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Discover Top DPS Tier List for WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 2: Best Classes for SSC & TK Raids Discover Top DPS Tier List for WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 2: Best Classes for SSC & TK Raids
WoW Series Apr 23, 2026

Discover Top DPS Tier List for WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 2: Best Classes for SSC & TK Raids

GameMS - Discover ARC Raiders Weapon Meta: Tier List, Best Guns & Game-Changing Buffs Revealed GameMS - Discover ARC Raiders Weapon Meta: Tier List, Best Guns & Game-Changing Buffs Revealed
Other Games Apr 22, 2026

Discover ARC Raiders Weapon Meta: Tier List, Best Guns & Game-Changing Buffs Revealed

In the perilous battlefields of ARC Raiders, choosing the right weapon often determines whether you emerge laden with loot or become just another corpse in the ruins.

With numerous balance adjustments and new weapon additions in ARC Raiders, the strength of various weapons has subtly shifted. Understanding the advantages, disadvantages, and uses of different weapons can help you find the most suitable one.

Whether it’s PvP or PvE, whether it’s a small Arc or a large Arc, this latest ARC weapon guide can help you.

Not Recommended Hairpin

Hairpin remains one of the worst weapons of ARC Raiders. Although it has a built-in suppressor, it requires reloading after each shot. Every game probably needs some low-tier weapons, and Hairpin is one of them. It can certainly deal lethal damage, but only if the user is highly skilled.

Kettle

Kettle is a semi-automatic rifle with a decent rate of fire. However, some novice players later exploited macros, allowing Kettle to reach its maximum rate of fire with a single button press, thus disrupting the game balance. Consequently, the gun was nerfed. After the rate of fire cap was lowered, while it could still down enemy raiders, it was significantly slower and lost its former glory.

Arpeggio

Arpeggio is a three-round burst rifle. Tier 4 version of Arpeggio boasts an impressive kill rate, theoretically faster than Venator III. However, the lower-tier versions of Arpeggio have extremely poor handling, especially at long range. Unless you plan to upgrade it to Tier 4, I don’t recommend using it in either PvE or PvP.

Average Rattler

Rattler is a fully automatic rifle with a magazine capacity of only 12 rounds. It takes 14 rounds to down a fully shielded raider, but this can be mitigated by equipping an extended magazine. Theoretically, its kill rate is faster than Kettle's ; while not amazing, it’s decent.

Pharaoh

Despite its small magazine capacity, slow reload speed, and the need for manual reloading after each shot, Pharaoh is incredibly powerful. Using heavy ammunition, Pharaoh is very effective against low-level Arc enemies, making it a reliable and economical choice for clearing out some of the smaller, more troublesome Arc enemies in Arc Raiders. You can use it to weaken the raider first, then switch to a more lethal melee weapon like Stitcher.

Bettina

Bettina is a fully automatic rifle with a slow rate of fire. However, because it fires heavy ammunition, it’s very effective at medium to long ranges, whether in close-range or wide-range engagements. Bettina’s magazine capacity, durability, and reload speed have now been improved, and upgrading Bettina increases its rate of fire. A level 4 Bettina has a pretty good kill rate, which PvE players will appreciate, but PvP players will usually opt for other, more lethal mid-range weapons.

Burletta

Burletta is a semi-automatic pistol with a decent kill rate. It’s reliable and reasonably priced; even the basic Tier 1 version can take down enemy raiders faster than Venator III. However, it requires rapid fire to reach its full potential.

Torrente

Torrente is a fully automatic heavy machine gun with a top rate of fire. It’s bulky and poorly handled, but Torrente is incredibly powerful. Even at Tier 1, it can deal significant damage to heavy ARC enemies with its hurricane-like medium ammunition. Most players use it to eliminate enemy raiders at close range. If you can overcome its poor handling, it’s a bulky but elite weapon.

Osprey

Osprey is the only weapon in ARC Raiders equipped with a first-person scope. It has low durability and a slow rate of fire, but it’s incredibly fun to kill raiders at infinite range. Experienced players can pull off incredible maneuvers with Osprey, but this requires a lot of practice and skill to consistently hit targets in combat.

