What is the best weapon in ARC Raiders?

There is no single best weapon — but against machines, ARC armor penetration is the stat that decides fights. The game rates the Aphelion, Equalizer, Hullcracker I, and Jupiter as Very Strong penetration, with the Anvil I, Bettina, and Ferro I one step behind at Strong.

What does ARC armor penetration do in ARC Raiders?

It rates how effectively a weapon damages armored ARC machines. A Very Weak-penetration SMG that shreds Raiders will feel like a pea-shooter against a Bastion's plating, while Strong and Very Strong weapons keep their punch against armor.

Which ARC Raiders weapons use Heavy Ammo?

Three on record: the Ferro I break-action battle rifle, the Anvil I hand cannon, and the Bettina assault rifle — all rated Strong against ARC armor.

▤ Field manual

Best weapons in ARC Raiders: what the stats actually say

Raiderism editorialFiled 2026-07-12v1.36.1weaponsloadoutsmeta

Ask "what's the best gun" in Speranza and you'll start a bar fight. Ask the dataset and you get a quieter, more useful answer: against the machines that actually kill most Raiders, ARC armor penetration is the stat that matters, and the game rates every weapon on a five-step scale. That rating — not damage-per-second folklore — is where weapon choice starts. The weapons armory lays out every documented number side by side; this manual is how to read it.

Start with penetration, not damage

The machines are armored. Plating shrugs off small-arms fire, which is why a weak-point hit from a penetrating rifle is worth a full magazine of SMG spray. The dataset's penetration board:

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.

The documented damage numbers

Per-shot damage is only published for a handful of weapons, so we only show it for those — but the derived math is telling. The Equalizer holds the biggest documented 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 carry documented special traits: 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.