While PvP may sound most dangerous when you think about an extraction shooter, Arc Raiders may change your mind. You'll come into contact with a wide variety of ARC, robotic enemies, that can do devastating damage and quickly send you back to Speranza with nothing to show for it. Below, we'll detail every enemy you can encounter in Arc Raiders and how to deal with them.
These enemy types are foes you'll encounter on a fairly regular basis, or that don't pose nearly the same threat as their much larger cousins in most cases. That's not to say they're not a challenge, of course, but you should be able to handle all of them solo without too much trouble by using basic weaponry.
Weak Spot: Thrusters
The Wasp is Arc Raiders' most basic general foe, and it's likely to be the one you face off against most frequently when exploring. It can be dangerous--especially in groups--because its gun fires very quickly and can whittle away at your health rapidly if it catches you outside of cover. It's easily taken down with nearly any weapon, though, so long as you shoot any of its four thrusters, which will often cause them to spiral out of control and crash.
Weak Spot: Rear thrusters
You can essentially think of the Hornet as a more powerful version of the Wasp. It will fire electrical shocks at you, which deal damage and can disrupt your movement to make you an easy target. It's best to use adequate cover, then squat and take out both of its exposed back thrusters (its front thrusters are well-protected) to send it flailing and crashing.
Weak Spot: Underside plating
The Snitch is a recon ARC that will easily spot you with its laser scan if you're within its vicinity. While it won't attack you directly, you'll need to kill it quickly after being spotted or risk it calling in additional backup from the sky (two wasps and one hornet), which can make things quite a bit more hectic for you. The quickest way to take out this recon pest is by shooting the plating on its underside. Typically, breaking off two of the three sections of this plating will be enough to bring it down.
Weak Spot: Core (when open)
The Fireball is a ground-based ARC that can rapidly chase you down and unleash a flamethrower on you, which will eat through your health very quickly. You can blast away at it with heavy weapons to take it down in just a few shots while it moves about, but if you're using light ammo weapons, you'll be best off wait for it to expose its core before you shoot to make the most of your bullets. Otherwise, you may waste ammo trying to pierce its exterior shell.
Weak Spot: N/A
The Pop is another ground-based ARC, but this one will chase you down at incredible speed before exploding and doing massive damage to your shield and health. Since it's often found roaming in a pack, a few of these coming at you at once can send you back to the lobby in the blink of an eye. Luckily, it dies just as easily by simply putting a shot or two from any gun on it, so it's far more about timing and accuracy than anything.
Weak Spot: N/A
Ticks are an irritating little spider-like ARC enemies that roam the interior rooms of buildings. It's very quick and agile, and if not killed promptly, it'll jump on you and attach itself until you throw it off, dealing damage all the while. It's quite a nuisance if not dealt with, but it moves so quickly that it can be a challenge to shoot. In most cases, it's best to bring out your Raider Tool (melee weapon) and swing it at it for a quiet, one-hit kill.
Weak Spot: N/A
You can find turrets in various rooms throughout the topside. It scans rooms with a blue light, which will turn red once it's locked onto you. If you're caught out in its line of sight while it's aware of you, you can expect a stream of bullets to eat through your shield and health with no remorse. It's best to sneak up and get a good out-of-sight angle, then unload some bullets into it. Heavy ammo will obviously be quicker, but any ammo type can take this ARC down relatively fast.
Weak Spot: Yellow canister
The Sentinel is a much stronger, long-ranged version of the standard turret. This enemy can rarely be found in large indoor locations but is more frequently found outdoors, where it can scope in on you from very far away and unleash a very powerful sniper-like shot to demolish your shield and health. As such, it's best to approach this ARC from behind when possible and take it out with a gun that uses heavy ammo, as it has a much larger health pool than the standard turret. Alternatively, you can shoot its yellow canister to deal more damage with any weapon, though it can be tough to land shots on it from some angles.
These ARC are large, hulking "boss"-style foes that are less common than the other enemy types you'll regularly encounter. They'll take a lot of effort to take down, and are typically best handled with a group or two of raiders wielding launchers (such as a Hullcracker) and other heavy weapons.
We'll go over how to take these foes down "normally" in each listing, but keep in mind that well-equipped raiders can make quick work of every one of them by using enough grenades. A Wolfpack grenade or two is usually enough to drop nearly any of these foes besides the Queen, and even a handful of Snap Blast Grenades on any of them is likely to put them on the brink of death. So, any time you've got the resources to spare, we'd recommend going that route to save some trouble.