Canto

Canto is a fully automatic submachine gun with extremely strong recoil. As one of the two new weapons added in Flashpoint update, Canto boasts a very fast kill rate, but requires upgrades and weapon attachments to control its spread and recoil. Furthermore, obtaining $1 is extremely tedious. However, for players who want to quickly eliminate enemy raiders with close-range firepower, the cost is definitely worthwhile.

Anvil Splitter

Anvil Splitter is a unique gold attachment for Anvil, transforming the weapon into something entirely different. Now, each shot fires four pellets, making it function like a mid-range shotgun. Its damage per shot is considerable and can be used against ARC enemies. However, Anvil Splitter is somewhat lacking as a gold weapon attachment, less efficient in PvP than IL Toro, and therefore still needs improvement.

Tempest

Tempest is a fully automatic assault rifle that performs well in both PvP and PvE, and many players appreciate its versatility. Its kill speed is incredibly fast, even faster than Ventor 4, but Tempest is best suited for mid-range combat. In close-quarters combat, it’s inferior to Bobcat, Torrent, and Volcano. In PvE, it’s decent against low-level ARCs, but struggles against high-level ones.

Aphelion

Aphelion is a two-round burst rifle with powerful Arc Armor Penetration. It has also received some enhancements, including reduced recoil, improved reload speed and handling, and faster aiming stability. These changes make it feel lighter and more lethal in PvP, but its kill time is only average, slightly inferior to other mid-range PvP weapons.

Recommended Anvil

Anvil is a green-tier semi-automatic revolver, adept at destroying low to medium-level ARC enemies and excels at taking down enemy raiders at close to mid-range. Anvil has remained virtually unchanged since ARC Raiders update, making it a top-tier weapon. It’s a nemesis of low-level ARC enemies and is also very useful in PvP. Even as a green-tier weapon, it remains a top-tier all-around weapon in 2026.

Stitcher

Stitcher is a fully automatic short-range submachine gun. When ARC Raiders was first released, Stitcher, although a gray-tier weapon, was a powerful tool for killing raiders. Now, Stitcher has been nerfed, with reduced damage output and increased bullet spread. While its damage isn’t as high as it initially was, its shorter kill time makes it a powerful and reasonably priced PvP weapon.

IL Toro

When ARC Raiders was first released, IL Toro, despite being only a green-tier weapon, was arguably the best weapon in the game for killing other raiders. Although it has now been nerfed with a significantly reduced rate of fire and a slightly shorter damage drop-off point (previously requiring two shots to down a medium-shielded enemy, now requiring three), it’s still very powerful. IL Toro remains an elite-tier and reasonably priced raider killer.

Renegade

Renegade bolt-action long-range rifle performs well against low-flying targets and is highly efficient at eliminating enemy raiders at mid-to-long range. While its kill time may not seem impressive, Renegade’s strength lies in its near-accurate rate of fire for long-range raider kills. Although upgrading this weapon is very expensive, Renegade is definitely worth it if you plan to participate in long-range PvP.

Ventor

Ventor is a semi-automatic pistol that has been the undisputed best PvP weapon in ARC Raiders since its release, far ahead of the competition. Even after several nerfs, and no longer being the undisputed best weapon in the game, a max-level Ventor remains a very efficient and reliable PvP weapon, still very powerful at close to mid-range.

Equalizer

Equalizer is a fully automatic heavy machine gun with an extremely high rate of fire. Equalizer has remained virtually unchanged since the release of ARC Raiders. It can easily strip through the armor of even the toughest ARC enemies, making it a top-tier weapon against Queen and Matriarch, and is considered one of the strongest and most stable PvE weapons in ARC Raiders.

Bobcat

Bobcat is a fully automatic submachine gun with an extremely high rate of fire, making it one of the most lethal close-range PvP weapons in ARC Raiders. If the enemy doesn’t have a Vulcano or other effective defensive measures, they are almost certainly dead once Bobcat user fires first. Bobcat has a large bullet spread and significant recoil. Its fatal weaknesses are low long-range damage and a small magazine capacity, but these can be easily overcome by close-range use and crafting extended magazine attachments. It remains a powerful tool for eliminating Raiders.

