ARC Raiders Deal Damage to Shredders Trial Guide

This week's Trial is refreshingly straightforward: find Shredders, annoy them by shooting their glowing backsides, collect score, feel vaguely accomplished. Whether your ambition peaks at the 4,000-point 3-star threshold or you genuinely enjoy spending your evenings being shrapnel-blasted by robot drones, this guide covers everything you need to walk out ahead: or at least walk out.

Quick Summary This Trial is exclusive to Stella Montis, the only current map with Shredder spawns. Night Raid doubles your score per Shredder. The weak spot is the blue thrusters. The Anvil IV is your best friend. You're welcome.

Scoring Breakdown

The scoring for the maximize score Shredders ARC Raiders Trials objective is mercifully simple. Each Shredder you damage is worth a flat 693 points under normal conditions. Stack a 2x Night Raid Event modifier on top of that and the number doubles to a very satisfying 1,386 per unit. The math does itself:

To put it bluntly: if you're just here for the easy ARC Raiders fast 3-star rewards Shredders ticket, you need to find and damage a grand total of six of these things under normal conditions: or a measly three during a Night Raid. Given Stella Montis has multiple dedicated spawn zones packed with them, this is less of a "Trial" and more of a light afternoon stroll through a hostile robot facility. Leaderboard hunters, however, will want to chain the entire map and extract only when the session timer forces them to or their hands go numb. Your call.

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The Stella Montis Night Raid event ARC Raiders window is the single most important variable in this Trial. Under Night Raid conditions, every Shredder you damage is worth double score: making a run that would have netted 4,000 points suddenly worth 8,000. If you're aiming for leaderboard placement rather than minimum viable effort, do not enter a lobby without Night Raid active. Check the Event Timers on MetaForge or BoostMatch before queuing. Entering without the modifier is technically possible. It's also the kind of decision you'll explain to yourself later while looking at a respectable-but-disappointing score.

Stella Montis itself is the only map currently hosting ARC Raiders Shredder locations Stella Montis: they don't exist anywhere else. The map is also, by design, one of the most PvP-active environments in the game. Its corridors are tight, its sightlines are punishing, and every other player queuing this Trial has the same spreadsheet you do. Plan accordingly, be diplomatic when possible, and don't be surprised when someone third-parties you mid-fight against a Shredder. That's just Thursday on Stella Montis.

Finding the best loadout for Shredders ARC Raiders is less about raw power and more about sustain. These fights aren't long: they're just punishing when you run out of ammo at the wrong moment or take one shrapnel burst to the face because you forgot to bring bandages. The following setup is tested, efficient, and gives you enough room to handle the Ticks, Fireballs, and opportunistic players that Stella Montis will cheerfully throw at you between Shredder encounters.

Budget Option A basic Anvil I works if Anvil IV isn't in your budget: the fire rate drop hurts, but the kill is still achievable. Do not under any circumstances replace the Heavy Ammo with Light Ammo. Light Ammo against Shredder armor is roughly as effective as politely asking them to stop.

Here is the one piece of information that separates players who survive Shredder encounters from players who die confused and angry: the ARC Raiders Shredder weak spot thrusters: specifically the blue-lit propulsion jets on the underside and sides of the unit. Shooting the body is wasted ammunition. The Shredder is armored heavily on its chassis, and light ammo barely registers. The thrusters, however, are exposed, soft, and very much killable.

To understand how to kill Shredders ARC Raiders properly, the engagement looks like this: bait the Shredder into activating and firing its shrapnel burst, take cover immediately, and the moment the attack animation ends, step out and dump rounds or grenades into the thrusters. The Shredder has a brief recovery window after each attack: that is your entire window. Use it. Miss it and you're eating another burst.

