Scrappy is one of the most valuable long-term progression tools in ARC Raiders because he brings back basic crafting materials after your raids and, since the Flashpoint update, can also be fed for targeted bonus resources and a chance at higher-value items. The best approach is simple: upgrade him as soon as you can, keep his collection box from capping, and feed food that solves your current Workshop shortage rather than chasing rare drops blindly. Scrappy Feeding Boost remains live in the current game build; the latest gameplay update, Live Update 1.36.0, also improved the Scrappy Nest’s Feeding Rewards messaging.
How Scrappy works in ARC Raiders
Scrappy stays in Speranza while you go Topside. He collects Metal Parts, Fabric, Plastic Parts, Chemicals, Rubber Parts, and Assorted Seeds during your raids. You can claim those resources from the Scrappy Nest after returning.
- You need to spend more than one minute in a raid to receive a basic haul.
- Scrappy’s time-based basic haul reaches its maximum once you have spent more than 15 minutes in the raid. Staying longer does not increase that haul further.
- He can hold rewards from only five rounds. Claim the collection box regularly or he stops gathering.
- Extraction is still the correct objective for your kit, loot, quest progress, and survival. Do not throw raids merely for Scrappy materials.
- Expedition bonuses can increase Scrappy’s basic resource collection, but they do not increase the flat Feeding Boost resource bonus.
The key distinction is that the basic haul is passive material income, while Feeding Rewards are a separate targeted reward system. Feeding does not guarantee a legendary item; it gives you a specific resource bonus and rolls from a food-specific reward pool.
All Scrappy upgrade requirements
Scrappy has five levels. His upgrades improve the basic materials he collects during raids, making him a strong early investment even if you are still using budget kits. Do not sell food, pet items, or home items until you have checked the next Scrappy level and your active Workshop plans.
| Scrappy level | Required items | What to prioritize |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Unlocked by default | Start claiming his collection box after raids. |
| Level 2 | 1 Dog Collar | Check residential loot while completing early quests. |
| Level 3 | 3 Apricots, 3 Lemons | Bank fruit instead of feeding every early find. |
| Level 4 | 6 Olives, 6 Prickly Pears, 1 Cat Bed | Reserve enough fruit for the upgrade before using the Feeding queue. |
| Level 5 | 12 Apricots, 12 Mushrooms, 3 Very Comfortable Pillows | Make this your major scavenging project once core Workshop upgrades are stable. |
Level 5 is the finish line for Scrappy’s permanent upgrade path. The food requirements are substantial, especially if you have already been feeding Apricots or Mushrooms, so set those items aside the moment you reach the previous tier.
Where to look for Scrappy upgrade materials
Pet and household items such as Dog Collars, Cat Beds, and Very Comfortable Pillows are most sensibly searched for in residential interiors, furniture, and apartment-style points of interest. Fruit and mushrooms are world resources, so their availability depends on the map, spawn point, map condition, player traffic, and whether another Raider has already passed through the area.
- Dog Collar, Cat Bed, Very Comfortable Pillow: Prioritize homes, apartments, bedrooms, and other residential loot zones. Search containers and loose household loot rather than rushing only weapon crates.
- Apricots, Lemons, and Olives: Harvest trees whenever they are on your safe route. Blue Gate is especially useful when you need to stock several fruit types, but do not cross the map for one tree if your extraction options are weak.
- Prickly Pear: Look in drier outdoor terrain and around cactus-like vegetation. Carry enough healing to survive an exposed outdoor rotation.
- Mushrooms: Search damp, overgrown, and indoor-adjacent areas. Spaceport received additional mushroom spawns in Flashpoint, though every run is still contested and variable.
The safest farming rule is to build your upgrade route around the spawn you receive. Collect Scrappy materials that are near your opening lane, complete a quest or normal loot objective, then extract through the safest currently available exit. A dedicated “fruit run” becomes a bad run the moment you force a noisy high-traffic area while carrying rare upgrade items.
If stash space is causing you to liquidate items you may need later, use this ARC Raiders keep, sell, and stash planning guide to protect active upgrade materials without filling your inventory with dead weight.
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How to feed Scrappy
Scrappy Feeding Boost was introduced in Flashpoint Update 1.22.0. Open Scrappy in the Workshop, go to the feeding area, and add eligible food from your stash to the queue. The queue holds up to six food items.
- Decide what material or crafting station is blocking you.
- Keep the food needed for your next Scrappy upgrade first.
- Add up to six food items to the queue.
- Enter a normal raid and remain Topside for at least six minutes.
- Return to Speranza and check the Feeding Rewards section as well as Scrappy’s regular collection box.
- Refill the queue before it runs empty, but only with food you can afford to spend.
The six-minute rule matters. A food item is consumed and produces its Feeding Boost after a qualifying raid of at least six minutes. Leaving immediately, surrendering, or dying before that threshold will not advance the food queue for its bonus reward. The reward is delivered whether your raid ends in extraction or failure, but extracting remains far more valuable overall because you keep the loot you found and avoid losing your loadout.
Each food grants a flat +5 bonus of one resource type, except Fruit Mix, which grants +5 of every basic Scrappy resource type. It also rolls from a linked item pool. Treat that roll as a useful extra, not as a reliable farm for a particular reactor, augment, or weapon component.