Hullcracker

Hullcracker is a pump-action grenade launcher. Hullcracker was very powerful when ARC Raiders was first released, but was later nerfed, for example, by reducing its damage output against wide-area targets and increasing the price of ammunition. Despite these frustrating changes, Hullcracker remains an indispensable primary weapon in PvE, still capable of creating massive holes in large ARC enemies.

Vulcano

Vulcano is a semi-automatic shotgun with a very high rate of fire. Currently, it’s arguably the strongest close-range PvP weapon in Arc Raiders, theoretically boasting the fastest kill speed of all guns. Furthermore, Vulcano’s blueprint has been significantly easier to obtain, suggesting this weapon is likely to be nerfed soon. Be careful of close-range attacks from enemies using Vulcano.

Jupiter

Jupiter is a long-range, anti-arc sniper rifle that requires charging for each shot. Since the release of Arc Raiders, Jupiter has received several buffs, including higher magnification and improved handling. Each shot deals significant damage, and with high accuracy, it can effectively penetrate large, heavily armored ARC targets. It excels particularly against the newest advanced flying arc-shaped enemies like Vaporizer.

Dolabra

Dolabra is a unique weapon. When hip-fired, it functions like a shotgun, but when aimed, it transforms into a more accurate mid-range rail gun. In PvE, its damage is indeed high, but it’s less effective than Jupiter and Equalizer when dealing with wide-area attacks. However, it’s highly efficient in PvP, capable of taking down enemies at close range with just two hip-fire shots, while also providing decent damage at mid-range.

In ARC Raiders, no weapon is absolutely perfect. True survival masters know how to switch weapons flexibly based on the battle situation, enemy type, and their own resources. Learn more about the latest information and find the survival style that best suits you. 
GameMS - Arc Raiders Expedition Dilemma: Why Optional Wipes Create a Tough Choice And How to Fix the Conflicting Timeline GameMS - Arc Raiders Expedition Dilemma: Why Optional Wipes Create a Tough Choice And How to Fix the Conflicting Timeline
Other Games Apr 20, 2026

Arc Raiders Expedition Dilemma: Why Optional Wipes Create a Tough Choice And How to Fix the Conflicting Timeline

Arc Raiders' Expedition window will open in two weeks. Expeditions are a core mechanic in almost all extraction shooters. They wipe out almost all your character stats, skill points, hard-earned blueprints, and resources. However, it's actually one of the most interesting systems in the game.

The brilliance of Arc Raiders lies in its ability to allow players who don't want to participate to skip it. Other games, like Tarkov, force all players to undergo a complete reset every four to six months, whether you like it or not.

I believe this optional mechanism is what makes Arc Raiders' player retention rate far higher than other games in the same genre. However, choosing to skip expeditions can be a difficult decision. This suggests that Arc Raiders' game mechanics still have room for improvement.

So how can we choose to get a better gaming experience? And how can Arc Raiders optimize its game mechanics for long-term success? Let's find out.

Meaning of Expeditions

To start an expedition, players must deliver specific items and valuables to the expedition progress item. Once enough items have been delivered, the expedition window will open, and then you simply wait for the expedition day to arrive. On that day, your character data will be reset. While it sounds cruel, the reset isn't purely a punishment. It also rewards you with extra skills, higher weapon repair percentages, extra resources from raids, and exclusive expedition skins unavailable through other means.

Therefore, participating in expeditions does have its merits, which is why some players eagerly anticipate each cycle.

Why skip expeditions?

First, there's the timing. For casual players, having an expedition every two months sounds unbelievable. You painstakingly grind for all the blueprints and skill points, only to have it reset.

The most important reason is that the data wipe almost coincides with the addition of new content. We're about to get a new map and a new boss front, meaning that when your save is wiped, you'll be stepping into the new content almost empty-handed. No blueprints, no gear, no preparation.

