle only when the output directly solves a current crafting shortage.
A practical rule is: keep plans, not random items. Before sorting, choose your next one or two upgrades. Protect their requirements. Then decide whether every other item belongs in your current kit, supports a near-term quest, or should become space, Coins, or crafting parts.
For a full post-raid sorting process, including practical keep, sell, and recycle rules, see ARC Raiders: what to keep, sell, and recycle.
First Skills: Prioritize Survival and Repeatable Movement
Skills should make your normal raid loop safer, not compensate for reckless routing. ARC Raiders divides its skill options between Conditioning, Mobility, and Survival, and the best first choices depend on the way you die or fail to extract most often.
- Choose Mobility first if you are repeatedly caught in the open, cannot disengage from players, or struggle to reach an exit after looting.
- Choose Conditioning first if weapon weight, shields, stamina, or sustained combat limits your ability to finish encounters and move afterward.
- Choose Survival first if your main problem is slow looting, inventory pressure, or poor recovery after a successful search.
Do not spread points evenly just because the trees look balanced. Put early points into the branch that addresses your current failure point, then reassess after several raids. A player who survives but cannot carry materials needs a different solution from a player who loses every bag while crossing open ground.
Beginner Mistakes That Slow Down Progress
Taking every fight with a Free Loadout
A Free Loadout removes financial risk, not tactical risk. Fighting loudly can attract more Raiders and more ARC pressure than the first opponent. Use the kit to complete a purpose, then leave.
Crossing the entire map for one famous loot room
Your spawn, available extracts, map condition, and current lobby activity matter more than a copied route. A decent nearby location plus a safe exit is better than a high-value room on the far side of the map.
Upgrading every station evenly
Even upgrading feels organized, but it delays your first meaningful improvement. Choose the station that supports your actual kit or increases your material flow, then protect its requirements.
Hoarding every weapon and material
A full stash prevents useful decisions. Keep the gear you use and the resources connected to active upgrades; convert the rest into space, Coins, or needed parts.
Trying to kill major ARC targets with a scavenging kit
Bosses, elite ARC, and large condition objectives are not mandatory early-game content. Fight ordinary ARC when it serves your route or materials plan. Attempt larger threats only when you have the correct equipment, cover, escape options, and ideally teammates. For later reference, use the ARC Raiders boss and elite guide before committing expensive gear to a major encounter.
Your First 10-Raid Checklist
- Run Trader quests and learn one nearby route instead of trying to master every map.
- Use Free Loadouts for unfamiliar locations, risky quest steps, and recovery runs.
- Check map conditions before queuing; do not assume Free Loadouts are permitted.
- Arrange healing and shield recovery in quick-use slots before moving from spawn.
- Loot for one active Workshop or Scrappy target per raid.
- Extract once you secure a Blueprint, required quest item, or enough materials for an upgrade.
- Upgrade Scrappy and the stations that support your standard kit.
- Craft one inexpensive Custom Loadout only after you can replace it.
- Keep a clean stash by protecting upgrade requirements and converting dead weight.
- Take major ARC fights only when they match your equipment and objective.
If you want hands-on help with a difficult extraction, Blueprint farming, or catching up after repeated losses, ARC Raiders coaching and progression assistance is available as an optional service; it is never required to follow the progression plan above.
