Arc Raiders: Best weapons for survival

The best weapons in Arc Raiders give you the strongest chance of ensuring your survival in the extraction shooter. Finding worthwhile loot and enhancing your build with them will make a world of difference when you reach the later stages of the game, but deciding in the heat of the moment is never easy.

Luckily, throughout the open beta and technical test, we’ve had the opportunity to figure out which weapons are worth your time, and which ones are better left behind now that the game has fully launched.

With 20 weapons to choose from, Arc Raiders has a fairly moderate arsenal for all types of play, whether it’s stealth in PvP or support in PvE. At the moment, there are eight different weapon types in Arc Raiders:

Assault rifles are the most general-purpose, suited to both PvP and PvE. SMGs suit PvP, whereas Battle Rifles are best reserved for ARC units.

Once you’ve found your weapons of choice, whether that’s in loot boxes, on the corpses of your enemies, or behind locked doors, you’re also going to be able to upgrade them.

You’ll be able to upgrade your weapons with the Gunsmith, and they’ll require different raw materials, including gun parts, mechanical components, and metal scraps.

The Kettle is one of the best Arc Raiders weapons thanks to its light ammo. As the only assault rifle with light ammo, it’s quite a distance apart from its heavier kin, meaning it’s almost closer to an SMG. 

With low recoil, you’re going to be able to control your crosshair on targets, while the quiet(er) firing mechanism will keep you hidden from enemies. It bridges close and long-range, while also maintaining a balanced damage output.

With high precision and a very formidable rate of fire, there’s no doubt that the Kettle is one of the best guns in Arc Raiders. The Kettle’s real strength lies in its adaptability – both for PvE and PvP. It’s almost an all-in-one weapon, meaning you’re unlikely to have to keep swapping between primary and secondary, while you’re also unlikely to be swapping it out for new loot. 

The Anvil, as the name suggests, will hammer your foes with powerful blows. Its main charm is precision, dealing deliberate, high-powered explosive rounds into your enemies, whether they’re ARC units or online opponents. This is the pistol that most players will be carrying around with them, too, as when your primary runs out of ammo, you’re going to want to be left with something that will guarantee a kill in as few hits as possible.

The range goes as high as 50, and each bullet deals 40 damage. That’s as much as some of the best battle rifles deal. It’s not exactly the kind of weapon you’ll want if you’re prioritising stealth, which we’ve covered in our best Arc Raiders skills, as a single shot can be heard from anywhere across the park. It also sports a devastating armour penetration factor and headshot multiplier, so if you’re accurate with it, it can be absolutely lethal. 

The Ferro is a battle rifle that has a single-bullet firing mode. It’s precise, has extraordinary range, and will pick off your enemies in only a few clicks. One thing to be wary of is that you need to reload after each shot with this gun, so you’re going to have to be precise. Aim for the head, too.

Despite being the cheapest gun in the game, the Ferro remains one of the strongest. In fact, it’s one of the few guns suited to soloing a rocketeer without getting turned to dust. On that note, the Ferro is a bit of an awkward gun for PvP. If you’re fighting off against other raiders, you’re going to want to cycle between firing with the Ferro and your secondary weapon to keep pressure on your opponent.

If you’re into your traditional assault rifles, then the Rattler will scratch that itch for you. Though it has low damage, it does have a high rate of fire, while also standing strong with plenty of stability. With mag sizes between 10 and 22, you’ll have to be conservative with your trigger finger.

It also has to be reloaded two bullets at a time, meaning you’ll want to keep a strong secondary at the ready, too.

One of my favourite guns in the game is the Hairpin, which is perfect for quiet, stealth builds. It’s equipped with a silencer, though it has a very high damage output. The caveat with this gun is the virtually useless armour penetration, so it’s best suited to finishing off enemies in PvP than anything else.

When it’s fully upgraded, it’s going to have an even higher fire rate and reduced reload time, meaning you’ll be spitting out bullets non-stop.

There’s a pretty laser-focused arsenal of weapons for all playstyles in Arc Raiders, with all of these best weapons likely to change in the future as buffs, nerfs, and new weapons flip the meta on its head.

Now that the game has fully launched, we’ve also had our hands on new weapons that weren’t previously in the Server Slam, including the Hullbreaker. We’ll be updating our best weapons list as we get to know how the new guns perform in-game.