Weak Spots: Face and legs
The Leaper is a large ARC that is true to its name. It can leap across long distances to land on you and deal huge damage, and it can fire a short-range shockwave that hurts you when you're standing close. The best way to handle this enemy is to find a building with a door you can stand inside to keep the Leaper from reaching you with its jumps, then unload heavy ammo shots on its legs and face to break off its armor.
The Leaper's legs can be destroyed individually, reducing some of its mobility and sense of stability. With that in mind, you and your team should focus on the same leg when firing together to increase the chances of making this large foe all wobbly, then turn your focus to its face when possible. With well-placed shots (and some grenades, if you have them), it'll go down quicker than you'd expect.
Weak Spot: Thrusters
The Rocketeer sort of looks like a supersized Hornet, but it's considerably more dangerous. Once this monstrous flying ARC spots you, you'll need to run for interior cover like your life depends on it--because it does. The Rocketeer fires rockets (surprise) at you at regular intervals, which can absolutely destroy your shield and health in a single hit. Even worse, the rockets cause splash damage in a substantial radius around where they hit, meaning you're not likely to evade them even if you time a decent roll.
To take down the Rocketeer, you'll need to break the armored plating off its thruster using heavy ammo weaponry or grenades, then blast away at the exposed inner metal that is revealed. If it's still hanging on once you've broken a thruster or two, some shots to its body with heavy ammo or launcher ammo should finish it off.
A single Wolfpack grenade can also take down a Rocketeer, but you'll want to ensure it's alone when you throw the grenade, because the Rocketeer splits off into 12 mini homing missiles and targets up to three nearby ARC enemies. You don't want those missiles wasting their impact on smaller drones, so isolate the Rocketeer and enjoy the fireworks.
Weak Spots: Legs and yellow canister on back
The Bastion is a large crab-like ARC that wanders in open areas of various maps. Once it's alerted to your presence, it will unload rapid machine gun fire that can melt through you so fast that you may die before you can even know what's happening to your health. With this in mind, only fight this foe when you've got adequate cover. So long as you can kite it around a large object or hide from it around a corner, you can easily attack it between gunfire rounds.
When it comes to taking this beast down, you'll want to aim for the yellow spots on its leg joints. Destroying one of its legs will cause it to drop to the ground for a bit, which is a perfect opportunity for you and your group to wrap around behind it and shoot the yellow canister on its backside. With enough damage done to these weak points, it'll eventually fall.
Weak Spot: Legs and yellow canister on back
The Bomardier looks nearly identical to a Bastion in all but color, but its attacks are actually far deadlier and difficult to manage. Unlike the Bastion, you'll be avoiding mortar fire from this big ARC. Getting hit by a blast can be devastating, so you'll need to stay in cover as much as possible--or get very good at dodging at the exact right moment. The accuracy of these mortar strikes is improved if you're spotted by one of the Spotters--effectively Snitches that call shots for the hulking machine. If their yellow laser pinpoints your location, you're going to be in a heap of trouble--so make sure you shoot them down as soon as you see them.
The Bombardier is taken down the same way as the Bastion. You'll want to take aim at its yellow knee joints to drop it to the ground, then wrap around behind it and place plenty of shots into the yellow canister on its backside. After enough damage is done to all of these weak points, you'll wipe this monster off the face of the planet.
Weak Spot: Legs and face
The Queen is the largest ARC currently in the game and only appears during a Harvester map condition. This absolutely gigantic robot can obliterate entire groups of raiders with ease, making it arguably the hardest foe in the game, and one that often requires multiple trios to come together to bring down. It will fire outrageously powerful lasers at you and your team when you're caught out in the open, as well as send out mortar fire that can deal damage in an area. And if you get too close, it can even use a ground slam or EMP pulse to make quick work of you. When you add in all of the additional ARCs it spawns during the fight, it's a recipe for disaster.
Similar to other big ARC enemies, you'll want to target the Queen's leg joints and face to strip it of its protective armor, then wail on its exposed inner metal. You'll absolutely need to bring heavy weapons or a Hullcracker if you want to do much of anything at all to help your team take this boss down--and even then, it's going to take a hell of a long time to pull off. Honestly, the best possible way to tackle this fight is to bring a whole bunch of Wolfpack grenades to blast away at this monstrosity. Without them, you can expect to be fighting for quite a while in a situation where one wrong move could send your group back to the lobby.
For more, check out our full Arc Raiders quest list.
