Best weapons in ARC Raiders

Raiderism editorial2026-10-03

For machine fights, start with ARC armor penetration. The game ranks weapons on a five-step scale. Pick a penetration tier for your target, then compare damage, ammo, and weight in the weapons armory.

Start with penetration, not damage

Plating shrugs off small-arms fire. A weak-point hit from a penetrating rifle can save a full magazine of SMG spray. The penetration tiers:

• Very Strong — Aphelion (energy), Equalizer (LMG), Hullcracker I (launcher), and the Jupiter sniper rifle. These are your machine-breakers.
• Strong — Anvil I, Bettina, Ferro I: the entire Heavy Ammo family. One ammo type to stock, three ARC-capable frames.
• Moderate — the workhorse middle: the Arpeggio, Rattler I and Tempest I assault rifles, the Renegade I, the Osprey I scoped sniper, and the Torrente.
• Weak / Very Weak — the shotguns (Il Toro I, Vulcano I) and the light kit — pistols, SMGs, the Kettle I. These earn their keep against other Raiders, not against plating.

The split writes your loadout for you: carry one weapon for machines, one for people, and don't ask either to do both jobs.

Damage and magazine size

The Equalizer holds the biggest magazine payout (8 damage × 50 rounds = 400 per mag), ahead of the Vulcano I (351) and Jupiter (300 across just five shells). The Bobcat I manages 120 — fine against Raiders, which is exactly what its Very Weak penetration says.

Traits worth planning around

Three weapons have traits worth building around: the Hairpin I's integrated silencer (the quiet-loop pistol), the Osprey I's scope, and the Jupiter's experimental classification. Silence in particular is a strategy, not a stat — a suppressed takedown doesn't ring the dinner bell for every squad on the map.

Compare and build

Compare any two candidates side by side in the armory, then build the full kit in the loadout builder.