I did not start out strong in ARC Raiders. My first hundred hours were basically a highlight reel of bad falls, broken legs and getting "accidentally" shot in the back by squadmates while I was hauling loot and trying to figure out how to farm better than just grinding until I could afford a few upgrades or a quick Raider Tokens buy option in the background.

Movement And Surviving Falls

If you treat ARC Raiders like a basic run-and-gun shooter, the game punishes you fast. The physics feel floaty and weird at first, and if you do not respect momentum, you get deleted. The biggest shift for me was learning the slide-roll chain. You jump, hit crouch in mid-air, then dive forward into a roll. Done right, it carries almost all your speed and, more importantly, wipes fall damage. I tested it off those massive Dam towers over and over. Time the roll just before impact and you walk away like nothing happened. Ladders have their own trick too: mash jump at the top and you launch up at about triple speed without draining stamina, which is huge when you are scrambling away from another squad. And do not waste time standing still to heal; hold interact while sprinting and you can slam stims or food without breaking stride.

Money Routes And Power Rod Meta

Making money was the part that nearly made me quit. Everyone dogpiles the main Dam Power Gen vault and it turns into a messy war that leaves most players broke or dead. When I dropped that habit and started chaining the smaller vaults, everything changed. My usual route now is spawning East and heading to the West highway overpass. There is a server rack up there that almost always spits out an epic crate and barely anyone looks for it. From there I hit quiet "ghost spots" like the Control Tower roof or that heater tucked away in the Parking Garage in Buried City. You are not getting constant gunfights, but your income climbs way faster because you are not contesting the same loot as the whole lobby.

Dealing With Players And ARC Machines

Once you are geared, the real problem becomes trust. In PvP, never assume crouch-spam means peace. I tried being nice early on and just kept getting knifed as soon as I turned my back. Now, if someone acts too friendly, I either back off or take the shot before they do. Against ARC machines you also need to change how you aim. Spraying armour feels good but does almost nothing; you need to focus the yellow vents. Even a basic level 2 Bobcat shotgun with a choke can rip drones apart if you are landing pellets on those weak spots. That setup has beaten out a few so-called meta guns for me just because it deletes targets faster than they can react.

Cold Snap, Stealth And Skipping The Grind

Cold Snap looks like just a winter reskin at first, but the snow piles are secret blueprint fountains if you pay attention. I have had the best luck running night raids during the event; rare drops feel way more common, especially if you move slow and prone-crawl through hot loot zones so the AI barely notices you. The whole game shifts when you stop charging around and start playing like a rat instead, stacking coins and only taking fights you can win. And if you hit a wall with the grind or just cannot be bothered to crawl through early-game poverty again, there is nothing wrong with grabbing a few items or blueprints from a site like u4gm to soften the blow when you lose a kit.