• Bottom thruster: the primary weak spot. Hits here cause stagger and knockback, briefly exposing the underbelly for follow-up shots.
• Side thrusters: secondary targets. Stun-lock the Shredder and open it up for easier follow-up damage.
• Anvil IV: roughly two full magazines into the thrusters to destroy a Shredder. Add Light Impact Grenades to accelerate that timeline.
• Hullcracker: two shots to the thrusters is a kill. Expensive, but deeply satisfying.
• Doorways: a severely underrated tool. Close a door between you and a Shredder to fully block its attacks, reset its aggro, and reposition without taking a single point of damage.

Do NOT Shoot the Head The glowing eye is armored. It is bait. Embark Studios specifically patched the head to remove the ability to cheese it after the Cold Snap update. Aim for the thrusters or accept the consequences.

The ARC Raiders solo route Shredders is a clean that covers the four highest-density spawn zones on Stella Montis. Depending on your spawn location, start between Cultural Archives and Lobby, then run the circuit below. The route is designed to circle back on itself so you can repeat it for additional score without retracing dead ends.

Recommended Solo

Lobby (Ground Floor): two confirmed Shredder spawns. Clear them, then head upstairs to the Business Room for one additional spawn. Use the Business Room Zipline to drop into Cultural Archives.

Cultural Archives: high-value zone with multiple Shredders clustered throughout. Completing this section alone can push you past the 3-star threshold. Watch for Ticks, Fireballs, and Pops running interference. Proceed through to the Seed Vault stairwell.

Seed Vault / Airshaft Extract: one Shredder spawns at the extract. Be aware that this is a player-traffic chokepoint and popular camping spot. Kill the Shredder and move through to Sandbox: do not linger.

Robotic Sandbox A & B: the single most Shredder-dense area on the map. Multiple spawns across the lower level and control room. Sweep both floors. This is where solo runs either accelerate into genuine leaderboard territory or collapse under the weight of Ticks and bad angles.

Lobby Metro: one Shredder spawn. Take the Zipline from Metro directly back up to Lobby. Congratulations, you're back at step one. Repeat until satisfied or extract.

Medical Research is a worthwhile detour if you have the time: it can host two to three Shredders: but it's not on the critical path. Lower Loading Bay and Seed Vault Airshaft have smaller spawns worth grabbing if you're pushing score rather than farming the 3-star minimum. As a solo on Stella Montis, the standard rule applies: make friends where possible, shoot first where necessary, and do not stand still in the open while a Shredder is charging up its attack.

The ARC Raiders Trio map split Stella Montis Shredders strategy is exactly what it sounds like: divide the map between three players, cover more ground simultaneously, and bank score at a rate that makes the 3-star threshold feel like a minor administrative task rather than an actual challenge. The recommended split is as follows:

Once any player clears their zone, rotate to support whoever is still working through a high-value area rather than wandering aimlessly. The shared party score means every Shredder damaged by any teammate contributes. This is not a race within your team: it's a race against every other team in the lobby. Split efficiently, stay in communication, and reconvene before extraction rather than trickling out individually and handing the remaining Shredders to whoever was patient enough to wait.

Additional Tips: Because Apparently These Are Needed

• Listen before you push. Shredders are loud. The hovering engine noise gives you a full second of advance warning if you're paying attention instead of sprinting headfirst through doorways.
• Doors are free damage negation. Close a door between yourself and a Shredder to fully block its attacks. The Shredder will stand there processing its situation. Use that time to reload.
• Grenades during charge animations. When a Shredder pauses to charge up its shrapnel cone: that's your most valuable window. Multiple grenades into the thrusters during the charge animation deal significant bonus damage. Do not waste this.
• Light ammo is a waste of your limited time on earth. Shredder armor laughs at it. Heavy ammo, grenades, or the Hullcracker only.
• Lure Grenades redirect aggro. If a hostile player is closing in while you're mid-fight, throw a Lure Grenade toward them and let the Shredder become their problem briefly. Rude? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.
• The Night Raid 2x modifier changes everything. Three Shredders for a 3-star instead of six. Do not queue without checking the event timer first.