Snap Hook is a perfect example. If a new large Arc is massive and requires vertical movement to reach its weak points, then you'll need Snap Hook blueprint. However, if you choose Expedition, your previously acquired Snap Hook blueprints will disappear, and you'll have to find them again to truly experience the new content and earn the generous $1.

Therefore, if you prefer to experience the new content as soon as it launches, you need to be well-prepared, skip the Expedition, keep your gear, and truly enjoy the fruits of Embark's month-long effort.

Arc Raiders is creating unnecessary conflict for players here. If you choose not to participate in the Expedition, you can directly experience the new content; if you participate, you'll be indirectly penalized for engaging in core game systems. This trade-off shouldn't exist.

Solution

Currently, the Expedition and the new content are vying for the same timeframe, leaving players caught in the middle. The solution seems simple: Arc Raiders could postpone the Expedition event by at least two weeks, separating it from the main content release, allowing players to be fully prepared.

In fact, simply adjusting the schedule could completely eliminate the conflict, giving the Expedition event its own dedicated time on the calendar and releasing the new content only when players are truly ready.

Building a Better Progression System

A deeper problem with Arc Raiders is its extremely linear progression; almost everything can be completed on day one. With each patch, new weapons, items, and blueprints are immediately available.

If you understand the mechanics, you can acquire all the new content within hours of an update. Once you have all the new blueprints and weapons on day one, there's little to strive for in the following month.

Dolabra shotgun is a perfect example. In a recent patch, obtaining its blueprint simply required randomly looting a container somewhere in the world. No high-quality gear or skill is needed; only luck. This randomness creates an unfairness that can be frustrating.

How can Arc Raiders break this linear pattern and build a more rewarding progression system? We can draw inspiration from other games. Helldivers and Marathon both employ community-driven progression models.

In these games, all players must work together towards a common goal to unlock new maps, game modes, or content. First, a certain number of enemies need to be defeated collectively. Second, all players need to complete a certain number of objectives and reach community milestones to unlock the next chapter's content.

This way, the player community can collectively drive the story forward, and new content will feel more rewarding. Blueprints can also be designed as mission rewards, not obtainable from random containers, and must be earned through effort. Linking more blueprints to missions, community milestones, or skill challenges makes players feel that the rewards match their efforts. This single change can improve player retention more effectively than any new weapon drop or map condition.

Arc Raiders has taken a great step by making expeditions an option, not a necessity. The next step for Arc Raiders is to build a more engaging progression system to truly unlock the secrets to long-term success.
GameMS - ARC Raiders Flashpoint Update Loot Guide: Best Loot Spawn Locations & Rare Item Farming Guide GameMS - ARC Raiders Flashpoint Update Loot Guide: Best Loot Spawn Locations & Rare Item Farming Guide
Other Games Apr 17, 2026

ARC Raiders Flashpoint Update Loot Guide: Best Loot Spawn Locations & Rare Item Farming Guide

Every piece of loot in ARC Raiders follows a specific spawn logic. All items, including specific items like blueprints and attachments, spawn according to a set of universal rules.

Some item drop rules may have changed after Flashpoint update. Let's understand these rules to maximize your loot in raids!

Since ARC Raiders launched in October, players have been recording and testing the blueprint spawn mechanism. Many players have spent hours searching for specific loot locations, only to find nothing.

Through extensive testing and community data, we've discovered that blueprints are rarely tied to specific locations on the map. Instead, they are related to Container Types and Map Conditions. If you want a specific blueprint, you're looking for the container type, not the location.So far, most of the spawn mechanism has been cracked, especially the blueprint spawn mechanism. However, there are still many rare items that cannot be crafted that we cannot reliably obtain.

Rare Items That Cannot Be Crafted

Items that currently lack blueprints, such as Kinetic Converters, Anvil Splitters, Silencer 3es, Horizontal Grips, etc., cannot be crafted at present, and may never be. These are likely the rarest items in Arc Raiders. You might need to stockpile some before confidently using them in matches.