Best food to feed Scrappy
There is no single best food for every account. The correct choice depends on the station you are upgrading, the consumables you are burning through, and whether you need a broad material refill or one narrow category. This table gives the practical decision rule for each food.
| Food | Guaranteed bonus | Reward pool focus | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agave | +5 Assorted Seeds | Weapon mods and mod components | Feed when you need attachments or materials for weapon customization. |
| Apricot | +5 Metal Parts | Gunsmith materials and gun-related items | Best for weapon-crafting progression after you have reserved Apricots for Scrappy upgrades. |
| Lemon | +5 Chemicals | Explosives Station materials, grenades, and explosive components | Use when you craft throwable utility often or need explosive components. |
| Mushroom | +5 Plastic Parts | Gear Bench materials, shields, and augments | Best targeted choice for players pursuing better shields or augment options. |
| Olive | +5 Fabric | Medical Lab materials and healing supplies | Use when your medical crafting is behind or healing reserves are low. |
| Prickly Pear | +5 Rubber Parts | Utility Station materials and mobility utility | Best for Zipline, Tagging Grenade, and utility-focused crafting needs. |
| Fruit Mix | +5 of every basic resource and +5 Assorted Seeds | Broad high-value Topside material pool | Best all-purpose choice when several stations need materials or you are not targeting one shortage. |
Best Scrappy food by goal
- General account progression: Fruit Mix. It gives broad material coverage and can return higher-value Topside components, but it is not the efficient answer if only one station is blocking you.
- Weapon crafting and Gunsmith progress: Apricot. Its reward pool includes gun parts and other Gunsmith-relevant materials.
- Weapon attachment farming: Agave. Choose it when you need mods rather than another pile of base resources.
- Healing economy and Medical Lab work: Olive. This is the practical choice after several expensive raids have drained your bandages, syringes, or medical ingredients.
- Shields and augments: Mushroom. Its Gear Bench-oriented pool makes it the most relevant food for equipment progression.
- Grenades and explosive crafting: Lemon. It is the targeted option for Explosives Station components and throwable supplies.
- Mobility and utility tools: Prickly Pear. Feed it if the Utility Station is your active project or your group needs more traversal utility.
Fruit Mix has the broadest upside, including a chance at rare materials such as Queen Reactor or Matriarch Reactor. That does not make it a dependable boss-reward substitute. If you need those reactors for a real progression goal, fighting the relevant high-value ARC targets is still the more direct gameplay path; see the ARC Raiders boss and elite guide for risk-aware preparation and extraction priorities.
Best feeding queue setups
A six-slot queue is most useful when it reflects what you will actually spend over your next several raids. Use one of these simple setups instead of filling it randomly.
Early progression queue
Use 2 Fruit Mix, 1 Apricot, 1 Olive, 1 Mushroom, and 1 Lemon after you have protected all materials required for your next Scrappy level. This gives a broad foundation while still moving weapon, medical, gear, and explosive crafting forward.
Weapon-focused queue
Use 3 Apricots, 2 Agaves, and 1 Fruit Mix. This is a sensible choice when your Gunsmith and mods are behind, but do not spend Apricots needed for Level 3 or Level 5.
Budget recovery queue
Use 2 Olives, 2 Mushrooms, 1 Lemon, and 1 Fruit Mix. This supports medical supplies, shields, basic gear resources, and throwables after a rough streak of lost kits.
Utility and squad-support queue
Use 3 Prickly Pears, 2 Lemons, and 1 Fruit Mix when you are working on Utility Station crafts or regularly consume traversal and explosive tools in squad play.
Scrappy mistakes that slow progression
- Feeding upgrade materials too early: Do not burn Apricots, Mushrooms, Olives, or Prickly Pears until you know what your next Scrappy level requires.
- Ignoring the collection box: A full Scrappy does not keep generating materials. Claim his haul at least every few raids.
- Leaving before six minutes: The Feeding Boost will not advance, so rushed runs waste time without delivering the expected food reward.
- Chasing rare drops with the wrong expectation: Scrappy can produce valuable rewards, but the pools are random. Feed for guaranteed resource value first.
- Using one food forever: A large stockpile of one material is not progress if another Workshop station is the actual bottleneck.
- Taking reckless routes for food: A rare fruit is not worth losing a completed upgrade inventory and a good kit. Rotate according to your spawn, available exits, ARC pressure, and nearby Raider activity.
Scrappy priority order for efficient progression
- Claim Scrappy’s resources whenever he is close to the five-round limit.
- Get Level 2 quickly; the Dog Collar is a small cost for a permanent upgrade.
- Reserve 3 Apricots and 3 Lemons for Level 3 before starting regular feeding.
- Plan Level 4 and Level 5 materials in your stash rather than spending every food item on boosts.
- Feed for the station currently blocking your crafting, not for a speculative rare roll.
- Use Fruit Mix only when broad material income is more valuable than a targeted station resource.
- Stay in qualifying raids for at least six minutes and extract whenever your route becomes unsafe.
Scrappy will not replace good looting, smart extraction decisions, or Workshop planning, but he steadily reduces the number of basic-material runs you need to make. Pair his targeted rewards with a sensible kit and reliable disengages; the ARC Raiders PvP fundamentals guide is useful when contested food routes turn into Raider encounters.
If you want help securing the upgrade materials without repeatedly risking your own kits, ExpCarry also offers an ARC Raiders Scrappy leveling service with selectable upgrade targets.
