ARC Raiders El Toro Nerf Guide: Update 1.2.0

So the ARC Raiders El Toro nerf is here. Update 1.2.0 rolled out across all platforms with the kind of quiet efficiency usually reserved for things nobody asked for but everybody secretly needed. The community requested this: yes, you did: and the developers delivered. Congratulations on getting what you wanted. You look devastated.

The ARC Raiders update 1.2.0 patch notes cover four main areas: shotgun balancing, cosmetic additions, bug fixes, and the brutal but thoroughly deserved economic correction to the ARC Raiders energy cell profit exploit that some players had been riding like a golden horse into the sunset. That horse has been shot.

El Toro Nerf: Full Stat Breakdown

Let us talk about the El Toro shotgun stats ARC Raiders. The weapon that could reliably two-shot medium shields, perform beautifully at ranges it had no business touching, and turn casual players into briefly insufferable ones has been reined in. Every single change is a downgrade. There is nothing positive here for Toro mains. Sit with that.

Before & After Stat Comparison

What This Means in Practice

• Light shields: still a two-shot. The Toro retains its ability to instantly ruin someone's day at close range.
• Medium shields: now three-shot. What was clean and efficient is now messy and dependent on follow-up. Expect to miss one.
• Heavy shields: still three-shot minimum. Nothing changed here except your fire rate, which is now worse.
• Choke mods still reduce dispersion. Upgrading still improves fire rate. The gun is not dead: it is just no longer the easy button.
• The Volcano shotgun is still an excellent weapon. Consider widening your vocabulary.

The El Toro shotgun nerf ARC Raiders is not a deletion. It is a correction. The gun at its core remains viable: it simply demands that you play better, which is presumably why you find this upsetting.

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The ARC Raiders Toro upgrade levels comparison matters more now than it ever did. At lower upgrade levels, the weapon underperforms noticeably. Base dispersion and fire rate are both hamstrung. As you upgrade, fire rate recovers somewhat: but the base nerf to fire rate means even a fully upgraded Toro 4 fires slower than the old base Toro did. The ceiling dropped. Mods help. Shotgun chokes help dispersion. Positioning helps everything. Use all of these, or lose.

The developers were explicit: El Toro ARC Raiders low rarity nerf was intentional. The weapon should feel weak without investment and strong with it. It is almost as if rarity-based scaling was the point all along.

Energy Cell Exploit: Closed, Buried, Mourned

The ARC Raiders energy clip profit craft nerf was the other headline most players missed because they were busy crying about shotguns. The energy cell crafting loop: one Advanced Arc Power Cell plus two Batteries producing five energy cells, previously sold for 1,000 coins: was the one item in the game where crafting netted a profit. It was elegant. It was repeatable. It is now over.

The Numbers

The developers noted this was intentionally profitable: then decided it was too profitable and corrected it. The sale price did not get trimmed. It got amputated. From 1,000 to 200 coins is not a rebalance; it is a statement. The statement is: stop doing that.

All other crafts in the game lose money. Energy cells now join them. Consistency has been achieved through universal suffering, which is arguably the purest form of fairness.

Rawhide Outfit

The ARC Raiders Rawhide skin update is a standalone cosmetic: not a bundle, not a set. Just the skin. It offers chest vest customization, straps, a gauntlet piece, a mask, and headgear. The base appearance is described as somewhat familiar. Whether that is intentional homage or accidental recycling is left as an exercise for the player. It is basic. Some people will run it. That is fine.

Imagining the Rawhide lower half combined with another skin's upper half is the closest the patch notes get to genuine excitement. That tells you something.

Two New Haircuts

The curtain fade and the low bun have arrived. These are haircuts. They exist on heads. The low bun in particular expands the available options for characters who are presumably losing fights in a more stylish fashion now that the El Toro has been nerfed.

Wasp Hunter Bundle: Coming Soon

The ARC Raiders Wasp Hunter skin bundle has been announced but not yet released. Expected alongside the upcoming major March update. This is a bundle in the traditional sense: pay a price, receive raider coins, and the skin arrives as a bonus rather than the primary purchase.

The Wasp Hunter features a wasp-themed head design, making it unique among ARC Raiders cosmetics. Customization options include four color variants (yellow, blue, gray, current default), removable chest pouch, outer helmet toggle, tech toggle, mask, shoulder pad, sleeves, and wires. It is a genuinely distinctive design in a game that has occasionally played it safe. Whether that justifies the bundle pricing is a question only your wallet can answer.

• Color options: yellow, blue, gray, default
• Toggleable: chest pouch, outer helmet, tech module, mask, shoulder pad, sleeves, wires
• Release: anticipated with the March major update
• Purchase model: bundle format: coins included, skin as bonus

Bug Fixes: The Boring Part You Should Still Read