So how do we reliably acquire these rare items? Are there specific drop routes or locations? Most maps have good spots where these items drop, with a higher drop rate. Do their spawn mechanisms follow any specific rules? Are there specific conditions or locations where you can find these items, or even repeatedly farm them?

Rare Item Drop Standards

Base Raids and Maps have historically tended to generate residential containers. Residential containers refer to drawers, cabinets, refrigerators, chests of drawers, suitcases, etc. You can find blueprints for General Attachments, and even Basic Level Attachments, in these containers.

You'll also find green rare items in basic raids like Buried City, Spaceport, Bluegate, and Stella, which don't have map modifiers or conditions.

Major Map Modifiers significantly increase the spawn rate of rare $1. Modifiers like Locked Gate, Hidden Bunker, Hurricane, and Cold Snap are excellent for finding blue or rare, epic attachments. Examples include Extended Mag 3, Extended Barrel, and Lightweight Stock.

Shrouded Sky update also improved their spawn rate with Electromagnetic Storm and Night Rates.

Since FlashPoint update, some strange phenomena have occurred with Major Map Modifier drops. Some standard blueprints, like Extended Mag 2 blueprint, are appearing in the trigger conditions for Major Map Modifiers.

Now, triggering these Major Map Modifiers guarantees these high-level items. We can reasonably assume that the highest-tier Attachments will follow the same generation logic. Areas like Major Map Modifiers, Residential Containers, Locked Key Rooms, and Breach Rooms will be designated as spawn points for high-tier items, helping you to pinpoint their location.

Popular Areas

I've discovered several popular areas on some maps where looting can reliably yield Legendary or higher-tier Epic items.

First is Buried City. For certain loot items, Buried City encompasses almost all the best drop locations, making it the absolute best source.

Plaza Rosa Pharmacy, Boots Pharmacy, and A2 Apartment Building all have very consistent Legendary and higher-tier item drop rates.

Spaceport, Container Storage Building, and Breach Room (which is across from Key Room) have even higher drop rates. Vehicle Maintenance, while having fewer containers, also has a chance to drop Legendary items. Control Tower also has a high drop rate, but Control Tower keys are scarce.

Upon closer inspection, you'll notice these areas are easily replicated and appear to have fixed spawn points. Items you can spawn from these areas include: Snap Hook, Kinetic Converter, Anvil Splitter, Silencer 3, Horizontal Grip, Photoelectric Cloak, Lightweight Stock, Shotgun Silencer, and Wolfpacks.

These hotspots do exist, but their spawn points rotate. This is similar to Raider Caches' spawn mechanism, where each map has clusters of hideouts. If you look at the map, you'll see many hideouts within a small area, but typically only one will spawn per raid.

In other words, each raid will spawn something, but not every spawn point will. For example, if you go to Plaza Rosa Pharmacy, you might not find a certain item there; it might spawn at Arbuso Pharmacist or A2 Apartment Building. You'll find them at one of the known spawn points on each map, but there's no guarantee you'll find them at that specific location every time you go.

Other methods

Feeding agave to Scrappy can also drop Kinetic Converters, Horizontal Grips, Silencer 3, and Anvil Splitters. However, the drop rate is very low.

Any enhancements to Standard Raid Verse Modifiers will increase the chance of obtaining certain items. Night Raids seem to yield more Snap Hooks and Horizontal Grips. Hurricane seems to yield more Kinetic Converters. Bird City seems to yield more Anvil Splitters and Silencer 3es. But they don't only appear under these conditions; you'll still find them more easily in certain popular areas.

ARC Raiders are highly random, and by understanding these spawn rules, you won't need to aimlessly search the map. Although specific spawn points rotate in each raid, covering high-probability areas greatly increases your chances of getting the rare loot you need. Go try it out in the game now!
GameMS - Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer 3 is set to be officially released in mid-May! | Personal Prediction GameMS - Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer 3 is set to be officially released in mid-May! | Personal Prediction
Other Games Apr 16, 2026

Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer 3 is set to be officially released in mid-May! | Personal Prediction

Gamers worldwide are eagerly anticipating the release of GTA 6 Trailer 3. With just over six months until its November 19, 2026 release, many players are impatiently hoping to see more new content.