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Basic enemies
These enemy types are foes you'll encounter on a fairly regular basis, or that don't pose nearly the same threat as their much larger cousins in most cases. That's not to say they're not a challenge, of course, but you should be able to handle all of them solo without too much trouble by using basic weaponry.
Wasp
WaspWeak Spot: Thrusters
The Wasp is Arc Raiders' most basic general foe, and it's likely to be the one you face off against most frequently when exploring. It can be dangerous--especially in groups--because its gun fires very quickly and can whittle away at your health rapidly if it catches you outside of cover. It's easily taken down with nearly any weapon, though, so long as you shoot any of its four thrusters, which will often cause them to spiral out of control and crash.
Hornet
HornetWeak Spot: Rear thrusters
You can essentially think of the Hornet as a more powerful version of the Wasp. It will fire electrical shocks at you, which deal damage and can disrupt your movement to make you an easy target. It's best to use adequate cover, then squat and take out both of its exposed back thrusters (its front thrusters are well-protected) to send it flailing and crashing.
Snitch
SnitchWeak Spot: Underside plating
The Snitch is a recon ARC that will easily spot you with its laser scan if you're within its vicinity. While it won't attack you directly, you'll need to kill it quickly after being spotted or risk it calling in additional backup from the sky (two wasps and one hornet), which can make things quite a bit more hectic for you. The quickest way to take out this recon pest is by shooting the plating on its underside. Typically, breaking off two of the three sections of this plating will be enough to bring it down.
Fireball
FireballWeak Spot: Core (when open)
The Fireball is a ground-based ARC that can rapidly chase you down and unleash a flamethrower on you, which will eat through your health very quickly. You can blast away at it with heavy weapons to take it down in just a few shots while it moves about, but if you're using light ammo weapons, you'll be best off wait for it to expose its core before you shoot to make the most of your bullets. Otherwise, you may waste ammo trying to pierce its exterior shell.
Pod
PopWeak Spot: N/A
The Pop is another ground-based ARC, but this one will chase you down at incredible speed before exploding and doing massive damage to your shield and health. Since it's often found roaming in a pack, a few of these coming at you at once can send you back to the lobby in the blink of an eye. Luckily, it dies just as easily by simply putting a shot or two from any gun on it, so it's far more about timing and accuracy than anything.
Tick
TickWeak Spot: N/A
Ticks are an irritating little spider-like ARC enemies that roam the interior rooms of buildings. It's very quick and agile, and if not killed promptly, it'll jump on you and attach itself until you throw it off, dealing damage all the while. It's quite a nuisance if not dealt with, but it moves so quickly that it can be a challenge to shoot. In most cases, it's best to bring out your Raider Tool (melee weapon) and swing it at it for a quiet, one-hit kill.
Turret
TurretWeak Spot: N/A
You can find turrets in various rooms throughout the topside. It scans rooms with a blue light, which will turn red once it's locked onto you. If you're caught out in its line of sight while it's aware of you, you can expect a stream of bullets to eat through your shield and health with no remorse. It's best to sneak up and get a good out-of-sight angle, then unload some bullets into it. Heavy ammo will obviously be quicker, but any ammo type can take this ARC down relatively fast.
Sentinel
SentinelWeak Spot: Yellow canister
The Sentinel is a much stronger, long-ranged version of the standard turret. This enemy can rarely be found in large indoor locations but is more frequently found outdoors, where it can scope in on you from very far away and unleash a very powerful sniper-like shot to demolish your shield and health. As such, it's best to approach this ARC from behind when possible and take it out with a gun that uses heavy ammo, as it has a much larger health pool than the standard turret. Alternatively, you can shoot its yellow canister to deal more damage with any weapon, though it can be tough to land shots on it from some angles.
Special enemies
These ARC are large, hulking "boss"-style foes that are less common than the other enemy types you'll regularly encounter. They'll take a lot of effort to take down, and are typically best handled with a group or two of raiders wielding launchers (such as a Hullcracker) and other heavy weapons.
We'll go over how to take these foes down "normally" in each listing, but keep in mind that well-equipped raiders can make quick work of every one of them by using enough grenades. A Wolfpack grenade or two is usually enough to drop nearly any of these foes besides the Queen, and even a handful of Snap Blast Grenades on any of them is likely to put them on the brink of death. So, any time you've got the resources to spare, we'd recommend going that route to save some trouble.