Based on the official release patterns over the years and Take-Two's financial reporting schedule, I can say with certainty that GTA 6 Trailer 3 will most likely be released within the next 3-4 weeks. This prediction is not based on speculation, but rather on a consistent pattern established by the official team. Reading this article will explain the reasons. Let's discuss this in detail.

Hack Incident

First, let's clarify the recent controversies to reassure all players. Previously, the official GTA team suffered a data breach from a third-party hacker group calling themselves ShinyHunters, who demanded a ransom. The official response is that the incident only resulted in the acquisition of a small amount of insignificant, non-core company information. Neither player's personal data nor core game development content for GTA 6 was leaked, and it will not affect the game's future development or player experience.

It's worth noting that for the official team, this leak was not a crisis, but rather proof of GTA series' strength. The leaked data, which only included business analysis data from GTA Online and Red Dead Online, fully demonstrates the official team's astonishing profitability and strong financial reserves.

Even more astonishing is that GTA Online, with only 4% of its player base, generates $5 billion in revenue, which only makes many players more eager for Grand Theft Auto 6.

Furthermore, this also dispels rumors circulating online that hackers would leak game plans on April 14th, forcing the official team to release a trailer earlier, and that GTA 6 might be delayed. Sufficient funding allows the official team to confidently invest significant time in meticulously crafting this groundbreaking sequel.

The core factor truly determining the release date of GTA 6 Trailer 3 is Take-Two Interactive's quarterly earnings call, the company behind the game. This is the key timeframe for all major announcements from the company.

Earnings Call

Take-Two holds its quarterly earnings call in mid-May each year to report on the progress of its game business to global investors. As Take-Two's core game studio, GTA series is crucial to the company's revenue, and investors are most concerned about the development progress of GTA 6.

Therefore, the company has consistently followed a fixed pattern: all official announcements and trailer releases regarding major games are scheduled before the mid-May earnings call to showcase the game's development progress and stabilize market confidence.

This pattern isn't new; it has been consistent with the promotional campaigns for many of Take-Two's popular games. GTA 5 Trailer 3 was released on May 1st; Red Dead Redemption Trailer 3 was released on May 3rd, both concentrated in early May.

Let's review all the important announcements regarding GTA 6: On February 4, 2022, GTA 6 was officially announced to be in development, followed by a Take-Two earnings call three days later; on November 7, 2023, the first trailer for GTA 6 was released, followed by an earnings call the next day; on May 2, 2025, the game was officially delayed, followed by the release of Trailer 2 on May 6, again closely following the earnings call; on November 7, 2025, another delay was announced, and an earnings call was held that same day. Every major announcement has precisely timed around the earnings call, without exception.

Based on the current timeline, it's now mid-April, and there are only 3-4 weeks left until Take-Two earnings call in mid-May 2026, perfectly coinciding with the release of the major trailer.

Fixed Date Preference

In addition, official announcements also follow a fixed date preference: important game-related announcements are typically released on Fridays, while trailers are consistently released on Tuesdays. Based on this pattern, Tuesdays and Fridays from late April to mid-May are potential release dates, with the highest probability of a release in early May. This coincides perfectly with the release dates of GTA5 Trailer 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 Trailer 3.

Many players may wonder if releasing a trailer now conflicts with the official statement that GTA 6's official promotion wouldn't begin until the summer. Actually, they are not contradictory at all. The official summer promotion refers to commercial promotion activities such as billboards, TV commercials, and offline events, while the game trailer is simply a content update and does not fall under the formal commercial promotion activities, thus it is not subject to time restrictions. Incidentally, $1 listing has recently changed, which may indicate that the game will be released soon.

From the perspective of game promotion logic, GTA 6, as a highly anticipated game, is only six months away from release, and the official team cannot afford to remain inactive for an extended period. Furthermore, the next earnings call is not until August.

Based on all the patterns and timelines, Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer 3 will most likely be officially released within the next 3-4 weeks. Players just need to wait patiently for the new content to be revealed.

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