Leaper
LeaperWeak Spots: Face and legs
The Leaper is a large ARC that is true to its name. It can leap across long distances to land on you and deal huge damage, and it can fire a short-range shockwave that hurts you when you're standing close. The best way to handle this enemy is to find a building with a door you can stand inside to keep the Leaper from reaching you with its jumps, then unload heavy ammo shots on its legs and face to break off its armor.
The Leaper's legs can be destroyed individually, reducing some of its mobility and sense of stability. With that in mind, you and your team should focus on the same leg when firing together to increase the chances of making this large foe all wobbly, then turn your focus to its face when possible. With well-placed shots (and some grenades, if you have them), it'll go down quicker than you'd expect.
Rocketeer
RocketeerWeak Spot: Thrusters
The Rocketeer sort of looks like a supersized Hornet, but it's considerably more dangerous. Once this monstrous flying ARC spots you, you'll need to run for interior cover like your life depends on it--because it does. The Rocketeer fires rockets (surprise) at you at regular intervals, which can absolutely destroy your shield and health in a single hit. Even worse, the rockets cause splash damage in a substantial radius around where they hit, meaning you're not likely to evade them even if you time a decent roll.
To take down the Rocketeer, you'll need to break the armored plating off its thruster using heavy ammo weaponry or grenades, then blast away at the exposed inner metal that is revealed. If it's still hanging on once you've broken a thruster or two, some shots to its body with heavy ammo or launcher ammo should finish it off.
A single Wolfpack grenade can also take down a Rocketeer, but you'll want to ensure it's alone when you throw the grenade, because the Rocketeer splits off into 12 mini homing missiles and targets up to three nearby ARC enemies. You don't want those missiles wasting their impact on smaller drones, so isolate the Rocketeer and enjoy the fireworks.
Bastion
BastionWeak Spots: Legs and yellow canister on back
The Bastion is a large crab-like ARC that wanders in open areas of various maps. Once it's alerted to your presence, it will unload rapid machine gun fire that can melt through you so fast that you may die before you can even know what's happening to your health. With this in mind, only fight this foe when you've got adequate cover. So long as you can kite it around a large object or hide from it around a corner, you can easily attack it between gunfire rounds.
When it comes to taking this beast down, you'll want to aim for the yellow spots on its leg joints. Destroying one of its legs will cause it to drop to the ground for a bit, which is a perfect opportunity for you and your group to wrap around behind it and shoot the yellow canister on its backside. With enough damage done to these weak points, it'll eventually fall.
Bombardier
BombardierWeak Spot: Legs and yellow canister on back
The Bomardier looks nearly identical to a Bastion in all but color, but its attacks are actually far deadlier and difficult to manage. Unlike the Bastion, you'll be avoiding mortar fire from this big ARC. Getting hit by a blast can be devastating, so you'll need to stay in cover as much as possible--or get very good at dodging at the exact right moment. The accuracy of these mortar strikes is improved if you're spotted by one of the Spotters--effectively Snitches that call shots for the hulking machine. If their yellow laser pinpoints your location, you're going to be in a heap of trouble--so make sure you shoot them down as soon as you see them.
The Bombardier is taken down the same way as the Bastion. You'll want to take aim at its yellow knee joints to drop it to the ground, then wrap around behind it and place plenty of shots into the yellow canister on its backside. After enough damage is done to all of these weak points, you'll wipe this monster off the face of the planet.
Queen
QueenWeak Spot: Legs and face
The Queen is the largest ARC currently in the game and only appears during a Harvester map condition. This absolutely gigantic robot can obliterate entire groups of raiders with ease, making it arguably the hardest foe in the game, and one that often requires multiple trios to come together to bring down. It will fire outrageously powerful lasers at you and your team when you're caught out in the open, as well as send out mortar fire that can deal damage in an area. And if you get too close, it can even use a ground slam or EMP pulse to make quick work of you. When you add in all of the additional ARCs it spawns during the fight, it's a recipe for disaster.
Similar to other big ARC enemies, you'll want to target the Queen's leg joints and face to strip it of its protective armor, then wail on its exposed inner metal. You'll absolutely need to bring heavy weapons or a Hullcracker if you want to do much of anything at all to help your team take this boss down--and even then, it's going to take a hell of a long time to pull off. Honestly, the best possible way to tackle this fight is to bring a whole bunch of Wolfpack grenades to blast away at this monstrosity. Without them, you can expect to be fighting for quite a while in a situation where one wrong move could send your group back to the lobby.
For more, check out our full Arc Raiders quest list.
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